Backpacking

Don’t forget the necessities. Here are a few tips for making sure everything makes it into your pack.

Ever pooped in a bag in the great outdoors? If you haven’t, you’re either lucky enough to live and hike where catholes are allowed and recommended (read about when to dig a cathole and when to use a WAG bag HERE) or you haven’t yet spent enough nights deep in the wilderness. Because if there’s one thing most seasoned outdoorists know how to do, it’s poop in a bag. But there’s a first time for everything, so if you’re looking for how to use a WAG Bag, what they even are, or need some tips for reducing the ick factor and the smell when packing them out, we’ve got you covered.

When it comes to preparing meals in the backcountry, backpacking stoves that run on compressed gas–you know, those cylindrical metal canisters filled with fuel–are far and away the most popular option. They’re efficient, convenient, tolerably lightweight, and easy to find at pretty much any outdoor retailer. And while these fuel canisters are made of recyclable materials (steel), recycling them is more nuanced than you might think. Here’s how to recycle your empty backpacking fuel canisters the right way.

When it comes to wireless earbuds for the outdoors, whether that be trail running, hiking, or solo backpacking, there’s more to consider than which ones sound the best. Things like water resistance, durability, and whether or not they’re actually going to stay in your ears as you’re bouncing down the trail. So today we’re going to take a look at 5 wireless earbuds, all of which we’ve personally tested, and let you know which stand out for outdoor recreation of all kinds.

Love them or hate them, these ultralight pad pumps make quick work of setting up camp. Are they worth a few extra ounces? You decide.

We’re no strangers to sweat. We live in Utah, after all, where the desert sun is hot and the air is dry and hiking up mountains regularly happens when it’s over 90ºF. Naturally, that means we’re no strangers to funky smells coming from our clothing, either. So we decided to run a little test to see what fabrics dry fastest and stink less when they get sweaty.

We’ve tested plenty of portable power banks, backup batteries and chargers over the years. But when it comes to keeping devices like phones and high-tech watches powered on backpacking trips, every ounce (and gram) matters. So we put two of backpacking’s most popular ultralight power banks to the test and weighed their pros and cons (literally) to find out which we’ll be taking on all our backpacking adventures from here on out.

US National Parks are expensive. You could always go during fee-free days but then you have to deal with crowds. The next best thing? National parks that are always free. Yup. They exist.

Backpacking involves tons of waste. Just think about when you come home from a trip and dump a giant bag of messy trash right in the garbage, appalled by the amount of waste you created over the course of a single weekend. There are the single-serve meals, dozens of individually wrapped snacks, tiny packets of electrolytes…And almost none of it is recyclable, reusable or compostable. That’s a lot of waste.

So I wanted to see if I could do better. Iike, a lot better. And find out if I could spend three days in the backcountry and create absolutely zero waste. Want to see how I managed? Whether it’s even possible? If I’d do it again and what products exist to make it easier? Read on.

Down is often considered the superior insulator when it comes to sleeping bags for backpacking or camping. But it’s not the best choice for every adventure or every adventurer. If you’re vegan, down isn’t since it’s harvested from dead animals. If you’re on a budget, down is prohibitively expensive. Or if you want a versatile bag that’s suitable for all types of weather, down doesn’t insulate at all when it’s wet. The alternative? Synthetic insulation. But synthetic ultralight sleeping bags are often few and far between since the material is a bit heavier than down. So what’s an ultralighter to do? Try one of these synthetic ultralight bags on for size, of course!