Black Diamond Trail Blitz 12 ultralight daypack.

Review: Black Diamond Trail Blitz 12 and REI Flash 18 Daypacks

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Ultralight Daypacks Black Diamond Trail Blitz 12 $50, 12L/732 c.i., 6.5 oz. One size backcountry.com REI Flash 18 $40, 18L/1,100 c.i., 9 oz. One size rei.com When considering whether to carry a light daypack or summit pack for side hikes or peakbagging on a backpacking trip, I’d normally weigh the length of the side hikes—i.e., how far I’d have to …

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Oboz Bridger Mid Waterproof boots

Review: Oboz Bridger Mid and Low Waterproof Boots and Shoes

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Hiking and Backpacking Boots Oboz Bridger Mid Waterproof $180, 2 lbs. 6 oz. (men’s size 9) Sizes: men’s 7-15, women’s 6-11 backcountry.com Hiking and Backpacking Shoes Oboz Bridger Low Waterproof $140, 2 lbs. 3 oz. (men’s size 9) Sizes: men’s 8-14, women’s 6-11 backcountry.com As someone who makes his living walking on- and off-trail a lot, I’m very selective about …

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Review: Feathered Friends Helios Hooded Jacket

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Down Jacket
Feathered Friends Helios Hooded Jacket
$489, 1 lb. 1 oz./482g (men’s medium)
Sizes: men’s XS-XXL
featheredfriends.com

As I stood outside yurts on December evenings on separate trips in the backcountry of Idaho’s Boise Mountains and Boulder Mountains, enjoying an inky-black sky riddled with stars as the temperature plunged into the low teens and single digits Fahrenheit, this fat down jacket felt like an impenetrable force field keeping all of my body’s warmth inside and the frigid cold outside. My companions who tried it out agreed: The Helios Hooded Jacket is just crazy warm—especially for its weight and packability. Those qualities define it as one of the best high-quality down jackets for winter that you’ll find today, but also a puffy jacket that’s light and packable enough for cooler, three-season trips.

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Feathered Friends Snowbunting EX 0 sleeping bag.

Review: Feathered Friends Snowbunting EX 0 Sleeping Bag

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Winter Sleeping Bag
Feathered Friends Snowbunting EX 0
$789, 2 lbs. 12 oz. (regular)
Sizes: regular and long ($644)
featheredfriends.com

On chilly nights of camping, nothing’s more popular than a fat sleeping bag. When sleeping outside in winter—or wintry temperatures—the Snowbunting EX 0 has become my bag of choice. Most recently, I slumbered peacefully and quite comfortably through three December nights without a tent outside a backcountry yurt in Idaho’s Boise Mountains—one of those nights dropping into the single digits Fahrenheit, and another featuring several hours of snow falling intermittently directly onto my bag, inside which I remained quite warm and dry. Super warm and well built, at a moderate weight, this bag functions well, depending on the user, for trips in temps from around its 0-degree rating to around freezing.

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A mother and young daughter paddling a mangrove tunnel on the East River, in Florida's Everglades region.

Like No Other Place: Paddling the Everglades

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By Michael Lanza

Under a hot February sun and cloudless sky, we launch our kayaks from a tiny spot of sandy beach into the perfectly still, dark-chocolate waters of the East River in South Florida’s Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park. Within minutes, flocks of snowy egrets fly in close formation overhead. White ibises, black anhingas, tri-colored herons, and brown pelicans flap above the wide river and the green walls of forest on both sides. Great blue herons lift off effortlessly and glide on wings whose span equals an average human’s height.

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