Hiking

Looking for waterproof grounding shoes so you can keep up your earthing practice in the winter? The Bahé Rediscover might be just the thing.

We love to travel here at Terradrift. And we’ve spent enough time exploring Europe now to definitely have our favorite spots for outdoor adventure. So if you’re headed to (or located in) mainland Europe, definitely check out these routes, which might just be some of the best hiking trails in Europe (they’re at least some of our faves so far).

Here at Terradrift, we’re hikers first (even though we are also obsessed with backpacking and mountain biking). And as such, we’ve explored nearly every corner of the wide and wonderful landscape known as the U.S. Along the way, we’ve found some magical trails (including paddle trails) from coast to coast (including in Hawaii and Alaska). Naturally, there are millions of trails around this massive country, and we obviously haven’t hiked even close to all of them. We haven’t even hiked in every state (though we’ve been to almost every state)! But of the places we have laced up our vegan hiking boots, these are some of our favorite hikes in the USA!

You know we love a functional, well-designed, sustainable piece of gear here at Terradrift. And there may be no more impactful piece of gear than the (not so humble) daypack. After all, it accompanies you on all your hiking–maybe even biking or travel–adventures, holds your 10 essentials, and gets carted onto mountain, desert, and coastal trails. It will probably be with you for years if not decades (if you’re taking care of it and repairing it, of course), and gets caked with not only dirt, but memories. So choosing the right one–and one that’s kinder to the planet–is an important decision. Fortunately, we’ve tested a whole bunch and these are the best daypacks in our opinion (that are also highly sustainable).

New to hiking? Or just ready to level-up your hiking game? But not sure what to put on or how to best dress yourself for the outdoors? We get it; all the technical outdoor apparel out there can seem intimidating. But we got you. Here’s what to wear hiking in every season, plus some of our favorite hiking clothing from sustainable brands we love.

Are you a data nerd when it comes to tracking outdoor activities? Always have to know your mileage, elevation gain, heart rate? Searching for a GPS watch that can tell you all that and more that ALSO has a super impressive battery life? Me too, friends, me too. So allow me to introduce you to the Suunto Vertical, our favorite new GPS watch.

We’ve tested a LOT of backpacks, travel bags and camera bags here at Terradrift. Like, a lot. So it takes quite a bit to impress us these days. But when we got ahold of one of the new Peak Design Outdoor Bags and Outdoor Slings that just launched on Kickstarter this month, to say we were impressed might have been a bit of an understatement. Check out what we thought of them and whether we think you should back them.

There’s a whole wide-spread saying about cotton and other plant-based fibers in the outdoor industry: Cotton kills. Which might lead one to believe it should be avoided at all costs for any and every outdoor adventure. But is that really the case? Should you truly avoid it at all costs, or can it sometimes be the right choice for hiking, biking, or other outdoor activities? We’ll dive into the pros and cons of hiking in plant-based fibers like cotton, bamboo, and hemp so you can make the right (and the safe) decision.

At Terradrift, we prioritize reducing overconsumption and buying versatile products to lessen the massive amount of waste created by the outdoor and apparel industries. It’s far more sustainable to own one item that can do five things well than five items that each do one thing well (also, it makes more room in our closet to store luggage…). So when we learned about the Vivobarefoot Magna Lite WR SG, a minimalist barefoot hiking boot billed as sustainable, lightweight, water-resistant, ultra-flexible, and hyper-versatile, we were intrigued. So we tested them out to see if they lived up to the hype.

In the list of states long overlooked when it comes to hiking, biking and outdoor adventure, West Virginia ranks pretty high on the list. But for those who know, this little state that’s as much the north of the south as it is the south of the north is brimming with wide open spaces to explore. There are tons of wilderness areas, state parks, and forests to get lost in (please don’t get lost), so we recently headed to Tucker County, home to Blackwater Falls, Canaan Valley, and Dolly Sods, to see what makes the region so special. Here’s how to spend a long weekend to a week biking, chasing waterfalls, and hiking in West Virginia.