About six months ago, I noticed these cool new inflatable solar-powered lanterns sold on Gossamer Gear’s website. They weigh only 3 ounces and when deflated, they fold down to the size of a large smart phone. According to the information on found on the manufacturer’s website (www.luminaid.com) they take just 6-7 hours to charge and will shine for up to 16 hours. I was pretty impressed, so I ordered four of them.
Every year I go on two or three car-camping or base-camping trips with friends, and I always find that I’d like to contribute more to cooking on these trips. When I was younger, my father always talked about cooking in the Dutch Oven on scout trips, but he never showed me how to use one. Two years ago, I borrowed one of his old rusty Dutch Ovens, and refurbished it, then tried using it on a camping trip in the Adirondacks. The results mixed, but I wanted to keep trying, and it is still a work in progress. Here is what I have learned so far about Dutch Oven Cooking
The goal of this blog is to help introduce people to the joy of camping. So far, I have been covering a lot of advanced topics, like gear care and navigation; and perhaps I have been neglecting the basics, like how to start camping right. Recently, a friend of mine expressed interest in getting started. Here’s her question:
Hey Jason! How are you? This is a GREAT PAGE!!! Where is there a nice spot to go camping that’s close [to home]? What would I have to do to camp there? I’ve NEVER been camping before and would like to try it this Summer!!! 🙂
I’ve been doing my best to spread the light, and I’ve motivated my friend Paul to give tarp camping a try. He was excited to try this liberating experience after joining me on a trip in Harriman State Park last year. Tarp camping offers many benefits, including weight savings, great views, simplicity, and a sense of community with nature that you don’t get sealed up in a tent. That said, sleeping under a tarp can require advanced skills in site selection, weather prediction, and knot tying, just to name a few. Check out the full report for my 2014 adventure in the Pharaoh Lakes Wilderness.
This year while planning for our trip to the Adirondacks, we had the idea to shoot a bunch of video and make a documentary. We didn’t end up taking as much video as we had planned, but I do have a few interviews to share with you over the next couple of days. This one features myself explaining the wood gas stove and showing off a few of my home-made backpacking meals. For more information on making your own wood gas stove, check out this video from Intense Angler. You can also check out my article on making homemade backpacking meals for some cool ideas on eating healthier on the trial. For a full trip report on my 2014 adventure in the Pharaoh Lakes Wilderness, click here.
Continue reading Homemade Wood Gas Stove and Backpacking Meals
This May, my friends and I embarked on the eighth installment of our annual retreat to upstate New York. This is the fifth year at our favorite campground: Putnam Pond in the Pharaoh Lakes Wilderness Area of New York’s Adirondack Park.
Continue reading Adirondack Adventure 2014, Part 1: Escape to Pharaoh Lake
If you’ve ever planned out a trip, you know that measuring trail lengths ahead of time can be tricky. I’ve gotten pretty good at it, but sometimes I make mistakes. I made such a mistake two weeks ago when planning out a route for a backpacking trip across New York’s Pharaoh Lakes Wilderness. The results were some pretty unhappy campers (pun intended!)
Last summer I spent a week hiking along the Appalachian Trail through my home state of New Jersey with three of my sisters. As could be expected, we met many interesting people along our hike. Our encounters ranged from pot-heads to rugged adventures, and even included a couple convinced they were playing out a real life version of The Hunger Games. Perhaps the most intriguing of all were a group of veterans hiking the trail as part of a program called Warrior Hike.
I’m Just back from a big trip with my friends up in New York’s Pharaoh Lakes Wilderness, so now it’s time to unpack my camping and backpacking gear and start washing everything.
I have invested a lot in high performance synthetic and wool clothing, and when washing expensive hiking clothing, I am really careful to keep its functionality. This gear must be both warm and breathable, and must wick moisture away from my skin so that I stay dry and comfortable. I find that washing this type of gear with regular detergents reduces its performance. In particular, I find that after washing a nice synthetic shirt with regular detergents, the garment will start to feel clammy when I wear it.
Continue reading Tricks for Washing Expensive Hiking Clothing
When I first got into backpacking, I asked a salesman at the local REI what backpackers ate. He pointed to the huge display case of freeze-dried backpacking meals, and said “if we can afford it, we eat these, but most of us make our own.” At the time, six or seven dollars per meal didn’t seem like much, and making my own meals seemed crazy. Here’s the story about how I changed my mind and started making my own home made backpacking meals.