A recent trip to visit a friend in Nelson, B.C. was the perfect way to say goodbye to summer. Spending Labour Day weekend there offered the ideal blend of summer activities (i.e. beach time at Kootenay Lake), and hiking, which is one of my favourite fall passtimes.
My friend Merri and I set off for a hike up to Pulpit Rock, on the North Shore of Kootenay Lake at 5 p.m. on the evening I arrived in Nelson.
After a steep initial incline my heart was pounding in my chest. This is one of the reasons I was walking rather slowly, trailing far behind my friend (who, like many Nelson locals, does the hike at least three times a week). The other reason for my slowness was the beauty of the trail. Elegant white Aspens towered above us as crisp yellow and orange bushes, dry from many months without rain, decorated the forest floor.
As we ascended the switchbacks, we could see the town of Nelson below, the mountains around it dotted with golden-hued trees, like a Monet painting. By the time we arrived at the Pulpit Rock viewpoint, it was almost dusk, and the sweat on my back was beginning to cool.
This was my moment to pull my Save The Duck synthetic down jacket out of my backpack.
Very light and compact, I had rolled it, sleeping-bag style, into its small dedicated bag and tucked it into my carry-on suitcase while I was packing for my trip to Nelson. Since the weather is so changeable in the Kootenays at this time of year, I had to fit a lot of different outfits in my suitcase so I was thankful that this jacket took up only about 10 by 5 inches of space.
Feeling the chill in the evening end-of-summer air, I pulled the jacket swiftly out of the drawstring bag, unzipped the continuous double slider zipper and donned it on top of my tank top and sports bra. Right away, the 100 per cent Nylon jacket made me feel warmer and with its deep emerald exterior and bright blue lining, my friend complimented me on how great it looked with my skin tone—and with my black Lululemon pants.
The best part about this jacket, though, is that it is made without harming animals. There is a problem right now with down jackets out there using feathers that are sourced from geese in inhumane ways and one of the best ways to "Save the Duck" is to support brands that say "no" to animal cruelty. In all of its down jackets, the Milan-based brand Save the Duck uses its patented synthetic Plumtech feathers instead of real down.
Save The Duck creates an array of jacket styles, both casual and dressy, using Plumtech technology. The Save The Duck Hooded Giga jacket I own kept me very warm (but not too warm—it is very breathable). So warm and cosy, in fact, that I ended up wearing this jacket every evening for the three nights I was in Nelson—even when I was indoors which my friend thought was funny. Truly, the jacket became sort of a comforting security blanket for me! And I'm so excited about the fact that it's water- and wind-resistant and that it dries quickly, which is a MUST for Vancouverites. For those extra-cold days it can be paired with another layer.
I'm really looking forward to wearing this jacket on many more hikes in Vancouver this fall and winter.
Tell me, do you own a down jacket? Which brand is it?
This post was originally published in The Editor's Diary
