There’s only one week to go before my “Intro to Backpacking” Seminar at Harriman State Park with “Hudson Valley Hikers.” If you’d like to attend, please sign up soon. Anyone who joins will be put on the waitlist until they email me a backpacking question. For more information about the event, please write a comment at the bottom of this post.
Today, we will answer Liz’s question about overnight food storage.
As we continue to count down to my “Intro to Backpacking” Seminar at Harriman State Park with “Hudson Valley Hikers.” I’m getting more and more great backpacking questions everyday. Kristina is very interested in Hammock Camping and asks “how do you keep warm in a hammock?” Continue reading Keep Warm in a Hammock
In a few weeks I’m going to be hosting an “Intro to Backpacking” Seminar at Harriman State Park. I’m hosting this event via the Meetup Group “Hudson Valley Hikers.” I’ve asked potential attendees to email me questions about backpacking. Some of them are pretty good and I’ll be sharing the answers via a series of posts called “Ask CampingJay.” This post will discuss backpack types Continue reading Backpack Types
In a few weeks, I’ll be running another one of my very popular Intro to Backpacking seminars at Harriman State Park. I ran my first seminars at Harriman State Park in November and December of 2015. Among the attendees was a very enthusiastic young lady who now goes by the trail name “Kremlin.” Kremlin was having a rough time fitting into civilized life and was looking for something more exiting to do. She asked me if I thought she should go on a thruhike, and I said “do it!” She started her hike from Katahdin after 6 months of preparation and finished just around Thanksgiving of 2016. Recently she referred a friend to me to get some thruhike advice of his own. Continue reading Thruhike Advice
In a few weeks I’m going to be hosting an “Intro to Backpacking” Seminar at Harriman State Park. I’m hosting this event via the Meetup Group “Hudson Valley Hikers.” Meetup events tend to get a lot of RSVP’s, but also a lot of No-Shows. In order to vet people out before giving them a spot at the seminar, I’ve asked them to email me questions about backpacking. Some of them are pretty good and I’ll be sharing the answers via a series of posts called “Ask CampingJay.” This post will discuss Water Treatment Methods. Continue reading Water Treatment
In a few weeks I’m going to be hosting an “Intro to Backpacking” Seminar at Harriman State Park. I’m hosting this event via the Meetup Group “Hudson Valley Hikers.” Meetup events tend to get a lot of RSVP’s, but also a lot of No-Shows. In order to vet people out before giving them a spot at the seminar, I’ve asked them to email me questions about backpacking. Some of them are pretty good and I’ll be sharing the answers via a series of posts called “Ask CampingJay.” This post will discuss Backpacking Mistakes. Continue reading Backpacking Mistakes
When I was learning to backpack, I found it helpful when others posted their gear lists. It gave me a reference point for the kinds of things I needed, what I was doing right, and what I could be doing better. That said, there is no “one size fits all” gear list. There are a number of personal factors that go into making a gear list, such as size, weight, fitness level, and need for comfort. It also matters where and when you plan to go backpacking. One must factor in temperature, precipitation, terrain, water availability and natural shelter, among other things.
Updated for 2017!
This weekend I ran the third session of my very popular Introduction to Backpacking seminar. My goal with this event was to expose newcomers to some of the equipment that’s available out there and give them some buying advice. I like to help people avoid purchasing equipment before they get a chance to see it in real life. I saw a lot of busy note taking going on this weekend, so I decided to help out with a list of gear we looked at.
A participant in one of my Introduction to Backpacking Workshops for Hudson Valley Hikers recently asked me for advice on rainwear for hiking. This reminded me that I’ve never written an article on this subject. Here we go… Continue reading Rainwear for Hiking & Backpacking
Following my recent post on 10 Ways to Keep Warm While Camping, a friend asked me about the best clothing to wear when it’s cold. The answer to that question is technical, and you should see my article on Layering for more detailed information. We ended up talking about down jackets. I told her that the best down jackets are thick, have a hood, fall low on the hips, and have a high fill power. But what is fill power?