backpacking gear reviews

Gear Review: REI Flash 45 Backpack

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REI Flash 45
REI Flash 45

NOTE: Click here to read my review of the newer, 2017 version of the REI Flash 45 backpack.

Backpack
REI Flash 45
$129, 45L/2,745 c.i., 2 lbs. 3 oz. (men’s medium)
Sizes: medium (fits torsos 17-19 inches) and large (50L/3,051 c.i., 2 lbs. 4 oz., fits torsos 19-21 inches)
rei.com

For most backpacking trips, when I’m not carrying gear and food for my family, I pack as light as possible and walk long days: I like to see as much wilderness as I can. For those trips, I prefer a backpack that’s light but still has decent support; I find that the virtually frameless ultralight packs with minimal support pull on my shoulders too much over the course of a 10- or 12-hour day of hiking. On a recent three-day, 65-mile hike in Yosemite, carrying a max of about 25 pounds, the Flash 45 hit that nice middle ground: lightweight, yet comfortable with the amount of weight I threw into it, and very functional.

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Gear Review: Salomon Conquest GTX Boots

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Salomon Conquest GTX
Salomon Conquest GTX

Boots
Salomon Conquest GTX
$180, 2 lbs. 7 oz. (men’s 9)
Sizes: men’s 7-12, 13, women’s 5-10
salomon.com

Recovering from a deep bone bruise on the top of my left foot (suffered in a leader fall rock climbing a month earlier), I was hiking again for the first time when I wore these boots on a three-day backpacking trip to the Big Boulder Lakes in Idaho’s White Clouds Mountains. Hiking with my 12-year-old son, I carried up to 35 pounds for about 22 miles, with nearly 5,000 feet of uphill and downhill and significant sections of the route off-trail or on rough, user trails. I wanted a boot with a little more support and rigidity than most competitors in this midweight category, and the Conquest GTX delivered on that count.

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Gear Review: REI Flash Insulated Air Mattress

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REI Flash Insulated Air Mattress
REI Flash Insulated Air Mattress

NOTE: Click here for my review of the updated, 2017 version of the REI Flash Insulated Air Mattress.

Air Mattress
REI Flash Insulated Air Mattress
$119, 1 lb. 1 oz. (regular, with stuff sack)
Sizes: regular (20.5x72x2.5 inches) and long (25x77x2.5 inches)
rei.com

Comfortable, packable, light, and user friendly, at a good price—that was my verdict after I used this air mat on a five-day backpacking trip in Washington’s Glacier Peak Wilderness and a six-day hike in Sequoia National Park. It has a quality that’s important in an air mattress—durability: Thanks to the 30-denier ripstop polyester fabric and welded construction, I slept under the stars on pebbly gravel at Columbine Lake in Sequoia, and used it nightly in my chair kit sitting around campsites, without the Flash springing a leak.

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Gear Review: Big Agnes Big Easy chair kit

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Big Agnes Big Easy chair kit
Big Agnes Big Easy chair kit.

Backcountry Camp Chair
Big Agnes Big Easy chair kit
$40-$45, 1 lb. 1 oz. (20-inch-wide model, including mesh stuff sack).
Sizes: 20 and 25 inches wide
moosejaw.com

I am loath to carry any superfluous weight backpacking, but this is one piece of non-essential gear I virtually never backpack without: The pound it adds to my pack is well worth the comfort and rest I gain in camp. Just this year, I’ve used it on backpacking trips in Utah’s Coyote Gulch, Idaho’s White Clouds Mountains, Washington’s Glacier Peak Wilderness, and Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks, but I’ve also brought it on innumerable past backpacking trips.

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Gear Review: Vasque St. Elias GTX Boots

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Vasque St. Elias GTX
Vasque St. Elias GTX

Boots
Vasque St. Elias GTX
$190, 3 lbs. 1 oz. (men’s 9)
Sizes: men’s 7-12, 13, 14 medium width, 9-12, 13 narrow, 8-12, 13 wide; women’s 6-11 medium, 7-10 narrow and wide
vasque.com

I typically prefer a lightweight shoe or boot for backpacking with a load of 35 pounds or less. But when I’m carrying well over 40 pounds—as I did on a recent six-day family hike in Sequoia National Park—I want a boot with big support and stability, both to help me avoid a twisted ankle (or worst), and to prevent my feet from feeling badly beat up every day from the pounding of so much weight landing on them. The St. Elias GTX delivered on both counts.

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