Saturday, September 19, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
September...still counts right?
What a not so great Backpacking season I have had this year...but Im trying to at least finish strong with TWO big trips planned this month.
1st - A 6 night loop just east of Silverton, CO in the Weminuche Wilderness This is especially exciting because it is the first backpacking trip ever with Blue, my adorable 10 month old black lab. He has no idea what fun lays ahead!
2nd - A 2 night private guided "mountaineering school" on the glacier fields of Mt. Baker in the Cascade mountains of Washington. This is in preparation for our July climb of Mt. Rainier.
Preparing for these two trips has led me as usual to REI for some new gear :)My favorite thing to do besides dehydrate meals for backpacking is buy gear for backpacking...also, I had to research dog food for backpacking.
Blue will be munching on the following:
The Honest Kitchen "Force" dehydrated dog food
Stella & Chewy's Duck Duck Goose Steaks (recommended as basically Clif Bars for dogs)
Dogswell Happy Hips Dried Chicken Breast with glucosamine
More later...Im off to REI.
1st - A 6 night loop just east of Silverton, CO in the Weminuche Wilderness This is especially exciting because it is the first backpacking trip ever with Blue, my adorable 10 month old black lab. He has no idea what fun lays ahead!
2nd - A 2 night private guided "mountaineering school" on the glacier fields of Mt. Baker in the Cascade mountains of Washington. This is in preparation for our July climb of Mt. Rainier.
Preparing for these two trips has led me as usual to REI for some new gear :)My favorite thing to do besides dehydrate meals for backpacking is buy gear for backpacking...also, I had to research dog food for backpacking.
Blue will be munching on the following:
The Honest Kitchen "Force" dehydrated dog food
Stella & Chewy's Duck Duck Goose Steaks (recommended as basically Clif Bars for dogs)
Dogswell Happy Hips Dried Chicken Breast with glucosamine
More later...Im off to REI.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
On second thought
Hmmmm....this is why gear shopping is so fun. Oh, the reviews you can read! Well, my Mountain Hardware hook up may not be worth it in the end seeing as how all the tent reviews seem to be quite negative. The 2 person tents are all quite small and review as large solo tents. Although I plan on quite alot of solo backpacking this season, I must think of little (soon to be big) Blue and potential backpacking partners in my tent selection. So the Mountain Hardware Helion is out.
Now my first pick is the Big Agnes Copper Spur Ultralight 2 person tent. Great reviews from both REI shoppers and Backpacker Magazine Gear Reviewers. It has a big price tag but with my REI dividend (just received last night!) and their 20% discount it might be do-able. OH I LOVE GEAR!
Now my first pick is the Big Agnes Copper Spur Ultralight 2 person tent. Great reviews from both REI shoppers and Backpacker Magazine Gear Reviewers. It has a big price tag but with my REI dividend (just received last night!) and their 20% discount it might be do-able. OH I LOVE GEAR!
Outdoor Camp
Shopping for tents this morning and came across a neato link to share. 
Click on the link below and Mountain Hardware will donate money to send a kid to awesome outdoor camps in the US: SEND A KID TO CAMP
I went to a month long outdoor camp in California when I was 13 (the summer between 7th and 8th grade) that was so fun I still remember it pretty vividly.
We did a multiday backpack through Yosemite, hung out in San Francisco for a day, climbed Mt. Shasta, and whitewater rafted the Klamath. As a snotty pre-teener I was initially resistant to missing out on half my summer but ended up loving it of course.
I am gearing up (literally) for the backpacking season which in New Mexico is pretty much already upon me. It is warm and sunny and little snow is left even at the ski areas. Sucks for ski season but backpacking is quite fun and this year Blue gets to come with me!!! YAY!
Right now I am checking out Mountain Hardware brand because a friend can hook me up with up to half off maybe...you cant say thats a bad deal!
The Helion 2 is appealing in its weight (under 3.5 lbs) but from a safety perspective its color blends quite easily...if all they are able to find is my tent, I want them to be able to find my tent. Ya know? I suppose I could always just decorate it with neon tape on the rain fly. Anybody out there have a comment?
Click on the link below and Mountain Hardware will donate money to send a kid to awesome outdoor camps in the US: SEND A KID TO CAMP
I went to a month long outdoor camp in California when I was 13 (the summer between 7th and 8th grade) that was so fun I still remember it pretty vividly.
We did a multiday backpack through Yosemite, hung out in San Francisco for a day, climbed Mt. Shasta, and whitewater rafted the Klamath. As a snotty pre-teener I was initially resistant to missing out on half my summer but ended up loving it of course. I am gearing up (literally) for the backpacking season which in New Mexico is pretty much already upon me. It is warm and sunny and little snow is left even at the ski areas. Sucks for ski season but backpacking is quite fun and this year Blue gets to come with me!!! YAY!
Right now I am checking out Mountain Hardware brand because a friend can hook me up with up to half off maybe...you cant say thats a bad deal!
The Helion 2 is appealing in its weight (under 3.5 lbs) but from a safety perspective its color blends quite easily...if all they are able to find is my tent, I want them to be able to find my tent. Ya know? I suppose I could always just decorate it with neon tape on the rain fly. Anybody out there have a comment?
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Gear Review
A recent trip to REI was quite fruitful and therefore deserves a gear blogreview.
Item 1: MSR Pocket Rocket Stove
Item 2: Justin's Peanut Butter
Item 3: Sea to Summit X Bowl
Item 1: MSR Pocket Rocket StoveWhy I bought it: Lightweight and small, canister fueled (no messy liquid fuel), relatively good pot/stove stability, allegedly boils 1L water in under four minutes...this provides some sanity when STARVING and waiting for water to boil. Comes with nice hard plastic holder (see pic)
Review: The first use was in safe car camping conditions in case of any glichyness, but I had no problems, the set up is a snap...three prongs basically just pivot out a few centimeters for increased pot stability. The flame adjustment knob is big and friendly for those with fear of fire, or those with cold/gloved hands. No self ignition worried me a little but was not a problem, I stocked up on waterproof matches.
Overall impression: Great lightweight stove for reasonable price, highly recommendable.
Item 2: Justin's Peanut Butter
Why I bought it: I love natural peanut butter (not crazy about the commercial crap) but find it difficult to transport outside of a PB&J sandwich for backpacking adventures.
Review: Yummy. I have had a very hard time locating the plain peanut butter so this review is based on my sampling of the honey almond butter which was surprisingly delicious on crackers.
Overall impression: Delicious idea that needs to be stocked at more stores. Highly recommended to all (unless allergic).
Item 3: Sea to Summit X Bowl
Why I bought it: I needed something to eat out of while camping. This particular bowl appealed to me because it is lightweight, compactable (it crunkles down to flat), and multi-purpose (the base doubles as a cutting board).
Review: Surprisingly fantastic bowl. The sturdy base provided more support and heat insulation to my hand than the squishy bowl I previously had. The rubberwhatever material did not hold onto food residue like the squishy bowl had a tendency to do.
Overall impression: Excellent bowl for backpacking but maybe more features than needed for car campers.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Day 8
Woke up at 630am, packed up and got to the road. Pretty uneventful hike out to the road, we took the social trail on the east side of the river as we did on the way in. We had to bushwhack a little bit but found the old jeep trail by the river that runs .25 miles to the road. 
Made such good time that we had some waiting...so we got out the cards and played Rummy on the side of the road. Who would have guessed we looked like such a spectacle, the tourist buses which flew by all morning occasionally stopped in front of us so the tourists could take pictures of us. I can just see the caption in their photo album "Real Live Backpackers playing Cards". Hilarious.
The 1st camper bus of the morning picked us up coming from Wonder Lake. It was a bus full of DIRTY DRUNK people that had been in Kantishna for the music festival over the weekend. One particullarly obnoxious drugged out chick would NOT shut up for the first 2 hours but finally passed out snoring. Saw a grizzly and a cariboo on the busride out. It is a long bus ride after 8 days of hiking. We got off at Riley Creek Campsite where we set up our tent just outside of the small city of RVs and found the shower. All we had for soap, shampoo etc. was Dr. Bronner's pepermint soap (we use it for dishes) so our hair came out with a very interesting texture.
But we were clean and happy. It was such a fun trip. We hiked into the small town of Denali for some dinner and re-integration with society, called family to let them know we had made it etc. The next morning we decided to catch the train from Denali to Anchorage, which was an adventure as well....if you get a chance to ride this train be sure to seek out anybody who waves down the train for a ride into town, we met a VERY interesting character living in the Alaskan Bush.
Made such good time that we had some waiting...so we got out the cards and played Rummy on the side of the road. Who would have guessed we looked like such a spectacle, the tourist buses which flew by all morning occasionally stopped in front of us so the tourists could take pictures of us. I can just see the caption in their photo album "Real Live Backpackers playing Cards". Hilarious.
The 1st camper bus of the morning picked us up coming from Wonder Lake. It was a bus full of DIRTY DRUNK people that had been in Kantishna for the music festival over the weekend. One particullarly obnoxious drugged out chick would NOT shut up for the first 2 hours but finally passed out snoring. Saw a grizzly and a cariboo on the busride out. It is a long bus ride after 8 days of hiking. We got off at Riley Creek Campsite where we set up our tent just outside of the small city of RVs and found the shower. All we had for soap, shampoo etc. was Dr. Bronner's pepermint soap (we use it for dishes) so our hair came out with a very interesting texture.
But we were clean and happy. It was such a fun trip. We hiked into the small town of Denali for some dinner and re-integration with society, called family to let them know we had made it etc. The next morning we decided to catch the train from Denali to Anchorage, which was an adventure as well....if you get a chance to ride this train be sure to seek out anybody who waves down the train for a ride into town, we met a VERY interesting character living in the Alaskan Bush.
Day 7
Breakfast and the last of the coffee while we planned where to go for our day hike. We decided on a pass visible west of our campsite about 2.5 miles away.
It was a nice hike, some substantial bushwhacking and advanced orienteering due to our attempts to skirt the closed area in the drainage between our camp and our destination. Only got our feet wet ONCE on the way there crossing Little Stony. 
For once, no bears but did see THREE moose including one mama with baby who ran away from us at impressive speed. Our 2.5 mile hike ended up being a six hour hike but was fantastic and was followed by delicious pesto tortellini. The cold wind forced us into our tent for a planning party for what to do about the bus tomorrow and of course, Rummy.
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