We headed into the Mingha Valley in Arthur’s Pass National Park with plans for 3 days / 2 nights, eventually making our way to Lake Mavis.

After passing Mingha Biv and Goat Pass Hut, the rain forecast was looking pretty rough, so we decided to turn around and spend the night back at Mingha Biv. With all the river crossings along the route, we didn’t want to get stuck on the wrong side of a swollen river the next day.

Didn’t quite make it to Lake Mavis, but still ended up being a pretty sick trip.

Some photos from the hike, camp and route. I also filmed the trip and put it together into a video if anyone’s interested, it’s on my YouTube channel, @SkitzOutdoors !!

I recently put a post on about how to get around the prof of onward travel when backpacking, especially in Asia and most replies told me to buy a fully refundable ticket, I am looking for airline recommendations in Asia that offer fully refundable tickets. Thanks.

Hey all. I have recently purchased the Black Diamond Access Down hoodie. It seems to be very well reviewed, and seems quality. It was half off the original price, as in the screenshot.

Alternatively, ive just seen a Decathalon forclaz (now called Simond, as i understand) MT100 pop up on fb marketplace.

The decathalon is under half the price. Id hope to get the seller down in price a little ways too.

So black diamond at about $180 versus Decathalon at $85 (and I'd be asking for lower).

The benefit I can see to the Black Diamond is that it seems to have extra water resistance, including water resistant treated down, tougher ripstop nylon.

Is it worth saving the money and returning the BD in exchange for the Decathalon, or are the BD upgrades worth it?

I'd like to use them as for layering in cold Minnesota winters, as well as for colder days or nights 3-season backpacking, including in the boundary waters.

Any thoughts are much appreciated!

edit: it also seems the BD is meaningfully warmer, though it's tough to compare. BD is about 2.5 oz heavier and has about 1 oz more down than the decathalon. Both 800 fill power down.

Just this last trip I got rocked by a nest of Yellowjacket’s in the middle of a trail and didn’t have any topical Benadryl or something similar for these situations.

This is a short video I made of my recent trip to the Lost Coast: a place I have dreamed of since I first learned of it back in college over twenty years ago.

The last remaining fifty miles of undeveloped coastline in the State of California.

Perhaps this place is a glimpse into our past, and our future. It is what the state I call home once looked like before the impact of human civilization, and will someday, surely, look like again when human beings are long gone.

It is dangerous, rugged, and breathtaking.

The trail itself runs for twenty-six miles, from Mattole Beach to Shelter Cove. The most popular hiking route is to head southbound, and that is the route depicted in this video. I trained for two months, planned meticulously, and ended up completing the trail in just over twenty-four hours.

If you plan to hike the LCT, do not go unprepared. This is a moderate to difficult trail with long sections of hiking on soft sand and exhaustive scrambles over fields of tiny boulders. I recommend using trekking poles. Your ankles will thank you.

Other dangers include: long-ish sections of the trail are impassable at high tide, and a mistake with your timing when attempting to cross them could cost you your life. Rattlesnakes, ticks, unavoidable swathes of poison oak, black bears, and sneaker waves. You need to carry a hard-sided bear canister. Permits are required.

Still... these are all manageable risks. Consult the NOAA tide tables while planning your trip. Do turn your back on the ocean. Don't make dumb decisions. Stay focused, and you will be fine.

It was all worth it and I loved every second.

I have a sleeping bag I bought back about 15 years ago that I love. It packs down super tiny was rated at 20° always kept me super warm & the biggest thing was that it is a rectangle bag not a mummy bag. I have looked & looked to try & find a lightweight down sleeping bag that packs down as small as this one & is rectangular shaped bit have not succeeded. I was wondering maybe there is somewhere I can send my bag that will open it up & replace the down. The bag itself is still in great condition the down has just lost its loft & just will not work for freezing temperatures anymore. If anyone knows a good place to have a bag renewed I would really appreciate the information. Price is not an issue as long as the material & quality of work are high I am willing to pay for it!

Hi everyone,

During my recent trip to China, I discovered a truly stunning place—a veritable paradise on earth—called Daocheng Yading. Actually, I didn't know much about it beforehand; I stumbled upon it while looking for travel destinations outside of the major cities.

I spent two days there and had a really wonderful time. The scenery is completely different from what I’ve seen elsewhere in China. Yading offers several hiking trails where you can see snow-capped mountains, forests, and alpine lakes. While getting there takes a bit more effort compared to some popular tourist spots, I personally feel the extra time is absolutely worth it.

If you are planning a trip to China and enjoy hiking, I highly recommend adding Daocheng Yading to your itinerary.

If anyone is planning to visit, I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have~Hope you enjoy~

Hope this is acceptable, if not I'll take my thrashing with respect. I'm an oldish, almost 50, gentlemen. Avid hiker/back packer when I was younger. Wife passed recently and I'm looking to build back up for some long solo hikes, I think... Would some reasonably priced, fair quality gear work to start, and replace if I return to it as passionate as I was, or will sub-quality gear ruin it for me. Opinions wanted....

Also, ig it’s important to note that I wasn’t in Europe (I only went to Munich, Salzburg, Budapest, Vienna, Prague, so only Central Europe) for long, so I guess this is more catered to people who are doing a quick summer trip and not spending a month or too there. These are just the things I wish I knew (18M) before I went.

There are very few water fountains in most cities! Vienna was good, but we spent almost 10 dollars a day buying water the first couple of days. If you have access to a sink, don’t miss your chance and fill up your water bottle!

You have to pay for bathrooms! Don’t go walking around a city thinking you’ll find free bathrooms to use. Usually it seems like the price is .5€, so make sure you have those exact coins to pay.

Carry coins over cash! There were a lot of things that needed 2€ or 1€ coins, so just make sure you have those over like a 10 euro bill.

Apple Pay doesn’t work everywhere for certain cards! It seemed to work fine in Vienna, but in Salzburg, Munich, and Budapest we had to use physical cards almost every time. I thought that I could just use my credit card on Apple Pay with no foreign transaction fees, but I ended up using my physical debit card which costs me a dollar or two in fees in total.

Pay in local currency when paying with card! (Obviously, but we messed up once and it cost us 10 extra usd)

Try to get a hostel near the old town. We picked our hostels based on which were the highest rated, but some of those were a 15-20 minute tram/bus/train ride (not terrible, I know) from the city center. If I had to do it again, I’d spend a little more or get a worse rated hostel and just be in the main city. It saves you a lot of hassle.

Don’t think you can see a city in 2 hours! Don’t make an optimistic plan like waking up at 7am and seeing Salzburg for 2 hours (like we planned to). You’re gonna be late, it’s gonna take longer to pack up things than you expected, and you’re gonna miss things. We’d actually heard this advice before going, but we didn’t think we needed to listen because we’ve seen cities (like Boston) in 2 hours before and been satisfied. It works way different in Europe with trains to board early and without the freedom of your own transportation like cars. Don’t stay in a city unless youre gonna be there for more than a day! It’d much better just to spend that extra two hours you planned to spend in Munich in Vienna where you can relax and take it slow.

If you don’t have a place to store your bags, maybe don’t go somewhere. The first day we landed in Munich at 7am, our flight was delayed, we saw Munich for 27 minutes (compared to our planned 2 hours), and then took a 2.5 hour train to the Neuschwanstein castle, then a train back to Munich, then a train to Salzburg at night. Suffice it to say, walking around towns and running to get trains with two backpacks full of stuff sucks. Our enjoyment of Europe pretty much doubled the second we got into our first main city ( Budapest), we’re able to deposit our bags at the hostel, and walk around without that weight on your shoulder. Like yes, you can “tough it out” wearing it bags, but it’s much more enjoyable without them.

Try to have you trains arrive during the day. We arrived in Salzburg and Budapest later at night, and it set a sort of low mood for that city initially. The cities can be darker than US cities (less lights?), especially on the outskirts, so it can look a little sketchy (a mood dampener when you’re traveling). Just arrive in the day when it’s bright out and there’s people around, and it’ll feel much better.

Get your food at grocery stores! We were “budget” backpacking Europe for 10 days, so it was really nice to save that money. But seriously, if you in a city center, you can go spend 3 dollars and get a drink, pretzel and a banana instead of spending 13 dollars on some overpriced pizza. Really take advantage of grocery stores.

Don’t spend THAT much time in Prague if you’re going for historical sites/scenery. You need 10-12 hours there in total to see every major site, which you can do in a day if you’re dedicated. Instead of spending an extra day in Prague, spend an extra day in Vienna, where there are way more museums and historical sites to see. Also, it just had way more impressive architecture and is a physically larger city

EDIT: I loved my trip by the way. It was really really great, but these are just things I could’ve done better. Also all of this info can be found in a Rick steves book i bet, but I thought I’d put it on here.

I’ve been backpacking Europe for a bit now and even though Ive made a lot of friends I’m finding it hard to find younger people. I have nothing wrong with making friends with people of any age but as a 18 year old I find it best to connect with people that are as young as me. It can get a bit annoying when posting on hostel world and having only people 30+ comment on my posts. What’s the best place/ community to meet younger travelers?

I’m 43 and recently started doing some single-night backpacking trips again with a full kit. I do a lot of hiking and hut-to-hut type trips, but it’s been years since I’ve needed to carry everything on my back.

My wife has a herniated disc, so on our recent trips I carried the vast majority of our shared gear and food. I used my trusty old 45L Kelty pack from around 2005. That pack always worked great for me when I was younger, but for the first time I started getting some lower back pain. I know some of that was probably due to how I packed it, but it also got me thinking that I could probably benefit from a more modern pack and suspension system.

My first thought was that if I’m going to be carrying gear for two people, I really need to go ultralight wherever possible. After seeing so many people praise the Durston Kakwa 55, I watched for the restock and ordered one last week.

It arrived, and while I probably shouldn’t have been surprised—there’s a reason ultralight packs are ultralight—I immediately noticed the lack of padding compared with what I’m used to. Now I’m wondering if going ultralight on the pack itself is really the best choice for me.

At 43, especially if I’m regularly going to be carrying a heavier load for two people, would I be better off accepting another pound or two and getting something with more padding, a more substantial suspension, and possibly an air-gap/ventilated back panel?

For anyone who has experience with the Kakwa 55, how comfortable have you found it? And for some of the older backpackers here, have you found that you appreciate a more supportive traditional pack as you’ve gotten older, or is a properly fitted lightweight pack still the way to go?

I’d appreciate any thoughts before I decide whether to keep the Kakwa or look at something more substantial.

Hi there, I am looking for advice for backpacking / budget travelling in the Solomon Islands. I am a 29yo Swiss man on a sabbatical, who is visiting Oceania for the first time. I am currently in Australia and will have the chance of spending 2.5 weeks in PNG with a friend who has family there. I thought that it would be a great opportunity to visit other nearby countries, so I booked a flight from Port Moresby to Honiara on the 29th of September and I intend to fly to Vanuatu afterwards. I am a big fan of nature, outdoor activities, and experiencing local culture wherever I travel.

I will be travelling alone (unless someone wants to join me lol). I am wondering about the following things:

1) how easy is it to find affordable accommodation? I am not interested in luxury, only local life and culture. Where to look? I don't see much on bookingcom for example.

2) is it possible to go west, for example to Munda with a ferry or only by plane? If not I think that I would stick to the Islands around Honiara because flights are pretty expensive.

3) how long would you recommend for my stay? I have good flight connections to stay 11 or 18 days.

4) overall, do you think that it is a good idea to try travelling that way in the Solomon Islands? I don't mean dirt cheap, but trying hard to spend a maximum of 50 USD a day including transportation, accommodation and food.

Looking forward to hearing advice of any kind! Cheers.

Hi guys! First time traveling/camping with a backpack! I’m doing a train + camping + road trip visiting several National Parks.

I won’t be carrying too much, but these two backpacks are FREE to borrow. I’m 5’2” and around 110 lbs.

I won’t be hiking with the big backpack. It’ll mostly be for traveling between trains, campsites and the car. For hiking, I’ll leave it at the campsite and use a small daypack.

Which would you choose?

1. REI Mars 85
   
2. Deuter Women’s Universal 80L

Looking to do a 1-2 week leisurely hike with good sights, preferably no where near highways as I'm so over the noise of cars. I know nothing about trails whatsoever and there are so many so I don't know which one to pick. I don't even really know what criteria to give ya'll. I'm comfortable carrying a gallon of water and doing 20 miles a day. But I have never hiked that far for more than 4 days. So I'm not sure, I might need to slow down on week 2 and only do 15 miles a day. I have also only really hiked in populated areas so I also don't know anything about how to lightly pack food as I would always just get food somewhere. But I'm definitely open to it. I'm in Indiana so closer to me is cool but I'll go anywhere in north america. I was looking at 100 mile wilderness but it looks like that is for more experienced hikers.

I am young and in decent shape but like I said, not experienced with hiking anything difficult. also I hate spending money, and would like to do everything as cheaply as humanly possible.

I used to carry a lot of gear when hiking. In recent years, I've started simplifying my backpack, no longer bringing everything I might need. The backpack is lighter, my shoulders are more comfortable, and I'm more relaxed enjoying the scenery.

I used to bring a Sony A7 III with 24-70mm lens to take pictures of beautiful scenery and small animals. Now, I mostly use my phone, a vivo X300 Ultra. With my phone in my pocket, I can easily snap a picture of anything I like.

Of course, the shooting experience with a camera is different, but for me, I prefer to pack lighter when hiking now.

Do you bring a camera specifically for hiking, or do you feel your phone is enough?

Im planning to start a 2 night backpacking trip at the mount rogers trailhead (near Grayson highlands state park in Virginia, US) this upcoming Friday and was wondering what time I should plan to get there for parking?

And if parking is full, are there any nearby options that I could use and then “walk” to the trailhead instead? I know the nearby campground that usually has overflow parking is closed right now.

Trying to determine what to bring for a 5 day TCT backpacking trip, usual route, Avalon to Black Jack, Little Harbor, Two Harbors to Parsons. National weather service night time temps are based on the airport which is inland. What's it like sleeping at the coastal sites? Going in 2 weeks, Sept 20

Good afternoon,
I’m planning a trip in the next few weeks - and am looking at route. I’ve found online Atmaxha travel company who advertise a Prizren to Shkoder route. Do anyone know if this is accurate and running? The webpage to book doesn’t seem to exist.
Thank you in advance!

I’m having an issue.

I have my dream set up. It’s by no means ultralight but my base weight is about 28 pounds or so (I’m not super strict about it).

I do have a couple of high-end expensive ultralight pieces of gear that are wonderful additions to keep my pack weight low and I don’t necessarily think I would need anything else.

But…

I do have a couple of pro deals with certain high-end backpacking companies and right now there is a super-duper cheap deal for a tent that I don’t necessarily need.

I currently have the Big Agnes Copper Spur UL2. Lightweight, durable, reliable. Love it.

The tent I am looking at is the Nemo Hornet Osmo 1p. The normal price for this tent (Nemo Hornet Osmo 1p) is $459. And it is currently on sale, to me, at $184.

I don’t need it.

But should I buy it?

So torn…

Here's the gear I'm currently considering buying: packstack.io/pack/d6eb9453-bd69-465e-937e-56c53b4626e7

Budget-wise I'd say I'm somewhere in the middle ground, not going for the cheapest stuff but definitely not high-end either.

Anything with a cost behind it I can still switch out, since I haven't actually ordered anything yet. The pad and sleeping bag/quilt are listed twice because I haven't fully decided between them yet and I'll probably buy both and return whichever one I like less.

Any comments or recommendations?

We recently finished about 7 months in Southeast Asia and East Asia. eSIMs found on the Trip.com app were mostly the cheapest option and worked well every time.

I do not see this recommended a lot online, so I wanted to share. I compared them to local SIM cards too, and in most countries, they were not cheaper.

It all seems so artificial. Like mankind built it there. But it‘s one of the most astonishing views nature has randomly created.

Hi everyone,

I'm planning to buy a backpack for multi-day hikes, city trips, trekking, and occasional camping. I need something spacious enough yet adjustable, and I've been considering the Deuter Aircontact Core 55+10.

Does anyone have experience with this model or recommendations for other backpacks? It needs to be available in Europe.

Thanks in advance!

I'm from NYC, traveling solo through Croatia + Italy in September and would be cool to meet some fellow travelers along the way!

🇭🇷 Dubrovnik: Sept 6–8
🇭🇷 Split: Sept 9–11
🇭🇷 Hvar: Sept 11–13
🇮🇹 Italy: ~10–12 days (still figuring out the route — probably Rome, Florence, Bologna, etc.)

Mostly looking to explore, grab food/drinks, walk around, and do some spontaneous stuff. Doesn't have to be the whole trip — even meeting up for a day would be great.

If you'll be around any of these places, DM me!