Planning my first thru hike, I want to find as many resources and opinions as I can! I’m starting my pack from the bottom up with a few exceptions. Any and all advice is welcome, especially website links! I’m trying to weigh all my options of cost effective/lightweight/necessity, I want to spend my money on the things that are worth while and save where I can. I’m thinking the pinhoti trail, in the coming months. Also let me know anything you can not live without on your thru hikes!

Additional info: I’m a petite woman, so not all things are made for people my size. so if you relate please tell me what works for you!

Hello! I’m looking for a life change. I was going to try and get a seasonal job, but after the recent forestry service changes it will be harder to get what I need. I have experience working for NPS, but I still want a back up plan. I believe it is important to account for me being a single woman. I may have to start this sooner than I expected, thus winter is a new obstacle to think about but I can prepare. I am new to thru hiking but am not inexperienced living in the wilderness. I don’t have any experience with a hard winter, so any suggestions/tips/advice on anything with this is appreciated!

Trying to plan a last minute trip - does anyone have good recommendations for a true wilderness backpacking trip in early December somewhere outside of the US? I have 2 weeks vacation in December and am trying to go on an epic hike somewhere. Coming from the East Coast and I have been to NZ so not trying to head to that part of the world and lose that much time for flights. I would like to keep it in the Americas or Europe or even Africa. I have hiked the PCT, CDT, and Te Araroa, so my bar for enjoyment of hikes has gotten kind of high. For example, I don't think I would get much enjoyment out of hiking a Camino in Spain compared to hiking a 70 mile off-trail route in Alaska.

Criteria is that I do not want anything guided or camino-style. Hoping to hike something alpine with extremely epic or exotic or unique views. Remote hot springs are a huge plus. Hoping to spend at least 5-9 nights on one trail or split between two different trails. So probably 70-200 miles total, then chill for the rest of the trip before flying back home. Here is what I have considered:

NZ/Australia/Tasmania - not an option for this trip

Peru/Bolivia - this area would be amazing with something in the Cordillera Blanca or Huayhuash, but December is monsoon season/rainy season in this part of South America. I wonder if it could still be worth it to attempt something in this area.

Chile - seems like this could be perfect depending on the year - 2021, 2022 had low snow years it seems but this year is a very high snow year. There are some really cool routes relatively near Santiago like the Condor Circuit or the Villarica Traverse, but the snow seems too high to attempt this stuff in December. I don't have extensive snow travel experience and am trying to not bring an ice axe and crampons, etc. and deal with dangerous snow travel solo without enough experience.

Torres del Paine - somehow this seems hike-able in December in spite of snow but do not want to deal with hordes of people and pre-booking campsites/permits. I wonder if there are lesser traveled routes in the vicinity that are good to hike in early December with the snow? The Andes are a massive range, and I have absolutely 0 desire to do the O circuit or W circuit or something like that considering how much other terrain is out there.

Ecuador - The Condor trek mixed with maybe a circuit around Cotopaxi seems interesting. Solo travel in Ecuador seems a little dangerous and it doesn't seem like much of a real backcountry route, traveling through private land around Cotopaxi seems iffy. Bonus is shorter flight but not sure if this would be worth it. The Quilotoa loop gets recommended but it seems kinda lame and seems more Camino-style, not backcountry style.

Colombia/Venezuela - I'm sure there is something here, but I am similarly concerned about safety like with Ecuador.

European Islands - The Madeira crossing route seems cool but would take me like 3 days, and then I wouldn't know what to do. You can't legally camp on Tenerife, can't camp on Palma, etc. Would be fun to island hop and do some GR131 type stuff but not going to go and bus/taxi to a hotel every night. Similarly, Rota Vicentina in Portugal seems doable in December, but I don't want to illegally wild camp.

Costa Rica - the Camino de Costa Rica seems cool but I would probably be underwhelmed by the terrain/views and it is heavily geared toward a camino-style journey with not much of an opportunity for wild camping. Mostly just follows dirt roads and isn't really a "trail". It is possible to do it unguided with the exception of 2 sections through indigenous lands, but I don't think this would scratch the itch.

Guatemala - from what I can tell there is 1 cool 1-night hike you can do where you camp on Acatenango with a nighttime view of the active volcano. But it is tough to say if you can even do it unguided and that's a stretch to go all the way there with all my gear for a 1-night hike. Don't think there is any other real alpine wilderness backpacking in this region?

Dominica - the Waitukubuli National Trail seems awesome but again is more geared toward Camino-style hiking without wilderness camping and several chunks of the trail are currently not intact. Doesn't seem worth it solo, I would try it with a partner one day.

Nepal - don't know enough about the area and December weather and not sure how the new ban on solo hiking would come into play. Also pretty far to go for 2 weeks.

Africa - Drakensberg Grand Traverse - seems sketchy to attempt this solo. Anything else in Africa seems geared toward guided trips such as Kilimanjaro.

Is there anything else I am overlooking or missing?

Hello everybody. I've always had a great passion for the outdoors and backpacking/extreme outdoor activities. It's been my dream sense I was 14 to become a wilderness guide. I am now 23 working an office job and have decided to continue pursuing my dream. I'm not really sure where to start though. There seems to be so many courses. I live in canada and I'm trying to find out which course or program would be the best for me to start this journey. Any wilderness guides or people with experience in this have any suggestions for schools or programs in canada?

I’m interested in wintertime backpacking in the Desolation Canyon Wilderness area but I can’t really find much information. Mostly interested in existing trails or where is good to go off-trail and where to park. I would not enter the reservation land. I also see there could be opportunities in the canyons along I70 between Grand Junction and the Green River. Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated. Probably looking to do something around 5 days/4 nights.

Hi guys,

I may have a 5 months window to go backpacking in the US, with a strong focus on hiking, between July and November.

I've already been traveling once in the US in a campervan, and intensively hiked around Washington state (Mount Baker, Olympic NP, Mount Rainier NP), Oregon (Coastal Oregon, Columbia River Gorge, Mount Hood, Crater Lake NP, Mount Adams), Montana (Glacier NP), and Wyoming (Teton NP, Yellowstone NP).

My plan would be the following:

- July: Washington Section of the PCT (SoBo)

- August: Sierra Section of the PCT from Lake Tahoe to Kennedy Meadows

- September: Colorado Trail from Leadville to Durango + Wind River Range traverse

- October: Section of the Arizona Trail to be defined, including the Grand Canyon area

- November: Car rental to do several hikes around Utah (to be defined)

What woud you guys do? Interested in any suggestions people might want to share!

Ps: As a general matter, I'm not especially a fan to hike an entire trail; I prefer to examine the sections that attract me the most, and hike them, focusing mainly on pleasure while hiking

Ps2: I'm not from the US, so can't come back there often; that's why I'd like to optimize my hiking plan

Thanks anyway for the answers to come !

A medium 8oz isobutane lasts me 4 days with my jetboil. Usually boil water ~7 times a day.

My theroy was if I could fit everything in one pot itd save space. I bought a big 1.2L cup/pot that could fit a medium gas canister in it. Holds my coffee stove and canister inside.

I bought a knock off soto windmaster, camping moon for a stove. Went out backpacking and it worked well. For 2 days and went out of gas. About 50% less fuel efficent.

It was near freezing, in canada. I think cause there was so much exposed metal above the water while boiling it takes longer. I could cut the top off. But then all the stove components wouldnt fit inside.

I didnt use a lid or cozy on either. I read lid decreases boiling time by 25%. Even if a cozy adds another 25% i'd need another 50% to get to jetboil levels, which uses neither.

Also the jetboil+canister is pretty much the exact same size as the new pot, also 2g off in weight.

A regular 550ml pot and pocketrocket might be good too, my bag of coffee grounds would be the only thing that fits in the cup. The Fire maple petrel cup looks amazing to me.

I think im just wasting money trying save space and weight in something already suitable. My jetboil isnt the average one, I bought it years ago, its the smallest lightest model ive seen.

Conclusions- The size of pot you use has a massive impact on boil time. Pots take up very little room since you can stuff things inside them. Jetboils are very overpriced but are fuel efficent. Putting everything in one container might not actually save space, can fit canister in crevasses. Jetboils would be way worse the the burner didnt fit perfectly in the cup.

My 2 stoves- https://imgur.com/a/QyFsRYk

I have two small boys (9 and 10). We've been doing some shorter one and two night backpacking trips and are looking for our next destination. They're been Googling and have keyed in on the Eagle Rock Loop in the Ouachita National Forest. Unfortunately, I think the loop will be a little much for the time we have. If we were going to try to hike a smaller section, or do an out and back from a trailhead, what would you recommend?

The idea of a water crossing is fun to them. They're pretty good with elevation, but we tend to be ready to stop after 5-6 miles in order to better enjoy the trips :) Thanks!

Hello, me and my friends wants to climb a mountain in norway near Oslo We want real wilderness and real mountains instead of roades and Hills Have Amy of you Got any suggestions?

This coming year, I want to do more backcountry camping in the Midwest and just get around More more, but I'm not really sure where to go in the Midwest to backcountry camp. I have all the gear though so mostly just looking for where to go and if anyone has any recommendations for to probably one to 20 miles total.

looking to understand viability at this time of year. will there be flooding and weather issues?

I am trying to plan a trip with a friend for spring break and we were looking into the front range in Wyoming. Any advice for a good 3-day trip in that area with respect to location or things to watch out for would be appreciated.

Looking for recommendations for a 5-7 day trip that is no more than 7 hours drive from Corvallis,OR area, bonus points for alpine lakes! Flexible on dates but planing to go mid-late August!

Criteria: 4-6 day trip, 50-100mi, accessible by plane/public transportation/hitchhiking or within ~5 hour drive of western PA.

I’m starting a new job next month, and I’d like to spend some time in the backcountry before I go. I have hiked extensively in PA. I’d like to go somewhere else, but I am holding the PA Wilds as a plan B. I’m aware of all of the options in that region.

I'm am SLC resident who is looking for a northern-ish Utah backpacking trip.

I've been down to the red rock desert and most of southern Utah, so I want to branch out and try a trip a little closer to home.

I hurt my knee in a biking accident, so I am trying to stay in the 10-ish miles range if decently flat, or the 6-8 mile range for a 500-700ft elevation gain per mile.

I do not need any facilities, I can dig cat holes, or pack out waste according to regulations, and I can carry enough water, or bring a filter with me.

Im looking for a 2 day, 1 night trip, but am open to 2 night trips.

If it helps, I will be aiming to do this in the spring months

Thanks in advance for any recommendations

Hey everyone,

A few months ago we did the Mt Rainier wonderland trail with friends for 7 days. I saw my first black bear literally 100 yards into the trail! I had bear spray and was disappointed in my reaction time to getting it out, but to my defense I was caught completely off guard. My brain didn't even register what this thing was right on the trail! Thankfully it was minding its own business and didn't even give me a second look. We saw a few more on the trip too. (Also since we've listened to a podcast called tooth and claw, all the animal attack details gave us a healthy respect of bears even if they are just black bears).

It rained heavily the 3rd and 4th day and we had two completely new backpackers on the trip with us. With average 14 mile days and 4k ascent and descent (for 7 days total) and some days being 17 miles and 7k ascent descent, the wonderland trail really was something else. It was the longest trip anyone of the group had done, and we remember clearly thinking around the second day why we would ever do something like this to ourselves.

Nevertheless I kept repeating wait for the 3rd day, thats when the joy kicks in. Of course the rain and fog of the 3rd and 4th day and the misery of all of that delayed that feeling. Not to mention we went off trail a few times at the Panhandle Gap due to snow covering the tracks and other people's footsteps taking us down the wrong direction. There was one area we thought we saw tracks of people literally sliding down a large glacier and were even in thinking about following.... I'm pretty sure we would have not made it if not for the fact that my phone had charge and I had Gaia open so I could at least see if we were remotely close to a trail.

An amazing experience we're grateful for. Truly backpacking is something else and the two new friends initially hated it and said theyd never do it again, but of course now they're slowly changing their minds :)

Other than sharing my trip, the question I have is, after the trip we never had the chance to share our photos through the traditional means. Since we had flights and it was busy we all split our ways and didn't end up sharing them.

After we got back home we thought one of us would set up something on Google drive or iCloud and we'd share but the files would not fit and not all of us were on the same platform. Everyone was lazy and didn't want to buy a subscription or account or figure setting it up.

This led me to look for a very simple file sharing tool that didn't require a subscription or account and just let us share our photos and videos. Like a secure url that everyone could upload to and then everyone could download the combined files. I couldn't find one and then thought it'd be a cool project to spend some time on.

I'm curious if this is something any of you have ever felt the need for? Like collecting and sharing photos after a backpacking trip with friends. I'm in the process of building it and still want to add many more features but want to understand the use case more.

If you'd like to take a look at what I've done so far it's at warpbin.com though my main goal is just to judge the need of such a service rather than sell anything. Feedback is most appreciated.

Thank you

As the title says I’m looking for gear people would recommend or have had good luck with, along with the general packing list that you tend to stick with. I have decent experience in moderate distance hikes (<10 miles). However I am new to the world of hiking gear, since I’ve operated on a water bottle and trail mix with past hikes. Ideally I’m aiming to start longer trips with the end goal being multi day hikes. I primarily hike the northeast for reference.

Any suggestions would be more than welcome. If this isn’t the sub for a post like this I apologize for the inconvenience.