America’s Best Backpacking and Outdoor Adventures
By Michael Lanza
On a remote, sandy beach on Washington’s Olympic coast, we stop in our tracks and gaze up. A wall of muddy earth rises some 300 feet into jungle-like rainforest. A thick strand of hemp rope dangles down this steep, eroding embankment. A ladder of wooden steps built into the muddy ground rises in tandem with the rope.
We’re going up it.
Ultralight Backpacking Tent
Nemo Dragonfly 2P
$480, 2 lbs. 10 oz./1191g
nemoequipment.com
From clear, cool, late-August nights on the Teton Crest Trail, to mixed weather that included rain and wind on a five-day hike in Yellowstone’s Bechler Canyon area in September, the Nemo Dragonfly 2P displayed the weather protection and exceptional livability that distinguishes it as one of the very best two-person, three-season ultralight backpacking tents on the market today—at a very good price for this level of quality. Here’s why.
Rechargeable Headlamp Knog Bandicoot $35, 2 oz. Eartheasy.com My first reaction to the Knog Bandicoot was: a rechargeable headlamp that weighs and costs less than headlamps that require batteries?! My second thought was: Hey, this thing looks kind of… cool. After using it on late-summer (think: it’s dark by early evening) backpacking trips on the Teton Crest Trail and in …
Backpack The North Face Banchee 50 $230, 50L/3,051 c.i., 3 lbs. 1 oz./1.4kg (S/M) Sizes: men’s S/M and L/XL, women’s XS/S and M/L moosejaw.com In the competitive arena of backpacking packs, there’s an increasingly crowded field of ultralight models, as well as an array of choices in heavier, more tricked-out packs built for moderate to stout loads. Then there’s an …
David and I pause to catch our breath in quiet forest of wind-stunted conifers at the junction of the Old Speck Trail and Mahoosuc/Appalachian Trail, near the northern end of Maine’s Mahoosuc Range. Since we started hiking shortly after 6 a.m. from the Old Speck Trailhead on ME 26 in Grafton Notch, we’ve climbed 3.5 miles and nearly 3,000 vertical feet up this relentlessly steep trail in under two hours. Given our seemingly absurd objective today—to complete a 30-mile, north-south traverse of the notoriously rugged Mahoosucs before we sleep tonight—our strong pace on the day’s biggest uphill buoys our hopes.