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

What do all of these hikers have in common? Beside hiking the AT, we all contributed chapters to a new book published by Stackpole, called Hiker’s Stories from the Appalachian Trail. Amanda “Veggie” Redpath Amanda, Jarrod “Hansel” and Becca “Gretel” Schlenker  Bruce “Birdman” Nichols Corwin “Major Chafage” Neuse Deb “Ramkitten” Lauman Devon “Flamebo” Parish Elaine “Second Stage” Rockett Elizabeth “Beef” …

No trees for that hammock? No problem. This is irony: I’m a hammock camping fanatic, surrounded by the largest contiguous Ponderosa Pine forest in North America, yet I moved into a neighborhood devoid of trees. My entire 2-acre lot is barren, and while I’ve planted a few trees, it will be years before I’ll be able to hang anything more than a …

Located just outside Rumney, near Plymouth, New Hampshire, Stinson Mountain (2900′) is way off the beaten track as far as White Mountain peaks go and finding the trail head is an adventure all by itself. Once I left pavement and headed down the unpaved road that surrounds Stinson Lake, I relied on my intuition and followed the deeply eroded road leading to …

The first time I tried filtering water from a stream, I knew that the distance I could hike in one day would never again be constrained by the amount of water I could carry. I remember the scene vividly: getting water out of a stream, surrounded by a sea of hobblebush, on West Hunter Mountain in the Catskills. Hiking was never the …