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Should I drop for a sleep “system,” or just get a separate sleeping bag and pad?

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Big Agnes’s sleeping pads and bags rely on a basic principle: When you crush insulation, it insulates less. So when you’re sleeping, any sleeping-bag insulation that’s right underneath you is as good as worthless; just excess weight. So Big Agneslike some companies that tried this in the pastputs no insulation along the bottom of the bag. Instead, as you note, a sleeve is sewn into the bag that holds a sleeping pad (either one of Big Agnes’s REM pads or one from another maker). This makes perfect sense, as the pad is what provides all the ground-level insulation, anyway. It also means you don’t play chase the pad as you roll around your tent at night.

REM Air Core

Drawbacks? Yeah, some. Mainly, these systems orient the bag in a single way, and tend to assume you want to sleep on your back with your face looking straight up. If you sleep on your side, the hood at the back of your head must turn with youwhich it does, a little. And there really isn’t a huge weight savings. Big Agnes’s 20-degree down-filled Zirkel ($279; www.bigagnes.com) weighs two pounds two ounces, which is pretty good. Feathered Friends’ 20-degree Swallow ($320 with Nextec shell; www.featheredfriends.com) has down all the way around yet weighs an ounce less. Meanwhile, Big Agnes’s self-inflating REM Air Core pad will run you $55, and add a relatively wispy 19 ounces to your load.
So it’s a matter of taste. Big Agnes’s stuff is practical, well-made, and well-pricedI never thought they’d make it when their stuff first came out four years ago, but here they are, doing great. Myself, I tend to prefer the separate pad and bag route. I just find it a little more comfortable. But that’s just mepeople have been known to disagree…
Get the scoop on more of the year’s best sleeping bags and pads in ��ԹϺ��’s 2004 Buyer’s Guide.

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What sleeping bag would you recommend for a fidgety sleeper?

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Certainly, some people find mummy-style sleeping bags about as comfortable as sleeping inside a coffin. Mummies are not the panacea for those seized by the urge to thrash around their tent in some dream-addled mosh.

Sandman

I remember reviewing one of the early “stretch” bags, a MontBell, eight or nine years ago. Most readers know the concept—the bags are cut a little more generously than a regular mummy bag, then they incorporate elastic strips or some other stitched-in constricting mechanism. The result: a bag that feels roomier but doesn’t have a ton of empty space, extra air being difficult to heat up and keep warm. One reason people get cold in sleeping bags is that as they move around they literally pump warm air out and cool air in.

Today such bags include the Sierra Designs 15-degree Sandman ($170; www.sierradesigns.com), a synthetic-fill bag that incorporates the NightCap add-on you mention (a hood that allows you to move your head around without smushing your face into fabric). Another is the MontBell U.L. Super Stretch Down Hugger #3 ($255; www.montbell.com), a 32-degree down bag. Interestingly, Sierra Designs now licenses its technology from MontBell—this after MontBell sued Mountain Hardwear in the late 1990s over a kind of stretch technology used by Mountain Hardwear at the time.
In terms of whether these bags “work,” to me the answer is an equivocal: For the most part, yes. They do create a roomier bag without adding too much unwanted extra interior space to heat up. But of course, there’s no free lunch. Because they have more material, these bags typically weigh a little more than a regular mummy of the same temp rating. The stretchy MontBell bag, for instance, weighs two ounces more than the non-stretch version (U.L. Alpine Down Hugger #3; $230), to which you’re free to say “big deal” without any argument from me. And, it’s also more costly to make, so the price is higher—only $25 more in the case of the MontBell, and here again you are free to say “so what.”
But, there’s no question to me that a stretch bag will be less durable, because the elastic is bound to go slacker than a set of old gym shorts at some point in the future. In the case of a synthetic bag, with a life expectancy of four or five years, that may not matter. A down bag’s fill will, however, easily outlive the elastic bands. So you should put that in your pipe and smoke it.
That’s a long-winded preamble to some sort of conclusive advice. I’ve used the Sierra Designs NightCap, and while it’s a clever innovation, I don’t think it changes bag comfort all that much. I’d go with the MontBell, which is a well-designed bag that’s also extremely light. Or, look at a slightly more generous bag, such as the Western Mountaineering’s Caribou Microfiber ($230; www.westernmountaineering.com), a 35-degree bag that has a wide, comfortable cut, yet weighs a mere one pounds four ounces.
Check out ��ԹϺ��’s 2004 Buyer’s Guide for more of the years best sleeping bags.

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Bike Press Camp Best In Show, Episode 2

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Earlier this summer in Deer Valley, Utah, 30-some bike industry manufacturers rolled out their 2012 product lines for a select group of journalists. We showed you some of the new bikes in Episode 1. But there were plenty of electronic gadgets, hard goods, and apparel that looked interesting, too. Presenting a round-up of some of the small bike goods that are certain to make a splash next year.–Aaron Gulleywww.aarongulley.com

CycleOps PowerCal ($200) The advantages of training with power are well established, but the $1,000-and-up price tags put the technology out of reach for many. PowerCal, which looks like a standard heart rate strap and extrapolates power from your heart rate using a series of algorithms, should change that: it costs only $200. And though the chest system, which will be available in November, won’t be as accurate as a hub-based meter—CycleOps estimates accuracy within 5 to 10 percent for the PowerCal versus 1.5 percent for a PowerTap—I’m excited that somebody is finally offering power technology that’s both economical and easy to use.

Sugoi Gustov shorts ($120) The spin-dial Boa ratcheting system has been used successfully in shoes for years, but now Sugoi brings the unique closure to mountain biking shorts. The system, which employs a separate dial on each hip for fine-tuning fit, should eliminate extra bulk and complication of other shorts’ micro-adjust systems, and Sugoi says the knobs are located so they won’t interfere or rub on a hydration pack.

Tifosi Mast ($70) Known for high-quality, inexpensive, function-first eyewear, Tifosi has been stepping up the style factor of late with a selection of fashion-forward shades. Our favorites are the Masts in the new gray stripe colorway. These frames look great but are still packed with features, including an adjustable non-slip nosepiece, non-slip pads in the temples for a firm fit, and three interchangeable lenses. Best of all, the Mast costs a fraction of the price of other interchangeable frames, and when you get that inevitable scratch right in the middle of your field of view, replacement lenses start at $15.

CatEye Inou ($200) Though it’s not the first GPS-enabled helmet cam, at $250, the Inou is less expensive than many cams out there with fewer functions. Used in conjunction with Cateye’s new interactive website, InouAtlas.com, the featherweight unit, which is about the size of a deck of cards and just as light, generates a Google Maps-based profile of your rides, with all ride data as well as still photos and video footage embedded onto the map and accessible with a click. Cateye claims runtimes up to seven hours on two AAA batteries.

Gore Alp-X Bibtight shorts ($180) These bib shorts, designed specifically for mountain bikers, could prove the death of baggies. They give the off-road race crowd the same sleek fit and added comfort of other bibs but also add dirt-specific detailing such as abrasion-resistant fabric in the legs and seat area and small side pockets on the legs for stashing energy gels when you’re going hard. The multi-density Alp-X chamois is plenty cushy and dries quickly, and reflective strips on the legs and seat keep you visible and safe once the singletrack dumps you back onto the road.

Acros A-GE Hydraulic Shifters ($2,000) In a unique take on the mountain bike drivetrain, Acros replaces standard cables and springs with a hydraulic system filled with mineral oil. The big advantage is the lack of friction; the action for shifting the single thumb paddle up or down is light, consistent, and smooth throughout the gear range. Since it’s a closed system, there’s no risk of the contamination from dirt, mud, and dust that clogs up normal derailleurs and cables, meaning once you get your shifting dialed it will stay that way. Acros claims that the full A-GE system, including right and left shifters and front and rear derailleurs, is a third of a pound less than comparable Shimano XTR. Judging by the initial production run of 250 units, Acros knows that only the most discerning customers will be willing to pay for the privilege.

Cannondale helmets (from $40) The bike giant enters the helmet market with four designs in its new line-up: the road-oriented Teramo ($110; pictured), the mountain Ryker ($80), the all-purpose Radius ($60), and the entry-level Quick ($40). All four helmets employ a built-in nylon roll-bar style chassis that the company says adds structure in case of a crash while allowing for lots of ventilation, as well as alloy reinforcements for added strength and a bit of flash. While these helmets aren't really broaching new ground in terms of safety or design, they look like hard-wearing and tantalizingly designed lids at remarkably low prices. The top-shelf 245-gram Teramo, in particular, is a heck of a deal.

Assos SturmPrinz ($530) Okay, this techy rain shell is not cheap, but when you’re pedaling through a downpour and still cozy and dry in this high-tech shell, you’ll be glad you ponied up the cash. The primary fabric is Assos’ proprietary Triton waterproof breathable, which sheds water like a corrugated metal roof but lets all that heat and moisture that you’re generating off-gas as if you have the windows wide open. As with every Assos piece, the difference between the Sturmprinz and other rain jackets is the careful tailoring (it’s sewn from seven fabrics and 25 separate pieces for a fit that’s perfect on the bike) and the fanatical detailing (as in the watertight wrist gaskets and rear flap that both allows venting and provides access to your rear pockets while still keeping them dry). This jacket is so sexy and well made that even though I live in the desert, where the rain is so light and infrequent that a full rain shell is unnecessary, I still want one. Shown here with the SturmNuss knickers ($350).

Lazer Magneto ($120) Citing the desire to “protect everything from the neck up,” this Belgian helmet manufacturer debuted a line of sunglasses that includes four performance models (three with interchangeable lenses) and a fashion-oriented design. What really caught my eye, however, was the Magneto, a pair of full-wrap glasses that aim to eliminate the awkward intersection of sunglasses and helmet. With half-length temples that end in built-in magnets, these unique sunglasses affix directly to magnets embedded in either side of helmet’s chin straps, thus removing the chance for chafing and pressure between your shades and your helmet. For 2012, only the top-end Helium road helmet will come equipped with compatible magnets, but Lazer promises to add the functionality to other lids in subsequent seasons. Because the Magnetos shown at Bike Press Camp were an early prototype, no photos were available.

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The 16 Best Places to Live in the U.S.: 2014

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You cast more than 1.5 million votes in our biggest Best Town Ever contest to date. One town may have triumphed, but you loved 15 other amazing places, too—from Burlington Vermont to Anchorage Alaska.

Editors

The four finalists for Best Town Ever are all great picks. While voting raged on, our editors (and a special guest) shared what they love about this year’s top towns.

The

Provo and Ithaca experienced quite a nail-biting matchup, remaining neck-and-neck for five days of bracket voting. Observe:

How

Readers cast 1.5 million votes in our six-round, 64-town tournament. Duluth dominated from the start, netting a far greater percentage of the vote than the competition.

Hit

An epic, 10,000-mile road trip across America to find the best place to live in the country. That’s one way to pick your dream town.

But before we reveal the winner, a word on our rankings.This list is ordered by the number of votes you gave each town in our March Madness–style Best Towns Tournament—and the place that received the most votes was crowned our Best Town Ever. In fact, our winner absolutely crushed every voting round. But we also did our own evaluation of each finalist, which resulted in a very scientific number known as the O-Score. The O-Score ExplainedTo develop our own ��ԹϺ�� Score, we tapped a rocket scientist (seriously) to combine factors like number of outfitters, miles of trails, and number of bike shops—plus considerations like unemployment rates, median incomes, and, yes, an editors’-choice variable—into a single mathematical formula. The resulting O-Score is intended to summarize just how livable a place is, even if that differs from how readers voted. O-Scores are assigned on a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 being paradise and 0 being Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Kidding, Tulsa—we love you!)16. Montpelier, Vermont

The Montpelier Mile race happens every Fourth of July. (Ron Lay-Sleeper)

Total Votes: 23,560O-Score: 74Welcome to the only state capital in the union without a McDonald’s. Which is just one sign that this town (pop. 7,787) is socially and politically progressive. Also: in 2016, Vermont will become the first state to require labeling of genetically modified foods.Of course, when you’re smack dab in the middle of the beautiful Green Mountains, you tend to be mindful of your environmental impact. In the winter, locals ski Mount Mansfield’s backcountry or make the 40-minute drive to the Sugarbush or Mad River Glen ski resorts. In the summer, there’s canoeing on Mad River, hiking on Mount Hunger, and mountain biking around Millstone Hill. If that’s not enough, New Hampshire’s adventure-packed White Mountains are just two hours away.Mud season doesn’t seem to slow anyone down. “I try to extend the ski season as long as possible, and when it’s over I transition straight to bike season,” says Bryan Redmond, a conservationist who likes the trails at the North Branch Nature Center.Montpelier feels like a quaint New England town, with old-timey characters who’ve been sugaring maples for generations. But in the winter and spring, when the Vermont legislature is in session, the vibe gets serious: after all, there’s a world to change, one small town at a time.—Megan MichelsonMake the MoveOpt for the Meadow neighborhood, less than a mile from downtown and next to Hubbard Park, which has homes around $300,000 (citywide median: $208,300). State government dominates the area economy, though foodies can also find work at Cabot Creamery or the New England Culinary Institute (median household income: $60,587).15. Houghton, Michigan

A dip in Lake Superior. (Aaron Peterson)

Total Votes: 26,353O-Score: 76Yes, Houghton (pop. 7,700) is out there. It’s about as far north as you can get in the state, on the far point of a peninsula (the Keweenaw) that’s already on a remote peninsula (the Upper). And yes, the winters are eight months long. But that means that your neighbors and the students at Michigan Tech—who double the population during the school year—are not only your friends but your adventure partners, too. And there’s plenty to do, even in winter.More than 28 miles of World Cup-caliber nordic trails track the outskirts of town (Michigan Tech will host the National XC Skiing Championships in 2015 and 2016), and nearby Mount Bohemia claims the best powder east of the Rockies, with an annual average of 273 inches and 900 feet of vertical. Come summer there’s boating, surfing, and kiting on Lake Superior and the 23.5-mile Portage Canal, weekly outdoor concerts downtown, and some of the country’s most underappreciated mountain-bike trails at Copper Harbor. “There’s not one outdoor sport you can’t do here,” says Caleb Wendel, an avid mountain biker and owner of Houghton’s Rhythm Bike and Board.Climbers head to Cliff Drive, to scale Shit Hooks and some 70 other routes rated to 5.11d, or ice-climb Horsetail Falls at Red Ridge, where 40-to-80-foot cliffs overlook Lake Superior. Anglers aim for Pilgrim River to fish for trout or catch spring steelhead on the Elm and Misery Rivers south of town. To refuel, grab a Widow Maker black ale at Keweenaw Brewing Company, and don’t miss the pork and beef pasty at Roy’s Pasties and Bakery. —Nick DavidsonMake the MoveAny house in town is well situated, but look for one in the $100,000 range close to Portage Canal for the best access to local restaurants, Lake Superior, and trails (citywide median: $130,000). The largest employers include Michigan Tech and Portage Health (median household income: $23,912).14. Nashville, Tennessee

Paddleboarding Riverfront Park. (Ashley Hylbert)

Total Votes: 26,898O-Score: 77The Athens of the South may be best known for country music and soapy TV shows about country music, but in the past decade the town (pop. 624,496) has broken out of its rhinestone shell and emerged as one of the region’s most unexpectedly adventurous outposts.Mayor Karl Dean instituted a bike-share program with 23 stations, beefed up Nashville’s greenway, and increased bike lanes to 142 miles. That’s just the small stuff. “We have some of the most badass road biking in the South and a growing singletrack portfolio,” says cyclist Patrick Harkin, 43. Harkin likes the 444-mile Natchez Trace Parkway for road biking. “It’s like the Blue Ridge Parkway without the mountains or traffic. You can ride for 25 miles and never see more than two cars,” he says.Mountain bikers and trail runners flock to Warner Parks, a nearly 3,000-acre oasis with nine miles of freshly built, flowing mountain-bike trails. Paddleboarders head to dozens of lakes inside the Cumberland River Basin, and trail runners explore singletrack winding through Warner. Fuel up at Fido, which has organic options for vegetarians and carnivores—try the Local burger, a blend of ground beef and lamb. —Graham AverillMake the MoveHillsboro Village—near leafy, landscaped Vanderbilt University—is a walkable neighborhood with homes priced around $369,000 (citywide median: $165,000). The city is a regional hub for education, manufacturing, and health care (median household income: $45,982).13. Portland, Maine

Running alongside Portland Harbor views. (Woods Wheatcroft)

Total Votes: 30,230O-Score: 88With an influx of bike commuters and locally sourced eateries, and a burgeoning art and music scene, the East Coast’s Portland (pop. 66,000) is starting to resemble its beard-dominated West Coast counterpart.“I’ve watched the transformation from a rough-around-the edges city to a thriving cultural destination,” says Piper Panzeri, a 42-year-old who runs sea-kayaking outfitter Out in the Open ��ԹϺ��s. Now the First Friday Art Walk and the Portland Symphony Orchestra draw big crowds, and a growing immigrant population has boosted restaurant diversity, with Somalian and Vietnamese spots next to the fish-and-chip stands you’ve come to expect.Because this is still Maine, after all, where lobstermen bicker on the Coast Guard’s radio channel, the cobblestones of Old Port hark back to the town’s 19th-century roots, and seafaring adventure abounds. “I can’t live without Casco Bay and the islands,” says Panzeri.When locals aren’t sea kayaking, they’re mountain-biking Bradbury Mountain State Park’s and Cape Elizabeth’s combined 30-plus miles of trails or surfing and paddleboarding the 60-degree summer water at Scarborough and Higgins beaches (in wetsuits, of course). And popular shop Gorham Bike and Ski leads a Friday-morning coffee ride—a 52-mile loop with a cappuccino stop midway in Yarmouth.Sure, winters can be long and rough, but locals don’t mind. They congregate for full-moon nordic skiing at Riverside Golf Course and break out the pond-hockey gear.—M.M.Make the MoveBack Cove, a neighborhood on the water, has Victorian houses in the $200,000 range (citywide median: $241,700). L.L.Bean and the Maine Medical Center are two of the area’s largest employers (median household income: $44,487).12. Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston's Queen Street. The town is home to a thriving food scene for post-adventure fuel. (Peter Frank Edwards/Redux)

Total Votes: 32,178O-Score: 84The South’s coolest coastal city oozes hospitality and has one of the country’s finest culinary scenes. But what really sets it apart is the water. Charleston (pop. 125,583) sits at the tip of a peninsula shielded from the Atlantic by outlying islands and surrounded by Charleston Harbor and its web of estuaries. “There are so many options,” says Josh Wilson, 34, a triathlete and former professional surfer. “Surf, paddleboard, fish, kiteboard—any sort of water-based adventure, you can do it here.”Hunting redfish by kayak in the marsh is a local obsession, and for more rugged adventure (think deserted islands, sun-bleached trees, and gators) residents catch a ferry to Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge for oceanfront wilderness kayaking. For the best surf in South Carolina—particularly in the fall—Wilson recommends the Washout, a consistent, user-friendly break on Folly Beach, and points paddleboarders and kayakers to the Folly River’s expansive maze of marshy inlets.Of course, remaining on land is just as fun. Charleston’s notable chefs, like Sean Brock at McCrady’s, are the most famous people in town, so expect adventurous twists on southern fare in practically any of the city’s restaurants. Wilson’s favorite is the Vendue hotel’s Drawing Room, where fresh-from-the-boat seafood is paired with fingerling potatoes fried in duck fat.  —G.A.Make the MoveJames Island, a ten-minute drive from Folly Beach and downtown Charleston, has homes for $265,000 (citywide median: $225,000). The city’s largest employers are the military base and the Medical University of South Carolina (median household income: $50,873).11. La Crosse, Wisconsin

A La Crosse overlook offers stunning views of the town. (Ray + Kelly)

Total Votes: 35,394O-Score: 74La Crosse (pop. 51,647) is small-town friendly—everyone says hello—but punches above its weight in adventure. “The potential is overwhelming at times,” says Jacob Sciammas, who teaches recreation management at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse. “There’s no need to ever drive, really.”There are dozens of in-town multisport trails in Hixon Forest and Myrick Park, where five new miles are in the works, including a two-mile mountain-bike downhill and larger pump track. Plus, there are storage facilities that opened this summer.Sciammas, a cyclist and skier, says you can connect trails for hours of running, hiking, fat or mountain biking, snowshoeing, or skiing. Link Oak or Vista Trail to the wooded singletrack of the Human Powered Trails in Hixon Forest, Myrick Park, and Medary Quarry. Families can bike the 32-mile packed limestone Elroy-Sparta, which connects to several other routes in the area.There’s no lack of water in La Crosse, either. “Paddling the endless sloughs of the Mississippi or the La Crosse and Black Rivers is a must,” Sciammas says. Don’t miss the Fourth of July Riverfest, where you can sample local brats and—of course—cheese curds.—N.D.Make the MoveTo bike everywhere, set down roots with a $120,000-range home near the burgeoning downtown (citywide median: $129,100). For employment, look to the University of Wisconsin (median household income: $39,014).10. Boulder, Colorado

A jog through Annette Brand Park, south of Boulder. (Celin Serbo/Tandem)

Total Votes: 39,613O-Score: 91It’s easy to poke fun at Boulder, with its profusion of Priuses, roving bands of shaven-legged cyclists, and aggressive Whole Foods customers. But one man’s punch line is another man’s paradise. “Boulder has this young, energetic vibe, and pretty much everything is geared toward healthy lifestyles,” says Ben Hoffman, a 31-year-old professional triathlete.The Kitchen, one of the country’s original farm-to-table spots, serves healthy fare like local quinoa, and opportunities for outdoor recreation surround the city. For cyclists, “there’s an amazing diversity of terrain, from rolling farm roads to mountains,” says Hoffman. “You can get up Lefthand Canyon or Flagstaff Road and disappear from the masses pretty quickly.” In town, gyms like Colorado Athletic Club have Ironman coaches and outdoor pools—“a rarity in Colorado,” says Hoffman—and the reservoir hosts regular open-water swims.With the University of Colorado campus and a population of more than 100,000, Boulder also has the cultural trappings—and, crucially, job opportunities—of a large city. The Boulder Theater hosts indie films and popular bands, and the Bitter Bar serves craft cocktails to mustached men in skinny jeans. Google established a satellite campus here in 2007, and dozens of tech startups are transforming Boulder into a mountain-town Silicon Valley.—Kate SiberMake the MoveHome prices are high (citywide median: $489,500), but you can find one for as low as $330,000 in North Boulder. CU-Boulder is the major employer, but the tech industry continues to grow (median household income: $56,206).9. Missoula, Montana

Downtown Missoula. The college town also happens to be a paddler's paradise. (Woods Wheatcroft)

Total Votes: 40,530O-Score: 82KEEP MISSOULA WEIRD, reads a popular bumper sticker in this western Montana college town (pop. 68,394). By red-state standards, Missoula is anomalous; a liberal outpost, it’s Montana’s biggest cultural center, yet it maintains a small-town feel. “It’s a really open, diverse community,” says Mike Wolfe, a lawyer and professional ultra-runner. “You can be whoever you want to be here.”The University of Montana, the town’s largest employer, cultivates youthful brio, but most activity revolves around the downtown stretch of the Clark Fork River. Brennan’s Wave attracts paddleboarders, kayakers, and the odd surfer, and every Wednesday in summer the city hosts bands, food vendors, and kids’ activities in riverside Caras Park. Nearby, Draught Works Brewery slings locally brewed ales, and Big Dipper Ice Cream makes flavors like strawberry peppercorn from scratch. “You’ll go there at seven at night and there’ll be 150 people in line,” says Wolfe. “People show up just to hang out.”Of course, residents love this town best for what lies just beyond. “Trail access here is ridiculous,” says Wolfe. “I live downtown, and I can run out my front door, be on singletrack in two minutes, and go six hours without crossing a road.” Wolfe’s favorites include the 1.8-mile Mount Sentinel Trail, which climbs 2,000 vertical feet to views of the valley, and, for mountain biking, the buffed trails in the Rattlesnake National Recreation Area.One downside: “The winters can be long and gray,” says Wolfe. But skiing and snowboarding at the Montana Snowbowl is just 20 minutes away, Whitefish Mountain Resort is a couple of hours, and Big Sky Resort is under four.—K.S.Make the MoveThe Upper Rattlesnake Valley has houses around $599,000 (citywide median: $238,300); it feels rural, but you’re a ten-minute ride from downtown. The university is the largest employer, but there’s also a growing biotech industry (median household income: $39,076).8. Louisville, Kentucky

Holy Grale, which used to be a church, serves (possibly) the best burger in town. (Jessica Dillree)

Total Votes: 47,271O-Score: 73Louisvillians have a lot to be proud of. There are the bourbon and the horses, of course, but there’s also one of the country’s only urban forests, a 389-acre park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. (It’s like a miniature Central Park, but more laid back.) There’s a burgeoning bike-trail system, much of which parallels the Ohio River, and the city hosted the Cyclocross World Championship in 2013.But what the population of 605,000 may be most proud of is Louisville’s future. “There are so many cool things in the works,” says Derek Fetko, a road and mountain biker. “The biggest is the Parklands of Floyds Fork,” a 4,000-acre park being developed right outside town.By the end of 2015, expect 19 miles of greenway and a bike park with flow trails and pump tracks. Can’t wait? Fetko recommends Cherokee Park’s ten-mile, in-town mountain-bike system, known for its rolling hills and technical sections.If you’re a runner, head to Jefferson Memorial Forest, 6,527 acres of wilderness with 35 miles of trails. Then refuel at Holy Grale, an old church that’s been converted into a gastropub that Fetko says serves the best burger in town, and wash it all down with—what else?—a good bourbon. —G.A.Make the MoveHead to the perpetually hip Highlands, where houses go for $185,000 (citywide median: $139,400) and you can run or ride Cherokee Park straight from your door. To make a living, look to health care and to companies like GE, Ford, and UPS (median household income: $44,111).7. Burlington, Vermont

Vermont singletrack. In winter, Burlington also offers some of the best backcountry skiing out there. (Bear Cieri/Tandem)

Total Votes: 52,743O-Score: 83To understand how Burlington’s frat boys, Birkenstock-wearing professors, and young professionals happily coexist in the town of 42,000, just look at the bulletin board at City Market, the organically stocked co-op and the only grocery downtown. Flyers advertise evening bike races, a jazz festival on Church Street, yoga retreats at nearby vineyards, and a global-health lecture at the University of Vermont (home to nearly 10,000 students).Situated on the shores of Lake Champlain, with the Green Mountains to the east and the Adirondacks to the west, Burlington’s residents have easy access to water and peaks. You can bike along Lake Champlain’s waterfront, rent a sailboat at the Community Sailing Center, cliff-jump at Red Rocks, or mountain-bike the Sunny Hollow trails. When frigid winter temperatures send other New Englanders inside, these hardy Vermonters are nordic skiing at the Intervale, snow kiting on frozen Champlain, or backcountry skiing near the Bolton Valley resort, just 30 minutes away.“I’ve lived and traveled all over the West, and Burlington is hard to beat,” says runner R.J. Thompson, a UVM grad who works in solar installation and is training to break the speed record on Vermont’s 273-mile Long Trail. “There’s a kindheartedness among people that can’t be found in many other places.”—M.M.Make the MoveLook for a colonial home priced around $300,000 (citywide median: $259,500) in the diverse Old North End neighborhood, close to the lake. If you can’t land a job at UVM, try the health care sector or Burton, which is headquartered here (median household income: $43,135).6. Asheville, North Carolina

Downtown Asheville, which boasts more than its fair share of breweries. (Frank Heuer/laif/Redux)

Total Votes: 70,665O-Score: 80Few towns force you to make the kinds of decisions you’re faced with in Asheville (pop. 85,712). Do you hang out downtown amid the dizzying number of breweries? Or do you road-bike the Blue Ridge Parkway? Do you paddle the Class V juggernaut Green River or hike the Appalachian Trail?Professional kayaker and avid mountain biker Pat Keller grew up in the area and watched it become one of the South’s most vibrant hubs of culture and adventure. “It’s hard to touch Asheville if you’re into adventure sports,” Keller says. He suggests expert boaters looking to go big head to the Class V-plus Toxaway River, while mere mortals should look to Ledges Whitewater Park, a string of Class II rapids on the French Broad River 15 minutes north of downtown.Mountain bikers have all of the Pisgah National Forest in Asheville’s backyard. Bent Creek, located ten miles from town, is some of the nearest singletrack, but Keller likes Staire Creek, located in Big Ivy, a largely forgotten tract of the Pisgah. “It’s rutted out with big rocks—you have to hop from one side of the trail to the other,” says Keller.Asheville treats foodies just as well. The Small Plate Crawl shows off the city’s finest dishes, like ginger-spiced potato cake over garbanzo bean stew at James Beard Award nominee Chai Pani. But the city is best known as a beer hub. Keller’s favorite: Wicked Weed Brewing, which is turning heads with its sour beers. —G.A.Make the MoveWest Asheville has 1920s-era bungalows going for as little as $189,000 (citywide median: $195,500). Outfitters, health care, and the food and beverage industries make up the largest share of the local economy (median household income: $42,333).5. Ithaca, New York

Ithaca's known for its gorges, but watery attractions like Wells Falls, pictured here, are great too. (Danny Ghitis)

Total Votes: 86,418O-Score: 89Many move to Ithaca (pop. 31,000) to get an education—both Cornell University and Ithaca College are here—but they stay because they’re smart enough not to leave.“Ithaca has the demographic of a city, but it’s a small, outdoorsy college town,” says Ian Golden, who owns Finger Lakes Running Company. The many ravines, waterfalls, and creeks that surround it make it picturesque. And thanks to the apple festivals, the chili cook-offs, an oddly thriving roller-derby scene, and the free-spirited Ithaca Festival parade (don’t miss the chainsaw band), it feels downright eclectic.Plus, the city is in the midst of a long-anticipated revitalization. The Cayuga Lake Blueway Trail will establish more paddler-friendly put-ins around the lake by 2016, and a $200,000 grant from the EPA is turning an abandoned factory into an Ithaca Falls overlook and park. The improvements are inspiring a steady migration of New York City residents to head upstate. “After more than a decade in New York, I knew Ithaca was going to be the place to put down roots,” says Marc Magnus-Sharpe, who moved to town for a job with Cornell Outdoor Education and to take advantage of the area’s outdoor opportunities.You can sail and paddleboard 38.2-mile-long Cayuga Lake, which borders town. Nearby Shindagin Hollow State Forest offers 16 miles of twisting singletrack. And, in the winter, there’s nordic skiing along groomed trails at the Swandrome and downhill skiing at Greek Peak Alpine Resort, just 20 miles away.—M.M.Make the MoveThe Fall Creek neighborhood, where homes are priced around $200,000 (citywide median: $184,400), is close to the scenic Cascadilla Gorge. The universities are major employers, but there’s also a growing tech industry (median household income: $29,230).4. Anchorage, Alaska

The sun shines on Lake Hood (though in winter, that's not so much the case). (Matt Hage)

Total Votes: 86,601O-Score: 83No one moves to Anchorage, one of the country’s northernmost cities (pop. 300,000), without good reason. For most, that reason is wilderness. “We have bears that wander around the neighborhoods,” says Erin Kirkland, author of travel guide Alaska on the Go.More than 200 miles of trails thread through downtown, the Cook Inlet, and the Turnagain Arm, and six mountain ranges unfurl within spotting distance of the city. Winters can be difficult—there’s as little as six hours of daylight in December—but “as long as you stay active, you’ll be fine,” says Kirkland. No one thinks much of donning a headlamp to skate-ski Kincaid Park or of heading 40 miles south to ski Alyeska Resort under lights. Downtown, breweries like Midnight Sun and Glacier Brewhouse host two other favorite Alaskan pastimes: beer drinking and storytelling, a veritable sport.Summer, however, is when Alaska really comes alive. “Where the city ends, the wilderness begins,” says Kirkland. There’s not a single sport you can’t do here, be it sea kayaking at Resurrection Bay or mountain biking at Kincaid. “It’s pretty amazing to live in that.”—K.S.Make the MoveIn Spenard, an up-and-coming neighborhood with houses around $265,000 (citywide median: $277,100), cafés have outdoor seating, a farmers’ market supplies local veggies, and trails lead into the woods. The Anchorage satellite of the University of Alaska is now the system’s largest and employs some 2,200 people. Tourism and the oil and gas industries are also economic drivers (median household income: $76,495).3. Minneapolis, Minnesota

Kayaking the Lake of the Isles. (Ackerman + Gruber)

Total Votes: 93,164O-Score: 81If you’re an outdoor nut with an urban bent, make Minneapolis your hub. It’s a full-blown city (pop. 400,070) but has 6,744 acres of parks, some 20 lakes, and more than 70 miles of maintained trails—all within city limits.“There’s a lot of passion and energy here,” says Steve Yore, a mountain biker and nordic skier. Downtown’s 700-acre Theodore Wirth Park has a 3.5-mile loop—great for lunch breaks. “There are races every weekend. It’s a strong community,” Yore says—even in winter, when there’s a growing fat-bike scene.The region is a mecca for canoers and kayakers, with the Boundary Waters Canoe Area four hours north and the Chain of Lakes in town. “I can put a canoe in Brownie Lake a half-mile from my house and paddle over to Uptown’s restaurants,” Yore says. He aims for what locals call Eat Street, 17 blocks of restaurants, where he can fill up on Malaysian cuisine at Peninsula and then paddle home. —N.D.Make the MoveGolden Valley, with homes around $250,000, is a great base for families who want quick bike access to parks and downtown. Young couples and single folks should head for the hip Uptown neighborhood and homes in the $270,000 range (citywide median: $216,800). For employment, try the University of Minnesota, the Mayo Clinic, and companies like Quality Bicycle Products (median household income: $48,881).2. Provo, Utah

Part of the 160-mile Wasatch Range, viewed from Provo. (Photographic Solutions)

Total Votes: 185,602O-Score: 80A few things might strike you as unusual in Provo (pop. 116,000). Candy stores and ice cream parlors outnumber bars, it can be tough to find a coffee or tobacco shop, and traffic regularly stops for runners and cyclists.  Welcome to what locals call Happy Valley, a series of communities centered on Provo and Orem, wedged between the 11,000-foot Wasatch Range and 95,000-acre Utah Lake.About 45 miles south of Salt Lake City, the area was a bastion of conservative Mormonism for decades. While more than 75 percent of the populace still identify as church members, residents say the county has become more open: last year, the area hosted its first gay-pride festival, and two universities, Brigham Young and Utah Valley, enroll more than 60,000 students, who inject the community with youthful energy and ideas.Mayor John Curtis has made a point of attracting new residents and businesses like Google Fiber, the search giant’s broadband service. With the help of Utah’s business-friendly tax laws, big employers such as Adobe and Duncan Aviation recently established campuses here, and startups like Qualtrics and Nu Skin are flourishing. Plus, in 2012, the FrontRunner commuter rail opened, connecting Provo to Salt Lake City with a 60-minute ride.All of that is nice, but the sunny climate is what really keeps everyone happy. “Provo is one of those places where you can be powder skiing in the morning and rock climbing in the afternoon,” says Stacy Taniguchi, a professor of recreation management at BYU. Climbers head 30 minutes out of town to Rock Canyon, which has cragside parking and more than 400 routes, or to American Fork, 20 miles north, with some of the country’s oldest, hardest routes. Road biking is popular, and each August, pro cyclists race through on the Tour of Utah. “On any given day, driving through the county, you’ll be dodging pelotons,” says Taniguchi. On the other side of town, sailors and paddleboarders hit Utah Lake, and about 15 miles north, Sundance Resort has more than nine miles of nordic ski trails and 42 downhill runs on 2,150 feet of vertical.The trade-off: Provo is still largely a strip of franchise restaurants and motels, although “we’re starting to get a lot of ethnic restaurants that are locally owned,” says Taniguchi. Try Yamato for sushi or J Dawgs, a hot-dog stand started by a couple of BYU students, for more laid-back grub. Nightlife is pretty vanilla—the big events in town are the Outdoor Summer Cinema movie nights and the Rooftop Concert Series. It can feel a little sleepy on Saturday night, but come Sunday, you’ll pretty much have the trails to yourself.—K.S.Make the MoveNeighborhoods on the Wasatch Front like East Bench offer mountain views, access to trails, and home prices in the $300,000 range (citywide median: $210,300). The most common jobs are in the software and tech industries (median household income: $40,288).1. Duluth, Minnesota

Trail running near the Lester River. Duluth plans to add another 100 miles of purpose-built trails by 2017. (Peter Frank Edwards)

Total Votes: 221,350O-Score: 88On a recent summer morning at the Duluth Rowing Club on Park Point, a seven-mile sandbar that separates the town’s harbor from Lake Superior, roughly 40 high school athletes gather to launch their sculls into the bay. Despite the 50-degree temperature and 25-mile-per-hour winds whipping up whitecaps on the big lake, which a few surfers are exploiting, the kids on the harbor are wearing shorts and T-shirts. This morning’s wild weather is nothing after having skied through a winter that set a new town record for the most consecutive days—23—with temperatures below zero.Duluthians seem to thrive on extremes. The city of 86,000 stretches for 26 miles along the westernmost tip of Lake Superior and has 6,834 acres of city parkland, 178 miles of wooded trails, and 16 designated trout streams. Which explains why Duluth has produced more than 150 Olympians—like long-distance runner Kara Goucher, nordic skier John Bauer, and the entire 2010 curling team.“In Duluth, you know you’re alive,” says Don Ness, the 40-year-old, six-foot-three mayor. Ness’s Twitter bio reads, “Husband, dad, mayor—in that order,” but he’s also a runner and a serious music fan. He recently tweeted a photo of his buddy Chris Coleman, the mayor of St. Paul, playing Bob Dylan covers at a local bar, a subtle reminder that the master balladeer was born here. In 2011, Ness had such a high approval rating, 86 percent, that he ran for his second term uncontested. “Despite the weather, or maybe because of it,” he says, “Duluthians are super passionate about this city.”It shows in their willingness to invest in outdoor infrastructure, such as cross-country ski trails and downhill ski areas like Spirit Mountain. This summer, the city council expected to pass a 0.5 percent tax on lodging, restaurants, and bars that would generate $18 million over 15 years to enhance recreational opportunities along the St. Louis River corridor on the city’s gentrifying West End. The Duluth Traverse, 100 miles of purpose-built trails, scheduled to be 80 percent complete by 2017, will be one of the largest urban mountain-bike trail systems in the world.That’s just the first of what Duluth hopes will be a string of adventure infrastructure improvements. The Minnesota Land Trust, a nonprofit organization working with the city on the Traverse and other projects, recently hired Hansi Johnson, former regional director for the International Mountain Biking Association, as the outdoor czar. His job will be to optimize every recreational venue the city has to offer. “I’m finding opportunities in ice climbing and kayak put-ins and cross-country skiing,” says Johnson.Of course, a trail is useless unless people get out on it, and a new group of young, active entrepreneurs are doing just that. “We were in Boston and looking at towns all over the country to start a family,” says 31-year-old Emily Vikre, who recently opened Vikre Distillery along the waterfront in Canal Park with her husband, Joel. “I’m floored by the amount of support we’ve been getting. It helps that we’re making artisanal booze, but people have done everything from connect us to other businesses to help us bottle gin.”Laura Mullen is another transplanted entrepreneur. She grew up in Duluth and moved back from Minneapolis in 2012 to open Bent Paddle Brewing Company with her husband and couple Bryon and Karen Tonnis. The brewery, which uses soft Lake Superior water in its beer, operates out of a renovated warehouse attached to a sleek taproom. It went from producing 1,500 barrels in the first seven months to 6,000 barrels in the first full year. Just down the street, Goodsheet, a design company with 100 employees, uses recycled materials to create outdoor furniture and kitchen cutting boards. The company’s 2013 revenue was  $20 million, and its headquarters are right off the Superior Hiking Trail, a 296-mile foot-path that starts in Duluth and ends at the Canadian border. “Duluth had the access to nature we wanted,” says Greg Benson, CEO of Loll Designs, a Goodsheet subsidiary.The city’s entrepreneurial spirit and love of wilderness go way back. At the turn of the 20th century, Duluth had the most millionaires per capita of any city in the country, thanks to the timber, shipping, and mining industries. And those millionaires got outside: between 1911 and 1923, the Duluth Rowing Club won more than 20 national championships, and the 115-foot Big Chester ski jump—which towered above the pines at Chester Bowl ski hill, in the middle of the city—was once the largest in the world.My dad, the grandson of Swedish immigrants, was born and raised in Duluth, and he had his first experience on the ski jump when his neighbor pushed him down it. He and my mom used a similar philosophy to raise their five kids in Duluth. To speed up our skiing progress on a busy Saturday, Dad paid the one-dollar fee, dropped us at Chester Bowl, and drove away. We also had free rein to wander our wild neighborhood. Tischer Creek was out the back door and spawned trout big enough to eat. At the top of our dead-end street was glorious Hartley Field, a 660-acre city park I used as my own personal wilderness. Which is why the recognition from ��ԹϺ�� doesn’t come as too much of a surprise to those of us who grew up here—we’ve known it’s the Best Town Ever for a long time.—Stephanie PearsonMake the MoveYou can find homes in the Riverside neighborhood for $140,000 (citywide median: $148,600). The largest employers are St. Mary’s/Duluth Clinic Health System and the local branch of the University of Minnesota (median household income: $41,311).A Final Word, Now That Word's OutEvery year, when ��ԹϺ�� releases its annual Best Towns issue, the editors receive threats from residents of places like Bend, Oregon, and Missoula, Montana, suggesting they’ll cause bodily harm for encouraging the hordes to move to their personal paradise. Most often, people complain about flocks of “Californians.” The term implies successful people from the coast who roll into town with big shiny SUVs and fistfuls of money, driving up real estate prices and unleashing development.I’ve been a resident of Missoula for more than 30 years, a refugee from the flatlands of the Midwest. The mountains and rivers have always been here, but the lively energy and community have not. I remember one gray winter day in particular, three decades ago, when I drove down the deserted main street, Higgins Avenue, as snow flurries spun over frozen asphalt and drifted into empty parking spots. Brown paper covered storefront windows. Mills had closed, and there were no jobs. I felt like the last person in town. It was the twilight zone.Today, downtown Missoula is an incredibly vibrant place. Yes, we have our share of big-box stores and McMansions on the edge of town, but we also have elegant bistros nestled beside working-class bars, art galleries and literary gatherings, elaborate trail systems, restored rivers, and tremendous open space. This took the work of people who really cared and were willing to spend the money to make these things happen. I know many of these people, and a lot of them moved here because they heard through the grapevine—or maybe even from ��ԹϺ��—that it was a great place to live. Then they helped to make it exactly that. I couldn’t be more grateful.—Peter Stark

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Six of the Best Emergency Safety Tools

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No matter what adventure comes next, the right safety tool makes life a lot easier. Our picks are small enough to fit in your pocket, and more importantly, won't let you down when disaster strikes.

SOG PowerLock Traveler ($108)

(SOG Knives)

SOG redesigned its original PowerLock—one of the sturdiest and most user-friendly mini multitools we’ve ever tested—to be compliant with TSA regulations. All 13 components, including pliers, wire cutters, scissors, and screwdrivers, are now carry-on-friendly.

SOL Pocket Survival Pak Plus ($80)

(Survive Outdoors Longer)

There are a few things we always pack: a compact headlamp, a lighter, a multitool, and this wallet-size survival kit. Hopefully, you’ll never have to use the scalpel or signal mirror—two of the 24 included items—but you’ll feel better knowing you have them.

Spot Trace ($100)

(Spot)

Whether you’re cycling between vineyards on a fancy road ride or wandering in Marrakesh, the Spot Trace helps you hang onto the stuff you left back at the hotel. Using satellite networks, the egg-size unit pings you when whatever it’s mounted to moves, then lets you track it via Google Maps.

Midland HH54VP Portable Weather Alert ($50)

(Midland)

Midland’s eight-ounce emergency weather radio uses location technology to automatically warn you of hazardous conditions. Switch to travel mode when you leave the house and the HH54VP will lock onto the clearest NOAA signal, then start chirping when a hurricane or flood is headed your way.

Benchmade 761 Framelock ($390)

(Benchmade)

It’s the Jaguar of pocket knives. An ultrasmooth hinge slides open with a flick of the thumb, and the corrosion-resistant M390 stainless-steel blade is one of the strongest on the market.

Leatherman Tread ($150)

(Leatherman)

It’s a strange take on the wearable-tech trend, but there’s no denying the utility of the Tread, a traditional multitool reimagined as a sleek stainless-steel bracelet. It weighs about the same as a hefty watch, and each link holds two or more tiny gadgets—everything from Allen wrenches to a cutting hook.

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Ne-brand sleeping bag or one from a discount maker like EMS?

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Eastern Mountain Sports is, of course, much like REI or L.L. Bean in that it’s both a retailer of “name-brand” goods as well as a maker of its own, proprietary label items. In my experience, the quality of their stuff is usually pretty good, even extremely good—after all, in most cases the fabrics, thread, zippers, and so on that are used to make a house-brand item are the same as those used by the Marmots or Mountain Hardwears of this world. And then there’s the question of value. REI or Eastern Mountain Sports don’t have to mark things up from a wholesale price to make a profit; they can charge less yet still make money.

Mountain Light

So…that’s a lengthy preamble to your question about Eastern Mountain Sports’ Mountain Light 20 bag (on sale at $159 from the usual $199; www.ems.com). It’s a 20-degree bag with high-quality 725-fill down and an extremely light, tough, and water-resistant Pertex nylon shell. That’s high-end stuff. And, while it has been a few years since I used an EMS bag, I’ve always regarded their bags as well-designed and functional—meaning their temperature ratings seem pretty accurate. And, at just two pounds, it’s a very light, compressible bag. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy it.
Now, the competition—in this case, Feathered Friends’ Swallow, a 20-degree down-filled bag that sells for $320 with a Pertex Quantum fabric that’s more or less the same as that found on the EMS bag (www.featheredfriends.com). The Swallow is a great bag—I’ve owned Swallows for 15 years now and think they’re maybe the best all-around down bags made. The Swallow is well-made, durable, and has excellent down (about 750-fill). But is it worth more than twice the money of the EMS bag? Probably not. My bet is that in a side-by-side comparison, the Swallow would show itself to be a little warmer. Just a little. And in the long run, probably more durable.
But, all things considered, I’d say buy the Mountain Light—and sleep well.
For the year’s best sleeping bags, read the reviews from ��ԹϺ��’s 2004 Buyer’s Guide.

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Tested: The Best Apps for the Outdoors

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Most phones are like overstuffed backpacks, crammed with junk that ends up in the trash at the first resupply—or software update.
We put 23 apps to the test during late-season camping trips and found just a few indispensable keepers. We also discovered some rubrics to keep in mind when picking your own favorites. To make an iPhone or Android smartphone useful for the outdoors, modern adventurers first need to purge the bloat (along with that compulsory U2 album). Then check out these must-have apps and our four rules before hitting download.
Harness Your Phone’s Intelligence
Buy an app that makes use of what your phone’s hardware—accelerometer, compass, GPS antenna. It’ll give you the most customized, local data.
We Like: The “Viewport” function in a series of national parks apps by Chimani (iOS and Android, free) illustrates how smartphones can deliver personalized, pinpointed information. Hold the phone up to any scenic view, and this app labels every feature you see on the screen.
Other apps we like include PeakFinder (iOS and Android, $3.99), which identifies any mountain you point it toward; stargazing apps such as Sky Guide (iOS, $1.99) and Sky Map (Android, free), which identify stars and planets; and Plane Finder (iOS, $4.99), which gives you live flight tracking around the world. The ability to hold a phone in front of your eyes and see a new, digital dimension is the most pervasive (and probably delightful) use of augmented reality yet. No Google Glass needed.
These apps can also teach us about the natural world. Take the Global Shark Tracker app (iOS and Android), which maps the real-time locations of geotagged great white sharks around the world. Maybe in a few years, you’ll be able to stand on a beach, hold the phone in front of your eyes, and see an invisible shark lurking just past the swim line.
Go Hyperlocal
Nationwide apps are often too unwieldy for simple tasks, lacking essential details that make route finding easier. Instead, go with an app designed for a specific hiking area or ski resort. It’ll be more powerful and easier to use.
We Like: On an August trip to the Big Branch wilderness on the Appalachian Trail, I downloaded two digital map options: my favorite topo app, Gaia (iOS and Android, $19.99), and a segment from Guthook (iOS and Android, $8.99), which chops the country’s scenic long trails into segments. To download an offline map through Gaia, I selected a large area of the Green Mountain National Forest where I thought we’d be hiking, but it took an hour of futzing and much of my smartphone’s memory. Guthook’s AT Hiker Massachusetts & Vermont app, in contrast, let me buy the local map I needed a la carte. So I had all the relevant trail information—including a serviceable offline map, a GPS dot showing my current location, recent photos from other uses, advisories, and through-hiker Guthook’s personal take—without the hassle.
For the Northwest, there are similar dead-easy offline maps developed by outdoorsman Sam Young (iOS and Android, $1.99). Think of these apps as tearing out a specific section of a guidebook before heading out: It’s simple and ensures that you have only the information you need.
Be Social (But Not Too Social)
Facebook and Twitter can create the kind of brain buzz travelers usually hope to flee. Go with an app that has clever, understated social features like photo sharing and digital competitions.
We Like: Download an app like Trover (iOS and Android, free), which displays user-generated photos of destinations around the globe. Since the app’s 2011 launch, Trovers have uploaded images of everything from funky restaurants to backwoods treks, and the staff has curated the best images for each location. Now, almost every GPS coordinate has rich, wanderlust-piquing pictures from ordinary travelers.
For snow lovers, established apps like EpicMix (iOS and Android, free), good at Vail Resorts ski areas, and Snocru (iOS and Android, $2.99) connect friends around the mountain. Then there’s the brand-new Outdoorsy (iOS, free), which lists local hikes, snowshoe tours, and bike rides so users can join in.
Specialization Is Good
Some outdoor app developers take the Swiss Army knife approach, throwing in every function possible. But the most useful apps do one thing well by providing pinpointed information or instructions for a specific task.
We Like: The most useful app in my quiver is also the nerdiest: VDOT Calculator (Android, free) is a running app that supplies optimal race and training paces based on my most recent race. It uses data from Jack Daniels, legendary running scientist and Ryan Hall’s new coach, allowing runners to pace, say, a half marathon from any recent 5K performance.
Other niche apps are so specific they’re almost ridiculous but still useful. There’s an app to pick the color of kick wax on cross-country skis, Nordic Ski Wax (iOS, $.99); to find the perfect hang for a trekking hammock, Hammock Hang Calculator (Android, $1.99); and to learn the physics of trimming a sail, Sail Trimming (iOS, $1.99).
Searching for a hyperspecific app can be tough, so sometimes the best recommendations come from friends with similar interests (even if it’s avalanche tracking).

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The Best Sleeping Bags of 2013

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The Kelty Ignite DriDownTwo hundred bucks for an ordinary down sleeping bag would be a killer deal. It’s even better when that bag is made of water-resistant down, weighs less than three pounds, and packs to the size of a football. That, in a stuffsack, is why the Ignite DriDown is our favorite bag this year. Kelty cut costs—but little, if any, performance—by using 600-fill duck down instead of pricier goose feathers. “It felt warmer than its 20-degree rating,” said one tester. Draft collars around the hood and along the full-length, two-way zipper helped. To trim weight, Kelty employed ripstop nylon on the exterior, which is thin enough that it should be handled with care. But that’s a minor inconvenience for this much value. 20˚; 2.8 lbs.
Compressibility: 4 Warmth-to-Weight Ratio: 4.5Sierra Designs Cal 13 Sleeping Bag

(Inga Hendrickson)

BEST FOR: When weight is everything.
THE TEST: With most sleeping bags, ultralight means ultratight. Yet even though Sierra Designs kept features to a minimum—a half-length, one-way zip and a tissue-thin nylon shell and liner—whittling this water-resistant, 800-fill down bag to under two pounds, the standard size still fit a 200-pound six-footer with room to wiggle. “Usually, I’m uncomfortable in a standard, but I slept like a baby,” he said. Another plus: the jacket-style hood can be cinched down to form a snug pocket of warmth.
THE VERDICT: The half-length zip isn’t as comfortable or ventable as a full-length one, but most testers didn’t care, as the Cal is the lightest and warmest bag here—and packs down smaller than some puffy jackets. 13˚; 1.7 lbs.
COMPRESSIBILITY: 5WARMTH-TO-WEIGHT RATIO: 5Nemo Nocturne 30 Spoon Sleeping Bag

(Inga Hendrickson)

BEST FOR: Side sleepers, comfort seekers.
THE TEST: Around 70 percent of people sleep on their sides, yet until now sleeping bags weren’t designed that way. Enter Nemo’s new line of spoon-shaped bags, cut to fit a body turned sideways: traditional width at the shoulders, narrower through the hips, and wider at the knees and feet. If it seems insignificant, it’s not. Several side-sleeping testers were convinced that they slept more soundly thanks to the Nocturne’s shape. And while everyone liked that the foot of the bag is wrapped in condensation-reflecting, waterproof-breathable fabric, not everyone was nuts about the clingy-when-damp liner.
THE VERDICT: Smart new design; light, comfortable, and highly packable. 30˚; 2 lbs.
COMPRESSIBILITY: 4WARMTH-TO-WEIGHT RATIO: 4Therm-a-Rest Antares 25 Sleeping Bag

(Inga Hendrickson)

BEST FOR: Three-season backpacking in drier climates.
THE TEST: The 750-fill Antares has no insulation on the bottom of the bag and works best paired with a 25-inch pad. It’s not the first such design, but it’s one of the best: just slip the pad through the straps and it’s held in place—no more rolling or sliding off. “It feels comfortable the minute you get inside,” said one tester. A nearly full-length side zip lets you vent on warmer nights, while the full draft collar and sculpted hood seal in warmth when temperatures drop.
THE VERDICT: Some testers missed being able to roll around with the bag, something you can’t do with the Antares with a pad in place, but none complained about the impressive weight and packability. 20˚; 1.9 lbs.
COMPRESSIBILITY: 5WARMTH-TO-WEIGHT RATIO: 4L.L. Bean ��ԹϺ�� 25 Sleeping Bag

(Inga Hendrickson)

BEST FOR: The budget minded, college kids, festivalgoers, new campers.
THE TEST: The ��ԹϺ�� sleeping bag’s offset layers of insulation minimize cold spots and provide true-to-rating warmth down to 25 degrees. A soft interior lining and room to shift around let one of our testers—who typically has a hard time sleeping in a tight bag—get a decent night’s rest. “Surprisingly comfortable” was a common refrain. Just stick close to the car and you’ll be fine: it doesn’t compress very well—it took up almost half of a 60-liter pack’s main compartment—and, at just under five pounds, it’s pretty hefty.
THE VERDICT: Too bulky for backpackers. For everyone else, it’s a comfy sack at a great price. 25˚; 4.8 lbs.
COMPRESSIBILITY: 2WARMTH-TO-WEIGHT RATIO: 4Mountain Hardwear UltraLamina 32 Sleeping Bag

(Inga Hendrickson)

BEST FOR: Light-and-fast missions.
THE TEST: Camped out under a tarp, one tester appreciated the highly windproof nature of the redesigned UltraLamina. To help prevent cold spots, its proprietary synthetic insulation is welded (not stitched) directly to the shell and lining. The design also increases loft, and our tester slept soundly even as a heat-sucking breeze blew through his crude shelter. The two-pound bag packs as small as a Nerf football in its compression sack (included), and a snug cut reduces bulk and boosts warmth, though some found the shape constricting.
THE VERDICT: The bag to get when warmth-to-weight trumps a generous cut. 32˚; 1.6 lbs.
COMPRESSIBILITY: 5WARMTH-TO-WEIGHT RATIO: 4Big Agnes Shoestring SL Sleeping Bag

(Inga Hendrickson)

BEST FOR: Canoe and kayak trips.
THE TEST: Big Agnes claims that its new synthetic insulation repels rain and condensation and pulls sweat vapor away from your body to keep the bag drier and you warmer. To test those claims, we sent the bag sea-kayaking in perpetually soggy British Columbia. “The Shoestring SL was always dry in the morning, even when the tent was soaked with condensation,” wrote one tester. Cut and stitched into vertical baffles, the bag’s insulation is impressively lofty and compressible. So much so that one tester was convinced it was down filled.
THE VERDICT: A bit portly for fast-and-light trips but ideal for dank adventures of any other stripe. 22˚; 2.9 lbs.
COMPRESSIBILITY: 3WARMTH-TO-WEIGHT RATIO: 3

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The Best Sleeping Bags of 2015

eberger

Two factors are driving innovation in sleeping-bag design. One is the price of down skyrocketing over the past six years as supply has dropped (the feathers are a byproduct of the food industry and, worldwide, folks are eating less fowl) and demand has grown. This dynamic has spurred companies to develop more down-like synthetic fills and to combine down and synthetic insulation in the same bag. Meanwhile, designers are making sleeping bags a lot more comfortable, adding room where it matters and moving zippers or nixing them altogether. As for the old down-versus-synthetic choice, almost all down is now treated to be water-resistant, but the fundamental differences remain unchanged: down is more expensive, more compressible, and warmer per ounce, while synthetic filling is more affordable and dries faster. —Ryan StuartNEMO Tango SoloAs much as we love a top-shelf mummy bag, it can be annoyingly constrictive and, on summer nights, too hot. That’s why we’re so smitten with the Tango Solo. Read the full Gear of the Year review.Sleep Comfort: 5
Warmth to Weight: 4.5

As much as we love a top-shelf mummy bag, it can be annoyingly constrictive and, on summer nights, too hot. That’s why we’re so smitten with the . Read the full Gear of the Year review.

Sleep Comfort: 5
Warmth to Weight: 4.5

(Michael Karsh)

Marmot Electrum 30Best For: Efficient warmth.
The Test: The human body doesn’t lose heat evenly, so Marmot’s designers decided that uniformly insulating a sleeping bag only adds cost and weight. Instead, they used heat-mapping technology to determine where to add insulation (torso and feet). And then, because synthetic fill provides more thermal efficiency than down when compressed, they decided to stuff the Electrum ($159) with synthetic on the back and 650-fill down on the front. Result: the Electrum is toasty and fairly compact, squishing to the size of a cantaloupe.
The Verdict: A brilliant bag from top to bottom. 30°; 2.5 lbs; marmot.com
Sleep Comfort: 4
Warmth to Weight: 3.5

Best For: Efficient warmth.

The Test: The human body doesn’t lose heat evenly, so Marmot’s designers decided that uniformly insulating a sleeping bag only adds cost and weight. Instead, they used heat-mapping technology to determine where to add insulation (torso and feet). And then, because synthetic fill provides more thermal efficiency than down when compressed, they decided to stuff the ($159) with synthetic on the back and 650-fill down on the front. Result: the Electrum is toasty and fairly compact, squishing to the size of a cantaloupe.

The Verdict: A brilliant bag from top to bottom. 30°; 2.5 lbs;

Sleep Comfort: 4
Warmth to Weight: 3.5

(Michael Karsh)

Millet Alpine LTK 800Best For: Making camp life easier.
The Test: So many bags have annoying flaws: zippers that snag, jumbles of cords around your face, clammy linings. Which is why the 700-fill down Alpine ($230) is so refreshing. The hood drawcords are thoughtfully designed—around the chin, over your head—making it easy to cinch, even when you’re half asleep. Testers also cheered the three-quarter-length zipper (it never snagged), the built-in stuffsack (smartly attached to the hood for faster packing), and the extreme compressibility.
The Verdict: An ideal summer bag when space and weight are at a premium. 32°; 1.8 lbs; millet.fr
Sleep Comfort: 3.5
Warmth to Weight: 4.5

Best For: Making camp life easier.

The Test: So many bags have annoying flaws: zippers that snag, jumbles of cords around your face, clammy linings. Which is why the 700-fill down ($230) is so refreshing. The hood drawcords are thoughtfully designed—around the chin, over your head—making it easy to cinch, even when you’re half asleep. Testers also cheered the three-quarter-length zipper (it never snagged), the built-in stuffsack (smartly attached to the hood for faster packing), and the extreme compressibility.

The Verdict: An ideal summer bag when space and weight are at a premium. 32°; 1.8 lbs;

Sleep Comfort: 3.5
Warmth to Weight: 4.5

(Michael Karsh)

REI LumenBest For: Stretching your dollars.
The Test: Like the other synthetic bags here, the Lumen ($159) offers a lot of bang for the buck. For $159 you get a contoured foot-box, a face muffler, a full-length zipper, and zipper guards to prevent snags, just to name a few features. Inside, overlapping sheets of synthetic fill lock in warmth, and the mix of hollow and micro-denier fibers boasts an excellent warmth-to-weight ratio: the Lumen weighs the same as the half-down, half-synthetic Marmot but is several degrees warmer and more compressible than the all-synthetic Rab.
The Verdict: The closest to down we’ve seen. 20°; 2.5 lbs; rei.com
Sleep Comfort: 4
Warmth to Weight: 4

Best For: Stretching your dollars.

The Test: Like the other synthetic bags here, the ($159) offers a lot of bang for the buck. For $159 you get a contoured foot-box, a face muffler, a full-length zipper, and zipper guards to prevent snags, just to name a few features. Inside, overlapping sheets of synthetic fill lock in warmth, and the mix of hollow and micro-denier fibers boasts an excellent warmth-to-weight ratio: the Lumen weighs the same as the half-down, half-synthetic Marmot but is several degrees warmer and more compressible than the all-synthetic Rab.

The Verdict: The closest to down we’ve seen. 20°; 2.5 lbs;

Sleep Comfort: 4
Warmth to Weight: 4

(Michael Karsh)

Big Agnes Lost Ranger 15Best For: A mummy bag that’s as comfortable as a rectangular bag.
The Test: On first glance, the Lost Ranger ($280) looks like a standard mummy bag in a pinstripe suit of 650-fill down. But climb inside and “it’s really roomy in there,” said one surprised tester. That’s because Big Agnes added a couple of extra inches of girth, so the bag drapes over the sides of its integrated 20-inch-wide pad sleeve. Another nice touch is the silky taffeta interior lining. “On chilly nights it felt warm as soon as I crawled in,” our tester said.
The Verdict: Size matters—even if it’s just a little extra around the middle. 15°; 2.9 lbs; bigagnes.com
Sleep Comfort: 4.5
Warmth to Weight: 3.5

Best For: A mummy bag that’s as comfortable as a rectangular bag.

The Test: On first glance, the ($280) looks like a standard mummy bag in a pinstripe suit of 650-fill down. But climb inside and “it’s really roomy in there,” said one surprised tester. That’s because Big Agnes added a couple of extra inches of girth, so the bag drapes over the sides of its integrated 20-inch-wide pad sleeve. Another nice touch is the silky taffeta interior lining. “On chilly nights it felt warm as soon as I crawled in,” our tester said.

The Verdict: Size matters—even if it’s just a little extra around the middle. 15°; 2.9 lbs;

Sleep Comfort: 4.5
Warmth to Weight: 3.5

(Michael Karsh)

Rab Ignition 3Best For: Ninety percent chance of rain.
The Test: Relentless downpours eventually dampened our tester’s spirits on a trip in British Columbia, but they barely fazed the Ignition 3 ($145): its hydrophobic synthetic fill easily kept its loft inside a soggy tent. On a sun-drenched mission to Baja, it dried quickly after dewy nights under the stars. And when the temperatures dropped to 24 degrees on the Green River, the new-fangled insulation (a blend of hollow and micro-size fibers) was toasty. Our tester was also amazed by its packability: “Impressive for a synthetic.”
The Verdict: A high-value performer when things get wet. 26°; 3 lbs; rab.uk.com
Sleep Comfort: 3.5
Warmth to Weight: 3

Best For: Ninety percent chance of rain.

The Test: Relentless downpours eventually dampened our tester’s spirits on a trip in British Columbia, but they barely fazed the ($145): its hydrophobic synthetic fill easily kept its loft inside a soggy tent. On a sun-drenched mission to Baja, it dried quickly after dewy nights under the stars. And when the temperatures dropped to 24 degrees on the Green River, the new-fangled insulation (a blend of hollow and micro-size fibers) was toasty. Our tester was also amazed by its packability: “Impressive for a synthetic.”

The Verdict: A high-value performer when things get wet. 26°; 3 lbs;

Sleep Comfort: 3.5
Warmth to Weight: 3

(Michael Karsh)

The North Face Superlight 15Best For: Ounce counters.
The Test: The name isn’t hyperbole—the 15-degree Superlight ($419) weighs less than two pounds and provides nearly four-season warmth. To make the weigh-in, some conveniences had to be nixed: the cut is pretty slim, and there’s only a half-length zip, which runs down the front of the bag instead of the side. Testers didn’t mind. “The center zip and snug fit made it feel like clothing,” said one. Another was sold by the water-resistant 800-fill down: “Lofty in 100 percent humidity. It’s converted me from synthetic to down.”
The Verdict: Our favorite ultralight down bag. 15°; 1.8 lbs; thenorthface.com
Sleep Comfort: 4
Warmth to Weight: 5

Best For: Ounce counters.

The Test: The name isn’t hyperbole—the 15-degree ($419) weighs less than two pounds and provides nearly four-season warmth. To make the weigh-in, some conveniences had to be nixed: the cut is pretty slim, and there’s only a half-length zip, which runs down the front of the bag instead of the side. Testers didn’t mind. “The center zip and snug fit made it feel like clothing,” said one. Another was sold by the water-resistant 800-fill down: “Lofty in 100 percent humidity. It’s converted me from synthetic to down.”

The Verdict: Our favorite ultralight down bag. 15°; 1.8 lbs;

Sleep Comfort: 4
Warmth to Weight: 5

(Michael Karsh)

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The 100 Best Places to Work in 2012

sperkins-pom

Five years ago, we embarked on a mission to find American companies that truly believe in work-life balance. We sought out successful businesses that allow people to pursue ambitious careers but also spend time with their families, give back to their communities, and fulfill their passion for adventure. And we found them. Lots of them. In 2008, we celebrated 30 in the first list of ��ԹϺ��’s Best Places to Work. By 2010, so many quality companies applied that we were compelled to name 50. This year our research partner, Best Companies Group, was adamant: there were 100 amazing applicants that deserved recognition. And we agreed.

70 More Best Places to Work

So many great companies, we couldn’t fit them all into one article

1. ReadytalkLocation: Denver, ColoradoNumber of Employees: 153Digs: Two floors of a newly refurbished high-rise in Denver’s hip LoDo District.Culture: It’s a tech firm, so you spend many hours staring at a computer screen. But the atmosphere is more Pixar than Office Space. Each team has its own themed area—stocked bar cart and brainstorming toys for the marketing guys, Ping-Pong table for sales, life-size decals of Donkey Kong on the walls of the video-game-obsessed engineering department.Sweet Perk: Free Eco Passes, which grant employees unlimited transportation on the light rail and buses throughout the entire Front Range.Now Hiring: Account managers, salespeoplereadytalk.com2. Natural Habitat ��ԹϺ��sLocation: Louisville, ColoradoNumber of employees: 34Digs: Fifteen miles east of Boulder, on the campus of its parent company, yoga brand Gaiam.Culture: On paper it’s just another desk job: spreadsheets, data entry, phone calls with clients. But it sure doesn’t feel that way. Employees shout weekend plans over the cubicle walls as dogs roam the office. An always stocked bar fuels Friday-afternoon Ping-Pong sessions in the lounge. “Effectiveness and success count,” says general manager Rick Guthke. “But schedules can fluctuate, and folks take advantage of slower seasons.”Sweek Perk: Every year, each employee spends two weeks “inspecting and experiencing” one of the trips the company sells.Nathab.com3. Seeley Lake Elementary Location: Seeley Lake, MontanaNumber of employees: 35Digs: Typical school—except for the stashes of nordic skis and mountain bikes.Culture: “We see education as something that happens in places not confined by four walls,” says superintendent Chris Stout. Before and after classes, Seeley teachers bike or cross-country ski on the groomed trails that surround the school and help run the ��ԹϺ�� Club, a program that takes kids biking, hiking, skiing, and fishing. Staff also participate in community-building projects like the Blackfoot Challenge, which promotes outdoor education in the Blackfoot River watershed.Sweet Perk: Financial aid for everything from a master’s in science to ski-instructor certification.Now Hiring: K–6 teacherSleonline.org4. MercuryCSCLocation: Bozeman, MontanaNumber of employees: 22Digs: Brick building overlooking Main Street.Culture: It can feel more like a ski shop than an ad agency. The music is on, windows look out at the Bridger Mountains, and staffers are at their desks in their base layers after morning runs. The work itself is both collaborative—think brainstorming sessions in front of a giant whiteboard—and competitive: every year, two employees who “have shown exceptional commitment to the company” are awarded international trips.Sweet Perk: At the end of the year, employees are rewarded with a trip abroad. (Last year: Costa Rica.)Now Hiring: Creative director and copywriter, among other positionsMercuryCSC.com5. New Belgium BrewingLocation: Fort Collins, ColoradoNumber of Employees: 435Digs: Brewing complex with fermentation tanks and a wood-and-steel office building.Culture: Social (the staff collaborated on a hip-hop video to promote a new IPA). Active (cyclo-cross on the company track, climbing on the company wall, on-site yoga, Ping-Pong). Lubricated (complimentary “shift beers” at the end of the workday). The brewers that created the Tour de Fat costumed bike parades clearly enjoy themselves. “Our core value is fun,” says media-relations director Bryan Simpson.Sweet Perk: After one year, new hires are included in a 44 percent employee stake in the company. After five, they’re taken to Belgium with cofounder Kim Jordan.Now Hiring: Graphic designer, warehouse techniciansNewbelgium.com6. Dero Bike RacksLocation: MinneapolisNumber of Employees: 17Digs: Everybody, including the CEO, works in an open space inside an office in Minneapolis’s Prospect Park neighborhood.Culture: A biking way of life is both embraced and rewarded. Employees earn $3 each day they ride to work, pedaling to meetings around town is encouraged, and company outings include rolling tours of Twin Cities pubs. “Cycling shoes and helmet hair are the norm,” says marketing director Mark Skoine. The mission statement stresses “excellence and happiness,” which (sort of) explains the company president’s legendary Big Order dance when someone closes a deal.Sweet Perk: Quarterly outings—laser tag, ski trips, Twins games.Dero.com7. Blue Tent MarketingLocation: Carbondale, ColoradoNumber of employees: 24Digs: A dog-friendly loft just a few blocks from the Roaring Fork River.Culture: Flexible hours let you ski, bike, run, or play, as long as you hit deadlines. Company-sponsored skiing and rafting parties, and a fridge stocked with beer for afternoon stress relief, make for a casual atmosphere in an otherwise hard-charging company. Leadership is also “very open to hearing about new ways to do things,” says Todd Chamberlin, a project manager. “We’re treated like adults.”Sweet Perk: Freedom to work very remotely for up to three weeks: one employee was recently logging in from Costa Rica.Now Hiring: Programmers, account managers, search-engine-optimization specialistsBluetentmarketing.com8. ClientekLocation: MinneapolisNumber of Employees: 30Digs: An office suite above a health club in Minneapolis’s Warehouse District.Culture: Number crunching. Endless meetings. Intense pressure from clients. So goes consulting. But Clientek has a formula for keeping its highly educated Type A staffers balanced: group fitness classes, organized races, foosball, and an extensive Nerf arsenal for “random workspace battles.”Sweet Perk: Clientek covers training at the club downstairs and entry fees for fitness and sporting events.Now Hiring: Software developersClientek.com9. StravaLocation: San FranciscoNumber of Employees: 42Digs: The old newsroom of the San Francisco Chronicle in the SoMa district.Culture: The staff is dominated by top-tier tech geeks, many of them alums of Google and other Silicon Valley titans, who are also bikers and runners. The aggressive startup mentality is tempered by the fact that workouts double as testing missions for app development.Sweet Perk: Twenty-five vacation days right off the bat.Now Hiring: Engineer, mobile-product managerStrava.com10. ZaneRay GroupLocation: Whitefish, MontanaNumber of Employees: 16Digs: Desks are scattered about an open space that looks out on the Flathead National Forest.Culture: Staffers are dedicated skiers, bikers, hockey players, and ultimate-frisbee aficionados. Fittingly, “our company stresses recreation,” says office administrator Miriam Lewis. Flex hours—eight hours a day on your time or, say, 12 hours one day and four the next—enable the staff to “take advantage of our small-town mountain lifestyle.”Sweet Perk: The company treats everyone to an annual rafting day on the Middle Fork of the Flathead River.Now Hiring: Web developersZaneray.com11. RealeflowLocation: Parma Heights, OhioNumber of Employees: 21Digs: A central “living room” with a leather couch and a big-screen TV ringed by shared offices.Culture: “Relaxed and friendly” is how communications manager Tracy Tobias describes it. Employees are encouraged to take their families fishing, hiking, and camping at owner Greg Clement’s 100-acre apple orchard, just 20 minutes from the office.Sweet Perk: When the company meets earnings expectations, employees are invited to bring spouses on corporate trips to places like Playa del Carmen, Mexico.Now Hiring: Graphic designer, programmersRealeflow.com12. Clif BarLocation: Emeryville, CaliforniaNumber of Employees: 311Digs: Newly remodeled former manufacturing plant, with vintage bikes hanging from the ceiling, a company theater, and workout spaces.Culture: Athletes, foodies, tree huggers (and many crossbreeds)—that’s who works at Clif. Few teams anywhere enjoy the kind of 360-degree benefits that propel Clif employees: dozens of free fitness classes in the office gym and studios, up to $350 in race-fee reimbursement, an organic cafeteria with discounted meals (including take-home dinners), a $500 stipend for buying a commuter bike after a year on the job … the list goes on. “We strive for a great office culture, because sustaining our people is one of our five bottom lines,” says Jennifer Freitas, human resources manager. “It’s one of the ways we measure success.”Sweet Perk: Six-week sabbaticals are offered every seven yearsNow Hiring: Food-safety specialistClifbar.com13. BrainStormLocation: American Fork, UtahNumber of Employees: 26Digs: Office building on Main Street, with views of the Wasatch Front Range.Culture: It’s a competitive place, but one where people manage their own hours. “If you want to cut out early to go hang gliding, just show up earlier that morning,” says Chandler Milne, who works in the marketing department. It’s also a company where blowing off steam means spontaneous dodgeball games and foosball tournaments.Sweet Perk: Frequent outings to try out new experiences—curling, mountain scootering, biathlon—in an effort to spur creativity.Brainstorminc.com14. Restoration ServicesLocation: Oak Ridge, TennesseeNumber of Employees: 287Digs: A eco-friendly headquarters—with an in-house coffeeshop—is under construction.Culture: Restoration Services does everything from mopping up hazardous areas to building sustainable farms to constructing solar arrays. It’s the kind of progressive work that attracts positive-thinking employees. To help them maintain that attitude, there are a range of benefits: compressed 40-hour workweeks, tuition reimbursement up to $3,500 per year, and monthly, company-covered “wellness activities,” like charity bikes rides and sports leagues.Sweet Perk: Go to your gym eight times a month and RSI will pay your membership dues.Rsienv.com15. Beach Cities HealthLocation: District Redondo Beach, CaliforniaNumber of Employees: 53Digs: The main office is a quarter-mile from the ocean; half of it has Pacific views, and the other half looks over Angeles Crest Forest.Culture: Meetings are often conducted during strolls to the marina or along Redondo Beach. Employees are reimbursed for sharing healthy snacks with coworkers and encouraged to spend a few hours each week working at one of the nine elementary school gardens that BCHD runs.Sweet Perk: Free access to the company’s 16,000-square-foot fitness center.BCHD.org16. River Design GroupLocation: Whitefish, Montana (main office) and Corvallis, OregonNumber of employees: 16Digs: A log cabin with two outbuildings situated on five wooded acres on the outskirts of town. The office décor features photos of RDG’s projects as well as artwork of famous western rivers. The five-acre grounds are adjacent to State lands for recreation and contain a seasonal wetland. Within a two-acre fenced area on site, is a “doggie daycare” facility.Culture: Work attire is casual and based on whether the day’s activity is a presentation to a watershed committee, or a field excursion wading rivers and taking scientific measurements. During the short, Pacific Northwest summer field season, the field days are typically long and office days are few and far between. Flex hours are generally redeemed during the winter months when winter activities rule. Employees are encouraged to break up the day with a trip to the gym, mountain bike ride, or a few ski runs on a powder day. No matter the time of year, Glacier National Park or the Oregon Coast are always accessible for a break from the grind.Sweet Perk: RDG pays for employee memberships to a local fitness center of their choice.Now Hiring: Senior water resources engineer in the Whitefish and Corvallis officeRiverDesignGroup.com17. Country Walkers Location: Waterbury, VermontNumber of Employees: 20Digs Casual, dog-friendly office with views of the Green Mountains.Culture: People who are passionate about overseas travel—that’s who works at this specialized travel provider. A “late shift” policy allows for morning trail runs or ski turns at nearby Stowe Mountain Resort, and telecommuting is an option one day a week.Sweet Perks: Travel abroad to experience all of the tours the company arranges, like eight-day trips to Crete or a 12-day trekking tour of Nepal.Countrywalkers.com18. Max Borges AgencyLocation: Miami, FloridaNumber of employees: 40Digs: High-rise building in the center of the downtown Brickell neighborhood. All employees have their own glass office, most with views of the city (think Ari Golds office from Entourage). In the middle of the 16,200-square-feet office is a gym. A broadcast studio, shower room, golf putting area, common room, and a table-tennis table are on their way.Culture: Unless clients are in the office, it’s a jeans and T-shirt vibe—working long hours but having fun doing it. “Laid back but productive” is how they describe the environment. “People who are constantly pushing the envelope,” is how the company describes their employees. Sweet Perk: Every year the company takes a cruise to locations like the Bahamas. Plus, the agency sponsors any kind of competitive event employees enter, like triathlons or marathons.Now Hiring: Account manager and an I.T. specialistMaxBorgesAgency.com19. The Honest KitchenLocation: San Diego, CaliforniaNumber of employees: 20 human staff, 26 four-legged executivesDigs: A 3,500 square-foot loft in a one hundred-year-old red brick building that used to be home to the Wonder Bread factory. The floor plan is very open, with lots of brick and natural wood—and of course dogs, dog beds, and water bowls all over the place. Massage chairs, lots of sofas (usually occupied by one or more dogs), and bookshelves dot the office.Culture: It goes without saying: it’s a dog culture. Twelve office dogs are the focal point of everything: schedules are often structured around their walks, meaning lots of fresh air for everyone. Employees take advantage of flexible hours to accommodate their personal needs, everything from children’s sports to canine acupuncture appointments.Sweet Perk: Monthly in-office chair massages for everyone and dog peticures for the office pups. Office outings are in the oft, and include lectures (the staff recently went to hear the Dalai Lama speak), local craft brew houses, restaurants, and occasional baseball games.Now Hiring: National sales manager, experiential marketing / consumer insights manager, channel manager and six territory sales peopleTheHonestKitchen.com20. Goal ZeroLocation: Bluffdale, UtahNumber of Employees: 62Digs: Warehouse in an industrial park with a climbing wall and gym on-site.Culture: Philanthropy remains a guiding principle for Goal Zero, which was formed in 2009 to help bring power to impoverished areas. The non-profit donated $400,000 worth of lights and power packs to Japan following the 2011 tsunami. “Knowing that the products are making a significant difference in peoples’ lives is a huge team motivator,” says CEO Joe Atkin.Sweet Perk: Fridays off if you're on top of your deadlines.Now Hiring: Mechanical engineer, Web-marketing directorGoalzero.com21. Paradigm GroupLocation: Nashville, TennesseeNumber of employees: 26Digs: A suite on an eight-story office building near Music Row and downtown Nashville. In the building there is a café, an art gallery, and a personal-training studio/gym. In the Paradigm suite there is a large conference room decorated by framed portraits of Patsy Cline and Bill Monroe, done by local artist Jim Sheridan.Culture: It’s a typical office, meaning plenty of time in front of the computer, but it’s also a small office with many long-term employees, meaning familial, often jovial working relationships. Long hours serving clients are offset by extremely flexible hours during the slower times of the month; it’s not uncommon for employees to schedule haircuts, doctors appointments, or workout in the onsite gym during business hours.Sweet Perk: Each year the company takes an annual trip to help with a local community project and have a little bit of fun. This past April it was Key West, with a catamaran ride and snorkeling after working on a landscaping project at a women’s shelter.ParadigmGroup.net22. TrackViaLocation: Denver, ColoradoNumber of employees: 22Digs: A flat converted into an office with a full working kitchen, showers, washer and dryer, just one block from Union Station and Coors Field.Culture: Passionate, fun, fast. The company’s mantra, “treat people like adults,” allows employees to decide what they want to wear and the hours they want to work (as long as they get all they’re work done, they can set their schedule as they see fit).Sweet Perk: Unlimited vacation time, an annual $500 scholarship awarded to employees to pursue their personal passion (skiing, mountain biking, travel, etc.), and free public transportation for each employee.Now Hiring: Product development-Software engineering; marketing; salesTrackVia.com23. USANA Health SciencesLocation: West Valley, UtahNumber of Employees: 653Digs: A 350,000-square-foot office building with an on-site cafeteria that serves organic meals.Culture: You’d be forgiven for thinking that USANA is a health club with a side business selling supplements. Between conference calls and development meetings, employees sweat out stress at the office’s 6,000-square-foot gym or on the outdoor basketball court.Sweet Perk: Employees are rewarded for hard work with a profit-sharing bonus averaging more than 13 percent of their salary.Now Hiring: Software engineer and distribution representative, among other positionsUsana.com24. Rally Software Location: Boulder, ColoradoNumber of Employees: 306Digs: A 65,000-square-foot building with an outdoor patio overlooking the Flatirons.Culture: Coding software to improve workforce efficiency is as nerdy as it gets, but Rally plays it cool: think bare feet on desks and scooters in the hallways. Plus, management occasionally pulls the staff away from their computers with escapes to the local go-kart track and mini-golf course. Over the past three years, employees have donated 6,000 volunteer hours to some 175 organizations.Sweet Perk: Quarterly blowout celebrations. Recent examples: a ski trip to Eldora and a soapbox derby.Now Hiring: Salespeople and developers, among other positionsRallydev.com25. Groundspeak Location: SeattleNumber of Employees: 70Digs: Brick building on the shores of Seattle’s Lake Union.Culture: Groundspeak employees spend as much time using their products as they do developing them. Every new hire is given a GPS unit and, says human resources manager Erin Carsen, “they’re encouraged to get outside and play.” Back in the office, the atmosphere is “super laid-back,” says Jen Sonstelie, director of marketing. “People wear jeans and ride scooters around the office.”Sweet Perk: Three times a week, a catering company stocks the fridge with free healthy food like eggplant and couscous entrées and frozen blueberries for smoothies.Now Hiring: Community-relations specialist, among other positionsGroundspeak.com26. Drake CooperLocation: Boise, IdahoNumber of Employees: 30Digs: A historic warehouse building downtown Boise.Culture: Collaborative, creative types that enjoy family and friends with flexible work hours and a real work hard, play hard mentality. “Our value to our clients is in our creativity and our thinking,” says CEO Jamie Cooper. “So it's important to have an environment that gives people a chance to refill the well.” Living in Boise, with biking and hiking trails minutes from the office, world-class whitewater and fishing nearby, plus great skiing, offers plenty of oportunities to refill that well.Sweet Perks: Summer Fridays (half days), a green commuting program, and a fridge that's always stocked with beer and vodka from clients such as Payette Brewing Co. and 44-degrees North Vodka. Employees also enjoy night stays at some of Idaho's best resorts and the company has an annual raft trip each summer.Now Hiring: Web developerDrakecooper.com27. Ecology Project Location: Missoula, MontanaNumber of Employees: 47Digs: A beautiful, 100-year-old restored building on the banks of the Clark Fork River.Culture: EPI tends to attract an international crew of biologists, travelers, environmentalists, guitar players, yogis, kayakers, climbers, skiers and teachers.Sweet Perks: Exclusive access to some of the most remote sea turtle and whale and grizzly habitats in the world.Ecologyproject.org28. Nerland Agency Location: Anchorage, AlaskaNumber of Employees: 25Digs: An open office with a deck that looks out over the Chugach Mountains. The office is just a couple blocks from the Coastal Trail, a bike/run/ski trail that runs along the Turnagain inlet of the Pacific ocean for 12 miles.Culture: Since Nerland is employee-owned company, the staff has a larger-than-usual incentive to work hard and produce. To relax, many employees go to or from work along the trail, or take advantage of its proximity at the lunch hour. There’s also a fitness club just two blocks away, to which each employee has a paid membership courtesy of Nerland. Office anglers can catch wild Alaska salmon three minutes from the office's front door. And in the wintertime, skiers and snowboarders can head for Alyeska Resort, just 45 minutes away.Sweet Perks: Employees are reimbursed their entry fee once they successfully complete any sort of athletic achievement, such as a marathon, 5-K, spint-tri, or bike race.Now Hiring: Digital ManagerNerland.com29. Salt CommunicationsLocation: Portland, OR; Chicago, IL; and Stamford, CTNumber of employees: 31Digs: The Portland office is a historical building in downtown off Pioneer Square with indoor and outdoor space. The Chicago office is loft space in downtown with brick walls and hardwood floors. The Stamford office is also downtown in a modern office building. Each office is between three- and four-thousand square feet, and each employee has their own office in each location.Culture: Salt is very, very casual. Shorts, t-shirts, and flip flops are normal dress, and some employees occasionally work from home. Dogs are welcome and usually roam the Portland and Stamford offices.Sweet Perk: The annual meeting in Sun Valley, Idaho, involves a couple hours of meetings each morning—then play the rest of the day. Employees are also treated to free multi-day raft trips for them and their family.Now Hiring: Marketing communications talentSaltComm.com30. Hanson Dodge Creative Location: MilwaukeeNumber of Employees: 65Digs: A building in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward district.Culture: “We’re active, to say the least,” says marketing manager Joe Ciccarelli. Employees often grab an office bike and go for a midday spin or hop in one of the communal kayaks for a quick paddle down the Milwaukee River. The laid-back HQ is also pet and family friendly. “Many afternoons you’ll see somebody’s young kids hanging out in the studio café,” says Ciccarelli.Sweet Perk: In August, Hanson Dodge will open a 1,700-square-foot fitness center on the building’s first floor.Now Hiring: Creative director and brand strategist, among other positionsHansondodge.com31. Olu KaiLocation: Irvine, CaliforniaNumber of Employees: 49Digs: Bright, open, two-story office building with various workplace items trying to foster creative, like a floor-to-ceiling chalkboard for brainstorming sessions and a fire pole that extends from the top to bottom the floor.Culture: Casual—jeans, T-shirts, shorts, and, of course, sandals. Flexible—eight hour days, but with no stress on starting or ending times. Fit—the usual midday yoga classes plus a Thursday afternoon boot camp. Philanthropic—each year the company holds it Ho’olaule’a festival in Maui, a celebration of ocean lifestyle and community spirit, and all OluKai staff can attend.Sweet Perks: Also, roughly four times each year the company hosts an outing—lawn bowling, scavenger hunts by boat, Angels’ baseball games—for employees plus two or three beach days per year, when the company closes for the day and the staff heads out surfing, SUPing and barbecuing.Now Hiring: Marketing Manager and Customer Service RepOluKai.com32. TaylorMade-adidas Location: Carlsbad, CaliforniaNumber of Employees: 937Digs: A 75,000-acre campus lined with palm trees, within walking distance of the Pacific Ocean.Culture: “We’re a company of golfers,” says Mark King, president and CEO, “and that fuels our passion in the office and on the course.” And while the links addicts get their fix with frequent R&D outings to the nearby Shadowridge and Torrey Pines courses, everyone on staff gets access to a 1,300-square-foot fitness center.Sweet Perk: Free passes to TaylorMade-sponsored events.Now Hiring Designers and engineers, among other positionsTaylormadegolf.com33. TrainingPeaksLocation: Lafayette, ColoradoNumber of Employees: 35Digs: The TrainingPeaks space is a mix of individual offices, cubicles, and open spaces located on the second floor of an office building that overlooks the Boulder Flatirons to the west and Colorado plains to the east. The “Pain Cave,” as it’s affectionately called, houses a 10-bike storage rack, storage lockers, two flat-screen televisions, and treadmill and stationary bike trainers. In addition, there are shower facilities employees can use after their mid-day workout or after riding their bike into the office.Culture: The products they produce may be for endurance athletes out there for the long haul, but employees at TrainingPeaks work quickly and efficiently, leaving plenty of time for them to go out and test the products on their bikes or running the nearby trails. That said, shaved legs, compression socks, and lots of lycra are common sights around the office, and signed jerseys from some of the world’s best cyclists and triathletes adorn the walls.Sweet Perks: Each employee receives a $600 annual benefit that can be used for the fitness selection of their choice, from new bike equipment to running shoes to race entries.Now Hiring: UX Designer, Front End Developer, Sales Development, Business AnalystHome.TrainingPeaks.com34. Colle+McVoyLocation: MinneapolisNumber of Employees: 204Digs: A loft-like office in the Warehouse District of Minneapolis with a rooftop patio overlooking downtown and lots of room for a bike shop, a fleet of bikes to borrow, and shiatsu/meditation room.Culture: The vibe at Colle+McVoy is supportive and collaborative, but it can be intense at times, which is why employees are encouraged to blow off steam by taking midday rides along the city’s bike paths. But when deadlines are met—or it’s simply 3 p.m. on any given Friday—someone pilots the beer trike around the office, delivering cold brews and snacks.Sweet Perks: Weekly subsidized shiatsu massages, fitness classes, state park passes, a bike purchase program, game room and many agency-sponsored parties like an annual “ Budweiser Deck” party at a Twins game.Now Hiring: Account managers, digital-media specialistsCollemcvoy.com35. Petzl AmericaLocation: Clearfield, UtahNumber of Employees: 51Digs: In an industrial park roughly midway between Salt Lake City and Ogden, next door to soccer and baseball fields.Culture: “About 60 percent of our staff are pretty serious climbers,” says marketing director John Evans. Employees are encouraged to make use of the office’s bouldering wall and take advantage of discounted passes to Snowbird and Snowbasin ski resorts. Every year, the company takes a weekend adventure to places like Zion.Sweet Perk: A vacation schedule modeled after that of its French parent company: after five years, you get 24 days off.Now Hiring: Copywriters and account executives, among other positionspetzl.com/us36. C3 PresentsLocation: Austin, TexasNumber of Employees: 95Digs: An office building in downtown Austin, six blocks from Lady Bird Lake.Culture: Booking and promoting more than 1,000 concerts each year is stressful, so C3 tries to keep its work environment as casual as possible. The staff—all music geeks—walk around in T-shirts and sneakers. The most popular go-to de-stressing tactic is attending the shows the company puts on, all of which are free to the staff.Sweet Perk: C3 closes up shop for a week and a half during the holiday season.Now Hiring: Graphics coordinator and marketing assistants, among other positionsC3presents.com37. Geographic Expeditions Location: San FranciscoNumber of Employees: 55Digs: A refurbished military building in San Francisco’s Presidio.Culture: “People work here because they’re jazzed about the places we go,” says president James Sano, a mountaineer and medical doctor. Indeed, the staff exudes pride in providing top-end trips to places like Kenya and Bhutan. It helps that they get out there themselves: once a year, each employee goes on a “familiarization trip” to one of the company’s destinations.Sweet Perk: Every quarter, a top-performing employee gets an airline ticket to anywhere the company operates.Geoex.com38. Red Frog EventsLocation: Chicago, IllinoisNumber of Employees: 75 Frogs (full-time employees) and approximately 150 Tadpoles (interns)Digs: Inside the office is a tree house complete with a slide and beanbag chairs for meetings. The tadpoles sit in “ponds” (clusters of desks that face each other), and several meeting rooms are lit up with mason jar light fixtures that reflect the brand’s outdoor camping theme.Culture: It’s not uncommon to see employees in exercise gear inside the office, nor is it surprising to see them zipping around on skateboards or scooters. Though the staff works hard, every Monday they get together for family lunch in the 300-seat mess hall and s'mores stations dot the office. To further blow off steam, employees scale the indoor rock climbing wall or play a game of foosball.Sweet Parks: Every five years Red Froggers may take a fully paid four-week sabbatical to Africa, Asia, Europe, or South America with any one person of their choice. Frogs also receive unlimited vacation days and are allowed to work from home one day per week.Now Hiring: Full-time employees are only hired from within, so everyone is required to participate in the internship program in order to be considered for a positionRedFrogEvents.com39. Spyderco Location: Golden, ColoradoNumber of employees: 48Digs: The office sits above a leafy atrium adjacent to the factory and outlet store.Culture: Spyderco, which was started in 1978 by Sal and Gail Glesser, remains a family-owned company—and frequent staff-wide outings make employees feel like they’re part of that family. “Our office is packed with fishermen, backpackers, and skiers,” says Nicole Veney, marketing assistant and graphic designer, “all of whom use our knives all the time.”Sweet Perk: Thirty-five miles of hiking and biking trails out the front door.Spyderco.com40. Renters Warehouse Location: Golden Valley, MinnesotaMumber of Employees: 51Digs: A four-story red brick building a mile outside of Minneapolis.Culture: A high energy, Wall Street-like atmosphere is known to give way to epic games of Ms. Pacman. On Friday, the staff lets loose and trades the collared shirt and slacks for jeans and T-shirts.Sweet perks: Pizza fridays, all the energy drink you want, and an annual company boat cruise.Now hiring: Maintenance supervisor, assistant director of property management, customer service manager, and controllerRenterswarehouse.com41. Smith OpticsLocation: Ketchum, IdahoNumber of Employees: 73Digs: A two-story building five minutes from chairlifts at Sun Valley Resort. Sectioned work spaces and plenty of meeting space, plus a gear room and locker/shower rooms.Culture: Smith has a dog-friendly, very casual culture where long lunches for powder days or big bike rides are the norm. A couple times a quarter, the whole company and their families get together for lunches or BBQs in the office’s backyard.Sweet Perks: The company has a private backcountry yurt that employees can use as a base for private powder stashes.SmithOptics.com42. Leisure Trends GroupLocation: Boulder, ColoradoNumber of Employees: 47 full-time employees plus five internsDigs: Office building next to the Boulder Creek, with views of the Front Range, a lounge/library, and walls decorated with antique outdoor gear and photos.Culture: The name, perhaps, says it best: if you’re into outdoor leisure pursuits, you’ll fit right in with Leisure Trends Group, who handles all facets of market research for how people play in the outdoors today. Work is collaborative and casual—jeans, shorts, and, yes, flip flops. Computer time is a necessary evil of the daily grind, but employees are given time to get outside and play (naturally) during the day.Sweet Perks: Free ski passes at Eldora Mountain Resort and significantly-discounted gear from LTG partners. Plus, three specific company-sponsored celebrations: 1. A holiday party. 2. A summer BBQ. 3. A special anniversary event where all employees who have been with the company for five years or more (currently 47 percent of the staff) is invited to attend.Now Hiring: Research analyst, office coordinatorLeisureTrends.com43. WildEarth Guardians Location: Santa Fe, New MexicoNumber of Employees: 15Digs: Just across from the Santa Fe River, the main office is in a beautiful historic adobe downtown with a large courtyard and picnic table under an apricot tree.Culture: Casual wear (this is Santa Fe after all where no one wears a suit, and people wear jeans to the opera). Telecommuting is fine and hours are completely flexible—no one worries about whether they’re working hard enough. And, of course, everybody is serious about being green: Most employees walk or bike to work, and everybody turn off the lights, recycles, and reuses.Sweet Perks: Yearly staff retreat. Past retreats have included rafting and ski trips.Now Hiring: Wild River Program DirectorWildearthguardians.org44. Coast Law GroupLocation: Encinitas, CaliforniaNumber of Employees: 20Digs: A new building in downtown Encinitas within walking distance of the famous Swami surf break.Culture: Coast Law is pretty much comprised of a bunch of surfers who happen to be lawyers. Staffers keep bikes and surfboards in their offices and post-work staff training runs are a regular item on the calendar.Sweet Perks: Flex hours year-round, particularly when there’s a good swell; free product from surf companies they represent.Coastlawgroup.com45. IslandWoodLocation: Bainbridge Island, WashingtonNumber of Employees: 78Digs: The “office” is a summer camp on an island in Puget Sound—ponds, trails, playing fields, and all the other usual camp amenities. The administration building houses most employees’ offices, but even those look out over a deer-filled meadow.Culture: It’s a camp for kids so, as you can imagine, employees get a fair bit of whimsy and liveliness in their day-to-day, making work/life balance easy to achieve. What overrides all of that playtime is a commitment to outdoor education and a passion for the natural world.Sweet Perk: Every staff member gets discounts from various outdoor recreation stores and the camp holds annual staff parties. And, of course, access to 255 acres, where midday runs and hikes are encouraged.Now Hiring: maintenance technician, a full-time housekeeping coordinator, and part-time housekeepersIslandWood.org46. BUMP Network, Inc.Location: La Jolla, CaliforniaNumber of Employees: 15Digs: Located on the third floor of a building overlooking the Pacific Ocean.Culture: It’s a tech firm, which means lots of time in front of a computer, but employees are encouraged to workout in order to break up the day—beach runs or swims in the La Jolla Cove during lunch are a popular option—and run errands around the city on beach cruisers. A few of the employees are certified yoga instructors, so group yoga on the roof is also a frequent occurrence.Sweet Perks: BUMP Network hosts and sponsors events like the annual TEDxLaJolla and the semi-annual Triathlon Sanctuary, and employees get free access.Now Hiring: Open positions across the boardBump.com47. Renters Warehouse Location: New Castle, Virginia/Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwest VirginiaNumber of Employees: Up to 30 in the summerDigs: A large log cabin houses open offices, the camp store, main offices, and staff lounge. There’s also an exercise area with a complete Total Gym weight set.Culture: Employees enjoy a laid-back office environment and flexible hours. Shorts and T-shirts are the standard dress, and dogs wander around the office. Spontaneous ice cream socials and Air Soft gun fights break out fairly often.Sweet Perks: Each season, employees are treated to staff happiness outings. Past outings have included a few days on houseboats, trips to the Olympic Whitewater Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, and go-carting. Employees at Wilderness ��ԹϺ�� are also provided room and board on the property.Now Hiring: Group leaders as well as seasonal trip leaders for the summer youth programWilderness-adventure.com48. CamelBak ProductsLocation: Petaluma, CaliforniaNumber of Employees: 123Digs: Corporate HQ overlooks Schollenberger Park, a 165-acre park and bird preserve that serves as the perfect mid-day escape for employees to walk, jog, bike, or just enjoy nature.Culture: Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between a CamelBak employee and a CamelBak customer. Work is full of energy and employees delicately balance having fun and creating results.Sweet Perks: Outstanding contributions are recognized in real time by rewarding associates with a CamelBak Voucher, redeemable for two movie tickets or a 15-minute massage.CamelBak.com 49. Avery Brewing Company Location: Boulder, ColoradoNumber of Employees: 70Digs: Sure they’ve got corporate offices to house the president, the accountant, and the sales and marketing team; but the real “office” is a production brewery taking up eight or so light industrial units with outdoor tanks, a brewhouse, bottling and canning lines, refrigerated warehouses, a lab, and the Avery Tap Room. From pretty much any window you can see the Front Range, just west of Boulder.Culture: Avery feels a bit like Santa’s workshop where the elves are perpetually stoked to be making the coolest toy ever—beer. When shifts end, almost everyone sits down at the Tap Room for a few communal beers. It’s a congenial staff of climbers, bikers, ultra-runners, and anglers sharing tales around the table. In marketing director Joe Osborne’s words “it's easily the most fun you'll ever have in an alley.”Sweet Perks: Along with awesome benefits, the owner throws a New Year’s Party at his house every year, and everyone who works at Avery is welcome along with their loved ones. Also, and perhaps most importantly, the production team gets one free case of beer per week.Averybrewing.com50. The ClymbLocation: Portland, OregonNumber of Employees: 64Digs: At press time, the company was in the process of moving into new offices.Culture: Employees at The Clymb work long, but flexible hours. It's very common for staffers to break away for walks around the city or long runs along the riverfront. Oftentimes, employees work from home or a local coffee shop. The culture is also green: to help the community, employees do trail maintenance around the Portland area, are near paperless, recycle absolutely everything, utilize natural lighting, and incentivize employees who ride bikes or take public transportation.Sweet Perks: Company Ski Days, season passes to Mt. Hood Meadows, free Gym memberships for all employees, free bike maintenance for employees that commute at least 50 percent of the time, and a kitchen stocked with fresh fruits and coffee daily.Now Hiring: Buying, Creative (both copy and design), Tech/ProgrammingTheClymb.com51. DryCaseLocation: Wilmington, North CarolinaNumber of employees: 15Digs: Sitting a stones throw from the beaches on the southeastern coast of North Carolina, the office was designed with a completely open layout—no walls and enormous bay doors that are left open nine months out of the year.Culture: Casual is an understatement. Many times you'll find sales reps closing a deal while skating around the parking lot talking on their cell phones. Extremely flexible schedules also mean that when the weather is good for surfing employees can run off to the beach. On a day-to-day basis, employees burn off the rare stress build-ups with basketball, Frisbee and skateboarding.Sweet Perks: Sales trips often turn into company-sponsored surf vacations and mountain biking adventures. Plus, there’s plenty of Friday cookouts with fresh seafood—often from an employee who went out spear fishing or crabbing that morning.Now Hiring: Sales representative, among other positionsDrycase.com51. Chesapeake Energy Location: Oklahoma City, OklahomaNumber of Employees: 13,500Digs: A 120-acre campus, with ponds and courtyards, that feels more like an Ivy League college than a corporation.Culture: This spring the company faced serious challenges after CEO Aubrey McClendon came under fire for a series of poor investments, but the good life goes on at Chesapeake HQ. Long hours are rewarded with free movie screenings in the company theater, a 63,000-square-foot daycare center, and a 72,000-square-foot fitness facility with a sand volleyball pit and a 25-foot climbing wall. To top it off, employees earn up to $1,500 just for going to the gym and attending health seminars.Sweet Perk: Summer concert series (with free margaritas) on Thursday afternoons.Now Hiring: Hundreds of positions in everything from engineering to geosciencechk.com53. CLEARLINK Location: Salt Lake CityNumber of Employees: 1,097Digs: A three-story office in Salt Lake City’s International Center.Culture Ad work is notoriously demanding, and Clearlink gets the incentive part just right. Every March, the company takes top-performing employees to Mexico, and in the fall there’s a weekend retreat in Sin City. Management also lets employees’ creative sides set the tone: a blog run by staff members recommends places to eat, an employee in a bunny suit makes random appearances around the office to lighten the mood, and last year the company organized to create 1,279 snowmen in 60 minutes, earning a spot in Guinness World Records.Sweet Perk: Each year the sales agent of the year and the employee of the year get a free week-long trip anywhere in the world.Now Hiring: Copywriters, developersClearlink.com54. First Green BankLocation: Mt. Dora, FloridaNumber of Employees: 49Digs: A new 12,000-square-foot headquarters, which is currently undergoing LEED Platinum certification for the innovative green design elements—koi ponds which feed into the building, 320 square feet of living walls (plants) that improve indoor air quality, 60 solar panels on the roof, and massive amounts of natural light. On the second floor: a fully-stocked gym.Culture: It’s a professional environment (it’s a bank after all) but managers work constantly with their staff to make hours as flexible as possible. Employees also have free use of the gym during the workday, so they can train before, during, or after work, and the bank pays a trainer to come in twice weekly. To encourage employees to stay fit, the company even goes further, providing each employee with a $500 annual stipend for race or league registration fees.Sweet Perks: Employees can get a 0 percent interest on a car loan—provided the vehicle gets over 30mpg. same thing with home remodeling: 0 percent interest on alternative-energy upgrades.FirstGreenBank.com55. Full Sail Brewing CompanyLocation: Hood River, OregonNumber of Employees: 115Digs: Your typical brewery—complete with fermentation tanks, a filtration system, a bottling line, and a tasting room—on a bluff overlooking one of the best wind- and kite-surfing spots in the world. There’s also front-door access to the Columbia River Gorge.Culture: Full Sail is an employee-owned company. As such, everyone working for the company is dedicated to and passionate about the product—which just so happens to be craft beer. And because it’s located in the Columbia River Gorge, most everyone just so happens to be passionate about outdoor pursuits too. In a recent survey Full Sail conducted, 85 percent of employees hike, bike, fish, kayak, ski, snowboard, climb, windsurf, or kite-board each week.Sweet Perks: Full Sail has a standard four-day work week, giving employees a three-day weekend year-round. Also, employees get half-price meals and two beers after each shift in the company’s Tasting Room and Pub, which features local produce, natural grass-fed beef, free-range chicken, and wild-caught salmon.Now Hiring: Salespeople and cooks and servers in the tasting roomFullSailBrewing.com56. Backbone Media Location: Carbondale, ColoradoNumber of Employees: 31Digs: Large open work spaces and a huge gear room stocked from floor to ceiling with the latest outdoor products from the 40-odd brands Backbone represents.Culture: If you’re an elite skier, mountain-biker, climber, backpacker, runner, or fly-fisherman, but don’t quite have the inclination to go pro (and live a dirtbag existence), chances are you’ll fit right in. More often than not you'll find employees working in running clothes or a bike kit after just returning for a lunchtime run or ride. Backbone has a standing rule that employees can ski (or cycle or fish) in the morning as long as they return to the office by mid-day to get their work done. And as media representatives for many of the most recognizable brands in the outdoor industry, employees also have access to outdoor gear that everyone is encouraged to demo (product research).Sweet Perks: Yearly all-staff charges (Backbone staffers don't “retreat”) —camping in the summer and backcountry skiing in the winter. Plus, there’s a kegerator stocked with New Belgium beer (one of the brands they represent) and a fleet of New Belgium cruisers to get around town.Now Hiring: All positionsBackbonemedia.net57. NOLSLocation: Lander, WyomingNumber of Employees: 1,000Digs: Corporate HQ is a 40,000-square-foot building that features, naturally, plenty of eco-conscious elements, like self-dimming lights, recycled carpeting, and unfinished surfaces. Like HQ, NOLS schools around the globe have a range of choices for relaxing, from gyms to rock-climbing walls to an ocean-side soccer field.Culture: People who like experiencing outdoor adventures and people who like sharing outdoor adventures—that’s who works at NOLS. Around the globe, various branches play volleyball, kickball, ultimate Frisbee, and soccer together during the day or go rock climbing, biking, or skiing. At the Lander HQ, bikes are available for employees to run mid-day errands. And all employees are given free time to participate in NOLS-sponsored volunteer efforts, such as trail repair or community garden support.Sweet Perks: All branches have outdoor gear that is free for employees to use. In the Pacific Northwest, staff can take the keelboat out on personal trips. The New Zealand branch has surfboards. Australia has mountain bikes. Alaska has sea kayaks.Now Hiring: NOLS hires over 100 seasonal employees at various locations each yearNOLS.edu58. Amer Sports Winter & OutdoLocation: Ogden, UtahNumber of Employees: 116Digs Office in Ogden with views of the Wasatch Range.Culture: When you make leading outdoor brands like Salomon, Wilson, Atomic, and Suunto, chances are your workforce is going to be similarly outdoor oriented. And such is the case with Amer Sports—employees, when they’re not working, are out “testing” the products the company makes. Sweet Perk: Free season ski passes and free and subsidized gym passes.Amersports.com59. KEEN FootwearLocation: Portland, OregonNumber of Employees: 170Digs: Employees work in an office with an open floor plan and work areas designed to spur creativity—desks and furniture made with repurposed materials, like reclaimed wood, and there are community boards where people can share ideas. The heart of the office is the “great room,” a shared space stocked with games, musical instruments, and areas to relax and eat. There is also indoor bike parking and showers.Culture: Keen, which makes hybrid shoes, consistently promotes a “hybrid” culture within the office. “We never take ourselves too seriously, but we take what we do very seriously,” as the company puts it. And indeed, fun on the job is part of the culture—a daily 10-minute “recess” to get outside and play, frequent games such as corn hole in the great room or, when the mood strikes, piano, guitar, and the drum sessions.Sweet Perks: Every summer from Memorial Day through Labor Day, the company closes the office at 3:00 for “Hybrid Fridays,” where employees are encouraged to get outside. To encourage them even further, the company provides items like bikes, stand-up paddleboards, and maps in the office so people can go directly from working to playing in the big outdoors.Now Hiring: Design manager, developer, human resources manager, finance manager, national sales directorKEENFootwear.com60. Boa TechnologyLocation: Denver, ColoradoDigs: An old brick factory along the Platte River with the Platte River Path just outside the door.Culture: Boa employees are encouraged to join the team for lunchtime bike rides and runs (fortunately, there are at least six showers at the office) and the Heath and Wellness program provides prize incentives for Boa employees to set and achieve their goals, which range from running a 100-mile trail race to attending yoga class to eating more vegetables to simply walking half a mile per day. Incentive to get outside? A squadron of colorful office townie bikes.Sweet Perks: Boa employees get a $500 Health and Wellness bonus each year that can be applied to such things as gym memberships, ski passes, or race entries. Out-of-office events include an annual outing to nearby Coors Field for a Rockies Game, a community volunteering event, and, this year, a shopping cart racing world championship. Seriously.Now Hiring: Product designers, developers, engineers, and salespeopleBoatechnology.com61. Quality Bicycle Products Location: Bloomington, MinnesotaNumber of Employees: 670Digs: The two-story, LEED-certified office building and distribution center overlooks Hyland Lake Park Reserve.Culture: Predictably, a riding ethos dominates at QBP. Employees receive bike swag for cycling to work, there’s a fully stocked service and repairs facility, employees can purchase QBP gear wholesale, and there are spin classes during the chilly Minnesota winters. Dogs roam the office, and staff members are granted two days paid leave to volunteer.Sweet Perk: After 10 years, employees can take a four-week paid sabbatical to help promote cycling any way they choose.Now Hiring: Brand managerQbp.com62. Redspin, Inc.Location: Carpinteria, CaliforniaNumber of Employees: 20Digs: A stand-alone building with vaulted ceilings, wooden beams, and skylights. The office has its own shower to support early morning or lunchtime athletes. Restaurants, city parks, a gym, community pool and the beach are all within walking distance.Culture: Redspin supports flexible work schedules and shorts and flip-flops are standard dress. Employees often get together for beach volleyball and, inside the office, teams get together for lunches once a month. Redspin also supports several charitable causes, including Heal The Bay and the S.O.S End Childhood Hunger Campaign.Sweet Perks: Redspin pays 100 percent of employee health insurance premiums and 100 percent of their gym membership costs.Now Hiring: IT Security EngineersRedspin.com63. The Republic of TeaLocation: Novato, CaliforniaNumber of Employees: 100Digs: The building is a former Army and Air Force airplane hangar with offices and cubicles designed by a Feng Shui architect.Culture: From the calming Feng Shui design of the office to a commitment to exercise, the Republic’s culture is a healthy one. Each employee is fitted with a new pair of athletic shoes every year and is encouraged to head outside every day, where the staff takes advantage of the nearby trails. In addition, many employees stretch it out in Wednesday evening Yoga classes. The kitchen is stocked with healthy snacks and a staff nutritionist helps employees dial in their eating habits.Sweet Perks: Employees take annual educational trips to tea-producing countries such as India, China, Japan, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and South Africa. Highlights include plucking tea, visiting tea gardens, meeting the generations of tea farmers, as well as exploring the region.RepublicOfTea.com 64. Vail Recreation District Location: Vail, ColoradoNumber of Employees: Approximately 24 employees, year-round. Eighty additional seasonal employees during the summer.Digs: Employees work in seven facilities: the Vail Golf Club and Nordic Center, Vail Tennis Center (houses tennis, administration, sports, building maintenance and parks maintenance), Dobson Ice Arena, Vail's Community Room and Imagination Station, Vail Gymnastics Center, Vail Nature Center, and Golf Maintenance.Culture: Vail Recreation District is multi-cultural when it comes to work: though everybody is laid-back and works outside, each venue has a different feel to it. Work at the golf club and you’re wearing a collared shirt; work at the Dobson Ice Arena and you could be spending a lot of time in skates. Across the board, one thing applies: On powder days at Vail mountain, everybody is showing up a little late.Sweet Perks: All full-time employees receive a free Epic Pass for Vail Resorts’ mountains and all employees (seasonal and part- and full-time) receive free golf and tennis. In the summer, employees are treated to a recreational party (last year, the whole staff went kayaking and rafting for the day).Vailrec.com65. Deckers Outdoor Location: Goleta, CaliforniaNumber of Employees: 1,026Digs: Currently, employees are spread across three buildings in the Santa Barbara metro area, but construction of a 20-acre campus is under way.Culture: The company owns brands as diverse as Teva and Ugg, and Deckers’ workforce is similarly eclectic, from fitness freaks to fashionistas. In the Teva offices, water-cooler talk revolves around an upcoming Ironman. In the Sanuk wing, it’s about a recent surfing trip. One common denominator is the company’s charitable ethos: it has donated more than $2.4 million and 224,000 pairs of shoes to non-profit organizations since 2006, and it pays employees for volunteering—up to 24 hours per year.Sweet Perk: The company makes SUPs and surfboards available to employees, even on weekends.Now Hiring: Brand marketers, footwear developersDeckers.com66. BONOBOSLocation: New York, New York, and Palo Alto, CaliforniaNumber of Employees: 108Digs: Two 6,000-square-foot headquarters.Culture: As a men’s apparel company, you might think it’s all fashionistas working behind cloth-strewn desks. But employees are much more active and passionate than you think. The company has liberal vacation policies to put it mildly (there is no limit on the number of days you can take off) and it pays for all kinds of “wellness” activities, like sponsored sports leagues.Sweet Perks: Camp Bonobos, an annual three-day, two-night camping trip in New Hampshire for employees. (Bonobos pays to fly the West Coast team out to attend the event.) Also, the company provides iPhones and pays for cell-phone plans.Now Hiring: Product managers, engineers, customers service representatives, among other positionsBonobos.com67. Horny Toad Activewear Inc.Location: Santa Barbara, CaliforniaNumber of Employees: 25Digs: Horny Toad has an open office environment that has lockers, a shower, and is only one block from the beach and bike path. A back patio is equipped with a basketball hoop, a ping pong table, a unicycle, usually a couple of hula hoops, and a BBQ.Culture: Dress code is only dictated by the weather of this coastal southern California town and work hours are dictated by the sun and surf. Afternoon breaks for a run on the beach are common and when the waves are big, staffers show up to work a little late with wet hair. Meetings happen, but they sometimes take place over a game of ping pong.Sweet Perks: Monthly team parties, which generally consist of some kind of specialized BBQ, such as local tri-tip, SB farmers Market Salads, or even a taco cooking contest.HornyToad.com 68. Brooks SportsLocation: Bothell, WashingtonNumber of Employees: 249Digs: Several office buildings on a site overlooking North Creek Trail, which connects to the 27-mile Burke Gilman Trail, allowing employees to get out for regular runs and rides throughout the day. In the main building, there is a bistro that serves lunch four days a week, and a second building that houses the fully-stocked gym—treadmills, bikes, free weights, flat screen televisions, lockers, bike racks, and a ping pong table.Culture: As you can imagine, the office is buzzing with energy and fit people who are passionate about running. Everyone works hard, but there are plenty of opportunities to head to the gym. Employees can be seen wearing anything from a dress shirt and dress pants to a pair of running capris. On Fridays, the company organizes “run parties,” where employees go out for a run together, then come back to the bistro for a themed party ('80s, Toga, Fiesta, etc.) with free food and drinks.Sweet Perks: The Passport Plus Program, which rewards employees with a free dinner at Seattle’s trendy Teatro Zinzanni restaurant if they compete in at least three organized races and volunteer at one running event each year.BrooksRunning.com 69. Europa Sports ProductsLocation: Charlotte, North CarolinaNumber of Employees: 463Digs: Headquarters is 120,000 square feet of cubes, offices, and warehouse space. Conference rooms are named after bodybuilding legends such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno and feature floor-to-ceiling graphics of them. Of course, there’s also a 3,000-square-foot gym that is fully-loaded: strength-training equipment, cardio-equipment, TRX training options, and on and on.Culture: As you can imagine, there are a lot of fitness freaks who work here, which makes workdays a fun, energy-filled event. In between meetings or face-time with the computer, employees hit up the gym or take a few laps around the parking lot (painted with mile markers) to run out the stress. And although teamwork is valued, so too is a little friendly competition: the company has various fitness challenges throughout the year to both inspire healthy living and create a positive environment.Sweet Perks: Employees get occasional free tickets to NFL Football and NBA Basketball games and steep discounts for all the products Europa sells.Now Hiring: Account consultant, copywriter, sales representatives, Web designer, and warehouse associates, among other positionsEuropaSports.com70. NixonLocation: Encinitas, CaliforniaNumber of Employees: 130Digs: Offices are in a wood barn built in early 1970s. It’s Encinitas, so of course there’s a rack for surfboards and an outdoor area to dry wetsuits—plus showers to rinse off in after a lunch surf session.Culture: Dogs lying around the office, surfboards and bikes scattered about, professional surfers and skateboarders (who come in for product assessments) roaming the hallways, and not a tie in sight—that’s Nixon. Of course, staff members work hard and put in long hours to get the job done, but are rewarded with a flexible schedule that allows them to fit in real life too.Sweet Perks: Free concert tickets; discounts on surf, skate, and snow equipment; and the occasional ski resort trip each year. But there are also Ball Park days, where the staff BBQs at company HQ, then hops the coaster train to a Padres game.Now Hiring: Customer service representatives, product managers, designers, and merchandisers, among other positionsNixon.com71. ParliamentLocation: Portland, OregonNumber of Employees: 15Digs: Wide-open work spaces within a 5,000-square-foot building right in the heart of downtown Portland. And there’s plenty of room left over for skateboarding around the office.Culture: Employees often bike to work (the company is in the process of adding a shower to its office), kick it in jeans and t-shirts, and skateboard around the office. Days are spent creating digital sales tools for companies like Gatorade or thinking up promotional campaigns for new video games—with the occasional break to play said games.Sweet Perk: Employees who work at Parliament for seven years receive an all-expenses paid vacation anywhere in the world for a full week.Now Hiring: Currently seeking freelance designers, Web programmers, and copywritersParliamentdesign.com 72. Brunton Outdoor GroupLocation: Riverton, WyomingNumber of Employees: 65Digs: Located at the foothills of the Wind River Range, Brunton runs out of a new 40,000-square-foot facility on a 10-acre campus that includes numerous paths for walking, jogging, or biking; Frisbee golf fields; and a community garden.Culture: Making top-of-the-line camping accessories—like Primus Stoves and Brunton binoculars and compasses, among other items—inspires employees to get outside during work (for runs or rides near the HQ) and afterwards for longer jaunts in the woods (good for product testing). Dogs are frequently spotted lounging around the office, as are employees in shorts and flip-flops.Sweet Perk: An on-site video arcade. Seriously.Bruntongroup.com73. Kiva DesignsLocation: Benicia, CaliforniaNumber of Employees: 15Digs: Typical office and warehouse, but located on the edge of a Bay Area suburb with with rolling hills for a backdrop. Employees bring their dogs to work and occasionally their kids.Culture: Like many small companies, it feels like family—busy days working in close proximity to others but with plenty of support from the entire team. To destress and share a little friendly competition, there is an annual ping-pong tournament that everyone participates in. During nice weather, most of the staff heads out for walks on their break.Sweet Perks: Every few weeks the company brings in food for the entire team, then they take the afternoon off to drink beer and catch up with each other.Now Hiring: Program managers and sales professionalsKivaDesigns.com74. Gazelle SportsLocation: Kalamazoo, MichiganNumber of Employees: 168Digs: Three retail locations in the state of Michigan: Kalamazoo, Holland, and Grand Rapids. All locations have bike racks and locker rooms to encourage bike commuting. The Kalamazoo store, which houses many of the administrative staff, has a roof-top picnic area. The Holland location is located in downtown of Holland, Michigan.Culture: As you can imagine, most people that work at Gazelle Sports have an interest running. That passion is shared by the company and it helps the staff maintain a great work-life balance. On a day-to-day basis, the atmosphere is very laid back, with flexibility in schedules so employees can tend to their families, appointments, and pets.Sweet Perks: It’s all about fitness: reimbursements for race entry fees and gym memberships and hefty discounts on athletic apparel.Now Hiring: Supply chain assistant, data coordinator, and brand assistant, among other positionsGazelleSports.com75. Pearl IzumiLocation: Louisville, ColoradoNumber of Employees: 276Digs: This 92,000-square-foot facility is cyclist friendly: 40-plus bikes regularly line the walls and there’s a “fix-it” area where employees can perform minor bike repairs. In addition, the facility has a full gym with a space for yoga classes, and full shower and locker room facilities. Culture: From making sports gear to testing the product, athletics dictates the work culture at Pearl Izumi. Lunchtime bike rides head out at 12:15 daily, open to anyone in the company, or anyone in the area that would like to join. Depending on the time of the year, you may see up to 20-plus riders in a group. Can’t get out on that ride? Pearl offers flex schedules for employees to manage their time how they want.Sweet Perks: Pearl offers everything from free health screenings to “Fun Fridays,” events ranging from BBQs to ice-cream socials.Now Hiring: Custom operations associate, custom product and developer/line manager, among othersPearlizumi.com76. Osprey PacksLocation: Cortez, ColoradoNumber of Employees: 51Digs: An office building with extensive green upgrades, like heliotropic skylights and landscaping (the HQ is lined with deciduous trees) to provide cooling shade in the summer and heating sun in the winter.Culture: If business casual means a dog- and family-friendly office; flex time to go out for a swim, ride, or run; and a free cruiser bike after one year, this is it. Long hours designing gear or organizing production lines are offset by lunchtime Frisbee golf sessions and bike rides. Two weeks paid vacation per year eventually builds into sabbaticals at 10, 15, and 20 years.Sweet Perks: 1. A floating “Powder Day” to use during ski season after whatever snowstorm you chose. 2. An “Outings Holiday” to participate in an Osprey backcountry trip. 3. A “Volunteer Holiday” to participate in local, state, or national volunteer opportunities. 4. A “Stress Free Holiday” around Christmas, for staff to get all of the shopping done.Now Hiring: Customer service, among other positionsOspreyPacks.com77. Caldrea CompanyLocation: Minneapolis, MinnesotaNumber of Employees: 54Digs: A LEED-certified building in the heart of Minneapolis’ Warehouse District.Culture: Caldrea employees like to call themselves an unstoppable band of optimists. Focus is on getting the job done rather than on actual time spent at the office, and family always comes first. Philanthropy is encouraged (paid time off to volunteer). And when it comes to green initiatives, Caldrea has a strong focus on urban gardening in the communities they serve, and those gardens often become the inspiration for many ingredients and fragrances.Sweet Perks: Race admission fees and state park fees are paid for, the company puts on an annual talent show, and brings the staff to a Twins game each year.Now Hiring: Sales and marketingCaldrea.com78. Missy Farren & AssociatesLocation: New York, New YorkDigs: There are a few offices partitioned with glass walls and doors, but most of the staff sits together in two open spaces. There’s also a common space where teams can meet and brainstorm ideas, and a lounge with couches, an oversized ottoman, and a TV (and a Wii). Mfa clients are also an integral part of the décor. Snowboards and surfboards hang on the walls, and a free standing bike rack showcases a rotating variety of Schwinn, Cannondale, GT, and Mongoose Bicycles.Culture: Mfa employees work hard pitching products and athletes, but the staff is also free to set their own hours. Employees often take advantage by getting in a workout at Soul Cycle, Flywheel, or Stacy’s Bootcamp, and many employees take advantage of a corporate membership opportunity at Equinox, which is located across the street from the office. Other staff take runs through Central Park or along the East or Hudson Rivers. And when they’re not working or exercising, Mfa employees give back, helping the homeless develop job skills through Coalition for the Homeless.Sweet Perks: All full-time employees receive a bicycle, not to mention frequent tickets to Yankee Stadium, both Summer and Winter Olympics, and the U.S. Open of Tennis and Surfing.mfaltd.com79. ��ԹϺ�� LifeLocation: Missoula, MontanaNumber of Employees: 18Digs: Currently, employees work out of a renovated house decorated with pictures of the staff standing on a Patagonia glacier, crouching down next to a giant tortoise, or perched above Machu Picchu, making the familial office environment even more family-like.Culture: Setting up overseas trips for hundreds of clients means employees spend a lot of time at the desk, on the phone, and in front of a computer. But backyard meetings and impromptu barbecues keep things interesting.Sweet Perks: In order to talk knowledgeably about the destinations they serve, each employee gets the chance to take a trip abroad to learn about the location (past trips have included Antarctica, Alaska and the Galapagos).Now Hiring: Office and operations staff��ԹϺ��-Life.com80. Aspen Skiing CompanyLocation: Aspen/Snowmass, ColoradoNumber of Employees: 1,200 Digs: Offices vary across the mountain, anything from ski patrol huts to offices next to the gondola.Culture: With so many employees, it’s hard to stereotype, but most employees probably consider the surrounding outdoors as their own private gym—and treat the mountains as such. Company bicycles help employees commute between meetings and long lunch breaks are good for a quick afternoon hike, run, or lap on the mountain. Also cool, Aspen/Snowmass recently bought rights to the regional methane to convert it to electricity, offsetting 100 percent of company’s annual electrical usage.Sweet Perks: The backyard is a playground and the company, when it can, provides hall passes for big powder days and, of course, free ski passes.Now Hiring: Communications coordinator, as well as open positions in guest services, rental, retail, and ski schoolAspenSnowmass.com81. Butler, Shine, Stern & PnrLocation: Sausalito, CaliforniaNumber of Employees: 174Digs: Offices one block away from the Bay, with a bike path outside the front door, a basketball court a few blocks away, and tennis courts around the corner.Culture: Creative, fast paced, deadline driven. And fun. Like many advertising agencies, the work is stressful but rewarding.Sweet Perks: A summer concert series: the last Thursday of every month, the office closes at 4 p.m. and a local band performs in the company’s parking lot, where local food and beer is also served. The entire community is invited.BSSP.com 82. TendrilLocation: Boulder, ColoradoNumber of Employees: 160Digs: Located right on Boulder Creek, the office includes a large kitchen/cafeteria and has easy access to biking, hiking and running trails.Culture: The active staff takes full advantage of Boulder’s outdoor activities (employees sometimes even kayak to work). The office has a small yoga room and shower facilities as well as several bike racks. Dogs are welcome and every Thursday a food truck serving organic, locally sourced food parks outside the building.Sweet Perks: All employees can get a free EcoPass, allowing them to use public transportation for free in Boulder and Denver.Now Hiring: Project managersTendrilInc.com83. Outlaw PartnersLocation: Big Sky, MontanaNumber of Employees: 18Digs: Two-story office in Big Sky—almost every office has a view of 11,166-foot Lone Peak or the surrounding national forest—with music pumping in the hallways.Culture: Long hours, lots of creative energy flowing throughout the office, and people passionate about their work—that’s Outlaw in a nutshell. Employees work hard, but they also self-manage their schedule, taking breaks to go hiking or run the dog and coming in late if there’s fresh powder on the mountain. Fridays often include jam sessions, where the team rallies around a few drinks to come up with new ideas. You can also catch the staff performing renditions of Bob Marley and the Grateful Dead during late hours in their “vent” room, a studio with a full drum kit, amps, and guitars.Sweet Perks: Season passes to the local ski area, gym passes, the occasional cat-skiing trip in British Columbia or multi-day raft trips down the rivers of Idaho.Now Hiring: Publications editor, salespersonTheOutlawPartners.com84. Santa Cruz BicyclesLocation: Santa Cruz, CaliforniaNumber of Employees: 72 full- and part-time employeesDigs: A factory housed inside a historical cannery. Next door is a climbing gym.Culture: The culture is dominated by cycling. Employees work hard and are rewarded with cash bonuses for meeting production goals, but when they aren’t building bikes, they’re training for bike races. Flexible work hours allow the staff to get outside and ride as much as possible. Dogs roam the factory floor and family are frequent guests. The dress code, however, is strict: pants with holes, t-shirts with slogans, and footwear of questionable sensibility or fashion are a must.Sweet Perks: Annual three-day trip to Downieville, California, for employees and their families. Lots of bike riding, eating, and drinking.Now Hiring: Wheel assembly and bike assemblySantaCruzBicycles.com85. MiresBallLocation: San Diego, CaliforniaNumber of Employees: 33Digs: A two-story, 9,000-square-foot converted warehouse, decorated with floor-to-ceiling, gallery-quality art; display walls featuring rolled steel; and custom-built tables and desks.Culture: If the surf is good, it’s not uncommon for employees to show up a little late. But when it comes to the job, everyone works hard to do great work, and the company recognizes that great ideas often come from collaboration, which is why there are plenty of common areas for brainstorming (or chatting about the morning’s surf session). It’s a small office, so colleagues often seem like family. Of course, with the flex time, there is still plenty of daytime to spend with the real fam.Sweet Perks: Every employee receives floating holidays over Christmas and New Year’s, so you don’t have to save up vacation time to use then. Plus, the company hosts events like a summer party, a weekend camping trip, Thanksgiving potluck, and an end-of-year holiday party.Now Hiring: Senior designer and copywriter, among other positionsMiresBall.com86. PatagoniaLocation: Ventura, CANumber of Employees: 1,210Digs: Both the Ventura headquarters the Reno Service Center warehouse (Gold LEED Certified) house workout areas for yoga classes, bike and surfboard racks, biking and walking trails, sand beach volleyball courts, basketball courts, ping pong, foosball, and exercise equipment.Culture: When they’re not making and marketing sports threads, employees are encouraged to get outside and bike, walk, or run during their breaks (the office has on-site shower facilities). The Ventura Campus has an organic cafeteria and daycare facility; the Reno Service Center has food delivered each day. All locations recycle, compost, and have building energy efficiencies or alternative energy sources. Sweet Perks: Naturally, each employee gets great discounts on Patagonia products. In addition, employees can sign up for an environmental internship, allowing them to volunteer for a green non-profit of their choice up to two months while still earning their regular pay.Now Hiring: Apparel graphic designer, IT systems administrator, and managing editor—catalog, among othersPatagonia.com87. Osiris ShoesLocation: Carlsbad, CaliforniaNumber of employees: 33Digs: Typical Southern California office—i.e. surrounded by palm trees and within a few minutes drive of the beach.Culture: Laid back, to say the least. Think skate culture inside an office with a 401K policy.Sweet Perk: The company offers a year-round alternative workweek: make up the time in advance, and you can take Friday afternoons off.Osirisshoes.com88. Bern UnlimitedLocation: Kingston, MassachusettsNumber of Employees: 17Digs: The office is an old mill warehouse located on the edge of conservation land, with a tidal river that runs right next to the building. It’s a standard open office set up, but with plenty of skateboards and other play items scattered about.Culture: A jeans-and-T-shirt dress code, dogs lying around the office, and every Friday the office closes at three—when you produce some of the top helmets for action sports, your staff is naturally laid back, too. A small office means that co-workers become family and flexible hours means that there is always time to head out for a mid-day workout, whether it be for a long run or a surf session.Sweet Perks: Free lift passes in winter and a free “powder day” to use them.BernUnlimited.com89. ��ԹϺ�� Cycling Assoc.Location: Missoula, MontanaNumber of Employees: 32Digs: A converted church in downtown Missoula complete with outdoor courtyard, picnic tables, and a balcony patio. Also key for the bike-centric crew: two staff showers.Culture: Laid back, flexible schedules so that employees are free to escape for anything from powder days to lunch runs to classes at the University.Sweet Perks: ��ԹϺ�� Cycling staff embodies the expression “the family that plays together, stays together,” as they do all sorts of things together out of the office: Missoula Osprey baseball games (including free tickets and a barbeques for family and staff), hockey in the winter, and a yearly bike overnight that starts with a staff ride from the offices out to a designated camping spot.��ԹϺ��Cycling.org90. Sterling-Rice GroupLocation: Boulder, ColoradoNumber of Employees: 120Digs: Centrally located in a single building in downtown Boulder with a restaurant-quality kitchen and conference rooms that provide stunning views of the Flatirons. Most of the perimeter offices have balconies and there is outdoor seating on the balcony of the office’s cafe. In the summer, there’s a fountain and patio seating in the courtyard of the building, which is converted to an ice skating rink in the winter months.Culture: A healthy atmosphere at Sterling-Rice is cultivated with yoga on Mondays and onsite massages. Employees also make time to head out for a ride or run on the nearby trails. There are well-stocked snack areas on all three floors and sweet treats and coffee in the lobby. The fourth floor is home to a foosball table and company bikes, all available for employees to use throughout the day. Twice a year, the whole staff escapes to the mountains for company meetings and on the first Friday of every month employees enjoy a fully catered lunch.Sweet Perks: An all-company ski day, free tickets to concerts and sporting events throughout the year, and free parking in downtown Boulder as well as a free Eco Pass for access to the areas public transit system are just some of the perks employees receive at Sterling-Rice.Now Hiring: Associate Consultant, Senior Account Director, Consultant, Digital Creative DirectorSRG.com91. HabermanLocation: Minneapolis, MinnesotaNumber of Employees: 38Digs: An office in Minneapolis’ Warehouse District, located near biking trails, the new Minnesota Twins baseball park, and running trails along the Mississippi River. The “second office” in summer is an employer-sponsored garden, where employees and their families work the garden (along with some experienced gardeners paid by the company) and the organic produce is shared with the entire staff—green beans, pea pods, watermelon radishes, chives, oregano, tomatoes, chard, and fresh eggs.Culture: It’s a marketing agency, which means the usual creative buzz—and frenzy trying to meet deadlines. But the company makes sure their employees get a chance to de-stress and hosts what it calls a “wellness inferno” competition, where teams of employees can earn weekly prizes for completing various wellness tasks: hosting a walking meeting on the Mississippi riverfront, having a screen-free lunch, playing a game of Ping Pong. Flexible start and end times ensure that employees can sneak out early to take advantage of the long summer days in Minnesota or attend a family event.Sweet Perks: A company endorsed “fun committee” to make sure that any stress build-up is vented: lawn bowling at a downtown pub for lunch, pizza parties, impromptu happy hours, and an annual winter retreat (last year it featured boot hockey and couch rides on a frozen lake—it was pulled by a four-wheeler).Now Hiring: Digital strategist, copywriter, and an account supervisorModernStorytellers.com92. PitchLocation: Culver City, CaliforniaNumber of Employees: 40Digs: A warehouse with high ceilings and skylights throughout, walls of glass that let the sunshine in, and a huge garage door that’s always open, allowing employees to easily escape to the fully-furnished outside patio.Culture: Employees at this growing company work long, hard hours, but to ease the stress, they’re encouraged to invite their families in for visits, music plays throughout the agency, and they can relax with an open dress code (shorts and flip flops are standard). The fridge is always stocked and BBQs on the patio are a frequent occurrence. To blow off steam, employees also head out to the company’s basketball court.Sweet Perks: Twice-a-year company parties, cash bonuses for good work, and tickets to sporting events and concerts.Now Hiring: Project Manager and a copywriter/art director teamThePitchAgency.com93. NatureBridgeLocation: San Francisco, CaliforniaNumber of Employees: 175Digs: California’s National Parks—seriously. Administrative staff work in offices within the national parks, many of which are historic buildings, and field workers lead trips, often in the backcountry. All of them, naturally, have access to hiking trails, lakes, rivers, and the Pacific Ocean.Culture: People who love the natural environment and people who love sharing it—that’s who works at NatureBridge. Naturally, those people enjoy outdoor adventures during their free time, including climbing, backpacking, and other outdoor pursuits.Sweet Perks: Each year a NatureBridge staff member is awarded one or more grants that allow them to pursue a lifelong journey. One awardee spent two and a half months exploring and experiencing the biology and culture of Tanzania. Another employee embarked on a solo journey from the source of the Merced River to its confluence with the San Joaquin River.Now Hiring: Development associate, kitchen assistant, grants manager, field science educatorNatureBridge.org94. Dealer.comLocation: Burlington, VermontNumber of Employees: 618DIGS: Office complex in Burlington, with a comprehensive fitness facility that includes free weights, nautilus and cardio equipment with TVs, boxing equipment (including speed and Muy Thai heavy bags), a world-class indoor tennis court and a world-class ping-pong table, half-court basketball, locker rooms with showers, and more.Culture: You don’t need to love cars to work here, but it helps. What you do need is a passion for doing your best work at a place that rewards that work generously and helps employees thrive.Sweet Perks: The company pays for 50 percent of ski passes at one of six area mountains, and offers free membership to the Burlington Swim and Tennis Club for employees and their families (with access to pool, tennis courts, etc.).Dealer.com95. SmartWoolLocation: Steamboat Springs, ColoradoNumber of Employees: 83Digs: Global headquarters are located in an old renovated airport. A huge stone fireplace and chimney from the airport's waiting area remain as the primary gathering for all company meetings.Culture: The company focuses on producing and marketing their popular line of clothing. And to properly do that, they need to do lots of testing. To that end, group bike rides and ski days are common, as are weekend hiking and camping trips.Sweet Perks: All employees are given an activity pass that may be used to buy a gym membership, a ski resort season pass, or a pass to some other outdoor activity.Now Hiring: E-comm demand & suplly planner, online content developer, field service manager, product developer and quality assurance, sales channel managerSmartWool.com96. Rite in the RainLocation: Tacoma, WashingtonNumber of Employees: 57Digs: Offices are a combination of both single office and cubicles as well as a manufacturing floor.Culture: Employees work long hours, but have the option of making up their own work schedules. Though employees are busy, the atmosphere is laid back: “Denim Fridays” offer a chance to dress down and family and pets are welcome in the office.Sweet Perks: Employees have been given paid vacations to Hawaii, the company employs quarterly lunch celebrations, and takes the staff on local cruises.Now Hiring: Sales positionsRiteInTheRain.com97. Aventura ClothingLocation: Truckee, CaliforniaNumber of Employees: 37Digs: Aventura is second-generation family-owned and operated business with offices in the Sierra Nevada foothills across the street from the Truckee River and Rock Park.Culture: In between design meetings and computer time, employees have access to mountain bikes and kayaks that can be checked out for playtime on the Truckee River path system and Rock Park, which features one of two whitewater parks in North Nevada.Sweet Perks: Friday lunch BBQs with paid half days, and group tickets for the local Triple-A baseball team, the Reno Aces, and for University of Nevada Wolf Pack Football home games.AventuraClothing.com 98. Infinite EnergyLocation: Gainesville, FloridaNumber of Employees: 346Digs: Corporate headquarters has four buildings with over 55,000 square feet of space, including an on-site gym.Culture: Long hours are rewarded with good pay and the ability to move up within the company. An emphasis on innovation makes the job surprisingly creative in the right worker’s hands.Sweet Perks: Free access to the on-site gym and personal trainers brought in by the company.InfiniteEnergy.com 99. ZoziLocation: San Francisco, CaliforniaNumber of Employees: 40Digs: Zozi is located in the heart of Jackson Square, a beautiful tree-lined neighborhood with historic architecture nestled between the iconic Transamerica Pyramid and the world-famous North Beach neighborhood in downtown San Francisco. Zozi's headquarters is in a light-filled, open-concept office space in the fourth floor penthouse of a historic brick building. The office features three outdoor balconies for meetings, outdoor lunch seating, a private rooftop deck, and a bistro-style kitchen. Framed photos of places around the world Zozi employees have lived and visited (from Montana to Morroco, India, Switzerland, Peru, Australia, and more) adorn the walls of the office.Culture: Travel is big, of course, but food seems to dominate the culture at Zozi. There are smoothie breaks where one employee makes a smoothie for everyone else in the office, waffle breakfasts (complete with french press coffee), and veggie days, where one employee can volunteer to make fresh vegetables as afternoon snacks for everyone else.Sweet Perks: On-site massage therapist visits the office every two weeks, Zozi reimburses employees' monthly gym memberships, and rooftop happy hours and pizza parties.Now Hiring: Product Manager, Senior Front-End Engineer, Senior Rails Engineer, VP of Engineering, Merchandising Manager/Buyer, Sports Marketing/Events Marketing Manager, Sales Account ExecutivesZozi.com100. Trek Bicycle CorporationLocation: Waterloo, WisconsinNumber of Employees: 1,900 employees globally, with approximately 800 located in WaterlooDigs: The entryway and atrium feature historically significant bikes as well as open meeting spaces.Culture: It’s a cycling culture, naturally, which means that lunchtime rides on the 18 miles of mountain bike trails that surround the office are the norm. In addition, employees keep themselves healthy by visiting the on-site fitness center and eating from the cafeteria, where the chefs have teamed with nutritionists to serve up healthy creations. Trek is also committed to giving back, donating $10 of every full-suspension mountain bike sold to the International Mountain Biking Association, and $1 of every helmet sold to support Bicycle Friendly Communities, a non-profit that supports bike commuting.Sweet Perks: Tuition reimbursement is available for employees pursuing higher education, while college-bound children of Trek employees are eligible for Trek's scholarship program. Employees enjoy product discounts, as well as discounts on Trek Travel cycling vacations.Now Hiring: Product Management, Engineering, Marketing, Sales, Apparel Design, Creative Design, Industrial Design, Finance, Retail, Information Technology, Software Development, and moreTrekBikes.com

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