What We Saw at Appalachian Trail Days Festival 2026
From backpacks and tents to cozy fleece pullovers and camp socks—ultralight brands debuted new backpacking gear on the Appalachian Trail
This was Treeline Review's first time at Appalachian Trail Days (AT Days), a three-day festival in Damascus, Virginia celebrating all things related to the Appalachian Trail.
By the time Northbound Appalachian Trail thru-hikers arrive in Damascus, they have already hiked just over 700 miles. And many of them are ready to upgrade their gear and enjoy some well deserved town time. We met with current AT hikers and handed out Treeline Review stickers while chatting about gear and the trail. We loved getting to hear about what gear was working and what was getting upgraded at AT Days.
The Trail Days festival features many ultralight and lightweight backpacking brands showcasing tons of new and popular gear. Current and future thru-hikers can get kitted out with fresh gear so they can plan or continue their hikes in style. It's also a place where ultralight brands debut their latest innovations and upcoming products.
Trail Days isn’t just for current hikers, it is a reunion where friends gather to talk about trails and gear, as well as past, present, and future hiking adventures. The highlight of the weekend is the hiker parade where current and past thru-hikers line up by year and march down the street while getting sprayed with water from locals. For the current hiking class, this might be their only shower in town.
As Treeline Review's on-the-ground person in Damascus, Virginia these are some of the new and new-to-me things I saw at Trail Days this year.
Related: Elliot’s Favorite Gear from the AT and Sam’s Favorite Gear from the AT
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Backpacks, Tents, and Sleeping Systems
New gear from Symbiosis Gear
Symbiosis Gear is a woman-owned and women-founded backpacking brand making packs specifically for hikers with boobs. Symbiosis Gear is well known for their Aspen backpack, featured in our Best Women's Hiking and Backpacking Backpacks guide, but this year they showcased the Huckleberry—a versatile piece of gear that can be worn as a fanny pack, crossbody bag, or attached to an Aspen (or other comparable waist belt) and as a hip belt pocket. The Huckleberry is unisex so it works for anyone who is looking for a versatile hip pack.
I met with the founder, Sarah (“Mellow”), and learned that she is also launching a dayhiking backpack within the next year, which will be great for fastpacking or shorter day hikes. This daypack will still feature her boob-friendly straps and adjustable sternum strap for maximum adjustability and comfort.
Appalachian Trail days parade and mural in 2026.
I was able to see the prototype of the daypack (called the Willow) and I am excited to see how it works for travel, dayhiking, and even working (it has a pocket). Symbiosis is also planning a much requested Sycamore pack in the future, which will be a framed pack for those who need a little more room and have longer food and water carries on trails.
Sarah also had beautiful, custom, hand-embroidered designs available for hikers at Trail Days. My favorite was the Hiker Hunger edition, which featured a hand-embroidered pizza and burger on the mesh back and surely is a one of a kind piece. I am excited to see where Symbiosis goes in the future.
New gear from Gossamer Gear
Gossamer Gear showcased a sneak peek of their new tent series at AT Trail Days. They aren’t available on the website yet but should be launching June/July 2026. The brand new Gossamer Gear The One, The Two, and The Free ultralight tents were set up and displayed on the lawn.
I personally got to sleep a night in each of these new tents and I can say that I am really excited to get an opportunity to test them more long term. One of the nights when I was testing the new The Two tent was a stormy rainy night and I was dry and cozy inside. The new tents are made with a ClearSkies fabric, which is 15D recycled nylon with a 20D dope-dyed ripstop grid, making it 35% stronger in tensile strength and 2.35 times more water resistant than previous models.
The One shelter is a trekking pole tent with a single vent on top and fits the widest backpacking sleeping pad with lots of room for extra gear. The Two is similar, but has two vents on top and allows for two wide pads to fit side-by-side inside,making it perfect for two hikers to share and cut down on weight (or for a solo hiker who likes extra room).
Both The One and The Two tents feature a new guyline system with a continuous guyline that keeps the bathtub floor from getting stretched out so users can get a perfect pitch and still have a fully functioning bathtub floor. The Free is a double-walled, fully freestanding tent for one person and can be pitched in areas without needing any stakes. I overheard many hikers asking about pricing and availability on these, so it looks like they will be popular.
In addition to the new tents, Gossamer Gear also had a super sneak peek of the new Mirage40 with ALUULA Graflyte V52 fabric, which weighs less than 20 oz. Gossamer Gear is claiming this will be the lightest 40L pack on the market. ALUULA is becoming more popular in the UL backpacking space, and it will be exciting to see what other packs utilize this UL material in the future.
New gear from Osprey
One of the big debut items at Trail Days was the brand new backpack from Osprey. The ThrULite Pro Series pack comes in 40L and 55L size options and weighs in around 1.5 and 1.7 pounds respectively. It is the first roll-top Osprey backpacking backpack and features a simple design with a removable lid. The ThrULite is made with a new Nanofly fabric, similar to Dyneema.
Met in person with Virginia Foothill Designs
There were so many cottage makers at the event this year. A great example is Scott Burrill of Virginia Foothill Designs, who was hard to miss with a plethora of bright vibrant backpacks and fanny packs walking around Trail Days. Scott makes custom packs to order with fabric printed by Ripstop by-the-roll in a few different sizes, and has a unique 25-liter pack on Garage Grown Gear that can be used by ultralight backpackers, fastpackers, and dayhikers alike.
I loved all the pockets and small details that were added to these packs. It is always nice to meet a maker in person and share a conversation about gear and design, and if you are looking for something custom or unique I recommend checking out Virginia Foothill Designs.
Met in person with Jacks R Better
Jacks R Better is a brand that has been around for decades and are best known for hammock camping quilts and accessories. The thing that caught my eye this year was an Alpha-fleece sleeping bag liner. They had Alpha 90 and Alpha 120 liners, which weighed 8 oz and 12 oz, respectively. It’s about time that someone started making liners out of this fabric, as it’s lightweight and compressible and makes sense to increase warmth in a quilt.
They also had heavier-weight fleece blanket and grid liners that were more suited for car camping or home use—also super cozy- and warm-looking. At 17oz each, they are on the heavier side for thru-hikers, though.
Footwear and Accessories
Met with Deliberate Life
I met with Deliberate Life sandals and learned all about their custom sandal-making process, which is quite labor intensive. Deliberate Life sandals are made to order with lots of options for foot shape and color choices. It was fascinating to see them made in real-time at the festival.
Deliberate Life offers a standard, wide, narrow, mountain and slope foot shape so everyone should be able to get a great fitting pair of sandals. They have everything from lightweight camp sandals at 5.4 ounces per pair, up to Enigma sandals that are designed for hiking and backpacking weighing in at around a pound. The color choices seem endless too, with multiple options for outsole, midsole, footbed, and webbing.
Deliberate Life sandals from Appalachian Trail Days.
Stick Stashers from Spuds Adventure Gear
I had the pleasure of meeting with Spud who makes “Stick Stashers” for hikers looking for a way to quickly stow their trekking poles during a hike. The Stick Stashers work with a magnet and clip system. You have magnets that attach to your poles and a magnet and clip that attach to your pack so you can quickly clip and “stick” your poles during your hike, and then grab them again when you need them.
After hiking the Dragons Tooth section of the AT, I can see how these Stick Stashers are a valuable piece of gear. I found myself constantly needing to use my poles and then needing both hands free for scrambling up rocks. If I had met Spud a week earlier, I would have been a happier hiker during that section of trail.
I think these stashers will come in handy beyond the AT/PCT; for example, it’s hard to snack while holding poles and often cumbersome to take nice photos while holding poles as well. I find myself passing up opportunities to take the photos I want, or eat as often as I need, because I don’t want to take my pack off and properly stow my poles and get them back out again. Sometimes these simple products solve a problem that you didn’t even realize you had, and make all the difference in the way you are able to hike. The same idea can be applied for using an umbrella on trail: the Stick Stashers would make it easier to deploy an umbrella, and other gear in endless situations.
Vargo Outdoors has new trekking poles
Vargo debuted new trekking poles, which feature titanium in the bottom segment of the pole (where most poles fail and break). These new poles weigh 8.4 oz for the pair, making them light for most hikers. They have plans to come out with more trekking pole models in the near future; this was the first of three that they have planned.
Learn more about our favorite trekking poles in our Best Trekking Poles guide.
Apparel
Wool-based Alpha from FarPointe Outdoor Gear
FarPointe Outdoor Gear was a favorite of mine from PCT Days 2025, and I was excited to see them again at AT Trail Days 2026. In addition to the dip-dyed Alpha fleece, which were popular at PCT Days last summer, FarPointe had a new Technowool Cruiser hoody—a wool-based, Alpha-style fabric that is 40% merino wool, making it less stinky and more temperature regulating for hikers on trail.
The Technowool Hoodies come in three different weights: 60gsm, 90gsm and 120gsm. These sold out while I was checking out all the gear, so they are certainly proving to be popular with hikers looking for a more natural option for Alpha fleece. These fleeces are lightweight at 4.4 ounces (for a medium in the 60 gsm). Wool also retains heat when wet, which AT hikers seemed really excited about.
In addition to their Technowool, FarPointe also had sun hoodies, hats, and fleece socks for sale. The fleece socks sold out so fast I didn’t get to snag a pair for myself but they looked like the perfect lightweight camp socks.
New Alpha Fleece from SamBob
SamBob was at Trail Days with a rapidly shrinking collection of brightly colored Alpha fleece and grid fleece on display. It was very cold the first day of the festival and it was hard to get a peek at all the hoodies and Alpha pants on display.
I had a moment to talk with SamBob in person and learned that they are launching new Alpha fleece—mock-neck quarter-zip pullovers—in the near future, which have been requested by a lot of hikers and skiers looking for a hoodless option.
Check out our favorite fleece jackets in our Best Fleece Jackets guide.
New Trail Days design by Jolly Gear
Jolly Gear was also packed with shoppers and selling lots of signature Triple Crown Button Down Shirts to hikers. Jolly debuted a new design at Trail Days by Heidi Nisbett, who joined Treeline Review in our How to Nature Journal guide, which benefits the ATC by donating 15% of all sales of this design.
Jolly Gear also shared their new Triple Crown Button Down Short Sleeve with removable hood and sleeves, for hikers looking for a more modular option on trail. In addition to the button-up shirt options, Jolly Gear is soon going to have an ultralight, short-sleeve pullover option that can be worn in town for laundry day or as a sleep shirt. It will be made of a quick-dry fabric so it can be hand washed and dried quickly to wear in town while doing laundry and other town tasks.
The Jolly Gear Triple Crown Button Down Sun Dress won best for thru-hiking in our Best Hiking Skirts and Dresses guide.
Takeaways from Trail Days
We saw plenty more as AT Trail Days,—like lots of authors on the scene with books telling stories from the trail. Trail Days is a great place to meet your favorite trail personality or storyteller and snap a selfie. (We met with Derek Lugo to buy a signed copy of his newest book about the CDT called A Fabulous Thru-Hike and can’t wait to dig into it.)
We talked with Polarsteps, which is a free journaling app that can turn your thru-hike into a book for purchase at the end of your adventure. We liked this idea as a way to keep track of the days and details all in one place, with the no pressure option to buy a printed copy at the conclusion of your hike.
Many Instagram influencers were on the scene, notably “Coach” from Marion Outdoors who owns a gear shop on the AT and runs a hiker hostel as well. It was fun to watch people meet him and chat about gear.
Artist booth at Appalachian Trail Days 2026.
In addition to all the new gear, there was an entire area just for artists with handmade trail-related items. We got to meet some of our favorite artists like Abstract Hikes, Sketching Summits and Wandering Arts and Crafts. They each had stickers, prints, and cards for sale with their fun, bright art on them. We picked up a few stickers and cards to add to our personal stash a reminder of this year’s Trail Days and more trail adventures to come. We can’t wait for next year’s AT Days and in the meantime we are excited about getting out on trail and trying out some new gear.
