Greetings, my fellow intrepid adventurers. I’m so very excited to be writing my first blog for this site. I thought I would start by telling you a little bit about what we have planned for this site.
With the “Ultralight Movement” in full swing, it seems there’s a lot of pressure out there for people to purchase specific types of backpacking gear and to backpack by a certain set of rules.
Believe me, I understand why it’s so tempting to impart our backpacking knowledge upon others. I think most of us just want our fellow backpackers to have the best possible experience during their hiking adventure.
However, despite the best of intentions, we can easily find ourselves in the mindset that “what works for us, will work for everyone.” This just isn’t always the case.
I strongly believe that it’s important to remember the difference between pressuring hikers into doing things our way versus offering options for hikers to choose from when backpacking.
While mantras like “ounces equal pounds, pounds equal pain” or “a pound on the foot is like 5 pounds in the pack,” are great insights for people, they shouldn’t be used to judge another person’s backpacking method.
No one should be told that if they’re not cutting off excess straps from their backpack and sawing the handle off of their toothbrush, they’re doing it wrong.
If you prefer hiking boots to trail runners, fantastic.
If you’d rather carry a jetboil instead of an alcohol stove, that’s great. If there is not one single scrap of dyneema composite fiber in your entire backpacking setup, good for you.
Backpacking is a very personal and individual experience. We are not all stamped off an assembly line. What brings joy to one hiker may diminish the experience of another. The only right way to hike is your way.
At Epic Outdoorz, we really want to embody this idea. We will not tell you what you “should” be carrying or how you “should” be hiking. Instead, we want to provide as many options for hikers as we can, so they can make well informed decisions on how they want to approach backpacking.
We plan to do this in four ways…
First, we would like to write articles and post photos about our adventures, that are both entertaining and useful to the hiker community. After all, part of the fun of backpacking is getting to talk about it later.
Second, we intend to provide honest and comprehensive gear reviews for items we have actually tested on the trail. If it hasn’t been out in the back country with us, we won’t review it.
Thirdly, we will also provide Links & Affiliate Links that make it convenient for you to find items we recommend, all in one place. (Making purchases through Affiliate Links will afford us a small commission that helps support Epic Outdoorz.)
Lastly, we provide a helpful Resources page that contains useful links and downloadable content. (i.e Backpacking Checklists, Leave No Trace Guidelines, etc)
This is all just the start and we hope to add more as we grow.
Thank you so much for taking the time to visit. We really appreciate you.
Now get off your butts to go play outside!