Escape, by Carolyn Jessop

I added this book to the COVID-19 reading list not because it’s empowering and uplifting (it’s not) but because it’s so gripping and engaging you will finish it in a day. That’s a full day of not thinking about COVID-19. Escape is Carolyn Jessop’s memoir of growing up in the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) freak show and the pivotal turning point that made her say, “What the fu–???” and escape. Except that she couldn’t exactly hire a good divorce lawyer and get in her car and abscond with her kids and dignity. It required a great deal of planning and finagling…

Gear Pairing for Escaping a Religious Cult

A pair of Brooks Ghost 12’s. You’ll appreciate their responsiveness and performance and fluffy cloud-like feeling of their 12mm drop.

Deep Water Passage, by Ann Linnea

The pace of Deep Water Passage is as relaxing and unhurried as a sea kayak on Lake Superior. Which is exactly what it’s about, making it a good choice for the COVID-19 reading list. Ann Linnea—nature writer, lecturer and avid sea kayaker—realized one morning that she wasn’t getting any younger and it was time to do some serious thinking about her life and her future. Significant topics, indeed. Is there any better place to contemplate them than in a sea kayak on Lake Superior? It also happens to be one of the few places you can escape COVID-19. If she succeeds, she’ll be the first woman to do so…

Gear Pairing for a Sea Kayaking Lake Superior

An Icemule Classic Cooler. I’ve used this on Lake Superior paddling the Apostle Islands. The size medium drybag design fits into my sea kayak’s large dry hatch behind the seat and it holds ice cubes for about 24 hours.

Into the Forest, by Jean Heglund

The term “social distancing” was still at least a decade away when Jean Heglund wrote this page-turning novel about a dystopian future in which a strange and unnamed highly contagious disease cripples the country. The main characters of this book are two sisters who are socially distancing themselves from the unnamed viral plague in their rural home in a northern California forest, trying to survive. While it’s ending is somewhat predictable, I did find within in its rapidly turning pages essential COVID-19 survival tips and new ways to cook vegetables!  

Gear Pairing for Food Preparation when the Electricity goes out

The GSI Pinnacle Backpacker stove. I fell in love with this stove sea kayaking the Apostle Islands for six days because its set-up (two-liter pot and strainer lid, skillet, two 14-ounce insulated mugs and two 14-ounce bowls) allowed a wide variety of meals beyond ramen noodles and instant oatmeal. The carry bag also doubles as a wash basin.

Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens

The main character of Where the Crawdads Sing is a young girl who grows into adulthood while living completely on her own without no parental supervision in a North Carolina marsh. What could possibly go wrong! There was so much I loved about this book—the will of the main character to survive, her resourcefulness to make money to buy food, to learn to read, keep herself safe. All the things children don’t normally have to worry about when they have parents or responsible adults in the home. This is on the COVID-19 reading list because you’ll also find plenty of survival tips and recipes in this book as well. What I loved most though was the ending…

Gear Pairing for Living Alone in the North Carolina Marsh

An SOG Terminus XR knife. A good knife is an indispensable piece of kit for nearly any situation. It’s in a class that some refer to as an “Everyday Carry” or EDC, making it eligible to perform a variety of everyday-type tasks from gutting a trout to carving a spear for hunting and self-defense. 

A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar, by Suzanne Joinson

If you like cycling, and plots that run parallel between past and present, A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar will take you for a pleasant ride – pun intended. In the 1920s, Evangeline English follows her missionary sister to the ancient city of Kashgar, a stop on the Silk Road. While the missionary sister spews hellfire and damnation 24/7, Evangeline is shredding the gravel trails on her bike and penning a memoir about her cycling adventures. Meanwhile, in modern day London, another character strangely inherits the contents of an apartment that belonged to a dead woman she has never heard of. This is by no means an apocalyptic book. It’s on the COVID-19 reading list because we can still ride our bikes — something we all should be doing while we can. Some cities have mandated shelter in place rules.

Gear Pairing for Gravel Riding in Kashgar

A set of ReTyre Ice Racer tires for that one set of bike tires for year-round use that easily zip on and zip off from summer slicks to winter studs.

Circling the Sun, by Paula McClain

Circling the Sun is both a biographical novel about Beryl Markham, an aviator, horse trainer and overall path-blazer in 1920s Kenya. Freedom is what Beryl is searching for. I’m not giving away any spoilers when I say that it’s obvious from my opening sentence that she achieves plenty of it by pursuing occupations, adventures and hobbies that are not needlepoint, sewing or sketching local flora and fauna. Within McClain’s pages you’ll experience the beauty of Kenya and a woman who spat on traditional roles. But just don’t plan any travel to Africa right now. They have reported their fair share of COVID-19 cases.

Gear Pairings for Racking up Frequent Flier Miles

A Deuter AirContact Lite SL 60+10 multi-day backpack full of ethically-sourced clothing perfect for long hours at 35,000 feet.

Wild, Cheryl Strayed

Wild isn’t exactly a happy book to read. Hiking solo on the Pacific Crest Trail has its moments of metaphorical, emotional, psychological and physical peaks and valleys. But important to remember that hiking is something we can all still do during these times of COVID-19 quarantines and social distancing. What better way to lift your mood and spirits than a long hike outdoors? That’s why it made the COVID-19 reading list.

Gear Pairing for Thru-hiking Solo

A pair of Garmont Tower Trek GTX hiking boots. If they could take our writer Julie to Everest Base Camp, the Pacific Crest Trail will be its bitch. 

The Long Winter, Laura Ingalls Wilder

Of all the books on the COVID-19 reading list, this one is the most relevant. Many of us have read this series as young’uns. Who doesn’t enjoy a story that takes one back to a time before overpopulation and pollution began killing our planet? The Long Winter is Laura’s tale of the brutal winter of 1880-1881 that shut down the railroad, leaving the residents of DeSmet, South Dakota on their own to make it through the long winter without even the barest of necessities that were available at the time. Even salt pork and molasses couldn’t be had! They were starving, cold, scared and hopeless. Given the circumstances, stockpiling toilet paper was the least of their concerns. We would all do well to remember that these days.

Gear Pairing for Sheltering-in-Place

Dreams of warmer places and happier days ahead, like Long Caye, Belize or scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef.

Candy Girl, Diablo Cody

Candy Girl is Diablo Cody’s memoir about her year as a stripper in Minneapolis. To be perfectly transparent, I find the “strippers have the power!” justification to be ludicrous. Power is not about convincing some guy into withdrawing stacks of twenties from the ATM machine to stick in a 95-percent-naked-dancer’s thong while she strokes his ego for two minutes before moving onto the next one. But I add this one to the COVID-19 reading list because Cody knows all of this and isn’t glamorizing it. Its fast-turning pages are packed full of original quips and hilarious revelations like, “Could there be anything more grosser than pleading with undesirable men for three minutes of their company? The whole ritual defied logic, nature and the time-honored tradition of ‘Schlub Chases Babe’”. We could all use a diversion of continuous laughter these days. You may need a pair of Depends should you read this.

Gear Pairing for Recovering Strippers

The MSR DynaLock Explore Backcountry poles—to make the transition from stage and thong to the hiking trails effortless and enticing, like.

The post COVID-19 Reading List (and their gear pairings) by Women Authors appeared first on gritandgearonline.com.

Helinox Chair Zero

The Helinox Chair Zero tips the scales at a svelte 1.1lbs and folds up into the size of an overstuffed Chipotle burrito. The reason I love this chair so much is that I can fit it into my Osprey Mira daypack or strap it on the outside for a comfortable seat at the top of a mountain or for a trail lunch and beer. So much better than perching on a rock or sitting on wet grass. helinox.com | $120

Trail Butter

As an all-natural endurance energy food, Trail Butter can be thought of as either a “spreadable bar” or “blended up trail mix”. Either way, it’s healthy, unprocessed nut or seed butter comes in many forms: Single-serve packets, pouches and sixteen-ounce jars. Each flavor has its own unique blend of real-food ingredients and provides a balanced, slow burning energy that is calorie-dense for those long hikes in cool weather. So far my favorite way to eat this is to spread on a Pamela’s Gluten Free Graham Cracker and mix into oatmeal. trailbutter.com | $12 – $20

Kora Shola 230 Crew

Yak wool is the new natural fiber in town and the Kora Shola 230 Crew  is a technical baselayer that is made entirely of yak wool. I put this to good use hiking the Superior Hiking Trail over a long weekend as well as camping on the edge of the Boundary Waters in early October. Fortunately for me, it was cold and blustery with gale-force winds. I wore this under only a softshell windbreaker jacket and was amazed at how warm it kept me and its breathability.

You will especially love how soft it feels against your skin and the amount of wearings you can get in before you start to smell like a yak. kora | $145

Deschutes Handup IPA

Deschutes Handup IPA offers all that I love about a good craft IPA. I find it to be refreshing and hoppy with afternotes of citrus. Although it was brewed to honor Deschutes Brewery co-owner Colby, Deschutes CX team captain who lost his life to pancreatic cancer last fall, it’s still highly relevant for hiking—either as a summit beer, lunch beer or for your après hike celebratory beer at the trailhead. Please remember to Leave no Trace and pack the bottle out with you. deschutesbrewery.com

Garmont Tower Trek GTX Hiking Boots

Although our reviewer Julie didn’t actually bag Mt. Everest, she got close when her Garmont Tower Trek GTX’s took her to Everest Base Camp in October. These boots gave her the feeling of “walking on air” in high elevations and rough, rocky alpine terrain thanks to their beefy and aggressive tread.

They were also comfortable, stable, sturdy and kept her feet warm on the colder days of hiking when the temps plunged to 30F/-1C. garmont.com | $330

Hangtime KOALA

The Hangtime Koala is an ingenious clip and silicone harness system to quell the fears of losing your $1,000 Smartphone on the trail, in a lake, or down into the pongy abyss of a pit toilet. The phone harness is made from industrial-grade silicone that stretches enough to fit any phone. It attaches to your body (or backpack straps, jacket pocket, etc) via a strong polycarbonate clip and urethane tether that stretches up for four feet.

The more you tug on the tether the harder the clip’s teeth sink into whatever you have it anchored to. Simply attach the Koala to your phone, clip it to your pack’s harness strap or a jacket pocket and go. Crowdfunding is going on now and they’ve raised over $300,000 and have over 10,000 backers on Indiegogo. After their crowdfunding campaign ends on November 11^th 2019 KOALA will be available the general public on their site via IndiGoGo. hangtimegear.com | $25

Deuter AirContact Lite SL 60+10

Should your National Take a Hike pilgrimage require a multi-day out the trail, the Deuter AirContact Lite SL 60+10 is the pack that our team member Alli declared, “First and foremost, I’ve never — ever — hiked with a pack this comfortable under a heavy load before. I truly used every last bit of the extended 70-liter capacity, carrying my gear, group gear, and, at times, three full bear canisters and clients’ gear.”

She should know as she tested it on Minnesota’s Superior Hiking Trail, which has its share rugged ascents and descents, roots and rocks, and narrow trails on bluff edges required grace and balance.  deuterusa.com | $220

 Leatherman Free T4 Multi-tool

The Leatherman FREE T4 Multi-Tool could easily be the quintessential knife for the hiking trail. It has twelve different tools packed into a 3.6 inch-long frame making it a lot of multi-tool for the size and minuscule weight of 4.3 ounces.

It includes a 2.2 in. carbon-stainless main blade, scissors, package opener, awl, reamer, four types of screwdrivers, a metal and wood file, bottle opener and a set of tweezers. This multi-tool knife has a tool for just about anything you might run into; whether you’re working around the house or out on a wilderness hike. Our writer even used it to start a fire using the file and a fire-steel striker. leatherman.com | $60

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