A backpacking tarp shelter is sometimes overlooked as an essential piece of gear for backpackers. However, their usefulness is quite versatile, with uses such as a rain fly, a sun shade, or even a tarp tent. If you pack ultralight and prefer to sleep out in the open, a tarp…
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Beyond the absolute essentials like shelter, sleeping bag, and food, a good backpacking multi-tool may be the most useful piece of outdoor gear that will accompany you. What’s more, a multi-tool’s usefulness and practicality is not limited to the outdoors. They are a one-stop tool kit for the home, office…
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Have you ever considered a down camping quilt instead of a traditional sleeping bag for your backpacking and camping sleeping system? Maybe it’s about time you did. The basic idea in the quilt vs sleeping bag debate is that down efficiently uses trapped air to keep you warm. Down sleeping…
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A bivy sack (short for bivouac sack) is a shelter option for campers who want to enhance their outdoor experience by sleeping as directly as possible in the natural environment with no tent between them and the stars. Bivvies are more camper friendly in situations where the length of the…
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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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Not long ago it was common for a backpacker to carry a 65 liter pack loaded with 50, 60, even 70 pounds of gear. When Chris Lundy, the owner of Sawtooth Mountain Guides in Stanley, Idaho, jokes that what a lot of people think about as “suffering” in hiking and…
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Cuben fiber fabric, now called Dyneema Composite Fabrics, was originally used for sails on the winner of the 1992 America’s Cup held May 9-16 in San Diego, California. Skippered by billionaire Bill Koch, the winning yacht was America3 or America “cubed.” hence the name “Cuben.” The fabric is now officially known…
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Most people prefer a pack that holds a little more gear than they actually need. An oversize pack allows you to go with the seven to nine pounds for three-season hiking but scale up to 13 pounds for winter. It also allows you to add more food and to accommodate…
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If you’re headed out on a backpacking adventure, you have two basic choices about how you’re going to cook your food other than the traditional campfire. You can cook on a canister stove like the JetBoil or the MSR Reactor. Both are excellent stoves. Those two backpacking stoves and other…
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If you’ve ever searched for ideas about making your own DIY backpacking stove, you may have discovered that are a ton of options – from alcohol stoves, rocket stoves, wood burning stoves the list goes on. We’ve quite a few examples over recent years, and below are some of the better…
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So you’re planning a backpacking trip and need some new gear for water purification. Only one question remains – what’s the best backpacking water filter? There’s quite a few lightweight, effective water filters on the market these days. Below are some different examples to to choose what best fits your needs: Sawyer Mini Water…
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My first backpacking trip was in 1991 when I was 18 years old. At that time, one of the hot 2-person ultralight backpacking tents was the North Face Starlight NHP, which I still have and use to this day. I was then amazed at how light it was compared to…
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