Backpacking

American Land: Sold to the Highest Bidder

“Our public lands- whether a national park or monument, wildlife refuge, forest or prairie- make each one of us land-rich. It is our inheritance as citizens of a country called America.” – Terry Tempest Williams. Whether it is the Izembek Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, Monomoy Refuge in Massachusetts, Bears Ears…

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The Ultimate Backpack / Angler’s Arsenal

Fishing may be your reason for hiking into the high country or it may be just an added bonus. If trout are in your crosshairs, chances are you have a packable rod, reel and a few favorite essential flies or lures that always accompany you while backpacking. But, if catching…

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Hiking the Beaten Path Trail of the Beartooth Mountains

The Beaten Path is a trail in south Montana connecting the Wilderness around the town of Cooke City with the East Rosebud, a drainage on the eastern slope of the Beartooth Mountains. The Beartooths are some of the most biologically diverse mountains on earth and the Beaten Path crosses over…

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Hiking Yellowstone and the Backcountry Permit Process

In recent years, Yellowstone National Park has broken annual attendance records and 2016 was no exception with the park receiving 4.2 million visitors. Most of them only experience the grandeur of our nation’s oldest national park through a windshield.  A few visitors take to some of the 900 miles of…

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Backpacking First Aid Kit – What To Look For in a Good Kit

A good, serviceable backpacking first aid kit and the basic knowledge of how to use it are essential gear and preparation for any outdoor activity. Minor cuts and scrapes, blisters, sore muscles, chafing from poorly fitting clothing, these are all common occurrences on any camping tips or even a day…

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Hammocks for Camping: An Inexpensive Alternative to Tents

Hammocks for camping provide a lightweight, inexpensive alternative to tents. The nice thing about hammocks is, if there are places to tie off, the ground does not have to be level. Rocks and tree roots do not present obstacles. You can string up a hammock between trees or rocks. A…

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Should You Be Wearing Gaiters for Winter Outdoor Activity

There are some outdoor gear testers outfitters with a large following on YouTube who can be heard saying, “If you have the right hiking pants and the right hiking footgear, you really don’t need gaiters.” The comeback answer to those gaiter-doubters is that more than likely they have not been…

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Alternatives to Mountain House Freeze Dried Backpacking Food

When the discussion topic among outdoors people is backpacking freeze dried food, the 800-pound gorilla in the room is always Mountain House Foods. The company that sells 10 million food packages a year to outdoors people, preppers, and survivalists traces its roots back to the Vietnam War. Its parent company,…

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Backpacking Breakfast Meals – Freeze Dried Breakfast

A backpacking breakfast is an important part of your trip and tends to be my favorite meal of the day.  With a little creative thinking you can come up with great ideas to avoid a bland, boring breakfast. Potato Patties Instant mashed potatoes come in all sorts of flavors, from…

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Layering Basics For Winter Hiking

“Layering” is a strategy for dressing for all types of outdoor activity in all seasons of the year. The idea is to stay comfortable by keeping your body as close to a constant temperature as possible. If you understand layering basics for winter hiking, you’ll be able to apply the…

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Three Ways to Start a Fire Without a Lighter or a Match

If there’s one thing that’s essential to the atmosphere of camping, it’s a good, sustainable campfire. It keeps you warm, wards off nasty bugs, and cooks your food. If you want to kindle the flames but don’t have a fire-starting kit, don’t fret. Even if you don’t have the conventional…

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Mountain Scrambling Guide

Maybe you’ve been on hiking trip and glanced up at a scree slope that leads to a mountain top and thought: “I’d like to climb up there! It looks pretty accessible.” If you’ve never scrambled a peak or do so infrequently, below are some suggestions for your next day out….

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Luci Lantern Review – Solar LED Lantern Tested

Remember the days when providing enough light at night in the undeveloped outdoors meant using a fuel-based, mantle camping lantern? Sure, they provide enough light as if having a mini-sun the size of a ping-pong ball, but the downside can outweighs the benefits: expensive fuel, delicate mantles disintegrate easily, not…

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What’s the Best Backpacking Backpack?

Aside from your boots, you probably won’t find a more important factor of your hiking experience than your backpack. Choosing the right pack can ensure that you grind out those miles as comfortably as possible while choosing the wrong pack can make your hike miserable. I’ve had the opportunity to…

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Best Trekking Poles for Backpacking

If you’re a strong hiker who is just going out for a day hike, you may or may not choose to head outside with one or a pair of trusty hiking poles. If you’re joints are on the fritz or your hike includes several days, hiking poles are almost a…

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Thru Hiking

In 2005 I found myself lacing my boots, shouldering my pack, and heading out to Smoky Mountain National Park to hike a sixty-mile segment of the famous Appalachian Trail. Nestled in the border between North Carolina and Tennessee, the Smokies provide a very scenic, but very small segment of this…

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How to Treat a Snakebite

A seven-mile day hike in Northern California found myself and a fellow hiker casually meandering along a trail that wove through a dense patch of woods. Since I was hiking in the rear, I was the one to shout when a thin figure lunged from a nearby pile of brown leaves…

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