Microadventures: Breaking Down the Barriers of Visiting a Wild Place

Wait a minute! What about this 'medicine chest'????

Rebecca,

The "medicine chest" is the MetroWild by the same person who makes the Luxurylite Stackpack.

http://www.metrowild.com/

http://www.luxurylite.com/stackpackindex.html

My girl friend uses the Luxurylite Stackpack because of a shoulder injury that requires that she has NO weight/pressure on her shoulder.

The Luxurylite transfers 100% of the weight to the hips with an unique lightweight exterior frame design that detached from a hip belt with a hook to secure the frame to the belt.

The MetroWild is a clever modification of that concept, using a waterproof box attached to the external frame, which replaces the typical nylon fabric cylinders that comes with the Luxurylite Stackpack.

Believe it or not, the MetroWild doubles as wheeled luggage for carry on use and size for air travel.

This allow you to go from the airport to the trail head and take your backpacking trip.

I recently returned from a two week trip to Panama with my girl friend using the MetroWild, which was given to me by Bruce at Luxurylite for testing and to provide feedback.

It definitely is a stand out backpack that worked as advertised as carry on luggage.

Not perfect by any means, which is to be expected as it fulfills two roles.

Worth checking out.

Feel free to ask me any questions you might have.

Tony

My favorite "microadventure" began when a friend & I were sitting in a bar one Friday night about 9 pm waiting for start of fall semester the next week.

With plenty of free time left before classes, we decided, "Hey, let's go camp on the lower saddle between the Grand and Middle Tetons!"

So we immediately went to our respective homes, packed up in an exceedingly brief time, and hit the road by midnight.

We drove non-stop ('cept for stops for gas & food) the 800 miles or so from Oregon to the Tetons, arriving about 18 hours later.

Hey, it was a VW bug, not a speedster!

After a burger & live entertainment at the Million Dollar Bar in Jackson, we laid out our sleeping bags next to our car in Lupine Meadows parking lot.

Awakened the next morning by a ranger giving a nature tour to some tourists, we hit the trail and finally . . . FINALLY . . . reached camp at the lower saddle.

After a day or so exploring, it was back to Oregon non-stop.

The "microadventure" part was sure "micro" (although not close to home, sorry Ryan, so that the goin' & comin' was anything but micro).

Not possible to repeat again on spur-of-the-moment. Thanks permit red tape!

Darn!

Richard: GREAT story. Thanks for sharing it! Having done similar "microadventures" with massive to and fro road trips during my college years, I can certainly relate. I enjoyed the read.

Went to the white mountains and stayed in the parking lot overnite and got woke up by the ranger for sleeping in the parking lot. That cost me a ticket (wilderness trail parking lot). Still was a great weekend.

First want to say enjoyed your article.

As it turns out the bulk of my backpacking fits in this style.
Work does not allow me too many days off so backpacking adventures need to fit into a weekend.

Luckily the Los Angeles area believe it or not has lots of genuine wilderness within a 60 to 80 mile reach which works for me. One criteria to Microadventures has to be limited car time.

Another important key is ones perspective. An excellent mental approach may be zen like but it's so true, the path is your destination. The fulfillment, the goal, the where fulfillment begins starts at the trail head and continues right up to that perfect piece of level protected ground you'll be laying you head. All of it is the prize, enjoy.

Not finally but I'll end here. Microadventures are proving grounds for the big trips. Conditioning, knowing what works, setting up tents, hanging food bags everything in the field becoming second nature is priceless.

all the best,
Jim

This link under More Resources is not working:
“Download the Backpacking Light Microadventure Gear List (PDF) and get started right now!”

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Sounds like a picnic with sleeping bags. There are at least 6 places I can think of within 20 minutes of me that might be nice possibilities, some of them even legal. Great idea!

I had a lovely ultra-micro-adventure with my husband and two kids (8 and 3) here in Sweden.  We went to a trailhead we had seen from the bus we ride to work, walked 45 minutes, stopped for tea and chocolate (we also had oranges and bananas), and walked out — to the next bus stop!

We live in a wooded area of Sweden and the kids found mouse and squirrel tracks in the snow, jumped over a tiny brook 100 times, climbed up and down rocks and basically thought they were in paradise.

Not everything has to be complicated…