The key to managing your body temperature while hiking is dressing in layers. Depending on your adventure, you might start before sunrise in freezing temps, and go well into the afternoon heat. Moving at a steady clip uphill with a backpack on is a surefire way to work up a sweat, but doing so in … [Read More]
So you’ve decided you want to start hiking! Welcome to one of the best decisions you’ll ever make, and to a community and way of life that will open doors to experiences and vistas that will blow your mind. There are as many reasons to hike as there are hikers, and yours may be as … [Read More]
Geotagging is the act of sharing specific location data, most commonly in a photograph on social media. It has become a controversial topic recently, as we have the Leave No Trace/Keep the Wilderness Wild folks on one side and the people who see not disclosing locations as a snobby racial and socioeconomic power play on … [Read More]
Leave only footprints, take only photographs. The seven Leave No Trace (LNT) principles were created for folks to have a simple and easily understood framework of practices to help leave nature as unchanged by our presence as possible, so that future generations can enjoy it. In essence, the purpose of Leave No Trace is to keep the … [Read More]
This is one of those areas where you’re going to need to summons that age-old women’s intuition thing. This isn’t the part where I go all man-hating feminist and talk about how we need to stick together and stay away from the dudes, but it is the part where I talk about how many smarmy … [Read More]
Someone out there just saw this page and is thinking, “Hiking is pretty gender-neutral. Why do we need a resource just for women?” I can guarantee you that this person has never been a woman who has to pee while in a climbing harness on a four-person rope team 13,000 feet up a glacier. And … [Read More]
To be honest, you will probably never use a weapon while hiking. But knowing you have something with which to protect yourself will give you a feeling of security like nothing else. First, know your audience: what are you defending yourself from? The top three perps are bears, cougars, and people. Statistically speaking you’re hundreds … [Read More]
There are many compact first aid kits on the market, or you can build your own. If you buy a premade one, familiarize yourself with its contents before setting out, making sure it has everything you need. The pro of buying premade is that you don’t have to take the time to build it, but … [Read More]
We don’t like to think about it, but there may come a time when you will need to send up a flare. Cell phones don’t always work and smoke signals can be a bit of a fire hazard, so having something like the Garmin InReach, Spot, or a simple PLB can literally be the difference … [Read More]
“Do you want company?” I was in a fairly remote area and saw that there was someone about to intersect the trail I was on. As I got closer I saw it was a man and that he kept looking in my direction, so I slid the canister of bear spray from the side pocket … [Read More]
