After sleeping hundreds of nights across the Appalachian Trail, jungles of Costa Rica, and weekend car-camp trips in the Adirondacks, we know the difference between a hammock that keeps the bugs out and one that lets them feast through the mesh. This guide on the best camping hammocks with mosquito nets in covers seven hammocks … Read more
Picture this: it’s a Saturday morning, the sand is white, the water is glassy, and I’m parked 200 feet from the surf with a 25-pound cooler, two chairs, an umbrella, a pile of towels, and three hungry kids. Six trips later, my back is shot and half my ice has melted. The next week I … Read more
The Jetboil MightyMo is our pick for the fastest backpacking stove for boiling water — it reaches a rolling boil in about three minutes, weighs only 3.36 ounces, and uses roughly half the fuel of a traditional setup. If you want auto-ignition plus a 2-minute boil, the Jetboil Flash is the premium all-in-one choice, and … Read more
When the lights flicker off mid-cooking session or the trailhead fades into dusk, a good lantern turns panic into calm. I have spent the last several months testing the best lanterns for power outages and camping, running them through backyard blackouts, three-night family camping trips, and one memorable ice storm that knocked out our street … Read more
I spent six months testing bivy sacks on the trail, in alpine basins, and during rainy shoulder-season trips across the Pacific Northwest. The short version: the best bivy sacks for ultralight backpacking in are not all created equal, and the right pick depends on whether you cowboy camp under the stars, race on a bikepacking … Read more
I started wearing a paracord bracelet years ago on a Boy Scout trip, and I’ll admit — I thought the compass on it was mostly decoration. Then one foggy morning on a Colorado ridge, that tiny liquid-filled dial pointed me back to the trail when the GPS on my phone died at 6%. It wasn’t … Read more
After more than 200 nights testing pads in the Rockies, Sierras, and Appalachian forests, I can tell you the best sleeping pads for backpacking comfort come down to three numbers: R-value for warmth, weight in ounces, and thickness in inches. Get those right and you sleep like a log; get them wrong and your back … Read more
After spending six weeks testing seven of the most popular personal water filters in creeks, lakes, and snowmelt sources across the Sierra Nevada, I can tell you that picking the right one changes everything about how you travel outdoors. The best personal water filters for are not just about pore size or weight on a … Read more