“My nieces/nephew and sister use it all the time when they come over and my dad enjoys just sitting outside his camper, listening to his music and rocking the day away.” Fayetteville barely made it under our population cap of 100,000, but this southern mountain town is a great sleeper destination for cyclists. Hundreds of miles of rural paved roads extend into the surrounding Siskiyou Range. Mountain bikers enjoy the 100-mile trail system in the 15,000-acre Ashland Watershed, where singletrack ascends to the top of 7,532-foot Mount Ashland and runs all the way back into town, more than 5,000 feet below. Ashland Mountain Adventures runs shuttles ($30 per person), so you can skip the climb up Mount Ashland and focus on the descent during your 13- to 25-mile (depending on the route) ride. Aspen-Snowmass and the ozark trail canopy Roaring Fork Valley was the first destination in Colorado to earn Gold Level Ride Center status from the International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA).
Trailheads for popular singletrack begin right on the edge of neighborhood streets, and Jackson Hole Mountain Resort’s extensive lift-served routes are 15 minutes from the town center. Biking is woven into the fabric of the community, through the extensive infrastructure and events like bike swaps, youth programs, and local race series. In June, a landslide closed a 10-mile stretch of the Teton Pass mountain road for three weeks, impeding the commute between Jackson and less expensive communities in Idaho.
During a camping trip, I sat in a friend’s ozark trail backpack REI Flexlite Camp Boss, which is a larger version of REI’s Flexlite line of chairs that we mention in the competition. It was surprisingly comfortable and more stable than the Flexlite and Flexlite Air that we tested. We look forward to having a testing panel compare it to our top lightweight pick.
This wider and longer set will provide support for larger adults with the same upright style as the traditional bagged camping chair. Has been rated for 300 pounds, but can hold more weight comfortably. Double cup holders are also extra large to hold bigger drinks. Whether it’s a compact 2-person foldable table for intimate gatherings or a larger picnic table that comes complete with camping chairs for a family feast, there’s a size and style for every occasion. Most of our testers found the REI Co-op Skyward Chair to be one of the least comfortable chairs in our testing pool.
There’s also a mesh pocket behind the backrest, to hold things you don’t need to access quickly. This chair comes with a sturdy carrying case, with an over-the-shoulder strap, and it’s simple to expand and fold up accordion-style. Testers with knee and hip issues reported that when they were getting in and out of this chair, its armrests felt more stable than those of any other model. So they felt comfortable leaning onto the frame for extra support. No other chair in our testing pool—except perhaps the extremely pricey Yeti Trailhead—came close to matching the King Kong’s build quality.