They are supposed to do an existing brands search--which starts with the no-cost-to-the-user registered trademark search provided by the USPTO--before conscious

They are supposed to do an existing brands search--which starts with the no-cost-to-the-user registered trademark search provided by the USPTO--before consciously designing a defensible mark. That means no one in your category or nearby categories is already using it, and it isn't already a one-word generic term. A term like "backcountry outfitters" is more defensible together than either word alone, but still isn't very good, because it describes a lot of existing business. Selecting just "backcountry"--a dictionary word--as your whole trademark is pure madness. It's analogous to claiming "zymurgy" as your trademark and sending C&D letters to every micro-brewery in the US, ordering them to stop using the plain dictionary term for what they do when describing what they do. Examples of defensible trademarks would be "Goatsbeard Gear", "Spelunkatorium", "Voyageur's Choice", "Trailhead Traders", "Avalanchador", "Rockspider", "Backwild Country", "The Hinterlandery", "Boondock Swamp Charters". The point is generating a unique, distinct, memorable, and non-confusing term.