Vintage Backpacking Gear

From Gore-Tex to eVent I’ve been wanting to upgrade my hiking shell and rain jacket from Gore-Tex Paclite to eVent fabric for some time, but I’ve had a difficult time finding a minimalist jacket from any of the US-based outdoor clothing manufacturers. Last month, I finally found the perfect coat, …

The REI 1.3 L titanium pot has a non stick coating for easy cleanup. For years, all I did was boil water for freezer bag meals on the trail and I didn’t need a non-stick coating. But these days, I want the option of eating richer meals in winter and …

I bought a Highgear Axio Mini Altimeter/Barometer watch a few weeks ago. This isn’t the first multi-function watch I’ve owned, but it is the first one I actually enjoy wearing because it is so small. I owned a Highgear Summit a few years ago but hated it because the watch …

Don’t buy the Timex Adventure Tech Digital Watch Compass. It has a built-in leather/nylon band that you can’t replace without sending it back to Timex. After about 2 months of wear, the watch band begins to fray and decompose. There’s no way to hide this if you need to dress …

The Zpacks Blast 32 backpack is made out of ultralight cuben fiber, the stuff they make racing sailboat sails out of. I remember seeing one up close for the first time last year at the Carter Notch Hut during my Northern Presidential Traverse in June. It was an iridescent blue …

I finally got out backpacking this weekend and tried out the Thermarest NeoAir ($149.95) sleeping pad. This is an inflatable pad with an R-value of 2.5 weighing 14 oz in a size regular. The only other popular sleeping pad on the market with a comparable R-value is the Thermarest Ridgerest …

I am very happy with my new Roan Plateau Hooded Down Jacket from Golite which is replacing the Mountain Hardware Phantom Down Jacket that I used for winter backpacking and mountaineering last year. The Phantom is a fine jacket, but it doesn’t have a hood. I made do last season …

It’s autumn in New England and day time temperatures are finally dropping down into the mid-40’s F, which I consider ideal hiking and backpacking weather. With the change of seasons, comes a change of hiking pants, and I’ve retired (i.e. destroyed) this year’s pair of Railrider Eco-mesh hiking pants and …

I love maps but the thought of replacing them with a GPS makes me uneasy. The fact is, I very rarely get lost because I know how to read a map, I’m an expert with a  compass, and I carefully chart my progress during the day by frequently referring to …

Hiking in wet leather boots, up and down mountains, for days on end, really sucks. Really. That’s what happened to me on my last big trip through the 100 mile wilderness. So when I got back from Maine, I vowed to renew my quest to find a non-leather boot that dries …

This post is literally about the inside of the Squall 2 single-walled tarp tent (34 oz). It is a very spacious and well ventilated tent. I’ve decided to bring it on my next extended backpacking trip to Maine because it’s cool enough for a hot muggy summer night, great in …

There was a time when I would never have considered bringing a bowl on a backpacking trip. But now that I’ve tried the Orikaso Big Bowl, I’m going to start bringing this on my longer trips. Eating freezer bag meals and drinking recovery drinks out of a quart-sized ziploc bags …

When I backpack, I usually wear a pair of leather Asolo TPS 520 boots. Even though they have Gore-tex liners and I waterproof them using sno-seal, they can get wet. When that happens, they can take several days to dry and increase my risk of blisters. One strategy for dealing …

I bought a Golite Pinnacle Backpack last September because a lot of my hiking and blogging friends had great things to say about it. I was also looking for a pack with less external mesh that would be more resilient to tearing or snagging in bushwhacking situations and on rougher …