Category: outdoors
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Wind can make it feel significantly colder than the measured air temperature. This is one of the reasons that an ultralight windshirt can seem to provide a significant amount of warmth. On a recent trip to Iceland we face nearly continuous strong winds which required more clothing than I normally wear. I wanted to recalibrate…
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Take Less, Do More is a refreshing departure from the typical books about voluntary simplicity, ultralight backpacking, or minimalism. Rather than centering on our relationship with “stuff” the book focuses on how we engage the world around us influences our life. Many books in this genre would go into great detail about downsizing possessions, selecting…
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When I first hear the Japanese term shinrin-yoku, which is forest bathing in English, I pictured a outdoor onsen that was in the middle of a forest, or maybe a deep soaking tub which was part of an outdoor bathroom attached to a hide-away cabin in the woods. I was wrong. I failed to read…
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This post has been extracted from my camino page because the most common question we have gotten from friends was about what we carried. They already knew something about the Camino itself and most wanted to understand how we managed to “go so light” for a trip in May (temps were 37-72F). If you want to…
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I have carried the Gossamer Gear Vagabond Trail more than 2500 miles over last few years for EDC, done in a day outdoor activities, and onebag travel which included walking 500 miles of the Camino Santiago Frances route from SJPP. Between Jan 2023 and March 2025 I lived out of a Vagabond Trail as we explored…
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I have had a love hate relationship with ponchos. Theoretically they make great sense, but I have tried rain ponchos five times for six month or longer. After each poncho experiment I switched back to a rain jacket and a dedicated shelter. This post is about my current re-evaluation of ponchos as rain gear. For…
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TL;DR. If you are looking for a small, light, fast drying towel to use while backpacking or traveling, I recommend the PackTowel Ultralight which now seems to be discontinued. I found I can effectively dry my body with a 25″x35″ towel, but the body size lets me wrap the towel around my waist or be…
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Trekking packs are similar to travel packs, but put more of an emphasis on carry comfort and typically optimizes the volume to weight ratio. Trekking packs are often a bit narrower than typical carry-on sized travel packs and taller than typical personal sized daypacks. Travel packs typically prioritize organizational features, ease of access, rectangular shape…
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The Camino de Santiago is an amazing experience for nearly everyone. For some, it’s a once in a life time experience. For others, it is repeated regularly, it’s part of their life’s rhythm. Almost all are touched by what is called the Camino spirit. This is the combination of kindness, curiosity, and openness without judgement…
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Outdoor activities often requires dealing with biting bugs such as mosquitos which are annoying, but generally not directly life threatening (though they can be a disease vector). There are also ticks, black flies, spiders, scorpions, and some ant variants. Appropriate preventative measures vary by the “Bugforce” that is expected. Contents1 Qualifying Bugforce2 My Approach3 Physical…