It's the dawn of a decade and I've made a lot of changes to my three-season backpacking gear list to kick off the twenties. Some of my favorite pieces of gear are still with me and are still going strong (socks and fanny pack) while I'm trying others out for the first time (pillow, anyone?). My
Guide to REI’s Gear Up Get Out Sale (2019)
How do you know you're getting a good deal on outdoor gear? Are you paying the MSRP? Yes? I have news! You're paying too much. Thankfully, there are those times of the year when companies discount products in the hopes of increasing sales; with the announcement of REI's Gear Up Get Out Sale,
The 2019 Thru-hiker Gift Guide
We're coming up on the end of the year which means two things, it's almost time for the results of the thru-hiker surveys and it's time to start upgrading your backpacking gear for next year's "go outside and walk places" season (if you're interested, here's my latest backpacking gear
Mac’s Backpacking Gear List 2019 (v2.0)
I didn't stop hiking once I left the Pacific Crest Trail this summer, and since my final PCT gear list, a number of things have changed in my backpacking outfit. After hitting the Timberline Trail, Wonderland Trail, and the Wind River Range. Fall is my favorite time of the year to hike - fewer
Thrupack Summit Bum Review
I was first introduced to the Thrupack Summit Bum at the end of my Continental Divide Trail thru-hike and it's a real shame I hadn't known about it beforehand. It was as if I had just finished digging an enormous hole (you know, for a body or something) with my hands and along comes some asshole
Interview With Jotaro Yoshida of LOCUS GEAR
Prior to beginning my traverse of the Japanese Alps this year, I had the chance to visit Jotaro Yoshida, founder of LOCUS GEAR at their headquarters in Japan's Kanagawa Prefecture, just outside of Tokyo. LOCUS GEAR is a small gear manufacturer, based in Japan, that specializes in lightweight
8 Cheap And Easy Ways To Lighten Up Your Pack
In case nobody's told you, all the cool kids (or at least all the kids who tell themselves they're cool) out backpacking, thru-hiking, and being vagrants in the wilderness are party to an ongoing dick-measuring contest when it comes to the base weight of their packs (that is, the pack's total weight
Ultralight Backpacking Explained
Given that I am relatively new to the long distance hiking scene I feel that now would be a perfect time to express some of my partially informed yet surprisingly staunch opinions regarding the perceived debates surrounding the activity. On the spectrum of how much gear hikers decide to bring