Section Hikers Backpacking Blog Hiking and Backpacking for Beginners and Experts

When I fly fish larger rivers with a rod and reel or a Tenkara rod, I often need to wade from the shore to get closer to the best trout habitat. But I’ve found that traditional bib waders are overkill for my needs and often too warm to wear. I …

DEET and Picaridin-based insect repellent sprays and lotions are available from a wide range of brands and in a variety of forms factors. How effective are they are repelling mosquitos and ticks? What are the best concentrations to get? Which one’s are the safest to use for children and pregnant …

The Solo Stove Bonfire Fire Pit is not a substitute for a real backcountry campfire, but it is a vast improvement over making a fire in the rusty fire grates and barbecues you find at national parks and state-run campgrounds. You can also use it at home to have a …

Beth and I met at the Caps Ridge Trailhead at 6:00 am for my Redlining finish hike. We wanted an early start to hike our 13+ mile route (with 6300′ of elevation gain), up Mt Jefferson via the Caps Ridge Trail, down Sphinx Col, and back up the Six Husbands …

I keep several map books in my car for the different states that I hike and backpack in, called Gazetteers. They’re published by a company called Delorme (recently acquired by Garmin) and contain detailed maps of each state including all of the paved and unpaved roads, seasonal roads, gated fire roads, …