Category Archives: How To

Poling Efficiency

With the pri­maries and pres­i­den­tial elec­tions com­ing up, I thought I would write a post on pol­ing tech­nique – just a dif­fer­ent type of pol­ing tech­nique. I am talk­ing trekking poles, not polit­i­cal poles. It recent­ly popped into my mind as I was out on my first cross-coun­try ski of the year the oth­er day. I […]

Gear Selection

I have also received a lot of ques­tions about why I like cer­tain things over oth­er things. Here is my thought process for that. Back­pack Depend­ing on where I am hik­ing and dur­ing what sea­son I am hik­ing I want a back­pack that car­ries some­where between 20–45 lbs com­fort­ably. I like a light­weight back­pack, but it […]

Packing Your Backpack

How do I Pack My Pack? Many peo­ple have asked me how I pack my back­pack, so here is the tech­nique that I like best and I nor­mal­ly use: Line my entire pack with a trash com­pactor bag. I like the trash com­pactor bag because it is a lit­tle thick­er plas­tic so it lasts longer. It is […]

Ultralight Pack Tips

Ten Tips About Ultra­light Packs: Ultra­light Fab­rics and Dura­bil­i­ty Do not pack a back­pack beyond its rec­om­mend­ed weight lim­it. Do not con­sis­tent­ly over­stuff a back­pack with the roll top col­lar filled to capac­i­ty. The roll top col­lar is intend­ed to make a back­pack more water­proof. If the pack is con­tin­u­ous­ly filled to the brink of […]

Hiking Tips & Tricks

Gen­er­al Tips & Tricks Safe­ty first, ultra­light is not always right, your safe­ty is more impor­tant, make sure you have the gear you will need for the weath­er you will encounter. When shop­ping for a back­pack, remem­ber the weight of the back­pack isn’t as impor­tant as with oth­er items that go inside your pack. The […]

Maps/Logistics

Maps and Logis­tics: Below is a list of logis­tics and mapsets that I have cre­at­ed. (The logis­tics link to the doc­u­ments but the maps are too large and too many files so con­tact me to get a DVD or get a link to Drop­box to down­load the files.) Sier­ra High Route Maps Hay­duke Trail Maps Hay­duke Trail Logis­tics Great Divide […]