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Hi, I'm Michael Lanza, creator of The Big Outside and former Backpacker Northwest Editor. Sign up for my free email newsletter in the blue box above. Click my photo to learn more about me and my blog. Click on Ask Me in the main menu (above) to learn how I can help you plan your next trip. And click the Subscribe Now! link in the main menu (top right) to get full access to all of my expert tips on America's best hiking and backpacking.
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View More »Ask Me: Hiking Across Grand Teton National Park in a Day
Backpackers on the Teton Crest Trail on Death Canyon Shelf, Grand Teton National Park.
Hi Michael!
How are you? I have a quick question. Jerry and I always do a long day hike for our anniversary. This year is our 24th, so we’re looking for a 24- to 26-mile epic dayhike and we want to do the Teton Crest Trail. But we can’t swing the entire 40-miler this year. We heard that there’s a 25-mile route that is epic in itself, from Death Canyon to Static Peak Divide to Cascade Canyon.
Where do we start and end? I read your great blog post on the entire hike, but curious about the 25-mile section.
Thanks!
Shelli
Lander, WY Continue reading →
Today Only, Subscribe to The Big Outside For 30% Off
Me on the summit of Mount Hoffmann in Yosemite National Park.
NOTE: Because some readers experienced a technical glitch when trying to take advantage of my once-a-year, one-day-only offer of a 30% discount off the price of a one-year subscription to The Big Outside, I’m extending the offer through midnight, April 24. Read on and subscribe now!
Hi fellow avid outdoors lover,
Today is my birthday, and to celebrate and show my appreciation for you following my blog, I have a gift for you.
Today only, I’m offering you 30% off the cost of a one-year subscription to The Big Outside. Continue reading →
The 10 Best National Park Backpacking Trips
By Michael Lanza
Olympic, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Glacier, Zion, Grand Teton, Mount Rainier, Canyonlands, Sequoia, Great Smoky Mountains. To backpackers, these names read like a list of America’s greatest cathedrals in nature—and no surprise, because these parks hold some of the most scenic, adventurous, and coveted backpacking trips in the country. Hike any of them and it will earn a spot on your personal top-10 list. Knock off all 10 trips on this list and you will experience some of the finest landscapes not only in the nation, but on the planet.
Ready to be blown away? Scroll through this list and find your next unforgettable trip. Continue reading →
Review: The Best Gear Duffles and Luggage of 2018
The North Face, Patagonia, and Marmot gear duffels.
By Michael Lanza
Whatever your outdoor sport—backpacking, climbing, whitewater rafting or kayaking, backcountry skiing, etc.—a sturdy duffle for organizing, hauling, and protecting your gear and clothing pays for itself many times over. Not only does it eliminate the risk of damaging an expensive backpack by using it as your luggage, a good duffle has more capacity and is built to suffer the indignities of getting tossed into jet, train, and bus baggage compartments, being strapped onto a roof rack, sled, snowmobile, or pack animal, and exposed to rain, snow, mud and other natural indignities. Continue reading →
Photo Gallery: 15 Nicest Backcountry Campsites I’ve Hiked Past
By Michael Lanza
It is one of those unfortunate inevitabilities of life, like death and taxes: Occasionally on backpacking trips you will hike past one of the most sublime patches of wilderness real estate you have ever laid eyes on, a spot so idyllic you can already see your tent pitched there and you standing outside it, warm mug in your hands, watching a glorious sunset. But it’s early and your plan entails hiking farther before you stop for the day—not camping there. Or you don’t have a permit for that site. Or even worse, you are looking for a campsite, but someone else has already occupied this little corner of Heaven. Continue reading →