Alex's quick reference guide

Welcome!

Welcome to Alex’s Quick Reference Guide. This purpose of this website is to help people head out on their adventures in backcountry hiking and urban adventure travel, safely and comfortably (within the bounds of Type 2 fun, of course).

Whenever we look for advice on outdoor adventure, we often find ourselves surrounded by conflicting voices on how to do things, where to go, what to buy.

To help narrow down a bewildering set of choices, I’ve synthesized a combination of historical best practices, trade publication reviews, customer feedback, lessons learned from my own experiences, and lessons generously provided to me by mentors who have logged more nights in the backcountry.

No guarantee is provided here, except these these:

I will never host ads on this page, never draw commission from a sale I made based on the purchase of recommended products, or attain any material benefit from the advice I provide here. There are no affiliate links, and there never will be. There is no link to any social media, and there never will be. I don’t want or need followers, and I don’t solicit gear donations in exchange for reviews. If I get anything from this, it’s because you decided to tip me.

I don’t want any followers. There will also never be a single sentence written by a machine on this website. Except for basic spellcheck, there will never be a single sentence edited by a machine either. It’s just me: no nonsense, no algorithm. If I’m wrong about something, contact me and I’ll do my best to fix the error.

By having these guardrails in place, I will be able to provide you the most unbiased advice possible. This advice is intended mainly for beginners, otherwise, maybe you could consider this ‘refresher training.’ I can’t teach you everything from the ground-up, but if you need quick and reliable answers, I hope you find it useful.

One more thing: I won’t write about anything I don’t know enough about. Regarding canoeing, kayaking, mountain biking, alpine climbing, cross-country-skiing, and trail running, please check out alternate resources.

Wherever you’re going, have fun out there. And get home safe!

Latest updates

2026-08-04: Articles 14-15 added. Hyperlinks added to sitemap for all current articles. Some illustrations added. Some errors corrected and formatting changed for consistency.

2026-07-17: Articles 1-13 added. Sitemap added. Hyperlinks will be added to the sitemap over time.

Sitemap

1. Introduction
2. The ten essentials: Description and recommendations
3. The ten essentials (plus two more essentials): Description and recommendations
4. The big four: Description
5. The big four: Recommendations
6. The hiker’s clothing system
7. Hiking apparel recommendations
8. Hiking apparel recommendations: Beyond the basics
9. Cleaning and repair
10. Parts of a typical backpacking pack/trekking backpack
11. What makes ”women’s fit” backpacks different?
12. Why doesn’t this “unisex fit” backpack feel right?
13. Are you sure this “25L backpack” is really 25 litres?
14. How should I pack my backpack for the backcountry?
15. How much capacity do I need?
16. How should my backpack fit?
17. Pack fitting in a nutshell
18. What kinds of backpacks are there? Which one do I need?
19. Technical sidebar: Backpack manufacturer design tendencies
20. Technical sidebar: Why are backpacks so expensive?
21. Hiking backpacks: Categorization
22. Hiking backpacks: Recommendations
23. How should my hiking shoes/boots fit?
24. Hiking footwear: Recommendations
25. Putting it all together: Complete 3-season backpacking packing checklist
26. 3-season backpacking gear list: Recommendations
27. How to travel with carry-on luggage only
28. How to travel with carry-on luggage only: In a nutshell
29. Carry-on and personal size limits for select airlines
30. Carry-on and personal size limits for budget airlines
31. Travel backpack recommendations
32. Travel backpack recommendations, simplified
33. Technical sidebar: Theft avoidance, deterrence, and recovery
34. Technical sidebar: Photography tips for beginners
35. Technical sidebar: Travel photography
36. Technical sidebar: Nature photography
37. Packing lists: Introduction
38. Carry-on travel checklist with recommendations: Men’s version
39. Carry-on travel checklist with recommendations: Women’s version
40. Personal item checklist with recommendations: Women’s version
41. Technical appendix A: Frequently Asked Questions, asked one time, by me, to myself
42. Technical appendix B: Online resources and further reading
43. What Alex uses