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  • Best Hiking backpacks for women header image

    Best Hiking Backpacks (for women, by an outdoor guide!!)

    March 3, 2025

    From day packs to backpacking bags to hip packs and packs that do it all, here are the best backpacks for hiking that you can find:

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Maddy ✨ Midwest Adventure

maddymarq

guide & writer exploring the midwest🏕
📍Wisconsin Northwoods
inquiries: hello@madelinemarquardt.com
↓ FREE exploring the Midwest eBooks ↓
watch spring turn to summer with me on a solo midw watch spring turn to summer with me on a solo midwest road trip✨🦋🚗🌈 last April and early May I spent a few weeks living out of my car before the Lake Superior kayak season started. I drove the wisconsin great river road, and was blown away by Wyalusing State Park. I headed down to the Shawnee National Forest in Illinois, and was surprised to find even states like Indiana have nature worth exploring🦋 I headed down to the red river gorge in Kentucky, a personal favorite of mine, and lingered for a few days before heading to Michigan to stay at my parents house, then my grandparents up near traverse city. When it was finally time to head north, and home, I drove through the UP in a hurry. Overall, I don’t think solo life on the road could ever be for me long term, but there were days in the back of my car reading a book somewhere pretty with the tailgate open and birds singing I definitely got the draw #midwest #adventure #carcamping
that $455 permit😅🌵🥾🏕 honestly, I think that $455 permit😅🌵🥾🏕 honestly, I think the cost of the permit to backpack Havasupai is totally worth it. The Havasu Canyon Trail runs through the Havasupai Tribal Nation Land, and all of the Grand Canyon is the homeland of the Havasupai people, and has been for the last 1000+ years. In the 1900s, the Havasupai were forcibly removed from the rest of the canyon by the National Parks Service separated from their gardens and cut off access to hunting. In 1975, the Havasu falls area and campground was returned to the Tribe, on the stipulation that the area remain open to tourists. a remote community located 8 miles into the canyon with no road access, the Havasupai People had very few options *other* than tourism. Fast forward 50 years to today. The hike down is beautiful, with well-maintained facilities and a lively campground. The whole experience is incredible, and I would easily recommend it! the $455 permit seems pricey, but is totally reasonable when considering the effort it takes to maintain the popular campground 10 miles deep into the Grand Canyon, and the needs of the community to maintain it. #havasupai #arizona #grandcanyon #backpacking
What would you add?🤔✨🌈🥾 #midwest #hiki What would you add?🤔✨🌈🥾 #midwest #hiking #adventure
idk, maybe you just need a desert spring break🤔 idk, maybe you just need a desert spring break🤔🥾🌈✨🏕️ At home in the Midwest the sun came out for the first time in so long I realized I had genuinely forgotten that I’m *supposed* to have the energy to cook dinner at night, and doing the dishes actually *shouldnt* feel like an insurmountable task, and it’s kind of wild because I didn’t even realize how into the winter “slump” I was until all the sudden I was pulled out of it a bit. Lately though I’ve definitely been feeling overwhelmed by pretty much everything, like there are more tasks and things I need to do than there are hours in the day if that makes sense. Absolutely everything has felt like an uphill battle, and I know that for me it’s because of the season. I feel like that at the end of every February, and it always passes. I hard limited my time on social media this week to focus on work. I deleted threads because I was spending way more time scrolling and getting upset about things happening in our world than I was actually working on concrete tasks in front of me that might make a difference. Anyways, if you’re feeling that way too right now, like you’re not physically able to do everything on your plate, even when those things are like… dishes and laundry, just know you’re not alone and it’s getting lighter every single day. Anyways, today I buckled down and opened the windows and actually cleaned for the first time in a really long time. Then I sat down and started planning a little trip like this one, and even though a trip definetly can’t fix everything, daydreaming a little here and there certainly doesn’t hurt 💗 Photo 1 📸 @aubree.adventures / rest by me featuring Aubree! 📍Traditional and Cultural Homelands of the Havasupai/ Havasu Baaja Nation and Southern Paiute Nation
Apostle Islands, Wisconsin 🌅✨🏕️🌈 #wi Apostle Islands, Wisconsin 🌅✨🏕️🌈 #wisconsin #adventure #lakesuperior
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