What Are The Top Outdoor Blogs? Your Opinions Please
I follow a lot of outdoor blogs…so many in fact that I can’t really follow them all. It seems I always end up missing something of real quality because my newsfeed is choked with stuff I don’t always care to read. So the other day I went about trying to narrow down a list of Must Read Outdoor Blogs? But to be honest its hard to narrow it down. So I thought I would ask you all:
What are your Must Read Outdoor Blogs? The blogs that you never want to miss a post because its always something of great interest and quality? I’m not interested in who has the most followers or the best industry connections. I’m interested in what you enjoy reading the most. Please take the time to submit the URL of your must read outdoor blogs in the comments below.
Then tell me what makes a great outdoor blog:
What makes a great outdoor blog?
Want another option: Tell me what makes a great outdoor blog in the comments below.
What kind of content do you like to see on outdoor blogs?
Like different content: Tell me what you like in the comments below.
What is your prefered way to follow a blog?
I’m hoping to get a lot of responses on this…and if I do I would like to come back maybe next week and rank the blogs submitted below. In the end I will create my own must read list from the blogs submited here and add it to twitter.
To ensure we get a good sampling of opinions be sure to ask your friends and networks to come and chime in with their opinions as well. Thank You in advance…I’m anxious to see what we come up with.
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Karl
I read a lot too, but these are my top pics or must reads. A lot of them are based around New England, so I'm not sure if they would fall on your interest list or not.
My Life Outdoors: https://mylifeoutdoors.com/ This guy's blog is OK, I guess 😉 JK
Chris Dailey Hiking the White http://dailey7779.blogspot.com/ This guy does insane endurance hikes…so interesting to read. All trip reports.
The Adventures of Tom and Atticus http://tomandatticus.blogspot.com/ Great trip reports and inspirational outdoor talk.
New England Outside http://www.newenglandoutside.com/ Great guy, lots of gear reviews and great trip reports
Appalachia and Beyond http://www.appalachiaandbeyond.com/ Lots of good content and very diverse. Great people writing it too.
1HappyHiker http://1happyhiker.blogspot.com/ Awesome trip reports. Super nice guy. Lots of added in facts and history.
Fat Man of the Mountain http://fatmanofthemountains.wordpress.com/ Great trip reports and some good comic writing along with it.
Ramblings http://theramblingsblog.blogspot.com/ Great trip reports and awesome photos!
My blog…for everyone else out there: Live Free and Hike NH http://www.livefreeandhikenh.blogspot.com/
tom
Funny you should ask, I just finished a survey of the top hiking & camping blogs. Here's what I think a great blog needs:
1) Excellent content — great writing and photography, and savvy use of multimedia like video.
2) It must be a resource: not just a compendium of the blogger's thoughts and travels, but an easy-to-use tool to find out about stuff their readers are interested in.
3) It should have a well-defined niche and cover it like crazy.
4) User experience: It should be cleanly designed, easy to use and user-centric — that is, it should be design to serve the user's interest in finding cool info, not the blogger's interest in maximizing revenue.
I surveyed over 300 hiking/camping blogs, rated them from A to C and found that fully 100-plus merited an A rating.
Then I went back and rated the A's from 1 to three on how well they performed in each of the four subcategories.
That produced a list of 40-plus best-of-breed hiking/camping blogs.
That's too many to list here. I will say that the best hiking/camping blogger on the scene right now is Hendrick Morkel — he dominates every category. http://www.hikinginfinland.com/
Tim Miner
Of course I'm biased, but I really like what we're launching on http://www.trailsherpa.com in the form of our Team Trail Sherpa. It seems that you are asking the same questions that I have been asking myself. My answer was to create a team that produces content covering all the things I like to read. I started by reaching out to my favorite outdoor bloggers like http://www.socalhiker.net, http://www.briangreen.net, http://www.100peaks.com, http://www.appalachiaandbeyond.com, http://www.mountainultralight.com, and http://www.calipidder.com
I follow all on Twitter and subscribe to their RSS. Moving forward we will be bringing their best to the pages of our site. I like your questions and can't wait to see how everyone else weighs in. Always looking for more great folks to follow.
Steven
TIM: I'm digging TS too. I think you have a good thing going there…and I want to be apart of it as much as possible.
TOM: Do you have your 40+ listed anywhere…I would like to see it.
KARL: I like what you have mentioned…But that Live Free and Hike NH blog…well right back at you. JK. Thanks for the input.
Beth Wagenius
I haven't been following hiking/outdoor blogs very long but, this is what I'm after. Practical how to posts. I enjoy trip reports also. Photography is important but not the most important, I mean if someone can't write well or make it interesting…..
I like the gear reviews but many of the products are out of my reach in $! So, it's like window shopping with no money. lol, that's just me though.
I like the smaller blogs they almost seem friendlier….again my perspective.
Yours is one of my favorites. You've been writing about Glacier and I used to live about 45 min from there so it's been fun.
I also like http://www.appalachiaandbeyond.com/ they have a lot of trail reviews very close to me. that's nice
For information, I've gotten the most out of these three so far.
http://sectionhiker.com/
http://www.dailyhiker.com/
http://www.hikingwithimpunity.com/
I enjoy this one too
http://livefreeandhikenh.blogspot.com/
I hope you get good response, I'd like to know myself, as I haven't been doing this long.
Steven
Beth,
I agree small blogs have a sort of "Friend next door" feel to them. I like them too and like to be some of the first to read them. But some of these blogs that have been around awhile have some of the best content. Thanks for your input.
Anonymous
If I were to actually list all of the blogs I currently follow I'd be here all day. Rather allow me to list those that round out my top ten :)So in no particular order:
My Life Outdoors – https://mylifeoutdoors.com/
Calipidder – http://calipidder.com/wp/
Daily Hiker – http://www.dailyhiker.com/
Section Hiker – http://sectionhiker.com/
Two Heel Drive – http://www.tommangan.net/twoheeldrive/
Hiking With Impunity – http://www.hikingwithimpunity.com/
Hiking The Trail – http://hikingthetrail.com/
Husky Hiker – http://huskyhiker.com/
Appalachia and Beyond – http://www.appalachiaandbeyond.com/
Trail Sherpa – http://www.trailsherpa.com/
And finally if you'll pardon the shameless plug, and you're interested you can find my blog here – http://diaryofadayhiker.wordpress.com/
Steven
Diaryofdayhiker,
Thank you for putting me at the top of the list…you shouldn't have ;-). And this is the post for shameless plugs if there ever was one.
tom
OK, I posted my 10 best hiking & camping blogs — this leaves off a vast swath of outdoor blogs that have wider focus or tackle niches outside of hiking & camping: http://www.tommangan.net/twoheeldrive/index.php/2011/09/12/10-best-hiking-and-camping-blogs/
Linda W.
I'm sort of new to this blog, but I'd like to recognize two blogs I've followed for awhile: http://www.allisonoutside.net and arcticglass.blogspot.com. And of course, my own blog, Linda's Lens, http://www.photomomlinda.blogspot.com.
P.S. Thanks Steven for following my blog! I could use some more followers!
Tim @ Appalachia and Beyond
Holy Cow, where do I start, and by the way, thank you to everyone out there that has us listed as well. Steven, this is really a great question and really makes one think. For me, it's really all about the content, is it something that I'm interested in, I mean if I wasn't, I wouldn't be reading it right? That said, I think Tom has a pretty feel as to the criteria for a great blog. So to give you my top however many that I follow on a regular basis…
This blog right cheer, you know yours, The My Life Outdoors.
Live Free and Hike NH, Karl's got a great blog, always good reports and reviews with plenty of pics.
The Adventures of Tom and Atticus. That duo is just awesome.
Hendrik at Hiking in Finland has it together.
Brian's Backpacking Blog always has some good tips, MYOG, and much more.
Section Hiker is another good one, how can you not like a guy who does lots of AT hiking and other long hikes.
Daily Hiker is always putting out great stuff and giving away great gear too.
Two Heel Drive, Tom has some great editorials on his blog and superb trail reports of the North Carolina country.
Speaking of North Carolina, Meanderthals is another good one, full of trail reports and some useful news.
Fat Man of the Mountains. Reading of his and his son's exploits are inspiring and of course he's got quite the sense of humor going too.
Hiking Fiasco definitely busts my gut quite a bit, love reading Greg entries as there are some great trails in Aussie land and seeings how Robin will never visit there, we can live vicariously through Greg.
Another good one is The Adventures of Jobiwan. He's got a lot of good trail reports and brings a lot to the table from the trail maintenance volunteer front.
There are of course so many more that I could list but it's getting late. Oh another good one is Family Wilds I like reading there entries because we will be going through some of the same experiences really soon. And how could I forget the Smoky Mountain Hiking Blog. Keeps apprised of what's happening over in the Smokies and surrounding area.
Hendrik Morkel
Nice idea, and should make for an interesting read. Tom's list is also very interesting – I'm honoured to be in it!
My current favourite probably is Dave from http://bedrockandparadox.wordpress.com/He has a very unique style, which I find very attractive, takes great photos and has some great MYOG talent.
Tomas from http://www.scandinavian-hiking.com/ also writes very well, and I enjoy his articles a lot.
Joe from http://thunderinthenight.blogspot.com/ is my third pick. Not only a friend, he is also able to capture great photos and writes superbly.
Greg
This is a tricky one and I must start off by thanking Tim above me for talking up my blog! Tim & Robin have a lovely blog that constantly has updates which I think is important. I can't think of the amount blogs I've come across that are quite interesting, but the last entry was over 3 months ago!
It's all subjective anyway I guess? Whereas Tom above likes a resource I much prefer a personalized read. That's why I think the blog, http://www.thegoatthatwrote.net is a beauty. Lots of trips and musings which stands out. I think if one starts trying to cater for individual readers then it ends up not catering for anyone. I do a blog, so I can write about what I like which may or may not appeal to many people, but what's the point of writing otherwise? Gear reviews pull the traffic to a hiking blog, but I kind of find gear talk a little boring. My comments are my own of course and like I said at the start, it's all subjective! Write what you want to write, be yourself and hopefully the readers will come 🙂
Anonymous
Interesting points above. Hiking in Finland is definitely one of the best blogs. It's Alexa ranking certianly testifies to it's popularity.
Another european blog I particularly like is http://www.terrybnd.blogspot.com I'm shocked not more people pick up on it as it's highly regarded. You seen his videos? They add another dimension to his bloggging. Though I suspect this guy is more a the everyday Joes blogger where as Hendrik at Finland is the uber light thinking guys blogger.
I don't blog but enjoy reading them all. It's fantastic to see this community grow and evolve. How times change
tom
I admit a weakness for narrative blogs with great writing and excellent photography but when I look the blogs that really kick it, they almost always seem to have morphed into a genuine resource.
Look at Trail Cooking, the Freezerbag blog — it has tons of well-written posts, pretty pictures and insightful reading on how to cook on a backpacking trip. (link: http://blog.trailcooking.com/)
And it's cleanly designed and easy to navigate.
Jason
Since I'm pretty limited on time to browse a ton of blog, I prefer ones that are too the point and give me the info that I'm looking for.
I steer clear of blogs that the focus is more on the writer than the subject matter.
The Gearcaster is great and regularly updated.
Plus I usually troll through the usual suspects like The Gear Junkie
Plus, I peruse the other blogs from some of my peer bloggers – Camping Gear TV, Outdoor Gear TV, CampTheSummit and a few others
Steven
Tom: Thanks for posting your top 10 all blogs of great interest and content.
Linda: you have a great blog…and followers come with time. Keep up the work.
Tim: That has to be the record for the longest comment I have ever received. Thanks for chiming in.
Greg: I'm torn between formats…it all depends on what I'm looking for at the time I'm reading.
Hendrik: Some great blogs…some that are off my radar…I'm going to be doing a lot of reading this week.
Jason: Its all about the subject matter for me…but if the person can write too…I'm all for it.
Chris Wallace
I follow a large variety, some that I read thoroughly and some that I only skim. I hesitate to narrow down any top number though.
For me, the writing is most important with photography or video coming in behind that. If you write well enough to where I can visualize the scenery, I don't need the photographic proof. I'm also more inclined to thoroughly read a blog that has infrequent posts. Those that are publishing 3-4 entries a week severely lack in quality. Content-wise, I like trip reports with the occasional MYOG or gear review mixed in.
Brian
Here are my top read blogs, based on the reading trend data from my Google Reader account.
Hiking in Finland
Mountain Ultralight
Blog Packing Light
Gear Talk
Going Places Quietly
JERMM'S Outside
Jolly Green Giant
Wood Trekker
debbie_bygrave
As a newbie to walking I subscribe to some individual blogs who post few and far between but are more than worth reading, I also skim through more technical blogs of equipment reviews and major walks, for me the best blogs are a map/trail guide, an interesting narrative and some storming pictures. I unsubscribed from a couple of blogs which were far too book like and commercial as that isnt for me.
Ourfamilywilds
We mostly read blogs about ebing outside, especially hiking, backpacking, camping, etc. with a family focus. Most of we read seems to be covered (MyLifeOutdoors, AppAndBeyond, HikingInFinland, Section Hker, Daily Hiker, etc.). I would also add AdvetureTykes.com to the list, we have the common interest and focus of being outside with the little ones and they do a lot of cool stuff and post some nice tips.
Kch
Steven, check: pmags.com ~Boulder Hiker; good stuff…
David
Check out Switchback Travel: http://www.switchbacktravel.com. I recently launched the site and lots of great content is on the way.
GibsonGuy
I go camping, hiking, fishing a lot and was trying to find good gear and found this site really helpful for finding the best tents out there. I highly recommend this for anyone that likes to camp. http://thebestwaterprooftents.blogspot.com/
Deanne Avery
Check out http://itsthesoundofsunshine.blogspot.com/