Just completed a 12 mile loop through the Forest Glen backpacking loop in Georgetown Illinois, right on the border of Illinois and Indiana. Not my first trip out here, but one of my favorites in the area. It's a nice hike that's tougher than it looks as you ride up and down the ravines that make up the park. I use this to gear test anything before heading out on larger trips. This time I was testing the SILKY Gomboy 240 saw, and it's changing the way I'm looking at firewood collection and bushcrafting. I've tried several saws and axes over the years, and the weight tax is worth it coming in at 10 ounces. The effort to collect and process the wood for our fire was comically low.

8 mile hike from the trailhead to the east camp (backpacking camp) where there are fire rings cut for each designated camp site. Beautiful fall colors and perfect night time temps in the mid 40s. Hammock camped and hiked ~4 miles out on the second day.

Filtered water straight from the flowing Vermillion river, right below east camp, and chowed down on skurka beans for dinner. IYKYK lol delicious. Would highly recommend for anyone looking for a solid trip in the Midwest!

Went on an overnight trip to Middle Fork Lake, NM with a sort of “vintage” gear theme. I rocked my $2.50 late 70s Jansport D3 and my wife used her $7 early 80s Kelty Sonora III, both for the first time. I’ve been doing some minor repairs and getting the packs ready to go, trying to keep to materials and techniques used when they were newer. We had an absolute blast, despite the intense hail and snow, haha.

Loved using the old gear, it was awesome talking to my dad about how he would’ve setup his gear like this and his own backpacking trips, and just gave me more respect for the older gear. I’ll absolutely be using this on some future trips.

Went on a little weekend backpacker with my dog. Had to deal with some pretty crazy wind chill, but managed to stay warm. The sunsets and sunrises were incredible, and looking over the morning fog was genuinely transcendent. Stayed two nights and went day-hiking through Pisgah National Forest. It’s leaf season in WNC, so the trails were crowded, but we found an isolated spot and had about 2 hours each morning before hikers started moving through. All around 10/10 experience and 100% worth the cold.

Hiked in wearing shorts from Grandjean, woke up to a solid frozen lake. Guessing it dropped to about 20F.

Rocks tumbled down onto the ice and made the most incredible sounds - like a synthesizer. About the coolest thing I've ever heard!

Every trip I come home with extra food because I pack for the hunger I imagine rather than the hunger I actually have, and all that extra is just weight I carried for nothing. At the same time I am scared of running short on a hard day. For people who have dialed this in, how do you estimate what you will actually eat per day, and do you plan by calories, by meals, by weight, or just by experience at this point? Trying to stop hauling food back out every time.

I’m a student working on a class project about backpacking gear. How do you keep track of how old your gear is, how much it’s been used, and when it’s time to replace or repair it? Do you rely on memory, a spreadsheet, or just wait until something fails?

I’m testing an idea for something that logs each item’s weight, age, and condition. If that sounds useful, comment or DM me. I'd love to hear your opinions.

I am not attempting to self-promote, just want to gain some info :)

trying to keep it brief, i am currently getting into back country hunting but know backpacking is in my near future. i like external frame packs as i dont care to restrict myself to light weight gear/comfort items so im hoping i can get a nice external frame pack that can serve both purposes. as far as i can see the only real difference is that hunting packs are designed to separate from the frame for hauling meat and the fabric has a focus on quietness and camouflage.

is what im hoping to achieve a common practice? am i missing more differences than i am noticing and its a bad idea? tips are appreciated. if i can justify the pack being for both i can spend a bit more on better equipment😎 or save on a second backpack and get better gear to go in it

I have been only in Bangkok from Thailand but I was thinking about doing a motorcycle loop around Chang Mai and pai and also maybe going in some islands in the south of Thailand. And then from Chang Mai taking the slow boat 2 day to get to Laos for like another 4 days.

But my gf is thinking about the Philippines. We live in Greece so we have great beaches here so incredible beaches are not so impressive to us. But we would love to do scuba diving and coral reefs and stuff. Also the El Nido to Coron seems really nice. But is there anything else to do in the Philippines.
Also I think Philippines will be more expensive.
We think around all around trip for like 1800€. Is it possible for any of those ?

20 male

Im looking to stay in japan for 2 weeks ish (leave england on the 28th december with a return flight)

Just looking for some tips and information and experience other people have had. It'll be my first time backpacking and exploring another country by myself.

Id like to move around alot and see as much of the country as possible within the time frame. Id like to go to anything from hotsprings out in nature to experience a bit of tokyo.

So far I've mostly been looking at flights and costs of staying from what I've found its very reasonable. Ive also been trying to find what the best routes to see everything I want to however but I am more than happy to just get a train or bus somewhere and see where I end up

If anyone has any tips or advice or even would like to tag along that would be amazing.

Thanks for reading

Fala, pessoal! Belezinha?

Estou planejando uma viagem no próximo mês e queria tirar uma dúvida prática com a galera que costuma viajar pela Europa ou já voou de Air China saindo de Guarulhos.

Minha situação é a seguinte:

1. Tenho um voo comprado São Paulo (GRU) -> Madri (MAD) pela Air China.
2. Não tenho passagem comprada de volta para o Brasil ainda, porque pretendo ficar 10 dias em Madri e, de lá, decidir se vou para o Marrocos ou para a Turquia.
3. Como preciso comprovar a saída do Espaço Schengen, já comprei a minha passagem Madri -> Londres para o 10º dia e já estou com o ETA do Reino Unido aprovado.

Pelo Código de Fronteiras Schengen (Artigo 6), sei que ter a passagem de saída para um terceiro país (Londres) com a autorização de entrada (ETA) cumpre 100% o requisito legal para entrar na Espanha. Não existe exigência de a passagem ser obrigatoriamente de volta para o país de origem.

Minhas dúvidas para quem já passou por algo parecido:

• No check-in da Air China em GRU: Eles costumam ser tranquilos apresentando a saída para Londres + ETA, ou encrencam querendo ver passagem de volta pro Brasil?
• Na imigração em Madri: Apresentar o voo pra Londres costuma ser suficiente sem dor de cabeça?
• Estratégia do "Onward Ticket": Vale a pena gerar aquela reserva temporária de saída de Londres só por garantia, ou é paranoia e a passagem de Madri -> Londres resolve tudo?

Quem tiver experiências recentes voando Air China ou fazendo esse tipo de roteiro "aberto" pela Europa, se puder dar um relato de como foi no balcão, ajudo demais!

Valeu!

I’m curious what everyone is carrying now that the weather is actually starting to shift. I did a little pack check this weekend while getting ready for some cooler backpacking trips and realized my setup looks pretty different from summer. Besides the usual stuff like extra wool socks, a fleece, rain jacket, beanie, gloves, headlamp and way too many snacks, I’ve started bringing a small first aid kit with a few extra blister patches. I finally changed up my electronics too. My old power bank would get super slow when it got cold and it was already pretty beat up from getting thrown around in my bag. So I swapped it for one of those outdoor rugged power banks. I mostly wanted something that could handle getting knocked around a bit and being outside without me babying it the whole time. Also it’s nice not having to worry as much about it getting damaged or wet if the weather turns.

I’m curious what everyone else changes in their setup when fall rolls around. Is there anything you always bring on cooler backpacking trips that you wouldn’t bother carrying in summer?

About to go backpacking in the vaucluse region in the south of france and intend to go wild camping. Is the region more suited for tent pitching or hammock and tarp?

Need some advice please. Old stuff from 90s finally blown out. Looking for best wicking base layer for man, quality wise, BIFL price no object. Thoughts?

I have two thermoses. One is a proper vacuum thermos, and in freezing weather its outside turns into a piece of icy metal that gives off almost no heat. The other has a plastic cup-shaped top that screws on and keeps the water inside. The plastic gets warm and gives off heat.

I discovered that this works really well when you get cold on a hike. A regular bottle filled with boiling water has a large surface area, so it loses heat quickly. With my thermos, most of the body is vacuum-insulated, and only the small plastic top gives off heat. So the heat lasts longer.

If I hold the warm plastic part between my thighs inside my sleeping bag, it keeps me warm.

I guess this is what you call a life hack!

Recently, I got cold during the night, and this little heater kept me warm enough to sleep for six hours.

There were a lot of random shoes on the trail this time lol. It was extremely dry, there's still enough water but if you're going soon and it hasn't rained yet, you'll to be a little more strategic. Brier Creek was totally dry. We really only took off shoes to cross the Little Missouri. Colors are popping off a little bit, armadillos were everywhere and super cute. If you go up to the top of Brush Heap Mountain, it's very thorny so don't wear anything you don't want to get snagged. Don't forget your sharpie to sign the fridge 😆

I'm looking for a new backpack for my hiking/camping trips and I have a free one from Dakine through a warranty. However all they have are travel/snow/surf packs, nothing specifically for hiking/camping. So I'm considering the Poacher 32L. It's designed for snow sports but I think a lot of the carrying features could be made use of for hiking. The only thing that really concerns me is getting a sweaty back while hiking due to the bag being made for winter/snow insulation.

I know this is an odd one but any help would be massively appreciated! Thank you!

I would like to go on a short backpacking trip over thanksgiving weekend in Utah, Nightly lows where I would like to go are in the 3℉ to 10℉ range.

I currently have the following sleep system
- Nemo Disco 15 (17℉ comfort, 4℉ Limit)
- Big Agnes Campmeister Deluxe pad (R value of 7)
- Patagonia Fitz-Roy 30 (30℉)

With this Kit I have 3 options

1. Ideally I would like to put the 30℉ bag inside the 15℉ bag to get down to lower temps. I have heard that stacking sleeping bags is not recommended because of reduced loft, the Nemo Disco is a very roomy bag so I think this could work
2. Buy a 25℉ Quilt and put it on top of the 15℉ bag. I have heard that a quilt on top of a bag will work.
3. buy a zero degree bag or quilt. I would prefer not buying a new quilt, especially if it is a 0 degree. I would rather buy my first quilt that I can use for more parts of the year

I would love to hear anyone's opinions.

im going to Aus on January 5th doing a tour with happy travels which will run to Feb 9th but id only sere the east coast and as ive gone all that way it would seem pointless coming back so soon. So if anyone has any advice on places like Melbourne, adelaide, Perth, Tasmania, darwin and the whole of NZ id appreciate that

I would like to go somewhere warmer outside Europe. Preferably less heavy rain. What are the top destinations for mid-november?

Hey all,

I like to go backpacking for short pack-in pack-out camping at primitive sites. Maybe a day or two. I'm always so frustrated with how much stuff I feel like I'm bringing with me and how much it weighs.

I'm not looking for ultralight, but what kind of changes can I make to my kit that would make a big difference in terms of weight and volume? It just seems like so much stuff.

Thanks!