Gear Used Well with Stephen Hui
Gear Used Well is a series of articles that explore people's experiences in the outdoors through their most-loved gear. We believe in celebrating gear longevity, because the most sustainable way to equip for the wild is making the most of what you already own.
If you still say “duct tape fixes everything,” there’s a good chance you’ll get along with Outmost. We’re standing atop a rocky lookout at Mount Seymour Provincial Park when Stephen Hui, author of 105 Hikes and Destination Hikes, begins detailing some of his beloved gear.
While you might expect to find the bestselling author of outdoor guidebooks sporting the latest technology, Stephen is refreshingly frank in his approach to gear. Patch it up if it’s broken and use it until you can’t anymore. He’s wearing a blue backpack and a green pair of quick-dry pants, both time-stamped with the old Mountain Equipment Co-op logo. Stephen has been hiking for about 20 years now, and he bought these pieces when he first began investing in his own gear. There’s a streak of glue reinforcing the seams on his gore-tex hiking boots and a small bead has dried in a perfectly animated drop. He laughs, “it’s not meant to look good—you’re going hiking!” Gear longevity isn’t a flashy term Stephen throws around, and the more time we spend together, it appears this mentality is simply part of his character. Whether it’s gear or writing goals, he likes to see things through to the very end.
Stephen was in highschool when he first dreamt of writing hiking guidebooks. He was born in Coquitlam to parents who weren’t big into the outdoors, but he grew up pouring through the pages of classic paperbacks like 103 Hikes in Southwestern British Columbia by Jack Bryceland, and David and Mary Macaree. Stephen studied geography in university and later landed a career in journalism, where he often wrote about local hikes and environmental policy. While this allowed him to explore his passion for the outdoors, the pace of click-bait reporting took a toll. He was writing 5-10 articles a day and it became impossible to stop working—to stop chasing the next story.
In 2015, Stephen hiked the 180-kilometre Sunshine Coast Trail, and it ended up changing the course of his life. The quiet of the backcountry offered space and clarity. When he got back from his trip, Stephen split ways with his partner, left his career in journalism and signed the deal for his first book.
“‘Hiking Expert’ is probably the last title my Chinese parents wanted to see next to my name,” Stephen chuckles. His apartment walls are plastered with local maps and the shelves are filled with hundreds of guidebooks. Behind Stephen’s desk are stacks of his best selling title, 105 Hikes, alongside his shiny new release, Destination Hikes. Stephen is sitting on the couch speaking of how wild it is to have fulfilled his highschool dream of writing guidebooks to the predecessors he was reading in his youth. All the while, he’s wearing the same green pair of quick-dry MEC pants he wore during that life-changing hike on the Sunshine Coast.
Find yourself a few quality pieces, and then hang on for the ride.
