Found someone’s tent crushed by a tree about 4-5 miles into Colorado’s Fossil Ridge Wilderness on South Lottis Creek Trail. Nobody was inside and no gear was left behind, all the poles were stacked neatly beside the tent.
Looks like a mix of terrible and great luck!

Edit: people in the comments are correct, the tent was indeed crushed by a tree, not another tent 😂

I'm planning a solo backpacking trip and I've been reading a lot about meeting people in hostels. Apparently it's pretty common to exchange numbers and make WhatsApp groups with people you meet along the way. I love the idea of making friends while traveling, but I'm not sure I want people I've known for two days having my personal number forever. For those who backpack solo do you usually exchange numbers with everyone or stick to Instagram until you actually know someone?

Went backpacking on Mount Wutai in China with a full pack, and somehow still found myself logging what I ate throughout the day.

Apparently I can take a break from my usual routine without taking a break from this particular habit: Eat something, open the log, carry on walking. Even out on the trail, there’s something satisfying about having it all written down.

This is what a day of food ended up looking like. Looking back at it afterward, it feels like a different kind of hiking diary. The photos show where I went; the food log shows what kept me going.

Anyone else still log their food on hiking trips, or do you completely switch off?

Just completed a 12 mile loop through the Forest Glen backpacking loop in Georgetown Illinois, right on the border of Illinois and Indiana. Not my first trip out here, but one of my favorites in the area. It's a nice hike that's tougher than it looks as you ride up and down the ravines that make up the park. I use this to gear test anything before heading out on larger trips. This time I was testing the SILKY Gomboy 240 saw, and it's changing the way I'm looking at firewood collection and bushcrafting. I've tried several saws and axes over the years, and the weight tax is worth it coming in at 10 ounces. The effort to collect and process the wood for our fire was comically low.

8 mile hike from the trailhead to the east camp (backpacking camp) where there are fire rings cut for each designated camp site. Beautiful fall colors and perfect night time temps in the mid 40s. Hammock camped and hiked ~4 miles out on the second day.

Filtered water straight from the flowing Vermillion river, right below east camp, and chowed down on skurka beans for dinner. IYKYK lol delicious. Would highly recommend for anyone looking for a solid trip in the Midwest!

Hi! I am planning a solo backpacking through Europe trip in March and am looking for recommendations, particularly on where to stay, for the following places. For context, I am 32(f) and will be traveling solo. I am a comfortable traveler but have never done a trip like this alone! I'm looking to stay in a hostel honestly because it's the cheapest option, but I'm not super interested in it for the party scene. Looking for places that are cheap and safe. I love traveling in Latin America and finding host family type situations - I figure that's not as common in these countries but if you have any knowledge of what might be good, let me know! 

Also a followup accommodations question - in movies and things, you always see people just walk to find their hostel. Is that something that kind of disappeared with internet culture? I find that idea very romantic, but if it's going to be more expensive and/or possibly not available, I will pre-book things online.

Things I am interested in knowing in addition to recs on where (or where not!) to stay:

-Any classes (like crafting, art classes, etc. For example, I took a kintsugi class with locals in Japan that was all Japanese and it was a highliught.

-Must-do hikes or other nature experiences

-Any food recs that wouldn't come up in a quick Google search

-Anything else aside from museums that you think would be fun to do to fill my time!

Locations:

Fly into Rome - immediately take the train to Cinque Terre

Train to Florence

Train to Venice

Flight to Amsterdam (if I have to cut a part of the trip, this will be the one I cut as I have friends willing to travel there with me another time)

Flight to Copenhagen

Train to Stockholm

Thanks for your help!

My route looked modest by distance so I planned easy days, then the climbing turned those modest miles into the hardest hours I have done, and my timing fell apart. I had been thinking in flat miles and the elevation profile quietly rewrote the whole trip. Lesson learned, read the climb, not just the distance. Sharing for other beginners who plan by miles alone. For the experienced folks, how do you mentally convert elevation gain into real effort and time when you are planning a day?

currently homeless due to health issues and life I have a super limited budget what is a good tent and sleeping bag I can get to stay warm

Went on an overnight trip to Middle Fork Lake, NM with a sort of “vintage” gear theme. I rocked my $2.50 late 70s Jansport D3 and my wife used her $7 early 80s Kelty Sonora III, both for the first time. I’ve been doing some minor repairs and getting the packs ready to go, trying to keep to materials and techniques used when they were newer. We had an absolute blast, despite the intense hail and snow, haha.

Loved using the old gear, it was awesome talking to my dad about how he would’ve setup his gear like this and his own backpacking trips, and just gave me more respect for the older gear. I’ll absolutely be using this on some future trips.

Went on a little weekend backpacker with my dog. Had to deal with some pretty crazy wind chill, but managed to stay warm. The sunsets and sunrises were incredible, and looking over the morning fog was genuinely transcendent. Stayed two nights and went day-hiking through Pisgah National Forest. It’s leaf season in WNC, so the trails were crowded, but we found an isolated spot and had about 2 hours each morning before hikers started moving through. All around 10/10 experience and 100% worth the cold.

20 male

Im looking to stay in japan for 2 weeks ish (leave england on the 28th december with a return flight)

Just looking for some tips and information and experience other people have had. It'll be my first time backpacking and exploring another country by myself.

Id like to move around alot and see as much of the country as possible within the time frame. Id like to go to anything from hotsprings out in nature to experience a bit of tokyo.

So far I've mostly been looking at flights and costs of staying from what I've found its very reasonable. Ive also been trying to find what the best routes to see everything I want to however but I am more than happy to just get a train or bus somewhere and see where I end up

If anyone has any tips or advice or even would like to tag along that would be amazing.

Thanks for reading

Hello! me (19m) and my girlfriend (21f) will be backpacking to japan from Vietnam on a budget, aiming to only spend money on food, transport and museums, sleeping only at places where we can work in exchange for a stay through workaway and worldpackers.

During the times that we can’t manage to get a location like that, we were thinking of stealth camping in a hammock in nature, just outside of the city, or staying in abandoned, or remote places within the city.

I have experience with it, having stealth camped in europe for 6 months, but with the wildlife in that region, and perhaps when we get to china the harsh punishments, i think it might not be as easy.

does anyone have experience with stealth camping in vietnam or china? id love some practical advice

trying to keep it brief, i am currently getting into back country hunting but know backpacking is in my near future. i like external frame packs as i dont care to restrict myself to light weight gear/comfort items so im hoping i can get a nice external frame pack that can serve both purposes. as far as i can see the only real difference is that hunting packs are designed to separate from the frame for hauling meat and the fabric has a focus on quietness and camouflage.

is what im hoping to achieve a common practice? am i missing more differences than i am noticing and its a bad idea? tips are appreciated. if i can justify the pack being for both i can spend a bit more on better equipment😎 or save on a second backpack and get better gear to go in it

Hiked in wearing shorts from Grandjean, woke up to a solid frozen lake. Guessing it dropped to about 20F.

Rocks tumbled down onto the ice and made the most incredible sounds - like a synthesizer. About the coolest thing I've ever heard!

Every trip I come home with extra food because I pack for the hunger I imagine rather than the hunger I actually have, and all that extra is just weight I carried for nothing. At the same time I am scared of running short on a hard day. For people who have dialed this in, how do you estimate what you will actually eat per day, and do you plan by calories, by meals, by weight, or just by experience at this point? Trying to stop hauling food back out every time.

I have been only in Bangkok from Thailand but I was thinking about doing a motorcycle loop around Chang Mai and pai and also maybe going in some islands in the south of Thailand. And then from Chang Mai taking the slow boat 2 day to get to Laos for like another 4 days.

But my gf is thinking about the Philippines. We live in Greece so we have great beaches here so incredible beaches are not so impressive to us. But we would love to do scuba diving and coral reefs and stuff. Also the El Nido to Coron seems really nice. But is there anything else to do in the Philippines.
Also I think Philippines will be more expensive.
We think around all around trip for like 1800€. Is it possible for any of those ?

Fala, pessoal! Belezinha?

Estou planejando uma viagem no próximo mês e queria tirar uma dúvida prática com a galera que costuma viajar pela Europa ou já voou de Air China saindo de Guarulhos.

Minha situação é a seguinte:

1. Tenho um voo comprado São Paulo (GRU) -> Madri (MAD) pela Air China.
2. Não tenho passagem comprada de volta para o Brasil ainda, porque pretendo ficar 10 dias em Madri e, de lá, decidir se vou para o Marrocos ou para a Turquia.
3. Como preciso comprovar a saída do Espaço Schengen, já comprei a minha passagem Madri -> Londres para o 10º dia e já estou com o ETA do Reino Unido aprovado.

Pelo Código de Fronteiras Schengen (Artigo 6), sei que ter a passagem de saída para um terceiro país (Londres) com a autorização de entrada (ETA) cumpre 100% o requisito legal para entrar na Espanha. Não existe exigência de a passagem ser obrigatoriamente de volta para o país de origem.

Minhas dúvidas para quem já passou por algo parecido:

• No check-in da Air China em GRU: Eles costumam ser tranquilos apresentando a saída para Londres + ETA, ou encrencam querendo ver passagem de volta pro Brasil?
• Na imigração em Madri: Apresentar o voo pra Londres costuma ser suficiente sem dor de cabeça?
• Estratégia do "Onward Ticket": Vale a pena gerar aquela reserva temporária de saída de Londres só por garantia, ou é paranoia e a passagem de Madri -> Londres resolve tudo?

Quem tiver experiências recentes voando Air China ou fazendo esse tipo de roteiro "aberto" pela Europa, se puder dar um relato de como foi no balcão, ajudo demais!

Valeu!

I’m curious what everyone is carrying now that the weather is actually starting to shift. I did a little pack check this weekend while getting ready for some cooler backpacking trips and realized my setup looks pretty different from summer. Besides the usual stuff like extra wool socks, a fleece, rain jacket, beanie, gloves, headlamp and way too many snacks, I’ve started bringing a small first aid kit with a few extra blister patches. I finally changed up my electronics too. My old power bank would get super slow when it got cold and it was already pretty beat up from getting thrown around in my bag. So I swapped it for one of those outdoor rugged power banks. I mostly wanted something that could handle getting knocked around a bit and being outside without me babying it the whole time. Also it’s nice not having to worry as much about it getting damaged or wet if the weather turns.

I’m curious what everyone else changes in their setup when fall rolls around. Is there anything you always bring on cooler backpacking trips that you wouldn’t bother carrying in summer?

About to go backpacking in the vaucluse region in the south of france and intend to go wild camping. Is the region more suited for tent pitching or hammock and tarp?

Need some advice please. Old stuff from 90s finally blown out. Looking for best wicking base layer for man, quality wise, BIFL price no object. Thoughts?

There were a lot of random shoes on the trail this time lol. It was extremely dry, there's still enough water but if you're going soon and it hasn't rained yet, you'll to be a little more strategic. Brier Creek was totally dry. We really only took off shoes to cross the Little Missouri. Colors are popping off a little bit, armadillos were everywhere and super cute. If you go up to the top of Brush Heap Mountain, it's very thorny so don't wear anything you don't want to get snagged. Don't forget your sharpie to sign the fridge 😆