stg-sectionhikercom-buttons.kinsta.cloud Backpacking Gear Reviews and FAQs

My warmest winter hat is a Mountain Hardware Dome Perignon beanie. It’s a timeless classic in hiking and mountaineering circles. This is the hat I put on when I’m hiking back down a mountain in winter and I feel the cold wind biting through my insulating layers. Putting it on is an instant warm-up. The name is a pun on Dom Perignon, …

Off-trail hiking also called bushwhacking in New England, isn’t for everyone, and requires more advanced compass or GPS navigation skills. But if you have those, there are many nice autumn hikes that you can go one in the White Mountains where you won’t see a soul. One of the nicest of these off-trail hikes is a traverse from Blueberry Mountain …

Outdoor Research Transcendent Down Gloves provide great warmth and excellent dexterity, which can be a difficult combination to achieve in an insulated winter glove. While mitts and mitten shells are a winter hiking essential, they don’t provide enough dexterity to hold an ice ax, melt snow, or check a GPS. My preference is to wear gloves when dexterity is required and …

With a high-pressure system parked over the White Mountains, I set out for another October climb in the Presidential Mountain Range. With temperatures in the high forties, winds under 20 mph, and fall foliage peaking in the valleys below, I looked forward to hiking another day in short pants, perhaps the last until well into spring of next year. With …