Design your own Doc Martens boot. Here’s one compelling entry: Just off hand, I’d suggest not putting pictures of loved ones on your boots, though I can see how one with, say, George W. Bush’s mug might move a few…

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Ever since somebody suggested switching to trail runners from granite-bottomed hiking shoes, I’ve been all about the Montrails. The first pair I bought fit fine, wore like iron and never gave me blisters. (Granted, walking is relatively easy on trail…

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I can’t remember the last time I wrote about a piece of gear, so here goes: Lightweight backpackers have a point when they complain about these heavy, ungainly filters. Using a bandana and chemical purification is the far lighter alternative,…

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Sarah offers stuff on sale in a new page at her site.

I received an e-mail from Jeremy at Taiga Works in Vancouver asking if I’d like to add a link to their site from my list of gear makers/dealers. From the looks of Taiga’s Web site, the gear appears to be…

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American Bushman has a video showing how to rig up an 8×8 tarp in a flash with a trekking pole and a few stakes.

Appropriate, now that the snow season’s pretty much over: I happened upon a link to the Black Diamond Avalung, which allows people trapped in avalanches to breathe by taking air from the surrounding snow and rerouting exhaled air somewhere else.…

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Wildebeat wraps up its reports on hiking poles. From his script: JULIANNE ABENDROTH-SMITH: Well what we saw in that study was as — at the lesser slope, the fifteen degree slope… some people used the poles very effectively, a lot…

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This morning for the 17 zillionth time I noticed somebody mentioned having those wrap-around-your-ankles-to-keep-gunk-out things and getting the spelling wrong. Please, world, indulge me on this one: it’s G-A-I-T-E-R. Having to do with gait, not large reptiles that haunt Florida…

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