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Long admired as the go-to brand for durable, high-quality multitools in the outdoors, Leatherman has a new slate of knives that builds up their reputation by stripping things down. Its new premium fixed-blade and foldable knives are addition by subtraction—dedicated offerings for those who need the singular performance of a purpose-built outdoor knife.

The five knives in the collection include three fixed-blade knives—Rustle, Pioneer, and Trac—and two folding knives, the Glider and Blazer. All knives are fully customizable and made in the USA with MagnaCut® stainless steel to deliver durability, edge retention, and corrosion resistance. Each knife was created with a different type of outdoor enthusiast in mind.

Rustle: For the Camp Chef

If you’re more likely to count onions than ounces, the Rustle is the knife for you. Designed for early morning omelets and post-hike stir-fries, the Rustle’s thoughtful features make it perfect for outdoor cooking. The blade’s full bevel design with a slight curve toward the tip offers optimal slicing, especially when making thin cuts of meats and veggies. The santoku-inspired blade shape is also ideal for chopping, giving you everything you need to turn fireside chowdowns into five-star meals.
Weight: 4.3 oz
Width: 0.49 in
Blade length: 4 in
Total length: 8.3 in
Handle: G10 with blade jimping
Sheath material: Kydex

Shop Rustle

Pioneer: For the Survivalist

Building your own backcountry shelter requires a knife that’s totally reliable in the wilderness, and the Pioneer is an adventure partner that’s as tough as you. The blade’s heavy-duty, full-tang construction with a Japanese Tanto design offers trustworthy strength when cutting canvas, slicing through cording, or batoning wood. Field-ready features include an oversized lanyard hole to add a leash or cording and a handy notch on the jimping to strike a ferro rod when you need to get a fire going.
Weight: 8.3 oz
Width: .66 in
Blade length: 5 in
Total length: 10 in
Handle: G10 with blade jimping
Sheath material: Hybrid Kydex and full-grain American leather

Shop Pioneer

Trac: For the Always-Outdoors

Whether you’re waiting for deer, a bite on your line, to stumble upon some mushrooms, or just the next job around the ranch, the Trac will be ready when you are. From foraging to fishing to farming, the versatile and well-balanced Trac knife is a worthy outdoor partner from sunup to sundown. Its rugged, hollow-ground blade was designed for tough tasks that still require precision, like field-dressing game. Because when you’re outside all day, the work should be as easy and accurate as possible.
Weight: 6.4 oz
Width: 0.62 in
Blade length: 4.2 in
Total length: 8.93 in
Handle: G10 with blade jimping
Sheath materials: Full-grain American leather

Shop Trac

Glider and Blazer: For the Always Prepared

For you, “unprepared” may as well be a four-letter word. The Glider and Blazer folding knives are convenient enough to carry anywhere, reliable enough to always count on, and versatile enough for any task. Their supersleek design uses only 12 total components, resulting in fewer points of failure when you’re in the backcountry. A reversible, removable pocket clip makes them easy to carry anywhere and everywhere, and an attached lanyard with a built-in bit driver delivers extra versatility whether you’re setting up camp or setting up shop.
Weight: 3.7 oz
Width: 0.37 in
Blade length: 3.15 in (Blazer), 3 in (Glider)
Open length: 7.3 in
Closed length: 4.15 in (Blazer), 4.3 in (Glider)
Handle: Stainless steel with Cerakote® finish (except on Stainless Blazer model)

Shop Blazer
Shop Glider

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Founded in 1983 by Tim Leatherman, Oregon-based Leatherman Tool Group is the world’s largest manufacturer of high-quality multipurpose products with distribution in more than 86 countries. Built upon three principles—unwavering perseverance, ingenious design, and the ability to save the day—Leatherman has empowered people around the world to solve problems, big and small. Proudly based and manufactured in Portland, Oregon, the brand’s factory is located in the same building as the company headquarters. For more information, visit Leatherman.com.

Day 95- 15 Miles today from The Lookout to Thistle Hill Shelter, 3,700 Feet Up, 4,400 Feet down, AT Mile Marker 1742 (MM)

The Lookout

It was cold this morning. It felt good in my sleeping bag and I didn’t want to get out in the cold yet. So I put on my puffy and merino wool tights I’ve been carrying but have not worn in months. I don’t have much beyond that for warmer clothing. I’ve only got 15 miles and 3,700 feet elevation today.

The Lookout was a rustic cabin with a fireplace and windows. It had a loft area also. There was a ladder with a widow’s walk on top of the roof. From the widow’s walk you could see spectacular views. It is so nice that this private ownership allows us to use this shelter.

There were two other people in the Lookout last night. The wind was blowing hard up on top of this ridge.

Meralgia Paresthetica

Meralgia Paresthetica Is what I had according to my Google research. My thigh was numb. Compression of the lfcn nerve can cause this condition. Yesterday it was very numb and it was painful.

After doing my research I decided yesterday I would keep my hip belt loose. It was hard on my shoulders especially with the heavy weight of the food resupply and then the heavy carry of water. But I wanted to see if the belt was causing the numbness. Today the numbness was minimal .

Cool Morning

I took off about 7 am this morning and the other two ladies were still up in the loft. It was a rather cool morning almost cold. I haven’t felt cold like this since probably Tennessee. It’s actually feels good to get moving. I’m looking forward to warming up on the first climb.

So far it’s a partly cloudy day almost looks like some dark clouds that might drop a little bit of rain but it’s not supposed to.

The woods yesterday evening were dark and eerie. This morning the woods are dark again. The sun has not yet shown its rays in the forest.

 

Challenging Day

Yesterday was an extremely challenging day not as challenging as the miserable day I had about a week ago but a still a challenge. First of all I had to leave the comfort of a hostel, in a nice comfortable bed, in a cool little town with a brewery two doors away.

I started off day yesterday with two bee stings. And then I had an extremely heavy backpack and I pushed long miles and a lot of elevation. My backpack was full of food from my resupply. And then on the final climb yesterday I had to add 6 lb of water to carry me through the last night and a good bit of today until the next water source.

But today is a new day. Just like life right? One day maybe the shittiest day you had in a long time. A day where everything seems hard and seems to go wrong. And then everything changes as it always does, nothing is permanent. Even bad times.

I know but there will be tough times like there always have been in life similar to the trail. But you plow through these tough times and good times prevail again. That is one trail lesson I hope I can take with me off the trail.

Look Around

The trail was really easy so far today. Just one small climb but a lot of very easy grades with not too many obstacles. After coming out on a dirt road the trail wound parallel to an old rock wall. That always makes me smile

Today so far it’s like a fall day and if I stop moving I actually get kind of cold. I just noticed no gnats and flies buzzing my head. It’s amazing that I didn’t even think about this until just now.

With the gnats I have to always look down to keep them from diving into my eyes. But today so far there are no gnats. I can take the time to look up and look around more.

Tree Falls In the Woods

I just dropped into another pine forest with huge pine trees. The trail was fairly level and covered in pine needles. It was like a soft feather bed under my feet.

Looking up I noticed the ruins of some old structure. It didn’t look like a house but it looked more like the ruins of a mill of some type.

Hiking on I heard a creaking noise up above as if a large limb was about to break loose. I scanned above and couldn’t tell exactly what it was but I hurried beyond it. A very short time later I heard a crash in the woods behind me.

It felt like a very special magical morning as the sun came out fully. It feels nice and warm for once rather than hot and scorching. It has been many months since I stopped and basked in the sun simply to absorb the heat of the sun rays on my body.

Never Quit on a Bad Day

Yesterday when I was talking with two ladies I was sharing the Lookout with we talked about the trail and how some people have quit. I tried to explain to them that after all the excitement of the first part of the trail and then the more recent drudgery of bugs, heat, rain and green tunnel kinda sapped the fun out of the hike.

She asked me what keeps me going. I said I really want to see this through. I also told her never quit on a bad day. Today it’s definitely a good day so far.

Farm Stand

In about 3 hours I had already hiked 6 miles. I was getting hungry. Coming up ahead is a small road walk and supposedly goes to a farm stand.

The trail came down a steep ridge and then popped out of the woods into a farm field. The rolling green hills reminded me of sections of Northern Virginia.

On the Edge Farm stand was not too far of a road walk. Inside they had all kinds of wonderful treats. I got a yogurt, banana, a ham and swiss sandwich, and an orange cranberry muffin. It was so good I had to go back and get an apple tart an 8 oz block of cheese. It was a wonderful stop. Along the way I passed by an old barn and farmhouse that was right on the road.

Old Tree

Coming from the road the trail did a steep one mile climb up to the top of Dana hill. About halfway up the first climb was what looked to be the top of the old Volkswagen van. I have no idea how that would have gotten up here unless somebody pushed it off from the top.

The trail dropped down to another road and then once again made a climb up and over another mountain with some open fields. When I entered back into the woods there were huge trees and one tree that was probably 300 years old . That tree had sprouted a bunch of baby trees around its base. I guess if the mother tree was to die then the little stump sprouts would take over. That’s immortality

The trail today has been up and then down and then through a jungle for quite a while now. It’s pretty steep climbs up to the top of a hill and then dropping down off that hill, opening into a farm field. Many times can hardly see the trail it’s such a jungle. Only to cross a road and repeat the process.

Old Road

The Meadows while they were overgrown were quite beautiful. Lots of flowers, lots of interesting plants, and the wind was blowing the tall grasses around like waves on a small lake.

The trail then climbed up another pud this time with a nice bench and a view. Immediately after that was two parallel rock walls obviously an old road at one time

The trail travel down this road. Before entering back into the woods and on to the shelter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This morning I was up nice and early. My plan is to go as far as I can today, making tomorrow a nice short day into South lake Tahoe. The average for the last few days will work out to be the same. So I figure I might as well get into Tahoe as early as possible so I can really enjoy myself and take advantage of town.

I got moving right around 5:30 AM and spent the morning walking past a good number of tents. I put my audiobook on right away because it was just so dang good. I wound up listening to it over the course of the whole morning until eventually finishing it. The story was really interesting and I think Bikepacking has a lot of parallels with thru hiking. One of the more interesting components of the story is the fact that the author Jedidiah had actually absolutely no experience bike packing or outdoors really. He just heard someone else’s story about their adventure and thought it would be really cool.

The trail this morning was nice and easy with only some shorter climbs to do. Within the first few hours of the day I ran into a hiker who I had met back in the desert section. He recognized me right away and was sitting down for a break. But he popped up pretty quick so that he could walk with me and talk with me for a while. We wound up making our way up the entire next climb together. Which was maybe 1000 feet or so. But it felt like it went by ridiculously fast.

Then when we got up top and he got some service. And shockingly I did not. I have a carrier which utilizes T-Mobile, which apparently is the least effective cell service plan in the sierra. So I just continued along and put my audiobook back on. And for a while after that, the trail just curved down and around switchback and was nice and easy.

Within the next hour or so I heard a loud noise off in the woods. And turned my head just in time to see a huge bear running off into the forest. Clearly it saw me well before I saw it. This is a perfect example as to why I’m not scared of bears in the wilderness. They are much more scared of you than you are of them. The rare exceptions to this rule typically revolves around getting too close to their cubs.

Around 11 AM I went past a trail junction right before a road. I noticed a sign hung up on a tree indicating there was a big trail magic set up about a quarter mile off the trail. At first I started walking down the side trail. There must’ve not been a big parking lot up at the road so the people had to set up down a spur trail. But as I started walking down the trail, it just kept going down and down. After a very short distance, I turned around and went back to the PCT. I just knew this was going to eat into the day and I really couldn’t afford it.

 

Even though I had been fantasizing about trail magic and the idea was everything I wanted and more, I had to keep my priorities straight. It would add a half mile at least just to go there and back to the trail. And I knew I would probably wind up sitting there for a while eating. And often times it can be a little hard to slip in and out of trail magic quickly. Just because there’s always so many nice people there and you wind up chatting with people. And in this moment, I truly felt the weight of the calendar year triple crown for the first time.

I don’t think there’s a more hardo move than turning down trail magic because it was going to take time away from your day. It’s certainly something I never would do on an ordinary thru hike. But today it felt like the responsible decision. I have so many more miles to go for the day. And I really want to get into South lake Tahoe as early as I can tomorrow. Those slightly shorter days are really one of the big things keeping me going. They help to keep me motivated to do big miles, and also provide me a little bit of mental rest and relaxation intermittently.

As I walked away from the trail magic, I was hoping that maybe they would be set up at the road up ahead. But of course they weren’t, as the sign had indicated. And over the next mile, I felt pretty dang sad. I had purposely turned my back to something that I wanted more than anything. And it almost felt like I had to do it because of my greater goal. Which is all very reasonable and in line with my mission. But it didn’t make it sting any less.

Not long after that, I did stop off briefly to pull some snacks out to satiate myself. And while I was stopped just off the trail a couple hikers walked by me and didn’t even see me. I thought that that was pretty funny. Then I wound up catching up to them soon after and passing by them. After going by those guys, I wound up catching up to a few other hikers as well. There’s a trend that’s been happening a lot recently when I start catching up to people. Which is only something I’ve noticed going through the bubble on the PCT. Sometimes another hiker will see or feel you approaching and will suddenly pick up their pace. I like to walk in about 3–3.5 mph and that’s the type of consistent pace that I could do nonstop all day long. Some days I quite literally will walk for 30 miles or more and I will never sit down once. I’ll only stop to pee or grab some water.

At times hikers will see me coming up behind them and they’ll speed their natural pace up so that I don’t pass them. They’ll wind up flying ahead going 4 miles an hour at a pace they can’t maintain. I always play a little game in my head wondering how long will it take for me to catch them? Sometimes it only takes 5 or 10 minutes. Other times it might take an hour or so, depending on their endurance. But today I ended up catching up to the people in front of me pretty quickly. And I never saw them again.

The day went by pretty fast and the views were beautiful. I had a couple rolling hills to go up and over. Up top the views were wide open and exposed. Then toward the end of the day, I had to go up one fairly long climb. I remembered this one from 2022 and knew it would be pretty rocky up toward the top.

Time had gone by so quickly that it was looking like I’d be able to go at least 36 miles for the day. And would probably be getting to my campsite actually quite early. That should be nice! Then I would get a great night sleep and be up bright and early tomorrow to make my way towards South Lake Tahoe.

This last climb of the day was definitely a bit more tiring than I thought it was going to be. It just kept going and going well past what I had expected. But I got gorgeous views of a lake down in the distance. And I knew I would eventually be dropping down to that lake to set up camp for the night. The funny thing is, I actually camped at this exact same spot in 2022. Except I didn’t walk all the way down to the lake and instead just camped closer to the trail. This time around though I actually need water so I’ll be going down to the tent site by the lake. 

Eventually, I got up to the top of the climb and then it was only a half mile or so down toward the tenting area. There are some dirt roads at the trail intersection and a bit of a parking area. Though it doesn’t seem like the type of place that would get a ton of traffic. When I arrived at the camp spot, there were a few tents set up which put my mind at ease. I don’t love camping near roads by myself. Especially after my experience on the Appalachian Trail as I was making my way to the Canadian border. If you don’t recall, or didn’t read that story, I tented in a day used area just off the road. And in the middle of the night, a vehicle drove up and people approached my tent. They didn’t do anything though and I decided to stay quiet and just shine my light back at them. I didn’t want to give away the fact that I was a woman in the woods by myself.

But now I wouldn’t have to be alone at this parking lot for the night. I got my tent set up and got everything situated. Then grabbed some water from the beautiful lake and was able to rinse off my hands a bit. The other few hikers who I joined for the night were sitting off to the side by a campfire. There’s just something about that that always makes me a little envious. To think that they arrived a few hours earlier and had so much time in the day that they were able to make a fire, sit out, and eat dinner together. Whereas I arrived late, got straight into my tent, ate dinner, and went to bed.

Tomorrow morning I’ll have about 6 miles to get to Carson pass. Which actually has an information center that opens at 8 AM, right around the time I will arrive. And apparently the people who work at the information center do trail magic for hikers every single day. So I should be able to get a snack or a soda. Then past there I’ll have about 14 miles to get to the highway and hitch a ride into South lake Tahoe. So it should only be a 21 mile day and I will hopefully be in town ridiculously early. I’m excited for a nice little half-day and a bit of rest.

If you enjoyed this blog and would like to support my hike by buying me a soda or a snack along the way, there is a “Tip the Author” button below! It links directly to my Venmo. Any and all support is incredibly appreciated!

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