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TrailGroove Blog

A Blog by the TrailGroove Team

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Contributors to this blog

  • Aaron Zagrodnick 238
  • Mark Wetherington 76
  • PaulMags 27
  • Susan Dragoo 25
  • Steve Ancik 16
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Gear | Trips | Food | Technique | Reading

Entries in this blog

Gear

Hiking and Backpacking Jargon: Headlamp Lumens (Light)

Lumens are a unit of measurement used to determine the total amount of visible light emitted from a source. In the backpacking and hiking world, you can use the lumen value to compare the amount of lighting you’ll get from various nighttime illumination sources such as a headlamp. Lumen Considerations / How Many Lumens Higher lumen values typically come at the cost of shorter runtimes and decreased battery life. Brighter lights are also generally heavier and more expensive. For general
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

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Gear

Hiking and Backpacking Gaiters: Selection and Utilization

For some reason gaiters were one of the “accessory” pieces of backpacking gear that I delayed purchasing far longer than I should have. Trekking poles likely would have fallen into the same category, but fortunately for my knees I received a pair as a gift early in my backpacking days. It was only after I moved to Montana and began adapting my backpacking to a different landscape – the Northern Rockies is quite different from the Southern Appalachians – that I bought my first pair of gaiters. Th
Mark Wetherington

Mark Wetherington in Gear

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Gear

Herbal Armor Natural Insect Repellent Review

Herbal Armor by All Terrain is a natural insect and mosquito repellent that has been my go to insect repellent choice for the last several years. Over time as I’ve moved from DEET to picaridin to various natural repellents, I’ve had a chance to try many products on the market – and have had the unfortunate experience of being quite disappointed in the efficacy of many natural solutions. Many smell nice, but might as well have been left at home. Returning from backpacking trips with more than a b
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

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Gear

Helinox Ground Chair Review

The past year or two I’ve become a fan of at least on occasion, heading out on a trip every now and then that involves a day or two of backpacking into the wilderness with a particular destination in mind, then staying a couple nights exploring in that area. As a backpacker who’s also a fly fisherman, a secret lake in the wilderness is often involved on these trips. In contrast to the more typical backpacking trip of packing in the miles and moving daily, these types of excursions allow you to r
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

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Gear

Helinox Chair Zero Review

After an introduction to lightweight backpacking chairs a few years ago, my philosophy on this admittedly somewhat superfluous (but many times well worth the weight) camp comfort item has generally remained unchanged; on longer trips where I’m moving daily and pack weight is of more concern the chair stays behind and any rock or log will do. For the amount of time that you’re actually in camp – and not inside your tent – carrying the weight is simply not worth it. But mental and physical comfort
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

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Gear

Gossamer Gear Gorilla Backpack: A 3,000 Mile Review

Gossamer Gear has been refining their ultralight oriented backpacks since 1998, including multiple iterations of the Gorilla – their medium volume framed pack. The Gorilla was redesigned in early 2015 using gray Robic fabric instead of the white Dyneema Grid fabric as seen on older packs. The shoulder straps are now unisex, more contoured, thicker, and slightly narrower than the previous version. The hip belt was also redesigned to have more padding with a mesh inner face to wick sweat. Trekking
HikerBox

HikerBox in Gear

4
Gear

GooseFeet Gear Down Socks Review

The down socks offered by GooseFeet Gear are essentially a max warmth at a minimum weight solution for keeping your feet warm at night – or in and around your campsite with optional overboots. Each pair of the socks / booties are made to order with your choice of lightweight fabrics and colors both inside and out, choice on the amount of down fill (850 fill power water-resistant down is used), and of course the size. Zpacks also offers the socks without a fabric or color choice. Constructio
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

1
Gear

Glow in the Dark Zipper Pulls: Backpacking Trail Tip

Instead of blowing your night vision out with your state of the art LED headlamp to find that tent and / or sleeping bag zipper late at night, one tip I like to utilize is to use a short length of glow in the dark paracord as a zipper pull for your sleeping bag and tent zippers. Now you can get out of your tent at night without having to fumble to open zippers and can quickly locate your zipper pulls potentially without even having to use your headlamp. When sufficiently "charged", gl
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

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Gear

Garmin InReach Mini: Battery Life with Basic Messaging

Although I’ve been a user of an InReach SE for years – which always met or exceeded my battery life expectations in the backcountry, when the InReach Mini was released – and despite its obvious advantages in the weight and size department over previous InReach devices, I had a few reservations in regards to a possible upgrade. While the weight and size factor would be a step up, custom messaging would be a downgrade – the InReach SE’s message composition already reminded me of text messaging on
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

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Gear

Garmin inReach Mini Satellite Communicator Review

Being a responsible hiker means letting someone know where you are going and when you’ll be back. That used to mean (and still does) leaving a note on the fridge. In a world of landlines, this was the best one could do. Once you were out the door, you were out of touch. Needless to say, times have changed. We all have cell phones, and cell phones have become smartphones. Smartphones have in turn become essential hiking tools, combining many functions (camera, journal, compass, GPS, map, trail gu
HappyHour

HappyHour in Gear

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Gear

Feathered Friends Petrel UL 10 Degree Sleeping Bag Review

Over the years, I’ve come to the conclusion that a one-sized fits all approach to gear simply doesn’t work for me – whether it is a mountain bike or a sleeping bag. Finally in 2015, after many years of utilizing a men’s sleeping bag (which dominate the higher end sleeping bag market) I decided to learn from my mistakes, branch out from the mold, and purchase a down sleeping bag designed specifically for women from Seattle-based manufacturer Feathered Friends, who currently offer 9 different wome
Jen

Jen in Gear

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Gear

Feathered Friends Hummingbird UL 20 Sleeping Bag Review

For three-season backpacking in most of the continental United States, a 20-degree bag is an ideal choice. When it’s warm it can be used like a quilt, when a late season or high elevation trip has a cold night or two dropping into the teens it will be adequate if not downright comfortable (especially if paired with a down jacket and thick socks), and for nights where low temperatures range in the upper 20s to low 40s it seems perfect. Although I’ve owned 30-degree bags and 15-degree bags over th
Mark Wetherington

Mark Wetherington in Gear

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Gear

Feathered Friends Eos Down Jacket Review

For backpackers in all but the most temperate and low elevation climates, a down jacket is an almost indispensable piece of gear. While fleece jackets, wool sweaters, or synthetic insulation pieces can provide warmth, their ability to do so at a comparable warmth-to-weight ratio as a down jacket is lacking. Although synthetic pieces are certainly catching up in the warmth-to-weight regard and their ability to insulate when wet provides a distinct advantage, there is a reason why the most common
Mark Wetherington

Mark Wetherington in Gear

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Gear

Feathered Friends Egret 20 Degree Sleeping Bag Review

Muscle creates energy while adipose tissue stores energy. Energy in this context is synonymous with heat. The female anatomy typically consists of more fat than the male anatomy, especially in the chest and hip area. This is why women are generally perceived to sleep colder than men. Women’s bodies are highly efficient at keeping their vital organs protected and warm, but at the expense of our extremities. When hands begin to ache and toes go numb from coldness, these sensations relay a message
Adel

Adel in Gear

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Gear

Feathered Friends Down Booties Review

Few items provide as much comfort for the weight during frigid backpacking trips as dedicated down booties. Cold feet can quickly sap out any enjoyment of wonderful winter scenery and can easily discourage someone from ever attempting winter backpacking or cross-country ski touring. While down jackets can easily keep your core warm, having a full-body strategy for keeping in heat is crucial for winter trips where you’re spending a significant amount of time in camp. Down booties provide a soluti
Mark Wetherington

Mark Wetherington in Gear

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Gear

Favorite Hiking Apps & Smartphones on the Trail

Although I resisted bringing technology in the backcountry for many years – whether that be a simple watch at one time to today’s smartphones – one trip that left me stranded on the side of the road for hours changed my mind. A simple call would have resulted in a quick ride, but on that day getting a ride after 5 days in the mountains resulted in a failure even with my best smile. My phone lay in the car back at the trailhead – on the other side of the Continental Divide, and that burger I'd be
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

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Gear

Exped Synmat UL Sleeping Pad Review

A lightweight, inflatable 3 season sleeping pad from Exped, the Synmat UL features synthetic insulation that takes the r-value up to 3.3, with Exped subsequently rating the pad warm down to around 25 degrees Fahrenheit. The Synmat UL is available in 4 sizes: small, medium, and the medium wide and long wide – the latter 2 offering a width of just over 25 inches, compared to the standard 20 inch width of the small, the medium, and most other sleeping pads on the market. The sleeping pad
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

4
Gear

Exped Schnozzel Review: Funny Name, Serious Performance

One thing is for certain: we all need to keep our sleeping gear dry and we all need to be able to fit it all in our pack. Like many of us, in the past I’ve used everything from a set of individual dry bags to accomplish these goals to budget friendly trash compactor bags. All worked well and served the purpose of keeping my sleeping bag and clothing dry during rainy days on the trail while also offering some benefit in the way of compression. As a user of an inflatable Exped sleeping pad however
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

0
Gear

Exped REM Backpacking Pillow Review

The Exped REM backpacking pillow is a newer pillow from Exped that's a hybrid air pillow with a layer of foam above. The REM foam layer (That's recycled extracted modules, not the band or the sleep you'll hopefully get) consists of chunks of soft foam that make this pillow a little closer to a non-backpacking pillow you might find at home. The foam layer is all contained in a soft pillow case, with an inflatable air chamber underneath than can be removed for washing or even if you wanted to use
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

0
Gear

Exped Air Pillow UL Review

I’ve always wished I could use the spare clothes in a stuff sack method to create a pillow while backpacking, but like a lot of other lightweight backpackers out there I’m usually wearing the majority of my clothes in my sleeping bag at night to increase warmth. There might be a rain jacket and pants still packed away, (Though sometimes I wear those for warmth too) but they just don’t have enough bulk to really offer much support, and I might be utilizing those in an attempt to keep my dog warm
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

2
Gear

Evernew Ultralight Titanium Review: 1.3 and .9 Liter Pots

While the potential exists to makes one's backcountry cooking setup nearly as complex as the average home kitchen, albeit hopefully a bit more miniaturized and lighter, in most cases the average lightweight backpacker only needs to boil water for freeze-dried dinners, freezer bag style cooking, to heat and hydrate a basic meal within the pot, or to heat water for things like coffee and tea. For these backpackers – like myself – the Evernew Ultralight Titanium Series pots have been a fairly popul
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

0
Gear

Dyneema Composite Fabric / Cuben Fiber and Backpacking

Dyneema Composite Fabric, often shortened to DCF and previously referred to as Cuben Fiber, is a fabric made from Dyneema fibers that are embedded in a polyester film to form a single material or fabric. Due to the high strength to weight ratio of the Dyneema fibers and its low stretch combined with inherent waterproofness, DCF and Cuben Fiber has proven to be a popular option for lightweight and ultralight backpacking gear over the past several years, and usage continues to grow in popularity f
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

0
Gear

Durable Water Repellent / DWR: Hiking & Outdoor Jargon

Durable water repellent (DWR) is a coating added to the surface of a fabric to aid in waterproofing without sacrificing (and usually aiding to) breathability. The most frequent application of DWR in the outdoor gear world can be found in breathable rain gear and breathable water resistant shells. If the surface of the fabric were to “wet out”, breathability through that portion of the fabric would be severely compromised. DWR allows for water to bead and roll off the surface of the fabric, maint
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

0
Gear

Digital Backpacking Scales: Pack Faster and Lighter

Of all the backpacking related gear I utilize, a digital scale has to be one of the most overlooked and underrated items – a scale is something I use in a variety of ways when preparing for any backpacking trip. While a scale isn’t an item actually on our gear list or something we’ll be taking on a trip, a scale is a tool that helps to get us out there faster and lighter – by aiding with packing speed and convenience as well as helping to keep weights down before we grab our pack and head for th
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

2
Gear

Darn Tough Light Hiker Micro Crew Light Cushion Socks

Keeping your feet comfortable in the backcountry is a big step towards an enjoyable trip, and after hiking and backpacking in various socks from Darn Tough for the past decade, they definitely deserve a closer look and review. I’d always heard good things about the Darn Tough brand – Made in the USA and with a lifetime warranty that you might not even need since they supposedly last forever. However, I never really expect socks to last quite that long, and other than that fact it was difficult t
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

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