Interviews

How long have you been a couple? We met in March 2003 when we both worked at The Running Spot in Cincinnati, Ohio, a specialty running store. We were both in our senior year in college, attending different schools, and had a …

How long have you been a couple? We met at work in 1999, became a couple in 2000 and got married in 2003. Were you both backpackers before you met? Neither of us was a backpacker before we met. In fact, Mick …

Dennis and I have been together for 42 years. He introduced me to backpacking in 1974 with our first climb of Mount Washington in New Hampshire. When hiking the Appalachian Trail (AT), Dennis started using the moniker K1, short for his amateur …

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to go on a backpacking trip with a romantic partner. Would you drive each other crazy or would the shared experience deepen your relationship? Here are the stories of five well-known American and British …

I haven’t seen you in a few months, what do you look like these days? Beard, no beard, dreadlocks, puff-ball or short hair? My disguise is ever-changing, so I hesitate to give it away… But for now I’m just beginning to regrow …

“The most important thing about a Gearhead is passion,” says Nathan Ellsworth, Customer Solution Supervisor at Backcountry.com. “Not just passion about gear, but passion for the outdoors and the sports they enjoy.” Nathan looks for that when he interviews people applying for …

Ron Strickland is a character. He’s the founder of the 1,200 mile Pacific Northwest Trail (PNT) and the visionary behind the 7,700 mile Sea-to-Sea (C2C) Trail hiked by Andrew Skurka in 2005. His latest project is the foundation of a National System …

These days it seems like there are two kinds of backpackers and hikers: those who love maps and those who prefer a GPS or just go without. I fall into the map lover category. As a kid, I can remember getting National Geographic …