Sturdy arm rests and sits a little higher from the ground, making it a great choice for taller people. The average city in the U.S. scores in the mid-20s, while the most bike-friendly places rate in the 70s to low 90s. In the early 1900s, a Christian minister wandered into the Ozark hills, looking for better health, and found a community that would change his future. Wright camped on the very homestead you can visit today and wrote The Shepherd of the Hills based on the people he grew to love, and set in the hills that soothed his soul with their fresh, natural beauty. In addition, the tray has a handy cup holder, which virtually eliminates the risk of spilling your drink. The one thing this chair doesn’t have, however, is storage.
Trailheads for popular singletrack begin right on the edge of neighborhood streets, and Jackson Hole Mountain Resort’s extensive lift-served routes are 15 minutes from the town center. Biking is woven into the fabric of the community, through the extensive infrastructure and events like bike swaps, youth programs, and local race series. In June, a landslide closed a 10-mile stretch of the Teton Pass mountain road for three weeks, impeding the commute between Jackson and less expensive communities in Idaho.
After a couple of camping trips, we concluded that a strap is more convenient than a bag—it’s quicker and easier for a kid to grab the chair and go, without parental help. It has the most comfortable and supportive seat shape of any chair we tested. The Dual Lock chair has a firmer backrest and seat bottom than the competition.
This time-tested classic is reasonably priced, roomy, and dependable enough to last for years. It’s not our lightest, most comfortable, or toughest pick, but it’s close enough, and it’s reasonably priced. Provincetown has a Bicycle Committee that plans projects and prints an annual map of bike routes. The year-round population is just over 3,000, and yet Provincetown has five bike shops.
Wirecutter is the product recommendation service from The New York Times. Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing so you can make quick and confident buying decisions. Whether it’s finding great products or discovering helpful advice, we’ll help you get it right (the first time). There are also chairs that are hybrids between categories, such as the Nemo Stargaze Reclining Camp Chair, which comes highly rated and recommended. The box-shaped cupholder is a little roomier than the round cupholders on the Coleman and the L.L.Bean Base Camp chairs—better for stubby water bottles or mugs of hot chocolate around the campfire. The Renetto Original Canopy Chair is the best chair with a built-in canopy.
It’s heavier than its competitors and not as easy to fold, but it has a carrying strap attached to the frame (something its competitors didn’t have). This chair’s weight capacity is 250 pounds—less than that of the ALPS Mountaineering Rendezvous low chair. The 4-pound, steel-framed REI chair has an attached carry strap, rather than a carry bag (which the other chairs have).
If you want something in camo, though, this isn’t your chair. Your only color options are red or blue, both with black trim. Owing to its extra-wide seat, the first thing you’ll notice about this oversized director’s chair is that it looks rugged and robust.
The Roaring Fork Valley has more than 300 miles of trails, from lift-served descents at Snowmass Mountain Resort to hut-to-hut bikepacking through some of the 10th Mountain Division’s cabin system. And then you have the road routes, like the bucket-list-worthy 16-mile roundtrip from downtown to Maroon Bells, where the twin 14,000-foot Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak rise above the placid Maroon Lake. While I used as many data points as I could find, this list also contains some subjectivity based on my own experience. For example, Park City, Utah, is in here even though it receives a middling score from People for Bikes. I also included towns that go above and beyond for commuters, others that have vibrant social cycling scenes (like group rides and events), and others with epic road routes.
Many testers found other chairs more comfortable and easier to put together than the Nemo Moonlite Reclining Camp Chair. This is also the most expensive lightweight chair we tested, and we think the Chair One is a better value. The canopy is big enough to block most, if not all, sunlight any time of day, and the chair’s seat has a strip of breathable mesh down the middle for airflow. Senior staff writer Lauren Dragan said the Renetto is her most comfortable camping chair. “These are fantastic chairs. Padded seat is super comfortable,” raved one shopper. “They fold up flat and are easy to carry. Much nicer than sling chairs, and easier to get in and out. They are perfect for watching high school sports and camping.”
Renetto licenses its patent to a company called Kelsyus, which makes cheaper versions of the chair. Compared with cheaper chairs of its kind (like those from Walmart), the REI Co-op chair functions better and will last much longer. The Chair One has a 600-denier polyester and ozark trail chair mesh seat and aluminum legs, which are linked with shock cord (like what you’d find inside high-end tent poles).