Journal — EVOLVE Apparel

EVOLVE

The Journal

Field notes.

Dispatches on getting outside in Western Canada and beyond — where to ride, what to hike, and the kind of places worth driving a long way for.

No Mountains Required: The Best Hikes Within Two Hours of Edmonton

Trails

Trails · 8 min read

No Mountains Required: The Best Hikes Within Two Hours of Edmonton

Edmonton is a long way from the Rockies, and the close-to-home parkland, river valley, and boreal trails are better than the city gives them credit for.

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Island

Island · 9 min read

Vancouver Island, End to End: Ten Places Worth the Ferry

Most people stop at Tofino, and the island runs 500 km past it, from old-growth giants to an orca strait at the wild north tip.

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Learning to Climb in Canada: Where to Start Mountaineering Without Getting in Over Your Head

Summits

Summits · 9 min read

Learning to Climb in Canada: Where to Start Mountaineering Without Getting in Over Your Head

Canada has the peaks, the guides, and the structure to take you from a scramble to a glaciated summit, as long as you do it in the right order.

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Pack Light, Eat Smart: The Beginner's Hike-Packing Kit People Always Get Wrong

Gear

Gear · 9 min read

Pack Light, Eat Smart: The Beginner's Hike-Packing Kit People Always Get Wrong

The Ten Essentials, the food math nobody does, and the dozen small things that get left at the trailhead, for day trips and multi-day hauls.

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Descended from Survivors: Ten Backcountry Skills the First Canadians Knew and We Forgot

Heritage

Heritage · 9 min read

Descended from Survivors: Ten Backcountry Skills the First Canadians Knew and We Forgot

For thousands of years the people of this land mastered skills precise enough to live at minus forty, and the knowledge that kept settlers alive was almost always borrowed from them.

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Deep Wild, Good Sheets: Five Canadian Nature Resorts Worth the Drive or the Floatplane

Stays

Stays · 8 min read

Deep Wild, Good Sheets: Five Canadian Nature Resorts Worth the Drive or the Floatplane

Full-service lodges that put you inside the wilderness without asking you to give up a single comfort, from a fly-in archipelago to a Quebec lake in moose country.

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Adrenaline

Adrenaline · 8 min read

Cold and Free: Five Canadian Adventure Sports Worth the Adrenaline

From the slopes that invented heli-skiing to a year-round surf break on the edge of the Pacific, these are the pursuits the rest of the world copies from us.

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Off-Grid

Off-Grid · 10 min read

Build Your Own Off-Grid Escape: Cheap Land, Solar, and a Wood-Fired Soak Near Canada's Best Parks

An honest guide to finding affordable land near the great parks, the rules nobody warns you about, and the off-grid tech that finally makes a small cabin doable.

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Stand Here: The Ten Most Breathtaking Views in Canada and How to Reach Them

Vistas

Vistas · 9 min read

Stand Here: The Ten Most Breathtaking Views in Canada and How to Reach Them

Ten vantage points that stop you mid-sentence, from a glacial rockpile in Banff to a fly-in waterfall twice the height of Niagara, with the exact way to stand in front of each.

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The Best Ski Resorts in Alberta: A Rider's Field Guide to the Big Three

Snow

Snow · 7 min read

The Best Ski Resorts in Alberta: A Rider's Field Guide to the Big Three

Skiing and snowboarding in Alberta starts with three mountains, and here's how to ride each one right.

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The Best Hikes in Alberta and BC: 8 Day Trips and Two Big Ones Worth the Sweat

Trails

Trails · 8 min read

The Best Hikes in Alberta and BC: 8 Day Trips and Two Big Ones Worth the Sweat

Real distances, real elevation, real permit rules for the standout trails worth your boots this summer.

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Ten Boutique Cabins and Lodges in Canada Worth the Drive (or the Floatplane)

Stays

Stays · 8 min read

Ten Boutique Cabins and Lodges in Canada Worth the Drive (or the Floatplane)

Ten real off-grid stays across Canada, from a hanging sphere on Vancouver Island to an aurora chalet in the Yukon.

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Parks

Parks · 8 min read

The 10 Best National Parks in Canada, Ranked by Someone Who Has Opinions

An unapologetically opinionated countdown of the best Canadian parks, with the one thing worth going for and the tip you'll thank me for.

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The EVOLVE outdoors list

The best places to get outside in Canada — in your inbox.

Trail notes, ski intel, cabins worth the drive, and parks worth the detour. About twice a month. We won’t flood your inbox, and you can leave anytime.