Otter 841, the Fattest Bear, and Other Last-Minute Halloween Costumes
Coming up empty-handed this Halloween? We got you.(Photo: Getty/Sergeeeva)
Halloween is fast approaching and you still don’t know what to dress up as? Have no fear. We came up with a handful of low-lift costumes that are inspired by the stories that have made waves in outdoor media this year.
Skeleton Waiting for Affordable Mountain-Town Housing
We came across a waitlist application for an affordable housing development in Aspen, Colorado this week. The wait time to access housing at a reasonable cost in one of our favorite ski towns?294 years.A skeleton,patiently waitingfor its turn to nab an affordable unit, would be a perfect Halloween costume as you lobby your local town council to do something, anything, to solve the housing crisis. Worst case scenario, you’ll get confused for aPhoebe Bridgers fan. —Jake Stern, digital editor,Outside
A Burning Man Mud Zombie
If you’ve got extra festival wear lying around and don’t mind getting messy, you can whip up an easy 2023Burning Man-attendee costume. Pull together your strappiest, most eclectic Black Rock City-inspired outfit, tie plastic bags around your shoes, and dab amud maskin strategic places. Optional accessory:CVS bag full of poop. —Maren Larsen, senior podcast producer
A False and Actual Summit
This year, the grandfather of high-altitude climbing Reinhold Messner had his world record for being the first toclimb the 8,000-meter peaks revoked by The Guinness Book of World Records. A German researcher examined Messner’s photographs from 26,545-foot Annapurna and determined that he hadn’t hit the highest point, instead climbing to what was considered the high point at the time. This is a good one for couples with a big height difference. All you have to do is wear white (and maybe some grays and blacks). Bonus points if you paint mountains on cardboard boxes and wear them around like sandwich boards.—Abigail Barronian, senior editor,Outside
The Scariest Thing We Can Imagine
Dress up as a mega-ski passafterthe early-bird special. Wear royal blue and yellow for Ikon, or navy and burnt orange for Epic, and layer lanyards and past season passes around your neck. This is a good partner costume for exes, frenemies, and other duos who sort of hate each other. Don’t forget to add one of thosebig faux-gold dollar sign chainsto signify how much you’re worth.
Scarier still: dress as a single-day,$300-dollar lift ticket.(I have goosebumps just thinking about it). Get creative: maybe you wear amoney suitandsome ski goggles. Or just wear your ski clothes with all the pockets turned inside out. Carry around a mirror so you can look yourself in the eye, and ask…why? —Jamie Aranoff, digital editor,SKI
Otter 841
Our favorite kleptomaniac is still on the loose. To pay tribute to this“ungovernable”sea otter—who sowed chaos in Santa Cruz last summer by stealing surfboards and upending kayaks—wear all brown,a headband with bear ears(close enough), and afaux fur tail. Draw on a black nose and long white whiskers. Carry around a surfboard—bonus points if it has a chunk bitten out of it. You could also do a “revenge of nature” group costume with a fewyacht-sinking orcasandgolf course-massacring javelinas. Better yet, dress your little one up as Otter 841’snewborn pup, who was spotted by Santa Cruz photographer Mark Woodward earlier this week. —Isabella Rosario, associate editor,Outside
A Cairn, and a National Parks Service–Approved Cairn Kicker
In July, Yosemite National Parkprovoked a kerfufflewhen it posted a video of trail workers knocking down unauthorized cairns built by visitors. While commenters praised their actions, other parks like Canyonlands quickly jumped in to ask visitors to leave cairns—which can be valuable navigational tools on hardpacked, unsigned trails—alone. Which side ofthe cairn debatedo you land on? Let the world know with this partner costume. Dress yourself up as a big ol’ stack of paper-maché rocks. Then, have your friend or significant other put on a National Park Service uniform and periodically push you down (or spare you for the night). —Adam Roy, executive editor,Backpacker
The Canadian Wildfire Season
This year, Canada saw a whopping 45.7 million acres catch fire, which is roughly nine times their average. Smoke from the blazes blanketed places as far away as New York City in a Blade Runner-esque orange-brown haze. To put that enormous number into perspective, theWashington Postsays that’s roughly equivalent to the total acreage burned from 2015 to 2022 combined. Pay an irreverent tribute to a difficult season as it winds down. You’ll need a cheap Christmas tree costume and a vape or a pack of cigarettes: Simply remove the tinsel, star and other decorations from the costume until your tree isau naturel, stride into the party, and chain-smoke all night. (Kidding!) —A.R.
A Pit Toilet and a Shit-Covered Hiker
Go for both funny and scary this Halloween and dress asthe hiker who followed her cell phone into a pit toilet. (An incident that has happenedat least twicein the last two years.) If you have a partner, one of you can dress as the pit toilet, and the other can be the hiker. All the toilet will need is a large cardboard box with a cut-out for their face (can be dressed up with paint or markers to your liking) and their partner’s phone to carry around all night. The hiker can wear normal outdoorsy clothes smeared with mud or brown fabric paint. You and your partner will be the shit—pun intended. —Kelly Klein, Associate Gear Editor
The Fattest Bear
This year, consider fishing for treats as the Queen of theKatmai National Park Fat Bears:128 Grazer. All you’ll need is a pair of rounded bear ears (preferably blonde), a salmon cutout or plushie, and a regal paper crown. Make it a couple’s costume by having your hibernation mate dress as the salmon, and add cubs if you’ve got them—Grazer is known for being a particularly ferocious mama. —M.L.
A Yellowstone Touron and a Bison
At Yellowstone National Park,clueless visitors getting too close to wildlifeis now as classic a sight as Old Faithful. To dress up as a tourist, gather a handful of slightly dweeby but totally classic outdoor gear items: a broad-brimmed hat, cargo pants (extra points if they zip off into shorts), and a UV-resistant button down shirt. Your partner just needs little horns and a brown fleece top and viola, they’re a beleaguered bison. Throughout the night, the tourist should be encroaching on their wildlife companion’s personal bubble, taking as many pictures as they can. When the bison’s fed up, they can tackle the touron. For inspiration, we recommendthis Instagram account. —Miyo McGinn, assistant editor,Outside
A Thru-Hiking Family
If you’re looking for an easy group costume that can accommodate any number of people, we’d suggest going as a “trail family,” the thru-hiking term for the small band of fellow wayfarers thatform while travelingthe long trail together. For that genuineeau de backpacker, abstain from showering from now until Halloween. Otherwise, just arrive at the function with your crew wearing your silliest, grimiest clothes, address each otherexclusively by nicknames, and eat candy like you’re about to hike a couple thousand miles.—M.M.
Two Dead Birds
Hear us out: one person dresses in head-to-toe Arc’teryx, our favorite dead bird (whose price point may strike fear in your heart). The other person dresses as the formerly-known-as-Twitter bird that once kept us informed and entertained. Now known as X, the website is devolving into a Tartarus ofextremismandmisinformation—very spooky. Bid the platform adieu with a cute couples costume for outdoorsy folks—or make it a troika and have another friend dress as a stone. —J.S.