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Nike ACG Adventure Portland, Oregon

END. heads into the Oregon wilderness with Nike ACG to see whether all conditions truly means all conditions.

Home to Nike's global headquarters, Oregon is a state brimming with beaches, gorges, wild rivers, forested peaks and snow-capped mountains: the perfect location to test the latest Nike ACG collection.

Arriving into Portland, we can't help but notice the vibrant hues of the trees against the grey backdrop of the looming clouds. Known for its diverse climate, the Pacific Northwest can famously shift between all four seasons in a single day - a local quip we quickly discovered to be true. After checking into our hotel, we head for the nearest coffee shop for a caffeine fix. The towering skyscrapers around us make it easy to forget that in just 20 minutes, you could find yourself climbing a mountain or marauding deep in a forest.

Coffee finished, our Nike ACG adventure begins as we're transported to our first location out in Corbett: a small community on the Oregon-Washington border divided by the Columbia River. The perfect place to get started.

Corbett is well known for its looming ancient trees and its famous waterfalls, the most famous being Latourell Falls. The sheer noise is a spectacle in itself. This is the perfect location to introduce us to the first piece in the new ACG collection: the React Terra Globe.

A shoe made for the outdoors, the React Terra Globe is incredibly lightweight, hyper-durable and water-resistant. Arriving in the same bold colour palette which has characterised the ACG collections for the last few seasons, with the React Terra Globe on foot we feel confident that we can handle whatever the next 48 hours has to throw at us.

After exploring Latourell Falls, it's time to move onto our next location at Cascade Locks. Situated 20 miles north along the Columbia River, Cascade Locks' is another location whose rugged beauty and unbidden wilderness leaves most of us breathless. The mountains of the River Gorge rise above us and the distant rumble of waterfalls echo in the distance: comforting and daunting at the same time. We hop into a kayak for some fishing and later grill some freshly caught salmon. This is the real Pacific Northwest. This is the great outdoors.

As we recover from the activities, we preview the next drop of apparel in the ACG story. Bold, technical pieces designed for these unpredictable environments, the collection is functional at its core, but with the necessary design clout to work in a far more casual setting. Featuring a plethora of expandable pockets and zip and snap closures, the apparel arrives in bold block colours of oranges and pinks.

After another quick coffee, it's time to head to another location. This time, Mount Hood. Mt Hood is about an hour's drive south of the Columbia River and stands at a colossal 11,249 ft. Situated in Hood River County, the mountain is considered a dormant volcano with no registered activity since the early 1900s. As we draw closer, the weather begins to change and snowfall which starts as a light drizzle quickly starts falling in a thick blizzard. Shortly before reaching Timberline Hut, our guides tell us the van can go no further in the snow. All kitted out in new season ACG, this was the ultimate test of the line's ‘all conditions means all conditions’ mantra. Turning our back to the bitter wind to protect our faces, we complete our journey on foot: slowly traipsing towards the glowing lights of the lodge.

After spending the evening protected from the elements in the lodge - most famous as the setting for Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining', we make our way to our final location: the Old Salmon River Trail. Back west towards Portland city, we followed the curves of the trail alongside the rushing rapids of the river, the noise deafening. Towering above us old cedars and Douglas firs, the scale of which is astonishing. This truly is a collection designed for all conditions. A collection that has a story, but also allows you to create your own.

The latest drop from Nike ACG is coming soon to END.

writerEuan Smart
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