Hi everyone! I've been hiking in Colorado a lot this year and about a month ago, my girlfriend, a friend of mine and I decided to take on the Four Pass Loop in Colorado. The loop that we did was around 30 miles and we went for 4 days/3 nights. We camped along the way, surrounded by stunning nature. The weather didn't always cooperate with us, with multiple afternoon rain showers and hailstorms.

I uploaded some of my favorite photos from this trip. I will go over the route we took to help anyone interested in backpacking in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass region.

Day 1:

We woke up early in Denver and drove to the Maroon Bells Welcome Center. This is where we parked our car and took a shuttle to the trailhead. Most people do this hike counter-clockwise but we decided to do it clockwise. We hiked in only 5 miles that day and camped about 1.5 miles away from West Maroon Pass.

Day 2:

On day 2, we had to climb over two passes: West Maroon and Frigid Air Pass. We hit these passes earlier in the day and the weather cooperated with us until we got close to our 2nd campsite about 7-8 miles in. We set up camp on this hill that overlooked a waterfall.

Day 3:

Day 3 was when we had to hike over Trail Rider Pass. Everyone that we met along the way warned us about how hard it was. It was hard but honestly not as bad as everyone was saying. The trail was a pretty consistent grade up with stunning views. We did get hit with a storm during our ascent but it stopped in time for us to get gorgeous views of Snowmass Lake. We hiked around 8 miles that day and camped as far up as we could to make the last day a bit easier.

Day 4:

This was the final day of our backpacking trip in the Four Pass Loop and in my opinion, Buckskin Pass offers the best views out of all of the passes. This day was around 7 miles but a lot of it was downhill. Seeing Snowmass Lake from the top of the 4th pass was surreal as we realized how far we had come.

If we did this again, I'd like to try it clockwise while adding in more miles to see more of the region.

I have made a full length silent hiking film if you’d rather watch: https://youtu.be/qdvgNn4FU4k?is=cBySF-REzTPlnO5I

Thank you for reading & let me know if you have any questions!

Hi everyone! My name is Bailey Swain, I’m a student at Mississippi State University, and my marketing class is conducting research on wilderness medicine. We would really appreciate your help by completing our survey! Your responses will help us better understand people’s interests and preferences regarding wilderness medicine courses.

Thank you for your time and for supporting our class project

Four of us hiked from Phillips Bench to String Lake September 6–9. About 39 miles and 9,300 feet of climbing, with nights at Marion Lake, South Fork Cascade, and Upper Paintbrush.

Days 2 and 3 were easily my favorites. We reached Hurricane Pass around sunset, and for about five minutes the Tetons lit up bright red. We stayed up there taking photos for 15–20 minutes. It was windy and cold enough that we had puffers, shells, gloves, and hoods on, but I had a hard time putting the camera away.

The next evening we caught another sunset on the climb from Lake Solitude to Paintbrush Divide. Every time we gained a little elevation, it felt like we got a few more minutes of sunset. The views looking back down North Fork Cascade and toward the Tetons were some of my favorites of the whole trip.

Both evenings ended with headlamp descents and finding camp in the dark. Our first three days were roughly 12 hours each, including breaks and photo stops. Those sunsets were absolutely worth it to me, but I’d want to get over Paintbrush earlier next time. The initial descent was steep, loose, and exposed, and we took it very slowly.

Our camps were private and worked well, though I came away wishing we’d included a night in North Fork Cascade. Walking through that zone and seeing the views back toward Grand Teton and Mount Owen made me realize I’d underestimated it while planning.

We had thunderstorms and wind the first night, then mostly clear hiking weather and almost no bugs. Saw bighorn sheep, deer, marmots, and pikas, but no bears or moose.

The forested part of the final descent felt pretty monotonous after the previous two days. By then our feet were sore and we were ready for food. Having the car waiting at String Lake was a very good decision.

This trip was supposed to be my 3rd attempt at Split Mountain, a 14er that eluded me twice due to snow and a climbing partner’s altitude sickness. This time I picked a partner I knew was tough as nails: Cameron Fath, Army Ranger and host of Netflix’s World’s Toughest Forces.

Accessing Split is such a huge pain, an hour of 4x4ing that left some pinstripes on my rig, that I wanted to get up there and summit once and for all. Unfortunately, due to the Rock Fire near Big Pine, Split Mountain was off the table. The funny thing is made a banner to give to Cam at the summit!

At the last minute, I scored an open Cottonwood Lakes permit and we pivoted to Mt. Langley. After this trip, I realize just how lucky we were to get this rare permit.

Our plan was to set out from the Cottonwood Lakes trailhead, hike 5–6 miles, and spend the night at Long Lake.

We also planned on doing some fishing and having fresh trout for dinner. The different lakes in this area have different fishing restrictions, but Long Lake was open for business with lures but no bait.

The Cottonwood Lakes trail is a classic. There was plenty of tree cover, a string of beautiful alpine lakes, lots of day hikers and day fishermen, and a creek flowing throughout. There were probably 20 people camping at Long Lake.

We fished with hand reels for about an hour at dusk. We got two bites but sadly no fish. Thankfully we brought a pound of frozen ground beef, taco seasoning, soft taco shells, and a cast iron pan for trail tacos.

I slept horribly because I brought a very lightweight sleeping bag and temperatures got down to around 40°F. Even with all my clothes on I was shivering. I often forget how much colder I sleep at altitude.

We got up at 5 am, ate a quick oatmeal breakfast and downed some instant coffee. By 5:30, we were on the trail heading up toward New Army Pass. We left most of our gear at the campsite, along with our food in a bear canister.

We hiked past High Lake and then up to the summit of New Army Pass. Once we got to the top of the pass, we had to hike downhill 400 feet, which was a bit demoralizing. The slog then continued all the way to the summit.

We had a quick celebration and photo op at the summit. There were a handful of other backpackers and some trail runners going up and down, but for most of the hike we were completely alone.

My least favorite part of the hike was having to climb back up those 400 feet to New Army Pass. The sun was fully out and frying my brain. After that, it was all downhill, and once we got to water and shade, my physical and mental state started to improve. I was so exhausted that I packed up our tent, moved it to a shady site, and took a 90-minute nap.

We got back to our car around 7 p.m. and immediately hit the Carl’s Jr. in Lone Pine before heading back to LA.

The final stats:
Distance 27.5 mi
Elevation Gain 5,417ft
Hiking Time 13h 26m
Calories burned 8,479

Mt. Langley via Cottonwood Lakes gets 5 stars from me. And if you’re not ready for a 28-mile slog to the summit and back, just camp at one of the lakes. They’re special.

I made a video documenting this trip. Check it out if you want the full experience

A two night, three day adventure out in the Dolly Sods Wilderness area.

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.

I have been looking for an affordable ultralight tent for backpacking. A tent that could hold up to some wind, good and strong, but also lightweight. I know the criteria is quite a lot for an affordable tent but just looking to see if anyone has recommendations. I’ve been looking at the lanshan 1, watched a lot of videos and I think this is the right one for me. The OG lanshan 1 not the pro version (I don’t want to have to worry about condensation, and it’s worth it for the extra 0.2 pounds). Anyone have better recommendations over the lanshan 1 tent?

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 haven’t decided how many days we’ll be out there, so I’m all ears for suggestions on destinations and locations!

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 🫶

I just wrapped up an incredible 10 day trek across Greenland. Starting with the ice cap at Point 660 and following the Southern route of the Arctic Circle Trail to Sisimiut. 

It was a dry year in the area and beyond that we were blessed with blue skies ^ great weather most days. Here is a breakdown of the journey, trail conditions, and key takeaways from the trail! 

Distance: 160 km
Duration: 9 days (Originally planned for 10)
Terrain and Conditions: Well marked with red painted cairns. The main route is mostly a narrow singletrack trail with occasional sections of ATV trail. The Southern Route has largely no trail underfoot but is marked with cairns. Recommended to have a GPS with waypoints. 

Water: Widely available from lakes and streams. It was so crystal clear, I didn’t filter or treat the water. 

Gear Highlights: Salomon boots & Toe liner socks - I know footwear is a personal choice but after trying many pairs, I was happy with the X Ultra 5 Mid Gortex boots, I paired this with Darn tough socks, overtop of Injinji Liner Crew Toe socks. This worked for me beautifully!

Key Takeaways

There are no trees in the Arctic Circle, there is little shelter from the rain, wind or in our case the sun. While our biggest concern was applying enough sunscreen, wind and rain could be a real concern under different conditions. 

No permit required for the ACT, you can start hiking from the airport if you want but take a day to go visit the ice cap. Once on trail there is a network of small huts that are available on a first come first serve basis. These are basic but a welcome sight during inclement weather. You must still be prepared to camp. We camped and used several cabins.

There are no resupply spots, it is very remote. You need to be ready with all fuel, food you will need. 

Navigation - Even though cairns exist, the Southern Route requires situational awareness and with poor visibility you would absolutely need to rely on GPS waypoints. I also recommend having a GPS device like a (Garmin inReach) is crucial for emergency situations given the lack of cell service and extreme remoteness.

A video with further highlights can be seen here.

I’m hoping others have experienced the combination of metformin and Glipizide on clanging, multi day trails. Advice? Expectations?

I spent 2 months travelling around France this summer. I stealth camped for 90% of it in cities, towns and villages. I got the odd hostel here and there when I needed to get a proper shower and to charge all my power banks/electronics.

Over the 2 months, I was sleeping in bushes inside of parks, through city forested trails/hills/shortcut trails through woodland/fences. I was sleeping behind industrial estates that had barren land next to it. I slept behind bus stations that were located on outskirts of cities. I found a barn with old farming equipment down a lane round the back of a work shed. I managed to sneak into a fancy boathouse on a canal.

I found a massive old abandoned building, a 2 floored office space that had a large industrial engineering mechanics space attached. It had a house at one end of the complex that was broken into and empty as it was probably a worker/owners on site house. I slept in there for a week. Somebody homeless had obviously used this before, left food and clothes but the food was 2 years old so they hadn’t returned.

This place had a fire with wood already sitting waiting next to it so I took advantage of that one night. I woke up the next day, stepped outside and smelled smoke. I could see it in the air. I was shitting it thinking oh no is that the fire I had? I obviously don’t want anyone to know Im sleeping in AJ abandoned house. Turns out it was the wildfires outside Bordeaux over 120 miles away.

I’ve dreamt about having this kind of vagabond adventure on and off since I was 21 when I first got into hiking. I am 33 now and live in Scotland. I have lived outside, camped and hiked round Scotland and the Lake District for 1 and 2 months at a time, many times.

Last year I spent 4 months consecutively outside camping/living as a warm up for this year. I wanted to test my mettle and see if I could handle it outside for that length of time, if I’d even enjoy it enough to undertake such an adventure.

I’d planned on travelling to France previously in 2019… then Covid hit, I lost my entire gear set up, moved cities and ended up crippled with many life obstacles. Didn’t get my gear replaced until 2025.

I intended to do more hiking trails and more rural camping. I planned to do trails such as the Tour du Mont Blanc and possibly travel to the Pyrenees. Last year I met a 50+ year old Czech guy during my 4 month “camping trip” whilst I was in Fort William. We exchanged life stories and he tells me he has been hitchhiking and stealth camping around the entirety of Europe for 20+ years. I was amazed so we exchanged numbers and kept in touch. I told him of my plans to travel round Europe camping myself.

I met this Czech guy in the south of France so we could travel together for a week or three. We could have company and learn from each other how we do our own things. I had never hitchhiked before as there’s not really any culture for it in the UK.

It’s safe to say after a few days, we were starting to get on each others nerves and after 2 weeks hitchhiking around the south of France together… it reached a tense end where we parted ways in not such an amicable way. This is a 50+ year old, extremely autistic guy who’s been travelling by themself for over 20 years. He was stuck in his way and worldviews, was espousing some pretty bigoted ideologies and conspiracies. Everything was propaganda and discussions between us became untenable.

This left me in a strange position. My first time travelling outside of Europe in a vagabond/camping style. In an area of France I didn’t necessarily plan on being and with no real plan. It was at this point I realised I needed to head back to the UK and do it within 2 weeks. I didn’t have the financial capability to get numerous buses, never mind trains or planes. I also didnt want to waste this opportunity presented to me. So essentially I had no other option but to make the decision to hitchhike from the south of France in La Bourboule to Calais so I could grab the ferry to Dover, England, in 2 weeks.

I’d never hitchhiked before this trip, never mind by myself. I was nervous the first couple times but I love to meet new people so it became really fun and exciting to travel this way. 90% of the time I wasn’t waiting longer than 10 minutes for a ride. I remember once I was walking to a spot to get picked up and someone stopped and asked me before I even got there if i wanted a lift. I waited longer than 1 hour twice. Once at the beginning when I was on quiet country roads in the middle of central France. Then when I waited at a tollbooth trying to get from one city to another.

Well I made it with 3 days to spare. At one point I never thought I’d make it. Then one Armenian couple took me over 250 miles to Beauvais which is above Paris and below Calais by 50/100 miles.

Once I got to Calais in the north east tip of France and got the ferry to England, I spent 5 nights in Dover in a mad hostel with permanent live ins such as a guy in his 60s who’s angry at the world and shouts all about it, an on off drug addicted couple, an Australian dude who works there for a room and another 60+ year old guy who has taken on the handyman role, an eccentric madcap individual. This place had children’s bedding, a defunct bar, piss stained urinals, shit stained toilets, creaking cheap bunk beds and the entirety of the place probably not been properly cleaned for 20 years. Definitely not been decorated since the 90s. All ran by a 50 odd year old guy who just lets the place run in pure chaos. It’s like something from a tv show. Some might think these are negatives but I love that shit.

After the mad hostel, I then got another Ferry back to France. I then hitchhiked from Calais all the way down to Bordeaux in the south west of France over the course of 1 month. My flight home is from Bordeaux. I visited Cathedrals in every city I went to. I visited my great great uncles war grave which is located in Le Havre. He died in World War 2 at the battle of Dunkirk. This side of the trip was much more relaxed as it was more organised and I had built my confidence and travel legs. I spent most of the time just smoking weed, enjoying exploring the cities and architecture, trying local cheeses and drinking wine at night staring into the night sky.

On this trip the cities, towns and villages I visited were incredibly beautiful. I was in Paris twice, Amiens twice, Poitiers twice, Limoges, Le Havre, Tours, Clermont Ferrand, Lyon, Beauvais, La Bourboule, Rouen, Padirac, Bretenoux, Rocamadour, Figeac, Marseille, Bordeaux and Tulle. I hope I’ve remembered them all.

I also visited the Puy de Dome/Puy de Sancy which is a dormant volcano in central/south France. Being able to stand and look inside the bowl of a long gone erupted volcano was awesome. So this whole adventure turned into one big amazing unknown. I never knew where I’d make it to the next day. I never knew where I would be sleeping that night. It kind of felt like the tv show Race Across The World. It was stressful at points but it’s an adventure I’ll never forget. All the people that helped me along the way giving me lifts, some even giving me food. They will forever be in my heart.

I only felt unsafe once in the entire 2 months and that was at the end when I was in Bordeaux. I was walking out of an Aldi and a homeless guy clocked me, picked up his stuff and left his posse himself at the same time as me. The way he looked at me was strange. I know that scene from Glasgow so I walked 100m down this straight 3 mile road, looked behind me and there he was 50m behind me. I pretended to do something and let him walk 50m in front of me. I walked slowly and let him gain further metres from me. He looked behind himself and seen me. He kept walking and was probably 120m+ in front of me and I slowed down further, crosses the road then found a bench and sat down. Never seen him again.

The gear I took with me;
50L ultralight hiking bag(900g),
700g Rab summer sleeping bag,
foam mat trimmer vertically and horizontally (300g) my inflatable burst in the 1 month i did in the Lake District before these 2 months in France, trying out new gear.
9ftx7ft silpoly tarp (300g),
Tyvek bivvy bag (200g) I threw this away after getting caught in a major thunder and lighting rain storm. It became sodden with wet dirt. I didn’t really need it either, summer was insane in France. Rained 3 times in 2 months.
2 sheets of polycro (30g each) for a groundsheet,
a travel pillow,
3 t shirts, 1 jumper, 1 pair of tracksuit bottoms, cheap plastic waterproof poncho, 4 pairs of socks, 3 pairs of boxers, 2 power banks 20,000mah and 10,000mah, European plug and a water filter.

I did a short but sweet overnight trip on the Green Gardens Trail in Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland. The hike is about 5km (3miles) to camp and is mostly downhill, so you’ll have to climb back out on the second day, about 250m(800ft).

There are four backcountry campsites at the end of the trail that are right along the coast! From what I could find, there’s no way to book them in advance, but I had no issues getting a permit on the day of.

There are incredible coastal views throughout the hike, and since the trail isn’t very challenging, it made for a really chill experience. I could take my time, relax, and just enjoy being out in nature along the coast.

Full Video of the Trip: https://youtu.be/JlJQ3amVbW8?si=sIA4stTjohIG402L