The Archive
27 guides · page 1 of 3
Buyer's Guide
The Best Backpacking Chairs & Camp Seats (2026)
Camp comfort is the cheapest morale multiplier in backpacking, and nothing buys more of it per dollar than something decent to sit on. We ranked the seven camp seats worth carrying, from a $10 foam pad to the 1.1-pound Helinox Chair Zero that made real chairs backpack-viable, and we did the ounces-versus-comfort math honestly at every rung.
Read the guide →~14 min read
Buyer's Guide
The Best Sun Protection for Hiking (2026)
Sunscreen is the sun protection you have to remember every two hours; clothing is the sun protection you put on once. That single idea, coverage beats reapplication, organizes everything in this guide: a sun hoodie, a real hat, a neck gaiter, sunglasses, gloves for your pole hands, and one pocket sunscreen stick for the skin fabric cannot reach. Seven picks, about $13 to about $80, and together they cover more skin than a whole tube of SPF 50 ever will.
Read the guide →~14 min read
Buyer's Guide
The Best Dog Hiking Gear (2026)
Your dog is the most enthusiastic hiking partner you will ever have, and the most honest: no complaints, no bailing at the trailhead, no opinions about your pace. The catch is that dogs also hide pain until it is a problem, so the safety work falls on you. We picked the seven pieces of dog trail gear we would actually clip on, from the benchmark Ruffwear Front Range harness to a $6 bowl, and the whole kit costs less than one emergency vet visit.
Read the guide →~14 min read
Buyer's Guide
The Best Hiking Gear Under $25 (2026)
Here is the best-kept secret in outdoor retail: the gear that improves every single mile costs less than lunch. Not the pack, not the boots, the small stuff, the socks and tape and tabs that live at the exact points where hiking actually hurts. Eleven picks from about $10 to about $25 (two drift a few dollars over, and we say so), every one verified, every one pack-proven.
Read the guide →~14 min read
Buyer's Guide
The Best Gifts for Hikers (2026)
The best hiking gift is the thing they would never buy themselves. Hikers spend their own money on necessities and quietly skip the safety splurges, the camp luxuries, and the small upgrades that make every trip better. That is your opening. Nine gifts, from a ~$10 titanium spork to a ~$400 satellite messenger, every one of them field-proven and none of them a guess.
Read the guide →~14 min read
Buyer's Guide
The Best Hiking Gear for Bad Knees (2026)
Bad knees do not end hiking careers; unmanaged descents do. We built the six-piece kit that attacks downhill load from every direction, shock-absorbing poles, compression, a patella strap, a supportive insole, and a max-cushion shoe, from a ~$14 strap to a ~$155 HOKA, and explain the load math that makes each piece earn its place.
Read the guide →~12 min read
Buyer's Guide
The Best Hiking Boots for Wide Feet (2026)
Most hiking-boot misery is not a bad boot. It is a D-width last on an EE-width foot. We ranked the seven boots and shoes that actually ship in wide sizes or are built on genuinely foot-shaped lasts, from a ~$105 Merrell to a ~$200 Oboz, and explain the one sizing spec the shoe wall never tells you about.
Read the guide →~13 min read
Field Notes
The 15 Best Hikes in the World (2026)
Every hiker keeps a private list of the walks that would justify a whole trip, a whole year, sometimes a whole reinvention. This is ours: fifteen trails across six continents' worth of dreaming, from a four-day Patagonian classic to a five-month American pilgrimage, each with the honest numbers, the honest difficulty, and the season that makes it sing. The world is very large and astonishingly walkable. Here is where to start.
Read the guide →~18 min read
Review
Sawyer Squeeze Review (2026)
The Sawyer Squeeze is the filter you will see on more thru-hiker packs than any other: a listed 0.1 micron hollow-fiber element, about 3 ounces listed, and a price around $40. Here is the full verdict on the standard Squeeze and the smaller Micro, how they stack up against the Katadyn BeFree and LifeStraw Peak Squeeze, and the three honest limitations every buyer should know.
Read the guide →~9 min read
Review
Merrell Moab 3 Review (2026)
The Moab 3 is commonly cited as the best-selling hiking boot in America, and the reason is disarmingly simple: it is comfortable out of the box, priced fairly, and durable enough that people buy the same boot twice. Here is the full verdict on both mid builds, waterproof and not, where the Salomon X Ultra 5 and Columbia Newton Ridge beat it, and who should actually buy it.
Read the guide →~9 min read
Review
Osprey Talon 22 Review (2026)
The Talon 22 is the pack every other daypack gets measured against: a listed 22-liter panel loader with Osprey's AirScape backpanel, a real hipbelt, and two decades of trail reputation behind it. Here is where it earns its price, where a cheaper or more hydration-focused pack beats it, and who should actually buy one.
Read the guide →~8 min read
Explainer
Ultralight Backpacking 101
Ultralight isn't a shopping list, it's an accounting system: weigh everything, question everything, and make every ounce argue for its place in your pack. This is the honest beginner's guide: what base weight means and the tiers the community actually uses, why the big three (pack, shelter, sleep) are where the pounds hide, where cutting weight is nearly free versus where it costs $100 an ounce, and where the ultralight ethos genuinely goes too far for beginners.
Read the guide →~13 min read