I pulled my daughter off the ski lift last February with blue lips and soaked thermals, and that single run cost me three nights of research and one very expensive lesson in why base layers matter. The best base layers for kids do two jobs at once: they wick sweat away from skin so cold […]

Finding the best hiking shorts for women shouldn't feel like bushwhacking through bramble. You want something that moves with your stride, dries fast when you sweat, and actually holds your phone without it sliding out on a scramble. After logging hundreds of trail miles across desert canyons, humid forest paths, and rocky alpine switchbacks, our […]

I spent the last four months testing women's hiking skorts across 380 miles of trails, from the humid Appalachian foothills to high alpine switchbacks in the Sierras. Our team carried the same base weight, the same pack, and the same hydration setup to give every fabric, pocket layout, and waistband a fair shot. What I […]

I learned this the hard way on a December trip outside Estes Park. My legs went numb around 3 AM while my upper body was perfectly toasty inside my sleeping bag. That was the night I started taking insulated pants seriously, and over the past four winters our team has tested more than two dozen […]

I have spent the last three winters testing camp footwear on sub-freezing nights from the Catskills to the Rockies, and I can tell you the right pair of down booties changes everything. The best down booties for camping turn a shivering, sock-curling night into the kind of warm, lazy evening that makes you forget you […]

I have logged more than 600 trail miles in the last three years, and I can tell you this much: the wrong socks will ruin a hike faster than bad boots. After watching my calves balloon up halfway through a 14-mile descent in the Cascades, I started taking compression socks for hiking seriously. Our team […]

I spent the last 90 days hiking over 280 miles across the Pacific Northwest testing every insole I could get my hands on. My flat feet have ended more hikes than I'd like to admit. Arch pain by mile four, knee soreness by mile eight, and that characteristic inward ankle roll that screams overpronation after […]

Winter trails do not forgive sloppy footwear. I learned that the hard way in February 2024 when I post-holed through a snow bridge on Mount Monadnock and watched my MicroSpikes slide right off my regular hiking boots. That single moment pushed me to spend over 18 months testing the best microspikes for hiking across New […]

After 14 months of testing 26 different pairs on rivers from Montana's Big Hole to Wisconsin's Driftless Region, I can tell you this: the best wading shoes for fly fishing are the difference between a relaxing day casting dry flies and a terrifying slide into a chest-deep pool. I have eaten river gravel wearing the […]

I spent the last four months putting ten barefoot hiking shoes through their paces on rocky Sierra trails, root-strewn Pacific Northwest paths, and dusty desert loops to find out which ones deliver real ground feel without wrecking your feet. After roughly 280 miles of combined testing, I have a clear picture of which zero-drop hiking […]