This is what I've been doing

Hiking up Laoshan（崂山), a sacred Taoist and later Buddhist mountain an hour east of Qingdao and the source of the spring water used to brew Tsingtao beer, starting from the east side of the Dahedong dam（大和冻水坝）to get to

Lao Huang's farmhouse（老黄农家), where we stayed the night, chatted about American versus European travelers, Arcteryx, and cheese, drank their delicious, homegrown, hand-roasted, high-mountain teas, and ate

this chicken, who suffered an unnecessarily prolonged death (to my city eyes), but at least was consumed entirely, and in the morning shared a breakfast of eggs from the coop, foraged greens, and rice and millet porridge (白米小米粥), sitting at a table overlooking

this view of the southern route and the Huang family's two very lucky dogs.

Time for a new pack?

The Bolinas, a sweet 30-liter daypack.

My boot came untied in the middle of scrambling over a boulder field. It was probably mile 25 of a 60-mile expedition and my right arm was already numb from the weight of the boulder strapped to my back. I went to plant a knee to get to my laces, but with the sudden shift in my center of gravity, I tipped to the left, causing my pack to slide widely to the left, and suddenly I was falling toward a wide crag, the bottom of which I couldn't see. Fortunately, my pack was bulky enough that it wedged itself between me and the abyss, and so I was able to unhitch myself from my 50-pound burden and crawl to safety. It was the one good thing that pack did for me on that trip.

Two lessons I took from this: Tie double knots. Go ultralight.

The fantastic folks at Boreas, a boutique outdoor gear design shop in San Francisco make gorgeous streamlined packs, which are comfortable to wear, built to last, and do just what their told. Their 60-liter Lost Coast and 55-liter Buttermilks packs are perfect for multi-day trips and heavier loads. Backpacker made them both their 2012 Editors' Choice picks.

Best of all, Boreas gave me a pro deal to share with all of you intrepid travelers. Just shoot me an email, and I'll send you a code, which gets you 55% off!