Wood stove jacks are the unsung heroes of winter hot tent camping, sitting quietly between you and a fire hazard every single night. I have spent the last three cold-weather seasons testing stove jacks on canvas wall tents, bell tents, and nylon shelters, running wood stoves at full burn for hours on end. After testing […]

I have spent the last three months putting gloves through the worst conditions I could think of - wet brush, splintered firewood, rose thorns, and frozen garden beds at dawn. By the end of it, I had calloused the inside of my palms from gloves that did not deliver, and I had a clear picture […]

I learned the hard way that "mosquito repellent" isn't a single category. My first real backpacking trip ended with welts on my ankles for a week. The store-brand pump spray I had packed was useless after two hours. Since then, our team has spent three summers testing repellents across the Sierra Nevada, the Everglades, and […]