Advanced Backpacking Skills

When purchasing an insulated jacket for backpacking, should you buy one with a hood or without? I think it really depends on how you plan to use it with the other clothing you carry. In three-season weather, I bring a hoodless insulated …

One of the biggest differences between a single night backpacking trip and going out for a couple of consecutive days is the need to keep your gear dry. While this is relatively easy in warm, dry weather, it becomes far more challenging …

Most of us have had to hike in bad weather at one time or another, on day hikes or backpacking trips. While there have been plenty of times when I’ve cancelled a day hike or postponed it do to bad weather, I’ve …

When Wysteria, Sherpa, and I arrived at the trail head we found 4 foot snow drifts covering the trail. It was late March, and we’d planned to backpack north over Mt Greylock past the Massachusetts/Vermont border. We knew that there might be some …

If you hike in England or Scotland, it’s pretty common to see hikers wearing a map case around their neck. But map cases are relatively rare in the United States. They can be quite useful however if you have a lot of …

Have you ever observed the footwork of a very experienced hiker? They tend to walk very efficiently, at a constant pace, often without looking at their feet. It’s something I do unconsciously now, but it took a couple of year of serious …

Have you ever come across a meadow of wild flowers and walked across it? How about tall prairie grass? If you have, you know that it takes very little to create a noticeable path through such an area. Once created, others have a strong tendency …

When I go backpacking, I carry a small stuff sack with my tent stakes and extra cordage. I typically carry betwen 6 and 11 tent stakes with me, extra paracord and Kelty triptease. This is one of the more general purpose elements …

I backpacked the northermost section of Vermont’s Long Trail during Hurricane Ike in 2008. I didn’t realize that I was hiking through a hurricane at the time, even with the heavy rainfall and wind, since that kind of weather is the norm …

If you backpack in bear country, you need to learn how to hang a bear bag  (unless a bear canister is required by the local authorities.) No one ever formally taught me how to do it so I developed my own techniques, …

    Someone once told me that backpacking trips start well before you start hiking. Isn’t that the truth? Just planning and preparing for a 1 or 2 night weekend trip takes me at least a week of mornings and evenings, before …

 Backpacking gear is expensive and you need to take care of it to extend its lifetime. Here’s a checklist of gear maintenance tasks I try to do the morning after I get home from a backpacking trip: Air out my sleeping bag or quilt to make …

I just finished bagging all of the food I need for an upcoming trek through the 100 mile wilderness on the Maine section of the Appalachian Trail. All together, I packed 9 days worth of food in the 2 OPSACKs you see …