5 Clever Gifts for Hikers

Finding a great gift for a hiker can be challenging. Most hikers already have their favorite boot, shoe or sandal. They probably already have their favorite backpack and way to carry water as well. So, what’s a friend to do who has a hiker friend that needs a gift?

I’m not a big fan of gift giving, but I’m a giant fan of experiences. Thus, if I can give a gift that enhances an experience, I’m all for it. Here are my five clever gift suggestions for the hikers, urban hikers, and walkers in your life. This holiday season, love up your hiker with these clever gifts. I’ve also added one extra gift this year, an experience!

A Really Great Guide Book

First on the list is my favorite new travel book, Desert Southwest. These travel guides are very different than your normal guides. They guide through stories from locals. When reading them, I feel like the local is hanging with me and giving me her best advice for the day. This publisher has several, including Los Angeles, Nashville, and San Francisco.

My favorite guide book in this series  is Desert Southwest. I’ve never seen a field guide written like this for the Southwest region. It’s a narrative, essay-oriented look into what makes an area a place you’d want to visit. The authors tell stories, not laundry lists of things to do, increasing the interest in wanting to visit. The Southwest is my favorite place in the US, this guide is my favorite guide about the Southwest. Their other guides (including Denver‘s!) are excellent, too.

An Excellent Skort

I’ve written volumes about skorts and chub rub, even blogging several times about the Athleta skort. Well, move over Gap Inc, I’ve got a new favorite skort that trumps anything Athleta ever thought about producing.  I am in absolute love with Skirt Sports. So much so, I became an ambassador for them.

Skirt Sports understands all sizes of women; and they make products that make all sizes of women happy. My favorite summer skort from them is the Gym Girl Ultra, and my favorite winter is the Tough Girl. The hip pockets in the shorts underneath the skirt alone make me so happy, but add in the music port, compression fit, grippers, and overall cuteness, and they are winners.

What I really love about Skirt Sports is that the bottoms come in all different lengths as do the skirts. You want capri bottoms and a short skirt? Got it. You want a short short and a long skirt? Got it. You want full-length leggings with a long skirt? Got that too.

And here’s what extra super awesome. Since I’m an ambassador, I get to share my ambassador code with you. Use it, and you get extra% off full-sale items. So load up for yourself and your hiker friend. She’ll adore you.

My ambassador code, just for my wonderful friends and followers, is 344CESSA. Use it as much as you want when you click from here, and you’ll save!

Remind me to tell you how the Sport Skirt saved my phone from being robbed while traveling. It was hidden in the hip pocket! Or how I saw an anteater while hiking in my Skirt Sport (that’s the picture above!)

A Great Pair of Socks

For the fourth year in a row, I’ve recommended Bombas socks. Not only do they give a pair of socks to homeless shelters for every pair purchased, the socks are amazing. I’m on year four of the same pair of socks, and they still keep performing (Read my review after three years!) Last year I tried out the hiker/skier socks, and I loved them just as much.

Not only do I love that Bombas gives a pair to people experiencing homelessness, but I love that they come in so many colors! I’ve also branched out to some of the dress socks now, and I love them equally. Is it okay to love socks?

A 6-in-1 Whistle

Good hikers know about the ten essentials, but not all hikers actually carry them. They can be bulky and awkward. But this whistle knocks out six of the ten essentials in one easy contained and compact little gem. I love this whistle, and I have two of them. One for each pack. I really need two more, actually, since I change my pack all the time depending on the length of my hike. None this less, this jewel has a compass, whistle, light, mirror, magnifying glass and thermometer. It’s a MUST have for all hikers, and it makes a great stocking stuffer too.

A Cute Buff or Bandana

Another item in the ten essentials is a bandana or a buff. Not only can they be used for neck ware, but they hold back hair, make a sling, become a bandage, carry beans and rice, or just wipe a brow. Bandanas are totally functional, light weight, and highly personable. Pick one out for your friend that hits her tone and personality. I like the one above. “She went. She conquered. She smiled.” Yup, that’s me. (And this one makes a great stocking stuffer, too!)

An REI Adventure

If you’re stuck on what to get, and you’d rather just stick with an experience, I get you. 100%. Play it safe and get something she’ll love, an REI Gift Card so she can get her own REI Adventure. Maybe she’ll learn to climb, repel, or whitewater raft? Perhaps she just wants to go on a good, well-planned hike? Would you want to join her? Grab an REI Adventure. You can’t go wrong.

What’s on your giving list this year? Share your favorite products with me!

~See you on the trail,

Chris