Editorials

How long have you been a couple? Ralph and I met in 1987 on a Sierra Club car camping trip to Baja California (to see the migration of grey whales) and have been together ever since. Though we didn’t see any whales …

How long have you been a couple? We first met in 1995 when we both joined the Peace Corps in Tanzania. We had just graduated college and were off on a life changing experience. We were friends for a year, then “dating” …

I started writing Section Hiker in 2007 because blogging helps me learn and retain new skills and information. At the time, I was just getting back into hiking and backpacking after a long hiatus. Writing about Section Hiking the Long Trail and …

I didn’t see it coming. My girlfriend and I have been bitten by the car camping bug. It all started last winter when my girlfriend wanted to camp out in the mountains so we could get a clear view of the Geminids …

I like reviewing backpacking gear, in part because it gives me an excellent excuse to go backpacking and day hiking a few days per week. But I’m very picky about the gear I review because it has to be useful for the …

The outdoor gear company, Wenzel, has started making family camping tents pre-treated with Permethrin, which repels and kill mosquitos and ticks, including those that carry Lyme Disease. I think this is a fantastic development and hope higher-end backpacking tent manufacturers follow Wenzel’s …

“Backpacking and camping gear is flying off the shelves this year”, said a store manager I know who works at a major outdoor retailer. “We haven’t seen anything like this since the 70’s,” the last time that backpacking was popular in the United States. …

What do all of these hikers have in common? Beside hiking the AT, we all contributed chapters to a new book published by Stackpole, called Hiker’s Stories from the Appalachian Trail. Amanda “Veggie” Redpath Amanda, Jarrod “Hansel” and Becca “Gretel” Schlenker  Bruce …

When I was growing up, being a homeless hobo had a certain romantic appeal to it. Hobos are wandering itinerant workers who ride the rails in the United States, a tradition that got its start after the Civil War when men and …

The most popular form of hiking in the northeastern United States is peakbagging, usually done as days hikes, where hikers set out to climb different mountains on the White Mountain 4000 footer list, the Adirondack 46ers, or the Catskill 3500s. While not as …

This is a spoof….. The Appalachian Mountain Club has just announced a breakthrough diet and exercise plan guaranteed to help you shed weight and get ripped. Called the Hutman Diet, it melds the latest in nutritional science and sport medicine with mountain …

Cooking with wood gas If you’ve always wanted a jet engine to cook marshmallows with, this baby might be for you. What this is about? It is about a “batch-loaded, inverted down-draft gassifier”. Also known as a wood gas stove, it works …

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 …

My friend Martin asked me sheepishly, “Is it really true that you bring stuffed animals on backpacking trips.” No, I replied. “They bring me.”