About Us
Our Story
Getting outside can be tough. There can be a lot of gear involved and information online, in books, in forums. Where do you turn to first when you want to learn how to get outside?
Pack & Trail was born out of a need for high-quality information about how to get outside in a human-powered way. No machines involved.
We write gear reviews and how-to articles about everything you need to know to start:
- hiking,
- backpacking,
- trail running,
- mountain biking,
- ocean kayaking,
- and stand-up paddle boarding
We help you get outside.
~ Ross Collicutt, Pack & Trail Founder and Editor
The Pillars
These are the main ideas behind Pack & Trail These are the things we think about every day and what we try to encourage with this site.
- Human Powered
- Save the places we play
- From reader to adventurer
- #OnePiece
- Every Week
- Share the story
Human-Powered
In our eyes, there’s nothing better. No gas, no engines, no pollution, no garbage. Human-power is clean, quiet and keeps your body running well.
Pure human power. It’s you against yourself. You against the rock. You against the elements. No outside assistance. The most satisfying battle there is.
From Reader to Adventurer
A basic outdoor education. Some people had it before they could walk, others they still spend most of their time in the concrete jungle and are just starting to learn.
Everybody, and we mean everybody, can get outside and benefit from it. Whether you are stuck in the office in a big city and sneak out onto the trails on the weekend or you are outside 23 hours of the day already, there is lots to learn and lots of people to learn from.
Everyone can learn. Everyone can teach. One thing is for sure, with regular baby steps anyone can go from armchair adventurer to real one. And we want to help you every step of the way.
Every Week
Sometimes it’s tough to schedule some outside time around life. Plans get made, we get busy, life gets upside-down.
One way to help get out more is to schedule time every week.
Treat it like any other appointment with a client, boss or friends. No questions. It can be tough to fit that into your schedule but it feels amazing when you get out. Make it every week and it will become a habit.
Be careful though, it might turn into 3, 4 or 5 times a week. But we don’t mind when that happens!
Save the Places We Play
If you can’t tell, we like playing outside. The trees and dirt and lakes and mountains are the basic pieces of our playground. But those pieces are becoming hard to find, our playground is getting smaller and smaller. Concrete is permanently covering over the natural world. That’s not ok with us.
We work hard to save the natural places for playing. Anything you buy from this site, 25% is donated to planting trees and saving land for park.
#OnePiece
Some people don’t value the wilderness the way we do. They don’t care about throwing their garbage out in the woods and leaving it there. We strive to pick up at least one piece of garbage every trip. If everyone did the same we’d hardly see any garbage at all.
Share the Story (or don’t)
If the story doesn’t get out in the form of video, photos or writing, no one else can see it, learn from it, be inspired by it. Any size of adventure can produce a good story and even just showing what the trail looks like could help a beginner get outside for the first time. Even our own photos help us through those days and weeks when it’s hard to get outside.
We’re not saying every adventure has to be plastered all over Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok and Twitch. Most of that benefit and enjoyment of fresh air, good dirt and mountain vistas comes from just being there and in the moment.
There’s lots of room out there. Come play outside with us.
Our Topics
Our writing topics are ever-expanding. As we find more time for adventures and learning new sports we tackle more topics.
These are the topics we currently attempt to look good at and use and abuse gear from:
- Hiking
- Ocean Kayaking
- Trail Running
- Mountain biking
- Stand-up Paddle Boarding
- Backcountry Ski Touring
Our Sections
Under each sport there’s a few different sections. Each offer different kinds of information that’s needed on an adventures.
Gear Reviews
Gear can make or break a trip. Comfortable gear makes for a comfortable trip. But with all the gear out there which ones do you go with? Browse our gear reviews when you’re looking for new gear and you’ll find the stuff that we like the best.
How-To
How do you pack a backpack? How do you filter water backpacking? How do you clean gear after a trip?
We look into options for all sorts of different ways to do things, and there can be many. We’ll try to find the best way but sometimes can take some experimentation.
Trip Reports
The most accurate information about trails and conditions come from the folks that were just out there. Good trip reports are a gold mine of information when you’re planning one yourself. We try to document every single trip we do, even if it’s just a few quick details about the trail.
Training
Outdoor trips can be physically demanding. Trying to keep up with friends the whole trip is tiring, demoralizing and doesn’t give you time to enjoy the scenery. Some training during the week is the perfect solution to adding some energy to your trips.
Epic Guides
Often the information on a trail, mountain or camping area is disjointed and hard to find. Instead of adding to the mess of information on the internet, we’ve created Epic Guides, your one stop shop for planning a trip on a specific trail or starting a specific sport. Currently only a select set of hiking trails can be found in the guides but more are on the way.
Instead of looking around all over the place for accurate, up-to-date information, get the Epic Guide and get hiking.
Interviews
People do some amazing things outside. They might have the craziest stories or have great tips for the trip you want to do. We interview interesting folks from around the outdoor world.
We love to chat gear and trips.