Ultralight backpacking has a kind of cult following akin to disciples of Marie Kondo. It’s not feasible for every trail, but investing in ultralight gear can improve your speed and comfort on a trek.

Over the years, ultralight backpacking has garnered an unfortunate reputation: obsessive, elitist, unsafe, prohibitively expensive. While we could debate the first three (obsessive is the only one I’d ...

In 2015, Jon Babulic had the opportunity to leave a successful career in construction management, and with it the incentive to pursue a new career. The 43-year-old calls himself “a bit of a waterman.” ...

Too much gear and no idea? From slogging across mountains to schlepping it back and forth from a car, camping with heavy gear is enough to have anyone running for the nearest hotel. So why not go ...

I first encountered the ideas of ultralight backpacking in 1994, in an article in now-defunct (and much-missed) Backpacker magazine. It was titled “Less is More,” by Mark Jenkins. (I still have a PDF ...