a few highlights of our sleeping arrangements along the John Muir Trail.
220+ miles. 20 days. adventure of a lifetime!

For three days and two nights, the Sierra Nevada was home.

From last Tuesday morning until Thursday evening, my friend John and I ventured deep into one of the most spectacular landscapes California has to offer. We covered 32 miles through alpine meadows, turquoise lakes, rugged mountain passes, and endless granite peaks.

Our route took us from Cottonwood Lakes over New Army Pass, into the incredible Miter Basin, past the unreal waters of Sky Blue Lake, over Crabtree Pass, up the off-trail climb to Discovery Pinnacle, across Ridgecrest, and finally to the summit of Mt. Whitney.

There were moments that felt straight out of The Lord of the Rings. No crowds. No cell service. Just the sound of the wind, rushing streams, and miles of untouched wilderness.

🏔️ 32 miles
⛰️ 6,700 feet of elevation gain
🥾 3 days, 2 nights
📍 Cottonwood Lakes • New Army Pass • Miter Basin • Sky Blue Lake • Crabtree Pass • Discovery Pinnacle • Ridgecrest • Mt. Whitney

These photos capture some of my favorite moments, but they can't quite capture what it felt like to be there.

Go see it for yourself! I’m open to more trekking suggestions. Be well friends. (I recently hiked Palisades Glacier and Mt Langley as well.)

All of Washington state save parts of the Olympic Peninsula are covered in suffocating smoke in what’s looking like a very active fire season. We were thinking of doing a trip in the North Cascades NP this weekend but are now reconsidering and may want to just spend the weekend inside to escape all the pollution. There’s no indication conditions will improve significantly until the November rains. I can’t help thinking the window for backpacking has already closed - has anyone else had the same thought?

Started at Humber Park, up Devils Slide to the PCT, PCT on the west side, then up Deer Springs Trail to Little Round Valley campground. Had the place to myself. Beautiful night. Little stream running through camp. Next morning got up early and was the first person on the summit of San Jacinto Peak. Headed back on the peak trail to PCT to Devlis Slide. Hard trip but absolutely amazing scenery.

We have done the Langtang Trek in Nepal in monsoon and it was amazing the nature and the views was so perfect and we weren’t lucky we saw big mountains in early morning.

Gf, pup and I on our first backpacking trip ~25.5 miles one way. 3 nights and 4 days to complete.

Just got back from a 3-day, 2-night backpacking trip through Yosemite's high country, covering a little over 25 miles. I was out with two friends, and we chose this route for the mix of alpine scenery, quiet forests, and long stretches of wilderness away from the crowds.

We spent most of the trip following well-established trails through open meadows and granite terrain, with incredible mountain views almost the entire way. The weather stayed mostly cooperative, and seeing these peaks come into view after a long day of hiking made every mile worth it.

We packed in everything we needed, practiced Leave No Trace, and were lucky to have a peaceful trip with plenty of wildlife sightings and very few people once we got deeper into the backcountry. This was one of those trips that reminds me why I love multi-day wilderness backpacking.

Hey guys! I’m planning to go for a section hike from Grand Lake to Encampment Sept 5-13 on the Continental Divide Trail. I’d be doing roughly 20 miles a day. If you’d like to join please feel free to DM! Happy to figure out logistics and other details together.

I'd been wanting to do this backpacking trip in the Sierra for a long time, and I'm really glad I finally made it happen. I spent two nights out, covered about 18 miles, and went with a friend. I've always loved the Sierra, and this route had been on my list because of the alpine lakes and rugged granite peaks. The weather was great, the mornings were calm, and the views made every mile feel worthwhile. We took our time, enjoyed the quiet, and made sure to pack out everything we brought in and follow Leave No Trace. It's easily one of my favorite backpacking trips so far, and I'd definitely come back to explore more of the area.

I know it is forbidden but in some countries it is tolerable (Albania), of course no fire and no garbage just quick sleep on the ground. I am talikng about mavrovo and sar planina parks I don't think there is a possibility to stay in the mountains other than wild camping. If the park guard finds me how probable is that I will get fined?

How do I mitigate this issue. I had pepper spray in my possession and I sprayed the ground and some of my belongings with pepper spray thinking it would deter black bears and then I quickly did a quick search and realized TIFU because apparently bears are attracted to non-aggressive use of pepper spray. How do I fix this? Please help!!

I’m looking for suggestions on routes that would either be a loop or ideally a hike where we go up to a mountain lake set up base camp and then do two days of day hikes and around that area.

We land Wednesday morning in Seattle and want to be done sleeping in a hotel Saturday before we fly out on Sunday

This would be for next month so any place that requires a permit lottery is probably not going to work I would imagine.

We will rent a car but don’t want to have too much time in the car maybe up to 3 Hour drive.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Hello everyone,

I have recently started getting back into hiking and started with Ontario peak with a friend (CA), but would eventually like to start doing multi-day trips (baby steps). We ended up hiking until late at night and I was happy I brought my headlamp that I use at work, Fenix brand. It has withstood the test of time and works great in rain, which we had some unexpected light rain at around 11pm for about 6 minutes. That got me wondering about red light which I've heard helps with night time and helps with night vision.

As such, my question is should I invest in a head lamp that has a strong red light feature, or should I just focus on the brightness and battery life of my headlamp? If red light is indeed helpful, would anyone be so kind as to recommend some good headlamps with some solid red light and battery life? if not, ill stick to Fenix and just invest in their pricy stuff. Thanks.

So this is a shout out to good customer service. I feel you only see complaints on reddit about gear. So my Nemo Fillo Elite that was about 5 years old had issues with its internal baffles so it basically blew up my pillow into a big balloon. I filed a warranty claim with Nemo and after a little back and forth via email they sent me a replacement for free. It's a newer model with a better internal stuff sack. So just an FYI Nemo stands behind their products.

I’m looking for suggestions on routes that would either be a loop or ideally a hike where we go up to a mountain lake set up base camp and then do two days of day hikes and around that area.

We land Wednesday morning in Seattle and want to be done sleeping in a hotel Saturday before we fly out on Sunday

This would be for next month so any place that requires a permit lottery is probably not going to work I would imagine.

We will rent a car but don’t want to have too much time in the car maybe up to 3 Hour drive.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

We have about a year of single-night backpacking trips under our belts, but this will be our first multi-night trip and certainly the trip with the steepest climbing. I'd like to run our plan by you all and ask a couple of questions.

Logistics: Planning for a mid-week trip from Wednesday morning through Friday afternoon/evening (early August). We'll be using AllTrails for navigation - map is downloaded. We have a Northwest Forest Pass, and we're planning to do the free camping registration at the trailhead.

Gear:

• Kelty Discovery Trail 2 Three-Season Tent
• 20˚F sleeping bag
• ATEPA ultralight sleeping pad with R value of 6
• Water filtration system
• Toaks backpacking stove + 1.1L GSI Halulite boiler pot
• 100 g stove fuel
• Lighters
• Power banks
• Microspikes (I do not own crampons)
• Hiking poles
• Plenty of food
• Trowel + toilet paper (will pack out, LNT)
• Bear-safe canisters for food and trash
• Mosquito net hats
• Permethrin for clothes
• Sawyer picaridin lotion
• Sunblock
• Appropriate clothing w/ multiple layers

Route: Going to hike to Jade Lake on the first day and set up camp there. The next morning, will make the trek to Dip Top Gap and hopefully Dip Top Peak. Would love to spend night 2 at Dip Top Gap (I'm aware there are very few established sites there, but hoping that going on a weeknight will help), but willing to camp another night at Jade or go down to Marmot if necessary. A little worried the scramble from Jade to Dip Top will be too brutal to carry all our gear with us anyway. After night 2, planning to pack up and descend all the way back to the car.

Questions:

1. I'm seeing some different recommendations for how to get up to Pea Soup from Jade Lake - some people are saying to avoid the ice and the snowfield by going around the left side on the rocks, while others are saying to hit the ice dead on with some spikes because the uncovered rocks are so unstable. What do you guys recommend?
2. I am really hoping to summit Dip Top Peak, but this would be off-route and I read online that it requires some class 2 scrambling and features a 25-foot stretch of narrow knife-edge. A little anxious about safety, especially with a heavy pack. Has anyone navigated this successfully and confidently?
3. Based on the difficulty of the route from Jade Lake to Pea Soup, we're considering leaving our campsite set up at Jade Lake while we do a day hike up to the top. I heard on AllTrails that someone's hiking poles were stolen and I'm a little worried about our stuff. Has anyone had any issues with theft in these situations? I've never left my campsite unattended before. Obviously would bring our essentials and valuables with us in our day packs.

Thank you for taking the time to read and for any suggestions!

How do yall keep your dogs close in the back country without leashes? I like to let mine loose when im off trail in forest service land, but I worry about her pissing off a moose or taking off after deer and not being able to recall her. A leash would be nice but it constantly tangles on dead fall and makes manuvering in severe terrain dangerous. Ive looking in to Halo collars and the like but they dont seem to work off grid, which this assuredly would be. Any recommendations? Shes got good recall this is mostly a peace of mind thing

Edit: since folks seem to be struggling to grasp what im asking here, let me clarify: I have confidence in my dogs recall, but also a respect for redundancy when it comes to safety. Im seeking an additional layer of safety for my own peace of mind, not because my dog isnt well trained. Im specifically talking about scouting drainages miles from roads on US forest service land in the American west, no trails, other hikers or the like to be worried about. Im looking for specifically devices that can give me a better sense of safety or additional layers of safety in case of an emergency like Bluetooth collars, the retractable collar leash one person recommended is a great idea as well. If youre here to say "training" or "a leash" youre just being unhelpful and shitty, take your weird pent up rage to another post

I'm currently building an adventure/exploration app and I'm looking for 30-50 people to test and early beta and give honest feedback.

It doesn't matter where you're from or how often you go exploring, I'm just looking for people willing to try it out and tell me what works (and what doesn't).

If you're interested, leave a comment or send me a DM. Thanks! 😁

Going to be backpacking around the Black Hills next week. I'm doing a 4-day lollipop loop from Legion Lake to Rushmore, around to Custer for Cathedral Spires, then back.

What is the water situation currently?

I'm figuring on starting with 3 liters but may add a 4th since day 1 is the hottest.

Anyone currently packing in Washington State - Alpine Wilderness - on Pete Lake Trail that can advise on the Three Queens Fire?

Not sure if cross-posting is considered rude so lmk… just want to find as many answers as possible :)

Next year I plan on going backpacking for 4 nights in the wind rivers as a graduation trip. I've done research through different maps and also have used Wyoming fish and game's lake finder tool. I have thought about hiking up to pyramid lake from big Sandy for Goldens and maybe going off trail over to the east fork lakes which Wyoming F&G says there are Goldens in. Maybe also spend a night at Baptiste. Is pyramid or east forks lakes good for Goldens? Also have been thinking about the following areas: hay pass and golden lakes, elbow lake, and also the Deep Creek lakes. Does anyone know if the golden fishing has been good at any of these places? Can I fish any of these locations well with my 4 night plan? Also if anyone has lake recommendations that don't have Goldens but have good cutthroat, it would be welcome. Thanks for any sort of advice or feedback.

Hi all! I’ve seen some conflicting reports of whether or not a dog can do gothic basin. Someone mentioned having to hoist their dog up some scrambles but then other ones say they hiked with a dog no problem.

I was planning on backpacking with my dog but also want to make sure i am keeping her safe as well.