Although nature was never technically closed during the COVID19 stay-at-home restrictions, for many hiking enthusiasts in northern climates, it was the snow-covered and mud-soaked trails that kept us homebound. Now that the weather has warmed and public lands are opening, it’s an opportunity to reward yourself with a good long hike. Aside from the all-important face mask, these hiking essentials for spring will help keep you safe, sane, prepared and comfortable.
Buff CoolNet UV+
If you’ve ever been on a hike without a Buff, then you know true misery. From mopping sweat to concealing greasy hair, the Buff is a hiking mainstay. Our new pandemic reality adds yet another use for a Buff: Trail facemask. The Buff CoolNet UV+ is the latest generation of Buffs in that it offers a considerably smaller environmental footprint: it’s made with 95% recycled REPREVE® Performance Microfiber from plastic bottles. On the skin, it feels less like a microfiber and more like a lightweight silky fabric that I hardly felt. (< that’s a good thing). Bonus points to Buff for making these in Europe vs Asia. During hikes I wear it as a neck gaiter. When hikers pass near me, I just pull it up over my nose.
Osprey Tempest 40 Daypack
I have an 85-liter pack for long multi-day trips and travel. A 65-liter pack for 2-3-day hikes and travel. A wee 28-liter pack for dayhikes. But the women-specific Osprey Tempest 40 is my most versatile pack. It’s ideal for that sweet spot for long day hikes in which I need to pack gear for the unexpected: rain, sudden cold front moving in, extra food, and a camp stove and air mattress for when I find that beautiful spot perched high on a mountain overlooking a lake that I want to hang out a bit.
This versatility comes with the features of a large pack—Osprey’s AirScape suspension with foam back panel for ideal moisture management, adjustable harness to fit any back length, hip belt lined with mesh for optimal comfort and air flow, functional and easy-to-reach pockets, exterior PowerMesh pocket for stashing a wet rainjacket, hiking pole attachment, compression straps and hydration sleeve—but delivered in a lightweight pack ideal for long dayhikes or an overnighter. Full review coming soon.
Helle Mandra Knife
The Norwegian sourced- and made Helle Mandra is a light-weight, full-tang knife in the category of “every day carry” or EDC if you’re a knife geek. Tipping the kitchen food scale at a petite 70 grams, this knife offers great versatility on the trail. It comes with a leather carrying sheath and thong that can be worn around your neck looped through the hip belt of your pack or hiking pants. Its cutting power is smooth and precise, easily taking on the slicing of sheets of birch bark in half that had been naturally shed from a tree to start a fire with wet wood, cutting a climbing rope with an impossible knot tied by someone else’s negligence, freeing a snagged fishing line and shaving intricately thin slices of cheese and sausage for crackers on a trail lunch. Check out the full review here.
Royal Robbins Bug Barrier Tech Travel Long Sleeve
There are many reasons I like the Royal Robbins Bug Barrier Tech Travel Long Sleeve—great fit for layering, long length that doesn’t bunch up under backpack waist belts, decent body temperature regulation. But the biggest and most important is that the fabric is made with InsectSheild bug barrier protection. Ticks are everywhere in Minnesota in the spring. Crawling on the ground on which I set my pack. Lurking on the bush during a bio break. Waiting in the tree branches to launch themselves onto me so they can burrow into my skin until they’re bloated and happy from the feast of my blood. InsectShield fuses and binds a formula of permethrin into fabric fibers that repels mosquitoes, ticks, ants, flies, chiggers, and midges. Per InsectShield, the repellency is “EPA-registered to last through 70 launderings—the expected lifetime of a garment.”
Royal Robbins Bug Barrier Tech Travel Long Sleeve 
Hiking and birdwatching in Tickville, Minnesota
Gore H5 Active Hooded Jacket
When wearing a loaded backpack, the bulk and bunch of a rain jacket can translate to discomfort and hot spots. But not with the form-fitting Gore H5 Active Hooded jacket. It’s not skin-tight and it’s not baggy. As with all Gore products, it’s both waterproof and highly breathable. In a world where many manufacturers tote their rain jackets as being breathable, Gore is about the only one I have experienced to really achieve this feat. Aside from hitting the finer points that make a rain jacket a rain jacket, the Gore H5 Active Hooded jacket’s hood stays put in wind gusts, packs easily into its own pocket and is very lightweight, weighing in at a scant 8 ¼ ounces. Check out the full review here.
Gore H5 Active Hooded jacket packed 
Gore H5 Active Hooded jacket un-packed
MSR PocketRocket Deluxe Stove Kit
In my opinion, day hikes that take all day are best rewarded with a hot lunch or cup of steaming tea or coffee. The MSR PocketRocket Deluxe Stove comes with the “Trail Mini Duo” cook set. It includes a 1.2 liter anodized aluminum pot, a 28 oz cold/heat safe bowl with a strainer lid (BPA free), and a handy “Mini LiteLifter” tool for gripping the pot when heated (it does not have its own handle). It is everything you will need to prepare food for 1-2 people. Even better, the kit nests together neatly into a compact 5 x 5.25 inch space. The piezo-igniter is a bigger-than-expected convenience and worked smashingly for our reviewer in a range of temperatures, wind, and rain. With 11000 BTUs / 3200 Watts of fire, you can boil water in a hurry. During field testing, our reviewer averaged 3:18 to boil one liter of water (in the included container) in a windless environment. Read full review here.
