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Keeping Gear Handy on the Trail with Multi-Use Accessory and Utility Pouches
Having accessible "pockets" on your pack is useful for keeping little bits of gear handy without taking off your pack. But consider a multi-use pouch that can also be worn as a standalone fanny-style pack.
Going the Distance: How to Maintain a Relationship While Backpacking
How is it possible to spend three-to-six months walking through the woods and still have a relationship left to come home to? In this article, I chat with a mental health expert and share some tips to help you maintain a strong relationship while backpacking.
How to Dehydrate Food for Backpacking
The best backcountry meals are the ones you prepare yourself. In this article, I will tell you why and how to dehydrate food for backpacking.
How to use Turn-by-Turn Directions for Simple Backpacking Navigation
Simple backpacking navigation: turn-by-turn hiking directions aren’t for everybody, but try them before you scoff and proclaim “Never!”
Lightweight Backpacking Gear for Cold Winter Temperatures (Two-Layer Systems, Vapor Barriers, and Really Puffy Stuff)
Lightweight backpacking gear for winter temperatures: two-layer insulation systems, vapor barrier systems, and really puffy stuff.
How to Make Coffee in the Backcountry: Gear and Methods
This article provides an overview of coffee-making methods (how to make coffee in the backcountry) while backpacking, with a study of their complexity and weight.
Lightweight Sunscreen for Hiking and Backpacking
How to create a lightweight sunscreen strategy by using your backpacking apparel and supplies.
How Much Food Should I Pack? (How to save weight on backpacking food based on the energy-mile theory)
A mathematical model to calculate how much food to pack for your trip based on terrain and mileage with minimum weight carried in the pack.
Maceration, Immersion Foot and Backpacking
A short, detailed discussion on immersion foot and maceration, how to deal with it in the backcountry and when not to.
Lightweight First Aid and Trauma Kits: Perspectives from a Mountain Rescue Medic
This article features an interview with a Canadian Mountain Rescue Medic, focusing on how to assemble lightweight first aid and trauma kits for backcountry travel.
Lighten your pack, and your body
I'd like to address what I do in each of these areas at some point in the future, but for now, I want to expand on why I believe a lean body weight - in addition to carrying less weight in your pack - is really important for a backpacking lifestyle.
Crossing Rivers and Water Shoes
Crossing rivers "ultralight style" - that's when you simply walk through the water wearing your hiking shoes and keep walking on the trail once you get to the other side.
How to choose backpacking footwear so you can keep hiking until you die
Most advice about minimalist footwear can be rejected outright. Often, the advice is given by hikers who haven't put in the time required to understand the complexity and depth of foot biomechanics and the long-term effects of overuse that is endured by walking for decades. Here are some guiding principles if you want to keep hiking into your sunset years, so you can delay the inevitable onset of overuse conditions like hallux rigidus.
Resources, Tools, and Processes for Planning Nontechnical, Off-Trail Backpacking Routes
The purpose of this article is to document the process I often use to plan and execute off-trail trips in the mountains using digital mapping and navigation tools.
Navigating Without a Compass, Map, or GPS
This article describes natural navigator techniques I’ve found helpful while bushwhacking - navigating without a compass, map, or GPS.
Case Studies: Using Google Earth to Plan Wilderness Trips
This article presents some case studies of using Google Earth for wilderness trip planning, with a presentation of my process and lessons learned.
Wet, Cold Feet When Backpacking: How To Keep Your Feet Dry(er) and Warm(er) in Inclement Weather
Keep feet warm and dry by using a carefully designed system that involves different types of socks, shoes, and gaiters.
Minimalist Footwear for Backpacking? (Video)
This vlog features commentary by Backpackinglight.com Founder & Publisher Ryan Jordan about the applicability of minimalist footwear for backpacking.
How to Keep Fuel Warm During Canister Stove Operation
Various techniques for keeping fuel warm during canister stove operation are described, in order to optimize fuel vaporization.
Ultralight Video Gear (According To Chris)
Chris Smead, who produces Backpackinglight.com's "According to Chris" video series, goes through his ultralight video gear.
