Still Crazy After All These Years: Hiking in the White Mountains

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By Michael Lanza

The sun beams down approvingly as Mark and I start hiking from Crawford Notch, the head-turning cleavage in the heart of New Hampshire’s White Mountains. The temperature sits in a perfect zone somewhere between warm and cool. Not a trace of humidity moistens the air, while an idyllic breeze stirs it enough to keep the ravenous mosquitoes and black flies at bay. Recognizing the rarity of this meteorological gift, the birds sound like they’re singing an enthusiastic ode to the morning.

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A hiker atop Half Dome in Yosemite National Park.

10 Tricks For Making Hiking and Backpacking Easier

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By Michael Lanza When I started hiking, I was like a young baseball pitcher with an overpowering fastball: I hurled myself at every hike with all of my energy. I didn’t think about how far I was hiking, the terrain’s ruggedness, or my pack’s weight. I was young and fit, so my haphazard strategy worked fine. Now, many years and …

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The Mystery Ranch Sphinx 60L backpack.

Review: Mystery Ranch Sphinx 60 Backpack

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Backpack Mystery Ranch Sphinx 60 $269, 60L/3,662 c.i., 4 lbs. 14 oz. (men’s medium) Sizes: men’s S-XL, women’s XS-L backcountry.com Anyone shopping for a backpack designed for carrying loads of 40 pounds or more should be looking at a few specific qualities: an abundance of external pockets that provide a variety of organizational options; superior durability; and most of all, …

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A young girl hiker at Imogene Lake, Sawtooth Mountains, Idaho.

Sawtooth Jewels: Backpacking to Alice, Hell Roaring, and Imogene Lakes

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By Michael Lanza We sit on the bank of Pettit Lake Creek and remove our boots and socks to ford it. It’s the third week in June, and winter is just winding down in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains. The creek barrels downhill, barking and bursting with snowmelt. My friends Chip and Jan Roser are already partway across, moving carefully over the …

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The Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL2 in Utah's High Uintas Wilderness.

Review: Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL2 Backpacking Tent

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Ultralight Backpacking Tent
Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL2
$550, 2 lbs. 11 oz./1219g
backcountry.com

As the wind gusted over 30 mph and at times 40 mph at our unprotected campsite in a big meadow beside the Snake River, on the Idaho side of Hells Canyon while backpacking in early June, I kept throwing nervous glances at our tents. But while three of them whipped and bent under the onslaught of air, the Copper Spur HV UL2 barely trembled—not what you’d necessarily expect from an ultralight backpacking tent. But that’s just one way this shelter defies expectations.

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