Gear Lists

I’ll be hiking coast-to-coast across Scotland in a few weeks for the third time in the annual TGO Challenge. This is a non-competitive event where backpackers, called Challengers, have 15 days to hike from the west coast to the east coast. To …

Similar to recreational backpackers, hunters should have a healthy respect for nature and wildlife. However, the preparation and gear used for both activities are notably different. Backpack hunting requires more gear, additional hunter specific skills, and an increased willingness or tenacity to …

Winter backpacking and mountaineering are great sports. But the cost of winter gear is very expensive, upward of $2000 or more. In my experience, it’s best to acquire winter backpacking gear over a period of 2-3 years, so you can spread out …

When gearing up for winter day hiking in New Hampshire’s White Mountains you want footwear, clothing, and traction aids that can be used across a wide range of temperatures, wind speeds, sun, precipitation types, and surface conditions. What you use can be …

The first half of autumn, from mid-September through October, is the best time to go hiking and backpacking in the White Mountain National Forest which spans central New Hampshire and Western Maine. The temperatures are cooler, the bugs are gone, and the …

I carry a lightweight (6 oz) home-grown first aid kit when I go day hiking and backpacking. It contains more bandages and medications than I might need on a trip so I only have to replenish it periodically. It’s closely “aligned” to …

Colin Fletcher is widely recognized as the father of modern backpacking. The co-author of The Complete Walker Volume 4, last published in 2002, he helped popularize the use of gear lists and gear weights to organize and reduce the weight of backpacking …

Backpacking trips and day hikes don’t always go as planned. The weather can change unexpectedly. You can injure yourself and you might come across someone who needs help. Different times of the year can also necessitate carrying different types of survival tools …

You need to be on your best game when you venture above treeline in the Presidential Range on Mt Washington and the higher peaks. Whether you’re hiking a Presidential Traverse or just climbing White Mountain 4000 footers, it pays to pack a …

I’d planned to backpack coast-to-coast for the third time this May (in the annual TGO Challenge) along a 185 mile route that requires a significant amount of off-trail, cross-country travel. That was before the Covid19 pandemic made travel to the UK ill-advised …

When the snow starts to melt on the high plateaus above the canyon country of Utah, intermittent rivers start to flow, and I start refreshing the USGS site every few hours looking for an upward trend that means it’s time to go …

The PCT Continued… In the spring of 2019, I set out to thru-hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) solo from Mexico to Canada. It was a very big snow year for Northern California and the Sierra Nevada with a lot of snow …

Winter backpacking is very different from three-season backpacking. It requires more gear, good decision-making, and many new skills. It’s almost like backpacking on a different planet because so many things you take for granted during the rest of the year are different. …

I have a small list of tents, hammocks, and tarps in my personal gear closet that I love using and consider best-of-class for my needs. While all of the shelters I like are pretty lightweight, I’m not as obsessed about gear weight …