Switchback Travel | Outdoor Gear, Photography & Adventure

Hiking Gear Guides

A complete look at the best hiking gear of 2019, from light and packable tents and sleeping bags to proven backcountry footwear and clothing

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Bikepacking in Mongolia

A stormy two-wheeled adventure through the remote Khangai Mountains

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Lightweight Hiking Shoes

For those that want to move fast and light on the trail, see our picks for the year’s top hiking shoe models

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The Best Synthetic Jackets

An in-depth review of the year’s top synthetic jacket models from lightweight to winter-ready

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Artist, Activist, Joy Evangelist

Using art to inspire environmental stewardship and love for the natural world

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Review: Salomon X Ultra 3

We give Salomon’s signature lightweight hiking shoe an extended test

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Review: Cannondale Habit (2019)

Redesigned from the ground up, we put Cannondale’s new full-suspension trail bike through its paces

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Homegrown: Misty Mountain

Handmade climbing gear and southern values, deep in the hills of Appalachia

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The Best Trail Runners

For smooth local trails to serious mountain terrain and racing, we break down the top trail-running shoes on the market

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In the Shadow of Manaslu

A climber's reflections on culture, failure, and the fragility of life during an attempt of Nepal’s Panbari Himal

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Adventure Travel

The West Coast Trail: Vancouver Island's Iconic Hike

I can’t think of a better way to experience a unique coastal landscape of crashing waves, tide pools, rock formations, old growth forest, birds, and wildlife than...

Beams of light shine through the musty windows at the Seven Sisters Tea House in Tilje, Nepal, illuminating tendrils of smoke wafting about the room. The glowing dust and particulates move like an indoor aurora borealis. I momentarily...

Bikepacking Mongolia’s Khangai Mountains

“Do you think that rain is coming our way?” We pedal under the bright sun, constantly glancing nervously over our shoulders as if being chased by a predator. Behind us, dark gray streaks stretch vertically...

On Location: El Chaltén

We wake at 6am to the faint jingle of Lorna’s watch muffled by her sleeping bag. My body creaks as I pull my sore arms from my sides, grab my headlamp, and light the JetBoil that I had carefully placed outside our tent the night before...

Exploring Utah's Dark Canyon Wilderness

I was poking around the internet, wasting time as usual, getting too steamed about a world too far beyond my control. Bears Ears. Politics. Scanning through an uplifting article...

A Winter Float of the Grand Canyon

Millions travel just to stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon, gaze across the expanse, and peer into the abyss. When you’re lucky enough to see the river far below, it seems like...

Fall Backpacking in Salt Creek Canyon

Tracing canyon bottoms and following passageways carved by water and time, Utah’s trails meander across the state, connecting one dramatic landscape to the next...

10 Great Day Hikes from Seattle

From the peaks of the Cascades, across the coastal rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula, to towering volcanoes like Mt. Rainier, hiking Washington’s diverse landscapes...

Lofoten Islands, Norway

Norway’s Lofoten Islands are referred to as the Lofoten Wall because, quite literally, they are vertical rows of granite shooting out of the Arctic Sea. A number of colorful fishing villages hug the shoreline and a majority...

The West Coast Trail: Vancouver Island's Iconic Hike

I can’t think of a better way to experience a unique coastal landscape of crashing waves, tide pools, rock formations, old growth forest, birds, and wildlife than...