America’s Best Backpacking and Outdoor Adventures
By Michael Lanza
At 6 a.m. last Sunday morning, four readers of The Big Outside, my 15-year-old son, Nate, and I, led by three mountain guides from Sierra Mountaineering International, left our high camp at 12,000 feet below the East Face of California’s Mount Whitney en route to climb the Mountaineers Route. I shot the photo above shortly after we left camp. Four-and-a-half hours later, we all stood at 14,505 feet above sea level, atop the highest peak in America outside of Alaska.
By Michael Lanza
This is National Parks Week, a good time to contemplate the writer and historian Wallace Stegner’s famous quote: “National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst.” Are you planning to visit a national park this week or this year? Here’s a gallery of photos from several parks I’ve visited (including Olympic, photo above) to offer a little inspiration.
Daypack
Gregory Salvo/Sula 28
$130, 28L/1,708 c.i., 2 lbs. 7 oz.
One size
moosejaw.com
The trend toward ever-lighter gear has resulted in a spate of minimalist, ultralight daypacks—many of which I have reviewed and liked. But if you prioritize comfort and features in a daypack, Gregory hasn’t forgotten you. On dayhikes ranging from seven to 12 miles, from Yellowstone’s Mount Washburn and Black Canyon of the Yellowstone River to Utah’s San Rafael Swell, Horseshoe Canyon in Canyonlands National Park, and Kane Gulch, and Arizona’s Canyon de Chelly, and even some cross-country skiing, I found the Salvo 28 rocks for comfort and ventilation.
By Michael Lanza
Our guide Edwina, a woman from the Navajo Nation—or as she tells us the people call themselves, the “Diné” (pronounced da-NAY)—leads our two-family group of eight along a zigzagging, sometimes exposed, primitive “trail” dropping several hundred feet into Canyon del Muerto, a wide, river-cut gorge of sheer, red-rock walls, one of the two main chasms of Canyon de Chelly. Descending narrow ledges, tilting slabs, dry water runnels, and manmade steps carved into the rock, we follow her on a storied and occasionally heart-pounding path into the history of ancient and modern civilizations—and in many ways, the history of the United States.
Three-Season Tent
Sierra Designs Flash 2 FL
$400, 3 lbs. 10 oz. (not including stuff sacks and stakes)
ems.com
The rain started as we searched for a campsite by Utah’s Dirty Devil River. Then the wind kicked up. My son and I quickly pitched this tent and stashed our gear inside without anything getting wet. And as we lounged inside, the Flash 2 FL withstood gusts of 30 to 40 mph—even when the swirling winds hit the tent broadside. But its stability is just part of the strong story of the Flash 2 FL, whose features and performance will appeal to many backpackers who want a lighter shelter, but can’t abide the cramped quarters of many ultralight tents.