Maggie's Farm

I am not talking about either hiking/walking on well-built trails where sneakers are fine or, the other extreme, technical climbing. The great in-between is what we enjoy taking on. Rugged hikes with steeps and some scrambling requiring fitness and hands and knees at times.

Some people claim Tuckerman's to the top of Mt. Washington is a great example of that sort of thing. Most outdoor people in New England have taken it on at least once.

Hiking is an all-weather sport. Our favorite hiking gear:

Pants:  Prana and Montane
Medium-duty hiking boots: Meindl and Vasque
Light, layerable packable all-weather jackets: Many choices, but Patagonia way too expensive.
Daypacks: Osprey
Knee pads: Any cheap ones on Amazon. If you have bony knees, they are handy on rocks.
Hiking poles: Glorified walking-sticks. Not needed for well-build trails but handy for rough hill hiking and useless on rocks. In Euroland, everybody uses them. On our Dolomites hikes we could have used them on scree slopes - everybody else did and they would have spared Mrs. BD some knee damage on the steep downhills. Ordinary LL Bean poles are fine. When there is scrambling, just stick them on your daypack. Most daypacks have pole-holders.