Gear Review: Perfect 20-lb. Weight Vest

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Perfect 20-lb. Weight Vest
Perfect 20-lb. Weight Vest

Weight Vest
Perfect 20-lb. Weight Vest
$80, 10 oz. (vest without weights)
One size (adjustable)
perfectonline.com

You want to become a stronger hiker? A number of years ago, after I’d gotten into hiking 20, 30, even over 40 miles in a day, I learned that becoming a stronger hiker isn’t just about having strong legs. I realized that overall fitness—including good core strength—holds the key to being able to knock off bigger miles on the trail. Plus, I don’t have the free time to train by hiking multiple days a week. So I get in shape for dayhiking, backpacking, climbing, and Nordic and backcountry skiing through high-intensity, resistance workouts indoors. That’s why I’ve become a big fan of training with the Perfect 20-Pound Weight Vest.

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Last Day To Win a Pair of Oboz Hiking Shoes

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On dayhikes in southern Utah, the Oboz Traverse Low hiking shoe won me over as one of the best new low-cut shoes of the year for its outstanding support and traction and light weight. Now I’m giving away a pair of the men’s Traverse Low or the equivalent women’s from Oboz, the Luna, at The Big Outside. And today is …

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Sunset above Buck Creek Pass, Glacier Peak Wilderness, Washington.

Photo Essay: A Year of Outdoor Adventures

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By Michael Lanza

A few weeks ago, as I hiked with my daughter up the steep Grandview Trail in the Grand Canyon, knocking off the last few miles of a three-day backpacking trip that had been wonderful on many levels, I was feeling awfully satisfied. For starters, through most of this fall, I’d had a bad itch to get out somewhere—and the Big Ditch, it turns out, is a pretty good place to scratch that itch. Plus, we’d just enjoyed three absolutely gorgeous, summer-like days of father-daughter time, and the company of two other families who joined us.

But seen from a longer view, returning to the Grand Canyon again felt like the perfect way to cap off another good year outdoors. In 2013, I got to seven national parks; five federal wilderness areas; an Idaho mountain range (the White Cloud Mountains) that might… no, should… become either federal wilderness or a national monument in the near future; and had the unforgettable pleasure of standing with my 12- and 10-year-old kids, my 15-year-old nephew, and my 76-year-old mom on the crater rim of Mount St. Helens.

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Last Day to Win a Westcomb Focus LT Hoody

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What’s not to like about a 9-ounce rain jacket that delivers complete protection from the elements, yet all but disappears inside your pack when you don’t need it? That’s why the Westcomb Focus LT Hoody is a winner. Now you have a chance to win one of these ultralight rain jackets: I’m giving one away at The Big Outside. Today’s …

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Book Review: The Family Traveler’s Handbook

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Family Traveler's HandbookBook Review
The Family Traveler’s Handbook
By Mara Gorman
136 pgs., Full Flight Press, $16.99

By Michael Lanza

Let’s face it: Traveling with kids can be difficult. Perhaps even, at times, somewhat less than fun, especially when they’re little. Taking the kind of trips you took pre-children when you have, say, an infant and toddler can feel so daunting that many parents mostly give up on it for several years. I’ve met many who have said to me, “We used to [fill in the blank here: backpack, hike, camp, ski, climb, travel internationally, etc.]—until we had kids.”

But you don’t have to give it up at all. And Mara Gorman has written an inspirational, positive, and fairly slender (read: no heavy studying for the time-challenged) book to help guide parents who enjoy travel but feel overwhelmed by the prospect of doing it with kids.

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