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Meindl Wool Socks
Gear

Meindl Wool Socks

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Gear Review The Meindl family began making footwear more than 300 years ago in a small village in Germany. Since then, the business, passed down from each previous generation of the family, has become recognized worldwide for making quality boots designed for hikers and hunters. Meindl designed a collection of wool socks specifically for rough and blister-prone types of travel. I tested three of their wool socks, the MT6 Midweight, MT8 Heavyweight, and the MT Jagd Heavyweight, last late fall and winter. I used my Meindl socks for wet hikes in the mountains and valleys in my home in southeast Alaska. They were also my go-to for the numerous sledding expeditions I made with my two young boys. While designed for rough travel and lots of miles, they are extremely comfortable. I’m not used to wool socks fitting so well. Even after a long day, they didn’t slip a millimeter. I live in…

Ditale Sofia Adventure Pants
Gear

Ditale Sofia Adventure Pants

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Gear Review By Bjorn Dihle When Ditale, an outdoors women’s clothing company, reached out to me about testing their Sofia Adventure Pants, my wife, MC, happened to be looking over my shoulder. I felt weird at the idea of reviewing women’s clothing, so, luckily MC was happy to take the task on herself. She loves Sofia Adventure Pants. They’re clearly high quality, and are warm in cool conditions, breathable, and rain-resistant—all prized qualities in southeast Alaska’s cool, rainy, temperate rainforest. She’s worn them hiking, sledding, foraging, fishing, and kid-wrangling (which is a part of most her activities) and is planning to wear them hunting when Sitka blacktail season kicks off. They have several big pockets, including the typical hand-sized front pockets and big, snap-closed pockets at about mid-thigh that are handy for things you might want easy access to and have proven handy multiple times. She was initially afraid they…

MSR Dragonfly Stove
Gear

MSR Dragonfly Stove

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For most of my life I’ve believed there’s no better overall camp stove than the MSR XGK. However, I recently began using the MSR Dragonfly Stove and I’m not so sure anymore. I was surprised to learn the Dragonfly is capable of burning multiple types of fuel. While I have only burned white gas in mine, this option really increases the stove’s versatility for trips to places where white gas is not available. It’ll take about 130 minutes for the Dragonfly to get through a 20-ounce bottle of white gas in temperatures above freezing. Fuels like unleaded gas and diesel really gunk up a stove, but the Dragonfly is easy to clean. It burns almost as hot as the XGK, but it offers more cooking opportunities with its extra wide support and, most importantly, with a flame you can lower to a simmer for cooking foods like pancakes or a…

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