Thru-Hiking Journal

Plus A Few Other Summer Sales to Note Getting outside should be simple, right? It doesn't take a lot of time, gear, or money to go for a walk around your neighborhood, or read on your porch, or have a picnic with your friends in a nearby park. Even activities like hiking should be fairly budget-friendly, as you probably already have most of the items you need lying around your house to get started. (Check out this post to see everything you need to begin your hiking journey;

5 Trails So Nice, I've Done Them At Least Twice, and I'll Do Them At Least Thrice! When I moved to Colorado in 2021, I was on a mission to explore as many places as possible, and this almost certainly meant every hike would be a one-time venture. No trail repeats. But I've found several that are worth doing over and over again -- not just because they're beautiful, but because they give me something new every time. These recommendations are, of course, going to be biased base

How Going Alone (and Being Afraid) Set the Foundation for Future Adventures My sixth backpacking trip was this solo adventure. The seventh would ultimately be the Appalachian Trail. Deep into the COVID lockdown, I was feeling itchy for an adventure. I was living in Columbus, Ohio, and I was working a series of odd jobs. People kept asking me what my plan was -- I didn't feel comfortable returning to teaching until the pandemic was over, as my online teaching experience in the

Spoiler Alert: You Probably Have Most of it Already! Getting into hiking can be intimidating. There is so much stuff out there, and some of it looks so technical. People from every direction are telling you to buy this exact outfit or use this exact water bottle; how do you decide what you actually need and what's just fluff? Fortunately, you likely already have the majority of items you need to begin your hiking journey! Until you have more experience under your belt to get

And I Wouldn't Change a Thing! Thru-hiking is one of my favorite exercises in minimalism. The practice is simple: if you want it, you have to carry it. If it's not worth the weight, it's not coming. After all, if the gear is coming along for thousands of miles, it has to be worth the ride. Ultralight backpacking has become increasingly popular in recent years. UL backpackers pare down gear to the basic necessities. The weight qualification to consider yourself "ultralight" is

This step-by-step guide shows even the most Type B traveler how to find free campsites on their road trips.

How Backpacking Cerro Chirripó in Costa Rica Changed My Whole Dang Life It was autumn, 2018. My final year of college. Somewhere along the way, I’d realized that I was on track to graduate a semester early, and I wasn’t prepared for that, so I leapt at the opportunity to study abroad. I landed on a program in Costa Rica studying ecological resilience – a program far outside the scope of my special education and English literature majors. All I knew was that I wanted to be out

Timed entry permits for some U.S. national parks have changed in 2026 from previous years. Read how to get the permits you need for your national park vacation this year.

This journal details the author's trek of the 76-mile Foothills Trail in South Carolina.

One of a Billion AT Gear Lists on the Internet Today All our stuff (minus food and water) for the next 4 months If you search "backpacking gear list" on your preferred search engine (s/o to Ecosia, which donates 100% of its profits to organizations and nonprofits that focus on reforestation and is carbon negative; I've made it my default search engine on my phone and laptop and it does everything you need it to do but has better environmental contributions), you will find a m