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Backpacking Light

Pack less. Be more.

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Backpacking Light Article Library

Backpacking Light is home to more than 4 million words of article content about lightweight hiking, backpacking, and camping gear, skills, research, and stories. Subscribe today for full access to the entire library.

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Gear Reviews

Browse all backpacking gear reviews


Reviews and comparison reports about the use and performance of hiking and backpacking gear.

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News

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Current events, commentary, blogosphere updates, and expedition news from around the globe.

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Skills

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Hiking, backpacking, and camping skills, make your own gear (MYOG), and using equipment at its limits.

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Are you an ultralight backpacking expert? Share your knowledge of ultralight skills with our community!

Sci/Tech

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The theory and application of science and objective research for evaluating the performance of backpacking gear, technologies, and techniques.

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People

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Celebrating, conversing with, and learning about people who are passionate about wilderness travel.

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Places

Browse all stories about places


Wilderness is not limited to our own backyards: explore the most beautiful and wild environments in the world through narrative, images, and film.

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Recently Published Articles

The Overlook: Giving Back to Bear’s Ears

Apr 16, 2021 by Ben Kilbourne

Ben Kilbourne reflects on his first journey in the Bear’s Ears National Monument, and wonders how to give back to such special places.

Filed Under: Essays and Commentary, New Features Tagged With: bear's ears, bear's ears national monument, land managment, leave no trace, pubic land, Utah

Episode 37 | Endurance Training for Backpackers

Apr 14, 2021 by Backpacking Light

Ryan and Andrew chat with Dirk Friel, co-founder of TrainingPeaks, about how to get the most out of your endurance training.

Filed Under: Interviews ("Faces"), Podcasts Tagged With: endurance training, enlightened equipment, great smoky mountains national park, mount rainier national park, Nunatak, synthetic insulation, training for a new alpinism, training for the uphill athlete, training peaks, training plan, whoop

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+PLUS! Download our Printable Ultralight Backpacking Gear List & Watch our Core Principles of Ultralight Backpacking Video!

Blood Moon on the Border

Apr 9, 2021 by Drew Smith

An off-trail borderlands odyssey during a lunar eclipse in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.

Filed Under: Expedition & Trip Reports, New Features Tagged With: Arizona, desert backpacking, desert hiking, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, stories, trip reports, water cache, water carry

You Know You’ve Been Backpacking a Long Time When…

Apr 7, 2021 by Rex Sanders 57 Comments

Rex Sanders takes a walk down memory lane (er, trail).

Filed Under: Blog, Essays and Commentary Tagged With: base layers, fleece, footwear, kelty, mount whitney, PCT, photography, pup tent, REI co-op, sno-seal, Tarptent

Nemo Chipper Review

Apr 6, 2021 by Andrew Marshall

The Nemo Chipper (MSRP: $19.95, 5.6 oz / 160 g) is a closed-cell foam sit pad made from scraps created in the production of the Nemo Switchback and other closed-cell foam sleeping pads.

Filed Under: First Looks Reviews, New Features Tagged With: CCF, closed-cell foam, Nemo, sit pad, sleeping pad, Therm-a-Rest

By the Numbers: Thermal Performance Measurements of Synthetic Insulations

Apr 2, 2021 by Stephen Seeber

Stephen Seeber presents measurements of several market-leading insulations along with four performance metrics to help judge their performance.

Filed Under: New Features, Testing & Research Tagged With: climashield apex, polartec, synthetic, synthetic insulation

Episode 036 | Salamander Song

Mar 31, 2021 by Backpacking Light

Backpacking Light Managing Editor Andrew Marshall’s essay Salamander Song is a love letter to the Great Smoky Mountains.

Filed Under: Podcasts Tagged With: appalachian trail, appalachians, Great Smoky Mountain National Park

My Year of Lentils: A Survey of Packaged Vegetarian and Vegan Backpacking Meals (Gear Guide)

Mar 30, 2021 by Andrew Marshall

Small and mid-sized companies are making increasingly delicious vegan and vegetarian backpacking food. This gear guide covers meals from six of those companies.

Filed Under: Gear Guides, New Features Tagged With: cold soak, dehydrated, food, food and nutrition, Food for the Sole, food packaging, freeze-dried, gear guide, Good To-Go, Heather's Choice, Outdoor Herbivore, Packit Gourmet, vegan, vegetarian

Lipstick on a Pig? Wind & Cold Temperature Testing of the Jetboil Stash (StoveBench)

Mar 26, 2021 by Ryan Jordan

Backpacking Light publisher Ryan Jordan subjects the Jetboil Stash to the StoveBench testing protocol to answer the pressing question: is this innovation, or lipstick on a pig?

Filed Under: New Features, Testing & Research Tagged With: cooking systems, heat exchanger, jetboil, stove systems, stovebench, stoves

Learning Curve: Learning to Turn Around

Mar 24, 2021 by Maggie Slepian

For some people, turning back is the hardest skill to learn.

Filed Under: Essays and Commentary, New Features Tagged With: backcountry skiing, Learning Curve, New Hampshire, peak bagging, risk assessment, white mountains

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