Car Camping and Other Stuff

Car Camping, Bigfoot, and Other Stuff

 Ok, so it has been a while since I have had the time to actually post much here lately.  Between the blizzard last month, work and work, and a brief trip to North Carolina for a car camping trip with friends, I haven't had the time to update the blog.  So here goes.I headed down to North Carolina earlier this month and spent 3 nights camping with friends over my birthday weekend.  A weekend of good food, good friends and the great outdoors can do a body good.  Oh, and not least of all, spending time with my Godson and his little brother hunting Bigfoot was the highlight of the the weekend!  However, it was a bit strange to be car camping again.  Every time I car camp now I seem to have a bit of a love/hate relationship with staying at a campground.

My Godson and his brother
find Bigfoot's hiking stick!

It is nice to have some conveniences such as having a camper on site that has refrigeration for real food, power for charging Ipads, Ipods, and E-readers, beer, wine and other adult beverages and of course a bath house with hot water and real toilets!  It was great to be with the kids and friends but there is something to be said about being on a trail, finding a great stealth site or shelter, eating noodles with other hikers and having the feeling of accomplishment for the miles hiked that day.  I only wish some of my closest friends enjoyed hiking........however, one of my best friend have stated he would like to do a bit of hiking this spring over 4 or 5 days,  I wonder if that has to do with the hammock he bought from me while I was down there.:)

My lightweight backpacking tent (left) and a "normal" 2 man tent (left).
 To the left in the background is a lightweight hammock used for hiking.

I was looking forward to this trip, not only as I was able to hang out with close friends that I haven't seen for a while, but to shake down some equipment as well.   I am still working out the details of tent versus tarp for early spring hiking, as well as testing a new Neoair ultra light sleeping pad.  I also wanted an excuse to see how my new Western Mountaineering Versalite sleeping bag did in colder temperatures.  Well, is was a small test for the bag as the temperature only dropped down to 30 degrees F.

So, how did the shakedown of equipment go?  Well, I will be posting reviews of some of the equipment shortly but suffice to say, I think I really like my setup for the most part.  I do need to get another thin pad to place over my Neoair for cold weather camping to increase the R factor just a bit, but I think this pad and sleeping bag combo will be good to 15 degrees or so without the additional pad.  Hopefully, I will get out next month in the mountains to test out some colder weather camping with this equipment.

The Lightheart Gear Solo Tent
with Neoair pad inside.  Note
plenty of room is left for gear.

The hiking schedule for next year is a bit up in the air...finances, jobs, time off are all still up in the air.  Finding time to hike recently has become difficult due to the time change leaving daylight scares after work.  The weekends are even difficult as the part time job kind of interferes with time and not to mention the holidays.  I do get out to do a few miles of walking in the evenings around where I live.  It is just on pavement.  Ha ha.

I think I have collected most of the equipment I need for a long distance hike.  I would like to find a better summer sleeping bag, but it is not a major problem if I do not find the one I want on a deep discount.  I have great equipment that will go the distance and it is all lightweight helping to keep my pack weight down giving me a much better chance of not stressing my feet, knees and back during a long hike helping keep the risk of injury lower.

I am truly coming to appreciate hiking and camping with just the minimum equipment needed for food, shelter, and comfort.  I have come to realize that as I examine what I really need while hiking, the same principles apply in the real world as well.   We have become a nation of excess, buying our happiness with stuff.  When we look at all the trapping we collect, and how most of the stuff we have is so unnecessary and useless, it is beginning to change my thinking about materialistic crap.  I have changed my ideas of what it is to be successful and realize it is not about the accumulation of crap.  It will be interesting to see how I view this in a few years however.

So with that, my early New Years Resolution will be to update this blog more often.  I guess a good goal will be twice a month if not more.  More reviews of the trails I hike, more reviews of my equipment and maybe even more insight into myself.

So for now Mitch, Stacy, Brian, Alison, Cam, Reagan, and Nicole, thanks for the great birthday weekend camping. I miss you guys and wish I lived closer to you..........,I hope everybody had a Happy Thanksgiving with friends and family and remember to keep the compass pointed north.

November 1st, Snow, and testing equipment.

Blizzards in October.



View from my office

 Who would have thought that one week in October it would be in the 60's and the next week we would be in the middle of a blizzard.  Well that is exactly what happened here in the mountains.  2-3 feet at snow at elevation, power outages, wind and a lot of snow.  The silver lining is I did not lose power and I got to test out my OR puffy down jacket and other cold weather clothing in a "controlled" environment.




So the down OR puffy jacket, fleeces, capilene base layers, and assorted clothing came out of storage for a workout.  It was great being able to try different weight base layers, mid layers and outer wind/rain layers over the last couple of days. So some of the lessons learned were:



Hanging out in my OR
down puffy.

 1.  The Capilene 1 pants are definitely warm enough for most hiking applications unless it gets extremely cold.

2. The Capilene 3 top is extremely warm and will be a good camp shirt for early spring in the mountains.

3.  I need a fleece hoodie similar to the Patagonia R1.  My neck did get a bit cold when not wearing my puffy jacket with the hood.  I think a fleece hoodie with a buff used as a neck gaiter will probably work.  Couple these with a good wool/fleece cap and I may be able to forgo a balaclava.  I guess I will have to wait for colder weather to test this hypothesis.

4.  I need some overmitts to cut the wind from getting through my wool glove liners as well as helping to keep my liners dry.

5.  I may invest in some longer gaiters for late winter/early spring hiking.  Postholing with short gaiters = wet socks and wet calves.

6.  Dri ducks are not the answer for lightweight wind/snow pants!

7.  The OR Helium II rain shell is so lightweight and works great as a wind shell.  I am very happy with it!

I had wanted to put up the Lightheart tent as well as the tarp to see how they performed under a snow load.  I guess I am glad that I did not get them set up before the wind and snow came due to the amount of snow that we actually ended up with.  I can only wonder how they would have done.  I will just have to wait till we get a normal snow later this winter to test them.

So, thanks to the blizzard, I am more confident in my winter hiking clothing ability to keep me warm in most situations.  I am still thinking about a canister stove to replace my alcohol stove for winter hiking as alcohol will not function well below 30 degrees for me.  A  lightweight ( <under 3 ounces) wood burning cooking stove is under consideration as well. I am also on the hunt for a pair of lightly used snowshoes for hiking this winter.  I have the feeling it will be a snowy winter.

The Western Mountain Sleeping Bag is Awesome!



Western Mountaineering
Versalite down bag.
I look like a caterpillar!

 So, as you guys know from a previous post, the Western Mountaineering Versalite sleeping bag arrived.  What an awesome bag it is.  Light, extremely warm and roomy enough for us people that move around in a sleeping bag.  I can't wait till the temperatures get a bit colder to really test it out.  Western Mountaineering thank you for making an American made bag that is just awesome.

So all in all thank you Blizzardcane Sandy!  You have helped me shake down my cold weather equipment and I love your for that.  However, Please do not come back this way.

To all those SOBO Appalachian Trail hikers that are still on the trail (Short Legs in paticular), I know Sandy has kicked your tail.  Stay warm, dry, and safe if you are on the trail during this snow event. Oh and remember, if you are hiking on, watch out for new deadfalls and make sure to check above your camping site for dead limbs.  They will be coming down. I can't wait to read some of your journals and how you coped with the storm.

Trying to keep the compass pointed North for 2013.