Tips to Get Started

  • 6 Tips for Backpacking Beginners

    From planning to debriefing, these tips will help you to put together a successful backpacking trip for beginners.

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  • Tips for Backpacking with Your Dog

    If you’re thinking of taking a backpacking trip with your own dog, we jotted down a few of our tips to help teach how to get started backpacking with your dog.

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  • Tips for Your First Thru-Hike

    to help you prepare for your thru-hike or long-distance trek, we’ve made a list of seven things we wish we’d known before our first day on the trail.

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  • Tips & Tools to Keep Family Camping Fun

    Here are some hard-won pointers on family camping essentials to pack for vehicle-based family adventures great and small.

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Sustainable Camping Tips

10 Tips for Choosing a Sustainable Campsite

Sleeping in the dirt means you have a lot of choices. And you just might be surprised that there are so many different best practices to minimize your footprint and help conserve outdoor spaces for the next generation. So, we’ve put together our tips for choosing a sustainable campsite.

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How to Poop in the Woods

If you are going on adventures in the backcountry, at some point you have to poo. There are right ways to do it and wrong ways. If you’re wondering how to poop in the woods, we’re here for you.

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Tips by Activity

  • Backpacking & Thru-Hiking

    Get tips on everything you need for long hikes as avid thru hikers share their secrets on gear, self-care and keeping your sanity on the trail.

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  • Car Camping & Overlanding

    Car camping is not just for beginners Check out these 14 car camping tips for an epic weekend of the four wheeled variety.

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  • Winter & Snow Camping

    From Antarctica to the Arctic Circle, and Norway to South Africa, these are winter camping tips learned from experiencing a truly global winter.

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All Expert Tips from Therm-a-Rest

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14 Not-So-Basic Car Camping Tips

14 Not-So-Basic Car Camping Tips

Therm-a-Rest Team

Car camping is not just for beginners or Sprinter-equipped hardos. Use these 14 tips for an epic weekend of the four-wheeled variety.

14 Not-So-Basic Car Camping Tips

Therm-a-Rest Team

Car camping is not just for beginners or Sprinter-equipped hardos. Use these 14 tips for an epic weekend of the four-wheeled variety.

Tips for Finding (and Enjoying) A Great Car Camping Spot

Tips for Finding (and Enjoying) A Great Car Cam...

Therm-a-Rest Team

A knock on my window jolted me into consciousness. A gruff voice came from the darkness: “Police, open up. You can’t camp here.” My heart raced. I was parked at...

Tips for Finding (and Enjoying) A Great Car Cam...

Therm-a-Rest Team

A knock on my window jolted me into consciousness. A gruff voice came from the darkness: “Police, open up. You can’t camp here.” My heart raced. I was parked at...

Dispersed Camping: How to Find Free Camping

Dispersed Camping: How to Find Free Camping

Therm-a-Rest Team

Whether you call it dispersed camping, boondocking, guerilla camping, frontcountry camping or otherwise, finding a free place to camp away from the crowds of developed campsites is one of the...

Dispersed Camping: How to Find Free Camping

Therm-a-Rest Team

Whether you call it dispersed camping, boondocking, guerilla camping, frontcountry camping or otherwise, finding a free place to camp away from the crowds of developed campsites is one of the...

How to Pack Your Backpack

How to Pack Your Backpack

Jim Meyers

The parallels between backpacking and relationships are innumerable, if not completely contrived for the sake of this introduction. For instance, take Paul Simon and me. We’ve never been in a...

How to Pack Your Backpack

Jim Meyers

The parallels between backpacking and relationships are innumerable, if not completely contrived for the sake of this introduction. For instance, take Paul Simon and me. We’ve never been in a...

How to Plan a Backpacking Trip: The Permit Process

How to Plan a Backpacking Trip: The Permit Process

Katie Griffith

Back in 2013, before I moved to the foothills of Washington’s Cascade Mountains, I realized I had to figure out how to plan a backpacking trip. What spurred the realization?...

How to Plan a Backpacking Trip: The Permit Process

Katie Griffith

Back in 2013, before I moved to the foothills of Washington’s Cascade Mountains, I realized I had to figure out how to plan a backpacking trip. What spurred the realization?...

How To Build Your Winter Sleep System

How To Build Your Winter Sleep System

Keith Erps

Don't let the winter snow keep you away from your favorite camp sites. Learn how to build your winter sleep system so that you rest better while snow camping.

How To Build Your Winter Sleep System

Keith Erps

Don't let the winter snow keep you away from your favorite camp sites. Learn how to build your winter sleep system so that you rest better while snow camping.