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First time in 20 years…
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- This topic has 6 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 7 months ago by Sharon J..
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Jul 22, 2016 at 6:52 pm #3415744
Recently I decided to try my hand at hiking and camping after a twenty year hiatus. Now in my late 40’s, I actually brought a whole bunch of gear last year, but didn’t manage to pluck up the courage to actually use it until this week. Somehow I had brain lock about something I used to love. Not sure of the psychology behind that, but finally got out. This first trip was more of a test to check my gear, my knowledge, and my ‘old-age’ abilities. Turns out I’d forgotten a lot, but also remembered more.
This trip was to Round Valley, NJ. Quite civilized, not wilderness camping by any means, and at $17+ per night not a great deal, but it was nice enough (for reference I scoped out the sites, and 16, 26 38, and 54 are probably the nicest sites). Stayed two nights, with a 7 mile hike to the site on the first day, a 14 mile hike on the second, and then an easy 6 mile on the way out. I packed up my stuff and went to another site for the second night just to get the hang of things. Thought I’d share a few observations. Oh, and gear list here for anyone interested.
Trip Notes
- Weight: My base weight was 13.4lbs, but plenty of water and food for two nights knocked that up. Water in particular was a major weight factor, since each day I used 4 litres (hiking 1.5l, dinner/evening 1.5l, breakfast 1l). Seems like that’s a lot of extra weight to carry around. Is that typical, or do folks just tend to get to a place where there is filterable water?
- Hygiene: Not a real problem since only 2-nights, but what do others do about personal hygiene, cleaning up after a days hiking? I ran the ZPacks towel in some water and wiped down, which helped, but not a multi-day solution.
- Lunch: For this trip some pre-made sandwiches worked okay for both days. But longer trips this won’t work. What low prep lunches work well?
- Dehydrated meals: Surprisingly good. Pasta is odd and had something which stuck to my spook which was gross, but tasted good. Chicken Teryaki was better.
- Sleeping pad: I don’t recall ever having trouble sleeping before, but I could not catch a wink the first night. Perhaps just not used to sleeping on an air pad (Exped SynMat WinterLite), but I felt like I was continually sliding off. Not good. May need to re-evaluate sleeping pads. Maybe foam? Maybe need to change sleeping technique?! I did notice that letting some air out of the pad helped me stay put a little. Any other suggestions?
- Pot cozy: Made one from some insulating material. Excellent idea. Held the dehydrated meals upright whilst they were re-hydrating. Recommended.
Next Time
- Smores or evening treat: Would have been really nice to carry some light cookies, or evening treat. Nice morale booster, and makes for a nice night snack.
- Evening snipple: Just a shot would have been nice with the camp fire.
- More tea bags: Brought one per night, but for the weight should have taken more.
- Bear sling: I didn’t use a stove bag, really no point as it sits inside my pot. However, next time I’ll use it, and then use the bag filled with stoned/dirt as a weight for a bear sling. Tying a string around a rock was not onerous, but a sack would have made it easier. In hindsight, I could just use a spare zip-lock. What do others use to sling a rope over a branch?
- Sitting pad: Sitting on rocks became tedious way quick. Unfortunately my REI Flash 45 doesn’t have a removable back-rest that can be used as a pad. I ended up using the fly-sheet in a zPacks stuff sack. That worked okay, but need to get something better next time. Actually maybe just use my fleece layer inside the stuff sack.
- Pillow: The original idea was to use my Exped Schnozzle as a pillow. Put air in it, stuff it into my empty pacl, and use that combo as a pillow. Unfortunately the stupid thing doesn’t hold air very long, which is disappointing. May need to rethink bringing it. Although it was very nice not to have to blow up the bed-pad after 14 miles.
- Rubber band for bite valve: Okay. This was the biggest error on my trip. I use a Platypus Hoser bladder. It has a bite valve, with no closing mechanism. Given the failure of the Schnozel as a pillow, I just used my pack. Which had the bladder inside. That would have been fine, except at some point the pack sat on top of the bite valve and relased about a litre of water into the tent. A fact I discovered during my first sleepless night. So in the wee hours of the morning I was soaking up water with my awesome ZPacks towel. Not fun. So next time I’ll bend the bladder tube into a ‘z’ and use a rubber band to prevent accidental valve openings.
- ZPacks Towel: This thing deserves an award. It soaked up the pillow-escapade-water-event so well. It was used as a neck sunscreen with my hat. It served as a wash cloth, and a pot cleaner. By far the best bit of kit on the trip. Highly recommended.
- Hat clip: Hats are good for shade but suck for ventilation. Used the chest strap on my pack to hang my hat from when in shade, but a caribiner off the pack would have been better.
- Oatmeal: Turns out it’s not so bad. I used 1-cup oatmeal, 1-teaspoon sugar, and some dried blueberries. But 1 cup is probably too much. Next time 1/2 cup. That would save on water too.
- Smaller pot: I have a EverNew 0.9l Pasta Pot. Thing is too wide for my pack, and too big for the add-water meals. I’ll switch to an EverNew 650
Anyway, lots of random thoughts. Trip was fun, and I’ll be doing it again soon. Once I can work out where in NJ it’s actually legal to wilderness camp. Thoughts and input welcomed.
Jul 22, 2016 at 6:57 pm #3415748Hm, can’t edit a post? That’s not great. Anyway here’s the gear list.
Jul 24, 2016 at 11:34 pm #3416215Nice posts!
Here are a few responses…
1. Water. In the Sierra Nevada we can generally find water sources during the day and at campsites. We just filter as we go. The most I carry is two liters. In Death Valley we take enough for the whole trip because there are no water sources. YMMV
<span style=”line-height: 1.8;”>2. Sit pad. Make one from an old piece of blue closed cell foam. Also works as a windbreak for the stove in breezy conditions, a knee pad for getting into your tent, and as a base layer for you pillow at night.</span>
3. Take airline minis for a small snort of something good after dinner. Very lightweight , and easily refilled with good hootch.
4. We don’t use tubes and nozzles, preferring to drink from a bottle at rest stops. Gives us an ecause to stop, chat, and rest. And only one bottle in the tent…
5. We use a bear can (required in most National Parks in CA) and so we don’t have to worry about throwing rocks, bags, or anything else.
6. Pillow. Lay your blue foam pad down first. Then carefully fold your fleece into a small pillow. Wrap a t°shirt, towel or something else around it to keep it in place.
PW
Jul 25, 2016 at 12:51 am #3416220I too, bring pre-made sandwiches for the first 1-2 days. Wraps, actually – they don’t make as many crumbs and are a little more compact. Meat and hard cheeses don’t need to be refrigerated for a day or two unless it’s really hot. And packing such items inside your sleeping bag after them cool down each night keeps them cool all day long.
Beyond that, some lunch options:
GORP
crackers and salami / dehydrated peanut butter / hard cheese
Sometimes I’ll just repackage Wheat Thins or Triscuits into a lightweight tupperware container or whatever I’m using as a bowl so they don’t get crushed.
more processed cheeses like individually-packaged string cheese
dried fruit (not super calorically dense, but not bad and some fiber in your diet is a good idea).
Ramen is cheap, light and calorically dense. You can, of course, cook it in 2 minutes or go commando and eat it uncooked as you hike.
Oatmeal cookies can be as plain and healthy or as sweet and fancy as you want. Low-sugar, some raisins and that’s it. Or chocolate chips, high-sugar, various diced, dried fruit. Cook them at a little lower temperature a lot longer so they end up crisp and seal them in a zip lock bag.
I tend to bring lunches that I can eat as a hike.
Jul 25, 2016 at 1:41 am #3416224Water: I only carry enough water to get me to the next water source. Any more than that is unnecessary weight. In areas with abundant water sources I will often drink at water sources and carry no water with me. A map will show you creeks and lakes. Of course be careful about this if its a dry time of year and water sources could be unreliable. Camping near a water source is always a good idea.
Lunch: During the summer months with long days I find lunch to be a convenient time to take an extended mid-day break and cook lunch. If you don’t want to cook, tortilla wraps with cheese, salami, pouch salmon, or whatever you have is nice. Often times I don’t have a planned lunch and just eat things throughout the day. Honestly there is nothing wrong with shoving a bag of fritos down your throat and calling it good.
It sounds like you got some valuable experience.
Aug 7, 2016 at 9:22 am #3418735Thanks for the input. Looks like not carrying water is the biggest learning here. Not familiar with trusting filters enough to rely on them — guess it’s time to change that perspective. Plus not carrying 4l of water will be a plus!
Foam pad for sitting and wind break is a good idea. Think I’ll dig around see what I have, or maybe just get one of those ThermaRest Z-Seat and take what I need.
In the past my preference was water bottles, but recently started using a bladder, which actually ensures I drink enough. For now I prefer it to removing pack to get to water on side pockets. I’ll try both ways,
Good lunch advice too. I’ll try some wraps and tuna, seems lightweight, and filling.
More to learn next time no doubt!
Aug 7, 2016 at 10:12 am #3418752Of course, you have to remember to lock it. Been there, done that :)
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