You can buy EarthBae Heat at Highland Hikers in Highlands, North Carolina.

It is stocked at both Highland Hiker two storefronts a short walk on Main Street. Walk in, put one on, press the button once, and feel what active thermal regulation actually does.

Reading about a garment that holds an even temperature is one thing.

Wearing it is the moment you know this was made for you.

One vest, one Highlands day

Eight in the morning at Dry Falls. You go early because the lot fills by ten. A short flight of stairs takes you down behind sixty-five feet of falling water, and the air back there is wet and a lot colder than the lot you parked in. Turn the vest on before you start down. By the time you are standing behind the falls, you are warm enough to stay and be present.

Noon on Main Street. The town has climbed into the low sixties and the light is coming through the color on every side street. Turn it off. It is a vest now, and it stays on. You spend three hours between the galleries, The Bascom, and the shops without carrying a bulky jacket over your arm.

Four o'clock at Sunset Rock. Half a mile up from the Nature Center on Horse Cove Road puts you on granite slabs above the whole town. Whiteside Mountain is the bigger version, a loop along the cliff edge at 4,930 feet where the wind ignores whatever the thermometer said downtown. Turn your EarthBae Heat heated vest back on at the top. Your arms were free the entire climb, which makes the walk fun and pleasant.

Seven at dinner. The good tables in Highlands are outside. Wild Thyme on Main, the patio at The Ugly Dog, Four65. October drops about fifteen degrees in the forty minutes between last light and your entrée, and that is where most visitors give up and head back to the room. Turn it on and order another course.

One layer, worn from the falls to dessert, across a twenty-two degree swing, with nothing to carry.

Find EarthBae on Main Street

Highland Hiker, the Cabin Store — 601 Main Street, Highlands · (828) 526-5298

Highland Hiker Shoes — 547 Main Street, Highlands · (828) 526-2511

Highland Hiker has been outfitting since 1982, with four locations across Western Carolina. 

If you want the detail before you walk in, heated vest versus winter coat covers where each one wins, and the sizing guide covers the cut.

Related Reading

 

Sources

Highlands elevation, 4,118 ft — Highlands Chamber of Commerce. October averages, 63° high and 41° low — US Climate Data, Highlands NC. Fall color timing at the 4,000-foot band — Visit Smokies 2026 NC foliage forecast. Dry Falls height and access, Sunset Rock trail from Horse Cove Road, Whiteside Mountain elevation and loop — Nantahala National Forest and regional trail guides. Highland Hiker founded 1982 — highlandhiker.com. All retrieved September 7, 2026.

Published September 8, 2026