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Matt and Karen's Favorite Things Gift Guide


People often ask us for product recommendations related to hiking and travel. Here we’ve listed many of the items we use and fully endorse. If you’re looking for gift ideas for someone who enjoys outdoor activities and travel, maybe you’ll find a few gems in this post. Each product name is a highlighted link to that item’s page on Amazon. We hope you find this post helpful whether you’re shopping for others or for yourself.



(about $9 to $15 depending on size and color)

The first time I bought one I thought This will be my one and only water bottle for the rest of my life. Then I got another and another… Now, we each carry a few of them with us on day hikes. If you have a hiker on your gift list, they would love getting a Nalgene bottle this holiday season—no matter how many they already have. Stuff one with granola bars for a nice touch, or fill it with Peanut M&Ms and you may win the coveted Best Gift of the Year Award – Under $20 Category.


Follow our Amazon link to see the variety of sizes and colors; we prefer the wide mouth version. Keep an eye on the price when looking at the different color/size combinations; some are inexplicably more expensive than others.


(about $25)

It’s not cheap, but it is super-durable and insulated. I use mine every morning for coffee and can take my time drinking each cup because my coffee stays warm longer. You can throw one of these in a gear bag or back of a truck and not worry about it getting dinged up. Mine still looks brand new after many road trips and nights around the campfire.


(about $230)

We love our Garmin GPS. It's fun to track our time, distance, and elevation change on each hike. And it's saved us a few times when we've lost our way and had to use the device's map to re-trace our route back to the trailhead. I use an older version of the model shown here. It could just be all in my head, but the ones that have the antenna sticking out of the top seem to get better satellite reception than the models I’ve used that don’t have an extended antenna.


(about $29)

Looking at our gift guide, you might conclude that we spend a lot of time thinking about beverages while we travel. Well, that's not all we think about, but it is important to have proper containers for all your drinking needs. A red Solo cup will only get you so far. This Hydro Flask wine tumbler is a necessity on the road and around the campfire. Karen can set hers down on the shoulder of the road while trying to capture photos of the sunset, (and I watch for traffic), and not worry if it gets hit by flying gravel. It also fits in your hand like a smooth stream stone.



(about $18 for a 4 pack)

This may not seem like a something you’d wrap and put under the tree, but trust us, these are great sunglasses for outdoor activities. Maybe you get them for yourself instead. For less than $5 a pair, you get lightweight, scratch-resistant glasses that block 99+% of UV rays. We have pairs everywhere: truck, backpack, home office, etc., and we don’t worry about losing or breaking them.






(about $105)

We always debate whether to take our chairs with us on backpacking trips and the few times we left them at home, we regretted not having them with us. They provide a much-welcomed, comfortable seat to relax after a hard day of hiking and are a hundred percent better than sitting on a tree stump. They’re also a great alternative to larger, heavier chairs when attending concerts.




(about $95)

We couldn’t tell much difference between the Helinox and Alite brands of lightweight backpack chairs. They both are light and were comfortable to sit in. This model of the Helinox has four legs, where the Alite model mentioned above has two horizontal bars instead of traditional legs. The bars give you a little more support on soft surfaces. We’ve included both brands because we’ve used both and can vouch for their comfort and performance.


(about $13)

After getting lost on a hike with darkness approaching and no source of light, we now each carry a headlamp with us whenever we hike. We're prone to losing gear, so these inexpensive Energizer headlamps are perfect for us. They're comfortable and work every bit as well as headlamps that cost many times more.


(about $45)

While we've only had to pull them out a couple of times, we each carry a canister with us when we hike in bear country. It only takes one encounter with an aggressive animal in the wild to be convinced you need to have bear spray with you when you hike. When not on a trail, we keep our bear spray on our nightstands for personal defense. (Since we've started doing this, not a single bear has broken into our house.)






(about $22)

The first thing we do after a long hike is take off our hiking boots and slip into our Teva Mush flip-flops. Wearing them feels like walking on a cloud. Even in winter, we take them with us when we travel. And they’re perfect for wearing in the campground showers.


(about $13 for a two-pack)

Whenever we’re doing an activity where we’re sweating a lot, like a long hike in the summer, we drink water with Nuun in it to replenish our electrolytes. There are a couple of different versions of this product; we like the Hydration version. Another benefit: we’ve found that it reduces the severity of hangovers if taken ahead of time. The stuff about hangovers is merely our observation and not a product claim.


(about $22 per pair)

We’ve tried every kind of sock made for hiking, and so far, Darn Tough socks are the best we’ve found. They seem to look good as new after repeated uses and washings, which isn’t the case with most socks. These socks are made in Vermont and unconditionally guaranteed for life.






This travel mug makes my Yeti Rambler jealous because it gets to go with me on errands. I usually use it to keep coffee warm while driving, but I've put iced drinks in it and later dumped out the ice after it's been sitting on the kitchen counter for two days.






(about $90 for the Titan model)

We’re obsessed with Solo Stoves. The only thing keeping us from buying one in every size is, well, nothing, but that would be weird. The Titan is perfect for the top of a picnic table to give you ambiance and extra warmth while sitting around the campground before bedtime. This size Solo Stove uses wood about as big as your thumb for fuel. We put ours on top of a small trivet, and the surface of the picnic table never gets even close to hot. You can set a small pot on it to boil water and still have space to add twigs to the fire.


Delorme Atlas & Gazetteer

(about $15 to $25 depending on the state)

The first thing we do when planning a trip is pull out our “big red map books” as Karen calls them. We spread them out on the dining room table while we figure out where we’re going, how we’ll get there, and what we’ll want to see along the way. And when it’s time to head out, we always bring them with us. Yes, we have navigation in the truck and Google Maps when there’s an internet connection, but these old-school maps never need to be charged or lose their connection. They’re available for all U.S states. We’ve placed links here to some of the states we use most often: Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Washington, Oregon 



(about $14)

Carrying a first aid kit when you’re doing outdoor activities in a no-brainer. You’ll rarely need it, but when you do, you’ll be glad you have it. We don’t have a preference for brand so long as it contains the essentials. We’ve included a link here to one that we take with us on day hikes.




(about $22)

This small device looks like an ordinary, small flashlight, but when you pull on both ends, it becomes a lantern. We carry these as backups to our headlamps. They're also great for hanging inside a tent as they are lightweight and durable. This model is rechargeable via a USB micro port. It also has a standard-sized USB port so you can use it as a battery to charge other devices.




(about $15)

Here’s another item we hope never to use, but we carry it whenever we hike regardless. It weighs only 2 ounces, so there’s no excuse for not throwing it into the backpack. You put one end of the LifeStraw in water and suck through the other end, pulling the water through a filter that removes most bacteria, parasites, and microplastics. The manufacturer states the device will purify up to 1,000 gallons. It’s a $15 item that could save your life one day.


(about $100 without fuel)

We love our Jetboil. It’s light, compact, and boils water quickly. We use it for making coffee and rehydrating freeze-dried meals when we travel, camp, or backpack. Water reaches a boil in a few minutes, and after I throw a Starbucks VIA into my Yeti Rambler, I’m sitting in a camp chair drinking my coffee before Karen even knows I left the tent.




(about $65)

Trail conditions can vary dramatically on a hike that involves a significant change in elevation. We don’t want to be hiking to an epic destination only to be forced to turn around because the final push to the top of the trail is too slick to cross due to ice and snow. If there is even a small chance of running into these kinds of conditions, we’ll carry our Kahtoola MicroSpikes with us in our packs. They are the first microspikes we’ve used that are easy to put on and take off, even when they’re cold.



(about $21 to $25)

If you’re going to bring whiskey on a backpacking trip, the last thing you want to discover at the end of a long day of hiking is that all your gear smells like a distillery because your flask leaked. The Stanley Classic Flask will keep your adult beverage safe and will last a lifetime, even if it gets banged around. I’ll go ahead and say it: it’s a classic.




(about $17 for a12-ounce bottle)

We were skeptical that this product would perform according to the company's claims, but we were heading out into black fly territory in the middle of summer and were willing to try anything. We couldn't be more pleased with the way it kept the bugs off of us. They still hovered, but rarely landed on our skin or clothes, and when they did, the bugs never bit us. You spray this product on your clothes and let them dry thoroughly before wearing. It also prevent insects from hanging around your tent, backpack, and other gear.


(about $20 for a 2-pack) Israeli Bandage Battle Dressing

(about $9 for the 6-inch-wide version)

I hope these vacuum sealed gauze packs stay unused in our backpacks forever. But if we get injured on the trail and need to stop a severely bleeding wound, we’ll be ready. These patches have an embedded chemical that assists your body’s natural clotting process to help stop bleeding fast. Apply one of these patches to the wound and secure it in place with an Israeli bandage. Read the instructions, practice at home (there are also good YouTube videos on how to use the Israeli bandage), if you ever need to use these items for real, you’ll be glad you familiarized yourself with them ahead of time.


(about $15)

We featured this item in our November 16th newsletter. One of the few items we'll go back to the truck to get if we've left them behind, they're light (2 ounces), durable, and comfortable. They cushion your tired backside from the rock or tree stump you're sitting on during hiking breaks so you can have a welcomed rest. They also give you a dry spot to sit or rest your pack when the trail is soggy.



Our Books! We almost forgot to add these to the gift guide. We can honestly say these are the best books we've ever written. All three of our books are now available in print, ebook and audiobook versions.



Dear Bob and Sue was the first book Karen and I wrote together. It's written as a series of emails to our friends Bob and Sue, and is a humorous and irreverent travel memoir about our journey to visit all 59 National Parks. The travel we wrote about took place from 2010 to 2012.














Dories, Ho! was our second book. It's the story about our dory boat trip on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in 2016. It's written as a travel memoir with a traditional format rather than as a series of emails.














In Season 2, we return to the email format that we used in the original Dear Bob and Sue. This book covers our travels in 2017 and includes visits to many public lands in addition to National Parks.


















We participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites. We may earn a commission if you make a purchase through one of our links, so we can keep writing about our travels instead of going back to jobs that suck.

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