A teenage boy dayhiking up Mount Washington in the Presidential Range, White Mountains, N.H.

Big Hearts, Big Day: A 17-Mile Hike With Teens in the Presidential Range

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By Michael Lanza

Like two spooked deer, Marco and Liam bound ahead of us on the trail, pause to wait for us to catch up, and then sprint ahead again. Powered by the blindly stratospheric self-confidence of athletic teenage boys, they do this repeatedly as we hike a trail paved with rocks the size of bowling balls and dorm-room refrigerators. We are in the early hours of a marathon dayhike over the four peaks of New Hampshire’s Northern Presidential Range, but they are treating it like a short, interval-training workout.

Something tells me this strategy won’t carry them through our long day. But I say nothing. I’m just curious to see how long a pair of fit young bucks can keep this up.

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Gear Review: Exped DreamWalker 450 Sleeping Bag

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Exped DreamWalker 450
Exped DreamWalker 450

Sleeping Bag
Exped DreamWalker 450
$349, 2 lbs. 1 oz. (medium)
Sizes: medium (fits up to 5 feet, 11 ins.), large (fits up to 6 feet, 5 ins.)
moosejaw.com

On a cool, early morning at Numa Creek camp on the Rockwall Trail in Canada’s Kootenay National Park, I told my wife I was heading for the camp’s cooking area to fire up our stove for breakfast. She responded in her way of letting me know she wasn’t getting up yet: “It’s cold out there.” I said, “That’s why I’m staying in my bag.” And I was: Within seconds, I converted my DreamWalker 450 bag into a long down parka and proceeded to wear it walking and sitting around in camp.

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Gear Review: Aku Mio Surround GTX Hiking Shoes

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Aku Mio Surround GTX hiking shoes.
Aku Mio Surround GTX

Hiking/Trail Running Shoes
Aku Mio Surround GTX
$200, 1 lb. 14 oz. (US men’s 9)
Sizes: US men’s 7-13

The pivotal question you might ask yourself before buying trail footwear is: How much do I need? You’re probably thinking along the lines of how much support you need in a shoe or boot. But that question could also refer to the delicate balance between how much protection you need from wetness on the outside getting inside, versus breathability so moisture on the inside gets released. The new Gore-Tex Surround technology alters that equation, and Aku’s Mio Surround GTX leaps feet first into this debate as a lightweight, low-cut shoe that could serve the needs of a wide range of dayhikers and backpackers.

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Gear Review: Oboz Scapegoat Mid Boots

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Oboz Scapegoat Mid
Oboz Scapegoat Mid

Lightweight Boots
Oboz Scapegoat Mid
$145, 2 lbs. 2 oz. (US men’s 9)
Sizes: men’s 8-14
moosejaw.com

Like all categories of outdoor gear, footwear has grown increasingly specialized, with models designed to fill just about every imaginable user niche—except perhaps one. While there are plenty of options in non-waterproof, low-cut hiking and scrambling shoes built to maximize breathability, when you move up the continuum of mid-cut boots into models with the support for backpacking, most have some kind of waterproof-breathable membrane. With the Scapegoat Mid, Oboz is treading into somewhat unexplored terrain by offering a non-waterproof, lightweight boot designed for multi-day hikes. Because I like the concept behind this approach, I took the Scapegoat Mid on a three-day, entirely off-trail backpacking trip in the Panamint Range of Death Valley National Park to see how they perform.

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Gear Review: Osprey Manta AG 20 Daypack

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Osprey Manta AG 20
Osprey Manta AG 20

Daypack
Osprey Manta AG 20
$155, 20L/1,220 c.i., 2 lbs. 11 oz.
One size
Ospreypacks.com

How much stuff goes into your daypack? If you routinely carry upwards of 15 pounds or more (including the pack’s empty weight) on dayhikes, unless you possess a spine of steel, it really makes sense to get a pack designed for comfort with that kind of payload. When Osprey brought its groundbreaking Anti-Gravity suspension to the men’s Manta and women’s Mira daypacks this year, I decided to take the Manta AG 20 out for some trail mileage, including a 14-mile, 3,000-foot dayhike of 11,049-foot Telescope Peak in California’s Death Valley National Park to see how it measures up.

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