323 Best Backpacking Gear Is NOT In Stores... w/ Ben McMillen
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What is the episode’s opening focus and who is the guest?
Welcome to the backpacking podcast brought to you by Outdoor Vitals, makers of performance first ultralight gear. And with me always, my good friend, the red-headed backpacking Viking himself, Jeremiah Stringer, the King of Kentucky Backpacking. How you doing, buddy?
Hey dude, I'm doing fantastic. Here we are, bro. Well, uh, I guess a quick word from our title sponsor, Outdoor Vitals, makers of Performance First Ultralight Gear. Coming soon, the founders sale. I love the hat, John. Look and fly. Um, three things. Everything site wide is gonna be on sale this summer, coming soon with extra discounts, including things. That are already marked down. They're also going to give away free bonuses during the sale. And everybody that gets something is going to be entered into a giveaway, and you can earn additional entries with each dollar spent during the sale. You won't want to miss this. So we will link in the description if you want to be part of the early bird list to make sure you get all those discounts.
Click that link in the description. Check out outdoorvitals.com. And uh we are excited about their 12th. twelve years of business and having their twenty twenty six Summer Founders Day sale.
So come absolutely. Absolutely. Jeremiah, I'm sure everybody's wondering why is John holding a poop trowel and talking into a green microphone. Um, so yesterday we tried to go live. We gave it every effort we had to go live. And uh it just wasn't working, man. It didn't matter what we tried to do. It just wasn't happening. And uh then we found out that there was an internet guy here from ATT that was working on the line. And while he started working on the line, apparently our stopped working. And then we went to bed. It was working all through the night. Got up yesterday, was working in the morning. By evening, we couldn't get the internet back up. And so I've got a guy coming out tomorrow between eight and noon.
So that probably means he's gonna get here probably like three o'clock in the afternoon.
So uh yeah, if he's going on the same timeline that my repair guys for internet does.
Exactly. So I'm on the back porch and I'm uh Sitting out here enjoying the beautiful day. Thank the Lord that all the storms ended before we did this. And uh it's it's uh it's kind of fun. And just so people know, uh take a good look at this trial for a second. That's important to know because of who our guest is today.
Yeah, he's the first one in the chat with a yo Hilltop Packs here in just a second. We're gonna be bringing in Ben McMillan. And we also have some other lovely people in the chat. Uh back under exposure. Ask, is this uh round 17? Yes. Is Wednesday. Today's Friday, Wednesday. We uh we really tried to attack it, but here we are. I I'm kind of um still If there's anybody to be angry about on the comments, it's me. Hey Yens. Oh, if there's anyone to be angry about, it's ATT.
So Yeah. Cause this would have been done yesterday. We were ready. And we were together. That was the worst part, Jeremiah. You drove all the way up here. Just for the internet to go out.
Yeah, what can you do? That's okay though. Um, and I will say in the chat, David Cooper loves that you're holding the poop trail. Um, I tell you what, without further ado, we got a lot to talk about today. Let's go ahead and bring in today's guest, uh, a longtime Hall of Famer here, or maybe soon to be, Ben McMillan with Hilltop Packs. How's it going, man?
It's going pretty good. Yeah. I think the only person with more uh spots than me would be backpacking with Jason. I believe he's been on a gazillion times. This is my sixth time, I believe.
Wow, bro. Well you deserve every bit of it. I don't know about that, but thank you.
Well, you are you are one of our leading um one of our leading sneeze sponsors and and a and one of our leading fart sponsors as well. So uh we have to give you some love.
I think Chad of U G Q was the fart sponsor. I'll I locked in the the uh yeah, the sneeze and I think you got the farts, so
Yeah, that's okay. It's true. That's true. Uh thank you, by the way, for being Mr.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the episode’s opening focus and who is the guest?
0:02–8:11
2
How did the hosts explain the internet outage that delayed the live show?
8:11–15:51
3
Why does Ben say Hilltop Packs stands out among cottage‑industry brands?
15:51–23:01
4
What arguments does Ben make about buying American‑made gear versus overseas gear?
23:01–31:33
5
How did the conversation shift to Hilltop’s most popular but underrated product – the zipper pouch?
31:33–39:09
6
What is the story behind the hammock ridge‑line organizer and why is it a bestseller?
39:09–46:54
7
Why did the sleeping‑glove prototype fail and what lessons were learned?
46:54–55:24
8
How are tariffs, supply‑chain volatility, and the 2023‑2024 economy affecting small outdoor brands?
55:24–1:02:58
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The Backpacking Podcast
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