WATERS
Roam Near Home
From Camping to Kayaking, 147 Ways to Get Out—Safely
OF THE
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Meet the BBQ King of California Harvest Garden Guide Washington Waterside Retreat WATERS OF THE WEST ISSUE
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Dream no further than Central Oregon, a Pacific Northwest destination where outdoor escapades, craft cuisine, and an art-loving spirit will feed your soul. Come along on a virtual journey to explore the region through Adventure Calls, a 7-part video series. Dream of the possibilities now. Watch the series at: adventurecalls.visitcentraloregon.com
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GARDEN
Waters of the West Issue The Stream Less Traveled A secret stream inspires an angler and outfitter to keep on casting.
Living Lush in La Jolla A top landscape designer transforms the gardens of a coastal midcentury home.
A Lake for Everyone Rue Mapp, founder of Outdoor Afro, celebrates the diverse pleasures to be found in Lake County, California.
50 Things to Do In Your Garden Now The ultimate region-by-region guide to maintaining your patio, plot, or meadow.
HOME
&
Better Beach Gear The most innovative gear for chilling in the sand and splashing in the surf on a blowout beach day.
DESIGN
Spotlight on Sunglasses From functional shades to super stylish these are our staff favorites.
Escape to the River A 100-year-old Russian River abode is transformed into a stylish escape from the city.
My Favorite Spot The top rivers, lakes, beaches, and islands according to adventurers, creatives, and other outdoor experts.
Small Footprint, Big Beach House A Washington beachfront home is expanded while preserving the natural surroundings. OF WATERS THE WEST
FOOD
&
DRINK
Beef, Smoke, Trust The story of barbecue chef Matt Horn's road to success, and the recipes fueling one of the most inspiring restaurant openings of the year. Baja’s Bounty Baja-based chef David Castro Hussong shares easy and inspiring recipes that make the most of the region’s bounty. Where the Mountains Meet the Sea A Friulian seafood feast from Boulder's Frasca, one of the best Italian restaurants in the country. Getaway in a Glass Transporting drink recipes from Kendra Anderson, proprietor of Denver’s outdoor pop-up Cabana X @ Bar Helix. Room Service The ultimate guide to sustainable mail-order meat and fish.
Front and back cover photos by Ren Fuller Illustrations by Hana Bae. IG: @hanabae_
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Surfing for Something Positive The story behind Black Girls Surf and the rising tide of equal representation in surfing culture. Farming the Waters Salt entrepreneur Ben Jacobsen's second career crystallized on the Oregon coast. Deeper Meaning A freediver and father-to-be communes with nature in the deep blue sea.
Other People’s Pools Confessions and reflections of an amateur pool crasher in the time of COVID-19. The 2020 Sunset Footwear Awards From barely there to purpose built, these are the shoes, boots, and sandals that will serve you well on any adventure you choose.
ESCAPES Coastal Crown Jewels The best resorts, hotels, inns and more up and down the coast. Home on the Range Camping is one of the safest ways to escape. Elevate your trip with our extensive guide to gearing up, packing right, and living well in the great outdoors.
CONVERSATIONS
Roam Near Home The camping issue is one of our favorites to produce every year, and judging by your letters it’s also one of your favorites to read. So this year, we kicked things up a notch or two: We went to Mars. Well, we went to a Hipcamp site called “Mars on Earth,” anyway. They filmed an episode of Star Trek there once and for being so close to Los Angeles you might as well be on a martian buggy. Once the driveway ends, you’re blasting over a series of sandstone boulders with otherworldly vistas. The whole point, beyond satisfying a latent curiosity for this Hollywood connection, was to roam near home. This was out of necessity: We needed a spot close enough to a major city that we could all pull together, but one sufficiently isolated so we could disconnect. Sound familiar? Like any proper camping trip, there were wildcards, curve balls. Our nemesis: the winds. Night one they were dormant. But night two, they raged. We pulled taut the tent stakes, battened down any hatch that was in sight. Great whorls of dust raged like cyclones, salting our tents with silt and coating our throats. This was no Earth. The Martian storm enveloped us. You could all but hear Captain Kirk wrestling with Spock out there in the din.
We emerged in the morning, bleary-eyed but resilient. That’s camping for you. Expect the unexpected; prepare for anything. I like to think the creative problem solving pulled us together, and proved why camping is such an essential activity. You’re not just reclining in a patio chair with a margarita. You’re engaging in what might be the perfect pandemic pastime: safely escaping to the great outdoors, tackling obstacles, exploring, learning more about the world and (whiskey willing) maybe more about yourselves.
MATT BEAN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
@mattbean |
@mattbean1| [email protected]
OF WATERS THE WEST
REN FULLER
Once a year I’ll settle into a chaise lounge somewhere and enter a kind of sun-baked, brain-dead margarita mode, churning through the same 50 pages of a Pynchon novel again and again. But most of the time, I’d rather be doing something at the beach. I want to be motivated by the water, not lulled into complacency. And I think that’s exactly what the essays in this issue’s other tentpole feature bring to life. 14 incredibly compelling Westerners, 28 bodies of water they’ve been moved by—and move through, on a regular basis. What are you waiting for? Dive in!
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Camp the Cover! We partnered with Hipcamp, the leading online destination for private-owned campsites, to find this location just outside of Los Angeles. Visit Hipcamp.com and search for “Mars on Earth” to follow in our camp steps!
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Garden
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Lifestyle + Bow
Living Lush in La Jolla
A mid-century seaside homeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gardens embody lyrical outdoor living. By HUGH GARVEY Photographs by THOMAS J. STORY
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A Toast to the Coast How a top garden designer helped transform a mid-century home into the ultimate coastal retreat
A
Homeowner William T. Georgis outside his midcentury retreat; The site plan illustrates how the outdoor spaces are connected and parallel the linear floor plan of the house.
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Elysian Landscapes (The Parker Palm Springs, Platform L.A., and Isabel Marant are among her many Southern California projects). Kameon took advantage of the home’s linear layout and designed the outdoor spaces to act as extensions of
SITE PLAN: COURTESY OF ELYSIAN LANDSCAPES
fter decades of visiting his relatives near San Diego, William T. Georgis felt the call of the West Coast. Living in New York City, Georgis and his late husband Richard Marshall longed for the humbler, quieter counterpoint of Southern California. “Coming here as a child in the dead of winter and seeing fruiting citrus trees was revelatory. I have a Greek background and the Mediterranean feel resonated within my blood.” The couple found a mid-century modern house slated to be demolished by a developer. When it went into foreclosure, Georgis saw the good bones, the indoor-outdoor quality, and the appeal of the lot situated 45 feet above sea level and saved it. After opening up the interior floor plan and refining the interior design, Georgis and Marshall hired Judy Kameon, the prolific garden designer and founder of
GARDEN
Shallow stairs lead to an elevated nook with a generous sofa and vintage ďŹ repit.
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Clumping aloe nestles against the entrance stairs.
the adjacent rooms and chose materials and plants that reflected, complemented, and contrasted the color palette of the interiors. As you go from space to space, the outdoor kitchen mirrors the indoor kitchen, the lounge area is an extension of the living room, and a small private seating area with its own firepit sits just off the main bedroom. “As you move through those spaces and look through the windows, every room has
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the opportunity for a heightened experience,” says Kameon. “I want you to feel like you’re immersed in the garden rather than looking at it from afar.” To that end, Kameon surrounded each outdoor living space with lush plantings. “The garden is literally overhead and on all sides, from the bamboo rustling, to the fragrance of the honeysuckle, to the hummingbirds darting through. It’s a whole other level of engagement.”
Graphic agave, feathery cyperus papyrus, sculptural cycad, and other subtropical plants add variety and interest to the space.
GARDEN
In the bar area bromeliad vriesea imperialis brings dark tones to the otherwise green palette. A stand of bambusa textilis creates privacy.
Get the Look Subdued accessories and furnishings allow the rich, varied green and metallic palette to shine, while enriching the form and function of the outdoor living spaces.
This affordable wood burning fire pit shares the same lines as the vintage models on the property and can be moved in and out with the seasons. $214; wayfair.com
Discrete paths meander throughout the property, connecting each of the outdoor rooms that reveal themselves as you move through the space. Dark colocasia “Black Beauty” and aeonium “Zwartkopblack” create drama when potted in simple black pots.
The black Primo ceramic charcoal smoker grill matches the subdued color palette of the pots and hardscape. $1449; bbqguys.com
Black planters recede on the patio while highlighting the jewel tones and other secondary hues of the plantings. $169; rejuvenation.com
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A round gravel patio, wrapped in pittosporum “Silver Sheen,” is a private nook off the master bedroom. A vine covererd pergola that spans the intimate dining area frames the view towards the bar seating and grill.
Having worked on numerous luxury commercial and residential projects in New York and elsewhere, Georgis is an architect with admittedly strong opinions on all things aesthetic. But he still put himself in the hands of Kameon’s unique vision. “I come from a much more scripted place while she has a more colorful, loose, and lyrical approach to living.” When you hear Georgis talk about the rhythm and flow of living and entertaining in the space, you can hear that the trust paid off. “You can have cocktails looking down on the garden, and dinner under the trees, or after-dinner drinks poolside. It’s very much that you’re literally rotating through the gardens.” Over the years the garden has evolved, enveloping the property, and becoming a living thing unto itself. “Judy enlisted living sentient plants that have become actors with serious personalities,” says Georgis. “They continue to transform the place and set the tone.” FA L L 2 02 0
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GARDEN
An old silver Eucalyptus cantilevers over the guest entry gate.
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50 Things to Do in Your Garden Now! As the weather turns and harvests shift from plump fruit to cool weather greens, our minds turn to slower subtler rhythms of late summer and early fall gardening. No matter where you are in the west, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got tips and strategies for making the most of your backyard.
Compiled by NICOLE CLAUSING Contributions by KATHLEEN BRENZEL, JOHANNA SILVER, MIKE IRVINE
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All Regions HARVEST
For lasting bouquets, snip flowers early in the morning. Use sharp pruners and immediately place each stem into a bucket of cold water set in the shade.
MAINTAIN
When you mow, let clippings drop to the ground. They contain enough nitrogen to reduce the amount of lawn food you need to apply every year. Layer chopped green matter (like spent flowers and vegetable waste) with brown matter (like dairy manure or straw) in a 4-foot mound. Water weekly and turn the pile every two weeks for finished compost in time for fall planting. Check drip-irrigation lines for leaks. Because they discharge water slowly, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easy to miss problems until plants start dying.
AZMAN JAKA/GETTY IMAGES
Pull weeds by hand or spray with undiluted white household vinegar. White vinegar will kill most weeds, including thistle; large established weeds may require multiple applications. If you have a bagging mower, run it over garden waste before you dump it into the compost pile. Chopping can double the speed of compost formation, especially if you water the pile at least weekly and turn it every two weeks. If honeybees and other pollinators are scarce in your garden, hand-pollinate plants by using a fine-tipped paintbrush to dab
pollen from one flower and deposit it in an adjacent one. Test sprinkler output by putting an empty tuna can in the middle of the pattern. See how long it takes for the can to collect an inch of water (most lawns need that amount every week) and adjust accordingly.
PROTECT
If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve worn a trail through your lawn or flower bed, turn it into a real path. Dig out the top 6 inches of soil; fill with 4 inches of crushed rock; water and roll or tamp it firm; then top with 2 inches of crushed quarterminus gravel. Reduce the risk of fire danger by clearing debris from your yard, pruning any tree limbs closer than 15 feet from the roof, and maintaining a buffer of lowgrowing, irrigated plants around your home.
Northern California PLANT
Grow seedlings of herbs such as chervil, dill, and watercress in well-draining soil in a location that receives four to six hours of sunshine. Once plants are established, snip leaves to add to salads. Sow seeds for cool-season root crops such as beets, radishes, rutabagas, and turnips in an area with full sun and wellamended soil. Creamy white Nicotiana alata releases its scent after dark, an alluring prospect on warm
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Continue to enjoy salads in early fall by adding leafy greens to your beds now.
HARVEST
Pick green beans before they mature and dry, or they’ll stop bearing; harvest summer squash when it’s small and tender; dig new potatoes when plants flower; and unearth mature spuds as plants die.
tree’s drip line to loosen the soil. Fill each hole with water slowly, allowing the moisture to penetrate the soil. Repeat as needed. Pull back on watering tomato plants to prevent cracking. Remember that with tomatoes, you’re growing fruit, not foliage; it’s okay if the leaves start to look ragged.
an F on their plant tag, and don’t grow tomatoes in the same spot. Move houseplants away from windows if their leaves seem to be burning in the strong summer sun. Be sure to keep plants watered in air-conditioning; dry air is hard on them.
HARVEST
Cut artichokes when flower buds (the part you eat) reach full size but before bracts begin to spread open. Leave 11⁄2 inches of stem—it has a flavor similar to the artichoke heart once cooked. Garlic is ready when the tops yellow and fall over. Use a spade or digging fork to loosen and lift bulbs out of the soil; store them in a well-ventilated, shady location for 2 to 4 weeks, ideally hanging upside down.
MAINTAIN
Deep-water mature trees to help them through drought. Stick a shovel in the ground in five to seven locations beneath the FA L L 2 02 0
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Treat iron deficiencies in avocado, citrus, and other fruiting trees. Yellowed leaves with green veins is called chlorosis; applying fertilizer containing iron chelate according to label instructions can help correct the problem. Trees planted in heavy clay soil are especially susceptible to deficiencies.
PROTECT
Check tomatoes for leaves that are yellowing or wilting after watering—both are signs of fusarium wilt. Toss infected plants into the green-waste bin. To avoid the soil-borne fungus next year, select disease-resistant varieties, marked with
Northwest PLANT
Order spring-flowering bulbs this month for fall planting. Try crown imperial (Fritillaria imperialis)—it grows 3 feet tall, with red, orange, or yellow blooms. In every area except the interior Rogue River Valley, plant lettuce, salad blends, and radishes. In milder zones on both sides of the Cascades, plant cabbage, Chinese cabbage, and kohlrabi. West of the Cascades, also plant beets, potatoes, and Swiss chard; sow peas along the coast and around Puget Sound.
MAINTAIN
Remove vertical sprouts on apple and pear trees as soon as they appear. Such summer pruning doesn’t stimulate as much regrowth as winter pruning. You can rejuvenate many groundcovers (basket-of-gold, ivy, lithodora, and Phlox subulata, for example) by shearing with a rotary mower adjusted to a high cut setting. Then fertilize, water, and bait for slugs. In early September (earlier in Alaska and the mountains) overseed worn or damaged parts of the lawn to make it whole for winter. Just scratch up the soil surface, scatter seed, cover with a 1⁄4-inch layer of compost or sifted soil, and keep it moist until new grass emerges.
PROTECT
Earwigs feed on flowers and vegetables, but also eat aphids, insect larvae, and snails. If they
THOMAS J. STORY
summer evenings. ‘Grandiflora’ (which has trumpet-shaped flowers on plants that can reach 3 feet) has a strong scent, as do hybrids in the Perfume series. Plant as an annual, although in mild-winter areas, it may overwinter. It will also reseed.
Gather figs when their necks bend or if their sides start to split. Don’t leave overripe casualties on the tree or the ground— they can attract pesky yellow jackets.
GARDEN
get out of hand, put newspaper rolls around affected plants at dusk, and discard them (with occupying earwigs) at dawn. Check houseplants for aphids, mealybugs, mites, and scale insects. In a shaded spot outdoors, hose off dusty leaves and treat with spray-on or systemic pesticide.
Southwest PLANT
For an unusual shrub that’s well adapted to low-desert conditions, try puzzle bush (Ehretia rigida). Named for its dense tangle of cascading branches, it reaches more than 15 feet tall and wide and sports light blue flowers that have a slightly sweet scent. For fragrance, try beebrush (Aloysia gratissima) for its potent vanilla-scented florets on an airy 10-foot-tall shrub. Or look for creosote bush (Larrea tridentata)—it has tiny yellow flowers, plus leaves that exude a distinctive scent after desert storms. Both are natives with rangy habits, so be sure to give them plenty of room and site them at the wild margins of a garden.
THOMAS J. STORY
HARVEST
Pick melons as they ripen. A cantaloupe is ripe when the veins on the skin become thick and the flesh underneath turns from green to gold. For ‘Crenshaw’ melon and honeydew, test for soft spots where the stem enters the fruit. For watermelon, look for several dried tendrils near where the fruit is attached to the vine. Also, most ripe
melons of all varieties will separate from the vine without undue tugging. When the fruit of the Engelmann’s prickly-pear cactus turns deep red, remove it with tongs, avoiding the spines. Ripe fruit will easily separate from the pads. Wash fruit, purée, strain juice through cheesecloth, and freeze in ice cube trays for later use in margaritas, agua fresca, and lemonade. Other pricklypear varieties with edible fruit include the dinner plate (Opuntia robusta) and the Indian fig (O. ficus-indica).
MAINTAIN
Toward the end of the warm season, prune cactus, including prickly pear, to maintain a compact shape. Using a long-handled saw, tongs, or a regular shovel, cut, pry, or knock off excess growth at the joints. Remember not to handle the pads, which are covered with hairlike spines called glochids. Collect pads and stems in a cardboard box for safe transfer to the trash.
withstand monsoon winds. Stakes should be temporary— remove them after one or two growing seasons.
Plant the seedlings in the ground in October. Do any transplanting in the late afternoon or evening. That way, plants have the night to begin to recover and establish their roots before they’re hit with a full day of sun and heat.
Control cochineal scale—a bug that causes fuzzy white dots on prickly-pear pads—by washing them off with a blast of water. Repeat as needed until the spots disappear. Seed bulb onions now for green onions throughout the winter and small bulbs in late spring.
Southern California PLANT
HARVEST
Jump-start your cool-season vegetable garden by sowing seeds of celery or members of the cabbage family—including broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, and kohlrabi—in small containers.
Harvest corn when silks go brown and ears are full. Pull back the husk to expose a full-grown kernel, then push your thumbnail into it. If the juice is clear, the corn is not ready; if milky, the corn is
Rejuvenate tired and leggy tomatoes by pruning them back by two-thirds to encourage new growth and fruit set in late summer and fall. Weekly additions of balanced organic fertilizer will also increase yields.
PROTECT
Keep birds from eating maturing grapes by covering individual clusters of fruit with paper bags. Never use plastic bags, as they will cause the fruit to rot. Stake newly planted trees to
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ripe for picking. If the kernel is dry, you’ve waited too long.
can safely absorb moisture through their leaves.
Freeze excess vine-ripened tomatoes for winter use. After washing them, cut out the core, cut them into quarters, and place them on a cookie sheet so the pieces don’t touch. When they’re frozen, transfer them to bags or containers for use as desired. The peel will slip off easily when the tomato pieces begin to thaw.
For continuous rose bloom through fall, prune spent blooms weekly. Prune down to the first five-part leaf or a bit farther to gently shape the plant; then feed lightly and water.
Pick ripe beans, cucumbers, eggplants, peppers, squash, and tomatoes at least every other day to encourage further production.
MAINTAIN
At dusk on hot days, spritz foliage of native plants such as Fremontodendron with water from the hose as if a brief shower had dampened leaves and settled dust. Even species that die if irrigated in summer
off damp soil, preventing rot. Additionally, the reflected heat and light help the fruits ripen evenly and faster than they do when shaded by foliage.
Mountains
PROTECT
PLANT
Guard begonia, hibiscus, and passion vine against giant whitefly, which appears as a waxy, cobweblike infestation, by spreading a layer of dry earthworm castings 1 to 2 inches thick over their roots. Water and fertilize as usual. With this treatment, container-grown cane and ‘Richmondensis’ begonias should be pest-free in a few weeks. Additional applications may be needed for plants in the ground.
Plant starts of broccoli, cauliflower, and kale, while sowing seeds of arugula, beets, bush peas, cabbage, endive, mustard, and spinach in the garden for fall harvest.
Place ripening melons onto upside-down aluminum pie pans or metal cans to keep them
Attract butterflies by adding tall sedums to your flower beds. These tough succulents thrive in heat and sun and come back every year. Good choices include brick-colored ‘Autumn Fire’, pink-flowered ‘Matrona’ and ‘Pink Bomb’, variegated ‘Frosty Morn’ and ‘Mediovariegatum’, and purple-leafed ‘Maestro’ and ‘Purple Emperor’.
For brilliant scarlet-orange fall foliage, try a fragrant sumac like Rhusaromatica ‘Gro-Low’. A small, drought-tolerant shrub, it matures to 3 to 5 feet tall and at least 5 feet wide and thrives in full sun or partial shade. Enjoy yellow blossoms in the spring followed by red fruit in the summer months.
HARVEST
Check beans daily and pick when pods are formed but before beans swell. Frequent harvesting keeps the beans producing and increases yield. Pick sweet peppers when they reach 3 to 4 inches. Remove ripe fruit frequently to encourage more production.
MAINTAIN
Pavement ants undermine the stability of pavers laid on sand and form small dirt mounds on
Water-Wise Gardening
Use Unthirsty Plants Once established, plants native to the West’s dry areas require little water beyond the rain that nature provides. Many shrubs, trees, perennials, and grasses from other dry regions like Australia, the Mediterranean, and South Africa also are good choices. The key is to use plants that are naturally
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adapted to your region’s conditions. Fill borders and spaces along fences with undemanding, low-water beauties such as lavender, penstemon, and rosemary. Arrange Plants in Groups Group thirsty plants together in one small area, and
drought-tolerant plants everywhere else. Then put each group on a separate watering system. Help for Thirsty Planters Any plant that grows in a container will use more water than the same kind growing in the ground, due to limited root systems and
exposure to heat and wind. But there are ways to minimize a container’s water loss: Choose containers 12 inches wide or larger; glazed clay, ceramic, and plastic pots hold moisture best and lightcolored ones stay coolest. If possible, cluster pots together to shade one another, or nest planted pots inside larger empty ones and buffer the space between with mulch. The Look of Water Meandering streams are a refreshing element in even the smallest gardens. But you don’t need water to get the look: You can incorporate a stream of stone into patio
THOMAS J. STORY
Fall is the perfect time to take stock of your garden and figure out how you can better manage your water use. From the perfect drought-tolerant plants to waterless “water” features, consider these Earthfriendly strategies.
GARDEN
the surface. After sweeping up the soil, pour boiling water into the cracks. Sprinkle cinnamon on their nest sites to discourage ants from moving back in. Go through your garden once a day and snip off any flowers that are past their peak. Regular deadheading stimulates flowers to produce more blossoms.
knocking them into a bucket of soapy water. For large infestations, spray with a neem product that contains azadirachtin. If stems and leaves suddenly wilt and die on pumpkins or winter gourds, look for squash bugs on the underside of leaves. To control, drop them into a bucket of soapy water.
Never mow more than onethird of the height of your grass in hot weather. For most turf varieties, raise the blade on your lawn mower to 2 1⁄2 to 3 inches to ensure that leaves provide shade for the soil and any exposed roots.
PROTECT
Japanese beetles can do serious damage to gardens. The adults, which are 1⁄2 inch long and metallic colored, eat the flowers and leaves of many plants. Control these pests by
THOMAS J. STORY THOMAS J. STORY
Before planting edibles, dig organic matter such as compost into the soil in your veggie beds. Doing so improves the soil’s ability to retain moisture.
paving by putting down a dry stream bed like you might find in nature—sinuous, and bedded with boulders and gravel. Bonus: When it rains, the dry creek becomes a real one, so route it to channel water where you need it.
Pay Attention to Your Soil Most landscape plants (trees, shrubs, and native plants especially) establish faster when planted in native soils without the addition of amendments. (If your soil is sandy or rocky, though, you may need to add compost.)
Water When Temperatures Are Cool Irrigate in early morning or evening when the air is cool and still to keep evaporation to a minimum. Use hose-end shut-off valves for hand watering. Turn off the water as you move the hose from plant to plant. Control Runoff on Slopes Use header boards or make
basins downslope from plants. Pulse irrigate: Apply water until puddles appear, stop until the water is absorbed, then repeat the cycle until water penetrates to the desired depth. Spy on Your System A leaky irrigation system wastes water fast. Watch yours run, then adjust sprinkler heads so they won’t wet sidewalks or driveways. Replace broken sprinklers or risers. Or look for signs: Brown spots mean your lawn isn’t getting enough water; wet spots and runoff signal too much water.
WATERS OF THE WEST ISSUE
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Home + Design
HOME & DESIGN Lifestyle + Bow
Escape to the River
How a 100-year-old Russian River house was transformed into an updated escape— while playfully preserving the home’s character. By NENA FARRELL . Photographs by BESS FRIDAY
RIVERSIDE VIEWS
The home’s backyard has direct access to the Russian River, and owner Kelsey Sheofsky knew the perfect way to take advantage of the space: add one of her company’s tents. “We keep a tent in the backyard, facing the river, for guest overflow,” she says.
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elsey Sheofsky is no stranger to enjoying the great outdoors in beautiful ways—in fact it’s both her profession and personal passion. In 2012 she and her husband founded Shelter Co., the Bay Area-based luxury tent and pop-up event company. Even while busy running their own company, the couple always made it a point to get outside. “We lived in San Francisco for 15 years,” says Sheofsky. “But we always spent a lot of time in the Russian River area to escape from the city and get back to nature.” That love for a more bucolic environment was only furthered when the couple accidentally stumbled upon a listing on Craigslist for a home in Russian River. “It seemed like a crazy idea to use a rental house as a vacation home but it ended up
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THROUGH THE GLASS One of the ways Sheofsky preserved the century-old home’s original style and charm was to preserve the property’s single pan windows. A toy mouse nook provides storybook charm while tile around the fireplace looks old but is brand new.
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MODERN COOKING The cozy kitchen was first on the couple’s remodel list, for both necessity and aesthetic purposes. The mix of natural wood, white, and a fresh coat of blue paint helped give the new design a classic, yet updated, look.
Steal the Look
Wishing you had a cozy riverside cabin of your own? Decorating your current space like one is the next best thing. Borrow some design inspiration from this updated, yet cozy, cabin vibe. Think grandma’s guest bedroom—floral wallpaper, oil paintings, and the like—but with modern twists —Nena Farrell and touches.
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This teak oval stool is a refreshing take on the sidekick piece. $128, serenaandlily.com
Add a vintage vibe with an oil painting in an antiqued frame. $123, chairish.com
CLASSIC KITSCH
TOP: COURTESY OF REBECCA LONG PYPER
The second bedroom in the home’s upstairs area is the most playful of them all, and it’s not because of the bunk beds. Sheofsky wallpapered the bedroom in a fun print that felt timeless, giving the room an entirely different style than the rest of the home. Little touches, like animal print bedding, complete the room’s look.
This lamp is contemporary but also plays well with vintage pieces. $60, worldmarket.com
Removable wallpaper to bring wildflowers to any wall. From $40, chasingpaper.com
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BENCH MARKS
Vintage paintings and pieces, like this bench updated with whimsical zebra-print fabric, bring charm and function to the space. Some spaces, like the main bedroom and bathroom, are minimalist and monochrome to serve as serene retreats.
saving our sanity,” says Sheofsky. As soon as the sale closed in 2016, the couple immediately began planning their remodel for the property, especially since the home was over a century old and in need of a major refresh. “We originally intended to just do the kitchen and a few finishes around the rest of the house but as we started to rip things out we realized a gut job was in order,” says Sheofsky. Her big focus was to preserve as much character as she could, even while remodeling the majority of it. Materials and finishes—such as timeless clay tile, oil paintings, knotty wood, and vintage-vibe wallpaper—were chosen purposefully to look as if they’d always been there. As Sheofsky puts it: “We tried to make design choices that had a timeless nature to help blend the lines between old and new.” FA L L 2 02 0
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FRONT HOUSE
One would assume the treehouse would be in the backyard, but the treehouse was already built into the front yardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s redwoods when Sheofsky purchased the property.
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Small Footprint, Big Beach House Preserving the natural landscape while growing this Washington homeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s space created a unique design challenge. By NENA FARRELL . Photographs by ANDREW POGUE
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ON THE DECK
No beach home is complete without a view of the water, and the views of the Hood Canal don’t disappoint from this deck. Plus, the deck offers a unique view of the slim columns that made the home’s additions possible.
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n the eastern shore of Washington’s Hood Canal, architect Matt Wittman and his team at Wittman Estes found themselves facing a daunting project: a 1940s beach house was in major need of updates and the homeowners wanted to keep the delicate landscape and ecosystem around the home intact—while also making it large enough to house both themselves and their multi-generational family. With help of Jack Colgrove Construction as the builder, Wittman and his team worked on a plan to double the livable area without harming the sensitive shore that surrounds the property. The solution was minimalist in both design and impact: two shifting wings that provide additional living space now hover over the hillside and beach, supported by thin steel columns and pin piles to keep the footprint of the design small. Originally just a two-bedroom home, the property now features four bedrooms and a flexible living space spread out over three zones: there’s the original footprint of the home, and each projecting “wing” of the new build. The first wing, in the south, adds additional living space to the ground floor. The wing placed on the north side of the house adds an upper-level master suite to the home, while also creating shade for the outdoor living space on the first floor’s decks, ideal for enjoying the expansive views of the surrounding Hood Canal.
Site Plan
MASTER WING
The northern “wing” added to the home created the master suite on the second floor of this Hood Canal beach house, while also creating shade over the first-floor deck and staircase.
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“The 1940s beach house was in need of an update and expansion, but the homeowners wanted to keep the delicate ecosystem around the home intact.”
JESSICA D’ITRI MARÉS
SPACE OUT
This 1940s property was originally a two-bedroom home, but now boasts four bedrooms, a master suite, and a flex space.
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UNIQUE SOLUTIONS
The metal supports throughout the exterior of the house are designed to support the new additions while keeping impact on the ground minimal.
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Patterns with Purpose Spartan homes like this stunner on the Washington waterfront are like blank canvases for furniture and accessories. The challenge? To add color without going overboard. Meet three easy options to do just that. Hand-bent metal legs, three choices of wood, and a variety of Pendleton wool upholstery: what’s not to like? Bonus: they’re made in Nevada. Stout and Porter Bar Stool, $355, onefortythree.com
TOP: COURTESY OF REBECCA LONG PYPER
Shower curtains have stolen center stage when it comes to decorating in the bathroom. But we like a muted look up top with something bold below. This Brooklyn-based company offers a variety of designs in three sizes including the runner shown here. $85 and up, quiettownhome.com
DEEP SOAK
The addition of the master suite included adding a spacious master bathroom—featuring a soaking tub and a view, of course.
Patterns meet plush in this line of rugs from one of our favorite direct-to-consumer brands. We like the sunset hues in the model shown here. $355 and up, revivalrugs.com
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[email protected] for information on exclusive, subscriber-only limited-edition poster prints. FA L L 2 02 0
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Beef, Smoke, Trust West Coast barbecue legend Matt Horn excels at slow and low. Here's how he's opening a restaurant in times of crisisâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; and cooking by feel and faith. By HUGH GARVEY Photographs by THOMAS J. STORY
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ears before Matt Horn served brisket so tender and perfectly ringed with the pink stain of oak smoke that it inspired people to happily wait in line for 45 minutes, the barbecue chef would drive three hours from Los Angeles to Fresno to hone his craft—without an instruction manual, a mentor, or even a thermometer. Horn taught himself the art of slow and low on his grandfather's old pit, so beat up that smoke would billow out its sides, a wad of foil jammed into a hole where the thermometer used to be. It was in this cooker Horn put his hand to get a feel for the proper heat and learned to intuit temperature, time, and transformation. “I’d be standing there with my eyes closed,” Horn remembers. “My wife would come out and ask me: ‘are you asleep?’” To the contrary, Horn was as alert as ever. Acutely aware of his status as a self-taught West Coast brisket maker free of the constraints of regional Texas tradition—but also free of years of received wisdom—Horn took it upon himself to intimately understand how intramuscular fat and collagen would render at what temperatures, to reckon with the legendary “stall” during which a large piece of meat seems to stop cooking altogether, dropping in temperature for hours as the laws of thermodynamics cause it to throw off heat rather than take it on. “Even when taking notes and documenting everything, for me its a mind body thing more than a data thing,” says Horn. “Those all-nighters became very therapeutic for me. It was about paying attention, relying on feel, and learning to trust the cooker.” That trust (and those copious notes) happened to yield stupendously delicious brisket. Horn hired a man to build him a smoker that he’d cart to East Bay farmer’s markets and pop-ups and breweries where he’d sell his brisket and gain a devoted following. He eventually upgraded to a massive 500 gallon offset smoker made from two decommissioned propane tanks he found in a field in Fresno. Horn designed the smoker himself and named it Lucille after the B.B. King song that kept him company during those long overnight cooks. “In the song he looks at Lucille as a reliable and dependable companion along without him throughout his journey,” Horn explains. “I look at what I was doing with barbecue before and after Lucille and I honestly have to say Lucille changed my life too.” Today, after five years of pop-ups, awards, and glowing reviews, Horn is close to opening his very first brick-and-mortar restaurant in West Oakland—in the middle of a pandemic, with protests about Black lives and racial injustice still in full effect. Even in the best of times it’s hard enough opening a restaurant (the site was home to the first location of chef Tanya Holland’s pioneering soul food restaurant Brown Sugar Kitchen), but add a pandemic with shifting lockdowns that have decimated the hospitality industry and it’s
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Matt Horn outside his first brick and mortar restaurant, Horn Barbecue in West Oakland.
enough to discourage any restaurateur. While the inevitable construction delays pushed his brick and mortar opening back, Horn did what he did from the beginning, regardless of the challenges at hand: he cooked. As quarantine took effect, jobs were lost, and grocery runs seldom, Horn smoked brisket, made sandwiches, set up tables, and fed front line workers, the unemployed, anybody who needed a free meal—no questions asked. He set up a kickstarter, raised thousands more than the goal, and was serving some 700 lunches a day. And so the Horn Initiative, a non-profit dedicated to food equity and social justice, was born. “They say you can run from the storm or weather the storm,” says Horn. “When covid hit, instead of me panicking, I decided to step up and do what I love and be a light in our community.” The nationwide public reckoning with race and injustice also influenced how Horn saw the restaurant’s mission. “We want to be a blessing for our community when it’s hurting, and not just because of Covid. I think about the message I want to send with the food, the people we hire and train.” He’s also one of the few famous black pitmasters in the country and asks himself what can he do to use his position to affect positive change. “I want to create a curriculum that teaches the history of the craft of Black barbecue so we can pass it along to
The Cut “At the butcher they’re either giving you the brisket flat or the point, but the packer cut is the whole thing. It’s a big intimidating cut of meat. It’s untrimmed and has a really big fat cap. I’ve bought pre-trimmed brisket that has big gashes in the meat. You want to be able to learn how to trim it down so it’s the right shape for your pit.”
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Clockwise from top left: Horn slicing brisket; Horn's smoker Lucille heats up; the brisket is ready; sliced brisket and burnt ends. Opposite page: Horn and Lucille.
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the next generation.” Here we share several signature Horn recipes that are templates for how to start your own barbecue journey, even if a custom smoker and late nights contemplating the meaning of barbecue aren’t the end goal. The recipes here are a starting point for comprehension that only you can take to heart and hand. Like the series of smokers Horn learned on, every cook, every piece of beef, and every slice of pink-tinged tender brisket will be different. Thinking back to those early days of learning, Horn admits to his restless obsession. “It wasn’t just enough for me to cook it in the backyard,” he says. “From day one I was trying to perfect it. We’ll never achieve perfection, but along the way we can find ourselves resting in excellence.” If we’re all lucky, the doors to Matt Horn Barbecue will open soon. Covid has influenced the current layout, which holds some 50 people inside in a socially distanced dining room, and another 50 out back on the patio. The menu will have Horn’s brisket of course, but also smoked oxtail, a specialty of his grandmother. And Horn will continue to push the definition of what California, and American barbecue, can be. Until then, may you find yourself resting in excellence as you fire up whatever cooker you may have on hand and start on your own journey toward the slow and low and trusting.
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Horn’s Brisket SERVES 8-10 / 12 HOURS
The main ingredient here isn’t listed: it’s time. And that’s what Matt Horn learned to master all those late nights at whatever cooker he had access to. While Horn learned to cook on a pit with no thermometer, a bluetooth thermometer that you can monitor remotely will keep you from opening the lid, the cardinal sin of cooking slow and low. The saying goes “if you’re looking, you ain’t cooking.” Don’t be thrown by “the stall,” that period where a brisket hovers at 160°F. or so for upwards of an hour. It will pass, and the temperature will rise and all will achieve perfection in good time. Learning to cook brisket is a process: even if your first one is good, your second one will always be better. Here, Horn talks us through his personal take on the process. 1 12-14 pound whole packer brisket 2 Tablespoons coarse kosher salt 5 Tablespoons coarse black pepper 2 Tablespoons onion powder (optional) Olive oil
1. The first step is to flip your brisket over so the fatty side is underneath. Start trimming and removing any silver skin or excess fat from the brisket. Once you have trimmed all of the fat and silver skin, flip the brisket back over with the fat side facing up. Ideally you would want to keep about ¼ inch layer of fat all over the brisket. You want to make sure that you don't trim too much, but keep some of it to act as a protective barrier during the long cook. 2. In a mixing bowl, mix the salt, pepper, and onion powder until you have a nice consistency. As a binder, rub the whole brisket with olive oil. Apply the seasoning evenly over one side of the brisket, from point to flat. Once that is complete, flip the brisket over again and repeat the same process. 3. Preheat your smoker to 265°F. We use oak, but you can use whatever hardwood you can get your hands on. Place the brisket on the smoker with the point side (thicker side) facing the fire box. Close the lid and don’t open it until the next 6-8 hours or until the thermometer reaches 165°F.
A generous rub of kosher salt and coarse black pepper form a toothsome bark over time.
4. Next you are going to grab either butcher paper or newspaper, take your brisket and place it in the middle. Wrap all the corners of the brisket making sure it is completely covered and fold it over twice with the brisket ending back on the right side up. Place the wrapped brisket back on the smoker and do not remove until the brisket reaches an internal temperature of 203°F. Once you pull the brisket, allow it to rest for an hour before slicing it and serving.
The Grade “Choice beef definitely is okay. You’re still going to put out great barbecue if you’re patient and understand that it’s going to take time. If you’re able to use prime, that’s great. It has little more fat distribution to it. I take any opportunity to use the best cut of meat.”
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Smoked Tri-Tip The Source “Usually we are using Creek Stone farms. They have incredible beef but you're probably going to get pretty good beef as long as you go to any local butcher with a good reputation.”
Spare Ribs SERVES 4 / 5 HOURS
An easier, less time intensive introduction to slow and low. Fatty pork ribs get tender and take on smoke flavor much quicker than brisket. This recipe is for a single rack of ribs, but can easily be scaled up to fill up your smoker or grill and feed a crowd. 1 Rack pork spare ribs 2 Tablespoons coarse kosher salt 2 Tablespoons coarse ground black pepper 2 Tablespoons garlic powder 2 Tablespoons onion powder 2 Tablespoons paprika 2 Tablespoons dried mustard powder 1 Tablespoon of cinnamon
1. Preheat your smoker to 275°F. Make sure you are burning a clean oxygen rich fire. 2. Trim any loose fat on the ribs. Remove the skirt meat from the back of the spareribs or it can be left on, it's your choice. 3. Apply olive oil to the ribs as a binder and begin seasoning the meat with your rub mixture. Make sure the meat has an even application of rub, repeat the same process on the back side. 4. Place the seasoned ribs on the smoker and don't open it for another 3-4 hours. Once the ribs have been on for 4 hours, spritz them with either water, apple juice, or apple cider vinegar. Check for color and close the smoker lid. Once the ribs reach an internal temperature of 200°F, remove from the smoker wrap in foil and let the ribs rest for 30 minutes. Once they have rested, they are good to serve.
SERVES 6 / 1 HOUR
Tri-tip is a classic California central coast cut and is typically grilled over open Santa Maria-style pits. Here, Horn gives it the brisket technique and smokes it—which yields a much more tender and flavorful result. 1 (3-5 lb) Tri-tip steak 2 Tablespoons coarse kosher salt 2 Tablespoons coarse course black pepper 1 Tablespoons garlic powder 1 Tablespoons onion powder 1 Tablespoons oregano
1. Preheat your smoker to 300°F. Make sure you are burning a clean oxygen rich fire. 2. Trim any loose fat on the Tritip. Apply olive oil to the meat as a binder and begin seasoning the meat with your rub mixture. Make sure the meat has an even application of rub, repeat the same process on the back side. 3. Place the Tri-tip on the smoker and check it periodically. Don't remove the meat until it reaches an internal temp of 135°F. About 20 to 25 minutes. At that point, remove from the smoker, wrap in foil and rest. Once the meat has rested for 20 minutes, slice against the grain and serve.
The Seasoning "I use Morton’s kosher salt. It has a good texture. Regular salt is too fine and salty. You want coarse black pepper to help with forming that bark. Once that meat starts to render down it caramelizes and concretes that black pepper. I’ve ground my own, but if you don’t have time you can order 16 mesh or 14 mesh pepper from a restaurant supply store. Stay away from normal ground pepper, which tends to cake up."
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The Pit “ When I started I didn’t didn’t have the funds and to spend a couple of hundred dollars on a new grill. Use something your comfortable with, whether it’s a Traeger, a Weber, a Green Egg. They call cook differently and I’ve cooked on so many different things. The main this is to find a cooker you’re comfortable with and that one you can control heat and smoke.”
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Hot Links SERVES 3 / 3 HOURS
These rich and spicy sausages make the most of beef and pork trimmings and are spiked with cayenne pepper. You will need a meat grinder and sausage stuffer and hog casings, all of which you can order online. 2 teaspoons coarse black pepper 3 tablespoons of paprika 2 teaspoons granulated garlic 2 teaspoons kosher salt 2 teaspoons mustard powder 2 teaspoons chili powder 1 ½ lb of pork shoulder ground pork butt ½ lb of brisket trimmings 1/3 cup of water All-natural hog casings
1. Cut the pork and beef trimmings into approximately ½ inch cubes. In a large bowl, combine the chopped meat, the rub, and a cup of water to help distribute the rub evenly, and mix thoroughly. Place the seasoned meat back in the fridge at least three hours or overnight for the following day. 2. After the rub has set on the meat, run the meat through a meat grinder on the coarse setting according to the manufacturer’s instructions. 3. Using your hands, mix the meat thoroughly. Once the meat is mixed properly, you should be able to grab a handful of meat and it should stick together. 4. In a large bowl, soak the hog casings in warm water for 10-15 minutes. Stuff casings using a sausage stuffer, according to the manufacturer’s instructions. We typically like to make our links 4-6 inches. 5. Set your smoking temperature to 225°F. Smoke the links until they reach an internal temperature of 165°F, about 30 minutes. Also like look for a beautiful red color on the sausage. Take your cooked links, place on a piece of white bread, spoon some of your favorite BBQ sauce on the side, and serve.
The Stall “ When I first started cooking I didn’t understand the stall. When I was cooking the temperature stopped going up so I thought it was done. I pulled the meat off, the bark wasn’t formed, and when I sliced into it wasn’t good at all. Just know that around 155 to 165°F brisket stalls because the moisture starts to evaporate and cools the brisket. That’s the stall. When it’s stalling, what you do is keep adding wood to the fire to maintain that consistent temperature and you’ll come out of the stall. The reason I messed up that brisket was that all I thought about was the stall and nothing else. Now I don’t think about the stall. I put the meat on and I trust the cooker.” WATERS OF THE WEST ISSUE
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Baja’s Bounty At the south end of the West Coast swims some of the most sublime seafood in the world. These regional recipes from the peninsula are sustainable, lashed with lime and chile, and perfect for a fall feast. Photographs by ORIANA KOREN
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rom the beachside grills of Ensenada to the seaside restaurants of San Jose del Cabo in Baja, you’ll find fish, mollusks, and crustaceans in a dizzying array of preparations thanks to the abundant waters arcing up and around the peninsula. David Castro Hussong, executive chef at Fauna restaurant in the Valle de Guadalupe, shares both regional classicsand his own creations— seafood and otherwise—in his excellent new The Baja California Cookbook, an exhaustive recipe roadmap to the region. Castro Hussong knows he’s spoiled to be located midway between two bodies of water that together are home to a diversity and abundance of fish unique on this planet. “We’re tremendously lucky,” he says. “We have the cold water of the Pacific on the west and the warm Sea of Cortez to the east. You can use soy when you're cooking more oily yellowtail and tuna, and the Sea of Cortez on the eastern side is warmer so you have fish that's more clean and crisp tasting. You need to be delicate with your seasonings so you don’t kill the flavor.” At the time of this writing Fauna was just reopening after having been closed for two months during full lockdown. “I was going crazy," says Castro Hussong. "But then our first guests arrived and I wanted to hug each and everyone of them.” That’s not happening today, but we have these hearty yet refreshing dishes to cook until we live in a world where it’s possible.
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Mussels “Playitas” with Chorizo
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Mussels “Playitas” with Chorizo
Baja’s Bounty
6. Remove the pan from the heat. Take the mussels out of the pan and arrange them on a large, deep serving plate. Pour the warm butter over and around the mussels on the plate. Fill each mussel with 1 tablespoon of the cooked meat.
SERVES 4 TO 8 / 90 MINUTES ACTIVE TIME
This mix of mussels and pork is how we might serve a group of friends at our place at the little stretch of shore called Playitas.
At the south end of the West Coast swims some of the most sublime seafood in the world. 4 cups waterregional recipes from the These 3 ounces dried guajillo chiles, stemmed peninsula are sustainable, lashed 1 onion, peeled with limepeeled and chile, and perfect 4 garlic cloves, for a cloves fall feast. 5 whole
7. Sprinkle everything with the cilantro, if desired, and serve immediately.
DAVID CASTRO HUSSONG
to toast. Remove them. When they have 5 bay leaves cooled enough to touch, chop them Photographs by ORIANA KOREN 2 teaspoons black pepper roughly and set them aside. 35 almonds 1⁄4 cup red wine vinegar 3. Put the chile mixture and red wine 1 pound ground pork vinegar in a blender and puree until the 11⁄2 teaspoons kosher salt ingredients can’t get any smoother. Drain 1 tablespoon neutral cooking oil, such as the mixture through a fine sieve into a canola oil large bowl. Add the ground pork, toasted 7⁄8 cup rom butterthe beachside grills of Ensenada to almonds, and salt. Using your hands, mix the seaside restaurants of San Jose del 24 mussels theand ingredients in the bowl until they are Cabo in Baja, you’ll find fish, mollusks, Juice of 1 lemon fully integrated. Then put the bowl in the crustaceans in a dizzying array of preparations 1⁄2 bunch cilantro, leaves only (optional)
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thanks to the abundant waters arcing up and fridge aroundfor 30 minutes. the peninsula. David Castro Hussong, executive chef Preheat the oven to 350°F. 4. After the meat has rested, warm the at Fauna restaurant in the Valle de Guadalupe, cooking oil in a large pan over medium shares regional classicsand his own 1. In a both medium pot, bring the water to creations— seafood his excellent The Add the pork mixture to the pan, a rollingand boil.otherwise—in Add the guajillos, onion, new heat. Baja California Cookbook, recipestirring lightly to keep it cooking evenly. garlic, cloves, bay leaves, an andexhaustive black Cook until the edges of the pork clumps roadmap to the pepper. Boil for region. 10 minutes. Using a are crispy, about 10 minutes. Then turn CastrotoHussong knows he’s strainer catch and return anyspoiled stray to be located off the burner and put a lid on the pan to midway between of water ingredients, pourtwo out bodies the water, and that together are home a diversity and abundance of fishretain the contents’ heat and moisture. set the pottoaside. unique on this planet. “We’re tremendously lucky,” 5. Melt the butter in a large pan over he “We have the cold the Pacific 2. says. Lay the almonds out in awater smalloftray medium heat. Add the mussels and on and Sea4of Cortez to the andthe putwest them in the warm oven for minutes slowly cook them until each mussel is east. You can use soy when you're cooking more oily yellowtail and tuna, and the Sea of Cortezopen, about 15 minutes. (If any refuse on the eastern side is warmer so you have fishto open, discard them. Non-opening that's more clean and crisp tasting. You needmussels are those that have gone bad.) Once all the mussels are open, pour to be delicate with your seasonings so you don’t the lemon juice over the whole pan, kill the flavor.” At the time of this writing Fauna was just drizzling it over both the mussels and the melted butter. reopening after having been closed for two months
during full lockdown. “I was going crazy," says Castro Hussong. "But then our first guests arrived and I wanted to hug each and everyone of them.” That’s not happening today, but we have Reprinted these with permission from The Baja California Cookbook by David Castro Hussong & Jay Porter, copyright hearty yet refreshing dishes to cook until©we livePhotographs by Oriana Koren. Published by Ten 2020. Speed Press, a division of Penguin Random House, Inc. in a world where it’s possible. FA L L 2 02 0
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Shrimp Aguachile SERVES 2 TO 4 / 25 MINUTES
In northwest Mexican food, we have another dish that is similar to ceviche. Aguachile is a preparation of seafood “cooked” in lime juice and chiles, often incorporating cucumber. The word aguachile means “chile water,” and the distinguishing characteristic of aguachile is that the marinating acid also has some spicy heat. This recipe calls for dried chiltepín, a wild chile native to the United States that is sometimes also called “bird’s eye” chile. If you can’t find it, you can substitute any other source of heat such as dried arbol chiles, fresh habaneros, or even cayenne pepper. In restaurants or beachside stands, aguachile is typically made to order and served immediately. You’ll often see diners let it sit for a while before eating. This is to let the shrimp “cook” in the lime juice. In this recipe, we include the time for the shrimp to marinate prior to serving, but you can also serve the dish and let it sit on the table while you chat over a beer with your friends. 10 dried chiltepín chiles - more or less to desired level of heat Pinch of sugar Pinch of kosher salt 1⁄4 red onion, peeled 1⁄4 cucumber Juice from 3 limes (or as needed) 1⁄2 pound large shrimp, deveined, shells and heads removed Pinch of fancy sea salt such as Maldon flakes (or use kosher salt)
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3. Open the clams, keeping the hinge intact, and separate the useable meat from the digestive tract (a complex of hard and soft bits). Discard the digestive tracts or save them for making stock. But don’t discard the shells; you will need them for cooking. Clean them with water, keeping the shell tops hinged to their bottoms, and set them aside for a moment.
1. Put the chiltepín chiles into a blender or food processor with the sugar and salt. Blend them into a powder and set aside. 2. Slice the red onion as finely as you can. Slice the cucumber into wafer-thin discs. Put the lime juice in a measuring cup or large glass. Add the pepper-salt-sugar powder and stir with a fork. 3. Halve each shrimp lengthwise and arrange all the shrimp halves in one layer on a plate. Stir the lime juice mixture so that the powder in it is suspended as much as possible and pour the juice all over the shrimp so that each shrimp gets some. (If you don’t have enough juice to cover all the shrimp, just squeeze another lime directly over any parts you missed.) Lay the cucumber slices over the shrimp. Top the whole dish with the red onion and finish with the sea salt. 4. Let the shrimp marinate for 10 to 15 minutes and then serve.
Loreto-Style Stuffed Clams
4. Cut the clam meat into pieces 1⁄2 inch on a side or smaller. Then put an equal amount of the clam meat into the bottom of each clamshell. Top with a spoonful of the bacon of your choice. You can cook the clams mixture, making sure the toppings are evenly either in the oven or outdoors over fire. distributed among each clamshell. Finish If you choose to cook them over mesquite each clamshell with the remainder of the charcoal or hardwood such as oak, you’ll grated cheese. get a nice smoke flavor added as well. Cooking time might vary quite a bit based 5. Close all the clamshells and wrap each inon the size of your clams and, if you’re dividual shell completely with aluminum foil. cooking outdoors, the temperature of Grill them for 20 minutes or bake in the oven your grill. Rather than depend on the for 12 to 15 minutes. cooking times given here, you can instead peel back the foil on a clam—being care- 6. Pile the foil-wrapped clams on a single ful not to burn your fingers—and peek plate and serve family-style, letting each inside to make sure the cheese is melted guest take a clam, peel the foil back, and get and everything looks properly cooked. at the deliciousness inside. It’s typical to have tostaditas and lime wedges on the table, but no accompaniments are really necessary. Honestly, the table isn’t necessary either! 1⁄2 red onion, peeled 1 poblano chile or bell pepper, with stem, pith, and ribs removed 1 garlic clove, peeled and minced 1⁄4 pound bacon 1⁄2 pound easily melted cheese, such as queso asadero or mozzarella, grated 6 chocolate clams, or other large clam such as cherrystones or chowder clams (about 1 1⁄2 pounds total)
SERVES 2 / 30 MINUTES
1. Fire up the grill or preheat the oven to 450°F.
Almejas rellenas is a specialty of Loreto— a stunning village beside the Sea of Cortez—that showcases the local bounty of chocolate clams. While chocolate clams are traditional for this dish, the recipe also works with any large clam, or, for that matter, other sauté-friendly bivalves
2. Finely dice the onion and poblano chile and put them in a large bowl. Add the minced garlic. Cut the bacon into pieces about 1⁄4 inch on a side and add to the bowl, along with half the cheese. Mix the contents of the bowl thoroughly and set in the fridge.
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Where the Mountains Meet the Sea
Boulder, Colorado is home to Frasca Food and Wine, one of the best regional Italian restaurants in the country. This Friulian seafood feast is an Italian coastal getaway on a plate. Photographs by WILLIAM HEREFORD
Scampi Alla Busura
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Baja’s Bounty
W
hen Frasca Food and Wine opened in Boulder, Colorado in 2003 it was a revelation: nowhere in the West, let alone the Rocky Mountains, was any restaurant serving food inspired by the FriuliVenezia Giulia, a sub-Alpine region in Northeast Italy. "Friuli is part sea, part wine country, and part mountains," says owner and Photographs by master ORIANAsomKOREN melier Bobby Stuckey, who opened the restaurant with chef Lachlan Mackinnon Patterson after the two worked together at the French Laundry. "Friuli is Italian food like you've never seen it. It is the rom the beachside grills of Ensenada to northern part of therestaurants Italian the seaside of San Jose del culture,Cabo the southern part offind fish, mollusks, and in Baja, you’ll the Austrianin culture, and array the of preparations crustaceans a dizzying westerntopart the culture of arcing up and around thanks the of abundant waters Eastern Europe, all on one Hussong, executive chef the peninsula. David Castro plate." for ainplace to de Guadalupe, at FaunaLooking restaurant the Valle hike, bike, start something shares bothand regional classicsand his own creations— new, they nototherwise—in only did that,his excellent new The seafood and but quickly wonCookbook, over locals Baja California an to exhaustive recipe their taketo Friulian cuisine. roadmap the region. Multiple followed, and spoiled to be located Castroawards Hussong knows he’s now, some 15 years a of water that together midway between twointo bodies stellar run,tocomes their and cookare home a diversity abundance of fish book Friuli Foodplanet. and Wine, a tremendously lucky,” unique on this “We’re cookbook that covers the of the Pacific he says. “We have the both cold water region and the output on the west andcreative the warm Sea of Cortez to the of theYou restaurant the you're cooking more east. can use over soy when years. Here weand feature oily yellowtail tuna,several and the Sea of Cortez seafood recipesside from book,so you have fish on the eastern is the warmer along with that's moreStuckey's clean andmusings crisp tasting. You need on be thedelicate dishes as well as his to with your seasonings so you don’t expert pairings. Whether kill thewine flavor.” youAtcook the delicate fritto Fauna was just the time of this writing misto of seafood dustedbeen withclosed for two months reopening after having chickpea and rice flour, during full lockdown. “Ithe was going crazy," says risotto Hussong. with all the flavors Castro "But thenofour first guests arrived the sea, or thetoscampi, you'll and I wanted hug each and everyone of them.” get a taste the Italian That’s not of happening today, but we have these Misto di Mare coastalyet vacation we alldishes couldto cook untilFritto hearty refreshing we live doawith right about in world where it’snow. possible.
At the south end of the West Coast swims some of the most sublime seafood in the world. These regional recipes from the peninsula are sustainable, lashed with lime and chile, and perfect for a fall feast.
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Scampi Alla Busura
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intothe theclams, oil andkeeping quicklythe repeat with a hinge intact, Fritto Misto di Mare 3. Open
few more making sure notthe to overand separate thefish, useable meat from dicrowd pot, which thesoft oil gestive tractthe (a complex of lowers hard and (adjust the heatorassave needed Discard the digestive tracts The meaning of busara is open to interpreFritti in Italy are always a main course, and bits).temperature 375°F). until golden, formaintain making stock. ButFry don’t discard the tation: some say it is the large iron pot that not something you fill up on at the start of them to 1 minute. Use afor mesh skimmer or you will need them cooking. Clean crews in Friuli use to prepare meals on a meal. Serve with a sparkling Ribolla Gial- shells;about spoon to transfer the fish them slotted with water, keeping the shell topsto the their boats; others say the dish’s name is la or a light, crisp Sauvignon Blanc from prepared sheet. salt the hinged to their baking bottoms, and Lightly set them aside derived from the word busiara, which Venica and Venica. fish while still hot. Repeat with the refor a moment. means “cheating” in Trieste dialect. The 1 ½ cups chickpea flour, plus more as maining smelt. latter may refer to the fact that the lanneeded 6. Next, batter andinto fry the squid, 4. Cut the clam meat pieces 1⁄2followed inch on goustines are somewhat hidden by the to5 tablespoons rice flour octopi, in the way.amount Both of a sideby orthe smaller. Then putsame an equal matoes in the sauce, or that the sauce was Fine sea salt as well, about 1 of thethese clam will meatcook intoquickly the bottom of each intended to disguise less-than-fresh fish 1 ½ cups cold sparkling water, plus more as clamshell. minute. to salt Coat TopDon’t with forget a spoonful of them. the bacon and shellfish, making the finished product of your choice. You can cook the clams 1. Put the refined chiltepín chiles blender needed the making lemon slices in batter andare fry—be mixture, sure the toppings evenly look more than it is.into Paira with Edi in the oven or outdoors over fire. or foodColio processor with the sugar and salt. either ½ pound smelt, cleaned very careful them in the distributed amongwhen each placing clamshell. Finish Keber Bianco. If1you choose Blend them into a powder and set aside. pound squidto cook them over mesquite each clamshell hot oil; due to their water content, with the remainder of thethe charcoal hardwood ¼ cup olive oil 1 poundor baby octopi such as oak, you’ll will crackle and spit. gratedoilcheese. a nice smoke flavor asoil well. 2. Slicecloves, the redcrushed onion as finely as you can. get 3 garlic 1½ quarts canola oil oradded peanut 7. Transfer the crispy fish, seafood, and Cooking time might vary 2quite a bit based 5. Close Slice the cucumber into wafer-thin 1 ½ pounds langoustines (whole, not discs. 3 lemons; 1 thinly sliced, cut into wedges lemon slices to a platter. all the clamshells andServe wrap immedieach inon the size of your clams and, if you’re Putshelled, the lime in aismeasuring cup or andjuice frozen fine) or wild jumbo ately with the lemonwith wedges. dividual shell completely aluminum foil. 1. In a outdoors, medium bowl, whisk together cooking the temperature of the Grill them for 20 minutes or bake in the oven large glass. Add the pepper-salt-sugar shrimp chickpea flour, rice flour, and 1 teayour grill. Rather than depend on the powder and stirofwith a fork. Generous pinch crushed red pepper for 12 to 15 minutes. spoon salt. given Slowlyhere, whisk incan theinstead sparcooking times you ¼ cup dry white wine for 30 minutes. peelkling backwater. the foilRefrigerate on a clam—being care- 6. Pile the foil-wrapped clams on a single 3. Halve shrimp lengthwise and by ½ cup Saneach Marzano tomatoes, crushed 2. Butterfly the smelt and use a sharp ful not to burn your fingers—and peek par- plate and serve family-style, letting each arrange hand all the shrimp halves in one ingto knife to sure remove spine (though it inside make the the cheese is melted layer a plate. Stir the lime juice 1 cup on water guest take a clam, peel the foil back, and get can be left in and eaten, as a matter and everything looks properly cooked. of at the deliciousness inside. mixture so that thebread powder in it is sus1 tablespoon fresh crumbs Cut the squidand intolime 1-inch (SEAFOOD RISOTTO) It’s preference). typical to have tostaditas pended as much as possible and pour the 2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley MAKES 4 SERVINGS / 90 MINUTES rings and leave the tentacles whole. wedges on the table, but no accompanijuice all over soItalian that each 1 baguette or the loafshrimp of crusty bread, The first time we dined in Grado at the Separate the necessary. head of each octopus from ments are really Honestly, shrimp you don’t have slicedgets and some. grilled (If or toasted Tavernetta all’Androna, we were finishing tentacles, then cuteither! the tentacles into the its table isn’t necessary enough juiceolive to cover the shrimp, just Extra-virgin oil forall drizzling lunch, and about to move on to dessert and pairs of two. squeeze another lime directly over any Fine sea salt coffee, when a server walked by with a dish 3. red In aonion, large Dutch parts you missed.) Lay the cucumber 1⁄2 peeledoven over mediumof risotto marinara. It smelled so incredible high heat, canolawith oil until 1. In over a large panTop overthe medium slices thesauté shrimp. wholeheat, dish 1 poblano chilewarm or bellthe pepper, stem, it that we decided to sit at our table for anLine a baking sheet with warm Add the with garlicthe and with the the red olive onionoil. and finish pith,reaches and ribs375°F. removed other hour until we were hungry enough to racks or paper towels. Fill a large bowl seasauté salt. until golden brown, 2 to 3 min1 garlic clove, peeled and minced order it. The dish remains Lachlan’s favoricebacon cubes and cold water to form utes. Add the langoustines and cook, 1⁄4 with pound ite risotto of all time and changed the way ice bath. until opaquefor rather 4. stirring Let the well, shrimp marinate 10 tothan 15 1⁄2 an pound easily melted cheese, such as he thinks about risotto forever; essentially, 4. Check the consistency of grated your batter; it translucent, 3 toserve. 5 minutes. Transfer to queso minutes and then asadero or mozzarella, he realized that risotto can sing completely should be thick enough to a piece a plate. 6 chocolate clams, or other largecoat clam such on its own without butter or cheese. Wait of seafood but loose enough as cherrystones or chowder clamsfor the exuntil you taste the flavor of this magical 2. Add the crushed red pepper and white cess1 to off into the bowl—you may (about 1⁄2drip pounds total) dish. You, too, will likely be converted. wine to the pan and cook for 1 minute, need to stir in a splash more sparkling or until the wine has reduced by half. water a tablespoon of chickpea 1. Fire upor the grill or preheat the ovenflour. to Stir in the tomatoes and water and Place your bowl of batter over the ice We drink Malvasia Istriana with this 450°F. SERVES 2 / 30 MINUTES bring to a simmer. Return the langousbath to keep it chilled while you fry risotto. The Malvasia grape has spread tines to the pan to reheat, another 2 to (this, and a constant oil temperature, all over the Adriatic and Mediterranean Almejas rellenas is a specialty of Loreto— 2. Finely dice the onion and poblano 3 minutes. Stir in the bread crumbs to will ensure the crispiest results). from its native Greece. In many places, a stunning village beside the Sea of chile and put them in a large bowl. Add thicken the sauce and then sprinkle 5. Submerge one smelt in the batter and, Malvasia is a low-acid, aromatic white Cortez—that showcases the local bounty the minced garlic. Cut the bacon into with the parsley. using tongs or your hand, lift it from that we don’t love with fish, but Malvasia of chocolate clams. While chocolate clams pieces about 1⁄4 inch on a side and add 3. Serve the scampi on the grilled bread, the batter, allowing the excess to drip Istriana, grown on the ponca soils, are traditional for this dish, the recipe to the bowl, along with half the cheese. drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled back into the bowl; the fish should be reaches great heights with pleasant also works with any large clam, or, for Mix the contents of the bowl thoroughly with salt. thinly coated. Gently lower the smelt orange aromatics and bracing acidity. that matter, other sauté-friendly bivalves and set in the fridge. (LANGOUSTINES IN TOMATO SAUCE) MAKES 4 SERVINGS / 30 MINUTES
(FRIED SEAFOOD PLATTER) MAKES 4 SERVINGS / 90 MINUTES
Risotto Marinara
Loreto-Style Stuffed Clams
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Risootto Marinara with Fish Brodo
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Risotto Marinara (continued)
SEAFOOD MEDLEY 6 tablespoons olive oil 1 pound mussels, scrubbed 4 garlic cloves 6 thyme sprigs 2 cups dry white wine 2 pounds littleneck clams, scrubbed 8 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined 4 large sea scallops, coarsely chopped ¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil ½ cup finely diced yellow onion 1 ½ quarts Fish Brodo (recipe follows) 1. Put Vialone the chiltepín ¾ cup Nano chiles rice into a blender or fooddry processor with the sugar and salt. ½ cup white wine Blend into alemon powder and aside. Freshlythem squeezed juice forset seasoning Fine sea salt 2. Slice the red onion as finely as you can. ¼ cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
Slice the cucumber into wafer-thin discs. PutTothe lime juice in a measuring 1. prepare the seafood medley:cup In aor large glass. the pepper-salt-sugar large pot Add or Dutch oven over high heat, powder stir with a of fork. warm and 3 tablespoons the olive oil until shimmering. Toss in the mussels 3. and Halve shrimp lengthwise and the stireach gently for 30 seconds. Once arrange the to shrimp in one shells all begin open,halves add 2 of the garlic layer on a 3plate. the lime juice cloves, of theStir thyme sprigs, and 1 cup mixture thatCover the powder in it until is susof the so wine. and steam all pended as much as possible pour the mussels have opened, and 2 1⁄2 to 3the juice all overDiscard the shrimp so that each minutes. any unopened musshrimp gets some. you don’t mussels have sels, then remove(Ifthe opened enough juicepot to and cover all the shrimp, just from the place in the refrigerasqueeze lime directly over any tor to another prevent overcooking. parts missed.) Layorthe cucumber 2. In ayou clean large pot Dutch oven slices shrimp. whole dish overover highthe heat, warmTop the the remaining with the red onion andoil finish the 3 tablespoons olive untilwith shimmerseaing. salt. Toss in the clams and stir gently for 30 seconds. Once the shells begin to 4. open, Let the shrimp marinate2for 10 to 15 add the remaining garlic cloves, minutes and then serve. 3 thyme sprigs, and 1 cup wine. Cover and steam until all the clams have opened, 5 to 8 minutes. Discard any unopened clams, then remove the opened clams from the pot and place in the refrigerator to prevent overcooking. 3. Once2 cool, remove the mussel and clam SERVES / 30 MINUTES meat from their shells. (Reserve the cooking juices is fora another The Almejas rellenas specialtyuse. of Loreto— broth canvillage be strained, a stunning beside frozen the Seafor of up to 2 months, andshowcases then warmed and emulsiCortez—that the local bounty with butter makechocolate a quick sauce.) of fied chocolate clams.toWhile clams 4. the bowl of fooddish, processor, comareIntraditional fora this the recipe bine the cooled mussels and clams also works with any large clam, or, forwith thematter, shrimpother and scallops. Pulse bivalves four or that sauté-friendly
Loreto-Style Stuffed Clams
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Fish Brodo
five times to make a coarse paste. 3. Open the clams, keeping the hinge intact, Transfer to a bowl or airtight container andMAKES separate the 2useable the diABOUT QUARTSmeat / 90 from MINUTES and refrigerate up to overnight. gestive tract (a complex of hard and Harness your inner Friulian with soft 5. In a wide heavy pot over medium-low bits). the digestive or save thisDiscard authentically Adriatictracts fish brodo. heat, warm 1⁄2 cup of the extra-virgin them for making stock. But don’t discard the olive oil. Add the onion and stir to shells; Foodyou millwill need them for cooking. Clean coat. Cook, stirring often, until the them with water, olive keeping 3 tablespoons oil the shell tops onion starts to soften and become hinged to their bottoms, 4 cups diced onions and set them aside translucent, taking care not to burn it, for 1a ½ moment. cups diced fennel about 5 minutes. 2 cups ¼-inch-thick leek slices, white and 6. In a saucepan over medium heat, warm 4. Cut thegreen clam parts meat into pieces 1⁄2 inch on tender the fish brodo to a simmer, then keep a side or smaller. Thenseeds put an equal amount 1 tablespoon fennel warm over low heat. of the clam meat into the bottom of each 2 teaspoons coriander seeds 7. Stir the rice into the onion until nicely clamshell. Top with a spoonful 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper of the bacon of your choice. cook the clams coated. TurnYou thecan heat to medium and mixture, sure the toppings are evenly ¼ cup making dry white wine either in until the oven or outdoors over to fire. cook toasted—it will start smell distributed among each clamshell. Finish 2 plum tomatoes, diced If you choose to them over mesquite nutty—30 to cook 45 seconds. Pour in the each clamshell with the remainder of the Zest from 1 orange charcoal or hardwood such as oak, you’ll wine and, stirring continuously, cook grated cheese. 1 ½ pounds fish bones, rinsed get until a nicethe smoke addedcompletely as well. wineflavor has almost 2 ½ quarts water Cooking time might quite a bit based 5. Close all the clamshells and wrap each inevaporated, 30 tovary 45 seconds more. on the sizeinof1⁄2 your you’re Ladle cupclams of theand, hotiffish brodo, dividual with aluminum 1. In ashell largecompletely pot over medium heat, foil. cooking outdoors, theuntil temperature of and keep stirring the rice has Grill them for 20 minutes or bake in the oven warm the olive oil. Add the onions, yourabsorbed grill. Rather than on the almost alldepend of it. Turn the heat for 12 fennel, to 15 minutes. and leeks; cover; and sweat cooking times givenOver here,the younext can 13 instead to medium-low. minuntil the vegetables become slightly peelutes, backcontinue the foil on clam—being careto aadd brodo to the rice, 6. Pile the foil-wrapped clams Add on athe single tender, about 3 minutes. fennel ful not burn peek 1⁄4to cup at ayour time,fingers—and stirring continuously plate seeds, and serve family-style, letting each and coriander seeds, and cayenne inside make sure theaddition cheese isasmelted andtorepeating each the rice guest continue take a clam, peel for the another foil back,2 and get to cook minutes. andabsorbs everything cooked. the looks liquidproperly fully. Keep in mind, at theAdd deliciousness inside. the white wine and cook until all It’s the typical toyou havestir, tostaditas and lime more the creamier your the alcohol has evaporated. wedges on the risotto will table, be. but no accompani2. Add the tomatoes, orange zest, and ments are13 really necessary. is Honestly, 8. After minutes—this our al dente fish bones to the pot, then cover with the moment—stir table isn’t necessary in the either! seafood medley the water and bring to a gentle simmer. along with 1⁄4 cup brodo, turn off Simmer for 45 minutes, remove from 1⁄2 the red onion, peeled heat, and let the risotto rest for the heat, cover, and let rest for 20 1 poblano chile or bell pepper, with stem, 5 minutes. minutes. pith, and ribsthe removed 9. Return risotto to low heat, add a 3. Using a skimmer or a slotted spoon, 1 garlic and minced littleclove, morepeeled hot brodo to loosen as remove all the solids from the liquid, 1⁄4 needed, pound bacon and then slowly drizzle in the discarding the fish bones. Working over 1⁄2 remain pound easily melted cheese, as ing 1⁄4 cup olive oil,such stirring a bowl, run the vegetables and aromatqueso asadero or mozzarella, nonstop. You’ll notice thegrated risotto ics through a food mill, then return the 6 chocolate clams, or other large clamand such becoming creamier as the broth puree to the pot and stir to combine. as cherrystones chowder clams oil emulsify or nicely. 4. Strain the stock through a fine-mesh (about 1 1⁄2 pounds 10. Finally, season total) the risotto with a sieve into an airtight container. Store in generous amount of lemon juice and sea the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or in 1. Fire the grillthe or preheat the oven salt,up adjusting consistency with to any the freezer for up to 2 months. 450°F. remaining brodo as needed. The consistency should be thick but somewhat REPRINTED FROM FRIULI FOOD AND 2. Finely dice the onion and parsley. poblano Serve loose. Fold in the minced WINE: FRASCA COOKING FROM chileimmediately and put them in a largebowls bowl.orAdd NORTHERN ITALY’S MOUNTAINS, in shallow familyVINEYARDS, AND SEASIDE. COPYRIGHT the style, minced Cut the bacon into in garlic. the middle of the table. © 2020 BY FRASCA FOOD AND WINE, pieces about 1⁄4 inch on a side and add INC. PHOTOGRAPHY COPYRIGHT © to the bowl, along with half the cheese. 2020 BY WILLIAM HEREFORD. PUBLISHED BY TEN SPEED PRESS, AN IMPRINT OF Mix the contents of the bowl thoroughly RANDOM HOUSE, A DIVISION OF and set in the fridge. PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE LLC.
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Getaway Baja’s in a Glass Bounty
When gives you At the life south end of lockdown, the West make cocktails. Kendra Anderson Coast swims some of the most is serving transporting vacationsublime seafood in the world. inspired cocktails at herfrom open-air These regional recipes the pop-up bar in Denver. Here’s peninsula are sustainable, lashed how to mix them upand at home. with lime and chile, perfect for a fall feast. By HUGH GARVEY
Picante Piña-rita SERVES 1 / 10 MINUTES
The pineapple margarita gets a double shot of heat thanks to chile liquor and spicy bitters.
Illustrations BAE Photographs by by HANA ORIANA KOREN
1 oz Espolon Reposado 1 oz Ancho Reyes chile liqueur 1 oz pineapple juice ½ oz freshly squeezed lime juice ¼ oz simple syrup ¼ oz Grand Marnier or Cointreau 4 dashes Strongwater Botanicals Bonfire Bitters 1 lime wheel, for garnish
I
t was two months into lockdown and Kendra Anderson wanted a vacation badly. The owner of Denver’s Bar Helix had, as many bar and restaurant owners in the pandemic, pivoted her business model twice only to have to shut it down when it turned out not to be sustainable. Bar Helix was a rarity in Denver,grills as well in the American cockrom the beachside of as Ensenada to tail industry: openedrestaurants in 2017, it was the only the seaside of San Josebar deloutside of New York cityin dedicated to the Italian theand Negroni; Cabo Baja, you’ll find fish, cocktail mollusks, and it was owned by a Blackarray woman, nearly as rare in the crustaceans in a dizzying of preparations male-dominated field. Barwaters Helix arcing had won thanks to the abundant upawards—and and around wonpeninsula. over Denverites. shut down, Andersonchef was the David When CastroitHussong, executive discouraged but undeterred. A restorative planning trip to at Fauna restaurant in the Valle de Guadalupe, Tulum with staff was the dream. restrictions were shares both her regional classicsand hisTravel own creations— the reality. seafood and otherwise—in his excellent new The “I was hopingCookbook, to take theanteam for a quick getaway,” says Baja California exhaustive recipe Anderson.toBut two week quarantine in Mexico ruled roadmap thethe region. thatCastro out. “IHussong was heartbroken.” When the to state Colorado knows he’s spoiled be of located allowed businesses to expand footprint to outdoor midway between two bodies their of water that together spaces, Anderson saw anand opportunity, took are home to a diversity abundance of over fish an unused patio nearby, and Bar Helix wastremendously re-born as Cabana X @ Bar unique on this planet. “We’re lucky,” Helix, the“We ultimate cocktalian’s fantasy vacation. he says. have the cold water of the Pacific If Anderson couldn’t gowarm to Tulum was going to do her best on the west and the Sea she of Cortez to the to recreate it on a sun-dappled patiocooking in Denver—at east. You can use soy when you're more least untilyellowtail the weather turns. wrote a menu of beach oily and tuna,Anderson and the Sea of up Cortez bites, cocktails to channel the Riviera on theinvented eastern summery side is warmer so you have fish Maya, Martha’s Vineyard, andtasting. other beachy playgrounds, that's more clean and crisp You need andbeDenverites couldn’t happier. “Everybody who comes to delicate with yourbe seasonings so you don’t herethe saysflavor.” it’s the vacation they needed but couldn't go on,” kill saysAtAnderson, whose liftedwas by the the time of this spirits writingare Fauna justsight of people dressing upafter and wearing tropical printfor dresses, or putting on reopening having been closed two months a cute hat they’re anywhere but home. during fulllike lockdown. “I was going crazy,"“It’s sayslike people are getting into a character to themselves Castro Hussong. "But thenand oursaying first guests arrived ‘I’m headed to Negril tonight I’meveryone going to wear my pineapple and I wanted to hug eachsoand of them.” flip flops.’” Do yourselftoday, a favor,but putwe onhave yourthese traveling That’s not happening clothes,yet mixrefreshing up one of dishes these cocktails, and bring those hearty to cook until we live Cabana X vacation vibes to your backyard. in a world where it’s possible.
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Kendra Anderson: The Vacationologist A former caterer and sommelier, Kendra Anderson specializes in cocktails that evoke a place. Bar Helix made a name for itself serving numerous variations on the Florentine cocktail the Negroni, which is in its classic form equal parts gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth. At the time of this writing Cabana X was serving a cocktail menu themed around Negril, Jamaica, and Ibiza. The food on the menu is equally escapist. “When I’m on vacation I want an amazing burger poolside at the hotel,” says Anderson. “And I want chips and guacamole, no matter where I am.”
In a cocktail shaker, combine liquid ingredients and ice. Shake and strain over fresh ice into an oldfashioned glass. Garnish with a lime wheel on the rim of the glass.
Picante Piña-rita
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A N DE R S O N : C O U R TE SY O F KE N D R A AN D E R S O N
3. Open the clams, keeping the hinge intact, and separate the useable meat from the diThe Bar Helix gestive tract (a complex of hard and soft Cocktail bits). Discard the digestive tracts or save SERVES 1 / 5 MINUTES them for making stock. But don’t discard the Anderson is a trained shells; you will need them for cooking. Clean sommelier, and self-taught them with water, keeping the shell tops bartender. She named Bar hinged to their bottoms, and set them aside Aperol Spritz Shave Ice Helix after the shape of a corkfor a moment. screw. As a wine professional she naturally gravitated toward Aperol Spritz 4. Cut the clam meat into pieces 1⁄2 inch on the Negroni, which relies Shave Ice a side or smaller. Then put an equal amount heavily on two grape-based SERVES 2 / 30 MINUTES of the clam meat into the bottom of each liqueurs. Cabana X serves this Two quintessentially summery clamshell. Top with a spoonful of the bacon as a nod to its sister bar. of your choice. You can cook the clams treats—the ubiquitous seasonal 1. Put the chiltepín chiles into a blender mixture, making sure the toppings are evenly spritz Aperolwith and slushy or foodelixir processor the sugar and salt. either in the oven or outdoors over fire. distributed among each clamshell. Finish If you choose to cook them over mesquite each clamshell1.25 shave ice— Blend them come into atogether powder in and set aside. Montanaro withoz the remainder of the charcoal or hardwood such as oak, you’ll grated cheese. 6 pm Aperitivo this superlative version of an adult snow 2. Slice thecone. red onion as finely as you can. get a nice smoke flavor added as well. 1 oz Barr Hill gin Cooking time might vary quite a bit based 5. Close all the1 clamshells Slice the cucumber into wafer-thin discs. oz Carpanoand Antica wrap each inon the size of your clams and, if you’re Put theAperol lime juice in a measuring cup or For the syrup: Formula vermouth dividual shell completely with aluminum foil. cooking outdoors, the temperature of large glass. syrup Add the pepper-salt-sugar 8 oz simple (equal parts 1 fat orangeor twist, Grill them for 20 minutes bakeforingarnish the oven your grill. Rather than depend on the powder and stir with asugar, fork. water and granulated for 12 to 15 minutes. cooking times given here, you can instead stirred until dissolved) Add all liquid ingredients to a peel back the foil on a clam—being care- 6. Pile the foil-wrapped 3. Halve each shrimp lengthwise and 8 oz Aperol clams onwith a single mixing glass filled ice, stir ful not to burn your fingers—and peek arrange all the shrimp halves in one plate and servefor family-style, letting each approximately 30 seconds. inside to make sure the cheese is melted layer on abowl, plate.combine Stir the lime guest take a clam, peel theanfoil back, and get Strain into old-fashioned In a large the juice and everything looks properly cooked. mixture so that at the deliciousness glass, inside. preferably over a large ice simple syrup andthe thepowder Aperol,in it is susIt’s typical to have tostaditas and lime pended much possible and pour the cube. Squeeze the orange twist stirring as well untilascombined. wedges on the table, but no accompanijuice the shrimpin soan that each over the top of the cocktail Storeall in over the refrigerator Boozy Karpouzi ments are really necessary. Honestly, shrimp some.for (Ifup you glass to express the oils, then airtight gets container todon’t have the table isn’t necessary either! enough juice to cover all the shrimp, just drop into the glass. three months. squeeze another lime directly over any parts missed.) 1⁄2 red onion, peeled For theyou Shaved ice: Lay the cucumber slices over the shrimp. Top the whole dish ounces of the prosecco between lemonwith juicestem, 1 poblano chile or bell pepper, 6 oz Aperol syrup with the red onion and finish with the the two tumblers. Squeeze one .25 oz Don Ciccio Finochietto pith, and ribs removed 12 oz prosecco sea salt. orange twist over each shaved fennel liqueur 1 garlic clove, peeled and minced Two orange twists, for garnish ice to express the oils,bacon then .25 oz Tempus Fugit crème de 1⁄4 pound Two biodegradable 4. Let the shrimp marinate for 10 to 15 drop into the glass. Serve violettesuch as 1⁄2 pound easily melted cheese, party straws minutes and then serve. with a straw. 1 lemon wedge, for garnish queso asadero or mozzarella, grated 1 large biodegradable 6 chocolate clams, or other clam such straw In a mixing glass filled with as cherrystones or chowder clams ice, combine the Aperol syrup Boozy(about Karpouzi 1 1⁄2 pounds total)In a cocktail shaker, with six ounces of the prosecco SERVES 1 / 10 MINUTES (reserving the remaining six add ice along with vodka, Karpouzi, 1. theFire ultra uprefreshing the grill or preheat oven tofennel ounces); stir well to combine. lemonthe juice, and Greek watermelon 450°F. salad, is reSERVES / 30 MINUTES Using a2shave ice machine liqueur. Shake and pour interpreted as a cocktail spiked or a food processor, finely into a collins glass. Using with warm2.weather Almejas rellenas is aofspecialty Finelybotanicals dice the onionaand poblano crush 4 cups worth fresh of Loreto— jigger, pour the crème liqueur and in a large aice. stunning besideicethe Sea ofby way of fennel chile and put them bowl. Add Divide village the crushed de violette directly into the creme de violette. Cortez—that showcases the local bounty the minced garlic. Cut the bacon between two large tumblers. center ofinto the drink so it sinks of chocolate Whilesyrup chocolate clams pieces about 1⁄4 inch ontoa the sidebottom. and addGarnish Drizzle half ofclams. the Aperol are for this dish, the recipe to the bowl, along with half the cheese. andtraditional prosecco combination over with a lemon wedge resting 1.5 oz Tito’s vodka also works with large clam, or, .5 foroz freshMix the contents of the bowl thoroughly the crushed ice inany each tumbler. on the rim of the glass. watermelon juice that matter, other sauté-friendly bivalves and set in the fridge. Divide the remaining six Serve with a straw. .75 oz freshly squeezed
Loreto-Style Stuffed Clams
Bar Helix
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Room Service Baja’s Bounty Mail order meat and fish: A sustainable protein buying guide. By Hugh Garvey
companies are refining their recyclable efforts and Photographs by ORIANA KOREN buying carbon offsets to balance things out. Here at Sunset, we found ourselves increasingly relying on an array of protein delivery services to keep us fed and happy at home. Here are some of our favorites that combine quality, service, and speedy delivery at every price point.
F
rom the beachside grills of Ensenada to the seaside restaurants of San Jose del Cabo in Baja, you’ll find fish, mollusks, and crustaceans in a dizzying array of preparations thanks to the abundant waters arcing up and around the peninsula. David Castro Hussong, executive chef at Fauna restaurant in the Valle de Guadalupe, shares both regional classicsand his own creations— seafood and otherwise—in his excellent new The Baja California Cookbook, an exhaustive recipe roadmap to the region. Castro Hussong knows he’s spoiled to be located midway between two bodies of water that together are home to a diversity and abundance of fish unique on this planet. “We’re tremendously lucky,” he says. “We have the cold water of theTHE Pacific SOMETHING WILD: NEW SCHOOL on the west and the warm Sea of Cortez to the BELCAMPO WILD ALASKAN COMPANY BUTCHER: pescatarian diet isyou're cooking Belcampo east.Fact: Youacan use soy when more is known good for you. Fact: finding primarily for their beef, oily yellowtail and tuna, and the Sea of Cortez consistently fresh, wild, sustainwhich is pasture raised on on the easternatside is warmer so youregenerative have fish farms and is able seafood the supermarket is challenging. as clean and lean and that's more cleanWild andAlaskan crisp tasting.about You need makes it easy to get your weekly full flavored as you can get. todose be delicate with your seasonings so you of delicious fish with their But theirdon’t non-beef offerings, killarray the flavor.” of boxes that contain such as pork chops, whole pre-portioned filets to be chickens, At the time of thisready writing Fauna was just bone broth and thawed and cooked. Go for the hot dogs make them a onereopening after having been closed for two Wild Combo Box, which includes stop fullmonths service butchery. during full lockdown. “I was going crazy," says $129 for a The price: halibut, cod, rockfish and other month’sarrived worth of steak, white Hussong. fish as well as salmon. Castro "But then our first guests The price: $131 per box and up; chicken, sausage, andwildalaskancompany.com I wanted to hug each and everyone ofand them.” beef sticks; That’s happening today, but we have these Thenot payoff: Omega-3s belcampo.com The payoff: the regulardishes to cook until hearty yetonrefreshing we live Paleo fuel in a world where it’s possible.
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FULL SERVICE FEAST: COTE VIA GOLDBELLY Sometimes you want to open up a box of beef and not even think about how you’re going to make the most of it. Enter the Original Butcher’s Feast from Michelinstarred New York Korean Steakhouse COTE: you get prime marinated galbi, toothsome hanger, and tender ribeye, plus all the banchan pickled sides and ssamjang you need to pretend you’re eating at a smokey, packed, Korean steakhouse, like the old days. The price: $249 for a 6 person feast (which comes out to roughly $40 bucks a pop for a Michelin-quality meal); goldbelly.com The payoff: A top-flight Korean steakhouse pops up in your backyard
SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD: SITKA SALMON SHARES With carbon offsets, a transparent supply chain, and a focus on sustainability, Sitka Salmon Shares delivers peace of mind with every box of fish. If you’d like to split a big order between friends and keep packaging down, go for the neighborhood box. In addition to salmon, Sitka offers an array of white fish and spot prawns as well. The price: $109 per box and up; sitkasalmonshares.com The payoff: Feel good fish
FARMED SALMON DONE RIGHT: KVARØY ARCTIC Based in the northern reaches of Norway, Kvarøy sets the standard in sustainable salmon farming best practices. Their silky and rich fish is super high in long-chain omega-3s, and is free of antibiotics, hormones, and artificial coloring. The results are consistently delicious and free of the downsides of many other farmed offerings. The price: $90 for 10 8 oz. portions; kvaroyarctic.com The payoff: Ridiculously rich farmed salmon
COTE: COURTESY OF GARY HE FOR COTE; BELCAMPO: © CELIA CATALINO/COURTESY OF BELCAMPO; REMAINING IMAGES: COURTESY OF COMPANIES
At the south end of the West While buying mail order meat a fimost rst time event Coast swims some ofwas the for many quarantine-era shoppers, for years it’s sublime seafood in the world. been a go-to move forrecipes chefs and restaurateurs These regional from the who routinely order specialty cuts of meat and fish peninsula are sustainable, lashed to be shipped in from suppliers. packaging with lime and chile, andWhile perfect can to the environmental impact, many of the for add a fall feast.
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3. Open the clams, keeping the hinge intact, and separate the useable meat from the digestive tract (a complex of hard and soft bits). Discard the digestive tracts or save them for making stock. But don’t discard the shells; you will need them for cooking. Clean them with water, keeping the shell tops hinged to their bottoms, and set them aside for a moment.
1. Put the chiltepín chiles into a blender or food processor with the sugar and salt. Blend them into a powder and set aside. 2. Slice the red onion as finely as you can. Slice the cucumber into wafer-thin discs. Put the lime juice in a measuring cup or large glass. Add the pepper-salt-sugar powder and stir with a fork.
A5: © JOSEPHWEAVER.COM; REMAINING IMAGES: COURTESY OF COMPANIES
3. Halve each shrimp lengthwise and arrange all the shrimp halves in one layer on a plate. Stir the lime juice mixture so that the powder in it is suspended as much as possible and pour the juice all over the shrimp so that each shrimp gets some. (If you don’t have enough juice to cover all the shrimp, just squeeze another lime directly over any parts you missed.) Lay the cucumber slices over the shrimp. Top the whole dish with the red onion and finish with the sea salt. 4. Let the shrimp marinate for 10 to 15 minutes and then serve.
4. Cut the clam meat into pieces 1⁄2 inch on a side or smaller. Then put an equal amount of the clam meat into the bottom of each clamshell. Top with a spoonful of the bacon of your choice. You can cook the clams mixture, making sure the toppings are evenly either in the oven or outdoors over fire. distributed among each clamshell. Finish If you choose to cook them over mesquite each clamshell with the remainder of the charcoal or hardwood such as oak, you’ll grated cheese. get a nice smoke flavor added as well. Cooking time might vary quite a bit based 5. Close all the clamshells and wrap each inon the size of your clams and, if you’re dividual shell completely with aluminum foil. cooking outdoors, the temperature of Grill them for 20 minutes or bake in the oven your grill. Rather than depend on the for 12 to 15 minutes. cooking times given here, you can instead peel back the foil on a clam—being care- 6. Pile the foil-wrapped clams on a single ful not to burn your fingers—and peek plate and serve family-style, letting each inside to make sure the cheese is melted guest take clam, peel the foilsome back,75,000 and get Every day the legendary NewaYork butcher makes and everything looks properly cooked. burger patties from blends, and while you can get nearly atcustom the deliciousness inside. of black angus (from tomahawks to New York strip), It’s typical to have tostaditas any andcut lime you’re not going to find a better burger to throw on the grill. wedges on the table, but no accompaniThe price: $16 for four brisket hamburger patties; lafrieda.com ments are really necessary. Honestly, The payoff: Socially-distanced barbecue in the park the table isn’t necessary either!
The Old School Butcher: Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors
1⁄2 red onion, peeled 1 poblano chile or bell pepper, with stem, pith, and ribs removed 1 garlic clove, peeled and minced 1⁄4 pound bacon 1⁄2 pound easily melted cheese, such as queso asadero or mozzarella, grated 6 chocolate clams, or other large clam such as cherrystones or chowder clams (about 1 1⁄2 pounds total)
Loreto-Style Stuffed THEClams PRIME TIME PURVEYOR: A5 1. MEAT Fire up the grill or preheat the oven to
Can Do Fish:
Wild Fish Cannery This2Bay 450°F. delights SERVES / 30Area-based MINUTES high-end purveyor of carnivorous offers regular deliveries of exquisitely marbled Wagyu beef and other Not everyone has the freezer space to store a cache of quality heritage breeds typically only available to top restaurants. Case in Almejas rellenas a specialty Loreto— Finely version dice the poblano which is half the appeal of the canned delicacies from point: Altair, an is Australian farmofoffering a rare2. grass-fed ofonion andprotein, Wildfish Wagyu village that combines benefits meatput in one. a stunning besidehealth the Sea of and luscious chile and them in a large bowl.Cannery Add in Klawock, Alaska. The other half is how delicious their locally caught, alder-smoked offerings are. In addition to If you’re only going to eat beef once a week and can afford it, this Cortez—that bounty minced garlic.aCut the bacon intospecialties like geoduck, smoked caviar, and octopus, regional is the way toshowcases do it. Insiderthe tiplocal for San Franciscothe residents wanting of chocolate clams. chocolate pieces about 1⁄4 inch on a side and addall grades of salmon including the rare white king. they offer taste of how theWhile pros cook Wagyu:clams the A5 founders also run The price: from $10 a can to $194 for a primo mixed case; Japanese for restaurant GOZU, which just added patio dining. are traditional this dish, the recipe to the bowl, along with half the cheese. The price: $350 per month; a5meats.com wildfishcannery.com also works with The anypayoff: large clam, forat a premium Mix the contents of the bowl thoroughly Primeor,beef The payoff: Shelf stable, high quality quarantine fuel that matter, other sauté-friendly bivalves
and set in the fridge.
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From the Archives
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This special section is dedicated to one of our most crucial natural resources and most powerful sources of inspiration: the waters we find here in the West. From coastal retreats to alpine lakes, from winding streams to raging rapids, we celebrate these unique and irreplaceable assets—by bringing you the stories of the people who protect and enjoy them. Compiled by MATT BEAN, HUGH GARVEY, AND KATE WERTHEIMER Illustrations by STEPHEN KAMIFUJI
Shown here is Thor’s Well, a natural water feature just south of Yachats, in the Cape Perpetua Scenic Area of Oregon. Photograph by Matt Bean.
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Senegalese surfer and an original member of Black Girls Surf, Khadjou Sambe waits to catch the perfect wave.
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Waves of Change Black Girls Surf and the rising tide of equal representation by J.D. SIMKINS Photograph by GIOVANNI ASTORINO
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Clockwise from the left: Here is where the caption goes to identify Black Girls Surf photo the hasthe used the on pop(top) or paddle maybe ular act of theas(right) or perouts a platform haps the the west one on around andthethe(bottom) world to peacefully protest racial injustice. FA L L 2 02 0
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GIOVANNI ASTORINO
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honda Harper was still new to the surfing scene in 1987 when, leaving the beach one evening in California’s historic Santa Cruz, she returned to her Nissan 300ZX to find the words “Go home n-----” scrawled across the car in wax. The message was a rude awakening, to say the least. Rhonda had spent her teenage years surfing undisturbed on the pristine beaches of Hawaii’s North Shore. “I didn't even know there was a difference,” she says. “It wasn't until I came to California that I realized that there was an issue with being Black.” In the Golden State Harper learned the contours of racism and localism as a Black female surfer. At the state’s beaches onlookers would stop to stare, utter comments, or snap photos. “It made it feel like a spectacle,” Harper says. “It's very intrusive.” Surfing’s own history, much like Harper’s experience as a participant in the sport, is a complicated one. No other activity emphasizes peace and tranquility more while historically coexisting— and oftentimes thriving—in the same theaters that have been mired in conflict. From the sport's appropriation from native Hawaiians, whom certain Christian missionaries in the 1890s referred to as an “infant race,” to the 1960s pilgrimage of foreign surfers to Indonesia, where wave riders enjoyed their own tropical heaven mere miles from where death squads were carrying out the mass executions of an estimated half a million people, surfing's willful ignorance of flagrant issues against humanity amid a quest for Zen and human enlightenment has served as the ultimate paradox. It wasn’t until the mid-1980s that a monumental event would signal the sport's acknowledgement of its platform as one that carries political influence. Australia’s top surfer Tom Carroll was coming off of two world championships when he boycotted the South African leg of the 1985 tour to protest the country's apartheid, a move that paved the way for future generations of surfers to use their platform to advocate for human rights. Thousands of miles away from Carroll's historic moment of resolution, Rhonda Harper’s involvement in surfing was just getting underway.
“I say this all the time, but Roxy actually started all of this,” she laughs, “just from wanting to have clothes that fit and represented me.” Harper’s creation of a clothing line designed for Black surfers, however, yielded one considerable barrier. “You always need that one surfer who’s popular to wear whatever it is you've designed,” Harper says. “There wasn't any. So, I started doing research about the African diaspora. I was finding little pockets of surfers, but I wasn't finding women.” A well-calculated pit stop to become a credentialed judge for surfing contests supplied Harper with the foundation and connections needed to launch the first ever Africa Surf International Contest—to be held in Sierra Leone in September 2014—which would at long last assemble candidates for Harper's surf line and showcase talent throughout the region. All she needed was contestants. On a visit to West Africa in 2013, Harper met Kadiatu Kamara, or “KK,” a talented surfer who was her country's only female participant. But without competition to challenge KK, the contest appeared destined to fail before it could even get off the ground. “We started looking at surf camps,” Harper says, “and I saw a photo of this girl with a surfboard in Senegal. I reached out to the camp and they said she was an instructor there. That's how we found Khadjou Sambe. I asked if she wanted to be in this contest. She was in right away.” But just as the foundations were being put into place for the 2014 contest, devastating news broke of the first significant spread of Ebola throughout West Africa. “So, what do you do when you have surfers awaiting a contest that’s placed on an indefinite hold?" Harper says. "That’s how Black Girls Surf was started. We decided that we were going to try and bring Khadjou and KK to California to train.” Of course, political elections, immigration policy changes, border closures, and yet another relentless international pandemic in the coronavirus have not made the transatlantic move an easy one. KK, the club’s first member, remains in Sierra Leone. Khadjou, however, made it to California in 2018. Khadjou attracted immediate attention when she put her talent on display off the California coast, and it wasn't always positive. The negative remarks and blatant bullying in the water came on a daily basis, Harper says. “I’d take her to different locations where grown men are screaming at her or cutting her off, or older men are yelling at us about being there even though it’s a public beach. That was 2019 and it was happening in the same area where I had to deal with it in 1987.” Other curious beach goers were compelled to join in—a few at a time at first, then by the dozens. The influx of participants swelled
You can't help but be excited
Black Girls Surf Is Born Harper’s road to creating Black Girls Surf was anything but linear. A stint in the U.S. Coast Guard, numerous jobs in the tech and finance industries, and a stretch as a celebrity designer all preceded her foray into the surfing industry. With a nod to the labyrinth that has been her professional path, the protean Harper actually credits her tour in the fashion industry as the catalyst for Black Girls Surf.
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Using Surfing to Do Something Positive Just as Tom Carroll used surfing 35 years ago to protest racial injustice, so, too are athletes around the globe using their platforms to stand against racism and police brutality—movements ignited by the recent killing of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. Harper and the members of Black Girls Surf are no different. “It was time to say: Okay, how do we use this growth and this energy to do something positive?” Harper says. First, the club hosted Black Lives Matter paddle outs that garnered international attention. In spite of the peaceful nature of protests, organizers received immediate threats from white supremacist organizations, Harper says, forcing the group to add security to each event. “People want to control narratives and want to control other people,” Harper says. “Instilling fear is a huge thing in white supremacy. The fact that people are starting to wake up to discrimination, you see that fear and how it turns into anger. So, we just try to keep it as peaceful as possible. You can see our faces. You can talk to us.” Despite the pushback the international community’s response to the paddle outs has been overwhelmingly positive, putting Black Girls Surf on an even bigger stage while leading to the creation of the “Solidarity in Surfing” initiative. “The diversity of these paddle outs was incredible,” Harper says. “I'm still getting requests to do more from people of all ages and backgrounds. I didn't realize the diversity of surfing until these events.”
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Other organizations like The Surfrider Foundation have also joined the effort to make the sport more inclusive, launching a program geared toward “fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization for all people who protect and enjoy the world’s ocean, waves, and beaches,” the Surfrider website says. “Our success and impact depends on learning from our community, standing in solidarity with our allies and working towards a more just future, both for our organization and the environmental movement as a whole.” The impact Black Girls Surf has had on the surfing community is irrefutable. Still, its influential capacity never dawned on Harper more than the day the club was set to host one of the first international paddle outs. “I woke up early because I was just excited,” she says, “and participants in Indonesia had already sent me photographs of their paddle out. I just cried. I knew right then that this was larger and it had nothing to do with just being Black. This is about social justice and humanity. It was enlightening for all of us.” Progress, when it comes to surfing’s inclusivity, has been undeniable in the wake of recent tragedies, Harper says. The same industry that appeared eager to reject her that day in 1987, or assailed Khadjou as she outperformed local wave riders on the beach in 2019, has undoubtedly matured in recent months—but there remains a long journey ahead. “Has society changed with Black women surfing? Of course. Are we excited about it? Oh, more than you know,” Harper says. “It's an ever-reaching sport that is evolving into something really beautiful and positive. I have hope for surfing now.”
Sambe takes a break from the waves.
GIOVANNI ASTORINO
the membership of Black Girls Surf exponentially beyond what Harper ever fathomed. “There were so many inquiries about surfing and getting in the water,” she says. “Women were calling all the time and asking how they could get their daughter involved. When you look at somebody like Khadjou become an icon of Black women's surfing—this very strong West African woman is out there on a wave and she's killing it—and the response that people have to her, you can't help but be excited about that.” After starting with only two members—KK and Khadjou—Black Girls Surf now boasts nine camps, each of which are overflowing with so many membership requests that the club is struggling to fill instructor positions. Harper, meanwhile, traveled in January to the camp in Senegal, where she's been forced to remain due to travel restrictions implemented in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. But that’s been a blessing, she says. “I think one of the things that is so good about [remaining in Senegal] is I’ve been able to really focus on the girls,” Harper says, adding that there are now upwards of 40 girls in the camp in Khadjou’s hometown. “Little girls run up to you and they want to come surf with you. It's all day, every day,” Harper says. “Keep in mind this was once a patriarchal society where a woman’s request to surf would have always been rejected. Now you have parents asking if we can take their daughters into the program.”
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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: TOBY NICOL/@TOBYTRAVELSHOTS; GIOVANNI ASTORINO; KHADJOU SAMBE
Clockwise from top: A Black Girls Surf event gathering just before the paddle out; Sambe flashes her talent on a wave; Rhonda Harper spreads the love and word.
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Farming the Waters An Oregon entrepreneur draws inspiration—and more—from the coast by BEN JACOBSEN, FOUNDER, JACOBSEN SALT Photograph by MAT T BEAN
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n August of 2011, while living in Portland, Oregon, I left a tech media company I co-founded to pursue making salt—a completely different way to make a living. Long gone were the days of troubleshooting a user experience, analyzing CSS, and attempting to build a business that depended on coding. I hadn't been drawing a salary for two and a half years and was living off my savings when I decided it was time to take the leap. Throughout those trying years, I had been experimenting with making salt from the Pacific, an essential mineral I became fascinated with living in Scandinavia. I yearned to dive into something that moved me: emotionally, physically, and spiritually. I found that on the Oregon coast, where I was met with its nature; both beautiful and unforgiving. It's one of the most awe-inspiring coastlines in America. From rugged, rocky shores, to long sandy beaches, tidal pools, bays, and waterfalls flowing directly into the seawater, it moves you. At least it moved me, and still does. The Oregon coast was a new beginning for me, a chance for
renewal. I ditched trying to be something I wasn't, and threw myself into a thousand-year-old process of crafting salt from seawater. I didn't just want to make any salt, I wanted to make the best salt in the world. Why try to make something just average from a coastline this beautiful? The salt I wanted to make was dependent on three primary variables; taste, texture, and color, all of which were influenced by both technique and the source. I wanted salt that tasted incredibly bright and briny, with no associated bitterness. I wanted the salt to be very light and flaky, like snowflakes, with a textural contrast to food, and striking on food visually. I wanted to create a salt that was as transformative to food as much as Oregon's coast was transformative for me. From Neah Bay in Washington down to Gold Beach, Oregon, I collected seawater from 27 different spots. I took several trips up and down the coast, steering clear of flocks of tourists in town, seeking isolation. That was my goal: to find the best seawater, largely untouched by people. Harvested seawater was then
I ditched trying to be something I wasn't.
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Ben Jacobsen stands next to a cairn while the inlet tube for his salt-making facility, the faint white PVC line stretching behind him, takes in water for processing.
made into salt of varying qualities and precision in my kitchen back in Portland. Some pots, pans, and cookware were damaged beyond repair before I landed on the right combination of technique and source to represent both the salt that I wanted and the coast that offered the right seawater. Oyster farming, crabbing, fishing, coastal headlands with cottage industries such as logging, farming, foraging, are all the confluence of what the Oregon coast meant to me. For me, the Oregon and Washington coast will always hold a piece
of my heart. To this day, it has transformed me personally and professionally. And during this year of immense change and isolation, it has once again offered me that space for silence and transformation. Founded in 2011, Jacobsen Sea Salt (jacobsensalt.com) was the first dedicated salt foundry since Lewis and Clarkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in 1805. Now the seasoning of choice from Michelin stand-outs to seaside shacks alike.
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Deeper Meaning A freediver and father-to-be explores human nature while communing with nature in the deep blue sea. by ADAM SKOLNICK Photograph by APRIL WONG
The author in his happy place 30 feet under the surface of the ocean.
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tothe themurder surfing 1987 nhonda Friday,Harper May 29,was fourstill daysnew after ofscene GeorgeinFloyd, when, leaving the beach oneexploded, evening inI California’s historic and the morning after Minneapolis stood barefoot on a SantainCruz, she returned hergazed Nissan 300ZX to find the blonde beach Southern Californiatoand toward a gathering of words “Go home n-----” across car in wax. common dolphins. First scrawled a few dorsal finsthe appeared, then there were The and message a rude awakening, say the least. Rhonda had a dozen thenwas hundreds. Suddenly, ittowas a stampede, a migraspent her teenage undisturbed on the pristine tion. Babies leapt years from surfing the water, clearing the ocean from beaches nose to of North Shore. “I didn't eventhree-foot know there was and a differtail.Hawaii’s Adults charged with velocity, surfed swells their ence,” she says. “It wasn't until I came to end California I realized own wake. The super pod stretched from to end that for more than that there was an issue with being Black.” a mile. In Golden State learned the contours racism and Thethe night before I’dHarper watched a police precinct, of and the surlocalism a Black surfer. At the state’s beaches onlookers roundingas blocks burnfemale on television. Smoke gathered over and around would stop to stare, or snap photos. livid protesters like utter a griefcomments, inferno. Justifiable rage would soon be “It made it feel bullets like a and spectacle,” Harper “It's every very unleashed like rubber batons, to smashsays. and grab intrusive.” major city and threaten to swallow us whole or shatter Surfing’s us like glass. own history, much like Harper’s experience as a participant in at themy sport, complicated one.flashpoint No other activity emI’d gazed wife isasashe watched the phasizes peace and her tranquility moreonwhile historically catch in real time, small hand her baby bump, coexisting— and oftentimes thriving—in the and same theaterstothat illuminated by televised flames, I wanted cry. have On been mired in theconflict. heels of a pandemic that had claimed 100,000 lives the so sport's Hawaiand From wrecked manyappropriation livelihoods, from she’d native reached her ians, certain Christian in the third whom trimester. What a time missionaries to bring a baby into1890s this referred toShe as an “infant race,”saying to theit.1960s pilgrimage sad world. said it without We both did. of foreign to IIndonesia, where wave riders Twelve surfers hours later couldn’t stop laughing. enjoyed theirsaid own tropical mere miles It’s been that writersheaven are at their best whenfrom we where squads were carrying out the mass channeldeath our rage. Most of us are misfits, often tooexecusentions of anguished, an estimated surfing's sitive or andhalf a lotaofmillion us havepeople, been driven to the page to let willful ignorance of all flagrant issues humanity it all out. Personally, of that’s true,against but sometimes the sadness or amid human has help at all. anger aorquest even for the Zen love and is too heavyenlightenment and writing won’t served as the ultimate Sometimes I just don’tparadox. know what to say. It mid-1980s that a alone, monumental event with woulda So wasn’t I swimuntil and the I dive, occasionally more often signal thefriends. sport'sWe’re acknowledgement of its platform one that group of out there at least twice a week, as year-round. carries influence. Australia’s top addicts. surfer Tom Carroll was We’re a political water tribe. We’re escapists. We’re coming of two world when he boycotted the Our off regular swim takeschampionships us a quarter mile offshore to a rock reef South African leg of athe 1985We’re tour tonot protest country's apartheid, that wraps around point. fast, the though we cover a disatance moveofthat pavedtwo themiles, way for future generations of swimmers surfers to use around and unlike most ocean we their platform to advocate for human rights.us to do a lot of freedivwear masks instead of goggles, which allows Thousands of miles from Carroll's historic moment of ing. Some dives are just a away few feet, others almost sixty, but the best resolution, Harper’s involvement views can beRhonda found in thirty feet of water. in surfing was just getting underway. Our terrain is a marine protected area (MPA). In California, some MPAs allow for recreational fishing. Ours is a no-take zone. Black Girls Surf Isout Born You can’t smuggle so much as a clam shell which is why it’s always so full of life. Here are squiggly and vibrant nudibranchs, sea Harper’s roadblack to creating BlackWe Girls wastoanything but linear. stars and ink sea urchins. diveSurf cracks peep spotted horn A in the U.S.and Coast Guard, numerous jobsThey in the techclock and andstint leopard sharks too many lobster to count. always finance industries, and aalien stretch as We a celebrity designerschools all preceded us with their cartoonish eyes. wiggle through of sea her industry. bass,foray opalinto eye the andsurfing yellowtail and scissor kick alongside gliding bat nod to the labyrinth has been her professional rays.With You acould swim for miles that in either direction and never path, see a the protean Harper actually credits herlittle tourMPA. in the fashion industry fraction of the wildlife we have in our as the catalyst Black GirlsMPAs Surf. are small sanctuaries where sea That’s the for whole point.
“I say this all thereplenish time, butthen Roxy actually started all of this,” life can take shelter, repopulate the ocean at large. she “just infrom wanting to have clothes and Therelaughs, is no fishing our little paradise so there can bethat greatfit fishing represented all around it.me.” It’s simple math, an example of good government and Harper’s creation of into a clothing law enforcement leaning life forline the designed benefit offor all Black life. surfers, however, yielded one considerable barrier. But MPAs aren’t just about replenishing fishing grounds. They always thatbeing one used surfertowho’s popular to ecosystems wear whatare a“You tool that canneed and are preserve marine ever it is and you've designed,” Harper says. “There wasn't any. isSo, anywhere everywhere. That’s important because the ocean theI started doing research about thecollective African diaspora. I was finding world’s biggest carbon sink—our lungs absorbing carbon little pockets butby I wasn't finding women.” dioxide, whichofissurfers, then used phytoplankton, a microscopic marine A to well-calculated pit stop to become credentialed judge for plant, create breathable oxygen. Half of athe oxygen in our atmosurfing contests supplied Harper the at foundation andtreat connecsphere is produced this way, but with looking the way we the tions needed the first ever Africa Surffishing, International sea— our oceantoislaunch under siege worldwide, from over plastic Contest—to held in Sierra Leone in September 2014—which pollution, andbeclimate change—it’s obvious we don’t realize it. And would at longthat last disconnect assemble candidates line and threatens for itsHarper's delicatesurf balance. It showcase talent throughout threatens us. the region. All she neededOf was contestants. course, even when unvarnished truth has been On a visitcaptured to West on Africa in 2013, Harper met Kadiatu Kamara, video, not everyone is willing to see it or or “KK,” a talented surfer who was her country's onlyalways femaleconsider particiacknowledge its deep roots. Some will pant. But without competition challenge KK, theandcontest the well-being of the to ocean, wild animals, other appeared destined to totheir fail before it could get off people, as separate own. Instead of even interdepenthe ground. dence and connectedness, they crave dominance and “We started at surf control. Some are looking willing to bully,camps,” attack,Harper or evensays, kill “and for it. I saw a photo of this girl with a surfboard in Senegal. I reached out toofthe and nothing they saidmore she Then there are those us camp who love was an instructor there. That's how we Over foundthe Khadjou than swimming with marine mammals. years, Sambe. I asked if she wanted be in this She we’ve had some special experiences in andtoaround ourcontest. house reef. was away.” sea lion ballet, 50-strong, and have We’ve been cast inin anright underwater But justspy as the foundations were put into been treated to hour-long hopping seminars ledbeing by migrating place for 2014 hide-and-go-seek contest, devastating broke grey whales. We’ve eventhe played withnews more thanofa the significant few first harbor seals. spread of Ebola throughout West Africa. “So, youmagical do when you have surfers awaitingtoo, a contest We’vewhat had do some interactions with dolphins but on that’s on an indefinite hold?" Harper "That’s May 27placed they kept their distance. For the first says. half hour, we how couldBlack still Girls Surf was started. We migrated decided that we wereTheir goingoverlapping to try and hear them though as they northwest. bring and KK to California to train.” chirpsKhadjou and squeaks became our underwater opera. Of political immigration policybut changes, borThecourse, water was cold elections, that day, under 60 degrees, the repetider yet another relentless international in tive closures, dives, theand wildlife, the foaming waves thrashing a pandemic rocky shore, the coronavirus have not made the transatlantic move an in easy one. all of it was a life-affirming reminder that we are never control. KK,part theof club’s first when member, in Sierra Khadjou, That’s the deal you remains consciously enterLeone. the food chain, however, it to California in 2018. when youmade put yourself at the mercy of the Pacific Ocean. The lesson Khadjou attracted immediate attention she put talent comes in learning to relax no matter what when it serves you.her And our on display California and it wasn't always positive. The swim that off daythe reminded me coast, of something else too. There is advennegative remarks and blatant bullying in the water came on a daily ture, beauty, and peace to be found on this sweet earth, especially in basis, Harper her waters. Mysays. wife knows it well. She’s in the water tribe too, and “I’d take to different locations where men are screamwe can’t wait her to swim and dive with our littlegrown boy one day. ing at her or cutting her off, or older men are yelling at us about Adam there Skolnick is though a Los Angeles-based freediver, being even it’s a public beach. Thatjournalist, was 2019and andauthor. it was He's the author of One Freediving, and the it Quest to Shatter happening in the sameBreath: area where I hadDeath, to deal with in 1987.” Human Limits and co-author, with were Davidcompelled Goggins, of York Other curious beach goers toThe joinNew in—a fewTimes at a best-selling Can't Hurt Your Mind andof Defy the Odds. swelled time at first, then byMe: theMaster dozens. The influx participants
We’re a water tribe. We’re You escapists. can't We’re help addicts. but be excited
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Using Surfing to Do Something Positive Just as Tom Carroll used surfing 35 years ago to protest racial injustice, so, too are athletes around the globe using their platforms to stand against racism and police brutality—movements ignited by the recent killing of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. Harper and the members of Black Girls Surf are no different. “It was time to say: Okay, how do we use this growth and this energy to do something positive?” Harper says. First, the club hosted Black Lives Matter paddle outs that garnered international attention. In spite of the peaceful nature of protests, organizers received immediate threats from white supremacist organizations, Harper says, forcing the group to add security to each event. “People want to control narratives and want to control other people,” Harper says. “Instilling fear is a huge thing in white supremacy. The fact that people are starting to wake up to discrimination, you see that fear and how it turns into anger. So, we just try to keep it as peaceful as possible. You can see our faces. You can talk to us.” Despite the pushback the international community’s response to the paddle outs has been overwhelmingly positive, putting Black Jason Girls and SurfJustin on an even bigger stage while leading to the creation of the approach the “Solidarity sacred streamin Surfing” initiative. after nearly 4 “The diversity of these paddle outs was incredible,” Harper says. miles of hiking. “I'm still getting requests to do more from people of all ages and backgrounds. I didn't realize the diversity of surfing until these events.”
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Other organizations like The Surfrider Foundation have also joined the effort to make the sport more inclusive, launching a program geared toward “fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization for all people who protect and enjoy the world’s ocean, waves, and beaches,” the Surfrider website says. “Our success and impact depends on learning from our community, standing in solidarity with our allies and working towards a more just future, both for our organization and the environmental movement as a whole.” The impact Black Girls Surf has had on the surfing community is irrefutable. Still, its influential capacity never dawned on Harper more than the day the club was set to host one of the first international paddle outs. “I woke up early because I was just excited,” she says, “and participants in Indonesia had already sent me photographs of their paddle out. I just cried. I knew right then that this was larger and it had nothing to do with just being Black. This is about social justice and humanity. It was enlightening for all of us.” Progress, when it comes to surfing’s inclusivity, has been undeniable in the wake of recent tragedies, Harper says. The same industry that appeared eager to reject her that day in 1987, or assailed Khadjou as she outperformed local wave riders on the beach in 2019, has undoubtedly matured in recent months—but there remains a long journey ahead. “Has society changed with Black women surfing? Of course. Are we excited about it? Oh, more than you know,” Harper says. “It's an ever-reaching sport that is evolving into something really beautiful and positive. I have hope for surfing now.”
Sambe takes a break from the waves.
GIOVANNI ASTORINO
the membership of Black Girls Surf exponentially beyond what Harper ever fathomed. “There were so many inquiries about surfing and getting in the water,” she says. “Women were calling all the time and asking how they could get their daughter involved. When you look at somebody like Khadjou become an icon of Black women's surfing—this very strong West African woman is out there on a wave and she's killing it—and the response that people have to her, you can't help but be excited about that.” After starting with only two members—KK and Khadjou—Black Girls Surf now boasts nine camps, each of which are overflowing with so many membership requests that the club is struggling to fill instructor positions. Harper, meanwhile, traveled in January to the camp in Senegal, where she's been forced to remain due to travel restrictions implemented in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. But that’s been a blessing, she says. “I think one of the things that is so good about [remaining in Senegal] is I’ve been able to really focus on the girls,” Harper says, adding that there are now upwards of 40 girls in the camp in Khadjou’s hometown. “Little girls run up to you and they want to come surf with you. It's all day, every day,” Harper says. “Keep in mind this was once a patriarchal society where a woman’s request to surf would have always been rejected. Now you have parents asking if we can take their daughters into the program.”
OF WATERS THE WEST OF WATERS THE WEST
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honda Harper was still new to the surfing scene in 1987 “I say this all the time, but Roxy actually started all of this,” when, leaving the beach one evening in California’s historic she laughs, “just from wanting to have clothes that fit and Santa Cruz, she returned to her Nissan 300ZX to find the represented me.” words “Go home n-----” scrawled across the car in wax. Harper’s creation of a clothing line designed for Black surfers, The message was a rude awakening, to say the least. Rhonda had however, yielded one considerable barrier. spent her teenage years surfing undisturbed on the pristine beaches “You always need that one surfer who’s popular to wear whatof Hawaii’s North Shore. “I didn't even know there was a differ- ever it is you've designed,” Harper says. “There wasn't any. So, I ence,” she says. “It wasn't until I came to California that I realized started doing research about the African diaspora. I was finding that there was an issue with being Black.” little pockets of surfers, but I wasn't finding women.” by JASON FAERMAN, CO-FOUNDER, YAKODA SUPPLY In the Golden State Harper learned the contours of racism and A well-calculated pit stop to become a credentialed judge for Photograph by ROB HERRMANN localism as a Black female surfer. At the state’s beaches onlookers surfing contests supplied Harper with the foundation and connecwould stop to stare, utter comments, or snap photos. tions needed to launch the first ever Africa Surf International “It made it feel like a spectacle,” Harper says. “It's very Contest—to be held in Sierra Leone in September 2014—which intrusive.” would at long last assemble candidates for Harper's surf line and Surfing’s own history, much like Harper’s experience as a showcase talent throughout the region. participant in the sport, is a complicated one. No other activity emAll she needed was contestants. phasizes peace and tranquility more while historically coexisting— On a visit to West Africa in 2013, Harper met Kadiatu Kamara, and oftentimes thriving—in the same theaters that have been mired or “KK,” a talented surfer who was her country's only female particiut West, there’s a wildland that captures our imagination pant. adventure, all thecompetition reasons we cherish this place likethe it was god's in conflict. But and without to challenge KK, contest and our hearts. It’s a appropriation rugged unforgiving place that always humbles last creation. appeared destined to fail before it could even get off From the sport's from native Hawaius—and yet certain we lookChristian forward tomissionaries it and the pain that1890s comes along with Over the the years, we’ve seen this incredible public land change ians, whom in the ground. the pilgrimage. while always holding ontoatthe whichHarper we hold in referred to as an “infant race,” to the 1960s pilgrimage “We started looking surfgrit camps,” says, The journey begins long before where sunup: wave a marathon reverence. gameoftrails be the only way to of foreign surfers to Indonesia, riders “and I sawWild a photo thisused girl to with a surfboard in drive, followed by a tropical brutally long hikemere through rugged navigate to the those enjoyed their own heaven miles from Senegal. down I reached outwater to thebut camp andhave they widened said she terraindeath marred with cactus, steep rocky and chestfrom increased traffic. otherweanglers happens where squads were carrying out hills, the mass execuwas an instructor there. Seeing That's how found Khadjou high scrub For those enough to have been more frequently whentowe intocontest. each other, tions of anbrush. estimated half alucky million people, surfing's Sambe. I asked ifnow she but wanted berun in this She broughtignorance here, a jewel of a stream awaits full ofhumanity aggresyou tell who knows this land by that familiar look willful of flagrant issues against wascan in right away.” sive rainbow and hungry browns that will smack of aweBut andjust appreciation in their crows feet and wry amid a questtrout for Zen and human enlightenment has as the foundations were being put into big bugs hesitation. Catching more fish than smiles. served as without the ultimate paradox. place for the 2014 contest, devastating news broke of you can count until is thethe norm. this day and age of technology, getting lost in It wasn’t mid-1980s that a monumental event would the first significant In spread of Ebola throughout West Africa. I still my first visit. I of lostitsseveral big as one that is our from allawaiting this “progress." signal the remember sport's acknowledgement platform “So, whatthe do wild you do whenonly youbreak have surfers a contest fish. Like an old influence. sage, my friend smiledtop each time Tom one Carroll was that’s placed on Shoot, if progresshold?" is what it's allsays. about then give my carries political Australia’s surfer an indefinite Harper "That’s howme Black broke offofforofbecame unbuttoned and then when guidedheme hiking boots, andwe flywere rod and in coming two world championships boycotted the Girls Surf was started. We backpack, decided that goingI’lltocheck try and into the rightsleg spots. the tour last cast: a buzzer beater apartheid, bring Khadjouwith after a week to and relay the profound things South African of theAt1985 to protest the country's and you KK to California train.” realized while you ponder how much money you made abeauty move that thatdidn’t pavedget theaway. way for future generations of surfers to use Of course, political elections, immigration policy changes, boryearstohave passedfor since then, and I’ve shared partaking this thinginternational we call civilization. theirMany platform advocate human rights. der closures, while and yet anotherinrelentless pandemic in this Thousands place with only a few trusted carrying on moment of the coronavirus have Maybe that’s little dramatic but an as easy outdoorsof miles away fromsouls, Carroll's historic not made thea transatlantic move one. that tradition of putting them on fish andinsharing men, first we can’t encourage you to get Khadjou, outside, resolution, Rhonda Harper’s involvement surfingthe was just getting KK, the club’s member, remains in enough Sierra Leone. knowledge earned while immersed in these incredible explore, and get lost in the beauty of our public lands. underway. however, made it to California in 2018. surroundings. You’ll almost certainly find yourself along If Khadjou attracted immediate attention when she putthe herway. talent OnGirls any given day, you can see a grown man cry aflucky, you might find aalways place that captures Black Surf Is Born on display offyou’re the California coast, andeven it wasn't positive. The ter losing a good one, then moments later burst out your and heart and imagination andwater welcomes youa daily back negative remarks blatant bullying in the came on into jubilant laughter after Black hooking intoSurf another. Sure, but linear. basis, Harperwith Harper’s road to creating Girls was anything says.a warm prickly embrace each and every time. there areinplenty of tough whennumerous the fishingjobs is slow A stint the U.S. Coastdays Guard, in the tech and “I’d take her to different locations where grown men are screambut if you ask anyone spent out here gettingalllost in the ing finance industries, andwho’s a stretch asaaday celebrity designer preceded at and her co-founder or cuttingJustin her off, older Yakoda men are yelling at ussimple, about Jason Fullerorstarted in 2017 to craft views, rawinto beauty, and soaking in the abundant wildlife they’d gladly being functional flyeven fishing gear sourced from beach. domestic materials, made in it thewas her foray the surfing industry. there though it’s a public That was 2019 and do itWith all over again tomorrow. there,her that’s the magic, the happening U.S. when possible, and tested in the Rocky Mountains. a nod to the labyrinthAnd thatright has been professional path, in the same area where I had to deal with it in 1987.”
The Stream Less Traveled
A trip to a secret river becomes a meditation on reward and meaning
O
You can't You can see help a grown but be man cry excited after losing a fish, then moments later burst out into jubilant laughter after hooking into another.
the protean Harper actually credits her tour in the fashion industry as the catalyst for Black Girls Surf.
Other curious beach goers were compelled to join in—a few at a time at first, then by the dozens. The influx of participants swelled
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A Lake for Everyone Welcoming waters, diverse communities, and rich wildlife help Lake County, California, stand tall
I
love visiting out-of-the-way places, but you don’t always feel welcome there. That’s the big dilemma. You’re often thinking: am I going to be safe here? That’s why Lake County, California, is special to me. You feel like you’ve got some cultural feedback to match the amazing views. Behind and into Hidden Valley Lake, and then into Cache Creek and Clear Lake proper—these are all important to me because nearby was where my family’s ranch was, and where my dad really connected me to the outdoors. I was up there recently with my man Darin, who never met my dad. But there I was able to celebrate a piece of the past. It’s quite a different vibe from Mono Lake. The people you meet are more working class and super diverse. It’s nearby to lifted-up indigenous populations. With all of the identities that I have—a mother, someone who loves nature, a black woman, an adventurer—it just seems Clockwise from to in itsis resonance over time. thegrow left: Here where the caption Fishing really helps me slow down. With Darin, it slows us both goes toand identify down gets us connected in ways that are very different. It’s a the photo on the surprising thing. (top) or maybe the (right) or
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I like to visit Anderson Marsh, too. I always bring my Kaufman Field Guide to Birds and have a good set of glasses with me. You can overlay birding on any other activity. I especially love seeing pair-mated California quails and hearing their calls. California is a state of change. It’s also a landscape that’s always changing and I think that can teach us something. From the forest transept to the coastal redwoods to oak scrublands and alpine forests, nature has a way of uniting people across their differences. I always say: Trees don’t know if you’re Black or white. Birds will sing to you no matter how much money you have in your bank account. Flowers will bloom no matter what your gender. The outdoors is a place where you can leave your isms at the door. It is as available and as perilous to people of all kinds. Rue Mapp is the founder and CEO of of Outdoor Afro (outdoorafro.com), the nation’s leading organization celebrating connections and leadership among Black people in the outdoors. She has been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show, the Today Show, and in previous issues of Sunset magazine.
©BETHANIE HINES PHOTOGRAPHY 2019
by RUE MAPP, FOUNDER AND CEO, OUTDOOR AFRO
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WATERS OF THE WEST ISSUE
OF OF WEST THE WATERS WATERS THE WEST
Beach Time, Made Better
the membership of Black Girls Surf exponentially beyond what Harper ever fathomed. “There were so many inquiries about surfing and getting in the water,” she says. “Women were calling all the time and asking how they could get their daughter involved. When you look at somebody like Khadjou become an icon of Black women's surfing—this very strong West African woman is out there on a wave and she's killing it—and the response that people have to her, you can't help but be excited about that.” After starting with only two members—KK and Khadjou—Black By MATT BEAN Girls Surf now boasts nine camps, each of which are overflowing with so many membership requests that the club is struggling to fill instructor positions. Harper, meanwhile, traveled in January to the camp in Senegal, where she's been forced to remain due to travel restrictions implemented in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. But that’s been a blessing, she says. “I think one of the things that is so good about [remaining in Senegal] is I’ve been able to really focus on the girls,” Harper says, Tadding HE GEA R: K e l t y are now upwards of 40 girls in the camp in Khadthat there S u n S ha d e jou’s hometown. THE REVOLUTION: T e n t “Little - l i k e s girls u p p orun r t s ;up to you and they want to come surf with you. m o vall a b day, l e s hevery a d i n gday,” Harper says. “Keep in mind this was once a It's While other groups patriarchal a woman’s request to surf would have w a t c h t h e i r society u m b r e l lwhere as parents H E have WEAR : O u t e asking r k n o wif n we A p ecan x T take runks palways i n w h e ebeen l a c r rejected. o s s t h e Now Tyou T H E R E V O L U T I O N : Eco-savvy suiting btheir e a c hdaughters , t h i s o n e into s t a y the s program.”
Other organizations like The Surfrider Foundation have also joined the effort to make the sport more T Hinclusive, E G E A R : launching H o b i e E c lai pprose T H E R E and V O L inclusive UTION: gram geared toward “fostering a diverse, equitable, Pedal-powered SUP-ing organization for all people who protectHand o b i enjoy e ’ s p e the d a l world’s d r i v e s yocean, stem waves, and beaches,” the Surfrider website h a s s e t says. their kayaks apart for y e a on r s . learning N o w t h efrom y ’ v e our a d d ecommud it to “Our success and impact depends a stand-up surface available in nity, standing in solidarity with our 1 2 -allies a n d 1and 0 . 5 - working f o o t l e n gtowards t h s . T h ea more just future, both for our organization h a n d l e b and a r s hthe o u senvironmental e directional controls for the rudder movement as a whole.” underneath, making this the The impact Black Girls Surf has community e a had s i e s tonw athe y wsurfing e’ve fou nd yet to is irrefutable. Still, its influential capacity g e t o u tnever o n t hdawned e w a t e r on s t aHarper nding u p . of $ 1 the , 8 0 0first , h o binternaie.com more than the day the club was set to host one tional paddle outs. “I woke up early because I was just excited,” she says, “and participants in Indonesia had already sent me photographs of their paddle out. I just cried. I knew right then that this was larger and it had nothing to do with just being Black. This is about social justice and humanity. It was enlightening for all of us.” Progress, when it comes to surfing’s inclusivity, has been undeniable in the wake of recent tragedies, Harper says. The same industry that appeared eager to reject her that day in 1987, or assailed Khadjou as she outperformed local wave riders on the beach in 2019, has undoubtedly matured in recent months—but there remains a long journey ahead. “Has society changed with Black women surfing? Of course. Are we excited about it? Oh, more than you know,” Harper says. One of the most eco-friendly surf put—providing cover “It's an ever-reaching sport that is evolving into something brands we’ve found, Outerknown also for a medium-sized c o m e Positive s w i t h a p e d i g r e e — i t w a s f o u n d e d really beautiful and positive. I have hope for surfing now.” gUsing r o u p . Surfing I t ’ s o n e to o f Do t h e Something
A raft of smart new gear will shape up your shore time
First, the club hosted Black Lives Matter paddle outs that garnered international attention. In spite of the peaceful nature of protests, organizers received immediate threats from white supremacist organizations, Harper says, forcing the group to add THE GEAR: event. Ysecurity E T I R o ato d ieach e T H E “People R E V O L Uwant T I O Nto : control narratives and want to control other Bigger on the ipeople,” n s i d e c oHarper n s t r u csays. t i o n “Instilling fear is a huge thing in white supremare starting to wake up to discrimination, Racy. e d e sThe i g n efact d f othat r 2 0 2people 0, tyou h i s see c o o lthat e r f ifear t s i nand t h ehow it turns into anger. So, we just try to keep fit o oas t wpeaceful e l l o f y oas u rpossible. rear You can see our faces. You can talk to us.” passenger seats yet the international community’s response to f i t s fDespite u l l b o t tthe l e s pushback of wthe i n e paddle . A n e w outs c l a s phas been overwhelmingly positive, putting Black sGirls y s t e mSurf k e eon p s an t h even e l i d bigger stage while leading to the creation of the on tight—and when initiative. c“Solidarity l o s e d i t a cin t s Surfing” as a p e r f e“The c t p ediversity r c h f o r of these paddle outs was incredible,” Harper says. c“I'm a s t i nstill g o r getting c r a n i n grequests to do more from people of all ages and y o u r n e c k a t t h e s k y. $backgrounds. 2 0 0 , y e t i . c o m I didn't realize the diversity of surfing until these events.”
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Sambe takes a break from the waves.
T H E W E A R : F e r a l We t S u i t THE REVOLUTION:
N o - n o n s e n s e wa r m t h Started by a couple of non-surf outsiders in M i l l Va l l e y , C A , t h i s c u l t brand offers no-nonsense protection from frigid waters. Blending Japanese materials with next-level design features, this summer-weight solution incorporates stretch zones in the arms, shoulders, and neck for a more fluid fit. $385, feralsurfing.com
SURFBOARD: MATT BEAN GIOVANNI ASTORINO
b y t o p s u r f e r K e l l y S l a t e r. T h i s p a i r i s most cost-effective, the perfect warm weather surf solution. durable sun blockers. used surfing 35 years ago $ 1 4 5to , oprotest u t e r k n o racial wn.com BJust o n u sas : aTom m o v aCarroll ble injustice, w a l l a l l o wso, s y too o u tare o athletes around the globe using their platforms ato d j stand u s t t oagainst t h e s u nracism ’s and police brutality—movements ignited by orientation; pockets Taylor and George Floyd. othe n erecent a c h p okilling l e g i v eofy oBreonna u of Black Girls Surf are no different. a m p lHarper e p l a c e and s t o the s t o members w p h o n“It e s , was s p e atime k e r s ,to say: Okay, how do we use this growth and this and frisbees. positive?” Harper says. $energy 1 5 0 , k eto l t ydo . c osomething m
OF OF THE WEST WATERSTHE WATERS WEST
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honda Harper was still new to the surfing scene in 1987 when, leaving the beach one evening in California’s historic Santa Cruz, she returned to her Nissan 300ZX to find the words “Go home n-----” scrawled across the car in wax. The message was a rude awakening, to say the least. Rhonda had spent her teenage years surfing undisturbed on the pristine beaches of Hawaii’s North Shore. “I didn't even know there was a difference,” she says. “It wasn't until I came to California that I realized that there was an issue with being Black.” In the Golden State Harper learned the contours of racism and localism as a Black female surfer. At the state’s beaches onlookers would stop to stare, utter comments, or snap photos. “It made it feel like a spectacle,” Harper says. “It's very intrusive.” Surfing’s own history, much like Harper’s experience as a participant in the sport, is a complicated one. No other activity emphasizes peace and tranquility more while historically coexisting— and oftentimes thriving—in the same theaters that have been mired in conflict. From the sport's appropriation from native Hawaiians, whom certain Christian missionaries in the 1890s referred to as an “infant race,” to the 1960s pilgrimage of foreign surfers to Indonesia, where wave riders enjoyed their own tropical heaven mere miles from where death squads were carrying out the mass executions of an estimated half a million people, surfing's willful ignorance of flagrant issues against humanity amid a quest for Zen and human enlightenment has served as the ultimate paradox. It wasn’t until the mid-1980s that a monumental event would signal the sport's acknowledgement of its platform as one that carries political influence. Australia’s top surfer Tom Carroll was coming off of two world championships when he boycotted the South African leg of the 1985 tour to protest the country's apartheid, a move that paved the way for future generations of surfers to use their platform to advocate for human rights. Thousands of miles away from Carroll's historic moment of Tresolution, H E R I D E : Rhonda Harper’s involvement in surfing was just getting O ld Pal x Album underway.
THE WEAR:
V i s sactually l a W e t Sstarted u i t T o pall of this,” “I say this all the time, but Roxy HE REVOLUTION: she laughs, “just from wanting Tto have clothes that fit and Zipper Fronts represented me.” Some waters are mellow n o u gdesigned h t h a t a ffor u l l Black - b o d y surfers, suit is Harper’s creation of a clothinge line overkill. That’s why we’re however, yielded one considerable barrier. opting for a zipper-front on “You always need that one surfer w a r who’s m d a y spopular , l i k e t hto i s wear 2 m m whatsuit o m V i“There s s l a . $ 9wasn't 9 , v i s s any. l a . c o So, m I ever it is you've designed,” Harperf r says. started doing research about the African diaspora. I was finding little pockets of surfers, but I wasn't finding women.” A well-calculated pit stop to become a credentialed judge for surfing contests supplied Harper with the foundation and connections needed to launch the first ever Africa Surf International Contest—to be held in Sierra Leone in September 2014—which T H E surf G E Aline R : Tand he would at long last assemble candidates for Harper's Te s a l a t e T o w e l showcase talent throughout the region. THE REVOLUTION: All she needed was contestants. Sand-proof fabrics S h a gKadiatu g y t o w eKamara, ls stow On a visit to West Africa in 2013, Harper met s a n donly t h a female t l e a p s particiout in or “KK,” a talented surfer who was her country's vengeance the minute pant. But without competition to challenge y o u eKK, n t e r the y o u r contest home. N o t t hiti scould s l i c k even A u s t get r a l i off an appeared destined to fail before solution, which dries the ground. quickly and shuns sand “We started looking at surf w hcamps,” e r e i t s iHarper t s . We says, love h e d eas i surfboard g n s a s w e l in l. “and I saw a photo of this girl t with 5 9 , they t e s a l asaid t e . c she om Senegal. I reached out to the camp$and was an instructor there. That's how we found Khadjou Sambe. I asked if she wanted to be in this contest. She was in right away.” But just as the foundations were being put into place for the 2014 contest, devastating news broke of the first significant spread of Ebola throughout West Africa. “So, what do you do when you have surfers awaiting a contest that’s placed on an indefinite hold?" Harper says. "That’s how Black Girls Surf was started. We decided that we were going to try and bring Khadjou and KK to California to train.” Of course, political elections, immigration policy changes, border closures, and yet another relentless international pandemic in the coronavirus have not made the transatlantic move an easy one. KK, the club’s first member, remains in Sierra Leone. Khadjou, however, made it to California in 2018. Khadjou attracted immediate attention when she put her talent on display off the California coast, and it wasn't always positive. The negative remarks and blatant bullying in the water came on a daily basis, Harper says. “I’d take her to different locations where grown men are screaming at her or cutting her off, or older men are yelling at us about being there even though it’s a public beach. That was 2019 and it was happening in the same area where I had to deal with it in 1987.” Other curious beach goers were compelled to join in—a few at a time at first, then by the dozens. The influx of participants swelled
You can't help but be excited
Presto Surfboard THE REVOLUTION:
Black W a v e sGirls , m a dSurf e e aIs s yBorn A limited edition collab from We s t C o a s t b r a n d s A l b u m aHarper’s n d O l d Proad a l , t hto i s creating 5 - f o o t - 7 Black Girls Surf was anything but linear. numerous jobs in the tech and rAi pstint p e r o in f a the b o a rU.S. d i s Coast p e r f e cGuard, t ffinance o r a f u nindustries, s e s s i o n i nand m oadstretch e r a t e as a celebrity designer all preceded waves. It’s light, durable, aher n d foray d o e s ninto ’ t n ethe e d surfing w a x t h aindustry. nks that has been her professional path, t o t hWith e g r i pa pnod y t oto p sthe u r flabyrinth ace uthe n d eprotean r f o o t . $Harper 425, actually credits her tour in the fashion industry albumsurf.com as the catalyst for Black Girls Surf.
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Spotlight on Sunglasses
This season’s best shades provide protection and style at every price point. By MATT BEAN Photograph by TAYLOR GLENN
DRAGON ALLIANCE ARIA
Competitive ice climber Corey Buhay swaps sports for a session on Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park.
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@TAYLORGLENN
The first female-specific frame from this long-time lensmaker is built from plant-based resin—castor plants, to be specific. We l o v e t h e l u m a l e n s te c h n o l o g y, w h i c h c u t s glare, amplifies light, and intensifies clarity for a high def world view. $129, dragonalliance.com
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MAHO POSITANO
With the angles of a wayfarer and the metal t e m p l e o f a n a v i a t o r, this frame flatters any f a c e . Va c a t i o n ? S t a y - c a t i o n ? We ’ r e w e a r i n g t h e s e e i t h e r w ay. $ 1 7 0 , m a h o s h a d e s. c o m
RAEN HIRSCH
SMITH PREP
A classic in the Smith line since 1988, these frames are timeless. The only update: the carbonic lens, which is impact resistant, and the range of colors to choose from. $139, smithoptics.com
A California brand that continues to churn out silhouettes just this side of edgy—but with classic acetate materials and color palettes. Perfect for adventurous souls w h o a c t u a l l y, y o u k n o w, go on adventures. $185, raen.com
NOOZ CRUZ
Uncomplicated and (relatively) cheap, these fold-flat glasses nearly disappear when they’re tucked into their slim holding case. We l o v e t h e m f o r impromptu excursions and for keeping handy in the glovebox or backpack in case of emergency sunshine. $60, nooz-optics.com SUNSKI ANDIAMO SPY OPTIC SPRITZER
Grab some attention while you’re catching rays with this bright pair of beamblockers. The “Grilamid” construction will help them last longer—but at the low end of our price range you won’t need a loan to re-up. $65, spyoptic.com
Portland-based Sunski first caught our attention for their stylish but affordable frames. Now they’re moving up into the so-called “premium” market, which still underprices other brands by $100 or more. This clear-framed polarized set-up caught our eyes for its classic styling and included hardcase. $89, sunski.com
OMBRAZ DOLOMITE
A r m l e s s s u n g l a s s e s : T h e y ’ r e a t h i n g ! We l o v e this upstart brand for its adventurous roots— this silhouette reminds us of classic hiking frames, shaped to block out side-light—and for the innovative pull-to-tighten cinch mechanism that doubles as a neckstrap when not in use. When you’re on the go as much as we are, that’s a handy detail. Bonus: the company will plant 20 trees for every pair sold. $112, ombraz.com
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Running through mountain meadows in British Columbia's South Chilcotin Mountains Provincial Park.
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CHRIS THORN PHOTOGRAPHY/COURTESY OF ARC'TERYX
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Seaplanes will transport runners to the starting line. This one is docked at Tyaughton Lake, on the park's fringes.
Hiking through History
An epic trek on the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast, British Columbia
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ith its lush scenery and storied history, the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast in British Columbia, Canada, remains one of the best camping sites in the west. What’s great about this region is that explorers can hike over centuriesold, horse-packed trails that follow the natural contours of the mountains, forest and meadows. The landscape is never-ending and ever-changing, and regardless of where you choose to set up camp, you’ll be nestled amidst a backdrop of jagged, rocky
peaks and crystal-clear mountain lakes. The area transports you back to simpler times, where you can immerse yourself fully in nature’s beauty and thoroughly enjoy the camping experience. If you’re keen on exploring the Chilcotins, Arc’teryx Trips has developed an itinerary that will take participants on a running tour of the South Chilcotin Mountains Provincial Park, but due to COVID-19 the dates are to be determined. Check trips.arcteryx.com for updates. Jurgen Watts is the director of experiences for Arc’teryx Trips
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Anton's son Calder wades into the bay; Oru's folding kayak is shown here.
Beaches by Boat Paddle camping through Tomales Bay, California
Anton Willis is the founder of Oru Kayak
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COURTESY OF ANTON WILLIS
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love the solitude of backpacking, but also the creature comforts of car camping—the ability to bring fresh food and spacious tents. Kayak camping gives you the best of both worlds—and my favorite place for it is Tomales Bay. It has dozens of little beaches that can't be accessed by road or trail, but are easy to reach by boat. You can have your own private unspoiled beach to pitch a tent. Make sure to pay attention to the high tide line—the first time I went, I awoke to wet feet as the waves lapped my tent. For those who are used to the majestic but wild beaches of Northern California, Tomales has a very different flavor—it's tranquil and lush, with surprisingly warm and swimmable water. For a truly magical experience, go on a moonless night in the late summer. Bioluminescent plankton fill the bay, and paddling in the dark is a wonder. Every paddle stroke leaves a sparkling trail, and you can see the glowing outlines of fish and stingrays passing beneath you.
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Sunset on the Bay Chanslor Ranch, California, offers a family-friendly overnight
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y husband and I both grew up loving camping our whole life. In fact, one of our first dates was a 25-mile backpacking trip together. But as both our careers and our family grew, it became difficult to prioritize trips under the stars. Having newborn twins and an active toddler makes it harder to get out the door, but we know it’s ALWAYS worth it. Our favorite thing to do on a Friday is to pack up our ’85 VW Vanagon with kids and snacks and head to an overnight at Chanslor Ranch. There is nothing like watching the sunset over Bodega Bay, while our kids make s'mores and play in the dirt. It’s like every item on our to-do list fades away, the things we forgot at home don’t matter and we have a glimpse into what matters most: family. It’s times like this that we know it’s worth it, and we will always prioritize time in nature. Lacey Shelton is the regional director of operations for the Northwest, CorePower Yoga
COURTESY OF SUBJECTS
Clockwise from left: Magic hour on Bodega Bay; tech toys not needed on this Salmon River rafting and camping trip.
Float On The Salmon River's Middle Fork offers an Idaho escape
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he third night of my family’s Middle Fork of the Salmon River rafting trip camp spot was extraordinary, not only because you’re in the Frank Church—River of No Return on a 100-mile river trip but also because of the location of this particular camp. We came around a bend in the river and encountered a large pine that had fallen into the river, creating a calm pool for our takeout. Our tent was up a slight slope affording an amazing view over the flowing river but also surrounded by warm hot pools in the meadow. Fifty feet away was an erected memorial to fallen adventurers made with antlers collected along the river. Looking out my tent toward the river I could capture my twins learning to paddle duckies in the calm pool, or almost throw a line down as well. Perfection in every way. Kimberly Daley is former president & CEO of Mountain Travel Sobek
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Birgit's daughter Gracie enjoying the stillness of Desolation Wilderness.
An Alpine Lake Aloha
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ands down my favorite camping spot is a place I discovered with my family last June. We spent two glorious days and nights camping alongside Lake Aloha in the Sierra’s Desolation Wilderness. We loaded up on provisions and hiked up the approximate two hour long trail to the 8,000 foot high lake. The surrounding area is majestic with amazing views everywhere you turn. What’s so special about Aloha Lake is that it’s not that far, but you feel like you’re completely remote. I recommend going in June—before the crowds arrive. There was absolutely no one around and we felt we were cut off
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from the world. If you walk all the way around the lake, you’ll find some wonderful camping spots on the other side of the lake, tucked behind granite rocks and sheltered from the wind that can pick up across the lake in the afternoons. We set up camp next to some impressive flat granite rocks where we enjoyed making and eating our meals. In June, the water is high and the snow caps are still full. First thing each morning we all took a plunge into the icy cool waters for an invigorating start of the day. Birgit Cameron is managing director of Patagonia Provisions
COURTESY OF BIRGIT CAMERON
Get lost in the Desolation Wilderness in Eldorado County, California
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A Tribal Retreat
Go off the grid in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska
COURTESY OF JESS ANTHONY
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ne of the most amazing places I've ever visited is Unalaska Island in the Aleutian Islands. The majority of the land is managed by The Ounalashka Corporation, the tribal organization there. So it's the first place to stop to get a land use permit before hiking. The island is spotted with WWII bunkers, amazing fishing, snow melt waterfalls, bald eagles, and foxes. In the summer, nights are short and everything turns green in about a week. Cotton flowers, edible lilies, and other wildflowers pop out among the tufts of grass. I remember it smelling like damp earth and wormwood. It is the first place I ever experienced how soft the spongy plants of the tundra really are. One night, I fell asleep in the dusky light of midnight listening to whales singing and breathing just off the coast. It has one of the oldest kayaking traditions in the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;hundreds to thousands of years! The design of the boats and the water tight clothing was hundreds to thousands of years ahead of the rest of the world. If you are lucky, you may run into someone kayaking with a hand made skin-on-frame kayak.
Jess Anthony is the community liaison for Oru Kayak
Clockwise from the left: Here is where the caption goes to identify the photo on the (top) or maybe the (right) or perJess hapswith the her onered on salmonthecatch from (bottom) Captains Bay.
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View from John Muir Rock, Cedar Grove, Kings Canyon National Park.
Late Season Swims Follow the Kings River to Cedar Grove, Kings Canyon National Park, California
Rick Stollmeyer is the founder and CEO, Mindbody
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LEE RENTZ/ALAMY
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edar Grove remains relatively uncrowded year-round and it offers access to awesome hiking trails, including multi-day hikes that incorporate the iconic John Muir Trail. The Kings River runs through the park and is magical in late summer. The river starts to slow down and as a result, begins to warm up, creating delightful swimming holes. It is so peaceful and second to none if you want some unforgettable (and scenic) time in nature.
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A San Juan Sojourn The perfect perch in Muley Point, Utah
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uley Point is an incredible overlook on Cedar Mesa that sits high above the San Juan River. The views are epic, with sights of the sandstone towers of Monument Valley to the south, and Bears Ears to the north. We have a Four Wheel camper on the back of our truck, which allows us the freedom to explore out of the way places like the remote camping on the Mesa. The site showcases the immense beauty and fragility of our world and inspires me to help conserve and protect wild spaces, especially indigenous lands, for the next generation. I grew up with a deep connection to the outdoors, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important to me to foster that love and appreciation with my children. We found the site during a month-long road trip, which included my 5-week-old daughter. Muley Point is a highlight Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll never forget.
COURTESY OF ERIKA GABRIELLI
Erika Gabrielli is the Sr. Director of Global Marketing, Teva, Muley Point, Utah
Erika sharing her love of the outdoors with daughters Lucy and Maya at Muley Point.
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COURTESY OF TODD WEIMER
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Todd and his son Riley take a respite from fishing for rainbow trout, Lightning Lakes Chain, BC.
Linking Lakes and Likes
Portaging pays off in this chain outside of Abbotsford, BC
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’m a big fan of nostalgia, and I can usually tell when I’m in a time and place that will evoke it in the future. Sometimes it’s about what you’re doing or where you are, but it’s almost a guarantee in the rare times when one of my kids (now teenagers) wants to tag along with their old man. There’s a chain of lakes only an hour and a half drive from VSSL HQ in Abbotsford, British Columbia. The first of the four lakes is easy to access, but the portage between the lakes makes the other three really remote. The unmarked camp spots along the last lake are about as good as you’ll ever get. But it’s the work that it takes to get there that keeps it remote and beautiful. And having the opportunity to make this a place that one of my kids will remember forever makes it my best site. Todd Weimer is the founder of VSSL
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Other People's Pools Sometimes the wildest waters are those we think we’ve tamed. Confessions and reflections of an amateur pool crasher in the time of covid.
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Text and photo by HUGH GARVEY
ou could say I swam my way out West. The summer before my senior year in college I drove from New York to California in three days, plunging into questionable motel pools on Interstate 80 for relief. I graduated to better digs at a friend’s house in Marin, delighting in the thermal juxtapositions of going from sweltering cedar sauna to lap pool on wafts of night jasmine—novelty upon novelty to this midwestern kid. Over the years, as I’ve lived in and traveled through the West, I’ve added countless aquatic diversions to my pool crasher’s resume: a dip at the ridiculously tiny pool at the Chateau Marmont on a business trip; slug-dodging in a plunge pool under bougainvillea in Brentwood; swimming the secret passage from the pool to the grotto at the Playboy Mansion, fears of lingering legionnaires disease be damned; gazing out over the misty surface of the thermal waters at Indian Springs on a chilly Autumn day in Sonoma; peeking from pool to the ocean beyond the shipwreck bar at Kona Village on the Big Island years before it was closed by a tsunami. Every pool that’s ever soothed and cooled and calmed me has very much not been mine. For me it’s not fitness, but about literally stepping below the day to day and holding your breath as long as you can in whatever framed approximation of the wild that people try to tame and contain in their backyards. The danger of a pool is equal to its pleasure, and somewhere between the inhale before the plunge and the exhale at the surface, there’s a soothing pause, a reset of the nervous system, the amniotic relief of buoyancy, the improbable feeling of arriving home in a truly inhospitable place. In lazy moments (countless lazy moments) of the protracted and increasingly hot lockdown, I toggled through blogs and insta stories of hillbilly hot tub building, and DIY cowboy plunge pools, and even the Sunset archives for the pros, cons, and possible plans for finally building a pool of some sort in my small backyard—and fast. But not so fast: Because space. Because funds. And so I was back to my old ways, asking for gate keypad pass codes from out of town neighbors. My pool purloining goes back to childhood, when on Sundays I’d go to my grandparents house where they’d built a pool large enough to accommodate their seven children. In the humid midwestern summers we’d find relief, grasping at tractor tire innertubes, taking care not to get stabbed by the intake nozzles or singed by the hot rubber while the grownups drank martinis and the aroma of gin, chlorine, and cigarette smoke clung to the surface of the water. The
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only way to escape it was to climb down the metal ladder and hold your breath. And so this past summer, I took to the road with my own family, crashing pools along the way: In Sebastopol, under towering pines on the edge of a vineyard, bumblebees stumbled through the lavender as we dried in the sun, tired out from making up improbable swimming strokes based on animals like roly poly and koala. On a wind buffeted hill at the Ritz Carlton In Half Moon Bay my reservation for the indoor lap pool was cancelled because of covid. On the patio I nursed my sorrows with a gin and tonic only to be buoyed by an sight just off coast: the once a year phenomenon of a thousands of birds migrating north. The Pacific Flyway they call it, stretching from Patagonia to Alaska. An hour and another G and T later, the winged caravan pushed on. At the Dream Inn in Santa Cruz, too many kids in the pool kept me on my patio looking out at Steamer Lane. But I knew better than to try to join the surfers bobbing there. While the waves may be inviting the crowd is purely local and the competition for waves in surf-fallow summer is fierce. A swell came up and a set rolled in and one by one 30 surfers or so stood up and all came home. I walked the seaside cliffs instead, where, despite the fact that the bay is a marine protected area, a local with a spear gun emerged from the water, breathing easy. Me, not so much, trapped, as I was, between the world as it is and waters that aren’t mine. As I drove back into Los Angeles, after 1,000 miles of attempted escape, the stress of the road and the uncalm of the city increased my heart rate and my breath became shallow. Like barreling across the country decades before I needed a swim. In recent summer’s past, regardless of friends or hotels, there was always one pool that I could always go to for instant relief: The Hollywood Public Pool. For three bucks an adult and a buck a kid, a family can swim 10,000 square feet of one of the most beautiful pools I’ve ever swum in. There’s a water slide, eight lap lanes, a three foot high diving board, and enough wide open spaces for hundreds of Angelenos to find whatever aquatic relief they’re seeking. But covid had closed that pool too and as I made my way back home through Hollywood I inhaled as deep as I could, with past pools and road trips in my head, and I wondered about next summer, and how it will unfold, and what pools will present themselves or be taken. Until then, whether above water or below, I’ll remember to breathe deep and hold my breath when I can, find the calm there, and dream of the relief of coming up for air.
WILDLANDS
T R AV E L . A D V E N T U R E . P H O T O G R A P H Y. E N T E R T A I N M E N T . F I T N E S S . O P I N I O N S . E S S AYS .
MATT BEAN
The new section for all things outdoor and adventure. For conservation and recreation. For big stories, deep dives, product reviews, and so much more. Live now on sunset.com/wildlands
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The Perfect Weekend... Photograph by MAT T BEAN
Go chasing waterfalls You’d be hard pressed to find a greater density of jaw-dropping waterfalls than Central Oregon. Whether it’s a hike up to Tumalo (seen here) or Paulina Falls, no trip to the region is complete without the soothing surge of a proper cascade. FA L L 2 02 0
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STANDING WAVE: COURTESY OF BEND PARKS AND RECREATION; DESCHUTES RIVER FISHING: ARIAN STEVENS; TETHEROW: KYLE LANCASTER/COURTESY OF TETHEROW; CRUX, SCP HOTEL: VISIT CENTRAL OREGON/STEVE HEINRICHS; ZIP LINE: COURTESY OF MT. BACHELOR; SPOKEN MOTO: MATT BEAN
obust mountain ranges, lush glades fed by sky-high waterfalls, farm-to-table feasts and unbeatable breweries, cider makers, and distilleries mean that Central Oregon is one of the best bets for an action-packed weekend. And while there’s uncertainty around COVID-19 on everyone’s mind, one thing remains the same--the wide open spaces and natural phenomena there remain rock solid for recreation. Here’s your checklist for the ultimate agenda.
Fool a fish, or be fooled by a fish Fly fishing in Central Oregon means gorgeous streams, wily trout, and wonderful local experts like the Bend Fly Shop just north of brewery row in Bend. Stop in for a consult and Chris and Cairn will steer you toward your new favorite stretch of water—literally, if you opt for a guided session. bendflyshop.com
Witness the standing wave Bend was built in the logging years around a winding river—the highlight of which is a standing wave at Bend Whitewater Park where surfers queue up to back their way into an infinite session. Grab a scoop at Bontà Gelato nearby or go curbside pickup with some killer Thai food at Wild Rose in downtown and relax overlooking the scene. bendparksandrec.org
Walk down brewery row… Speaking of craft beer, Central Oregon runs deep in the world of suds. Wend your way down the West side of Bend sampling local breweries such as Crux, Boneyard, and Boss Rambler, and end up at one of the first brewers on the scene, Deschutes. ...but don’t stop at beer Crux Fermentation Project is known for its beer, but just hopped into the wine world. And the cider makers are excellent. Pop outside of Bend and visit Tumalo Cider. With abundant open-air tasting facilities and award-winning “adult apple juice,” it’s the perfect stop.
...in Central Oregon Surf the back nine Most golf courses are stuck in a rut. Tetherow, just outside of downtown Bend, mixes things up on its Scottish links course thanks to battery-powered GolfBoards and Finn Scooters. Carve your way down the fairway and then wrap things up on the patio with a burger and a beer at The Row. tetherow.com
Soar through the high alpine Head above the tree line for a zip tour of Mt. Bachelor. You'll get a bird’s-eye view of the volcanic landscape and open bowls. It's the best excuse to head for the hills since snow. mtbachelor.com
Watch the sun set on the Three Sisters The only rooftop deck in Central Oregon is in Redmond at the SCP hotel. Sample apps with a healthy bent—powered by the spot’s own rooftop garden— and then watch the sun set with a margarita. In the distance are the jagged peaks of Three Sisters (Faith, Hope and Charity), as well as Mount Bachelor, Black Butte, and nearby Smith Rock State Park—the fount of modern rock climbing.
Grab coffee… or a cafe racer Relax with a cortado and some brunch in the spacious yard at Spoken Moto. The shop refurbishes vintage bikes in the back and offers a large open-air hang zone with food vendors. Grab your own table, cop a squat, and feel the breeze under the trees. spokenmoto.com For the latest on how COVID-19 is affecting travel visit Oregon.gov
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From the Archives
[email protected] for information on exclusive, subscriber-only limited-edition poster prints. FA L L 2 02 0
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Presenting our ultimate list of the 22 best seaside inns, hotels, resorts, and moreâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; from Seattle to San Diego.
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RESORT WITH A VIEW
The beach just outside the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay is a tough to top coastal amenity.
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Six foot social distancing? Try six acres! That’s how much room you’ll have to explore at what might be the most charmingly nautical, knotty pine-festooned, throwback option for lazing and lodging in Puget Sound. Off property must-do’s: Ebey’s Landing nature preserve for hiking and Deception Pass state park for its stunning sunsets. captainwhidbey.com
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This long-time staff favorite overlooks the iconic waterfront and stands alone as a boutique property. Ask for a third floor room with a water view and the floor-to-ceiling expanse of the bay will have you floating when you draw back the curtains each morning. You’re also within fish-tossing distance of some of our favorites on that side of town: Sushi Kashiba and the cocktail classic the Tip Top Cafe just down the stairs, and for shopping there’s the Fjallraven store just across the street. Pop into Storyville Coffee in the Pike Place market for an architectural and espresso experience not to be missed. Up the street, check in to the craft beer scene at Cloudburst Brewing or trek just a bit north to visit Holy Mountain. innatthemarket.com
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With sweeping views of Elliot Bay and the Olympic Mountain range, The Thompson serves up the brands trademark just-right modernism just steps from Pike Place Market. Keyless mobile entry throughout the property is a recent addition and a generous up to check in cancellation policy are smart adaptations. The Nest restaurant offers one of the best socially distanced open-air dining options in the neighborhood and offers a globalist cocktail menu as evidenced by drinks such as the toki highballer, a grapefruit spiked take on the Japanese go-to whiskey highball. Good news for respectful travelers wanting to keep their sojourns staycation-adjacent: the hotel offers discounts for residents of California, Vancouver, Montana, Oregon, and Idaho. thompsonhotels.com
THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ALEXANDRA RIBAR; MEGHAN KLEIN; ANDREW POGUE; MARK B. BAUSCHKE; OPPOSITE PAGE, COUNTERCLOCKWISE FROM TOP: COURTESY OF SALISHAN; MICHELLE PEARL GEE (2); MATT BEAN
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A SITE TO BEHOLD Stunning scenery and access to an otherwise tough to reach beach round out the experience at Salishan. Be sure to book a seaside cooking sojourn.
Salishan Resort This iconic resort has its roots in the midcentury main building, lush with Douglas Fir, Hemlock, and Cedar from nearby lumber yards. First built by entrepreneurs and Oregonians John and Betty Gray in 1965, it was meant to provide a model of responsible land development. Rebooted in 2017, the resort now offers a top-flight culinary and cocktail program as well as showstopper outdoor features such as a high-tree ropes course and kayaking and SUP adventures. And yes, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll still get golf and tennis and the like. Pro tip: Your room key gets you access to the spit of land running out into the ocean past the Siletz Bay; sundown there is one of the most unique experiences to be had on the coast. salishan.com
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This tiny lodge is the perfect respite for a trip up or down the coast; it’s cozy, but comfortable, and is managed by a lovely couple with a friendly pup. Each room looks out over a marina situated in a cove (think fishing boats not yachts). The hotel’s new food program had us considering second servings of avocado toast and smoothie bowls while a quick jog up the beach to a rugged outcropping of coast was the ideal way to start the day before trekking out. scphotel.com/depoe-bay/
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Five separate courses plus a free par-3 make this a mecca for golfers on the Oregon coast. We’re partial to the 13-hole, walking only links course, a gem in and of itself. But even if golf ’s an afterthought for you, Bandon Dunes has much more to offer—from energetic architecture in the roomy suites to a hiking trail that winds through the woods with sculptures and landscaping features galore. bandondunesgolf.com
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A suite tricked out with mod furnishings and a fireplace offers a handsome and cozy perch from which to take in views of the cove.
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THE RITZ-CARLTON: BLAKE MARVIN
This spot of luxury sitting on a sliver of unspoiled rolling hills and rocky coastline in Half Moon Bay offers one of the most stunning locations to hit the links outside of Scotland. Surrounded on three sides by an Arnold Palmer-designed course, with the churning blue of the Pacific just off its lawn, the hotel offers comforts to satisfy non-golfers as well. Yes it has a world class spa and a chef with Michelin Pedigree, but the ultimate amenity may be the 11 miles of the iconic Coastal Trail that runs through the property. ritzcarlton.com
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While other California boardwalks have come and gone, Santa Cruz offers one of the most complete and perfectly preserved examples of the seaside holiday writ small: rollercoaster? Check. (although closed due to COVID-19). Sandy beaches with gentle waves? Check. A meandering coastal promenade? Check. A festive and convivial mid-century hotel with beach access, affordable rooms, and poolside taco pop up? Check. This is the rightly named Dream Inn, as iconic a beachy bolt hole as can be (name checked in Patti Smithâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most recent memoir no less) and the must-book mod hotel in town. dreaminnsantacruz.com WATERS OF THE WEST ISSUE
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An iconic destination that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d recommend experiencing at least once in your life, this resort has deep roots in the California coastal community. Opened in 1992, and now with a slate of renovations and new rooms, the property offers stunning, private vistas from each of its waterfront rooms and treehouse options that conjure up Ewoks and lightsabers. postranchinn.com
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Dining al fresco at cloud level at Sur House is an exquisite experience at Ventana. Cozy rooms outfitted with fireplaces and four poster beds offer an escape from the chill when the fog rolls in.
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Soaking in your own private hot tub as the sun sets and fog rolls in above the cliffs of Big Sur is a luxury that every coastal road tripper should reward themselves withâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and Ventana Big Sur sits at the top of the list of spots to do it. If you tire of eating exquisite meals above the clouds at the open air Sur House restaurant, load up on brisket and hot links at the only smokehouse on Highway One. The meandering timber property is nestled on the edge of a redwood forest and gives guests access to otherwise inaccessible trails. ventanabigsur.com WATERS OF THE WEST ISSUE
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This comfy lodge just 10 minutes from Hearst Castle is a great respite on any central coast roadtrip. Cozy rooms feature updated bathrooms, reading nooks, and some even feature fireplaces. A brand-new lobby complete the wholesale overhaul of this ideally situated hotel. whitewatercambria.com
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Just off the main waterfront drag, this modest sized inn is great for families or anyone who wants proximity to the far side of the beaches in town. Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more, a wide central courtyard with seating gives groups safe gathering space for recapping the day or sharing some take-out food. laplayainn.com SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
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With its red roof tiles and vivid Moroccan-inspired interiors and tilework, this rambling jewel of a Spanish revival hotel looks like itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always been in Santa Barbara. The rooms are stylishly appointed, the spa is bedecked in Moroccan blue tile, but the location just steps from the walkable Funk Zone with its galleries, shops, and 50 bars and restaurants sets it apart from so many other beachside getaways in town. The pro move is to ease into the evening with drinks and snacks at the poolside Tan Tan lounge before heading out into the balmy Santa Barbara evening. hotelcalifornian.com
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The latest addition to luxury lodging in one of the California riviera’s most luxe locations manages to convey old coastal elegance. It’s over the top in just the right ways: from the AL G undulating lines of T EM S A the massive Gatsbyesque pool, to little Riviera things like a bocce Retreat D W court and a pink CR O W N JE electric shuttle on call to take you to the exclusive beach should you grow tired of lounging in your private cabana or eating at one of the six on-property restaurants, including an outpost of Malibu Farm and Scoop Shop for the kids. rosewoodhotels.com
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This brand-new reboot of a classic directly across the street from East Beach features an on-property pool and easy access to the beach. Balcony rooms add to the allure. For anyone using points, this Hyatt property is within reach. hyatt.com
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As beachside as you can get in Malibu, this iconic property features a redesigned lido deck by notable architect and Sunset partner Douglas Burdge. malibubeachinn.com
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Hotel Erwin rises above the bustle of the Venice boardwalk, but offers beach cruisers for when you want to blend in with locals.
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THE COAST WITH THE MOST Terranea’s luxury lodging and unique position on the coast offer Angelenos an accessible but transporting staycation.
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Clockwise: The cozy kitchen was first on the couple’s remodel list, for both necessity and aesthetic. he cozy kitchen was first on the couple’s remodel list, for bot
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A standout among the Newport Beach scene, this resort occupies an improbable 500-plus acres of prime real estate overlooking the ocean. With two high-end restaurants, a 136-foot wide circular pool, and bungalows and villas for lodging, you might as well be off on a secluded island somewhere. Two 18-hole golf courses will keep duffers occupied; at the bottom of the hill, beachfront access offers a jaw-dropping sunset. pelicanhill.com
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Part of Montage Hotel’s younger, hipper Pendry group, this hotel in San Diego’s Gaslamp district is a one-stop palace of urban diversions: six newly reopened restaurants and bars, a spa with a pandemic “peace of mind” safety protocol, rooms so well appointed you won’t want to leave—but the pro move is an afternoon hang at the rooftop Pool House, which offers a breezy open air bar, spacious cabanas, and views of the city skyline. pendry.com
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With turntables in every room, a chill pool scene, a lounge that feels like your rich friend’s seaside rec room, and beach cruisers standing by ready to whisk you away to nearby Shaw’s Cove, the Joaquin is the old school Laguna Beach crash pad of your dreams. It’s run by the smart and stylish folks behind Palm Springs’ legendary boho bolthole Korakia and Montana’s Lone Mountain Ranch. Translation: the decor is simultaneously chill but super dialed in. hoteljoaquin.com
By MATT BEAN
The 2020 FOOTWEAR AWARDS
The shoes, sandals, and boots you’ll find here won’t fail you, no matter where your adventure leads. Text and Photo By MAT T BEAN
We tested this footwear everywhere from the Oregon Coast (shown here) to the mountains in Colorado to the high desert in California.
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The 2020 FOOTWEAR AWARDS
BEST CASUAL HIKER
Teva Women’s Gateway Mid
Water-resistant and sure-footed thanks to the rubberized sole, this around-town boot is great for road trips and day hikes alike. $110, teva.com
BEST EVERYDAY BOOT
Vasque Breeze LT GTX
The mark of an everyday hiker is how much you want to wear it— even when you’re not on the trail. We’ve found ourselves stepping into this boot for grocery runs: It’s comfy, and it looks great, so why not rock it as a daily? $180, vasque.com
BEST ADVENTURE SANDAL
Birkenstock Atacama
One of the most comfortable sandals comes with an achilles heel: the cork footbed can be damaged by rubble on the trail. That’s why Birkenstock created this line of adventure sandals. Thanks to the burly protective layer underneath, the cork stays safe-while rugged lugs keep your feet where they belong: On the trail, not up in the air. $160, birkenstock.com
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The 2020 FOOTWEAR AWARDS Photograph by REN FULLER
Our tester puts the Danner boots into action.
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The 2020 FOOTWEAR AWARDS BEST FIT TING BOOT
Tecnica Forge GTX-W
There’s no substitute for a perfect fit, which is why we love the custom footbed system in the Forge, which can be molded for your exact shape with a quick visit to any licensed retailer. What’s more, the women’s version of this boot isn’t just based on a scaled-down men’s “last,” or silhouette. It’s specifically made for female feet, which means a better fit for longer hikes without burning or discomfort. $270, tecnicasports.com
MOST CUSHY RIDE
Hoka One One x OC Ultra Tor Hi
This collaboration with fashion brand Opening Ceremony puts a monochromatic, all-white spin on the ultra-plush hiking boot from Hoka One One. And while darker colorways more suited for the trail do exist, we like the striking image this one presents no matter where you roam. The eVent upper keeps moisture at bay and the overall feel is that of a running shoe with trail traction. $260, hokaoneone.com
SOCK DRAWER
What’s inside matters. Wear a statement sock with technical underpinnings—like this one, from Smartwool—and you won’t just complement your kicks, you’ll also wick moisture away during hikes and stave off stinky feet, thanks to the naturally anti-microbial properties of merino wool. $15 and up, smartwool.com
BEST HOT WEATHER HIKER
Danner Jungle 917 Boot Minimalist construction means these hikers are lighter and let your feet breathe. We found them the perfect companions for 100-degree hikes along with beers afterward. Nothing like roasting your dogs to ruin the stoke of a great hike. $170, danner.com
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Home on the Range Camping's one of the safest ways to escape. Your guide to getting out there now. Produced by MATT BEAN, CHRISTINE BOBBISH, HUGH GARVEY, CLARK MILLER, KATE WERTHEIMER, AND DRAKE WILSON
Photographs by REN FULLER
APPROACH VIEWS Our gear testers bunkered down in this Fjallraven tent and the gear you'll see throughout this package. Just over the hill you'll see the valley, with Los Angeles not more than 30 minutes away from this seeming wilderness.
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SURVEY THE SITES When choosing a site, consider not only how the sun moves throughout the day and your access to water and facilities, but also how the wind might move through the canyons and gullies in your microclimate. We learned this the hard way...
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restrictions have created an unprecedented demand for outdoor recreation. But sloppy habits and unsafe gatherings abound, even in the outdoors. Being responsible and respecting the environment—and others—has never been more crucial when you roam near home. Here's how to do it the right way.
OVID-19
RULES OF THE GAME
Camping is a low-impact, rather than no-impact, way to travel, one of those Zen riddles in which we’re both part of the problem and part of the solution. Adhere to the following guidelines from the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics, an organization based in Boulder, Colorado, and you can minimize impacts both on the environment and on your fellow campers.
1. PLAN AHEAD AND PREPARE
Reduce waste before you leave home by re-packing food and getting rid of wrappings and other packaging. Check in advance about site restrictions.
2. TRAVEL AND CAMP ON DURABLE SURFACES
Try to use existing fire rings and campsites when in an area without formal facilities, especially wilderness areas. Keep to official trails instead of walking through vegetation.
3. DISPOSE OF WASTE
Pack it in, pack it out is the guiding principle. Before you leave the campsite, pick up any trash or food, and leave the area cleaner than you found it.
4. STAY CLEAR OF WATER SOURCES
Set up camp 200 feet (about 70 paces) or more from lakes and streams to lessen the impact on water quality and local wildlife. When cleaning dishes (or yourself) use only small amounts of biodegradable soaps. Hand sanitizers also reduce water usage.
5. LEAVE WHAT YOU FIND
If you come upon a fossil, arrowhead, or beautiful rock, it’s easy to think, “Well, what’s the harm in just taking one?” But many are protected, especially in state and national parks, so leave them where they are.
6. REDUCE CAMPFIRE IMPACT
Everyone loves a roaring campfire. But large ones are more destructive. Use a lightweight stove for most of your cooking and keep campfires small. Be sure to completely extinguish fires.
7. RESPECT WILDLIFE
You’re on their turf, so don’t be rude. Keep a distance while observing animals. Never feed wildlife, because animals that associate humans with food can become nuisances or even dangerous. Store food so it doesn’t present a temptation.
8. BE CONSIDERATE
The Golden Rule applies equally to camping. Make sure you keep campground etiquette in mind.
LIGHTEN YOUR LOAD Your carry weight should be consumed by water, not the container. This one's 25 percent lighter. $45, hydroflask.com
SUPPLIES LOTH •TENT, GROUND C AG, PILLOW •SLEEPING PAD, B T, S P A T U L A •CAMP STOVE, PO AXE •FIRE STARTERS, , BLANKET •FOLDING CHAIRS NSILS •MULTI-TOOL, UTE OOKING OIL •SPICES, SMALL C C K E T, T A R P •WATERPROOF JA •FIRST-AID KIT SPRAY •SUNBLOCK, BUG EL, FLIP FLOPS •SOAP, PACK TOW ERS •BATTERY CHARG S, S O C K S •BROKEN IN BOOT EBOOK •PAPERBACK, NOT AGE BAGS •PACK-OUT GARB Fighting wind? Ignite with a piezio-electric lighter instead, like this one.
COP A SQUAT This Helinox two-person bench is one of our favorite light-weight solutions. $300, helinox.com
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The Essentialsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; Upgraded Sure, you need a tent and sleeping bag. And you can't leave home without the pup, right? But smart upgrades to everyday camping gear will make your next camping experience that much better. Some of our favorite pieces this year follow.
The Terraframe pack includes a smart structural frame for huge loads. $350, mysteryranch.com
The Monkey Fleece Pants are the most comfy we've worn. $112, mountainhardware.com
The Abisko Dome 3 adds extra support for high-powered winds. $975, fjallraven.com.us
A classic, this out-sized duffel includes straps for backpack carry. $185, thenorthface.com
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The Drifter carry-all has a cinch handle and pull-out changing mat. $190, yakodasupply.com
USB-charging and buttery soft on the head, we love the 200 headlamp. $45, biolite.com
Feel good lugging the Arcane Toteâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;it's half hemp and half recycled poly. $150, osprey.com
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The Flyer pad self-inflates but uses 60 percent less foam. $130, nemoequip ment.com
This collapsible, nylon-lined dog bowl is perfect for packing on a hike. $40, filson.com
The Lamina sleeping bag has zero dye, and rates to 30 degrees. $240, mountainhard ware.com
The pita-like Highlands bag is like a sleeping bag for your pooch. $100, ruffwear.com
The Ghost Whisperer UL is light, soft, and smooth. It's our top layer pick. $375, mountain hardware.com
The Aurora tent and PawPrint liner corral camp crud. $250, $60, nemoequipment.com
This illuminated, USB charging collar helps keep tabs on the pup past dusk. $25, niteize.com
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While the kind of fire you can build depends on your wood, the basics don’t change. The three ingredients to a fire are fuel, heat, and oxygen.
CAMPFIRE SMARTS
Most states have a certification program you can complete online, or register for at ranger's offices. Be smart and obey burn bans. In addition to tinder, starters, and logs, you'll need a butane lighter, newspaper, grill tongs and gloves, a charcoal grill grate, and paper towels and oil for cleaning grates.
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MAKING KINDLING
To cut wood into thin, flammable pieces, lay the edge of the hatchet or ax on the end of the wood, parallel to the grain, then strike them against your chopping block.
CLICK HERE
THE TEPEE
Begin with crumpled newspaper or tinder, then lay on plenty of kindling. Start your tepee by forming a tripod with three stout sticks and then fill it in, leaving a gap to allow wind to enter and circulate.
STORY TIME
The gang relaxes with the crew from Texino.
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PUT IT OUT
Stop adding fuel at least an hour before you plan to leave camp. Spread out the coals, then douse them with plenty of water. Leave your campsite only when the coals are cool enough that you can touch them with your hand. Never walk away from a fire that’s still burning.
ILLUSTRATIONS: NIK SCHULZ
THE LOG CABIN
Start with a generous amount of crumpled newspaper and kindling, making sure it will burn the wood. Once the fire’s established, add one or two of your largest chunks of wood. Remember: Never leave a campfire unattended.
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Drake and Hugh take shelter in what became our cooking cove; always watch for winds when cooking with wood.
Camp Cocktail Rules!
What better way to celebrate that peak you just bagged than a professional-grade cocktail? Here's our trailmap to cheers!
RULE 1
Leave the glass at home. Even if you're car camping, lugging breakables can be dangerous. We love the 6-piece nesting Stanley set shown above ($30, stanley-pmi.com) which includes two cups, a jigger, a juicer, a shaker, and a strainer.
Hungry? Hiking works up an appetite. Give these guidelines a go to make your campsite cooking maximally efficient: Buy small, packaged items to conserve space Assemble a camping box with utensils, matches, a cutting board, and other necessities Pack food frozen so it acts as ice and keeps fresh longer
RULE 2
Prep mixers before you go. Pour off small plastic bottles of simple syrup; ask for Angostura Bitters minis at the liquor store, toss a can of seltzer or two in the bottom of your bag.
Purchase bagged vegetables to save time Choose quick-cooking items like rice noodles to save fuel; cut other items into small pieces so they cook quickly
Buy vacuum-sealed meat to prevent leaks or use zip-lock plastic bags
Cook once, eat twice. Leftovers are tomorrow’s food
Choose sturdy produce (cabbage stays fresh longer than lettuce; apples keep better than strawberries)
When you’re ready to clean up, choose environmentally friendly cleaners and follow directions for disposal
RULE 3
DOWNLOAD THE APP FOR EXCLUSIVE CAMPING CONTENT
Camp Kitchen Basics; Amazing (and easy!) Recipes; Packing a Cooler; Camp Grill Basics; Caring for Cast Iron; DIY trail snacks; and more! ANDROID | iOS
Lean on fruit and citrus. Peaches and strawberries; blueberries and mint; lemons and limes: sure, they might get smashed a bit in your pack—even if you layer them on the top—but that's pre-muddled in our book.
RULE 4
Mix it up. Many drinks use the ratio 2:1:1 Liquor:Tart:Sweet. We build in the mug: muddled fruit, then booze, then mixers.
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Cozy, Warm, and Comfy A new generation of camping gear is equally at home, well, at home. Here are some of our favorite couch-to-campfire picks.
Kate and Woody snuggle up in the Homestead wool blanket, a classic made in Oregon. $325, pendleton.com
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The Teca windbreaker features a large front pouch below the half-zipper.$80, cotopaxi.com
Cushy fabric and zippered rear pockets make the Hybrid pants clutch. $129, topodesigns.com
Contrasting pockets help these cotton twill shorts stand out. $95, afterschoolprojects.com
The rip-stop Traveler jacket has the perfect amount of pockets. $409, goldwin-sports.com
So light and smooth are you really wearing the Tsurugi shell? $395, beringia.world
The Mono Air Houdi sheds 80 percent fewer microfibers. $200, houdinisportswear.com
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Cutting Crew Keeping your edge in the outdoors means choosing the right tool for the task. We've assembled our favorite quiver of axes, blades, multi-tools, and knives to help you stay sharp, no matter what project you might happen to be tackling on the trail. Remember: Use your head, THEN your hands. Be safe!
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The PST multi-tool launched a raft of imitators. We don't leave home without it. leatherman.com
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The Teton Edge Santoku is hand-made in Wyoming. $370, newwestknife works.com
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3 The Kletten folding knife is made from curly birch and hardened steel. $200, helle.com
4 Ultra-light and durable, the Bugout knife is our daily carry do-it-all. $170 benchmade.com
5 An absolute musthave, the Akka axe is hand-forged in Sweden. $180, hultsbruk1697.se
6 The Mountain Man Toy Shop Throwing Axe can hit a target, or chop wood.$130, also from New West
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Quench Your Thirst
Unless you've been living like a sasquatch, you're familiar with the brawny, vacuum-insulated brand and its long-haul chilling abilities. This stainless-sided wonder takes the tech to the next level, adding hours of insulation and durability to boot. The machined clasp is a classy swap for the stretchy rubber closures on its brethren. Pricey, but so is dysentery.$800, yeti.com
What We're Drinking Pack your cooler with the finest. Shown here: beers from Modern Times (moderntimes.com; locations up and down the coast); Humble Sea Brewing (humbleseabrewing.com; Santa Cruz); a Willammette Valley Chardonnay from Walter Scott (walterscottwine.com) a Brut Rose sparkler from Napa's Inman Family Wines (inmanfamilywines.com); and a Pinot Gris from Chehalem Winery (chehalemwines.com). Oh, and Pacifico, of course.
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Off the Beaten Path
"Overlanding" isn't as gnarly
as it seems. Finding national forest or BLM-managed regions means you can find serene, jaw-dropping sites with few neighbors. The only rules? Be safe, and pack in and pack out. Oh, and gear up!
Enhanced safety features make the Outback Onyx our favorite light-overlander: lane departure warnings, Tesla-like autopilot, and more. $36,200, subaru.com
The pangolin tool roll keeps your tools and parts in check. $145, step22gear.com
This 80-pound pop-up tent is ingenioius, light, and comfy. $1,300, gofastcampers.com
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The WolfPack system stacks easily and stays shut tight. $40, frontrunneroutfitters.com
Turn any hatchback into a home with Luno's custom fit inflatable mattresses. $225, lunolife.com
The PrimeTech stove system heats fast and nests neatly for easy packing. $150, primus.us
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The spiritual heir to dirt bikes of yore, the Scrambler Desert Sled has a off-road fenders and generous shocks to stay above the fray. And the LED beams on the front will help you see clearly, even past sunset. $12,000, scramblerducati.com
COMPASS READING 101
For all the focus on techbased navigation tools, you’ll also always want to bring a good old-fashioned compass. And for one good reason: It will never run out of batteries or need satellite signals to work.
This satellite beacon sends and receives texts and basic info. $350, somewearlabs.com Brunton TruArc baseplate compass, $16.99, brunton.com
TOP: REN FULLER
Disposable green propane tanks are eco-terrible. Re-use this forever. $150, ignik.com
This combination shovel and grip plate helps you get out of a rut. $300, maxtraxus.com
Power anything with the Nomad 50 folding solar system. $250, goalzero.com
The CFX 3 powered fridge sips volts from your alternator and cold forever. $900, dometic.us
A basic compass that costs $20 or less can help you get oriented as you set up camp. Many trails are clearly marked, but there may be times you’ll have to rely on your map and compass to figure out where you need to go. A compass with a transparent base plate, rotating dial, and travel arrow is easy to use with a map. If you’re slightly disoriented, spread your map on a flat surface and set the compass level on top. Align the back edge of the compass with your starting point and the front with the travel arrow in the direction you want to go. Rotate the compass dial until the orienting arrow within the compass and the north end of the compass needle align. Read the number on the dial. This is the bearing and direction you should follow.
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How to Safely Ford Streams Hiking through the backcountry will yield areas where you may have to get wet. First, always check with rangers or administrators about seasonal water flow before heading out. Understand tidal flow and the impact of recent or expected rain on water level surges. Ask about any problem areas. For proper gear, bring spare footwear that may get soaked. Walking through a shallow stream may be safer than tightroping across a wet log. Pack a lightweight micro- fiber towel to dry your feet, and use trekking poles to create added stability and test water depth. Additionally, convertible, zip-off pants help avoid extra drag during and after crossing water. Assess the current. Throw a branch into the stream to determine its speed and inspect to see if debris, such as logs, are surging with the current. Never attempt to cross a fastmoving stream. The best spots are straight, wide, slow, and shallow. If you don’t see an appropriate place, don’t even try. Better alternatives may be found off the trail.
You don’t want to have to scramble up a steep bank. As you cross, shuffle your feet and keep at least one of your trekking poles in contact with the stream bottom at all times. You should face upstream and move diagonally while pointed slightly downstream.
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EVERYBODY IN! Storm surges and seasonal currents can make water crossings tricky. A little knowhow goes a long way.
ZACH LUCERO/UNSPLASH
Loosen your pack straps so that if you fall and it becomes waterlogged, the bag won't be hard to shed.
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Hitting the Trail with the Kids TAKE A TRAIL WITH A REWARD AND INDULGE THEIR CURIOSITY
Keep the kids motivated by letting them know that you actually have a goal, such as a waterfall or view. Stay spontaneous. When something grabs the kids’ attention, follow their lead.
SET A REASONABLE PACE
Frequent stops for drinks and snacks will reduce the risk of burnout.
KEEP EVERYONE TOGETHER
There are the unlikely megahazards—mountain lions and bears—but also a whole host of lesser dangers that can ruin a hike: cactus spines, poison oak, and skunks. Don’t let the kids run ahead or fall too far behind. Give them a whistle to blow in case you get separated.
REN FULLER
HIKING TIP: GO WITH A RANGER
National and state parks often conduct outings led by rangers. Sometimes just being part of a group with an upbeat guide will keep children engaged.
We love these packable hammocks for one or two. $80, eaglesnestoutfittersinc.com
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GO FURTHER, SMARTER
Based in Los Angeles, Texino whose camper is featured here is pioneering an entirely new method of ownership, where they'll help you rent out your vehicle when you're not using it to help offset the costs of a renovation. Visit Texino.com for more info. We asked founder Nick Devane to give us the Texino list of essentials for any proper back-country trip:
SNAPSTRAPS
Ratcheting tie-down straps with hooks on each end.
FIREWOOD
Mind the local ordinances but make sure you won't run out of fuel during your trip.
LIFESTRAW
Filter almost any water to remove bugs and chemicals. lifestraw.com
TRACTION PADS
Like the orange MaxTrax featured a few spreads back.
SOLAR CHARGER
Like the Goal Zero setup shown previously.
AND: BASIC TOOLS, MALLET,HOSES, CLAMPS, FUSES, BLOWTORCH, TIRE PATCH KIT, EXTRA SPARE
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Tap here for more great camping advice CLICK LINKS: HOW TO MAKE DELICIOUS CAMP BREAKFASTS
sunset.com/campingrecipes
HOW TO PICK THE RIGHT CAMP STOVE
sunset.com/campstoves
HOW TO WASH DISHES IN THE WOODS
sunset.com/campdishes
HOW TO MAKE CAMP MEALS
sunset.com/campeats
TAKE THE CAMP QUIZ
sunset.com/travel/ take-the-sunset-camping-quiz
A TASTY TROUT RECIPE
sunset.com/recipe/bills-trout
TAKE A LOOK BACK AT SOME STUNNING VINTAGE COVERS
sunset.com/lifestyle/ sunset-magazine-covers
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Thanks for reading the Fall issue of Sunset. We appreciate your support!
WATERS OF THE WEST ISSUE
COMING SOON THE WINE ISSUE
The Best Wines, The Biggest Trends, and the Safest Open-Air Tasting Facilities. THE HOLIDAY “HEARTH AND HOME” ISSUE
Cozy Kitchen Makeovers, Righteous Roasts, Scrumptious Cookies, and Great Gift Ideas!
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