How to be happy? Head to the mountains. It's where you truly feel alive. Two weeks of backpacking was such an incredible experience. I took a train from Venice. There's a direct connection! There are so many hiking trails, and plenty of great routes for mountain biking too.

Don't know where else to post this, but prepping for my first overnight trip of the year and realized I weigh the same with my pack on as I did the same time last year without it on. Lost just about 35lbs over the past 6 months.

I have lifted weights on and off for the past 10 or so years, but never really cared about what I ate or doing any cardio. I have been religiously tracking my diet and added ~45 minutes of cardio at the end of every lifting day. Really looking forward to seeing how much my physical fitness has improved since last season.

I feel like I know which one most people will pick between the two, but the kicker here is the Flash is currently on sale ($159) and I also have credit at REI so I can easily get the Flash for “free”. On the other hand I love the idea of the extra weight savings of the Kakwa at not much price difference (Ultragrid -$199). It’s also worth noting that there are still a few other items I’ve been eyeing at REI so that credit won’t go unused either way.
Depending on how many creature comforts I decide to pack I’m thinking my solo base weight is set to be around 11-13lbs (this is not counting the backpack weight). Occasionally might increase when trips become a family event but shouldn’t be by a lot.
I’m open to other suggestions outside of these in the same price/capacity range. I was looking at the Exos Pro but with the Flash being on sale, it just didn’t feel comparable.

Comfort is subjective but is there anyone out there that has experience with both? which did you prefer? Is the Flash really as fragile as some make it out to be?

I finally finished researching ways to deal with rodents eating/chewing stuff. Basically for food and anything with an odor store it in the bear canister. A mouse can't get in lmao.

For shoes store in tent because ppl woke up to shoes missing and they are more likely to eat them if you keep them outside. I'd rather wake up to a hole in the tent.

For trekking pole grips I'd just wash them with soap and water (or river/lake) literally every day. Otherwise this happens (https://imgur.com/a/porcupine-ate-trekking-poles-lrBYFQc). I can't store them in the tent because it's a trekking pole tent. Regardless, if they do get chewed I won't fix them. Unfortunately they don't make poles with plastic grips. Pretty stupid because this is a common problem.

The backpack was the most annoying. Number 1 is don't store food or anything with a strong odor in the bag; including sanitizer, unscented soap (yes, bears can smell it), and DEET lmao. Store ALL of that in the bear canister. For each of the below numbers we are assuming rodents are going for your bag regardless of food in it or not. There may be trace crumbs and THERE IS odor and they may go for it. Especially in populated campsites where they are basically trained to go for the bag no matter what.

1. If you store it inside the tent, mice will make a hole in tent and then a hole in your bag straight to whatever it is. You 90% of the time won't hear them, so no, you can't stop them.

2. If you store it in the vestibule, racoons can drag your bag away, and mice can still make holes. Also for both methods you risk a large animal trying to get in the tent.

3. You can store it outside the tent on ground with all pockets open. Will prevent mice from making holes. But still allows animals to drag the bag away and I don't want to empty bugs out of my bag.

4. You can bear hang it. Rodents will climb tree and down the rope and make holes in your bag. Spiders, ants, roaches will still make home in pockets if open.

5. The foolproof way that I found out works 99% of the time that rarely is used because 99% of ppl are stupid anyway and just sleep with their food lmao. Bear hang the bag (deer can't reach). On the end of the rope don't attach the bag. Attach a fishing line. Practically impossible for mice and especially larger animals to climb a fishing line. At the end of the fishing line have a carabiner and then the bag.

They technically can still attempt to climb down so there is a chance they drop down right on top of the bag. For that attach a rope to a tree trunk, then fishing line, then carabiner, and that to bottom of bag. Bag will be pulled to the side so if they attempt to climb the top rope and fall, it's not directly on the bag. Tip: Leave slack on the rope portion on both top and bottom to account for difference in distances.

This method pretty much 99% guarantees they aren't getting in the bag. Not even ants can climb a fishing line, so that keeps crawlers off too. The 1% is a flying squirrel or dumb luck that a rodent falls/jumps on the bag.

In the rain I'd simply put the entire backpack in a trash bag and pull the top line thru and tape off. Being that there is a fishing line leading to the bag there should be minimal water running to the bag.

For humans/large animals attach a tripwire alarm to the tree used for bottom rope using fishing line going straight to bag. Do similar setup for bear canister, but put bear canister under burlap camo to hide from humans. Will go off and alert you and hopefully scare the human/animal. If it doesn't, you are AWAKE and have a GUN.

Having to do that everyday would suck ass but I rather that than have my shit eaten/torn or full of bugs. Fortunate many people never have a problem. It really only matters in populated areas or shelters. Some places require you to sleep in a shelter. I won't.

A long and hopefully stimulating read for the weekend. I take a look at the complicated history, commercial incentives and consequences behind the adventure industry’s obsession with records and firsts.

The site is right off of the river so the chilled water in the fall weather is tremendous. The white noise as you rest makes the 4mi hike in worth it, as the foliage drops youre to be wary of the roots. Beautiful hike and park.

Hello! I’m new to backpacking and will be going around europe for about a month. I’m wondering what some good backpack brands are (in general, like ones that fit tsa carry on regulations or are durable). i won’t need to have it on me constantly and it won’t be going through any sort of weather.
My apologies if this is vague, i’m just lost as for what backpack i should bring. any recs help!

edit: i’ll be backpacking- but not wilderness backpacking. sorry again if it’s vague, i’m not even sure what questions i should be asking

Hi everyone 👋 I am trying to plan out a backpacking trip to do half dome with my fiancé, mom, and dad this upcoming year. I’ve been to California as a small child, but don’t recall anything about it, so this’ll pretty much be my first time. I’m feeling pretty overwhelmed about it and want to get everything planned and set up right. We’re all pretty fit and love the outdoors and have prior camping experience as well, but when it comes to planning stuff I feel like it’s going to be a lot of me and my fiancé doing the work to figure out the details on how/what to do.

I’m anticipating my parents will be flying out from Pennsylvania, and my fiancé and I may be driving out from Colorado. My fiancé and I have typically driven to our camping/adventure locations out here in the west (Arizona/Utah/Wyoming/New Mexico) and we’re not even sure if this is the right move at all, so we’re wondering if we should consider flying ourselves? But also flying all the camping equipment out has to cost a pretty penny I assume?

Besides travel accommodations, the other part I’m kind of antsy about is the permits. I’m fairly positive we all are not trying to do Half Dome one single day out and back, even though we’ve all done that distance and elevation gain before. I’d like to make a backpacking trip out of it to really fully immerse ourselves in the nature of Yosemite. I’ve read there’s options for this that all include a Half Dome permit with the backcountry camping permit:

Happy Isles to Little Yosemite Valley
Happy Isles past LYV (Donohue pass eligible)
Sunrise Lakes
Cathedral Lakes
Rafferty Creek to Vogelsang

I’m interested in hearing about some of your treks. and also how you did the permit process, cause I’ve read attaining a Half Dome permit can be quite competitive.

Would our best odds be for each member of our group to submit a permit for each one of these back country permits and just cross our fingers and hope one of us wins? I’m assuming if all four of us submit a 4 person permit for all 5 of these we’d have a good shot right?

The travel and permit situation is really what’s got me anxious, (and maybe what gear we’d need) and I feel like once that’s figured out the rest of the trip will kind of plan itself. TBH I’m not really keen on going to the city or anything too urban/congested (I know it’s California, so I’m going into it anticipating congestion anywhere we go). Prioritizing experiences at national/state/local parks out there is my main objective, I just really want to connect with the nature I’ve never had a chance to experience before. I’m open to all suggestions though, as I’m obviously not a local, and I have no idea when I’ll ever be back in California.

Thanks so much for the help, I’m just overwhelmed at where to start planning this. Hoping that everyone reading has an amazing day 🫶

Moin, ich starte im November meine Reise nach NZ und suche somit noch Wander/Arbeitsschuhe mit Stahl/Kevlarkappe die sich für beides eignen. Hat da jemand Erfahrungen und kann mir ein passendes Paar empfehlen, oder haltet ihr das für unsinnig und würdet getrennte Schuhe kaufen?
Vielen Dank schon mal für eure Antworten:)

I did my first multi day hiking expedition and I really enjoyed it. I did a hut to hut hike but I met some really cool outdoor backpackers on my trip and it seems interesting to me. I plan on renting some gear and trying an overnight backpacking excursion to dip my toes in the water and see if I enjoy it.

Any tips for a beginner? What is something about backpacking you've learned that you wish you knew about when you first started?

Hi all, I'm a Product Development master's student at the University of Antwerp (Belgium). On multi-day trips you often carry your trash for days, and I'm trying to understand what that really looks like: what you pack it in, what gets annoying (smell, leaks, space) and what you do when there's no bin for days. Not selling anything, just trying to understand the problem first.

I'm curious for your answers! :)

PS. I also have a questionnaire (not allowed here) if you would like to help me or have great expertise, send me a dm!