From top: Courtesy of Colorado Hot Air Balloon Rides; Whitney Schuettpelz/Courtesy of Feral Mountain Co.
MAY 20 18 | 5280 | (^31)
Forget Journi, Tripcast, Bonjournal, and all those other digital travel journals—Colorado is full of beautiful
analog varieties. And with the summer adventure season coming up, it’s the ideal time to find your favorite.
For exploration inspiration, we turn to Acorn Bookbinding founder Mary Jo Hamilton, who cuts up old atlases
and topo maps of national parks to use as covers for the books ($25 to $45) she crafts in her RiNo studio. If
you’re more of a planner, consider Feral Mountain Co.’s Basecamp Journal ($25 to $50, pictured). When it hit shelves in December, it became
the first product the Berkeley gear shop had produced. The leather-bound (or paperback, if you prefer) book provides everything from packing
lists to suggestions for destinations—including the highest point in each state—as well as blank pages for mapping and sketching with prompts
to help spark inspiration. And then there’s the classic: Cold Mountain Craft’s durable field journals, starting at $149, with bamboo pages en-
cased in bison-leather covers (we like the wine-colored Merlot Saddle version). Aspen naturalist Trevor A. Washko began creating the books,
which come with a handy strap to loop over your shoulder, 20 years ago after none of his store-bought journals survived the muddy treks he
took through the Elk Mountains. Translation: These notebooks can handle whatever the hinterlands throw at them. —MARY CLARE FISCHER
PAPER TRAIL