Backpacking is a natural extension of day hiking as you trek further into the wilderness. The major downside is having to carry all that gear. I’ve been backpacking for nearly 20 years and have come up with lots of ways to reduce your backpack weight. I’m definitely not an ultralight hiker (more on what that …
Advice
Have you seen the price of prepackaged backpacking meals lately? I can’t believe how expensive they have gotten. It is so much cheaper to make your own grocery store backpacking meals. It takes a little bit much planning to put together your own hiking dinners, but I think it’s worth it. You save money, you …
Every few summers, I get stung by bees or wasps while hiking. Usually, it’s because I stumble across an underground nest I didn’t know was there. Stinging insects are a fact of life while hiking. But there are some ways to avoid them. After hearing reports of tons of wasp nests on my local trails …
If you’re human, you sweat when hiking. And that makes your hiking clothing smell bad. But you don’t have to throw away your stinky clothes. I’ve got a complete guide to getting the smell out of hiking clothes. The advice in this guide covers hiking clothing like base layers (long underwear) shirts, pants, fleece jackets, …
In the last few years snowshoeing has gotten really popular. And honestly, it’s about time. Basically, snowshoes let you keep hiking all winter long. And unlike skiing, there’s not much to learn. If you can walk, you can snowshoe. To get started snowshoeing, you need some winter hiking clothes, some snowshoeing boots and of course, …
The longest night of my life was on a cold camping trip. I didn’t sleep at all! Since then I’ve refined my approach on hundreds of camping trips and figured out how to stay warm in a tent in all kinds of weather. This post has over 40 tips for staying warm while camping. I’m …
Many people think backpacking season ends on Labor Day weekend. Well, they’re wrong! September and October can be great times to go backpacking, as long as you are prepared. Here are my top fall backpacking tips to make sure you have fun and stay warm. Research a Destination… and a Backup Plan (or Two) The first step of …
Finding a weather forecast for hiking can be tough because most weather apps just have forecasts for cities and towns. Since it’s so important to know the weather when you hike, I’ve put together a complete guide to the best weather apps for hiking. This guide includes: The five best weather apps for hiking A …
Like many outdoor sports, there are a lot of confusing hiking terms to learn. I spend a lot of time writing about hiking and teaching hiking skills and it can be easy to forget that not everyone knows all the hiking slang, jargon, and terminology. To help everyone out, I put together a comprehensive glossary …
I’m not a parent, but thanks to some good friends with children, I’ve spent quite a bit of time backpacking with kids. I wanted to write a post about how to start backpacking as a family, but I realized that I knew someone much more qualified for the job: Elliott, a 12-year-old backpacker. I’ve been …