Outdoor Life

Many people think Merino wool is reserved for the cold places of the word: where the sleet falls and the frigid cliffs loom over ice climbers, where the blizzards bring hail and numb the toes of fishermen on frozen lakes, where biting winter winds nip at the noses and ears of backcountry skiers and chill bone to the core. But merino wool, though very good for all of those things, is also one of the most versatile fabrics out there. I’m here to tell you another place you might have overlooked to sport your new merino clothing: the boat.

For my birthday this year, I rented a Subaru and trekked up to Big Bear, California for a free day of skiing and two nights camping in the back of my car. Leaving Los Angeles around 9:00 AM, all of the East-traveling traffic had dissipated and I had an easy shot to the mountains and arrived there in about two hours. The road coming up 330 to 18 is one of my favorites in all of California. They call it the Rim of the World Highway because you run along the edges of ascendant mountains and through wild canyons that have expansive views of the Inland Empire and the Los Angeles Basin below.

It is December in Los Angeles and that means that the weather is almost impossible to prepare for. You’ll wake up to a chilled morning and dress in a full winter coat, only to be baked in the hot sun...