On my last winter backpacking trip in the Presidential Range a few weeks ago, I hooked up my SPOT II Satellite GPS Messenger to send out twice daily status updates to my wife and the spouses of the other hikers who accompanied me. This is something that my wife and I have been doing for [...]
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Collaborative Backpacking Trip Planning Tools
Coordinating a backpacking trip with multiple people in it can be a real PITA if you’re hiking with peers and you are not the appointed “it’s-my-way-or-the-highway” leader of a hiking group. Having just completed a trip like this, here are a few tools that I used to facilitate the trip definition process and reduce the work [...]
How to Keep Your Backpacking Gear Dry with Trash Compactor Bags
The first thing I do when I pack my backpack is to line the inside with a thick trash compactor garbage bag, like the kind you can buy in a supermarket. These plastic bags are very tough, last a long time, and are an excellent defense against rain and wet ground. I’ve been using this [...]
A Beginner’s Guide to Snowshoeing
When winter arrives and we start to get snow, I like to get outdoors and go snowshoeing on the local trails near my house. In just a few hours, I can get a great workout and enjoy the solitude of the winter woods. If you’ve never been snowshoeing, I suggest you give it a try. [...]
Hiking Boot Lacing Techniques
If you wear hiking boots and get blisters when you go hiking or if your boots don’t fit as well as you’d like, there are a handful of powerful hiking boot lacing techniques that you can use to dial in a good fit. Unfortunately, these lacing techniques have become somewhat of a lost art since [...]
Annoying Gear Failures: How to Prevent Catastrophe and How to Recover
Backpacking and hiking gear has a nasty habit of failing when you least expect it or you need it the most – in the dark, when it’s pouring rain, or in the middle of nowhere. Knock on wood, I’ve never been stranded by gear failure, but it can be damn annoying. Here are some of [...]
Hiking after Dark
I am not a huge fan of hiking after dark but it’s something you need to be prepared for on day hikes and backpacking trips. Despite your best planning efforts, it sometimes takes longer than you expect to reach your destination and you need to hike by the light of a headlamp. This is particularly true [...]
How to Kill a Bear
If you want to kill a bear, let it eat human food lying on the ground or easily accessible at your campsite. Bears that “steal” food, even if it’s left unattended and in the open, are shot and killed because they’re classified as “problem bears.” They’re blamed, even if hikers and campers fail to take the [...]
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