Cool New Outdoor Gear - GEARBLAZER

For all you iPhone users out there, check out the new The North Face Trailhead App. It’s a great resource to help discover new trails around your town and best of all it’s FREE. You can search by activity type, keywords, and those within a certain distance from any location (including your current one).

Once you find a trail, you’ll get information like distance, elevation gain, and often images of the route. The route data is provided by EveryTrail.com.

If you want to share your own favorite routes, you can easily track your hike using the app. The GPS will measure distance, elevation gain, and you can add in your own pictures and personal story. After you’re down, you can post it to Facebook, Twitter, and EveryTrail.com.

An oldie but a goodie. The North Face is bringing back the past with the Men’s TNF Vintage Patch Tee ($25). With a retro design, this Vintage Patch Tee offers a graphic from The North Face past. The shirt is super soft sueded cotton and comes in three cool colors (deep water blue, graphite grey, and scottish moss green).

Add some lively fun to your next backpacking trip with the Pacific Outdoor Equipment Pack Piñata Storage Bag ($46). Offering Fish, Frog, and Pig designs, it’s definitely not a boring to store your food.

The Pack Piñata is fully compressible, waterproof, and offers 1500+ cu. inches of storage space. It can easily be hoisted up a tree with an integrated hang tab, cord, and throw bag to keep your food away from bears and other animals.

Meet the Katadyn MyBottle Microfilter ($35), an even smarter reusable water bottle. The MyBottle Microfilter offers an internal carbon filter to reduce chemicals and improve taste. It meets EPA guidelines for removal of bacteria and protozoan cyst.

Each MyBottle Microfilter contains a drinking straw and should be used with water that’s already safe to drink. If you plan to use water that’s unverified to be safe to drink (i.e., rivers & streams), you can purchase the more expensive Katdayn MyBottle Purifier model. If you aren’t sure if you’ll need to purify water, you could always purchase the MyBottle Microfilter model and just get a replacement Katadyn purification cartridge when you need it.

The new KEEN Pyrenees ($140) has the best of both worlds. It has classic look with a all-leather construction and European styling. It also has its KEEN.DRY membrane that lets moisture escape without letting any water in. All these features point to a great looking boot that’s both waterproof and breathable.

Some other features include a removable metatomical footbead, S3 Heel support structure, and 4mm multi directional traction lugs.

An interesting approach to keeping crap and crud out of your shoes are these Mountain Hardwear Seta Strapless Running Gaiters ($35).

These gaiters offer a low profile and lightweight. Their uniqueness lies in the 3M Dual Lock fasteners which eliminates the need for straps.

You just need to add a strip of 3M adhesive to the back of your shoe and this attaches to a strip that’s on the gaiter. There’s also a lace hook in front to add more stability to the fit.

Columbia Sportswear’s new trail running shoe, the Ravenous ($90), offers an innovative rear foot system to provide stability and comfort. This heel capture system offers Techlite as cushioning and an external heel counter for added control. The shoe weighs around 12 ounces (depending on size) and offers some other nice features like AgION anti-odor treatment, Omni-Grip rubber outsole, and a gussted tongue.

If your intention is to go big or go home, the Mountain Hardwear Intention 75 Backpack ($295) is probably the pack for you. This 4300-4900 cu. inches of capacity backpack is top loading with side zipper access to reach stuff when you need to.

There’s a HDPE framesheet for support, custom-shapeable Fit-Lock hipbelt, and the front compression pocket even converts into a daypack.