Preparing for a winter conditions hike with Allie. Quick gear review with a bit of philosophy for inquiring minds. Follow on videos of this hike forthcoming.

Oftentimes when shopping we are so focused on certain name brands that we overlook the offerings of other companies. By happy accident I stumbled upon one of REI’s excellent backpacks: The Lookout. Extremely well-designed and low-profile, the Lookout fits most of my criteria for the perfect carry-on travel backpack; all for a great price as well. In this two-part series I discuss some of the features of this model (and the current model) of the Lookout with some comparisons to other packs I …