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

Ultralight Hiking Tips from a Blind Professional Hiker

Ultralight Hiking Tips from a Blind Professiona...

Trevor Thomas

After months of planning and preparation, the big backpacking trip is finally here. You go through the mental checklist, making sure you have every essential item for your hike. After...

Ultralight Hiking Tips from a Blind Professiona...

Trevor Thomas

After months of planning and preparation, the big backpacking trip is finally here. You go through the mental checklist, making sure you have every essential item for your hike. After...

How To Build a First Aid and Gear Repair Kit for Ultralight Backpacking

How To Build a First Aid and Gear Repair Kit fo...

Therm-a-Rest Team

The foundation of ultralight is not just stripping down your gear to trim grams off your pack weight. That’s part of it, but the more important piece of the puzzle...

How To Build a First Aid and Gear Repair Kit fo...

Therm-a-Rest Team

The foundation of ultralight is not just stripping down your gear to trim grams off your pack weight. That’s part of it, but the more important piece of the puzzle...

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...

PCT Thru Hike - 4 Important Lessons

PCT Thru Hike - 4 Important Lessons

Therm-a-Rest Team

I was bright-eyed and under informed. Somehow, “planning” on the internet didn’t quite ready me for some of the struggles I faced. As it turns out, long days putting one...

PCT Thru Hike - 4 Important Lessons

Therm-a-Rest Team

I was bright-eyed and under informed. Somehow, “planning” on the internet didn’t quite ready me for some of the struggles I faced. As it turns out, long days putting one...

7 Things I Wish I Knew Before My First Thru-Hike

7 Things I Wish I Knew Before My First Thru-Hike

Therm-a-Rest Team

Going on a long backpacking trip or your first thru-hike requires tips and knowledge for the trail ahead. Experienced thru hikers, Our Trailing Thought, gives us their list of seven...

7 Things I Wish I Knew Before My First Thru-Hike

Therm-a-Rest Team

Going on a long backpacking trip or your first thru-hike requires tips and knowledge for the trail ahead. Experienced thru hikers, Our Trailing Thought, gives us their list of seven...

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?...