As we prepare to welcome in 2023, we’re taking time to look back at where we’ve traveled. Specifically, we’re looking at where the world-renowned Light Feet blog has taken us over these last 12 months. 


Our goal is to make Light Feet our community’s go-to destination for inspiring interviews with outdoor enthusiasts, useful tips and tricks for the trail, adventuresome tales from the backcountry, helpful gear highlights, and all things lightweight backpacking. Thanks to guest contributors, expert interviews, and our top-shelf, in-house creative brainstorming team, we’ve published some pretty fun content this year, if we do say so ourselves.


To determine the best Light Feet blogs from 2022, we used a highly scientific process that involved looking at the number of views each of our articles got this year and combining that with an overall vibe check. Following this thorough review, we’re excited to present you with the top 15 Light Feet blog posts from 2022!

1. 5 Trail Hacks for Beginner Thru-Hikers

New to thru-hiking? Looking to adopt a few strategies to add more ease to your hikes? This year, we detailed five great trail hacks for beginner thru-hikers. The blog also discusses different types of trail hacks and various ways you can learn new ones.

2. Have Better Trail Poops Through Improved Pelvic Floor Health

Some things never change. One of these things, it appears, is that hikers sure seem to like to talk about pooping in the woods. This year, we published a three-part interview series with pelvic floor physical therapist, Dr. Lauren Trosch, PT, DPT. While readers also enjoyed the interviews about peeing on trail and postpartum hiking, Dr. Trosch’s insight on backcountry bowel movements proved to be the most popular of the three.

3. 8 Tips & Tricks for Solo Hiking Trips

It looks like many of you were interested in finding some solitude in the wilderness this year. Our tips and tricks for solo hiking were a hit with the Gossamer Gear community. We hope you all had some lovely and safe solo hikes!

4. Pack Liners vs. Pack Covers: Which to Use for Backpacking

No matter how well you plan your backpacking trip, rain eventually seems to find all of us. We covered the differences between pack liners and pack covers for keeping your gear dry on wet days. This blog can help you decide whether our lightweight pack liner might be a good option for your next trip.

5. Gorilla vs. Mariposa: How to Choose Which Backpack Is Right For You

We had a hunch that many of you were feeling torn between the Gorilla 50 and the Mariposa 60. Given the traffic to this blog, it seems we were right! If you’re looking to spend your holiday gift cards on a new pack for 2023, make sure to check out this blog for a detailed overview of the similarities and differences between these two popular packs.

6. Cold Weather Layering for Hikers: The Ultimate How-To Guide

The winter months don’t keep our community inside! Many of you read our guide to cold weather layering to make sure you can stay warm while adventuring during the chilly months. We can’t wait to see all of your snowy summit selfies in 2023!

7. New Film Chronicles Heather “Anish” Anderson’s FKT Thru-Hiking Journey

We interviewed filmmakers Carlo Nasisse and Maria Luisa Santos, as well as thru-hiker extraordinaire Heather “Anish” Anderson, about their release of The Ghost. This short film provides an intimate exploration of Heather’s personal journey from unknown hiker to the holder of some of the most coveted records in the hiking world.

8. Hydration 101: Your Guide to Water While Hiking

Anyone else have “be better about staying hydrated” on their 2023 list of new year’s resolutions? Lots of you “drank” this blog right up in 2022. If you need a “refresher,” give it another read for the new year. Ok, ok, we’ve quenched our thirst with all the water puns.

9. 7 Tips to Quiet Your Mind While Hiking or Backpacking

Start your new year’s resolution to practice mindfulness off right with a re-read of our tips for quieting your mind while on trail. We offered some ideas for how to tune into your surroundings more while hiking during times when you might have a busy mind.

10. Post-Trail Depression: You're Not Alone and There’s Help

During Mental Health Awareness Month this year, we welcomed a conversation about post-trail depression. With lots of great insight from our brand ambassadors, we shared more information on what post-trail depression is, its common causes, and tips for alleviating it. We’re hopeful that this can be just one piece of an ongoing dialogue about this common experience. By bringing it to light, we can help carry it together and remember we’re not alone.

11. Outdoor Content Creator Series: Being a Brand Ambassador

We kicked off a series this year about what it’s like being an outdoor content creator. In our first interview, we chatted with our own Michelle Zhang about her experience as a brand ambassador. We’ve also chatted with Treeline Review’s editor-in-chief, Liz Thomas, about her path to becoming a gear reviewer. Stay tuned to the LIght Feet blog in 2022 for more interviews in the series!

12. Rugged Thread Gives Your Used Outdoor Gear a New Life

We chatted with Josie Kinney over at Rugged Thread to learn more about the company’s mission and vision for the future of gear repair. This was a fun interview for us since we’re pumped about our ongoing partnership with Rugged Thread and our shared commitment to sustainability.

13. 4 Ways to Use a Hiking Umbrella for Your Dog

One thing is clear: we all love cute photos of dogs hiking. This year, we had an adorable guest submission to the Light Feet blog from Bailey Bremner about how she uses her Gossamer Gear hiking umbrella for her dog while on trail. It’s the cutest use of our umbrella to date. Do you have photos of your dog doing cute things on trail with Gossamer Gear products? If so, we cannot underscore this enough: PLEASE SEND PHOTOS.

14. 5 Tips for Writing an Adventure Story of Your Own

Our own Nancy East published a memoir about setting the fastest known time for the Smokies 900 called Chasing the Smokies Moon. We asked if she’d be willing to share her insight from the writing process with our community since we know many of you have great tales to tell too. This glorious blog is the result. If you’re looking to write your own outdoor adventure story, make sure to check out her tips!

15. 9 Women in the Outdoors to Follow for Inspiration

We love to follow many of the women in the outdoor industry who are not only taking on their own incredible feats, but encouraging others to do the same. This blog aims to help readers reinvigorate their Instagram feeds, find some inspiration for their next outdoor adventures, and connect with an inclusive outdoor community by sharing nine women in the outdoors to follow.

Thank You and Happy New Year!

From all of us at Gossamer Gear, we want to express how much we appreciate you being a part of our community. You made the journey a great one this year and we’re excited to get to keep hiking with you into the grand vistas of the future. We wish everyone happy trails in 2023!

Make sure to share your adventures with us by tagging tagging Gossamer Gear on social media (@gossamergear) and using the hashtag #takelessdomore. And if you have an idea for a guest blog, feel free to reach out to korrin@gossamergear.com!

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December 28, 2022 — Korrin Bishop