For a while it seemed as though anyone with an adventurous streak was doomed to an eternity of wrist-top robots–watches that looked more like PDAs than the sleek timepieces so coveted in the corporate world. But thankfully that trend has started to reverse.

The outdoor industry has descended on this lovely little desert town for the gearfest/trade show known as Outdoor Retailer Summer Market and that means it’s impossible to get a table at the Red Iguana, one of the best Mexican restaurants north of the Rio Grande. The show hasn’t even started yet and so I thought I could sneak in a lunchtime plate of mole negro at the lizard, but no–25 people were waiting outside in the Utah sun for a table. That’s the bad news, I guess. The good news is that with 17,000 attendees and more than a thousand exhibitors, there’s more Gore-Tex, Vibram, and Cordura here than you could wear in a lifetime–it’s a gear geek’s dream.