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 chance 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 various sales throughout the year. 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.

And what about you? While you’re here, don’t you need to replace your sleeping pad? Don’t forget to check out the rest of our buying guides, including our Best Sleeping Bags guide, our Best Barefoot Shoes guide, and our Best Merino Wool guide.

Updated November 2026: I’ve added some nice pants, a fire-starting kit, a Nalgene pressurizer kit, and some cast iron pans for cooking over an open flame. But I’m sticking with the socks as our top pick. If you get nothing else, just get the socks. Trust me.

Chances are, unless your giftee is an outdoor newcomer (in which case, by all means, buy them some gear), they may well have everything they need. Rather than buying something that just increases their environmental footprint and adds to the stuff in their closet, consider making a donation in their name.

You might want to ask them if they have a favorite environmental organization (this is much less awkward to work into a conversation than asking what their favorite handlebar rack is for gravel rides), but if not, check your local outdoor shop for regional groups. These are often your best bet for turning money into action, and they often need the money more. If nothing quite fits the bill, I’ll plug my two favorite groups, the Nature Conservancy and Surfrider, both of which do good work protecting land and water around the world.

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