Auto + Marine

A Van Built for the Journey

Adventure-Ready Comfort, Built for the Wild Roads Ahead Article by Gavin McCalden | Photography by Rob Gowler Based in Durango, Colorado, Van Lab is redefining what it means to travel in comfort, style, and rugged functionality. Their latest custom build—crafted on the ultra-capable Ford Transit Trail platform—comes with an additional 2-inch lift and suspension upgrade by VanCompass and is ready to tackle everything from winding mountain roads to desert trails. Outside, this rig is equipped...

Travel

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Two International Tour Guides Emphasize Outdoor Experiences to Cultivate Traveler Transformation Article by Jennifer Mason Roar! Smash! Whoosh! Just like that—the tornado snatches Dorothy and transports her to the land of Oz. She’s lost. She doesn’t know anyone. Everything and everyone she encounters are equal parts unfamiliar and dazzling. She’s exhilarated and discombobulated, and all she wants to do is go home. In many ways, Dorothy’s adventure in Oz is the perfect simulacrum of...

Life + Culture

Strings & Streams

The Storyteller’s Path of Thom Chacon Article by Denise Leslie | Photography by Courtesy of Thom Chacon In the rugged high country of Durango, Colorado, singer-songwriter Thom Chacon moves between two rhythms: the quiet pull of a fly line over water and the steady strum of his guitar. Both have become storytelling tools—one reflecting the pace of nature, the other the pulse of human experience. Born in Chula Vista, California, near the border with Tijuana, Chacon grew up surrounded by voices...

Sports + Recreation

A Rapid Row-mance

Alpacka Raft Celebrates 25 Years of River-lutionary Packraft Design Article by Jennifer Mason | Photography by Steve Fassbinder Car keys. An allowance. A later curfew. These are the typical requests young people make of their parents. Thor Tingey, however, asked his mother, Sheri, to make him a boat capable of withstanding the feral thrashing of an Alaskan river. There’s only one reason why a young man demands the impossible or seeks the improbable: love. Thor had fallen head-over-heels in...