It’s the middle of December. Have you finished your holiday gift shopping yet?
Do you still need to shop for a hiker or backpacker in your life, but don’t know what to get them OR maybe you’re a hiker who’s looking for fun gifts for yourself? Consider this a holiday gift guide for you and all of your outdoorsy friends and family. Here are 11 gift ideas any hiker or backpacker in your life will love, ranging in price, starting as low as $15.00, along with where you can purchase any one of these awesome gifts.
Holiday Gift Idea #1: Personalized Ornaments
I wasn’t going to put up a Christmas tree this year because I’m going out of town to spend the holidays with my family, but when my mom came to visit me last month, she insisted I get a Christmas tree. So I needed to find ornaments for my tree.
While doing a Google search to find fun and unique ornaments, I stumbled upon an Etsy store that makes personalized ornaments. TrailBlazer Design Works is located out of Sacramento, California and they make all kinds of fun, personalized wood signs and ornaments. What really caught my eye were the Custom Wilderness Area ornaments and National Forest Ornaments.
I ordered a custom Wilderness Area ornament for the Eagle Cap Wilderness and the Superstition Wilderness AND a custom National Forest ornament for the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest and for the Tonto National Forest.
These ornaments represent two of my favorite backpacking trips I went on this year.
The first one being the Superstition Mountains, which I actually got to visit twice this year with women from my online backpacking program for women, The Confident Solo Female Backpacker System.
And the other trip being the Wallowas, which ended up being my all-time favorite backpacking trip I went on this year. If there was such a thing as a perfect backpacking trip, this one would be it for me. Everything from the views and the lakes to the weather, the fact that there were no bugs when we went and the ladies I got to be out on trail with. All of it.
Having these ornaments on my tree is incredibly special to me because each time I see them, I’m reminded about these amazing trips I went on this year.
Every hiker has a favorite trip that they’ve gone on and every hiker LOVES talking about their favorite trips.
If you have a hiker in your life who went on a memorable trip this year, gifting them one or even both of these custom ornaments would not only make for a special gift, but also probably inspire them to want to share a story or two from their trip.
These custom ornaments run about $15.00 each and can be found on the TrailBlazer Design Works Etsy store.
Holiday Gift Idea #2: Fuel Transfer Device
Okay, EVERY backpacker has probably got a few half empty isobutane fuel canisters lying around. I know I do!
If you’re looking for a practical, inexpensive gift to give to the backpacker in your life, consider giving them a FlipFuel Transfer Device.
Here’s how it works:
First, put the canister you want to fill in the freezer and then place the canister you want to empty in the sun. Wait 5 to 10 minutes. This allows the fuel canisters to create a temperature difference that will help with the fuel transfer.
Then, thread each of the canisters onto the FlipFuel device. The canister you want to fill should be on the top and the canister you want to empty should be on the bottom.
Once both canisters are attached, open the valve to start the fuel transfer. Once the fuel transfer is complete, close the valve and detach both of the canisters.
That’s it! A super easy way to consolidate partially empty fuel canisters.
For the empty canisters, you can check with your nearest mixed-metal recycler in your area. To see if you can drop them off
You can find the FlipFuel Transfer Devices online or at your local REI for $35.
Holiday Gift Idea #3: Custom Kula Cloth
Everybody pees. If the hiker or backpacker in your life squats when they pee, then they’ll probably love using a Kula Cloth, if they don’t already have one.
I know I personally have three of these and I love and use every single one of them!
A Kula Cloth is a reusable antimicrobial pee cloth and is a “Leave No Trace” toilet paper option for peeing. All you have to do is pee and use a Kula Cloth to pat dry and there’s no TP left behind.
On the Kula Cloth website, there’s an option to make your own custom Kula Cloth. For $35, you can upload your design or photo and have it printed on a Kula Cloth, making this a fun, unique and inexpensive gift.
For custom Kulas, you’ll need to allow 3 weeks for delivery so this one might not be a good option for a last-minute gift if you’re looking to get this one before the end of the month.
If you don’t want to do a custom Kula, you can also choose from a wide variety of designs on the Kula website for under $25 and get free shipping for orders $50 or more.
Holiday Gift Idea #4: Restaurant Gift Card
As a food motivated hiker, I’m always daydreaming about the first meal I’m going to have whenever I’m coming back from a trip, especially if I’ve been out on trail for multiple days.
If you’re having a hard time finding a gift for the hiker or backpacker in your life, find out what they’re favorite restaurant is or better yet, if they’re planning a big trip, find out what restaurants are in the area near their finishing trailhead and get them a gift card for a restaurant where they can enjoy a post-trip meal.
This makes for an easy, relatively inexpensive, fun and customized gift for any hiker or backpacker in your life.
Restaurant gift cards can be purchased almost anywhere, but you might have to do a little Googling if your hiker is planning on ending their trip in a smaller town and then purchase a gift card through the restaurant directly.
Everyone loves food and EVERY hiker always looks forward to their post-trip meal, making this a really fun gift to give.
Holiday Gift Idea #5: Donate to an Outdoor Non-Profit
Another great gift idea for the hiker or backpacker in your life is to make a donation to an outdoor non-profit organization in their name.
If your hiker is located in the Pacific Northwest, there are non-profit outdoor organizations like The Mountaineers, which focuses on outdoor recreation, education and conservation activities and Washington Trails Association, which helps anyone who loves the outdoors to explore, steward and champion trails and public lands.
If you’ve ever done any sort of research on any type of trail located in Washington State, chances are you’ve used WTA as part of your research.
If your hiker is planning on hiking any of the long-distance trails like the Pacific Crest Trail, Appalachian Trail or the Continental Divide Trail, consider making a donation in their name to any of the trail associations that support the trail they plan on hiking in 2025 like the Pacific Crest Trail Association, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy or the Continental Divide Trail Coalition.
There are so many different kinds of non-profit outdoor organizations that serve many different types of activities and populations. Find what’s near and dear to your hiker’s heart and consider making a donation in their name.
Holiday Gift Idea #6: A Pair of Darn Tough Socks
I know what you’re thinking. A pair of socks, seriously? Yes, socks!
A hiker can never have enough socks. Especially if they’re a good pair of quality socks made of merino wool. Trust me!
Sometimes the type of socks a hiker wears could be the difference between a great hike and a tough hike.
I personally love Darn Tough socks because they’re comfortable and come in a wide variety of sizes, styles, graphics and colors. I can’t have enough pairs of Darn Tough socks. My feet LOVE them!
During the warmer months I love hiking in the quarter cushion socks. During the winter, I opt for wearing the Micro Crew Cushion Socks. If I’m walking around town, I’ll wear a pair of Micro Crew Lightweight hiking socks.
A pair of Darn Tough socks will run anywhere from $17 to $35, depending on the style of sock.
While these aren’t the least inexpensive socks on the market (you do get what you pay for), each pair of Darn Toughs are backed by an unconditional lifetime guarantee. This means if you get a hole in your socks, Darn Tough will replace for socks for free, for life.
As a long-distance hiker who has hiked several 100, maybe even a few 1,000 miles at this point, I’ve had to utilize Darn Tough’s lifetime guarantee a few times and they’ve always taken really good care of me.
You can find Darn Tough socks online, at your local REI and at most outdoor outfitters or sports stores near you.
Holiday Gift Idea #7: Hot Sockee Neoprene Toe Covers
While we’re talking about footwear, I also want to mention one of my all-time favorite pieces of gear for winter hiking. These are the Hot Sockee Neoprene Toe Covers and you can find them on Amazon for $15.
I’m one of those hikers whose feet always gets cold during the winter, but ever since I started using Hot Sockees on my winter hikes, I haven’t had cold feet.
Here’s how they work:
Start by putting on your socks. Then, put your Hot Sockees on over your socks and then put on your hiking shoes. Boom! You’ll now have warm feet and toes, even in the coldest conditions!
These are super comfortable to wear over socks and inside a pair of hiking shoes. I typically size up my hiking shoes about a ½ size so even with wearing a thicker hiking sock, wearing the Hot Sockees don’t ever feel overly snug inside my hiking shoe. In fact, most of the time, I forget that they’re even on.
They’re machine washable, making these super easy to clean after any hike.
If you’re looking for an inexpensive, unique and practical gift for the hiker in your life who’s always complaining about having cold feet, get them a pair of Hot Sockees. They will love them. Trust me!
Holiday Gift Idea #8: Garmin inReach
Okay, out of all the gift ideas on this list, this one is probably going to be the most expensive, but if you have a solo hiker or backpacker in your life, this gift could be the most important.
As someone who does a fair amount of hiking solo, one piece of gear I never hike without is a satellite messenger. I use the Garmin inReach Mini 2, which is a small, compact, lightweight satellite messenger that sits right on my shoulder every time I go out in the backcountry.
A satellite messenger means your solo hiker will have two-way communication whenever they’re out of cell and WiFi service with anyone in their contact list on their phone and in the event of an emergency, also have two-way messaging with search and rescue.
The inReach Mini 2 has a tracking option that can be turned on to retrace a hiker’s steps if they get turned around.
This device also gives the hiker an opportunity to share their current location with friends and family at home by using the MapShare feature, as long as the hiker has set this up ahead of time and has given out the link before getting out on trail.
Having a satellite messenger like the Garmin inReach also gives the hiker a chance to check the current weather forecast for the area they’re hiking in, either through the device or on the pairing app, while they’re out on trail without cell or WiFi service.
If you’re someone who’s worried about your favorite hiker or backpacker who likes to travel out in the backcountry solo and want to support their passion to get out on trail alone, consider gifting them a Garmin inReach, not only for their peace of mind, but also for yours.
A Garmin inReach Mini 2 will run about $400 for the device and will require an active monthly subscription for the device to send and receive satellite messages, but there are multiple subscription plans available depending on your hiker’s planned monthly usage.
While this is by far the most expensive gift mentioned in this holiday gift guide, I feel like for the solo hiker or backpacker in your life, this one could be the most important.
Holiday Gift Idea #9: Annual Subscription to A Digital Navigation App
A fear a lot of hikers and backpackers have about going out in the backcountry, especially if they plan on going out there alone is the fear of getting lost while they’re out there.
Hopefully the hiker in your life is always using some sort of navigation system whenever they’re out on trail, whether it’s a paper map and compass or a digital navigation app.
If they aren’t OR maybe they’re still using the free version of a digital navigation app, consider gifting your hiker an annual subscription to a digital navigation app like onX Backcountry or Gaia GPS.
With the free version of Gaia GPS, hikers have limited access to map layers and don’t have the ability to download maps for offline use. This means if the hiker goes out of cell and WiFi service and is trying to use the free version of the app, they won’t have access to any of the details on their map, making their map virtually worthless while trying to navigate out on trail.
With onX Backcountry, the free version includes satellite, topo and hybrid maps and gives the hiker an option to save one offline map to use when navigating out on trail out of cell and WiFi service.
With an annual subscription of onX Backcountry, the hiker will not only get all of these features, but also guidebook-quality tips for each of the trails on the app and unlimited offline maps.
The annual Backcountry Premium subscription for onX Backcountry is $29.99 for the first year and $39.99 for each year after that.
CLICK HERE and use promo code HUNGRYHIKER to get either 20% off of the annual subscription OR start a free 14-day trial of Backcountry Elite.
An annual subscription for Gaia GPS is $59.90. Gaia also offers a free trial of Gaia GPS Premium if you want to check it out before committing to an annual membership.
If your hiker or backpacker is planning on doing a trip on a long-distance trail in 2025, consider gifting them a trail guide on the FarOut app.
With FarOut, I’m able to plan my long-distance hikes before ever stepping foot on the trail through using the maps, creating routes and having access to key waypoints along the trail for tentsites, water sources, trail landmarks and towns. There are also comprehensive town guides included with each trail guide making planning town days out on trail fairly easy.
Once a map is downloaded, hikers can access the map, waypoints and all of the user comments for each waypoints while they’re offline, directly on their phone.
Once out on trail, hikers can use FarOut for on-trail navigation and create routes for each day of their trip to find out exact distances between tentsites, water sources and towns.
I honestly won’t hike a long-distance trail without having the FarOut trail guide downloaded on my phone for that trail.
You can either purchase trail guides for long-distance trails individually or buy them in a bundle.
For example, if you have a hiker who’s getting ready to hike the PCT in 2025, you can either purchase the trail guide for the section of the PCT they plan on hiking for $9.99 OR if they’re planning on thru-hiking the entire trail, get them the trail guide bundle that includes all 5 sections of the trail for $39.99.
The nice thing about having a FarOut trail guide is once you download the app and purchase the trail guide, you have access to the guide, any of the routes you create within the app and all of the user comments for each of the waypoints on the trail guide forever.
You’ll just need to make sure that the app is always up to date each time before heading out on trail so that the most current user comments will show up in the app for you during your trip.
Holiday Gift Idea #10: America the Beautiful National Park Pass
For the hiker or backpacker in your life who plans on spending time in a national park or multiple national parks in 2025, an America the Beautiful national parks pass would make an awesome gift.
For $80, an America the Beautiful National Park Pass gives you unlimited access to any national park located in the United States as well any national forest land.
These passes are valid for 1 full year from the month of purchase and can be purchased online at USParkPass.com or can be purchased in-person at any national park entrance station or visitor center OR at a local REI.
Holiday Gift Idea #11: Guidebooks
And finally, another great gift idea for any hiker or backpacker in your life would be a guidebook for a specific area of where they plan on visiting in the upcoming year.
Guidebooks for specific trails and recreational areas are a great source of inspiration and can be a valuable trip planning tool for any hiker. They usually provide history of the area, beautiful photos, trip planning tips, suggestions for what gear to pack, detailed information about trails in the area, routes and suggested day and multiple day itineraries.
You can pretty much find a guidebook for any destination you want to go hiking or backpacking in.
I have multiple guidebooks for the various sections of the Pacific Crest Trail along with guidebooks for the Wonderland Trail in Mount Rainier National Park, the Superstition Mountains in Arizona, the Grand Canyon, the John Muir Trail in California, classic trails here in Montana and one of my all-time favorite guidebooks is a complete hiking guide for the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area located in Washington.
Guidebooks usually run under $25 and can be purchased through an online retailer like Amazon, The Mountaineers or even through an author’s website directly OR be purchased in-person at any local bookstore, a local outfitter or at REI.
Hopefully this has given you a few good ideas on gifts you can get for the hikers and backpackers in your life that they’ll love.
Is there something on your holiday wish list? If so, tell me in the comments below.
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