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TrailGroove Blog

A Blog by the TrailGroove Team

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  • Aaron Zagrodnick 239
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Gear | Trips | Food | Technique | Reading

Entries in this blog

Technique

Lacing Tips for Backpacking, Hiking, & Outdoor Footwear

Spring has sprung and in Colorado that means drying trails and couloirs packed with stable, hard snow. In go the ski boots and from the closet come trail shoes and mountaineering boots. Sadly, my last pair of shoes died a grizzly death at the hands (feet?) of my extra-wide pinky knuckle because I was too lazy to lace them correctly. Below are my tips on funny looking lacing for funny looking feet. My 2016 Lone Peak 2.5's – ready for the trash bin thanks to a 2" long hole. F
HikerBox

HikerBox in Technique

1
Reading

By Men or by the Earth: By Tyler Coulson

In the spring of 2011, and after leaving his life as a corporate lawyer, Tyler Coulson set off from the Atlantic Ocean and the Delaware coastline to undertake a western journey across the United States with Mabel, his adopted dog and companion. Destination: Pacific Ocean. Method of travel: Foot. After 3500 miles and millions of footsteps, Tyler recounted the journey in By Men or by the Earth. Of course, there’s a deeper story to most long walks, and Tyler dives into not only the day to day exper
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Reading

0
Trips

Iceland Take Two: Hiking the Laugavegur Trail

Carpets of emerald green moss blanketing volcanic slopes; steam escaping through the earth’s crust, depositing hot water in natural pools; glaciers and colorful rhyolite mountains; lush growth in a stunted forest…the Laugavegur Trail through Iceland’s southern highlands offers a visual feast and an epic hike. I first hiked the popular thirty-four-mile trail in 2015 and had often thought of going back. The opportunity presented itself in 2022, when I learned of a new trekking route in
Susan Dragoo

Susan Dragoo in Trips

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Gear

Best Backpacking Sleeping Bags by Temperature Rating

An important core backpacking gear item, your backpacking sleeping bag needs to be light enough to carry easily, pack small enough so as to not take over your entire pack, and most importantly keep you warm and comfortable at night. In this guide we’ll focus on the best backpacking sleeping bags currently on the market by temperature rating. As this is a backpacking focused article weight of the sleeping bag and warmth to weight ratio will be of a paramount focus here, with down bags
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

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Food

Backpacker's Pantry Fiesta Beef & Vegetable Bowl Review

On the trail my dinner requirements are simple: after a day of hiking and after setting up camp and filtering water for the night, I just want a meal that tastes good, doesn’t take long in the typical fading evening light, and meets some basic calorie and nutrition requirements. And all without too much clean up afterwards. With all these prerequisites in mind, freeze-dried meals can often be found in my food bag – and most of the time these meals will be a selection of staples I’ve come to find
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Food

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Trips

Thru-hiking the Ouachita Trail: Turning Back the Clock

For at least half an hour, the solar eclipse seemed like a total bust. Sure, I could glimpse a chipped-out corner of the Sun with my rinky-dink eclipse glasses, but its apparently-undaunted intensity continued to bounce off the surface of Fiddler Creek, searing my skin and melting the chocolate in my food bag. But as totality approached, the atmosphere finally changed. An eerie glow settled over the landscape, and birds began to chirp their evening songs. The Sun, even 99% covered, ha
Kevin DeVries

Kevin DeVries in Trips

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Trips

Backpacking the Lost Coast Trail: Oceanside Wilderness

The Lost Coast Trail (LCT) in northern California may very well be the best beach hike in the United States. The name derives from the fact that it is the only part of the California coast that is not paralleled by a highway. I’m sure the romantic ring of that name only adds to its considerable popularity. It sounds like something from a teenage adventure novel. “The Hardy Boys and the Pirates of the Lost Coast” There is a northern section and a southern section. The southern stretch is muc
George Graybill

George Graybill in Trips

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Trips

Day Hiking the Ozarks: Exploring a Geological Wonder

The Ozarks of northwest Arkansas and southern Missouri are full of magical places, and thanks to the rest of the world’s inattention to this glorious natural area, solitude can often be easily found. Eye-catching geology abounds as a consequence of erosion of the high plateau that created the peaks and hollows characteristic of the area. Clear rivers and streams lace through limestone bluffs, interesting rock formations, over natural bridges and over waterfalls, making the Ozarks an outdoor
Susan Dragoo

Susan Dragoo in Trips

1
Trips

Thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail: Lessons Learned

While any thru-hike will involve an uncountable number of steps, the biggest step of them all is the proverbial first step – making the decision to go hike the trail yourself. After you’ve watched the videos and read the articles, the inspiration is at its highest, and you finally decide to hike a long distance trail, the second major step into the world of long distance hiking is preparing to walk – up to 25 miles every day for up to 6 months straight. Is Hiking the PCT a Physical or Menta
jansenjournals

jansenjournals in Trips

1
Technique

Choosing the Best Wilderness Backpacking Campsite

If your next trip is taking you to a popular trail in a National Park or areas where campsites are available by obtaining a permit and making a backcountry reservation, often times there will be little to decide upon when it comes to choosing a campsite; if designated sites are all that’s available most of the deciding has already been done for you. When exploring more remote wilderness areas and in all areas where dispersed or zone camping is allowed or all that’s available however, when choosi
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Technique

1
Technique

Tips for Hiking in Mosquito and Tick Season

Every hiking season offers up its own set of challenges, and when it comes to the seasons of spring and summer the presence of flying and biting insects and other related concerns will need to be addressed in many locales. Dealing with insects such as mosquitoes, black flies, and ants along with other concerns like ticks to name a few is a top priority for any warmer weather outdoor excursion. These pests can be anything from just that – a simple pest, or they can even ruin a trip in short
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Technique

2
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 rep
tmountainnut

tmountainnut in Gear

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Gear

Best Backpacking Tents by Application and Budget

As one of the most important decisions you can make when it comes to backpacking gear, your choice of a backpacking tent can have quite the impact in regards to your comfort in camp and protection from the elements. Additionally, choosing the best backpacking tent can also have an impact when it comes to weight carried on the trail (as one of, if not the heaviest items in your pack), and a tent decision can have quite the impact on your wallet, as well. With many factors to consider,
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

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Gear

How to Choose the Best Lightweight Backpacking Pillow

A good night of sleep is always important – but with the physical activity that goes along with backpacking, it becomes even more important on the trail. Getting a good rest after a long hiking day will only help things the next day – whether it’s the physical challenge of a high mileage day, or even a day that tests other things like your sharpness with navigational ability. Not to mention just our general mental outlook – being tired makes everything harder. With our at home pillow system
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

2
Gear

How to Choose the Best Backpacking Sleeping Bag

Much like your bed at home, your sleeping bag is a place where you will be spending about one-third of your time in a 24-hour period. Making sure that your sleeping bag is comfortable, warm, and appropriate for the conditions is essential for getting a quality night’s rest so you can wake up the next day ready to crank out some miles, summit a peak, or simply soak up the natural scenery without dozing off. The good news is that there are plenty of options for high-quality sleeping bags, so
Mark Wetherington

Mark Wetherington in Gear

3
Technique

How to Wash a Down Backpacking Jacket or Sleeping Bag

After a season of hiking, sleeping and sweating in your down jacket or sleeping bag things can get a little stinky. You might even notice a slight loss of loft as body oils compromise the fluffiness of the down feathers. Or, as in my case, the jacket is just grubby. Fortunately washing your jacket or sleeping bag is a lot easier than you may fear. In this article I’ll go step by step through washing one of my down jackets but the same process can be used for nearly all down sleeping bags. The on
HikerBox

HikerBox in Technique

0
Trips

Hiking in Sedona: A Sampler of 5 Scenic Day Hikes

“What are some of the more scenic trails in the area?” my friend Joan asked a local man at a hiking store in Sedona, Arizona. “All of them. They’re all scenic. Everywhere you look is scenic,” he said with a well-practiced manner, unable to hide his weariness with such questions. Even the trail map on display at the store was marked in bold black ink with exclamatory statements: “It’s scenic!!” “The views are amazing!” To say the least, it became apparent that we weren’t the first out-of-tow
Susan Dragoo

Susan Dragoo in Trips

3
Gear

ULA Circuit Backpack Review

The Circuit from ULA Equipment has been my go-to backpacking pack choice for nearly the last decade and upon review it’s easy to see why: the pack offers both versatility and durability and all at a reasonable price and weight. Thus, the ULA Circuit (or its close cousins) have become some of the most popular backpacking packs out there for lightweight and / or long distance backpacking and thru-hiking. The Circuit backpack offers comfort, adjustability, and efficient storage in a ligh
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

1
Trips

Hiking the Grand Enchantment Trail: GET Wet!

Whitecaps swirled in the ochre mixture of water and clay in the flooded wash at our feet. I never knew water so muddy could have whitecaps and now our route lay on the opposite bank of the torrent as it raged over unseen boulders and cut into the edge of its banks. Standing there at the two-track crossing in the middle of nowhere New Mexico, I wondered how many “do not enter when flooded” signs we passed on paved roads in the Southwest. It was late October and the third day in a row o
HikerBox

HikerBox in Trips

3
Gear

Window Insulation Film / Polycro Groundsheets

Window insulation film, often referred to as polycro in the backpacking community is a thin, clear plastic heat shrink sheeting designed to insulate the windows in your house to save on energy costs – but this material also works very well as an ultralight backpacking groundsheet to help protect your tent floor or for use when cowboy camping or under a tarp. Window insulation film can be picked up on a budget and if needed, cut to size to fit your tent. The Window Insulation Film
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

5
Technique

Bear Country Backpacking & Hiking: In Camp & on the Trail

Whether it’s a trip along a National Scenic Trail or a quick weekend backpacking excursion into an obscure wilderness area – when the mountains are calling, our trips to many backpacking and hiking destinations will also take us into bear country. When hiking and camping in these areas an extra set of considerations will be added to our pre-trip planning process and a few extra gear items will need to be added to our gear list to approach bear country backpacking in the proper manner.
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Technique

2
Technique

How to Keep Your Backpacking Gear Dry

While backpacking during an all-day rain presents its own challenges when it comes to staying dry – or as dry as possible – protecting your gear and the items in your pack that must stay dry comes with its own set of considerations. Having a dry jacket, clothes, and a dry sleep system at the end of a long rainy day is not only backpacking luxury, it’s also critical to our safety on the trail. And whether rain is in the forecast or not, in most backpacking locations we still need a strategy to ke
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Technique

5
Gear

Best Hiking & Backpacking 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

10
Gear

Lightweight Photo Gear and Carrying a Backpacking Camera

Combining cameras with the outdoors and taking one along to document your hiking and backpacking trips introduces a few challenges that must be overcome to take your photos quickly and easily, while still being able to maintain and keep your camera safe from the elements. On the trail, a few key points are worth the most consideration and what follows is the setup that has worked best for me on trips where the hiking is a higher priority than, or at least on equal ground priority-wise, with the
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

6
Trips

Backpacking the Maroon Bells: A Shoulder Season Weekend

We shuffle off the bus and melt into a crowd of tourists, all headed for the perfectly framed view of the Maroon Bells surrounded by bright yellows and greens. Just a minute from the parking lot and we’re already sold on our three-day adventure. More commonly a four-day trip, the Four Pass Loop is one of the most popular – and most photographed – backpacking routes in the United States. The 28-mile trek takes hikers over four mountain passes, ascends and descends over 7,800 feet, and
SarahLynne

SarahLynne in Trips

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