Let’s see what the kids’ve been up to:

Feral Hiker tells how he learned for himself that you can get hypothermic without feeling cold. “I was alone, if I had fallen, easy to do on the wet, tangled wood I crawled through, I might not have made it out. Obviously I couldn’t rely on feeling cold or shivering to warn me of approaching hypothermia, I didn’t remember feeling cold until after I started to warm up. And the temperature wasn’t that cold, probably above 30 F the entire time.”

Speaking of cold, Andy Howell tried tarping in the UK countryside over the weekend. “I was up early,a warming cup of tea downed and a pot of warm porridge and fruit eaten. Breaking camp was the most uncomfortable thing about the whole, cold night. It as bitterly cold packing. I started walking at almost running pace so desperate was I to get some feeling back into the fingers and toes that had frozen in the time it took to re-load the pack.”

A couple more backpacking links: Ultra-light Skunk Works builds a sleeping bag. Lightbackpacking.com checks out the Ohlone Trail, of my favorite hiking haunts.

Speaking of hiking and camping for a long, long time: Walking the Wall has more bloggy goodness from the Great Wall of China, including a picture of the world’s cutest baby goat, and Q&A No. 3 on how their walk is progressing.

For those who missed it on Crow‘s blog the other day: Invisible Erik has pulled off an impressive feat of geekery: topo maps for the whole PTC, minus the guidebook chitchat he considers pointless.

For those who like beds and sheets, National Traveler points out interesting lodging deals at the parks this summer. Snag these while you can, they won’t last long.

Hopefully this will last long: a new wheelchair-accessible section of the Appalachian Trail along the Osborne Tract in Tennessee. Jeffrey Hunter with the American Hiking Society has a nice quickie video of the site.

And because the Gear Jones must be given its due:

Scoutmaster profiles the “Just Drink” water filters from Sawyer.

Stephen Regenold points to a company that makes boxed mixes for bake-at-home energy bars.

Rocky at The Goat has a couple gems: Running shoes with a GPS-enabled panic button and ThermaRests that are supposed to be more puncture-resistant .

And now that we’re back to backpacking: Sports Geezer points to a guide to fixing back pain.