Backpacking Gear Reviews, Expert Tips, & Trail Guides

Earlier this week, Annie and I took a trip to the east side of Mount St. Helens to explore a 28-mile backpacking loop a friend had recommended. We were blown away by how remarkably beautiful, surprisingly diverse, and unexpectedly secluded the route was.

Hey Dave, I’m looking to buy the LightHeart Gear Duo tent. Could you elaborate on some the pros and cons you have experienced as well as how it compares with other two person single wall tents? 

Short backcountry trips are a fantastic way to reboot your system and cleanse weekly stress. It’s always amazing to me how quickly I feel my body relax when I begin a hike. It often only a few steps before I start to feel the peace of the wilderness wash over me.

Below is an email from a reader I received this week. Den from Berkshire, UK brings up a problem I hear about all the time, so I thought I’d share my response. Also, if you want more info on the hiking boots vs. running shoes debate, check out my article 5 Reasons To Ditch Your Hiking Boots. A big thanks to Den for the great question! 

I often get fantastic emails from readers with really great questions. I try to answer them to the best of my ability and I frequently wish that others could read my responses. So today I’m trying out a new idea and I’m going to publish a recent reader email. If you like this type of content – please let me know with a “like” or “comment” below. Thanks to everyone for the wonderful notes and questions. You guys rock!

It’s time to start getting pumped up about backpacking season again! For many of us that means dusting off our trail gear to see what upgrades we can make. To help make your job easier this year, I’ve created a list of can’t-miss gear upgrades. Here are seven must-own backpacking tools to boost your comfort while keeping your pack nice and light.

Today Gossamer Gear announced the launch of their new Mariposa Backpack. The Mariposa has been around for years and it’s the most popular pack design in Gossamer Gear’s arsenal of lightweight backpacking products. It’s definitely worth a look if you’re in the market for a new pack. 

One of my core beliefs is that people are more willing to protect natural areas once they get out and experience their beauty. That’s one of my key motivators with CleverHiker and one of the reasons I’m so excited to partner with the PCTA on the Essential Trail Skills video series.

This summer CleverHiker is looking to team up with 2-3 thru-hikers setting out on the AT, PCT, or CDT to help us create a video chronicle of their trips. Our goal is to publicly post real-time video updates of the sights, sounds, and stories from America’s long trails. We want to link up with creative, enthusiastic, and dedicated thru-hikers for this project. We’ll ask our CH thru-hikers to film 60 seconds from every day of their adventure. They might choose to film stunning scenery, progress updates, funny stories, shout-outs to friends/ family or whatever strikes their fancy. This project is all about empowering creative backpackers to film what’s most important to them and creating inspiring and entertaining content for those of us who want to follow along at home.

This past Saturday, CleverHiker was thrilled to attend the first ever ALDHA West Cascade Winter Ruck in Cascade Locks, Oregon. The purpose of the event was to bring together a mix of veteran thru-hikers and aspiring long distance backpackers to swap stories and build community. It was a learning and networking opportunity for backpackers of all levels and CleverHiker was on hand to soak up the weekend’s events and share some tips and techniques. The program included a variety of long-distance backpacking presentations, equipment evaluations, a gear raffle of UL goodies, great food, and cheap handcrafted beers. By all accounts the event was a massive success.

We just announced the content for CleverHiker seasons 2 & 3! Follow this link to SectionHiker.com to see the article that was posted today with a full list of episode titles and content summaries. Our next series is called Essential Trail Skills I & II and it’s going to be rad. We’re currently in the process of editing 20 HD videos teaching the most important backpacking skills for the trail. The release date will be in early 2014.Check out the content on SectionHiker and let me know what you think! Feel free to leave a comment on SH, tweet out the article, or leave me a comment here.

It’s true, the name “ultralight backpacking” is lame. It just is. It’s a title that’s trying too hard to sound extreme for an activity that’s inherently peaceful. And as a guy that’s played a sport called “ultimate frisbee” for the past 10 years, I have lots of experience with monikers like this. It’s also not really a different activity than traditional backpacking. Carry everything you need on your back into the wilderness and have an adventure. That’s backpacking. The weight of your pack doesn’t make the core activity any different.

The new content is looking incredible and I know that all backpackers will enjoy the series focus. I’m really excited to fill everyone in on the details and I’m working on a blog post to give the full update. I’m offering the post up as a guest post to one of my favorite blogs, so we’ll see if that works out.

Philip Werner put up a great rant this week about bear bagging and the importance of properly protecting your food in the wilderness. There’s been a lively discussion on his post about the best food storage techniques and how to fix the general problem that animals are getting into human food too much in the wilderness. When animals get human food, it damages their natural foraging instincts and hurts the environment. It also causes pests around established campsites and can be deadly for the animals themselves.

It’s been an action-packed summer for CleverHiker and we’re back in the field filming our next series, Essential Trail Skills! The content for our new series is looking incredible and we’re really excited to get to work in the editing studio in October. More info about the new series coming soon!We’ve got a lot of big updates coming up, so make sure to stay tuned. We’re working on some huge website improvements, we’ve got some great new trip reports to share, we’ll be posting some sweet gear reviews, and we’re working to bring on a few key sponsors for our new videos.

I love a good cup of coffee in the morning, and there’s hardly a better place to enjoy it than the great outdoors. A good cup of Joe is always better with a great view.Nature’s Coffee Kettle is a new product that helps make the entire process easier. Their portable drip coffee bag lets you enjoy artisan coffee without any mess. Boil water, pour it in the bag, and let it filter for a tasty cup of java on the trail.