Afoot and afloat in Maine’s most beguiling backcountry My introduction to Maine’s famed 100-Mile Wilderness region came in early July of 1974, when a junior high school friend and I concocted a plan to hike…
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“We Cannot Take Enjoying Nature for Granted”: A Conversation with Ramon Cruz
AMC board member Ramón Cruz is the former President of the Sierra Club and has over 25 years of experience intersecting the fields of sustainability, environmental policy, urban planning, energy and climate change. He has worked in...
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Ever hear that an extra pound on your feet is equivalent to 5 pounds on your back? Whether or not that oft-quoted piece of backcountry wisdom is exactly right, one thing is definitely true: Hiking…
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When hiking with kids, it’s always good to have a payoff to reward their effort, whether you’re offering a mountain view or a chocolate bar from your backpack—or maybe both. One of the best attractions…
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Short answer: A lot. Long answer: It depends on a multitude of factors, including body weight, pack weight, elevation gain/loss, terrain, and more. Here’s a quick round-up of a few online estimates (and guesstimates), plus…
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Yes and no, but mostly no. A tent footprint protects the underside of the tent from abrasion and moisture, helping to extend the lifespan of the tent and keep it drier on the inside. Footprints…
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How much weight will a tent add to your pack? It depends. Manufacturers list two weights for tents, trail weight and packed weight. Neither is truly accurate. Packed weight refers to how much the entire…
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Snow stakes are designed to anchor a tent in compacted snow. They aren’t absolutely necessary to pitch a winter tent—you can also create anchors by using buried objects in the snow, or “deadmen”—but they are…
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I’m always on a quest to pack maximum backcountry calories for minimum weight, especially during the winter season when calorie burn runs particularly high. I must admit that one of my favorite go-to sources for…
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Discover the pros and cons of these two common pack designs. Over the past two decades, backpack design has increasingly shifted away from external frames to internal frames. Indeed, it can be difficult these days…
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