They’re a little quirky, a little unconventional, but hiking umbrellas have become a popular backpacking accessory in recent years. They’re especially handy on arid western trails, where hikers can walk miles in the burning sun with zero natural shade. An umbrella means you can make your own shade.

A hiker who died on Katahdin amid severe weather on September 14 has been tentatively identified as Bert Peter Goris, a 64-year-old Appalachian Trail thru-hiker from Colton, California. Goris was reportedly still alive when the first of two 911 calls came in about an incapacitated hiker on the