Skills

Prep for success, plan ahead, and stay healthy to pull off a month-plus trek.

Extend your backpacking season: Here's how to stay warm and protect your gear.

Explore wildly sculpted rock.

Learn how to fix and prep your gear so that it lasts for miles

See a week's worth of terrain on an epic dawn-to-dusk hike.

Use these tricks to get your kids begging for another trip outside.

Take your backpacking to the next level. Our experts craft custom plans for readers who asked for help with navigation, winter camping, thru-hiking, and more.

Be a real explorer by going where others don't.

Serve a 5-star meal that matches the scenery.

Stay warm while hiking in the fall with these temperature-regulating tips.

Name: Ross Mason, 44 Predicament: Off-course and severely dehydrated Location: Gila Wilderness, New Mexico; November 2010

With a fatty boost of peanut butter, these savory soups fuel cold-weather trips.

Strengthen three key areas - shoulders, ankles, and core - this winter so you can tackle tougher trails next spring.

Peanut butter is the secret ingredient to this smoky chili

A can of pumpkin makes for an interesting trail soup

Tips for lessening the risk of lightning in the backcountry.

How to use bear spray.

How to safely traverse a small, seasonal snowfield.

Two readers shiver for their lives through a cold, Alaskan summer night.

A charging grizzly comes too close for this reader's comfort.

A summer snow slope gives this reader the scare of his life.

A perfect splurge gift for the foodie on your list

Perfect this move for on-a-dime turns in steep, rugged terrain.

Stay safe with these six ski-down tips.

Use telescoping shafts for stability on any angle.

Change your technique and style to manage any snow conditions.

Conquer cold with proactive hydration and calorie-packed nutrition.

All conditions affect avy potential. Check forecasts and assess risk.

Four ski pros share advice for looking good--and staying safe--in the backcountry.

All the top mountaineering gear, picked for you by the editors of Climbing magazine.

We teamed up with sister publication Climbing to bring you the best ice climbing gear.

Two stoves, a deluxe kitchen set, and a bunch of pots and pans.

Goose down booties with a nylon shell that pack down super small.

Hiking tips from this region's top mapper, who has notched 20 bag nights and 200 trail miles in 9 states this year while scouting trails for BACKPACKER.

Three backcountry cooking tips that will guarantee easy and tasty meals

Don't get swept away, use this technique.

Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even desert recipes that are easy and tasty campground meals.

Don't let low points get you down.

Pick a good partner--or you may get burned.

Grab some dehydrated veggies, a little salsa, and some beef jerky for these tasty Fajitas.

Your favorite desert as a kid goes trail-side.

Check out The Backpacker Editors's author page.

Some quick-cooking rice and a handful of vegetables makes this a healthy trail lunch.

A bit of frozen chorizo extends your backcountry options.

A spicy peanut butter sauce makes this a light spaghetti dish that is excellent either hot or cold.

Boil-in-the-bag rice and beef jerky make this recipe a snap.

Make a double batch of this at home. Have it for dinner with your family then dehydrate half for your next few backpacking trips.

Hard-won-lessons and tips about good decision making from the front lines of survival.

Hard-won-lessons and tips about unexpected dangers from the front lines of survival.

Hard-won-lessons and tips about unsafe snow from the front lines of survival.

On the path to good judgment, you’ll find the wreckage from a whole lot of bad decisions. Your plan: Learn from others’ mistakes, and wise up to outdoor hazards without risking your life. Your guide: Veteran adventurer Mark Jenkins. Plus: Guides and rangers share hard-won lessons they wish someone would have told them.

Knock off more miles after a tasty trail-side lunch.

Fuel a long day on the trail with these tasty breakfasts.

Fast-and-easy desserts for the trail.

A 10mm rope that's not too stiff and not too flexible with a Golden Dry treatment for added durability and water resistance.

Climbing Magazine's favorite alpine harness of 2011.

The ultimate all-mountain boot

A great mountaineering helmet that's breathable and easy to adjust

Three decades of trial and error from our favorite battle-scarred adventurer.

Learn how to pick the perfect campground and keep your food, and yourself, toasty in dipping temps.

Stay warm while hiking in the fall with these temperature-regulating tips.

How to predict the weather, plan for a warmer route, and coldproof your camp kitchen.

34 tips for ensuring comfort as you prep at home, hit the trail, and camp in the fall months.

Brown rice becomes a yummy desert with this easy recipe.

Enjoy comfort sweets that complement any autumn campfire meal.

Ease post-hike pain and prep muscles for the next day.

For winding mountain routes these quickdraws with included mini carabiners are a huge help

Say goodbye to buying different belay devices for every type of climbing—the Smart Alpine does it all.

Light enough to carry comfortably, hefty enough to be a lifesaver.

Itsy bitsy? Sure, but spiders loom large in hiker phobias. They shouldn't: Only a few subspecies of the black widow and brown recluse can inflict enough damage to cut short a hike. Here's what you need to know about North America's most venomous spiders, from how to avoid them to treating their bites.

Fuel your day with these energy-packed twists on classic breakfast bowls.

Learn to decide when to walk out and when to stay put with a variety of backcountry medical ailments.

A 12-step program for cutting weight.

The latest in skull science and safety

Pack your collapsible chopsticks and dig into this delicious Asian cuisine.

Get a dose of veggies on the trail with these DIY summer rolls.

Protein-rich and flavor-packed noodles for the trail.

Browse the finalists in November's Reader Photo Contest.

DEET-free bug-repellent options from chemicals to high frequency sound

Triple-digit temps by noon. Freezing at night. Scarce water. The desert is as dangerous for unprepared hikers. Give yourself an edge and learn to survive this hostile territory while backpacking.