Open navigation menu
Close suggestions
Search
Search
en
Change Language
Language
English
(selected)
español
português
Deutsch
français
Русский
italiano
român
Bahasa Indonesia
Learn more
Upload
Read free for 30 days
Welcome to Scribd!
Upload
Language (EN)
Scribd Perks
Invite friends
FAQ and support
Sign in
Skip carousel
Carousel Previous
Carousel Next
What is Scribd?
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
Podcasts
Sheet Music
Documents
Snapshots
Created by
Backpacker
June 2018
Backpacker
6 min read
Trapped With A Broken Leg
THE LAST OF THE LIGHT drained from the narrow gash of sky above me. I heard my cries for help bounce away through the canyon walls, but they received no answer. I was stuck, my leg was throbbing, and the temperature was dropping fast. When I’d starte
Backpacker
2 min read
See You In Hells
TWENTY MINUTES AGO, staring at the cliffs that soar above the foaming rapids of the Snake River, I wondered how I would ever pass through. But faith and footsteps paid off, and now I’m 500 feet in the air, on a narrow trail blasted out of sheer grani
Backpacker
15 min read
The Top 50 Miles
It would have been easy for Congressional legislators to punt on trail issues in 1968. The year started with the Tet Offensive, intensifying opposition to the Vietnam War. That was followed by the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F
Backpacker
2 min read
Pineland Paradise
1) Head 2.2 miles north on the Batona Trail/Batsto White Trail. 2) Continue 4.2 miles on the Batona Trail to the Quaker Bridge. 3) Follow signs for “Lower Forge,” trekking 1.3 miles to the riverside Lower Forge Campsite. 4) Next day, retrace your ste
Backpacker
2 min read
Urban Adventures
You don’t need to wander far from the concrete jungle of Manhattan to find a real forest. In fact, with just an afternoon and a MetroCard you can tackle part of the 358-mile Long Path. The 3-mile piece (6 miles out and back) from the George Washingto
Backpacker
2 min read
Easy Does it Car Camping
MY CAMPFIRE FLASHES and flickers on the massive rocks behind it, casting warm light on my quiet site. There’s room for more tents here, but I’m alone, camped on the broad shoulder of a peak in the Eastern Sierra where Fourteeners fan away in both dir
Backpacker
1 min read
Aim High
1) Head 4.1 miles west on the North Fork Big Pine Creek Trail, following signs for “Big Pine Lakes,” as it steadily ascends 2,000 feet to a junction for the Big Pine Lakes Loop. 2) Veer south to reach the lower lakes, continuing .4 mile past First La
Backpacker
2 min read
Stuke Sowle, 43
Consider the numbers: 3,500 miles and a million feet of elevation gain. In one year. While holding down a full-time job. Stuke Sowle, an REI distribution supervisor in the Seattle area, makes other weekend warriors look like couch potatoes. (Last yea
Backpacker
2 min read
Nature
Take A Chance On An Unnamed Lake
I STRUGGLE TO CATCH MY BREATH as I make my final push up the scree slope. At more than 15,000 feet, I’m higher than any peak in the Lower 48, and I’m still going up. I chew on the thought as I trudge up the last set of switchbacks into even thinner a
Backpacker
4 min read
The Man Who Hiked It All
Sun streaks through a lodgepole pine forest in Oregon’s Diamond Peak Wilderness at PCT mile 2,025 a northern mockingbird poses on a Florida Trail marker in the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. BACKPACKER: How did this quest begin? Bart Smith: When
Backpacker
7 min read
Light Makes Right
BEST FOR BIG LOADS $190; 2 lbs. 8 oz. (m’s M); m’s S-L, w’s XS-M; 48 liters/45 liters; gregorypacks.com OUR TAKE Many ultralight packs skimp on the suspension to cut weight, but the Optic bucks that trend. “Even when I was carrying 40 pounds up narro
Backpacker
4 min read
Have Fun In A Canoe
I’D ALWAYS ASSUMED THE HUMAN RACE held onto canoeing just so Boy Scouts could earn an easy merit badge. The boats are cumbersome, and flat-water trips are closer to car camping than real adventure: You’re sitting down the whole time, and you’re not e
Backpacker
9 min read
Rivers Wild
Family fun LENGTH* 286 MILES DESIGNATED 1981 The ingredients for a perfect family river trip: warm water, exciting rapids, bald eagles, and waterfront camps where the fire’s sparks mingle with the stars. While the upper section of the 286-mile Klamat
Backpacker
2 min read
Nature
The Last Frontier
Cordova has a tendency to take hold of people who stop by for a visit, which is how Dana Smyke ended up there. After showing up on a fishing boat more than 30 years ago, he stopped casting nets and started building trails for the Forest Service. He h
Backpacker
2 min read
Desert Hiking
These shades protect your eyes without dulling the scenery. With 13 percent visual light transmission and a curved shape that blocks peripheral rays, they kept our tester comfortable on hikes in Zion, while the brown tint enhanced reds and oranges. O
Backpacker
2 min read
Science & Mathematics
Get Behind the Lens
Outdoors, the difference between a good photo and a great photo can be just seconds—so get up early and stay out late. The photos below were shot 17 minutes apart. No filter GND filter Read your camera's manual (really), and learn how to manipulate a
Backpacker
2 min read
No Mirage. Magic.
THE HIKE TO CORONA ARCH, outside of Moab, Utah, crosses shadeless slickrock and sand. It’s a short trail—just a mile and a half—but it’s not easy. On a warm, sunny day, the heat reflects off the sandstone, sapping your energy and building a powerful
Backpacker
2 min read
Where the Wild Things Are
1) From the park’s southern boundary, pick up the East Bison Flats Trail and take it 3.5 miles north to an intersection. 2) Turn east onto the Wind Cave Canyon Trail and follow it .6 mile through its narrow namesake to another junction. 3) Veer north
Backpacker
16 min read
Walking On The Horizon
THE ROLLING GRASSLANDS of Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, in Nebraska, slope down to the Niobrara River. It’s a quiet park, where most visitors come to see the fossils of ancient mammals like Menoceras, a pint-size rhino, or Palaeocastor, a beav
Backpacker
1 min read
Rock Remorse
“I’ve been stacking rocks my whole life, but someone recently told me it’s a big no-no. Am I a horrible person?” –Balanced in Boulder Dear Balanced, You’re not horrible; you’re human. Flat rocks can inspire all sorts of spontaneous artistic endeavors
Backpacker
3 min read
Wake-Up Call
ABOUT FIVE SECONDS into the fall, I realized I wasn’t going to stop. The moment when my mind switched from, “Whoops, that was a stupid slip,” to “Holy crap, this could be really bad,” will stay with me forever. It was the last run of the day in the W
Backpacker
2 min read
Trailchat
The National Trails System Act turns 50 this year—and so does one of the original National Scenic Trails it designated, the Pacific Crest Trail. For early thru-hikers like Eric Ryback (SoBo, 1970; pictured), the PCT was a wilder path. See historical
Backpacker
1 min read
25th Anniversary Hall of Fame
When it comes to roomy, durable, affordable shelters, this tent is king. BACKCOUNTRY SHELTER HAS changed a lot in the 16 years since REI debuted the Half Dome 2. But this tent? Not so much. REI knew it had something good from the get-go: a tent that’
Backpacker
3 min read
Hurt-Proof
THE EXPERT Colorado-based physical therapist Laurie Heiner specializes in treating endurance athletes, including runners and thru-hikers. Trail cred: She trains for ultramarathons in her spare time. What Step down to initiate eccentric contraction an
Loading
Quick navigation
Home
Books
Audiobooks
Documents