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![Early Bird hitchhiking from town.]()
My Trail Story by Early Bird
Deserrae Potts, a.k.a Early Bird, shares the story of how she went from a completely broke student and inexperienced backpacker to a thru hiker in one year.
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![Three hikers walking through a dense green forest. These hikers likely using thru-hiker lingo.]()
Thru-Hiking Lingo 101
New to the thru-hiking world? Don’t worry! Check out these terms to learn the “thru-hiking lingo” and you’ll be a part of the hiker trash fam in no time.
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![Bowline knot]()
Useful Knots for Hikers: The Bowline
The Bowline knot creates a secure loop that can be very useful while hiking.
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Useful Knots for Hikers: The Round Turn and Two Half-Hitches
The round turn and two half hitches is a useful knot to learn for many backpacking scenarios. Great for securing a line to a tree.
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![Jilian and Logan in matching purple outfits standing side by side. Trail names the Purple People.]()
My Trail Story by The Purple People
Jillian and Logan Ivey, a.k.a The Purple People or The Mailboxes, experienced some serious “hiker hunger” on their thru-hike of the John Muir Trail in 2018.
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![Jeff Garmire (Legend) walking up a red dirt hill.]()
My Trail Story – Jeff Garmire Sets the Fastest Known Time on the Arizona Trail
Jeff Garmire, a.k.a Legend, established the newest Fastest Known Time (FKT) on the Arizona Trail on April 22, 2019.
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![iPhone placed on ice to see the impact of freezing the phone battery]()
Hiking Tip: What To Do When Your Phone Battery Gets Too Cold
Your battery indicator doesn’t always tell you the truth. When hiking, here is what you should do if your phone battery gets too cold…
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![A view of a trail through dead grass on a hill along the Appalachian Trail]()
My Trail Story by PYT
Dave Mizelle, a.k.a. PYT, shares his close call with nature while hiking in the Roan Highlands section of the Appalachian Trail.
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![Filtering water through a Sawyer Mini water filter]()
Sawyer + Backpacking Part 4: Sawyer Mini, Micro and Squeeze Compared
I wrap up my series of Sawyer filter reviews by testing the flow rate of the Sawyer Mini against the Squeeze and Micro.
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Sawyer + Backpacking, Part 3: Should I carry the Sawyer Syringe?
It is more effective to use the Sawyer coupler or a Smartwater bottle nozzle to backflush your Sawyer Squeeze filter than to use the Sawyer syringe that comes packaged with the Sawyer Squeeze filter.
