I've watched a hiking partner catch one hidden patch of black ice on a north-facing slope and go down hard, fast enough that I couldn't reach her before she slid ten feet. She was wearing microspikes in her pack. She hadn't put them on yet because the trail "looked fine." That was the day I […]

I still remember the first time I fired up side imaging on a rental boat in Florida. The screen looked like abstract art, the boat was drifting at the wrong speed, and I nearly gave up on the technology entirely. Two seasons later, after plenty of trial and error, side imaging has become the single […]

When I started backpacking in the Sierra Nevada, I treated bear canisters like an awkward brick I had to carry. After losing a week of food to a curious black bear in the Adirondacks, I learned the hard way that learning how to use a bear canister correctly is the single most important backcountry skill […]

Last October, I watched a buddy fumble through dead phone batteries halfway up a Cascade saddle. He had a paper map in his pack and a baseplate compass on his sternum strap, but he hadn't practiced either in five years. We backtracked to the trail using his compass and a watch-trick I taught him on […]

Learning how to use a kayak rudder properly is the difference between fighting the wind every stroke and paddling a boat that practically steers itself. A kayak rudder is a hinged blade mounted at the stern that drops into the water and is controlled by toe-operated foot pedals, and its primary job is to counteract […]

A kayak skeg is a retractable fin that drops down from the hull at the stern of a touring or sea kayak to fight weather cocking, the bow-turning-into-the-wind tendency that forces you to paddle unevenly. Deployed correctly, a skeg lets your kayak track straight in crosswinds and waves so you can paddle with even strokes […]

I still remember the first time I switched my avalanche beacon to search mode for real. My hands were shaking, the wind was howling, and the display told me a partner was buried under roughly 80 centimeters of new snow somewhere within a 40-meter radius. That single piece of plastic on my chest cut a […]

If you have ever pulled a fillet out of the freezer six months after a great fishing trip only to find it rimmed with ice crystals and smelling faintly of cardboard, you already know why learning how to vacuum seal fish for freezing matters. I have been sealing my own catch for years, and the […]

Walking in snowshoes is one of the most beginner-friendly ways to keep hiking through the winter months, but the first 15 minutes on snow feel awkward for almost everyone. I learned to walk in snowshoes on a frozen rail trail in Vermont, and the wider stride, the higher foot lift, and the strange feeling of […]

Here's the uncomfortable truth after a decade of testing outdoor gear: most backpackers wash their down sleeping bag wrong. A recent industry survey of more than 1,200 campers pegged the figure at roughly 78%, and I've watched it happen on trips more times than I can count. A friend pours in regular Tide, the bag […]