Health & Hygiene

Permethrin is an insect repellant and insecticide that bonds to fabric and can be used on your clothes, tent, or hammock to prevent Lyme Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted fever, or the Zika Virus by killing ticks, mosquitos, and insects that land on your stuff. The liquid Permethrin application techniques discussed below …

There’s nothing worse than chafing on a hike or backpacking trip between your thighs or butt cheeks.  Often called monkey-butt or baboon ass, it is absolute agony and gets worse with every step you take. Here are some trail-tested ways to prevent chafing and cure it quickly if you have …

While the popular media bombards us with tales of stinky long distance thru-hikers, you don’t have let go of your personal hygiene on a backpacking trip. The fact is, you’ll stay a lot more comfortable and avoid a lot of health issues by washing up daily and staying clean. Here …

Permethrin is a pesticide that you spray on clothing to kill black flies, ticks, and mosquitoes but has no harmful side effects on humans if used properly. It is the active ingredient used in Insect Shield and Buzz Off clothing and kills bugs when they land on your clothing. You …

Badass hikers aren’t born, you have to train to become one. In addition to learning advanced hiking and backpacking skills, you need to train your butt and legs. Here are 10 functional exercises that work the big muscles and smaller stabilizers in your legs to help you become a badass hiker. …

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 …

Some people think I’m cracked when it comes to the preventive measures I take to avoid tick bites and getting Lyme Disease. But I still haven’t contracted Lyme Disease after 5000 miles of hiking, backpacking, and off-trail hiking through prime tick habit on the Appalachian Trail, in the northeastern United States, or …

While it’s tempting to buy a commercial first aid kit for hiking and backpacking, they’re often overpriced ($30 for Adventure Medical Kits Ultralight and Watertight .7 Medical Kit) incomplete, heavy, and expensive to refill with the tiny packets of medicine that they try to sell you. I’ve found it to …

The best knee brace for hiking is the Cho-Pat Knee Brace. I use one when my knees bother me from carrying too much weight during a long backpacking trips and I have a few hiking buddies who swear by theirs. They wear two braces whenever they hike, one for each knee. At …

One of the oldest pieces of gear that I still carry with me on overnight trips is a portable travel toothbrush, called The Toob. It’s a completely self-contained toothpaste and toothbrush system that lives in my bear bag. It’s quite simple really. It’s a plastic tube that breaks into 3 …

Like many others, my backpacking plans are dictated more by available time than by the weather outside! Getting on the trail means carefully orchestrating time away from all my “big kid” responsibilities. Once I request time off from work, get someone to pick up the kid, and sweet talk my …

I wear a Sea-to-Summit Head Net with Insect Shield when I hike and backpack during bug season. When coupled with a wide-brimmed hat like my OR Sentinel Brim, wearing a head net is far more comfortable and effective than coating my ears, head, chest and shoulders with DEET insect repellent. I’ve …

I bought a lightweight first aid kit this year from Adventure Medical Kits to bring on the Appalachian Mountain Club hiking and backpacking trips I lead as a volunteer. I bought a commercial kit instead of just rolling my own because I wanted something that was clearly marked as a …

Last summer, I struggled with Plantar Fasciitis, an overuse injury of the foot that associated with heel pain and severe foot cramping.  The pain is caused by the inflammation of the ligament that connects your heel bone to the ball of your foot. I’ve tried a number of different strategies …