An Independent Hiking Publication, Backed by Field Testing
Welcome to OutdoorAdept! We know the importance of outdoor adventures at every skill level. For this reason, we aim to prove ourselves as the premier resource for you to discover everything we love about hiking, camping, mountaineering, exploring nature, and everything in between.
- Never sponsored, ever
- Gear bought with our own money
- Founded by experienced hikers in 2022
- 2022founded on the Appalachian Trail
- 200+guides & reviews published
- 11team members
- 15+years in the field
- 50+countries hiked & tested in
- 1000sof trail miles hiked
Trusted resources for memorable, fun, and safe adventures
At OutdoorAdept, we strive to bring you the very best resources to help make your outdoor adventures memorable, fun, and safe.
We accomplish this goal by providing you with trusted product reviews, practical “how-tos,” and other valuable information related to hiking, mountaineering, backpacking, and camping.
We want to help everyone experience the life-changing beauty and endless potential for inspiration that comes with connecting to nature.
How far we’ve come
- 2022 — OutdoorAdept is founded by three hikers who met while hiking and camping on the Appalachian Trail.
- April 2023 — our first hiking guides and gear reviews go live.
- October 2023 — the team grows from the three founders to eight members.
- September 2024 — we launch our free hiking calculators and data-driven case studies.
- 2026 — 200+ published guides, reviews, and how-tos, written and tested by a team of eleven.
It started on the Appalachian Trail
Professional hikers, every day
All OutdoorAdept core team members are professional hikers and camping enthusiasts. It’s what we do every day. In fact, the three of us met while hiking and camping on the Appalachian Trail. We have thousands of miles of hiking under our belts and years of experience “in the field.”
We are not only hikers and campers but also have experience with mountain climbing and winter sports and always looking to try new experiences whenever we can. There’s no outdoor adventure that we don’t want to try out at least once.
From three founders to a team of eleven
In addition to our core team of outdoor enthusiasts, we also have two independent professional product testers with a passion for providing people with honest reviews.
Although we initially began with just three members, our team has grown to eleven contributors: six writers and product testers, three editors, and two independent testers, plus various collaborators who provide assistance periodically.
Leave it better than we found it
We respect and admire the outdoor world around us and the benefits it brings to us. We hope that it remains untouched and beautiful for many future generations to enjoy. That’s why we also focus strongly on conservation, eco-travel, and sustainability efforts.
So far, we’ve put hours into volunteering on the trails to collect trash and repaint worn trail markers, and we’re always looking for more ways to help out in this area. We want to leave everything better than we found it and inspire others to do the same.
Sharing what 15+ years outdoors taught us
We have over 15 years of outdoor adventure experience and want to share everything we know with you. Why? Because the outdoor world can be overwhelming. When we started out hiking, mountaineering, and camping, we had to learn many things “on the fly” or make mistakes, which wasn’t always easy.
We created this site with the following primary goals in mind and consciously dedicate each day to achieving them:
- Help both experienced and new adventurers with helpful tips and tricks
- Share some “hacks” we’ve learned along the way that can only come from experience
- Personally test and review different types of outdoor gear and provide recommendations based on our knowledge and testing
Guides first, and testing you can check
That one rule produces everything else you will notice about this site:
- Every guide is written by someone who has done the thing it teaches
- Every recommended product is hand-selected and personally reviewed
- We buy gear with our own money and never accept products or payment from brands
- Commissions and sponsorships do not influence what we say; reviews stay honest even when that costs us
- Reviews name the tester, so you can see whose feet the verdict comes from
- Every guide is fact-checked and edited before publication, led by Chief Editor Sarah Groves
Independence is the reason this site exists: advice you would give a friend at the trailhead, with no brand looking over your shoulder. The mechanics behind it, from anonymous purchases to how a verdict score is set, are on our How We Test and Review Our Gear page. Every article carries a named author, and each team card below links to their full archive on the site. Spotted an error? Tell us and we’ll fix it.
The people behind the guides
Writers, editors, and product testers. Between them: long trails, long careers, and a lot of worn-out footwear. Every member who publishes here has a “read their work” link to their full article archive.
Catalin Geangos
CEO / Product Tester / Writer Read Catalin’s work →Catalin is a writer and outdoor specialist who has been traveling in over 35 countries so far. He loves spending time in nature, enjoying mountains and nature adventures, and ultimately inspiring people to travel more. In his time off, he writes hiking guides and reviews hiking and other outdoor gear and accessories.
Sarah Groves
Chief Editor Read Sarah’s work →Sarah Groves is an ultra trail runner & occasional hiker who loves to spend her time in the mountains & forests around the UK. Running anything from 50km to 100km in the Lakes, Peaks, and Brecons. Recent seasons have taken her endurance events to the mountains of Finland & Chamonix.
Christina Utz
Product Tester / Writer Read Christina’s work →Christina Utz is a professional writer, mountain addict, and hiking enthusiast. She successfully finished a rock climbing class and a wilderness survival course, and by the age of 24, she hiked more than 1800 miles and finished over 260 different trails! Her expertise in hiking and outdoors helped numerous people to fulfill their adventurous spirit!
Milijana Gabrić
Review Editor Read Milijana’s work →Milijana, the founder of World Travel Connector, a passionate globetrotter and hiking enthusiast, explores trails worldwide, from her native Croatia to the USA, Egypt, Laos, and Vietnam. She cherishes the sunrise atop Mount Sinai and greets the Atlantic at the ancient End of the World in Spain. Her Camino adventures in Spain and aspirations like Via Francigena and Kumano Kodo reflect her hiking passion.
Mark Stevens
Review Editor Read Mark’s work →Mark is an avid long-distance walker who annually undertakes journeys such as the Camino de Santiago and other extended treks across the United Kingdom. His passion lies in providing support and guidance to fellow walkers along the famous pilgrimage route, and he documents his adventures on his blog, Follow the Yellow Shell. As soon as he finishes work, he is out on the trail, always having his backpack packed and ready to go.
Jennifer Strom
Product Tester / Writer Read Jennifer’s work →Jennifer Strom has been a writer for over 20 years and an outdoor and hiking enthusiast for most of her life. After spending much of her career in the corporate world, she decided to freelance and explore new places. She is always looking for her next adventure and writing guides that help others make the most of their own hikes and time outdoors.
Livia Moreanu
Product Tester / Writer Read Livia’s work →Livia is a marketing director by day, but her passion comes alive on the trail. She discovered hiking in her late twenties and it completely changed her life. From forest walks around Bucharest to mountain treks across Europe and Asia, Livia loves exploring accessible trails and testing gear. She’s passionate about proving that outdoor adventures aren’t just for extreme athletes but for anyone willing to lace up their boots and start walking.
Michelle Peters
Product Tester / Writer Read Michelle’s work →From her home office in northwest Seattle, Michelle Peters has been writing about travel for more than 20 years. She hails from her beloved Vermont, though was born in her (perhaps even more beloved) Greenville, Maine. As the kids grow up and out, Michelle hopes to flex her hiking muscles in Patagonia, the Dolomites, the Alps, and New Zealand. You can find her work at Eagle Eyes.
Melvin Claassen
Product Tester / Writer Read Melvin’s work →Based in the Netherlands, and an avid outdoorsman, mountain addict, and hiking enthusiast. When he isn’t hiking, Melvin is passionate about running, trail running, hitting the dirt on his mountain bike, and scaling rock faces.
Simon Zhelyazkov
Independent Tester / EditorSimon, the founder of Backpack Moments, is the epitome of a backpacker. He has been to 56 countries and the number is rising monthly as he’s on an around-the-world trip right this moment. Simon loves to challenge himself with longer and more strenuous mountain hikes. The first thing he checks in a new country? How high the nearby mountains are.
Yoav Bulshtein
Independent Tester / EditorYoav Bulshtein, a digital nomad from Israel and founder of Digital Nomadness, lives life at the exciting intersection of work, wanderlust, and wilderness. As he globe-trots, working from the most exotic locales, Yoav seizes every opportunity to venture off the beaten path, always seeking the next peak to conquer. His unique lifestyle represents a compelling fusion of remote professionalism and an unquenchable thirst for hiking adventures.
Why we decided to make this our passion
From trailhead questions to a website
After meeting on the Appalachian Trail and enjoying our experience together, the three of us started connecting for more outdoor adventures. As we made our way around the globe, we saw all different types of outdoor enthusiasts and loved connecting with them as well. We answered a lot of questions and helped people make choices regarding their own trips or equipment.
After a specific adventure, Catalin Geangos, the former owner and blogger of TravelTrained, had an epiphany: we could harness our expertise and experiences to assist nature enthusiasts around the globe. What started as a broad idea quickly turned into months of hard work and putting together the best articles and outdoor guides we could provide.
We hope these resources help ignite the passion that others have for nature and provide sound advice that will make their adventures safer and more fulfilling.
Backed up, and built with you
We back up everything we say through our own expertise, the opinions of other experts in the field, thorough research, and extensive product testing. We’re always looking to give our audience exactly what they need without searching through what they don’t need to find the information.
Finally, we love connecting with you! Our readers help continue to fuel our passion. Always reach out to us through our contact page with any questions, comments, or suggestions on what you’d like to see posted on our site. We created OutdoorAdept for you, and we always enjoy hearing what you have to say.
Thank you for learning more about us, and we hope you enjoy the site.
Put us to work
Questions or feedback? Contact us. Been somewhere worth writing about? See Write For Us.
The best place to start is where our testing runs deepest: hiking footwear, matched to your feet.Fit guides for flat feet, plantar fasciitis, wide feet, ankle support, and more.
Browse the footwear guides