GearJunkie is going off the grid. This week, to film the first episode of a new video series, a few of us here at GearJunkie will be trekking a lonesome and infamous shoreline route in northern California on a backpacking trip.
A website unveiled this week at the South by Southwest Interactive Conference lets you “hike” more than 300 miles of trails on your computer screen. Explore Grand Canyon, Great Smoky Mountains and Yellowstone with the click of a mouse.
Screw on your Coke bottle and hook up the hose. The JetFlow is a simple threaded converter that comes with three feet of hose and can work in a backpack with a disposable bottle to make an ad hoc hydration system.
No type-o, this pocketknife, sold on boutique Kaufmann Mercantile, costs an astonishing $330! But for that cost you get a rare handmade piece in an era where cheap goods and mass production are the norm.
The Petzl NAO, a new headlamp, uses sensors to adjust its beam “instantly and automatically” depending on what you’re looking at. GearJunkie got a sneak peek at the potentially game-changing technology.
As GPS devices come, we’ve not found a simpler or less expensive product than the AMOD Data Logger. Made originally for photographers looking to track where pictures were taken, the AMOD has outdoors applications for anyone in need of a no-fuss GPS tracking device.
Suspect water? Zap viruses and protozoa like giardia and cryptosporidium to provide “germ-free” H20 with this new and miniaturized (and rechargeable!) SteriPEN device.
Gear Junkie editor Stephen Regenold breaks down the equipment he used on a recent “fast and light” hike in New York’s Catskill Mountains. Carbon trekking poles, arms warmers, and a “bottom-less” sleeping bag were among the items in his kit.
Foot lube, a titanium spork, boots, trekking poles, and an ultra-light pack. These are a few of the items highlighted in our latest “Fast & Light” video, an episode made to give a peek at the equipment used on Gear Junkie and crew’s treks this past summer and fall.
Long live the humble hiking stick! Brazo’s Walking Sticks of Waco, Texas, makes a range of trek-ready wooden staffs. We give the company’s Twisted Oak model a trail test.
Lightweight yet rugged and large, the to-be-released Crown 60 is set for fully-geared weekend backpacking trips or minimalists who are loaded with the bulk of food to trek long and far.
British survivalist star Bear Grylls of “Man vs. Wild” television fame has a namesake line of knives and survival products made by Gerber Legendary Blades. We caught up with the Bear to talk machetes, snare wires, and tiny kits built for extreme scenarios outdoors.
Our third video episode this fall on fast-and-light adventure debuts today. The video, “The Hardest Hiking Trail in the East,” covers a journey that starts in New York City and includes, literally, planes, trains, automobiles, hiking boots, and a bike at the end to complete!
For a limited few days only, Gerber is shipping a new knife in its Bear Grylls series, the Ultimate Fine Edge Knife, which promises a sharp edge from the top of the handle to the tip of the blade.
Active dogs require specialized equipment to run, ski and play outdoors. In this column, Gear Junkie editor Stephen Regenold looks at a few pieces of canine equipment that have been crucial for outdoors fun with his dog, a 100-pound Weimaraner who runs like a machine.
The Gear Junkie crew is back from the Catskill Mountains of New York and the Devils Path, the “hardest hiking trail in the East.” In its 27 miles, the trail climbs six major peaks and ascends thousands of cumulative feet.
In our new video, “24 Hours on the Border Route,” Gear Junkie and crew traveled to northern Minnesota to traverse a renowned 65-mile wilderness route. Drama ensues when the group gets lost in the night, their compasses malfunctioning due to high quantities of natural iron in the rock. Get ready to trek!
We test Columbia Sportswear’s new airy bug jacket in the depths of the Great North Woods, a.k.a. Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Our intrepid reviewer bravely offered his mesh-covered limbs to swarming mosquitoes in the test.
Writes Gear Junkie, “In the gear-that’s-changed-my-life category, the line item of ‘small accessible pockets on backpacks’ may seem odd.” This post details a half-dozen products that offer a simple upgrade in backpack accessibility to keep gear always at the ready on the go outside.
Since 2010, Gear Junkie founder Stephen Regenold has spent almost two months of his life in Chilean Patagonia near the tip of South America immersed in the wilderness. This travel feature provides a guide to the region as well as Regenold’s recommendations on the best sites to see in Patagonia’s “end of the Earth” environment.
The GearJunkie crew is back from Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area and the little-traveled Border Route Trail. This report looks at the crew’s fast-and-light assault through the day and night on the 65-mile route. Moose, magnetized rocks, and getting lost all a part of the fun!
This weekend, we’re heading north to the depths of Minnesota’s North Woods and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. There, we will lace up our boots (no canoes this time!) and head west to east on the Border Route Trail, a 65-mile hiking path that traverses the BWCA!
Shoot molten metal balls to ignite camp stoves and dry kindling with this new “nano-size” fire-starting stick. Gear Junkie tests it out on a recent mountain trip where flame was required to cook a hot meal at high altitude.
This built-for-backpacking shoe offers a zip-in-half option for maximum packability. Gear Junkie takes the modular footwear, which converts to a “shoe pod” during transit, on a trail test.
Quick-wicking, sun protective, and durable in the outdoors, the Eco-Speed-T from RailRiders is among Gear Junkie’s favorite shirts for activity outdoors in hot weather.
Growing tired of the mainstream flavors of energy bars and gels? A new made-with-bananas bar hit the market this summer that tastes so good it’s being sold as “performance candy.”
From minimalist trail shoes to full-leather boots, Gear Junkie offers a roundup of some of this year’s most intriguing footwear makes. Pick out your optimal shoe and lace up to hit the trail!
As reported around the barefoot-minded blogosphere this week, the U.S. Army has banned Vibram FiveFingers and all other “toe-shoes” because they “detract from a professional military image.”
With the solstice past, it’s summertime now officially! And with it, we’re wearing sunglasses most days, even in Minnesota where GearJunkie is based. This review covers a pair of lux sunglasses with a prescription lens from Costa Del Mar.
Handheld cartridge air pumps are usually reserved for bike tires. But Utah-based Klymit thinks it’s found a better way to insulate jackets and sleeping pads with tiny cartridges or argon gas. Our contributor interviews the company founder and CEO.
Last night, at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, amid dinosaur bones and live stingrays undulating in a shallow pool, Columbia Sportswear previewed its spring 2012 product line. Gear Junkie gives a run-down of the ceremonies and the company’s unique new wares.
No, thanks.
