I spent three summers hiking through the Sierra Nevada, the Cascades, and the High Sierra with sunburn layered on sunburn from sunscreen alone. Last summer, I switched to a dedicated hiking shirt with SPF, and the difference was immediate. My shoulders stopped peeling on day four, and I stopped carrying a 4-ounce sunscreen tube. Our […]

I learned the hard way that a gym sports bra is not the same as a hiking sports bra. On a four-hour descent in the Adirondacks, my favorite high-impact running bra turned into a chafing nightmare under my pack straps. Since then, I've tested dozens of options across weekend trips, multi-day section hikes, and hot-weather […]

After one too many soggy Scout hikes with three cranky kids, I started treating the search for the best kids rain jackets for hiking the same way I treat adult shells: hands-on, on real trails, in real rain. Our team spent six weeks testing eight popular kids waterproof shells on Pacific Northwest trails, desert washes […]

Last summer, my family packed up our two kids (ages 6 and 9) for a five-day trek through the Cascades. By day three, my youngest had shredded two pairs of cotton pants on granite scrambles. That's when I learned why dedicated kids hiking pants exist. After 60+ trail days and testing on three more kids […]

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 […]