All Hiking and Backpacking Trips
A Menu of All Stories About Outdoor Adventures at The Big Outside Listed By State
Search Results for: Olympic National Park
Ask Me: What Are Your Favorite Places in the Northwest and Northern Rockies?
Michael, I’ve been checking out your excellent backpacking posts and think you may be the right person to help me out with my search. My partner and I have taken a year off work to travel around the U.S. We had a great time hiking and canyoneering in Escalante. So now we’re in the Northwest, and want to find a …
Nature In Your Face: Hiking the Columbia Gorge
By Michael Lanza Horsetail Falls slices a thin, glowing white, 176-foot-tall incision down a cliff of black rock wallpapered with moss and ferns, crashing into a shallow, chilly wading pool at its base. To see it, today’s first waterfall, we had to hike all the way across the road from the parking lot. My son, Nate, and daughter, Alex, give …
12 Expert Tips for Finding Solitude When Backpacking
By Michael Lanza Solitude has always reigned as one of the holy grails of backpacking: We all dream of finding that lonely campsite deep in the wilderness with an amazing vista, or hiking for miles or days encountering few or even no other people on the trail. Unfortunately, reality often conflicts with expectations for many backpackers when they discover that …
25 Essential Backpacking Gear Accessories of 2025
By Michael Lanza Sure, your backpack, boots, tent, sleeping bag, air mattress, and other backpacking gear matter a lot, and you should put serious thought into your choices when buying any of them. But little things matter, too. Various necessary accessories, convenience items, and small comforts accompany me on backcountry trips. Nearly three decades of field-testing gear—including the 10 years …