WHO WE RIDE/PADDLE/HIKE WITH: ANNIE LE
Backpacking

WHO WE RIDE/PADDLE/HIKE WITH: ANNIE LE

Words and Video from Kat Englishman

Photo: Chris Bennett

Dealing with knee pain while hiking is frustrating to say the least. In fact, knee pain, or any persistent pain on the trail can really suck, and it’s easy to let your mind get sucked into a downward spiral of anger and negativity at the situation—but don’t. Pain is our body’s most effective way of alerting us to something that’s gone wrong; grabbing our attention and blowing the whistle to say, “Hey! Down here!” to avoid doing further damage. So, in a roundabout way, when we reframe it, pain can actually become our friend, and with practice, we can eventually hone our awareness to learn more about it, our unique relationship to pain, and strategies to manage it in the moment.

The next time you experience a painful sensation try this: pause, take a few deep, slow breaths, and investigate the feeling. Notice what you find. Ask yourself, what type of pain is this? Does it burn, pinch, ache, etc.? Take it a step further and notice your reaction to the pain. Do you feel upset, distressed, Then, do your best not to create more tension and breathe into it. While it’s so normal to react to pain with an intensity that matches what you're feeling, I’d argue that doing the opposite—downregulating—is even more helpful. What’s more is that when we learn how to respond to that pain with less anger and frustration, or fear of pain itself, we’re able to gain a little more control. Recent studies on our relationship to pain show our perception of it matters way more than we realize, and if we can stay calm and curious rather than freaking out and avoiding doing things all together, we can make sense of the pain and regain some more control.

That said, there will be times when you’re dealing with knee pain on the trail and the best you can do is to manage it. If your knees tend to flare up while you’re hiking, there’s some helpful info in this video, along with poses to help alleviate knee pain in the moment that I hope changes the game for you! If you are simply interested in keeping your knees healthy or relieving some joint tension when you’re logging miles, this sequence of poses will do just that—and you don’t even need a yoga mat!

 

Katherine Englishman is a writer and yoga teacher based in the beautiful state of Maine. You can find her outside skiing, hiking, biking, or teaching yoga and meditation for the modern yoga student at Waypoints Yoga

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Words and Photos from Annie Le

WHO ARE YOU?

Annie Le

WHAT DO YOU DO?

I'm a general outdoor freelancer; I do a mix of outdoor education, taking people hiking and camping in the mountains, as well as adventure tourism, gorge scrambling, rafting, and so on. My specialist skills would be cycling and bikepacking, and I'm most excited about the work I do guiding folk on how to do both. I also try and do writing and photos and am always very excited when someone pays me to do them!

a woman holding an animal skull with tall antlers

WHAT DO YOU DO OUTSIDE, AND FOR HOW LONG AND WHERE?

I bike, run, swim, hike, packraft, and camp. Mountain bike bikepacking is probably my favourite thing to do; the places you can go, the ground you can cover, and the immersive joy of riding technical trails and flowing down a hillside is hard to beat! I'm mostly found in the Scottish Highlands, where I currently live. I love travel and exploring new climates and cultures, but there's a balance to find between loving travel and loving the environment and trying to reduce my impact. So mostly, I ride from the door, but occasionally take a flight somewhere a whole lot bigger than Scotland.

sunset at a seaside camp with a pitched Hyperlite tent

WHAT IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH US AND OUR GEAR?

A friend started a wee backcountry shop, and he needed a few folk to chip in on an order to get some HMG gear so he could stock it. I bought a porter pack, which genuinely changed my relationship with rucksacks and hiking. I've since been asked to test a few other things and feel very humbled to be able to do that. Hyperlite gear is what I associate my best trips with.

a bikepacker encounters two wooly bison in the wild

WHAT THREE ITEMS FROM US ARE YOU MOST OFTEN USING AND WHY?

My Porter pack comes on every mountain trip and often big bike adventures where more space is needed. I find it so comfortable. I can load it up with overnight gear and a week of food and be completely self-contained and comfortable to carry over mountains.

a woman looking out from her Hyperlite tent at dusk

The 'Mid 2 is probably my fav bit of gear, though, and not because it's incredibly photogenic! It's a tent that has been home to me through some of the wildest, most challenging trips of my life and has always meant there's somewhere safe to lie down at the end of a long day.

a woman in a Hyperlite tent in the snow-covered mountains

More recently, I was asked to test a Mid 1 prototype, and although it's not exactly the same as the final version, it's become my go-to solo tent for any adventure. It's so spacious and packs so light that I can always fit in some extra snacks.

ANY PARTING WORDS?

It can be intimidating to look at the adventures that other folk do and to think you always have to be in the most rugged places or travel abroad or be out for a long time. So many of my nicest nights out are ones that I've done in my local hills, some even squeezed into an evening after work. It's all amazing–all of it brings joy, and for me, it betters my mental health. So, I'd say go out when you can, even if it's a few hours to watch a sunset or sunrise.

view of a seaside camp from the water


You can follow more of Annie's awesome adventures on her Instagram page.

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