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

I’ve been testing two GPS navigation devices this summer: a higher-end GPS unit and a smartphone app that has very good maps. Except for having a longer battery life and being waterproof, I can’t see what the value is in having a dedicated $400+ GPS versus using the GPS on your smartphone with a ~$15 mapping and tracking application and …

I took off work on Friday and drove up to Franconia Notch in the White Mountains to bushwhack Big Bickford Mountain, a trail-less 3,000 footer that’s near the Eagle Cliff bushwhack I did in June. The weather forecast was for cool but sunny weather and I reckoned that a moderate bushwhack would do me good. Hike Planning There isn’t much …

I am a side sleeper, but I sometimes have a hard time staying asleep all night on backpacking trips because I don’t have a pillow to cradle my head and prevent me from rolling onto my back. Lately, I’ve been bringing an inflatable Exped Air Pillow with me on backpacking trips and it’s really improved my sleep while helping to …

When you hike above-treeline in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, you quickly learn to look for the rock cairns that mark the trail. Blazing is scare because there are no trees to paint blazes on and they wouldn’t do anyone any good in winter because they’d be covered by ice and snow. Even if you were to paint them …