Guides
Buying guides and how-tos, written from real trips.
The Complete Beginner Backpacking Gear List
Everything you actually need for your first overnight, from our own catalogue — with the honest budget math and where to buy it.
6 min readBest Lightweight Backpacking Tents (2026)
The eight shelters in our catalogue, ranked by published weight, floor area, and list price — with an honest reason to skip every one of them.
9 min readBest Sleeping Pads for Backpacking 2026
Fourteen pads from R 1.3 to R 7.7, compared on the manufacturers’ published insulation and weight figures — air, self-inflating, and foam, with a reason to skip each.
23 min readUltralight Sleeping Bags in 2026: How to Buy Warmth by the Gram
Temperature ratings decoded, fill weight over fill power, per-size prices across the Western Mountaineering line, the value anchor Kelty Cosmic 20, and the big Amazon names now in stock — NEMO, Sea to Summit, Mountain Hardwear and Therm-a-Rest.
9 min readBest Backpacking Backpacks (2026)
Six packs from 885 g to 2130 g, compared on published volume, suspension, and list price — and why fit beats every number on the page.
6 min readMSR PocketRocket 2 Review (2026)
A 2.6 oz (73 g), $49.95 unregulated burner that has outlived most of its category. What the mechanism promises, where the physics says no, and who should buy the Deluxe instead.
11 min readBest Lightweight Backpacking Stoves and Cookware (2026)
A 56 g burner and a 433 g windproof system are both right answers. Matching the stove system to how you actually cook, using published weight, capacity, and boil figures.
22 min readLightweight Insulated Jackets for Backpacking: Weight, Warmth and Fill Power
What fill power actually measures, why the 900-fill jacket here weighs more than the 800-fill one, and how to choose between down and synthetic. A published-specs comparison of the four jackets we carry.
6 min readHow to Get Your Base Weight Under 10 lbs
A practical, no-gimmicks path to a lighter pack, with the arithmetic done in the open against the gear we actually carry.
4 min readWinter Camping Gear Essentials: What You Actually Need for Cold-Weather Nights
Winter warmth is a system, not a shopping list: stacked pads, insulation matched to wet cold, a regulated stove, and traction — built from the gear we carry.
6 min readHow to Clean a Down Sleeping Bag Without Ruining It
The soak takes 15 to 30 minutes; the dry takes two to four hours. When to wash, what detergent destroys, and the drying routine that restores loft.
5 min readPemi Loop Gear List: What 31 Miles of the Whites Actually Demands
Sustained above-treeline exposure, fast-moving weather, and dry ridgelines — the gear list for the Pemigewasset Loop, tuned by the three conditions that drive it.
6 min readSawyer Squeeze vs. Katadyn BeFree: Backcountry Water Filter Comparison (2026)
Compare Sawyer Squeeze vs Katadyn BeFree on flow rate, weight, thread compatibility, and lifespan. Verified specs and honest trade-offs for all hikers.
7 min readTherm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite NXT vs Sea to Summit Ether Light XT (2026)
Compare the NeoAir XLite NXT and Ether Light XT on warmth-to-weight, comfort, and noise. Verified specs and honest trade-offs for all sleeping styles.
6 min read