Backpacking Skills

I get a lot of email from experienced day hikers and car campers who want to try backpacking and are looking for help on how to plan their first overnight backpacking trip. Here’s the advice I give them. 1. Buy a Local Guidebook and …

If you’ve ever been backpacking, you’ve probably heard people boast that their pack weighs 50 or 60 lbs. Those days are over. With a little knowledge, it is possible for anyone to reduce their pack weight to a comfortable 25 or 30 …

A lot of backpackers own multiple pots, stoves, and windscreens, because like other backpacking gear, there’s often no perfect combination of components that will fit all of your needs. Here are some factors that you should weigh when selecting the components of …

Most people don’t know how to use a compass to navigate and while it’s a very useful skill to have, you can get by without it if you have a good map and hike on well marked trails. Even then, you do want …

Whenever, I go backpacking I always bring along earplugs. If I’m sleeping near someone in a tent or a shelter, who snores, it helps cut down or eliminate the noise level. They also let me block out the sounds of the forest …

What is the best mid-layer insulation apparel for hikers and backpackers? It depends, of course, on where you hike and the weather conditions you expect to encounter. But first lets define what a mid-layer is to avoid confusion. A mid-layer insulation top …

What do alcohol stove boil time test videos done in peoples’ kitchens, basements, and backyards tell you about the real world performance of your alcohol stove? PRECIOUS LITTLE You can’t measure stove performance indoors unless you take into account all of the …

I am not a huge fan of backpacking without a stove, but whether you do it or not should be based on the environmental conditions you’re likely to encounter on your hike, the duration, and location of your trip. Whatever you do, …

Hammocks are a great alternative to camping on the ground in a tent. You don’t have to worry about finding flat and level ground to pitch a tent, you don’t have to worry about rain flooding your tent at night, or about nasty …

The problem with many pyramid-style shelters (such as the MLD Duomid, the Solomid, and the Trailstar to name a few) is that they suffer from low angled walls which reduce the amount of usable interior space inside. Granted, all lightweight backpacking shelters …

Bushwhacking is a form of off-trail hiking where you need to navigate through dense vegetation to locate your destination. Getting really good at it is an art form that takes years of practice and lots of hikes in all kinds of different …

No trees for that hammock? No problem. This is irony: I’m a hammock camping fanatic, surrounded by the largest contiguous Ponderosa Pine forest in North America, yet I moved into a neighborhood devoid of trees. My entire 2-acre lot is barren, and while I’ve …

I do a lot of solo camping before and after day hikes when I’m up in New Hampshire’s White Mountains for the weekend. It’s a great way to save money, get a good night’s sleep between hikes, and get a little privacy …

Backpacking stoves can greatly increase your comfort and safety on multi-day trips and in challenging weather conditions. There’s nothing like hot food at dinner to warm you up after hiking in the rain all day or hot coffee after sleeping in a …