Gear

Whether you’re planning an extended road trip full of nights spent under the stars or you’re just looking for the ultimate comfy sleep setup for you and your partner/dog/best bud/just you, there may be no better option than a cushy self-inflating sleeping pad and a big ol’ roomy sleeping bag. Especially if you plan to get cozy with a camp buddy 😉. Heck, even if you’re on your own and you just love to sprawl when you sleep, a double sleeping bag and mattress are a stellar addition to your car camping setup.

It’s time for the annual REI Memorial Day Sale! Which means great deals on tons of camping and backpacking gear. Here’s 12 of our favorites in 2025.

It’s that time of year again! Here’s some of our favorite sales from outdoor brands this Memorial Day. Camping and Backpacking.

It’s officially hiking-in-shorts weather! In fact, all summer long you’ll rarely, if ever, find us playing outside in anything else. We don’t like clingy fabric on our skin (which means breathable sun shirts only on our top half), prefer to feel the breeze on our skin, and don’t mind applying a little sunscreen for the easy-breezy feeling shorts provide on the trail. But a perfect pair can be hard to find, especially if you want a more sustainable pair from a brand that puts Earth first. Fortunately, we put several pairs to the test to help you find the ideal pair for you. Here are 5 of the best sustainable hiking shorts for women we’ve found.

It’s officially hiking-in-shorts weather! In fact, all summer long you’ll rarely find us playing outside in anything else. We don’t like clingy fabric (which means breathable sun shirts only on our upper halves), prefer to feel the breeze on our skin, and don’t mind applying a little sunscreen for the easy-breezy feeling shorts provide on the trail. But a perfect pair can be hard to find, especially if you want a more sustainable pair from a brand that puts Earth first. Fortunately, we put several pairs to the test to help you find the ideal pair for you. Here are 5 of the best sustainable hiking shorts for men we’ve found.

If you’re ready to ditch traditional laces and step into the world of minimalist shoes, the Merrell Vapor Glove 6 Boa is a solid choice. With a lightweight build, excellent traction, and a micro-adjustable Boa Fit System, it blends barefoot freedom with everyday comfort—perfect for trail runners, barefoot-curious walkers, and anyone who hates tying shoes.

Come summer, we’re all about barefoot sandals. We explore in them, travel in them, wander in them, and definitely hike in them. Yes, we hike in sandals (but only purpose-built sandals designed for the task). So just like last year, we got our hands on a bunch of different brands and styles, tested them all on dirty, rocky, uneven trails in Utah, plus on gravel and asphalt, and sized them up to determine which ones are best for what activities, which are most comfortable, durable, have the best groundfeel, you name it. So if you’re ready for a new pair of barefoot hiking sandals, here are some of the best money can buy.

Are you team water bottle or hydration reservoir? Sound off! Well we tested a hydration system that’s truly the best of both worlds: It has the functionality of a bladder with the ease-of-use of a water bottle. It’s the One Bottle Hydration system, essentially a hydration tube for a water bottle, and it may be our new favorite way to stay hydrated on long hikes and backpacking trips. Read on for our full review.

Thinking of swapping your tent for a hammock on your next camping or backpacking trip? Or are you new to this whole camping thing and trying to decide which sleep setup is going to provide the ultimate backcountry experience? Well, you’ve come to the right place. Because choosing between hammock camping and tent camping is…nuanced? They’re just different, OK? And offer very different experiences. Fortunately, in the battle of tent vs hammock, there are distinct pros, cons and insider tips to help you choose the ultimate sleep setup for your next outdoor adventure and we’re gonna break ’em down to help you make the right decision for you.

Ultralight backpacking gadgets are everywhere these days, constantly vying for your attention and begging you to spend on more innovative new gear that promises to make your time on the trail better! We love perusing pages of these items, dreaming of how we might use them all on our next adventure. But are they actually worth it? Especially for ultralight backpackers whose goal is to carry less? We put 10 ultralight backpacking gadgets we found on Garage Grown Gear, our favorite website for all things ultralight, to the test to see which ones are actually worth the weight, and which ones are a waste of space.