When James from Waco, Texas, was lost while hiking, he wondered Where in the blazes am I?, then wondered about the origin of that expression. It doesn’t derive from blaze meaning “to cut into a tree to mark a trail.” That term...
As a Wyoming caller noted in an earlier episode, through-hikers on routes like the Appalachian Trail give each other trail names — jocular appellations that stick throughout their trek. The origin stories of several of these are told in the book...
Among ultralight backpackers, a gram weenie is someone who weighs gear with almost comic precision, trying to trim every possible gram from a pack. The habit can mean cutting a toothbrush in half, trimming foil blister packs around individual pills...