All Articles, Dispatches, Podcasts, and Trailheads
- GEAR • Gear Reviews
- GEAR • Market Reports
- GEAR • Gear Guides
- GEAR • Gear Checklists
- GEAR • Make Your Own Gear
- GEAR • Gear Testing & Research
- SKILLS • Tips, Tricks, and Hacks
- SKILLS • Wilderness Skills
- SKILLS • Training
- SKILLS • Trip Planning
- SKILLS • Food Preparation
- PLACES • Trips
- PLACES • Routes
- CULTURE • Essays
- CULTURE • Stories
- CULTURE • Issues
- CULTURE • People
- CULTURE • News
- CULTURE • Media Reviews
- ARCHIVES (Before 30.Nov.2015)
- SEARCH LIBRARY
- TRAILHEADS
Learning Curve: Risk Assessment
It takes a close call for Maggie Slepian to dial in her risk assessment skills.
Camping Away From Everything Else
Camping in remote places offers powerful contrast and restoration. For a driven, introverted personality, quiet and stillness provide relief from noise, obligation, and overstimulation. This essay reflects on the discomfort and eventual reward of unplugging, embracing silence, and finding healing in places far from people, machines, and constant demands.
We’re All Between Swims…
Using whitewater paddling as metaphor, this essay reflects on life’s inevitable crashes and recoveries. Not every capsize can be rolled away; sometimes you take the swim, battered and humbled. These moments of struggle, resilience, and grit shape who we become, reminding us that growth often comes between swims, not in calm water.
Trail Journal: Explorer Canyon
This trail journal recounts a vulnerable solo walk into a flooded Glen Canyon sidearm while sick, injured, and dehydrated. Set against heat, guilt, and solitude, the narrative follows a disoriented search for water that becomes an act of survival and quiet healing in a stark desert landscape.
Leave No Trace
With more people heading outdoors, caring for wild places matters more than ever. This article revisits the seven Leave No Trace principles, encouraging recreationists to plan ahead, minimize impact, respect wildlife, and be considerate of others. A simple refresher can help ensure increased visitation leads to healthier, cleaner, and more enjoyable outdoor spaces for everyone.
A Different Type of Shelter Skill
When winter arrives, my favorite backcountry shelters aren’t tents or tarps but USFS rental cabins and lookouts. Found across Montana and the West, these affordable cabins offer bunks, stoves, and warmth, turning winter trips into comfortable, low-stress adventures without battling snow camps or harsh conditions.
Geologic Time is Now
A conversation about a landslide opens into a reflection on geologic time, memory, and the stories landscapes hold. This essay contrasts Indigenous place knowledge with modern naming practices, suggesting that ignoring the language of land—its movements, warnings, and history—leaves us vulnerable to repeating avoidable mistakes.
Standards Watch: Dan Durston Talks Design and Business
Dan Durston is a gear designer, wilderness guide, and biologist. In this interview with Rex Sanders, he talks about the process and philosophy of shelter design.
Unpacked: Rewards of Repetition
Greek philosophy says you can't step in the same river twice, but what about backpacking the same trail?
Red Paw Packs 28 L Flatiron Backpack Review
The Red Paw Packs Flatiron Pack 28 L (13 to 19 oz / 368 g to 538 g, MSRP from $220) is a customizable low-volume overnight / daypack with a unique zippered main compartment.
Black Diamond Blitz Spikes Review
The Black Diamond Blitz Traction Spikes (MSRP $39.95, 1.5 to 1.8 oz / 42 to 50 g) are ultralight, stainless-steel, forefoot-only traction devices for shoes and boots intended for incidental use on hard-packed snow terrain.
Take This Poem on Your Next Trip
The words you carry with you are just as important as your gear.
Gryphon Gear Aries 20 Quilt Review
The Gryphon Gear Aries 20 Quilt (25.7 oz / 729 g, MSRP from $327) is a three-season quilt with a differential cut, draft collar, an edge tensioning system, and 17.5 oz (496 g) of down fill.
By the Numbers: Rethinking Fleece
Stephen Seeber subjects ten fleece samples to rigorous thermal testing.
Gear List: Tenkara Fly Fishing in the Northern Rockies
Mark Wetherington's tenkara gear list serves as a great entry point to backcountry fly fishing for newcomers.
Episode 38 | Tenkara Fishing
In this Skills Short episode, Ryan and Andrew talk about the essential skills and gear needed to take up the sport of tenkara-style fly fishing.
Learning Curve: What I Learned From Taking a Beginner into the Backcountry
I thought I knew how to take first-time backpackers out, but I'd never actually taken a bare beginner into the backcountry.
Enlightened Equipment Torrid Apex Pullover Review
The Enlightened Equipment Torrid Apex Pullover (7.7 oz / 219 g, MSRP $175.00) is a synthetic-fill, high loft insulating garment.
Standards Watch: Dan Durston Chats About Standards and Testing
Rex Sanders interviews gear designer Dan Durston.
The Overlook: Giving Back to Bear’s Ears
Ben Kilbourne reflects on his first journey in the Bear's Ears National Monument, and wonders how to give back to such special places.
Episode 37 | Endurance Training for Backpackers
Ryan and Andrew chat with Dirk Friel, co-founder of TrainingPeaks, about how to get the most out of your endurance training.
Pro-Grade Water RepellencyPolypropylene face fabrics: see the future of raingear.
