Ethan Walker

After four seasons and roughly 90 nights on trail, our team has boiled water everywhere from gusty ridgelines in the Sierra Nevada to frozen mornings at 11,000 feet in the Wind River Range. We’ve tested everything from 25-gram titanium toothpicks to half-pound liquid-fuel expedition tanks to find the best backpacking stoves for different types of … Read more

A power outage in our area lasted 84 hours after a March storm, and that experience reshaped how I think about backup power. My fridge, my wife’s CPAP, and our Wi-Fi router were all running on a single portable power station that I had previously bought for camping. By hour 72, I was cycling the … Read more

When the power went out for three days last winter, my family relied on a gas generator that I never wanted to run again. The noise. The fumes. The midnight trips outside to refill it. That single experience pushed me to test the best solar generators on the market over the past four months, and … Read more

I spent the last three summers testing solar panels across 27 different campsites, from the high alpine lakes of Colorado to the red rock canyons of Utah. After watching my phone die during a 5-day elk hunting trip and missing trail photos for an entire weekend, I became obsessed with finding the best solar panels … Read more

If you have ever pulled a soggy sandwich out of a cooler on day two of a camping trip, you already know why rotomolded coolers changed the game for outdoor enthusiasts. Our team spent months testing the best rotomolded coolers on the market, running ice retention trials, durability drops, and real-world camping scenarios to see … Read more

I still remember the third time my ice melted on a three-day camping trip, soaking everything in the cooler and turning my sandwiches into a soggy disappointment. That was the moment I started looking into the best electric coolers, and I have not gone back to bagged ice since. An electric cooler is a portable … Read more

Looking for the best cooler backpacks that actually keep ice frozen through a full beach day or a hot summer hike? Our team spent the past three months testing twelve top-selling insulated backpack coolers side by side, packing each with the same 10 pounds of ice and cans, then hiking, kayaking, and tailgating with them … Read more

Last summer, our team hauled a 50-quart cooler loaded with ice, drinks, and food across 200 yards of soft sand to set up at a beach gathering. By the time we got there, our arms were aching, our ice had melted, and we were already planning our next cooler purchase. That experience taught us something … Read more

Choosing the best kayaks for your next paddling season comes down to how and where you plan to use them. After spending the last two summers testing 8 different models across calm lakes, slow rivers, and a few choppy afternoons on the coast, our team put together this hands-on guide to help you skip the … Read more

I never thought I would trade my hard-shell kayak for an inflatable. After three summers testing blow-up kayaks on lakes, slow rivers, and a few rapids that rattled my teeth, I am sold. Today’s best inflatable kayaks track straighter, pack smaller, and hold up better than most people expect. If you live in an apartment, … Read more