America’s Best Backpacking and Outdoor Adventures
Hi Michael,
Hope all is well. I’m looking for your opinion on a 30-liter pack. I am going to Nepal in October on a 15-day trek. I think this would be the perfect size for me, because also I like a little bigger daypack for my hikes in the White Mountains. I have an older Gregory Z30, and I just tried on the new one and like the new details, plus I sweat really badly on hikes. As always thank you in advance, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Mike
Everett, MA
By Michael Lanza
Shanti and Mark Hodges took their son, Mason, on his first hike when he was nine days old, walking a flat, quarter-mile trail at Oswald State Park on the Oregon coast. That was in July 2013. Then Mark, 35, an avid hiker, started carrying Mason on regular walks in the woods—just the two of them. Shanti worried about that.
By Michael Lanza
We follow a zigzagging line of stone cairns over waves of slickrock in the backcountry of the Needles District of Utah’s Canyonlands National Park. Cliffs and 300-foot-tall sandstone candlesticks tower around us, in more shades of red than Crayola has yet replicated, glowing in the warm afternoon sunshine of late March. Five adults and four kids from three families, we traverse slabs, scramble in single file up the smooth, dry bottom of a narrow water runnel, and pump out calf muscles walking straight up steep ramps. In the desert Southwest, trails haven’t learned the axiom of Euclidian geometry that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. We’re navigating a maze without walls.
Hi Michael,
I was wondering if you would recommend these Aku SL Sintesi Mid GTX boots for an average day of hiking as well as backpacking. I’m about to retire a pair of Merrells I’ve had for six years and my biggest complaint was that they were one dimensional, I took them backpacking, but they weren’t really sturdy enough. I am looking for a good, all-around boot that I could wear in intense, mountainous/snowy conditions or on a casual day of hiking with the family. I think I’ve narrowed down to these: Salomon Quest 4D GTX, Vasque St. Elias, and the Oboz Bridgers that you also reviewed. Any suggestions?
Michael,
I am an active backpacker and trekker. I have become disappointed in the use of Gore-Tex in hiking boots. I know you test many boots, but I wonder if you use many of those you test to experience the durability of the Gore-Tex and other waterproof-breathable linings. In addition to the extra warmth and the longer drying time of Gore-Tex-lined boots, my experience in the past year has me thinking I will be better off going back to a heavier, quality leather boot such as a La Sportiva Karakoram (the non-Gore-Tex version).