I went on a 5 mile hike today in the Middlesex Fells, a natural area close to my house that has some of the best hiking near Boston. It was a sunny day and a pleasant 64 degrees. I chose to hike …

Do you see that red stain on the inside of my platypus hydration bladder  in the picture below? That’s mold, like the stuff that grows on our bathroom shower curtain. I only noticed it on my last backpacking trip, and since getting …

Here’s the gear list that I’m planning to take on my first Long Trail Section hike over the Memorial Day weekend. It comes out to a base weight of 12.5 lbs which is a respectable lightweight load. With water, food, and fuel, …

The Long Trail is a 272 mile trail that runs from the Massachusetts-Vermont state border through Vermont to the Canadian Border. It was established before the Appalachian Trail and is said to have been the model upon which the AT was based. The first 100 miles of the Long Trail coincide with the Appalachian Trail, but the LT keeps going north at White River Junction as the AT breaks east and heads into New Hampshire.

This weekend I took another section hike on the Appalachian Trail from Lee, MA to Dalton, MA, a distance of 20 miles. Unlike my last trip, this section was infinitely easier. The snow had all melted and the daytime temperatures were a …

When you go backpacking you need to take care of your feet. This may sound obvious, but people don’t do a very good job of it. Blisters, plantar fasciitis, athletes foot, bunions, broken toenails, etc. can sideline you for days, weeks, or …

The Exped Downmat 7 is a sinfully luxurious sleeping pad for cold weather camping when you need extra insulation below your sleeping bag to stay warm. Almost all sleeping bags, no matter their temperature rating, have one fundamental flaw. When you get …

If someone were to ask you, “how does a bear smell,” you could answer in two ways. Bears smell real bad – or so I’m told – or bears smell exceptionally well, as I discuss below. Bears are thought to have the …

Trip Report: April 5-6, 2008 This weekend I did my first section hike of the spring on a section of the Appalachian Trail just south of the Massachusetts turnpike. The total distance of my hike was 29 miles. It was really a …

The Kelty Redwing 3100 (c.i.) makes a good large day pack if you need to carry a lot of stuff, but it doesn’t have the features or the volume for multi-day backpacking trips. I use mine mainly for leisure travel and going …

Phoenicia, New York April 1, 2008 A spokesperson with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation announced today that a male lion was sighted over the weekend by backpackers on Peakamoose Mountain. Authorities report that the lion escaped a bedroom in Eastern …

The Devil’s Path offers some of the most challenging and beautiful hiking n the Catskills. The trail is 24.75 miles in length and goes over Indian Head (3,573 ft), Twin (3,640 ft), Sugarloaf (3,800 ft), Plateau (3,840 ft) and West Kill (3,880 …

I’ve tried oodles of base layers and nothing makes me feel better or warmer than my Capilene baselayer shirts and pants. They are an excellent wicking base layer for many different activities including backpacking and whitewater kayaking. I’ve hijacked the Patagonia graphic …

Introducing the TreePee! I stumbled across this today on the web. It’s a teepee that hangs from a tree. you can stake out the four corners if you want a more stable platform, but if not, you can swing it bag and …