Ultralight Tip of the Week

I just bought Mike Clelland's latest book (the Kindle version for my iPad) after variously enjoying/learning from/disagreeing with/fully agreeing with/being entertained by so many of his posts and articles here. I must say that I find this book to be an absolute gem that's hard to put down. Now I can't wait to get my hands on his two previous books. Thanks for putting together a thoroughly enjoyable read!

Michael

Don't forget about Allen & Mike's Really Cool Backcountry Ski Book. One of my personal favorites!

Mike, I have no doubt that sleeping under the stars is great. Many times I have set up the tarp and simply laid down to take a nap only to wake up at midnight to hang the bear bag and dig my bag out. Many nights we get a heavy fog or light rain in the mountans of the north east. Usually about 50/50 I would say. My last trip (8 nights) was typical…rain some part of every day. Well, it IS spring…

I misread a storm (actually 3 lightning storms and 1 rain storm) one night and set up the tarp a bit off center. The wind shifted and dampened the bag and shoes. But yes, never sleep in wet cloths. My sleeping cloths are *not* pj's. They are my insulation layer if things get really bad. One extra pair of wool socks, one mid weight smartwool shirt, one mid weight long john pants. If I do not need these for the morning, they get packed with the sleeping bag. These are *always* as dry as is possible. My pants, shirt, and rain jacket may be soaked, but, I will be sleeping comfortably. If needed, I can wear these for a while…they dry farly quickly. After several days of rain, they can get quite damp, but still do the job.

Third paragraph of Tip #95"
" the potential for FOWL weather "

fowl = birds, particularly chickens and other domestic birds raised for food

foul = nasty, gross; in relation to weather, stormy, rainy, etc.

Though I'll give you that rainy weather while hiking is for the birds, and if you've ever lived near a chicken or turkey farm, you'd have a great argument for claiming that fowl are indeed foul!!!!

p.s. Great book! I have both a hard copy, and a copy on my Kindle!

*Note from Addie: this has been fixed. No harm, no… uh… fowl. :)

Astrobivying looks mighty nice and easy to emplace, though tempting to bring a star chart and iPod. A bivy w/a taller entrance, yet lighter than the OR advanced bivy to avoid the stuffiness when sealed up would be nice.

I had a GoLite Utopia tent that was great for stargazing as the door was like a Gothic arch and I could open it to see a lot of night sky. I've seen meteorite showers and satellites. It didn't provide bug protection while open and that door let in rain while getting in and out in a shower, but it could be zipped up in a second if it started raining.

I've seen tunnel tent designs that allowed unzipping/rolling back the fly for a star gazing view.

Doing crunches to keep warm in your sleeping bag only works if you're just slightly chilled. I speak from experience that if you wake up shivering in the middle of the night doing a few minutes of crunches 'aint gona' do diddly to warm up / keep you warm until morning.

As usual your results will vary. ;)

>> Don't forget about Allen & Mike's Really Cool Backcountry Ski Book. One of my personal favorites!

Yeah…I didn't make that connection until a few days ago, and I have a couple Allen and Mike books. And I've been hanging in the forums for months now. Feeling a bit sheepish.

Mike's tips for finding a warmer campsite are the same tips used to avoid condensation in your shelter! They are also useful to find a "stealth" campsite or just one that is more LNT.

Unfortunately, in those areas where bark beetles have decimated nearly all of the trees, a meadow site is often the only safe place to be. It should be the last resort, though.

Mike — I love your cartoons! I got the Kindle version of your book because I'm trying to lighten up in the rest of my life and the zoom function does not work for inline graphics. I'm sure Amazon is getting flack for this and is promising authors they're working on something… but is there any way you could give readers a work-around until Amazon is done? Maybe ask for some identifier in the book to unlock a pdf on your site?

Thanks for your time.

Hello – Greats Tips.

Regarding tip #99 'wearing all your clothes to bed'. How do you get around your hiking clothes being wet from sweat or rain? I usually carry "pajamas" (light base-layer top/bottoms, hat, gloves, and extra dry socks) because my hiking clothes are always too wet from sweat when I go to bed. Also they are very dirty and wearing dirty clothes in my sleeping bag will dirty the bag (which I believe will eventually reduce its ability to keep me warm). One thing to note is I generally hike 'thru-hiking style' (long miles, hike all day and jump into bed). I would love to reduce my weight by leaving the pajamas at home but I am not convinced thats a good idea (for me). Any additional insights or ideas?

Would you take a base layer anyway? I do! Ditto the hat and socks. I therefore don't consider my base layer (which I wear to bed at night) as extra clothes or "pajamas" but as an additional layer for cold nights and mornings. On a frosty morning, I'll put on my hiking clothes (plus all of the rest of my gear) over the base layer and not remove the base layer until I am ready to start hiking for the day. It has to be really cold (like well below freezing) for me to hike in my base layer, but I definitely need it around camp as well as in the sleeping bag. Like you, I don't want to crawl into my sleeping bag with wet or grubby clothes. Even if I did, though, I'd add the base layer!

I would draw the line at wearing rain gear and I wouldn't wear muddy/dirty pants unless it was really cold. Soft shell pants are great in that case.

I do work silkweight long johns into my shoulder season clothing list and I use a Power Stretch hoodie or vest for mid-layer insulation, which all make excellent sleep clothing. The Power Stretch hoodie plus my windshirt is equal to something like a Thermawrap jacket, although it is a bit heavier. I do like the versatility and I get a hood (read fleece beanie) and some hand coverage in the bargain. I've always railed at carrying something like a Thermawrap plus a windshirt— too many shell layers. The Power Stretch provides highly breathable insulation and it works well in wet conditions. Patagonia Cap4 or R1 would do the same trick. They are excellent in conjunction with a rain shell too. Silkweight long johns and rain pants are the only way to fly in all-day cold rain.

You can certainly sleep in insulation layers like light synthetic or down jackets, along with something like a bottom base layer and wind pants. It makes more sense to me to have the option of the insulating clothing and count on that as part of the lower temperature for my sleep system. You can't wear most sleeping bags on the trail or around camp (there are some quilts that can be worn in camp).

If you carry a 20F bag for actual 20F sleep plus insulating clothing for the same temps, you have needless duplication and weight— the combined system could go to much lower temps. You could dial back to a 32F bag and wear your insulation, saving a pound or more. You end up with more trapped air layers and you don't feel the air leaks in your bag with the extra sleep layers on.

the problem with using a lighter bag is how you prepare for a "20F" night …

is that 20F the lowest expected temp? … or just the "average" …

if its the average you may well end up cold if the temps dip … especially at the end of the trip when yr bag is losing loft

Those of us who sleep really cold add extra clothing at 25-30*F in that 20*F bag! And what if it does go down to 10*F? I've had that happen several times, and I want to be prepared!

Mike – I'm really enjoying your book. I even got Mr. B to look at it. His interest picked up when he saw your line about it's ok to stink. Not the tip I would have picked for him to focus on, but I'll take what I can get.

I just made the spelt breakast, spicy olive oil, polenta-couscous, and dried pesto. In the dried pesto sauce recipe 1 teaspoon of sugar is listed twice. I guessed the extra sugar should have been 1 teaspoon of salt, so that's what I did. 1 TB of pesto powder and 1 TB of spicy oil mixed up into a small bit of heaven. I put it on the couscous-polenta.

I plan to make the other recipes early next week when I get to civilization so I can buy the ingredients I don't have here in Whoville.

The only thing that comes close to sleeping under the stars is Peeing under the stars

Peeing while Peering upwards at the starry night skyses,
high, high on the hill
as my stream's steam rises,
surreal,
quite a thrill

Ensure: make darn certain something will happen
Insure: set up a contingency plan in case something adverse happens.

Sorry Mike, but the English Major in me cringes far too often when I read your otherwise excellent books/tips.

I'm still reading them though! =)

"The only thing that comes close to sleeping under the stars is Peeing under the stars"

Reminds me of the joke about the guy who walks up to a urinal and begins doing his business when he notices "look up" scrawled on the tile in front of him. He looks up along the wall and sees another scrawl – "look higher." He continues to look up the wall and sees – "higher still." Finally he looks straight up at the ceiling and reads – "quick, look down, you're peeing on your shoes!"

Oh, Dan! As a fellow picky English Major I must point out–in good fun, of course–that Mike did indeed spell the word correctly. In this case, as you actually show above, it's a case of the "wrong word." ;) I can't help but smile a bit when reading students' papers and they don't realize they've done this because Microsoft's spell checker liked what it sees!

Admittedly, as a writer, I sometimes do this when I've been at it for a stretch. It happens, which is why good editing is good!

Great book, Mike. Thanks!
(If you have any say or are able to give feedback to Amazon/Kindle/Falcon, have them make sure your pictures are placed appropriately within the [Kindle's version] text in your next piece. FYI, there are quite a few pictures that seem to be misplaced by a paragraph/section, if you will, so the picture context doesn't quite fit in with the text. It's close and easily figured out but it's not something that would be acceptable in a traditional paper text, and so, IMO, should not happen in an electronic version either. This is just a nitpick and no reflection on you or your work; I appreciate your book, I'll reread it, and suggest it to others!)

Peeing under the stars is great; the early-morning field of stars is sublime. I often find myself lost in it all.

Doug, you might try a little back and forth turret action to help prevent going on your feet while getting lost in space. :)

I think spell-checking software is responsible for most of the errors like this.

We get typing in too much of a hurry and unintentionally type the wrong word, but spell-check of course doesn't pick it up because it doesn't know what word we intended to use. It has happened to me a lot.

IMHO, here's no substitute for a good human proofreader! Or preferably, several of them!

There are computer programs available which will check spelling, punctuation, and usage. You can even set the checking rules or intensity that you want applied.

–B.G.–

For what it is worth, I don't care about spelling, IMHO. That being said, YMMV on spell checkers.

""The only thing that comes close to sleeping under the stars is Peeing under the stars"

Some of us older folks have been known to do both at the same time. :(

Yep, I agree with Mary. I've caught a number of usage errors in things I've posted over the years (always after the fact, sigh).

Spelling, grammar, and junk like that is important. Otherwise we are just one hundred monkeys at one hundred keyboards. Or something like that. :o)

Michael