Hiking & Backpacking Camera Gear: How I Landed on a Lightweight Micro Four Thirds Kit
Every ounce in a backpack is a decision. A camera has to justify its weight against everything else I carry, and over the years I’ve iterated on my choices. This post covers the camera gear I take hiking and on multi-day treks, why I settled on it, and where I think a simpler setup makes more sense for many hikers.
I currently shoot a Micro Four Thirds system — an Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III with a small set of lenses. It’s not the camera with the biggest sensor or my favorite straight-out-of-camera color. But for hiking and backpacking, the combination of range, weight, stabilization, and weather sealing is hard to beat.
Tour du Mont Blanc: Refuges, Gîtes, and other accommodations by country
One of the most common questions we get is for a list of refuges and other accommodations along the Tour du Mont Blanc. In this post, wdese provide a table of accommodations, with references to the ones we have stayed at and key information.
What’s in our backpacks – Day Hiking
We’ve refined our day hiking kit over years of trips across the Alps, New Zealand, the American Southwest, and the Pacific Northwest. This list covers what we always carry — safety gear, layers, water, navigation — as well as the gear we rotate in depending on season, conditions, and hike length. We’ve also noted what’s held up over hundreds of miles and what we’d do differently.
Backpacking Blackjack Ridge and Cradle Lake
Blackjack Ridge offers exceptional views of the central Cascades — a particularly striking angle on Stuart, with good views of Tahoma (Mount Rainier) and Dakobed (Glacier Peak) — along with a high alpine lake, mid-July wildflowers, and birds.
We did this as a 3-day, 2-night back from the Jack Trout Trailhead. That said, we’d recommend against doing this route as a loop for most backpackers. The Blackjack Ridge Trail between Bootjack Mountain and the Snowall-Cradle Lake Trail is poorly marked, inconsistently mapped across every major source, and requires route-finding experience. More on that below.
Death Valley in January: A 3-Day Weekend of Hiking
Death Valley has a reputation as the hottest place on Earth, which makes a January visit delightful. For those of us in the Pacific Northwest, it’s also a welcome excuse to chase some sun in the depths of winter. With mild temperatures, long golden hours, and a fraction of the spring crowds, a winter visit lets you actually hike the place. We easily filled three days from sunrise through sunset, with hikes and views.
Tour of the Écrins Stages 11-12: Les Terrasses, La Grave, Refuge de l’Alpe de Villar d’Arène, and back to Le Monêtier-les-Bains
The final stages of our GR54 hike delivered some of the most memorable moments of the entire traverse. On Stage 11, we descended from Les Terrasses through La Grave and followed the Romanche river to Refuge de l’Alpe de Villar d’Arène. Further forays brought us deep into a glaciated valleys. Stage 12 climbed to Col d’Arsine and then followed Le Petit Tobuc — a milky blue stream — all the way down to Le Monêtier-les-Bains, where our trip began. A day in Grenoble rounded out the journey before returning to Lyon.
Tour of the Écrins Stages 8-10: Refuge de la Muzelle, Mizoën, and Les Terrasses
The northeastern portion of the GR54 loops around the Écrins massif through spectacular alpine terrain — past petrifying fountains and glacial lakes, over cols, and along milky blue streams fed by the glaciers above. These three stages cover the heart of that arc: the climb to Col de la Muzelle, a lesser-traveled variant bypassing Briançon and Les Deux Alpes, and a crossing of the Plateau d’Emparis with La Meije filling the horizon.
Tour of the Écrins Stages 4-7: Refuge du Pigeonnier, La Chapelle-en-Valgaudemar, Refuge des Souffles, Valsenestre
We started our fourth through seventh days in the Écrins with a detour from the GR54 to get up close to some high peaks. After, we rejoined the GR54 and continued to the village of La Chapelle-en-Valgaudemar, up to Refuge des Souffles, and on to the village of Valsenestre.
Tour of the Écrins Stages 1-3: Vallouise, Refuge du Pré de la Chaumette, and Refuge Vallonpierre
Turquoise lakes, cascading waterfalls, and bearded vultures circling at eye level. The Écrins reveals itself valley by valley, col by col — and the first three stages set the tone. They took us from Le Monêtier-les-Bains to Vallouise, Refuge du Pré de la Chaumette, and Refuge de Vallonpierre.
Tour of the Écrins Prelude: Lyon and travel to Le Monêtier-les-Bains
For our 2022 trip to the Écrins, we chose to fly in and out of Lyon, France. Flight schedule changes resulted in us having an extra day to explore, which was wonderful. Lyon’s architecture, parks, and food made for a wonderful stay.