Everybody loves thinking of their favorite peaks in superlatives: the best views, the most challenging course, the least amount of tourists, the list goes on. But, which summit challenge is really the best: New England鈥檚 4,000-footers or Colorado鈥檚 fourteeners? There are plenty of opportunities to argue this out: Colorado boasts 54 of the peaks and New Hampshire alone has 48 famed 4,000-footers. It doesn鈥檛 matter if you鈥檙e a or a , the answer isn鈥檛 as simple as you鈥檇 think. Two of our Backpacker editors duke it out.

It鈥檚 the Thin Air

I hiked all of New Hampshire鈥檚 4,000-footers as a kid, but now that I am an adult, I have put away childish things. After climbing just ten Colorado fourteeners, I know that East is least, and West is best鈥擨 write that with all due affection for the pipsqueak peaks that cower in the shadow of Mt. Washington鈥檚 6,288-foot summit, including Mts. Tom (4,051 feet), Willey (4,285), and Field (4,340). Even if you combined those three dwarves (Sleepy, Dopey, and Pointless), they wouldn鈥檛 add up to a named peak in the Rockies. And they shrink in comparison with 鈥擠emocrat (14,148 feet), Cameron (14,238), Lincoln (14,286), and Bross (14,172)鈥攚here I danced above timberline for eight hours of uninterrupted sunshine and bliss. Longs Peak (14,255 feet), the capstone of fourteener fun, required me to plunge through the treacherous Keyhole, tightrope along the Narrows, and heave myself up the near-vertical Homestretch. The elevation gain alone (5,100 feet) beat out New Hampshire鈥檚 lilliputian Mt. Lincoln (5,089), the seventh-highest peak in New Hampshire. On Longs, the thrills, like the views, are endless. A hiker鈥檚 reward for summiting Mt. Washington? Parking lots crammed with Auto Road traffic, flat landers in Bermuda shorts looking for the toilet, and a reeking cog railroad that spouts black soot. George鈥檚 heirs should sue to have his name removed. To the Yankee whiners who complain about how crowded Fourteener summits are, I respond: They鈥檙e popular because they鈥檙e worth it. 鈥擯eter Moore

Praise For Small Peaks

Until I moved to Colorado to work for Backpacker, I had no idea how easy folks in the West have it. And before you launch into your defense of the Rockies, full of scary buzzwords like 鈥渁cclimatization鈥� and 鈥済lissade鈥� and 鈥渃lass 4,鈥� let me spare you the breath: You don鈥檛 know truly difficult hiking until you struggle up 1,500 vertical feet of straight-up-the-hill trail鈥攖he East doesn鈥檛 really 鈥渄o鈥� switchbacks鈥攕triated with logs, roots, and boulders, with a grabby layer of mud and slick dirt underneath. And views? Forget about 鈥檈m. That鈥檚 the experience of hiking a ; with few exceptions, there are none of the Rockies鈥� high-alpine trails or nonstop views. But here鈥檚 the thing: If you only climb fourteeners, you鈥檒l never know the thrill of breaking through the canopy at the top of a , having finally reached the summit. You鈥檒l be hard-pressed to replicate the feeling of flying down that same switchbacks-be-damned trail on the descent. And you won鈥檛 gain the same humbling perspective: It鈥檚 obvious that a Fourteener can kick your ass, but underestimate 4000-footer at your own peril. And isn鈥檛 that how we should view ourselves as well? All hikers are more than they seem, and we all harbor the ability to astound. 鈥擡li Bernstein

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A small joy on the trail鈥攁ctually, no, make it a large one鈥攊s finding an item exactly where you thought it would be in your pack, tent, or stuffsack. (And yes, I am fun to hike with. Why do you ask?) On the flip side, going into a trip disorganized can ruin your sojourn in the woods. Staying organized on the trail has always involved varying degrees of gear Tetris, which requires lots of finagling and usually leaves dead space; the changes that. The PackStack is a zippered, half moon-shaped nylon pouch that expands to fit layers, accessories, or whatever else you choose to store in it. Using one PackStack even begets using another: one nests neatly on top of the first, so you can maximize every inch of pack space. 鈥淯sing two PackStacks鈥攁 larger one to hold my clothes and a smaller one for my odds and ends鈥攆elt like storing them in a dresser at home,鈥� one editor said after a gear-heavy, five-day excursion through Panama鈥檚 Parque Internacional La Amistad. 鈥淓verything inside stayed neatly stashed, and pulling the sacks out and putting them back was a breeze.鈥�

Hillsound offers the PackStack in a regular version ($17 and up) as well as a waterproof model ($29 and up) that鈥檚 seam-sealed and has a waterproof zipper. Both regular and waterproof versions are available in a size tailored for backpacks between 40 and 60 liters, as well as one for behemoths over 60 liters; both of those sizes come in short and tall varieties. The models range in capacity from 5.6 liters (40 liters, short) to 11.1 liters (60 liters, tall) and weigh from 3.3 to 4.3 ounces. All PackStacks are made with 210-denier Cordura Lite, which stood up to months of hard use with no rips or holes. That鈥檚 good, since we plan on taking the PackStack on every multi-day mission for years to come.

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Nobody鈥檚 ever said water duty is their favorite part of hiking. With the ($45), though, the task just got a whole lot easier.

This affordable, compact, 3.3-ounce kit comes with two components: a durable, one-liter soft-sided reservoir鈥攈elpfully labeled 鈥渄irty鈥濃�攁nd a hollow-fiber filter that鈥檚 small enough to fit inside a toilet-paper roll. To get clean water, simply fill the reservoir (a hard plastic handle helps with skimming it through streams and lakes), screw the filter onto the top, and squeeze. The QuickDraw鈥檚 0.2-micron pores sift out bacteria and protozoa (but not viruses, which are removed only by purifiers). And believe us, this thing is fast: by applying constant pressure on the reservoir, we filled a one-liter Nalgene in about 20 seconds鈥攖he fastest rate on the market for something this light and inexpensive. 鈥淓ven when I was hiking with groups, I brought this filter rather than a larger gravity model,鈥� one editor said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so small that it can fit in a hipbelt pocket, and it鈥檚 the most efficient filtration system I鈥檝e ever used.鈥�

The filter itself rests inside a durable ABS-plastic housing, so dropping it won鈥檛 destroy the sensitive fibers inside. The dirty-water reservoir is built to last thanks to its thick plastic construction, and we haven鈥檛 seen any holes in ours after a full season of use, a far cry from other, flimsier reservoirs.

Screw threads lock the filter onto the reservoir as well as other Platypus products, Smartwater bottles, and 28-millimeter plastic bottles. (You can also drink straight from the clean-water side of the filter.) Our test unit slowed down only once, and a simple backflush returned it to its regular flow. With the QuickDraw, filtering water is over in a blink, and you can get back to what you鈥檙e out there for: enjoying your hike.

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Here鈥檚 the truth: it鈥檚 been years since a hiking boot impressed us. Are our grading criteria too rigorous? Possibly. Are we jaded? Almost certainly. But the fact remains, nothing blew us away for almost half a decade. That is, until now. The ($180) is the all-purpose boot we鈥檝e been waiting for.

We put the Anacapa through almost every conceivable hiking scenario鈥攔ocky alpine, muddy jungle, dirt singletrack鈥攁nd it kept our feet comfortable, our strides natural, and our footing secure through all of them. The boot鈥檚 chunky EVA midsole (37 millimeters thick at the heel) cushions weight, the wide last allows feet to splay, and the tapered toe lends it the feel of a heavy duty trail running shoe.

On a four-day trip in Wyoming鈥檚 Wind River Range, the Anacapa Mid piloted us down the rolling trail into Titcomb Basin with a 35-pound pack on; foot soreness was the furthest thing from our minds. Despite all that cushioning, the boot is maneuverable: on that same trip, we scrambled up 13,711-foot Fremont Peak and the boot proved nimble as we rock-hopped to the summit.

At one pound per shoe, the Anacapa Mid is light enough for day hikes, a rare quality in a boot this comfy and supportive, and its nubuck-and-polyester upper breathes well in warm temps, even with a Gore-Tex insert. That membrane proved protective in Panama鈥檚 rainforest, where it sealed out muck and water.

The only gripe we have about the Anacapa is that the EVA on the outsole鈥攚here it鈥檚 not covered in Vibram Megagrip鈥攈as deteriorated a bit after 150 miles of hiking. The flaw is only cosmetic so far, but it might become a structural issue in the future. Still, this boot excels on the trail, and we鈥檙e willing to ride it as far as it will take us. 1.8 lbs (women鈥檚) / 2 lbs (men鈥檚)

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