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How to Plan a Backpacking Trip: Skills, Tools, and Resources
A curated guide to Backpacking Light resources on how to plan a backpacking trip - gear, skills, podcasts, forums, research, education, and more.
Can Apple’s New iPhone 14 Replace Your Garmin inReach?
Should/will the iPhone 14 replace my Garmin inReach (or similar satellite messaging devices)?
How to use Gaia GPS to Find Hidden Backcountry Routes
Learn Ryan Jordan's process for discovering hidden backcountry routes by integrating current base maps, satellite imagery layers, and historical USGS maps.
Using lines of position to fix your location on a map
Learn how to identify and use lines of position to help fix your location on a map while traveling in the backcountry.
An Introduction to Map & Compass Navigation
An online live (and recorded) webinar introduction to map and compass use for hiking and backpacking.
Route Planning Tools & Processes (Member Q&A)
Planning a route for wilderness backpacking trips in remote environments can be complicated. In this webinar, learn about route planning tools and processes that simplify planning and help you plan safe, comfortable trips in the backcountry.
Discussing the Garmin inReach Mini 2 with Garmin Senior Product Manager Chip Noble
In this video interview, Ryan Jordan and Chip Noble (Senior Product Manager at Garmin) discuss the new features of the Garmin inReach Mini 2, including its improved battery life.
Episode 33 | Digital Route Planning
Andrew and Ryan discuss some digital tools useful for planning your route effectively. Also: An interview with FATMAP founder Misha Gopaul.
Learning Curve: A Shoulder Season Reminder
BPL columnist Maggie Slepian reminds new and old hands alike to prepare for shoulder-season backpacking accordingly.
Learning Curve: Breaking Loose
I fell into a rut, like many of us when an activity is familiar and comfortable. It took connecting with a more experienced backpacker to show me I had the knowledge and skills to push myself into new territory.
Book Review: “The Cold Vanish: Seeking the Missing in North America’s Wildlands”
Backpacking Light columnist Mark Wetherington is no stranger to risk assessment. But this non-fiction account of search-and-rescue operations in North America gave him chills.
GPS: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
BPL author Rex Sanders tackles the pros and cons of navigating by GPS in a short blog post that includes links for further info.
Episode 28 | Making Your Own Backpacking Meals
This episode of the Backpacking Light podcast is chock full of actionable advice to create your own delicious backpacking meals.
Spot X Review
The Spot X ( 7 oz / 198 g, $199.99) is a rechargeable two-way satellite messenger with a QWERTY Keyboard among other features.
Biolite Headlamp 200 Review
The Biolite Headlamp 200 (1.75 oz /50 g, $44.95) is a USB-rechargeable headlamp with a unique design that makes it very comfortable and stable.
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!”
Exploring Wyoming’s Medicine Bow Range
A quick, weekend trip into the Medicine Bow Range creates the background for this story of navigation technique and philosophy.
Navigation & GPS App Reviews & Gear Guide
This Gear Guide features GPS App Reviews, including AllTrails, Gaia, Google Maps Offline, Guthooks, Hiking Project, MapMyHike, Outdoor Active, Ramblr, REI - National Parks, Spyglass, and ViewRanger.
Wilderness Adventures 2018 Whitetail Trek (Photo Essay)
As part of the Backpacking Light Wilderness Adventures program, Trek Director Kevin Fletcher and I led a guided trip across the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness in Montana in September 2018. This photo essay tells the story of that trek.
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.
