How to walk more efficiently

We learn walking by try and error and everybody has a different walking style. What is good for one person might be less efficient for another person. In general the most important tip is to keep your feet as light as possible. You move your feet much more than any other part of the body so it is extremely important to start the ultralight hiking by ligthening your feet. Light shoes, socks and shorts. I have seen people hike with jeans and it is not a good choice wearing heavy jeans. They also are made of cotton which absorbs the water easily and dries very slowly. I call cottons the big killers of the hikers.

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DIY ultralight pyramid tent for 2+ or 1+dog or 1+ bike

This is my new DIY project. I have been making tents for last 5 years and I've tried different types. When I started backpacking I purchased a double wall, fully enclosed tent (so called ultralight tent; market crap). Most people don't really need these tents and they are not ultralight at all. I switched to a tarp when I started thru-hiking and I fell in love with it's simplicity. Tarp is fantastic. I tried copying zpacks solo tents then. It is a great design. This time I was looking for a larger tent that can fit my dog as well and it's not as miserable looking as a tarp (people think you are broken!). I always resisted the idea of using a pyramid tent but after a lot of thoughts I settled down with a pyramid tent and I must confess this design offers fantastic features. Here how I did it. Materials: I ordered all materials from: https://ripstopbytheroll.com/ but I have used https://www.questoutfitters.com/ in the past and I enjoyed doing ...

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New Wood Stove

Finally pulled the trigger and got the wood stove. Although it is not as small and as cheap as many other options, and there are many hassles, I like the aesthetic of it and it also gives me an option of using my MSR stove safely. I have been heating my winter journeys with MSR and cracked window and CO detector, but this sounds safer and more flexible. I spent a day next to pond and build the basic frame and tested the heater. The first impression was good! This is not mounted, it is just a test

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Looking for winter in Utah, we found it in Texas

In previous years trips, I have always been stopped by a cold weather at one point, so I had to turn around at some point and head south. Although I have full clothes and sleeping system for very cold temperatures, but the main problem is that my comfort zone is very small and I can't move around a lot. This time I was focused on ideas to improve the cold weather comfort and test how far I can go. As a side note, I have learned that holidays are not good times to travel to places with good weather, nevertheless Christmas is one of those times that I will be miserable staying home. I always have very nice neighbors and friends and their attempt to make sure I am not feeling lonely makes me feel pathetic. So it is the best time to leave the town and go somewhere. If they ask why, I would say I am missing the snow. And if they say, well, you can just drive a shorter distance to the north and see the snow, I would say I miss the desert. And it is true, I miss snow and desert. The magic...

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