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10 Expert Tips for Hiking With Trekking Poles
By Michael Lanza If you’ve opened this story, you probably already recognize this truth: For backpackers, dayhikers, climbers, mountain runners, and others, trekking poles noticeably reduce strain, fatigue, and impact on leg muscles and joints, feet, back—and really on your entire body. And... -
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Review: Patagonia Fitz Roy Down Hoody
Down Jacket Patagonia Fitz Roy Down Hoody $399, 15 oz./425.2g (women’s small; men’s medium is 17 oz./482g) Sizes: men’s XS-3XL, women’s 2XS-2XL backcountry.com From backpacking trips in the Canadian Rockies and Oregon, hut treks in New Zealand, and spring and summer camping and climbing trips... -
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The View From Mount St. Helens, One of America’s Best Hikes
By Michael Lanza More than four decades after it last erupted, Washington’s Mount St. Helens has become one of the most sought-after summits in the country—for good reason. Hikers on the standard Monitor Ridge route, on the mountain’s south side, emerge soon from the shady, cool, temperate... -
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The Best Ultralight Hiking and Running Jackets of 2025
By Michael Lanza You’re out on an all-day hike or a long climb or trail run or ride in the mountains. The weather forecast looked pretty good before you set out—but no one shared that memo with the wind that just started hammering your summit ridge, or the spitting rain and hail now pelting you... -
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The 15 Best Hikes in Utah’s National Parks
By Michael Lanza From natural arches, hoodoos, and hanging gardens to balanced rocks and towering mesas, slot canyons and vast chasms, the desert Southwest holds in its dry, searing, lonely open spaces some of America’s most fascinating and inspiring geology. The writer “Cactus Ed” Abbey no... -
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The 12 Best Dayhikes in Yosemite
By Michael Lanza The natural beauty, variety, pristine quality, and scale of America’s National Park System have no parallel in the world. Still, a handful of flagship parks rise above the rest—including, unquestionably, Yosemite. Created in 1890, our third national park harbors some of the... -
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Hike the World’s Most Beautiful Trail: The Alta Via 2
By Michael Lanza Hiking toward a mountain pass named Furcela dia Roa (photo above), on the first day of my family’s weeklong, hut-to-hut trek on the Alta Via 2 in northern Italy’s Dolomite Mountains, we stopped in an open meadow of grass and wildflowers overlooking a deep, verdant valley in... -
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The 10 Best Backpacking Packs of 2025
By Michael Lanza Backpacks come in many sizes and designs for a reason: so do backpackers. Some of us need a pack for moderate loads, some for heavy loads, and others, increasingly, for lightweight or ultralight backpacking. Some prefer a minimalist pack, others a range of features and access... -
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Hiking Half Dome: How to Do It Right and Get a Permit
By Michael Lanza No hike in the country really compares with Yosemite’s Half Dome. The long, very strenuous, challenging, and incredibly scenic day trip to one of the most iconic and sought-after summits in America begins with ascending the Mist Trail through the shower constantly raining down... -
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Backpacking in the North Cascades—A Photo Gallery
By Michael Lanza On my first trip to North Cascades National Park, I was sure I’d found heaven. The hard-earned views of a sea of jagged spires and snow- and ice-covered peaks stretching as far as you could see instantly cemented the place as one of my favorite mountain ranges. I’ve returned... -
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Photo Gallery: Backpacking Yellowstone’s Bechler Canyon
By Michael Lanza I wade slowly into the natural pool known as Mr. Bubble, deep in the backcountry of Yellowstone National Park, feeling the swirling blend of hot water from the natural hot springs pouring into one corner of the pool, and the cold creek water entering from another corner. I... -
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The 5 Southwest Backpacking Trips You Should Do First
By Michael Lanza You want to explore the best backpacking in America’s desert Southwest, but you’re not sure where to begin, or how some of these trips you’ve read about compare for scenery and difficulty. You’ve heard about the need to carry huge loads of water, and environmental challenges... -
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25 Essential Backpacking Gear Accessories of 2025
By Michael Lanza Sure, your backpack, boots, tent, sleeping bag, air mattress, and other backpacking gear matter a lot, and you should put serious thought into your choices when buying any of them. But little things matter, too. Various necessary accessories, convenience items, and small... -
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12 Expert Tips for Finding Solitude When Backpacking
By Michael Lanza Solitude has always reigned as one of the holy grails of backpacking: We all dream of finding that lonely campsite deep in the wilderness with an amazing vista, or hiking for miles or days encountering few or even no other people on the trail. Unfortunately, reality often... -
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The 18 Best Uncrowded National Park Dayhikes
By Michael Lanza The best-known dayhikes in America’s national parks are certainly worth adding to your outdoor-adventure CV. Summits and hiking trails like Angels Landing in Zion, Half Dome in Yosemite, the North Rim Trail overlooking the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, Glacier National... -
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Backpacking the High and Mighty Beartooth Mountains
By Michael Lanza “Big bull moose,” David calls to us over his shoulder, “just ahead of us.” Mark and I scan the forest, but we don’t catch even a glimpse of the moose—or for that matter, see David through the dense trees and brush, although he’s not more than 20 feet ahead of us. Then David... -
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The Best Sun Shirts of 2025
By Michael Lanza Whether backpacking, dayhiking, climbing, trail running, fishing, paddling, or active outdoors in myriad other ways, sun protection becomes critical not only for preventing skin cancer, but also because the hot sun can wear you down and exacerbate the effects of heat... -
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Training For a Big Hike or Mountain Climb
By Michael Lanza When three friends and I decided to attempt to thru-hike the John Muir Trail—221 miles through California’s High Sierra, with numerous mountain passes ranging from 11,000 to over 13,000 feet in elevation—in just one week (backpackers traditionally take two to three weeks), the... -
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The 8 Best Long Hikes in Glacier National Park
By Michael Lanza The morning sun wouldn’t make the climb over Mount Grinnell and find its way into the valley of Swiftcurrent Creek for a couple of hours yet, so we hiked quickly without breaking a sweat in the chilly air. No one else was on the popular Swiftcurrent Pass Trail when we set out... -
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The 10 Best Dayhikes in Glacier National Park
By Michael Lanza Glacier National Park sprawls over a million acres of rugged, glaciated mountains sprinkled with alpine lakes in the northern Rockies—most of it remote wilderness seen only by backpackers willing to hike into the backcountry for multiple days. Nonetheless, you can reach some of...