Jump to content


TrailGroove Blog

A Blog by the TrailGroove Team

  • entries
    534
  • comments
    634
  • views
    322,889

Contributors to this blog

  • Aaron Zagrodnick 238
  • Mark Wetherington 76
  • PaulMags 27
  • Susan Dragoo 25
  • Steve Ancik 16
  • tmountainnut 12
  • David Cobb 10
  • Eric 10
  • HappyHour 9
  • jansenjournals 8
  • DustyD 7
  • Karen Garmire 6
  • Cinny Green 6
  • HikerBox 6
  • Daniel Anderson Jr 5
  • AndreaL 5
  • michaelswanbeck 5
  • George Graybill 5
  • SparbaniePhoto 5
  • Wired 4
  • mgraw 4
  • JimR 3
  • JimG 3
  • eliburakian 3
  • Kevin DeVries 3
  • Steven Genise 3
  • sarahtied 2
  • Doug Emory 2
  • Jessica Smith 2
  • Adrienne Marshall 2
  • seano 2
  • MattS 2
  • Jen 2
  • Peter 1
  • Claire Murdough 1
  • DKim and PatriciaV 1
  • Tucker Ballister 1
  • Curry Caputo 1
  • Madeline Salocks 1
  • Greg Jansky 1
  • J. Parascandola 1
  • BSuess 1
  • Adel 1
  • Rob Newton 1
  • Grace Bowie 1
  • Allison Johnson 1
  • SarahLynne 1
  • Barbara 1
  • Isak Kvam 1
  • Ben Libbey 1
  • Tephanie H. 1

Gear | Trips | Food | Technique | Reading

Entries in this blog

Gear

Trail Tip: The Backpacking Dining Tarp

The image of a heavy blue tarp stretched above a picnic table at a car campground is often the first image that comes to mind when a "dining tarp" is brought up in conversation among backpackers. While many lightweight tarps are on the market, they are primarily showcased as shelters and their other uses are understated, if depicted at all. Often left out of the pack, and understandably so in many situations because of the added weight and limited function, there are certain circumstances where
Mark Wetherington

Mark Wetherington in Gear

0
Gear

Trail Tip: Using a Backpacking Bear Canister as a Cooler

While a camp stool is perhaps the most popular multi-use application for a bear canister, this tip is best suited for short trips when you're trying to put an emphasis on good food and cold beverages. Bear canisters are a piece of gear added, reluctantly, to the kit of most backpackers only when required for an upcoming trip. However, if you're wanting to freshen things up in regard to food and don't mind some added weight, the underappreciated bear canister can help you turn your fir
Mark Wetherington

Mark Wetherington in Gear

0
Gear

Backpacking & Hiking Jargon: Piezo Igniter (Stoves)

A piezo igniter is a push-button stove ignition system that is often integrated directly onto upright canister stoves for convenience and ease of use. The system works via use of a striker that hits a piezo-electric crystal, which generates electricity even when slightly deformed. When the ignition button is pushed the resulting electrical charge generates a spark. With the integrated ignition system there’s no need to hunt down your lighter or use matches – simply open your stove’s gas valve sl
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

0
Gear

Backpacking and Hiking Jargon: Shoe Stack Height

With footwear being one (and especially important) component of a successful and enjoyable hike, it can pay to become a bit more familiar with the terminology used to define and classify all the choices that are out there. When it comes to stack height, this is a specific measurement of the distance of the bottom of your foot from the ground and overall height of the shoe underfoot. Generally when comparing footwear in a similar class, most of the differences in stack height will be in the form
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

0
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

0
Gear

How to Select the Best Hiking Socks: Tips from the Trail

Socks have more to do with your comfort while hiking than most of your other gear; however it seems like they sometimes can be an afterthought when packing for a trip. A good sock or a good sock system can prevent blisters and provide you with comfort in nearly any shoe. Selecting the right sock for you means you need to understand the different types of socks that are available. Cotton, polyester/nylon, and wool are the three main types of fabrics used in socks. Cotton has gotten a bad reputati
tmountainnut

tmountainnut in Gear

0
Gear

Silnylon Fabric: Backpacking and Hiking Jargon

Often referred to simply as "sil". Nylon fabric impregnated with a silicone coating on each side. Fairly economical. Typically offered in a 30 denier (30D) fabric weight, with lighter options sometimes available. Often used in lightweight shelters, tarps, and backpacks due to its strength, light weight, and waterproofness. Non-breathable. Silnylon has been a popular backpacking fabric for many years, and although silpoly (sil-polyester) has gained traction in recent years, silnylon's
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

0
Gear

Backpacking and Hiking Jargon: Fabric Hydrostatic Head

At what point will it leak? In the outdoor industry, hydrostatic head (often abbreviated as HH) is a measure of the waterproofness of a particular fabric, most applicable to the fly of a shelter, canopy, and / or floor materials, as well as rain gear. The measurement reflects how high a column of water a secured piece of fabric could support before leakage occurs. This column of water is measured in millimeters, and the test is performed with a special machine or apparatus that applies water pre
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

0
Gear

Backpacking and Hiking Jargon: Micron (Water Treatment)

A unit of measurement equal to one-millionth of a meter, or a thousandth of a millimeter. You’ll almost certainly hear the term micron used in relation to backcountry water filtration methods. The standard micron size of most popular water filters is usually around .2 microns, but there are filters available with both smaller and larger pore sizes. What’s best? It depends. Most of the things you can actually see in a water source are quite large and will be caught by almost all filters, but it’s
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

0
Gear

Backpacking and Hiking Jargon: EN Rating (Sleeping Bags)

An EN rating (European Norm 13537) is a testing and rating system that standardizes sleeping bag temperature ratings across manufacturers into a relatively easy to understand and comparable scale. Achieved by measuring thermal efficiency utilizing a sensor-equipped mannequin in a specialized environment, the results of an EN Rating are comprised of 4 parts, and generally you’ll just focus on the comfort rating (women), and the lower limit (men). Backpacking sleeping bags that have an
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

0
Gear

How Not to Lose Your Tent Stakes: Heat Shrink Tubing

Although the venerable titanium shepherd's hook stake is an ultralight favorite, if you've ever used a set you know that one of their drawbacks is their ability to blend into their surroundings when loose on the ground. This can make packing up in the morning frustratingly difficult as you search for that last stake that's somewhere on the ground in a very specific area, but seemingly invisible. To assist, there is one way that will help ensure your set of titanium shepherd's hook stakes all sta
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

0
Gear

Backpacking & Hiking Jargon: Baffle (Insulating Gear)

Used in sleeping bags and insulated garments, baffles are a sewn compartmented wall utilized to control the distribution of down insulation throughout a garment or bag. Sewn through construction (the resulting compartments sometimes also referred to as baffles) achieves the same type of insulation control and is simple to construct as well as lightweight, but creates cold spots along the seams making such a construction ideal for milder weather. A good example of this type of construction can be
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

0
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

0



×
×
  • Create New...