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Latest
Outdoor Gear Journalism: Developing Trust Standards
The integrity of gear reviews is currently experiencing a decline in consumer trust. Consequently, the GearTrust framework, which is substantiated by research, has been developed to conduct credibility audits and elevate consumer confidence.
Topographic intervention: reconciling terrain and neurobiology with your mental and emotional health needs
Walking is often prescribed as a catch-all fix for mental and emotional distress. But when generic advice like “go for a walk” doesn’t work, it’s not your fault - it’s the prescription that failed. This essay explores a more intentional framework: topographic intervention. By aligning terrain with specific emotional states - like using uphill climbs to metabolize anxiety or forested trails to cradle grief - walking becomes more than movement. It becomes medicine. Discover how matching physiology, emotion, and landscape can unlock walking’s real power for healing.
Collateral Damage: How Tariff Policy Is Gutting America’s Outdoor Gear Innovators
Ryan Jordan breaks down the impacts of the 2025 US tariff chaos on the cottage industry for backpacking gear.
Learn to Packraft Updates
What's the status of Learn to Packraft?
Ultralight Cottage Gear Makers Reflect On The Last Few Years
Cottage backpacking gear makers face supply chain and logistical challenges but find fulfillment in other aspects of their operations.
I’m Breaking Up with the West
Andrew Marshall uses a trip around the Collegiate Peaks Loop in Colorado to ponder his future in the American West.
Unpacked: Reservations Required
From first-come, first-served to limited lotteries and everywhere in between, permits are increasingly becoming a fact of life for backcountry adventures
