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Durango Outdoor Exchange is pleased to announce that we have been certified by La Plata County Thrive! Living Wage Coalition as a Living Wage Employer! We are now one of 100 certified living wage employers in La Plata County!
We believe in the Thrive living wage principle that all workers should be paid a living wage (currently $13.25 per hour) and are proud to provide a living wage to our own employees. Paying a living wage contributes to the long-term economic and social well-being of our community by enabling residents to support themselves and their families and further contribute to our local economy.
We’ve always strived to treat our employees with respect and take care of them like family. Paying them a living wage has been a goal for a couple years now and it has taken intentional goal setting and planning to get to this place. Forming new positions that justify the living wage pay rate has helped us create a strong team of employees that benefits the business, our customers and consignors. We are grateful to Thrive for providing the research and support that gave us a clear goal to aim for.
Please join us in supporting the living wage movement and creating a community where everyone can thrive by visiting the Thrive! Living Wage Coalition website and choosing to do business with Recognized Living Wage Employers.
If you are camping in bear country, or in any place where food storage is a concern, you should strongly consider using a bear canister–a storage system that is built to keep bears out of your food. And in some places, particularly parks in California, Montana, Colorado, and Washington,backcountry campers are required to have and use bear canisters.
While you may get lucky by hanging your food in a sack from a tree, this is not permitted in many areas and virtually impractical in many alpine anddesert backpacking zones. Bear canisters are the preferred method for storing food and other smelly items, but there are many kinds to be aware of. Let’s look at them in more detail.
For many hikers, summiting one of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks is a lifetime achievement. Others make it their entire personality, working for years and even decades to climb all of them. Some make a goal of climbing them all in a single season while others try to ski them all.
The problem with climbing 14ers for many people is that they are difficult–and we’re not just talking about the thin air. Of the 58 in Colorado, about one-third entrail considerable exposure and require skilled route-finding and ascent/descent skills. About half have either moderate or considerable challenges. Just eight are considered “easy.”
Hikers looking to summit a 14er near Durango will find four that rank generally as easy or the easy end of moderate. They are all in the same two canyons and can be climbed by someone with decent fitness, good shoes, and a penchant for waking up early. The roads to access all these peaks are part of the Alpine Loop and can be driven from Silverton in a four-wheel drive such as a Tacoma, but are generally not in all-wheel drives like Subarus.
Ready? Here goes!
