I have eaten a LOT of pre-packaged backpacking meals in my days (and nights) on the trail. Unfortunately most of them are full of ingredients I can’t pronounce and don’t recognize. I have also tried my hand at dehydrating my own backpacking food at home, but that can be time consuming. (And despite my best …
Advice
A few weeks ago, I drove to Port McNeill on Vancouver Island to take a wilderness survival course. It was a 2 day introductory course aimed at beginners. I’m not a prepper, a hunter or a back-to-the-land type, so why did I take a wilderness survival course? Read on to find out. If you know …
If you’ve been shopping for hiking or backpacking gear recently, you may have noticed some women’s specific gear. I’m not talking about clothing or shoes (obviously we need those)… I’m talking about backpacks, sleeping bags and more. Often this stuff seems to follow the same tired formula: “Shrink it and pink it”. Brands make the …
As is tradition around this corner of the internet, here are my favourite memories of 2016. (How many years do you have to do something to make it a tradition? I did this in 2014 and 2015, so I think it’s fair to call it a tradition now.) This year when I sat down to …
Recently I wrote a post called “You Killed A Bear” that ended up getting way more online attention than I had anticipated. My message in that post was that less experienced hikers should read up about bear safety before they head out for a hike or go backcountry camping. Lots of people asked questions about …
A Quick Note: This article was originally published in August 2016. The aim of this post was to shock people in order to raise awareness. I know it’s an uncomfortable post to read and that many hikers and campers might feel a bit confronted since they don’t engage in the kind of behaviour discussed here. …
This post is part of a series here on Happiest Outdoors called “More Than Outdoors” where I chat with outdoorsy people who take their connection with the backcountry a little further, who do a little bit more outdoors. Jessa Gilbert is a Vancouver-based splitboarder, painter and all-around super rad person. She is originally from upstate …
The highlights of my year aren’t what happened at work or who won the sports championship; the highlights of my year are the time I’ve spent outside. Like last year, I hiked about 700 kilometres in 2015, took countless photos and spent a lot of time sleeping outside (34 nights in a tent!). And like …
So you want to go winter camping… but you’re not sure how to stay warm, what gear you’ll need or how to pitch camp in the snow. No worries: I’ve got you covered in this guide to winter camping for beginners. Winter camping can be pretty daunting but it can be lots of fun. If …
If you follow me on Instagram you’ll know that I just got back from an amazing road trip to Northern BC, the Yukon, Alaska and the Rocky Mountains. We drove 8,000+ kilometers in 25 days! (That’s over 5000 miles if you speak American!) I’ve also road-tripped around Iceland, driven across Canada twice, done a road …