The Archive
35 guides · page 1 of 3
Buyer's Guide
The Best Backcountry Bathroom Kit (2026)
Everyone poops in the woods. Almost nobody gears up for it properly, and the places we love are paying for that gap. This is the definitive kit: the 0.6-ounce listed trowel the ultralight world standardized on, the wag bags a growing list of high-use zones now requires, the $10 bidet that shrinks your toilet paper problem, and the two small items that make the whole system civilized. A few ounces, total, to protect every trail you ever walk.
Read the guide →~13 min read
Buyer's Guide
The Best Power Banks for Thru-Hiking & Backpacking (2026)
Your phone is your map, your camera, your library, and your rescue line, and between resupplies the power bank in your hip belt pocket IS the power grid. We ranked the three 10,000 mAh banks worth carrying, from the $23 Anker workhorse to the 5.3-ounce listed Nitecore NB10000 that became the thru-hiker consensus, and we judged them on the only spec that matters on trail: mAh per ounce.
Read the guide →~12 min read
Buyer's Guide
The Best Backpack Phone Holders & Add-On Pockets (2026)
Your phone is your camera, your map, and your emergency line, and on most packs it lives in the worst pocket you own. We tested the fixes for the universal problem: an on-strap pouch, an add-on hipbelt pocket, the Peak Design clip that owns the premium tier, and the fanny-pack workaround, ranked by the only metric that matters, whether you can reach it without stopping.
Read the guide →~13 min read
Buyer's Guide
The Best Camp Shoes for Backpacking (2026)
After 20 trail miles, the single best feeling money can buy is taking your shoes off, and the second best is having something to put on after. The thru-hiker camp-shoe debate is a cult argument with real stakes: ounces carried all day versus bliss delivered at 6 p.m. We took it seriously, ran the math honestly, and picked the three camp shoes worth their place in a pack, plus a straight look at the barefoot and DIY-foam alternatives.
Read the guide →~13 min read
Buyer's Guide
The Best Kid Carriers for Hiking (2026)
The carrier is the piece of gear that decides whether hiking survives parenthood. We ranked the four framed kid carriers worth the $198 to $315 they cost, from Osprey's flagship Poco Premium to the entry Poco SLT, around the two specs parents consistently miss: torso adjustability for the adult, and the listed maximum load that quietly sets the clock on the whole era.
Read the guide →~14 min read
Buyer's Guide
The Best Tick Protection for Hikers (2026)
Tick protection is not one product, it is a system, and the part most hikers skip is the part that works longest: treating the clothing itself. We built the five-piece layered kit worth carrying, from an $18 bottle of permethrin that keeps working for weeks (listed) to the $11 removal tool you hope to never need, and we drew the safety lines in permanent ink.
Read the guide →~14 min read
Buyer's Guide
The Best Microspikes & Winter Traction (2026)
The difference between a winter hiker and a fair-weather hiker is about $26 to $85 of steel. We ranked the five traction systems worth strapping to a boot on the ladder that actually decides the purchase: coils for sidewalks and flat packed snow, spikes for real trails and ice, and full crampons for the steep mountaineering that none of these are, with listed spike counts doing the honest talking.
Read the guide →~13 min read
Buyer's Guide
The Best Bear Canisters (2026)
In Yosemite, on most of the John Muir Trail corridor, and in parts of the Adirondack High Peaks, a bear canister is not a gear choice, it is a permit condition. We ranked the certified canisters actually worth strapping to a pack, sized them honestly in days of food, and covered the other bear essential, deterrent spray, including where spray itself is banned.
Read the guide →~13 min read
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