The US Forest Service is now renting bear canisters for $2.50 a day, which means you won’t have haul the awkwardly shaped canister to and from a National Park again. While bear canisters are not required in every national park, the forest service is hoping to lower bear-human encounters by renting out this preventative measure.
As for actually packing and carrying bear canisters while you’re in the backcountry, check out our resident pack expert’s (George McCloskey ie. ‘Ask George’) advice on how to properly pack a bear canister.
We all love working here at Gregory. But sometimes, it’s nice to sneak away for bit longer than usual. This past week, our entire Customer Service department decided to do just that - take a 4 hour ‘lunch’ at our favorite neighborhood climbing gym, Pipeworks. We apologize to anyone who had a question about our packs during that time, but hey, can you blame us? Look at this gym. It’s awesome! And way better than a desk (although, don’t get us wrong, we love nothing more than chatting with all of you every day). So get to know your friendly Gregory customer service reps, and next time you call, you can put a face to the name.
On the left: Our newest employee, Emilda, on her 5th day of work, getting it done
On the right: Chauzz crushing it and Hugh belaying
On the left: Molly cruisin the slackline, NBD.
On the right: Kristen belaying, sick shot of one quarter of the gym
Below: George (aka the Rambo of Packs; aka the Karate Kid of Packs)
When I first heard the term ‘flashpacking,’ I thought of fastpacking at night with some sort of flashlight contraption. Ya…it turns out the term has nothing to do with flashlights or fastpacking, but more to do with the being a ‘flashy’ backpacker.
There’s a new generation of traveling backpackers who are neither hairy nor living on dime. No, this kind of backpacking requires a little more $$ and little more flash. What do I mean by flash? Well let’s just say they expect a little more TLC from their hostels and their pack isn’t holding only a t-shirt and a couple pairs of shorts. Rather, these backpackers have more than a few outfits and a pack full of the latest in electronics.
Scoffing at the idea? Well, according to a 2006 Hostelworld study, twenty-one percent of people carry laptops, 54 percent carry an mp3 player, 83 percent carry a mobile phone and 68 percent travel carry a digital camera.
So as it were, most of us are probably considered, ‘flashpackers.’ I don’t know if I’d go as far as to say that every backpacker with a camera should be considered flashy, but you get the point. Either way, flashpacker or not, we could all use the reminder to simplify and lighten the load because that’s what it’s all about, right?
Via How to Travel the World
We love hearing from Gregory users, especially when they’re psyched on our products as a means to get them outdoors. This letter just came in the other day and we wanted to share it with all of you. If you weren’t already planning on getting outside this weekend, we hope this provides a little inspiration.
I wanted to write you to thank you for giving me a means of Freedom from an overbearing working world. My work is a daily grind that has a sense of control to it that keeps me living within the boundaries of a work schedule. However, work in general seems to feel like a means to an end. As each day passes and another day lost to labor, I find myself longing to break free. My reason for this letter was to write and thank you for giving me the resources to do exactly that - break away from the daily grind. I have recently bought one of your packs (the Tarne 36) and the second it was in my possession I called a few friends, loaded up, and went out to explore.
What’s happening in today’s working world is work is becoming overwhelming. The demands are great to the American worker. As the hours and pressures increase, the incentives and compensation dwindles. I have had this conversation with my friends as we are out on hikes together, and they agree that work steals away time to enjoy life. I suppose everyone must feel this way at some point during their career. The point is that a person can either stomach it and become complacent or find a way to break away, even if for a small time, from all of the stress and urgency and just go out on an adventure.
This adventuresome spirit of mine has recently come from the inspiration of a friend to take an expedition into the Grand Canyon. Since this inspiration I have been utilizing almost every single day off from work to go out and find remote areas or hiking gems. I long to travel further, but my job doesn’t allow me to get away for too long ad because it’s in retail, it has very little free time where we aren’t preparing for the next event. On the days that I am out adventuring I feel what I have been missing for so long and that is liberation. I feel prepared to take on different challenges. I feel compelled to go just a bit further than I planned. I load up the pack with the necessities, I set a route, and I just go.
My reason for this letter is to let you know of my appreciation for what you have accomplished in your packs. The packs are intuitive and make accessing and packing them easy. They were put together with great thought and adventure in mind. The technical aspects of your bags cater to just about any need you might have on the trails or travel. I sit here writing, smiling and just thinking of the next time I can get out to hike again. You have given me an outlet to get away from those increasingly stressful work days. I have a Gregory bag sitting next to my front door beckoning me to pick it up (since it’s already packed and ready to go) and head out again. Thank you for making such a great tool for anyone who needs a little adventure in their life.
Appreciatively, Reed Harper
Your grateful customer
This year’s Mountain to Valley relay race saw 1,500 runners, with registration selling out in just 10 days. A total of 160 teams ran this unique 200 kilometer race, at varying levels of difficulty for a full 24 hours. The teams consist of 8, 6, 4 or 2 members who relieve each other at pre-arranged relay stations throughout the race course. Each team is required to have an ‘escort car’ used to leap-frog all of the team members who aren’t running a given section. The race begins on Qalaat Namrud, at the foot of Mount Herman and ends at the community village of Timrat in the Jezreel Valley.
This year, a new ULTRA category was introduced. A total of 18 runners were included in this category, and they were all required to run solo for 127 km. Gregory’s distributor in Israel, M Gravity, sponsored this group and awarded each runner in the Ultra category a Rufous pack, designed with input from Gregory’s own trail running ambassador, Hiroki Ishikawa. One runner from Brazil, Mauro Chasilav, traveled from Brazil specifically for this race and ran the entire 200 kilometers solo!
At the conclusion of the race, there was a party with food, drinks, massages for the athletes and sponsor booths for everyone who participated. Gregory was on hand to showcase product and recommend packs to runners to fit their individual needs. Congrats to everyone who participated, we’ll see you again next year!
One of Gregory’s favorite organizations we support is San Diego based non-profit group 
This October, Outdoor Outreach will be hosting their annual Joshua Tree Experience event, a two day, fully catered event where participants can climb, camp, hike and practice yoga, all while fundraising for at-risk and underprivileged youth. To participate, you must raise a minimum of only $350 and there are prizes for different fundraising levels (Gregory packs being one of the available prizes). If you’re unable to attend the JT Experience but still want to help out, don’t be discouraged! You can still set up a fundraising page and qualify for the 
While ‘tarp hoping’ around the 
