Whether you're planning a weekend overnight or a months-long hike of the Appalachian Trail, Weekly Hiking Tip will save you time, money, agony, and facilitate a fun, successful journey into the outdoors. Join Dan Feldman, author of Long Distance Hiking and 2-time thru-hiker, each week as he shares backpacking tips from aches and pains to z-rests.
Dan and Guthook open up the mailbag and tackle a list of questions about hiking the AT by a listener from Down Under. Also, an important announcement about the show...
Hiking with a toddler or preschooler can be a really fun experience and can foster a positive attitude...if done right! In this week's show, Dan reveals five tips for helping your next hiking trip with the youngster be an enjoyable experience for all!
Dan and Guthook explore the wide world of Leave No Trace wilderness ethics and talk about some of the LNT challenges hikers often face: unattended trail magic, water caches, camp chores, and cat holes. Warning: Provocative content! Download Episode
Carey Kish, a Maine-based outdoor writer, joins Dan this week and talks about what it takes to put together a solid guidebook and compile the impressive, newly-released 11th edition of the Maine Mountain Guide, available now at the AMC Store.Download Episode
The hot weather is back and so is Weekly Hiking Tip! Dan and Guthook talk about staving off heat exhaustion during the height of summer, the Skyline Lodge controversy on Mt. Washington, and tips for ultralighting. Check out Atlas Guide's newly redesigned website!
Dan takes another look at what it costs to hike a long distance trail. This time around, both explicit and implicit (opportunity) costs are considered and used to answer the question: Should I do this hike? Is it worth it?
In this week's episode, Dan pulls a few backpacking questions from the AT and PCT Facebook pages. He talks about where to camp and how to plan a thru-hike of the NY AT and where a good starting point might be for a summer PCT section hike.
Smell something burning? That's because Dan and Guthook are all about camp stoves in Episode 30! The guys discuss all major backpacking stove technologies, reviewing the pros and cons of canister, alcohol, ESBIT/solid fuel, bottle-liquid, and wood. Link to postal regulations for shipping gas canisters: http://distancehiking.com/updates/shipping-stove-fuel/
How much time should you budget for a long distance hike? In this week's show, using data from 2013-14 AT and PCT thru hikers, Dan talks about all the factors that influence how much time you might want to set aside for your next long distance hike.
A long distance hike with a dedicated partner can put a strain on any relationship. This week on the show, Dan and guest April Robinson discuss tips for keeping partnerships fulfilling, drawing from their experience as partners on the CDT. Download Episode
Treating water obtained in the backcountry has long been considered a common sense, level-headed thing to do. Biology Ph.D. candidate Ethan Linck joins Dan to talk about a February 2018 Slate article he wrote that questions this doctrine. Read Ethan's article on Slate. Distancehiking blog post on water treatment. Download Episode
In this week's show, Dan dusts off his physical therapy degree and dives into knee injuries! If you're wondering why knee injuries happen to hikers and what can be done about knee injuries on the trail, then listen in!
If you're gearing up for a long distance hike this year, you may be in the market for a shelter. In this episode, Dan breaks downs the pros and cons of four different popular shelter types: tents, hammocks, tarps, and tarp tents. Like the show intro music? Check out the musicians! Happy New Year!
If you're long distance hiking in 2018, you're getting really excited as 2017 draws to a close! Dan and Guthook talk about pitfalls of over-preparation and big picture things to think about 3 months out. Dan's holiday office party Yankee Swap fail.
Weekly Hiking Tip is back with return guest, Guthook! Guthook shares stories from his recent hike across Northern England via the Coast to Coast Walk. Buckle in for surprise quail hunts and thru-hiking British style. Dan and Guthook share holiday gift ideas for the aspiring long distance hiker in your life! It's a packed show! Download Episode
Since 1999, SteriPEN has helped travelers and backpackers worldwide make wilderness water safe for drinking. Dan talks to Miles Maiden, the inventor of SteriPEN, about SteriPEN's past, present, and future. Download Episode
If you're thinking about heading to the Granite State to hike, but you wanna get off the beaten path, the Cohos Trail might be just the ticket! In this week's episode, Dan talks to Kim Nilsen, founder and board chairman of the Cohos Trail Association.
Woe is thee who suffers the blister! Listen to Dan this week and learn what you can do to take care of your next blister problem on the trail. Download Episode Music by Kyle Gervais and Dominic Lavoie
This week, Dan talks to Mark Larabee of the Pacific Crest Trail Association about raising funds through the PCTA's annual appropriations request to Congress. Dan and Mark discuss the PCTA's fundraising efforts and all the work done to protect the PCT. Intro music by Kyle Gervais and Dominic Lavoie.
Blisters are unavoidable on a long hike....or are they?? This week, Dan talks about how frequently hikers get blisters, what causes them, and shares 10 time-tested tips for prevention.
On this week's show, Dan talks about at the top three foods long distance hikers crave the most, and the differences in cravings between men and women.
Dan is back to kick off a series of episodes featuring short interviews with a trail agency or clubs in all 50 states. Missouri is the inaugural state in the series, so this week Dan sits down with Abi Jackson from the Ozark Trail Association. Download Episode
This week, Dan reviews the top 5 things that thru-hikers said they carried in their packs most of the way, but in looking back on their hikes, thought they could have done without. What's necessary and what's not?