The Archive

57 guides · page 4 of 5

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 eight boots and shoes that actually ship in wide sizes or are built on genuinely foot-shaped lasts, from a ~$110 Columbia in true women's wide sizing 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

Explainer

The Ten Essentials: What to Actually Carry

The most famous checklist in the outdoors is almost a century old, and it's still the best answer to the question every new hiker asks: what should be in my pack? This is the modern, practical version: the ten systems as mountaineering tradition defined them, what each one actually looks like in a day hiker's pack in 2026, what it costs in ounces and dollars, and where you can honestly scale down without kidding yourself.

Read the guide →~13 min read

Comparison

Hiking Boots vs Trail Runners: Which Should You Hike In?

The most heated gear debate on any trail, settled honestly: what boots actually give you (and what they just claim to), why thru-hikers overwhelmingly went to trail runners, what the old 'pound on your feet' saying really means, how dry time and durability change the math, and a clear buy-boots-if / buy-runners-if verdict so you can stop reading forum wars and go hiking.

Read the guide →~13 min read

Explainer

How to Choose a Daypack: The Complete Guide

Daypack marketing is a blizzard of liters, straps, and acronyms, and almost none of it tells you the two things that actually matter: does it fit your back, and does it carry what your day actually needs. This is the rigorous version: how many liters you really want, how to measure your torso and judge fit, when a suspended backpanel earns its weight over a frameless sack, how hydration compatibility actually works, and which features matter versus which ones are just sewn-on marketing.

Read the guide →~12 min read

Buyer's Guide

The Best Hiking Socks (2026)

Socks are the cheapest gear decision that can ruin a trip or quietly save it. The right pair manages moisture, kills friction before it becomes a blister, and refuses to stink after three days on trail. We ranked the three that matter: the lifetime-guaranteed benchmark nearly every hiker ends up owning, the softer merino alternative for sensitive feet, and the toe socks that solve blisters the others cannot. Plus the value merino multi-pack that makes the rotation advice affordable.

Read the guide →~10 min read

Buyer's Guide

The Best Rain Jackets for Hiking (2026)

Four shells from $23 to $164 with listed weights from 6.3 oz to about 13 oz. The Marmot PreCip Eco is our pick because it has pit zips; the OR Helium is the ultralight answer, the Columbia Watertight II the budget one, and the Frogg Toggs suit the disposable one.

Read the guide →~11 min read

Buyer's Guide

The Best Backpacking Stoves (2026)

Four canister stoves from $49 to $117: the 2.6 oz MSR PocketRocket 2 for most hikers, the Jetboil Flash for boil-only speed, the Jetboil MiniMo for real cooking, and the SOTO WindMaster for wind and cold. Listed weights, boil times, fuel math, and the fire-restriction rule.

Read the guide →~13 min read