Topo Designs Y-Pack & Pom Beanie at Bonsai Rock, Lake Tahoe

The Y-Pack is Topo Design's most recent attempt at sub-$100 pack. It has all the style and design sensibility that Topo is renowned for, just less some of the more "hardcore" features. The inner laptop sleeve can double as a camelback pocket, and overall there's just enough room for food, blankets/clothing, and miscellany. The top-flap zipper pocket is nice for quick access, though the plastic strap hook can sometimes come loose if you haven't cinched the straps tight enough.

And it matches nicely with the always-warm, ever-beautiful 100% acrylic yarn Pom Beanie. 

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The Hilleberg Jannu on Black Sands Beach, The Lost Coast

The Hilleberg Jannu is perhaps the finest self-supported, all-season alpine mountaineering and expedition tent in the world. It sets up in under 2 minutes (in ideal conditions in my backyard), is bomb-proof, and weighs only 6 lbs. So why would I take it to the Lost Coast? Two reasons: gale force winds and miserable, driving rain. And it held up like a champ. In gusts over 60 MPH.

We stayed safe, dry, and warm, and even the single-entrance vestibule did a solid job of keeping our packs and boots dry. The linked inner and outer linings is a mark of design brilliance, as is the plethora of high-strength lightweight guy-lines. 

The one downside to the Jannu is that it only has one entrance. If you're not backpacking and are primarily setting up a basecamp in the gnarliest of conditions, consider the Hilleberg Tarra or Mountain Hardware Trango. 

Read more about camping at Black Sands Beach in the Lost Coast on The Outbound

Alex Knob & the Big Agnes Fly Creek 2 Platinum

The sense that you're at the end of the world. Glaciers. Rain the never stops. The sandflies (oh, the sandflies). Expats and backpackers. The vastness of the Tasman Sea and Australia, some 1,400 miles away. The West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand is unlike anywhere else on earth, and a night on Alex Knob overlooking the Franz Josef Glacier and the Southern Alps is a great way to take it all in.

I went light and took my Big Agnes - Fly Creek 2 Person Platinum tent, weighing in at a whopping 28 ounces. It was rainy and foggy, and it took me less than 2 minutes from start to finish to setup. It can be a bit small for two people, but it stood up well to the wind and the rain, and is easily the strongest and lightest tent I've ever used and now my go-to for backpacking in almost any situation short of the dead of winter.

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