I start to feel like a bad hiker around this time every year. It’s been about two months since I’ve even thought about hitting the trails. I don’t hike above 85° here in the US South. It’s just too hot and humid. Instead, my gear gets a good airing out from mid-June to mid-September. Still…
How To Survive Your First Trip In The Wild – Backpacking for Beginners
Reviewing “How to Survive Your First Trip In The Wild – Backpacking for Beginners” by Paul “PMags” Magnanti. 139 pages. 200 grams. PMags is a triple-crowner, trail guide, and writes prolifically about backpacking at PMags.com. I have the written review for his book below, but PMags and I also hopped on a zoom to talk…
Trip Report: Pinhoti Trail – Dennis Mill Trailhead
April 2nd 2022 – 7:30am Start – 36* F and Partly Cloudy – 8.6mi out-and-back over 4 hours moving. I kissed Trouble bye, then Atlas and I hopped in the car at about 6:30am. The drive from Cartersville to Chatsworth was beautiful, passing mostly through farmland and woods. Having walked the Pinhoti in 2014, I…
Bailing Out – Leave the Ego on the Trail
Friday night my girlfriend, Trouble, and I packed up camp at 2:00 am and left the forest behind. We hadn’t walked a single mile on trail. The weather was pristine. No bears chased us away. Instead, we left because I could not feel good about the safety of our car, and us as people who…
Etrol 2 in 1 Camping Hammock – Everything but the Tarp!
Three years in this Etrol hammock, and man do I have opinions. Given that I gave it three years, the Etrol must not be bad, right? Right! To the Pros and Cons list! Pros $36.99 – Okay. That’s run-of-the-mill for a decent entry level hammock, right? What if I told you that also came with…
Arc’teryx Aerios 45 – The Contender
I’ve had a handful of multi-day packs. So far, I’ve carried the Osprey Atmos AG 65 and Exos 48, Deuter Aircontact 65, and Teton Sports Explorer the longest. The former three are great long distance packs, while the Teton is my sturdy bushwhacking-in-thorns pack. All three are a little on the heavy side, ranging from…
Why I Don’t Hike
I hike, but sometimes I don’t. When don’t I hike? TL;DR: When I don’t feel like it. I head out into the woods based on one simple inspiration: I want to. A lot of folks hike for fun, for health and exercise, to relax and connect with nature, or to push their limits. I do…
Spotted Wakerobin – Trillium maculatum
This is one of my favorite flowers of the southern woods. Spotted Wakerobin is a lily of the genus Trillium (three leaves), which stands out for it’s namesake dark-green to purple spots (maculatum) and deep red blooms. I’ve noticed shoots as early as late February, with blooms unfurling around mid-march. It’s often scattered sparsely…
I hate HYOH – New Hiker Common Sense
Sorry for the click-bait. You really should hike your own hike. But, I do genuinely hate this phrase. I think “Hike Your Own Hike” has become little more than hiker YOLO. “Hey, wanna push through this fire closure? The fire’s ten miles away.” “Nah, I’m going to skip it and come back later.” “I’m going…
Stuff Sacks – More Common Sense
Don’t use them. That’s it. Okay, that’s not it…or this could have been a tweet. I feel like this should be common sense, but the hiking community is full of gearheads (including me. I have like 20 stuff sacks) who want to have every item to be prepared for every scenario. Unfortunately, many people confuse…