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Latest
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.
