Light and Dry When It’s Wet and Cold
Labor Day marks the official end of hiking season in the U.S. Which means that after Labor Day, it's a great time for a hike: the thin crowds and Indian summers of September make…
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An Insulated Hat Need Not Be So Heavy
Why are insulated hats so heavy? Andy Skurka learned a lot on his 7,800 mile hike across the country. But sewing was not among the skills he mastered. As I work on this week's…
Backpacking Stoves for Melting Snow, Part 2: What About the Jetboil?
An interesting side show from my boil-water-from-snow time/fuel economy test was the performance of the Jetboil Stove. The Jetboil required 54 minutes to boil 2L of water from snow but used only 1.5 oz…
Backpacking Stoves for Melting Snow, Part 1: Coleman Xtreme vs. MSR Simmerlite
Leave it up to a company that considers Wal-Mart a key customer to invent the first backpacking stove that has the very real potential to usurp the veritable MSR white gas stoves as the…
Essentials are Not Always What “They” Say They Should Be
Which media channels do you trust? The news media is not particularly known for its sage advice about outdoor travel. They are, after all, "only journalists", or so it's been said... Perhaps we should…