Granite Gear
Two Harbors, Minnesota
The Background
Over three decades ago, friends, Dan Cruikshank and Jeff Knight, ventured into the Boundary Waters and Quetico wilderness, much like friends have been doing for centuries. But this trip was different.
“It turned out to be a really epic trip,” said Cruikshank. “Sitting around the campfire one night, we were pondering what to do with our lives . . .” The ideas they shared didn’t just go up in smoke.
Dan and Jeff thought there might be a market for a portage pack with a modern suspension system and a hip belt instead of a tumpline. After learning that the canoe market was relatively small, fueled by their passion for backpacking, they developed the Rock Solid Compression Sack. “That was our launch into the backpacking market,” said Cruikshank.
Over the years, Granite Gear has developed all sorts of products in the outdoor industry. “It’s a wonderful place to be and have a business,” said Cruikshank.
Go where you gotta go.
Getting Wild in Two Harbors
When you think about Minnesota, you think about the lakes, right? Lakes that are great for fishing and paddling and wild rice. That’s right. Wild rice – this drug that grows naturally in Minnesota’s lakes and rivers.
Two Harbors’ Vanilla Bean Restaurant is where our wild rice addiction began. These guys have the best chicken wild rice soup (won Minnesota Monthly critics award for best soup).
This is a soup for people who don’t get excited about soup. This soup mops the floor with Panera’s chicken wild rice soup. This is the soup of a lifetime.
This soup summoned us to pick up a bag of locally harvested wild rice at the next gas station in hopes of recreating it at home.
The Ojibwe and Sioux had it figured out: Paddle a canoe – fun. Wild rice – delicious. Paddle a canoe to harvest wild rice – the purpose of life.
Two Harbors is also a great place to hike the Superior Hiking Trail.
Pride & Production
Granite Gear’s Two Harbors production facility is made up of two buildings, a small octagonal building in the woods and a larger building near the road. We were told bears visit the small patch of woods between the buildings.
Inside these buildings, we found pride. We saw it on the walls in photos of adventurers whose quests were powered by Granite Gear. We saw it in the faces of hard-working craftspeople sitting at sewing machines. We saw it in Dan, as he told us stories about the people in the photos and greeted the folks at the sewing machines.
The Gear
The folks at Granite Gear make well-made, intelligently-engineered gear for almost any backcountry adventure.
“We make going into the wilderness easier and safer for everyone,” said Cruikshank. “If we can make a pack that’s more comfortable so people can hike longer and further, or enjoy themselves more, that’s what it’s all about.”
The ultralight thru-hiking community has really embraced Granite Gear’s packs. After using the Crown 60 on several trips, we can see why.