Bike, Hike, and Paddle: My Old Links Page from 1995 to 2008

This is published as an historical example of what my original website (Chuck's Backpacking Bonanza) looked like from 1996 to 2008. It is probable that very few of the links below are active anymore. My site began on AOL and all text and photos were uploaded via telephone modem for the first bunch of years, a slow and cumbersome process. The Internet has come a long way since then!

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CHUCK'S ANNOTATED

LINKS TO BACKPACKING

WEBSITES

Cultivate your mind,

so that when you're alone,

you'll be in good company.

--Ernest Palincsar (my 7th grade teacher)--

The links on this page are checked periodically. If you find links which are inoperable, e-mail me and I'll remedy the situation. If the page you travel to does not have a reciprocal link to return you here, remember that you can use your browser's "BACK" button to return you to this page to use other links, or you can "bookmark" this page to easily return. I have annotated each entry so you have some idea of its content and placed them in categories to aid your search.

Latest revision: October 22, 2008

Indexes of backcountry sites (tons of links)

Outdoor Resources Online (ORO) contains over 650 links on backpacking, climbing, fishing, mountain biking, river sports, skiing, and surfing. Also has added product reviews.
HikeNet is a website with great graphics, stories and photos of numerous hikers' trips (including the AT, Grand Canyon, and King's Canyon) and links to other websites featuring hiking, climbing, and backpacking adventures.
The About.com's Camping section has weekly features, stories, links, as well as sections on mountain biking, skiing, sailing, scuba diving, and dozens of other sports.
Peak To Peak has info on thousands of hikes in the U. S. and also international hikes, as well as info on gear, tours, lodges, state and national parks and forests, hiking clubs, wilderness sites, and much more.
Outdoor Places is a huge site with feature articles, 1000+ links, a gear guide, destination info, photos, and much more.
The Backpacker.com has articles, links, destinations, a trails database, gear, a beginner's corner, photos, and a question/answer section.
LinkSelect.com is an alphabetized, categorized, and annotated sportsman's directory with hundreds of links to hunting and fishing/marine sites as well as hundreds of links to sites for backpacking, climbing. hiking, destinations, survival, camping, environment, and many more.
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Commercial sites:

Backpacker Magazine has a website called BaseCamp which includes sections on Destinations, Gear Talk, Hiking Partner Connection, a fully searchable "Weekend Wilderness" site finder, and much more. .
GORP -- The Great Outdoors Recreation Pages has a fantastic website featuring outdoor activities of every imaginable sort -- a must for all interested in the outdoors -- including a listing of all Wilderness Areas in the country GORP also has extensive lists of nearly every national park, national forest, and wilderness area in America.
Need guidebooks and maps? Amazon calls itself the "Earth's largest bookstore" and allows you to search its database of over 1,000,000 titles by author, title, subject, and keyword. Every book returned by the search is then hyperlinked to info about the book. Adventurous Traveler Bookstore has a huge selection of guidebooks and maps for hikers. Pete and Ed Books offer books, maps, videos, and magazines covering hiking, biking, canoeing, climbing, fishing, and more -- and will match Amazon.com's prices but with lower shipping costs. Latta Outdoors offers a wide selection of books and maps covering all outdoor sports.
Backcountry Experience has stores in Durango, Colorado, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, featuring quality merchandise and highly knowledgeable sales staff, and also sells their products through their website or by phone order.
The clothing manufacturer L. L. Bean has a website which allows one to browse nearly 900 national and state forests.
Curious how Gore-Tex works? Visit the Gore Company Home Page for info about their fabrics -- the science, care, maintenance, etc.
CamelBak's site offers info on their unique products and also articles on "The facts of Hydration" and "Why hydration gives you more energy." Plus more!
eParka.com calls itself "the interactive outdoor guide" and has links on backpacking and biking, environment issues, astronomy, and outdoor photos/art, as well as news discussion groups, and forums. They also provide free online topo maps and elevation profiles for numerous areas.
Pack Lite Foods offers breakfast/lunch, beverages/snacks, and dinner meals -- all as one-pot meals ready in under 10 minutes, reasonably priced, and available in 1 or 2 serving packages.
Over 2000 product reviews of equipment of all types are available on BackpackReviews.com.
Portland, Oregon's U. S. Outdoor Store offers gear for nearly every outdoor pursuit and from most major manufacturers in its online site.
Pack Lite Pro offers a software program to help outdoor sports lovers plan successful trips and also has a collection of delicious recipes available as well as links to other outdoors sites.
Ultralight backpacking software offers software for lightweight camping enthusiasts who use ultralight backpacking techniques.
Ultralight Outfitters offers skillbuilding information, specialized gear, packing lists, food suggestions and tips on backpacking with kids, and their wiki pages allow folks to add their own stories and share experiences.
Coleman has been known as a supplier of quality outdoor sports and camping gear for years, but now has branched into backpacking gear, too, including tents, sleeping bags, lanterns, coolers, stoves, etc. Their gear can be found at Summit Camping Gear and Camping Gear Pro.
MapOufitter.com offers discounted maps from National Geographic, Trails Illustrated, the U. S. Forest Service, and more, and also sells the DeLorme Atlas series.
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Trails and specific wilderness areas:

Steve Fry's Hiking in Colorado contains summaries of Colorado 13'ers he has climbed, with photos. Steve also has a "Hike Difficulty Calculator" available which takes into account elevation gain and round trip distance.
Arkansas has great backpacking. Check out my pages for the Ozark Hiking Trail and the Buffalo National River Trail, as well as Tim Ernst's Ozark Highlands Trail Association website.
If you are interested in through-hiking the Appalachian Trail, visit Wingfoot's Trailplace.
Chet Fromm's Backpacker Guide has information on our National Scenic Trails (he's completed 4 of the 8 himself!) and also numerous links to schools, distributors, clubs, mail lists, e-magazines, and more.
One of those long distance trails which in part traverses the Midwest is the North Country Trail. Sections of this trail are included in my photos covering the Superior Hiking Trail, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, and the Chequamegon National Forest. Also, Joan Young of Michiganhas completed 940+ miles of the NCT and includes photos, info, and links on it on her site (as well as material on model railroading, gardening, her favorite books, and wetlands.)
The Ice Age Park and Trail Foundation website details info on this trail, which when completed, will trace the farthest advance of the last glacier for more than 1000 miles through the State of Wisconsin.
The Bruce Trail, which runs for over 400 miles between Queenston Heights (near Niagara Falls) north to Tobermory Harbour in southern Ontario, Canada, has a website.
Mike Molloy's site, called Mike's Hikes, has an alphabetical list of over 300 hikes available in Rocky Mountain National Park, complete with photos and trip reports, tips, and links.
Danny's Missouri Backpacking & Hiking Trails Review has info on over a dozen Missouri hiking trails, both for day and overnight trips, as well as links to other sites.
Colorado Rocky Mountain Trip Reports contains over 1000 links to trip reports on Colorado peaks, primarily 14ers, but also peaks from 11,000 to 13,000 feet in altitude.
The Mohican Outdoor Center is the southernmost Appalachian Mountain Club facility and their site has trail info, hikers' stories, local weather, ninks, and much more.
Interested in New Zealand? Garry's Backpack New Zealand site has info on backpacking, skiing, snowboarding, and includes travel info - hostels, tours, transportation, visitor centers, links, and more.
Select Hikes specializes in trails in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana, and also offers to publish your articles (preferably with photos) about trails, hiking, mountain biking, climbing, mountaineering, etc.
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Safety/health concerns

The FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition has webpages on Giardiosis and the newest villain, Cryptosporidiosis, both of which are protozoa which can make you wish you had treated your backcountry water properly.
Altitude sickness is covered by the Princeton University Outdoor Action website, as well as equipment, 1st aid, safety, and environment.
Foot.com has info on foot health, conditions, and treatments, news articles, foot health care products, live chats with foot care professionals, a question/answer section, and links.
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Mainly photos of nature:

Do you like wildflowers as much as I do? You can see a dozen-plus here at my site, but you should visit Gary Lipe's Wildflowers site which contains photos, catalogs, references, identifications by state, and links to other wildflower resources on the web. The Rocky Mountain Wildflower Page has photos of many wildflowers, closeups of many of the flowers, and links to other sites.
Do you like wildlife? Here are several dozen photos I've taken on 70+ backpacking trips.
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Hikers' sites:

The Backpacker by Matt Johnson provides links to other websites, a photo gallery, product reviews, backpacking and camping tips from the author and visitors, a destinations section, a chat section, and a beginner's corner feature.
The Dirty Sole Society advocates "set your feet free and your mind will follow." The Barefoot Hikers espouse hiking without shoes.
The Middle-Aged Hiker is an on-line book of 32 humorous and well-written chapters recounting trips into the Grand Canyon by Dennis Bathory-Kitsz and David Gunn.
Recording artist Jim Stoltz, known as Walkin' Jim, has 11 albums to his credit, and is an inveterate backpacker, logging well over 20,000 wilderness miles so far. His site includes his activist preservation/conservation philosophy, quotes, tales of some of his trips, tips from the trail, suggested readings, original poetry, his "name the Wild Place" photo contest, and much more.
Rob McCarthy's Outlandish Outdoor Activities has pages on backpacking, hiking, scuba diving, karate, survival, 1st aid, trivia, and links to other sites.
Outside in Colorado and Beyond specializes in hiking and climbing in Colorado.
Phil Stegal"s Skunkz.com has links for backpacking, climbing, Scouting, and ATVing.
Dances with Marmots chronicles New Zealand Firefighter George Spearing's five month, 4300km solo journey along the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada and includes many photos and much humor.
Winter Campers is a site by guys from New York who are "brave enough or crazy enough" to camp/backpack in the snow. The site has photos, trip logs, reasons to winter camp (#1 reason: no bugs), essential gear, tips, and more.
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Mainly Gear:

Steve Green's Only The Lightest Camping Equipment ("Helping hikers lighten up...") features lightweight backpacks, sleeping gear, tents, bivies, clothing, accessories, and links to lightweight/ultralightweight sites.
Graham Thompson and Clive Tully from the U.K. sponsor the outdoor clothing & gear site Trail Walk featuring gear reviews with photos, pros and cons, and glossary of terms.
Equipped to Survive (a non-profit organization) provides "independent reviews and information on outdoor gear and survival equipment and techniques."
www.4outdoorfun.com handles all types of equipment for camping and backpacking, links, buying guides, camping chhecklist, and discounted gear specials.
Located in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Mountain Works has information and all the back country equipment and clothing you will need for mountaineering, rock climbing, backpacking, camping, adventure travel, back country skiing, snowshoeing, trail running and nordic walking whether you are exploring the Rocky Mountains or wilderness around the world.
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Government sites:

See U. S. National Parks for information on all National Park holdings, and U. S. Forest Service Homepage for info on National Forests. The Forest Service has a toll-free number to make reservations at one of their 156 national forests (1-800-280-CAMP.) The U. S. Department of the Interior also has a website, as does The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The U. S. Geological Survey contains many useful links.
Whole-state topos are also available at Color Landform Atlas of the U. S.
Leave No Trace is a non-profit educational corporation authorized by the NPS and USFS to promote the LNT educational message -- land stewardship, minimum impact skills, and wilderness ethics.
The Regional Climate Centers website has a map of the United States you click on to get forecasts for any part of the country.
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"While God's glory
is written all over His work,
in wilderness
the letters are capitalized."

--John Muir--