Best Gifts for Hikers, Backpackers, Outdoorsy People (2026)

Buying gifts for the outdoor enthusiast is damn near impossible. Your hiking/camping/cycling outdoorsy friends are often serious gearheads, meticulously poring over reviews, guides, and the perennial wisdom of ounce-counting Reddit users to find the exact right thing.

Don't stress trying to pick that exact right thing yourself. The chances of you figuring it out and getting it for them as a gift is exactly zero. That doesn't mean you should punt and buy an REI gift card—although they might like that, especially with REI's annual Labor Day sale coming up. But gift cards are lame. Instead, get them something they totally didn't expect: one of these fun, useful, sometimes whimsical things that are almost guaranteed to not only delight them but actually get used outdoors.