I’ve done a fair amount of backpacking, but I had some trouble deciding what to pack for my trip on the Berg Lake Trail in early September. The trail is at a high elevation in the Canadian Rockies, so I knew the weather would potentially be colder and wilder than I am used to. As …
Many people don’t know this about me, but I collect guidebooks. I own several hundred of them! They date from the 1960s to present and are mostly focused on southern British Columbia. So of course I get excited when a new guidebook is released. I was especially excited when I heard about The Glorious Mountains …
Many women agree that women’s hiking gear and clothing kind of sucks. Most gear is designed for men and women’s gear is often an after thought. Some gear companies think they can make the same gear in pink, purple and teal and call it women’s gear. Nope! We need stuff that fits our bodies! Some …
Recently there’s been lots of buzz online about how women’s hiking clothing and gear is inadequate. It’s something I’ve written about before. This great article from Hannah Weinberger explains that historically there hasn’t been much gear designed to fit women’s bodies. In recent years the outdoor industry has tried to fix that, with varying degrees …
For decades most hikers in the Vancouver area have used 103 Hikes in Southwestern British Columbia to plan their trips. Some have even made a sport out of trying to complete every single hike in a particular edition. It’s been BC’s hiking bible since the first edition was published in 1973. Since then, it’s been …
Getting outfitted for hiking and backpacking can seem overwhelming. When I was first starting out, I felt like there was so much gear on the market and that it was SOOO expensive. Plus I felt like the list of gear you need to buy for hiking and backpacking was never ending. That was over a …
Summer is the best time to hike: the snow has melted, the flowers are blooming, and the skies are blue. But unfortunately, that also means it can often get ridiculously hot. I’m really heat-sensitive, but I always want to go hiking even if it’s way too warm out. After years of experience (and some not-so-awesome …
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 …
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 …
Did you know trail mix is over 100 years old? According to Wikipedia, hikers have been eating a mix of nuts and dried fruit on the trail since at least 1913! Like most hikers, I also pack trail mix when I go hiking. Until recently, I had been picking up boring trail mix and salted …