Solo backpacking

[tod evans]

http://www.campmor.com/outdoor-gear....Fc3m7AodrHgA8A

http://www.gandermountain.com/camping/

http://www.rei.com/h/camping-and-hik...FTJn7AodREwA4A

[Suzanimal]

I've been looking into tents--any recommendations? Amazon is decent, but I prefer personal experiences. I have a small SUV (Honda CR-V) and am looking into a package that fits with it. Only want to take two--me and the kid, I'm 130lbs, she's a bit over 30lbs, so a two-man tent should work, I'd think. I already have a pack that fits on the roof rack and a bit of experience camping/hiking.

I like the pop up tents, we have a big ass cabin one but they make 'em smaller. You also need to buy a rain fly for it. I would think about going a little bigger than a 2 man, you'll want the extra room in your tent to keep things dry and keep food away from the critters. I grew up camping and I enjoy it, not so into the backpacking thing.

This is ours..
http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-14x10-...=coleman+tents


Here's the smaller one..
http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-200001...=coleman+tents

[Root]

2 liters of booze and 3 of beer......

Only city folk drag water with them unless you plan on going to the desert......

Lol, first time. I'm gonna play it safe. I've got the intoxicants well under control.

I've been looking into tents--any recommendations? Amazon is decent, but I prefer personal experiences. I have a small SUV (Honda CR-V) and am looking into a package that fits with it. Only want to take two--me and the kid, I'm 130lbs, she's a bit over 30lbs, so a two-man tent should work, I'd think. I already have a pack that fits on the roof rack and a bit of experience camping/hiking.

This is the tent I bought. It's super lightweight, goes up in about 5 minutes and came with the rainfly and footprint. It's roomy enough to fit two adults comfortably. The first time I used it, we put a queen sized air mattress in there and had more than enough room to store various odds and ends. This time I'll be on a sleeping pad and solo. If I were to buy it again, I might have sprung for the 4 person version. I kind of like the fact that it's only 6.5 pounds however. I paid $140 for it on Sierra Trading Post.

http://www.mountainhardwear.com/drif...dp-OU9648.html

If you're not backpacking, this might do well. Sign up for STP's Dealflyer coupons and you'll get 30-40% off codes in your email. I can PM you one if you'd like too.
http://www.sierratradingpost.com/alp...colorFamily=01

[donnay]

Take one of these so you can recharge you phone or ipad. We use it when we go camping.


http://www.amazon.com/BioLite-BL-CSA.../dp/B00BQHET9O

Bring a notebook and keep a journal.

[Root]

Take one of these so you can recharge you phone or ipad. We use it when we go camping.


http://www.amazon.com/BioLite-BL-CSA.../dp/B00BQHET9O

Bring a notebook and keep a journal.

I want one of those so badly. I need to be careful with my expenses right now. The backup batteries I have will get my iPhone through a whole weekend with plenty of juice to spare. I'm not bringing the iPad. Pen and paper isn't a bad idea however. I do plan to keep notes and post a trip report with pics once I get back and settled into normal life again.

[Root]

My trip was successful, challenging and fun. A mind opening experience. I have a lot to reflect on, and learn from the experience. Overall, I think my 2 days of wondering the Adirondacks on foot did me some good.

I'll post some pictures soon.

[Acala]

I've been looking into tents--any recommendations? Amazon is decent, but I prefer personal experiences. I have a small SUV (Honda CR-V) and am looking into a package that fits with it. Only want to take two--me and the kid, I'm 130lbs, she's a bit over 30lbs, so a two-man tent should work, I'd think. I already have a pack that fits on the roof rack and a bit of experience camping/hiking.

I'm thinking of getting a cap for the pick up and then keeping supplies in it so it doesn't take so much prep to get out into the woods. Just grab some perishables and go.

[amy31416]

I'm thinking of getting a cap for the pick up and then keeping supplies in it so it doesn't take so much prep to get out into the woods. Just grab some perishables and go.

My brother had a cap on his truck, and needed to get it off at one point to haul some large stuff for me--I "helped" him out, those suckers are heavy. It's a two man job, or one man and a big woman.

[Acala]

My brother had a cap on his truck, and needed to get it off at one point to haul some large stuff for me--I "helped" him out, those suckers are heavy. It's a two man job, or one man and a big woman.

That is the drawback. I'm sure as soon as I put it on someone will be giving away bandsaws.

[amy31416]

That is the drawback. I'm sure as soon as I put it on someone will be giving away bandsaws.

On his new truck he just went with a nice, hard tonneau cover that locks. Wouldn't work as well for camping, but it's certainly easier to deal with on a daily driver.

[green73]

Solo backpacker:

[Acala]

On his new truck he just went with a nice, hard tonneau cover that locks. Wouldn't work as well for camping, but it's certainly easier to deal with on a daily driver.

That's what I have now. It's been great. But, as you suggest, it eliminates the possibility of sleeping in it unless you enjoy the MRI/buried alive sensation.

[Carson]

My trip was successful, challenging and fun. A mind opening experience. I have a lot to reflect on, and learn from the experience. Overall, I think my 2 days of wondering the Adirondacks on foot did me some good.

I'll post some pictures soon.

I was just wondering if you made it or not.

[Root]

I was just wondering if you made it or not.

Oh yeah. I did very well.

Does the RPF want the long or short version of the trip?

[Root]

The Adirondacks are beautiful at this time of year.

Friday - I had a big piece of London Broil for lunch to celebrate another week of not getting killed. Win! I got a a late start, and I87 still sucks so I didn't arrive at the trailhead until a little after 8:15. It was getting dark fast, but I made it to the closest campsite in 40 minutes.
I was able to get camp set up in about 15 minutes in the dark. Modern tents are wonderfulto setup. Mine has reflectors on all the key elements. I had to hunt a bit for some firewood, but by 10 I was chilling out with the frogs. Omg they were so loud and kept their song going until 9am Saturday morning when they all shut up at once.
Trailhead marker

Stats



Saturday Morning - I woke up at 6:30am. Ate some jerky, dried fruit and coffee for breakfast. Took my time and enjoyed the peacefulness of the location for a bit.
Morning view and scenes from around camp




Inman Pond



I started my journey to Buck Mountain around 9am. The hike while carrying all your gear and food was much tougher than I expected, so I didn't take many pics. I packed too much stuff but was glad I took 5 liters of water with me. I got lost twice too. Once where the trail washed out, the other time a huge tree fell over the trail and I couldn't figure out which way it went. NY State has some of the worst trailblazers too, sigh.


At one point, I actually considered turning around and going back to comfy Inman because I wasn't sure I was going to have the strength to make my way back the next day. Spoiler: I lived. I would have been in trouble if I didn't have a good set of spring-loaded hiking poles with me. They make all the difference.

I eventually made it to the lower summit on Buck Mt after about 5 hours of hiking. I was ready to call it quits and just make camp there. I dropped my gear and went to recon the area a bit. I'm glad I did that as I found a great site with easy access back up to the true peak.

The top of Buck Mt.



Yours truely


Saturday Afternoon - I was totally spent. I wanted to hang out on the rocks, but it was too hot in he sun for me so I decided to work on getting camp set up. First, I rested for a bit against the most comfortable rock. Then A good leg stretch was in order. Then I looked for a place to set up the tent. Once I got the tent up, I decided it would be nice to just lay flat on my back for a bit and listen to some new music.

Pano from the summit


Stats

[Root]

Saturday Afternoon - I was totally spent. I wanted to hang out on the rocks, but it was too hot in he sun for me so I decided to work on getting camp set up. First, I rested for a bit against the most comfortable rock. Then A good leg stretch was in order. Then I looked for a place to set up the tent. Once I got the tent up, I decided it would be nice to just lay flat on my back for a bit and listen to some new music.

Saturday Sunset - A few hours later, I thought I heard some rain hitting the tent and thunder off in the distance so I decided to check it out. It was surreal. I can't describe how beautiful all the colors of the mountains were. At one point I was able to discern 14 different shades of mountain range colors. I just sat there in awe of it all.








It was amazing. The whole spectrum of colors was changing right before my eyes.

[donnay]

Absolutely gorgeous! Thanks so much for sharing.

[Root]

There is a great path from the campsite right up to he summit. Like a flight of stairs so it was easy to pass time in both locations.


Saturday Night - the sun set at 8:32pm and it got dark quickly. Good thing for me I had a pretty good pile of firewood going, so around 9pm I decided it was time for some meat on a stick. Everyone loves meat on a stick.


After 3 pieces of meat I thought I heard fireworks or someone was shooting at me. Back out to the summit and I get to watch a fireworks show. Lucky me!





Around 10 I made some tea before bed. It was cloudy Saturday night, so I didn't get to do any stargazing as I had hoped. I woke up around 1am randomly and couldn't even see the moon so back to bed for me. It was quiet as heck up there. The only sounds I heard were an occasional boat and the winds.


Sunday - I woke up about 1am. I was hoping to wake up about this time since the weather app said the clouds might clear overnight. Oh yeah, now would be a good time to mention I had some limited cell service up there. It was a pretty lonely spot, so it was nice to text with loved ones. Anyway, the moon was really blocked by the clouds, so no stargazing opportunities. No complaints. I got a sunset of a lifetime, fireworks and some piece of mind out of it.

Went back to sleep and slept right until 7am when I was awoken by some serious winds. Solid tent. Didn't budge a bit and I didn't have it completely secured either. Cloudy morning too. Not much to see so I decided not to stick around.


At this point, I'm down to about 0.5 liters of water so I decided to use 2/3rds of that on coffee and chugged the rest. I passed a cold running stream about 1.5 miles away, so, I'd refill with 2 liters. Ate just a little bit of jerky but decided to wait on breakfast until I had a good supply of water. I felt pretty good and knew what the journey back to the car was going to be like, so I took some pics along the trail.



Water supply. I had purification tabs with me. Man those things stain the $#@! out of your Nalgene bottles.


This is what a good mile of the "trail" is like. It was actually worse going down. Up was easier.

[Root]

Big rocks



There's a trail in there... I think



There are wild blackberry bushes everywhere. In another month, they will be good pickings.



Glaciers slid over this rock during the last ice age. There are sections of earth like this everywhere.



Only footbridge. Just 1/2 a mile to go now.



Mission accomplished!



This trip changed an already changing me. I can't quite say how. It was more challenging than I expected, but not how I expected. I feel stronger mentally and physically. Hard to articulate. I'm super glad I did this however and hope to do another backpacking trip before ski season. I might post some more closing thoughts. Kinda tired and it's been a long day.

[Suzanimal]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Root again.

Awesome, beautiful and you look pretty hot too! Good for you! Any tips, hint what would you do differently?

[Tod]

[Root]

Awesome, beautiful and you look pretty hot too! Good for you! Any tips, hint what would you do differently?

Thanks Suz!!

I'd take less stuff! I carried things with me that I never used (gloves, sunglasses, extra clothes, hat, suntan lotion, etc...). I'd like to get a smaller, lighter soft cooler and take less food. Smaller, lighter knife too. I arrived back at the trailhead with about 1/3 of the food I brought with me (mostly jerky nuts). I also should have topped off my water on Saturday when I found that nice stream, but was tired and wasn't thinking. Maybe a real camera (if I had one). The iPhone camera just can't really capture that view.

My gear (pack, tent, self-inflating air pad, and sleeping bag) all worked out better than expected. Also noteworthy is Lemon Eucalyptus Natural Insect Repellent worked very well instead of DEET. I hate DEET, so I was happy to find a "natural" alternative. It didn't last "6 hours" while I was hiking, more like I had to spray it every hour but I didn't mind at all. It has a nice cooling effect on the skin and kept the bugs off me. Once I was in camp and not sweating, I only applied it once.

I'd also spend some time just walking around the house wearing my pack loaded. While it's a good design that keeps most of the load on the hips, the tension of the shoulder and sternum straps did bother me some after a few miles.

[Root]

There's something else I forgot to mention.

Last Saturday night, I didn't take an Ambien when I went to bed. It was unintentional. I haven't taken one since, 7 nights ago. I seem to be sleeping through the night without it. My problem now is I don't get tired, but once I do at least I'm sleeping solidly.

A bit off topic, I've started using this sleeping app called Dream On. http://www.dreamonapp.com/ It "tracks" your sleeping. It's interesting stuff. I never hear anything when I'm sleeping.

[Carson]

Nice pictures.

It looked like your phone did pretty well to me. Light and handy has a lot going for it.


Remember when you wrote this?

"My biggest "concern" right now is boredom once I'm settled, before I sleep. Thoughts?"

I'm not really remembering boredom while camping. Specially as night settled in.

[osan]

For boredom,bring an iPhone loaded with games.
I like Wacko Birds.

If you anticipate boredom on a hike, I will suggest you are approaching the activity with precisely the wrong attitude.

[PaulConventionWV]

If you anticipate boredom on a hike, I will suggest you are approaching the activity with precisely the wrong attitude.

I completely agree. Hiking isn't about being entertained. If you have the right attitude about it, it can be a very peaceful and spiritual endeavor. Trying to constantly distract yourself is not what hiking is for.

[Carson]

Packing the right stuff can be a real challenge.

I try to keep my camping stuff in pretty much one place. When I start planning a trip I start move the stuff I might want to take to a new place near the door. Some times I need stuff for both camping at a site by my car and for hiking or fishing; whatever. Anyway while I'm planning I'm dragging stuff I might want to the door pile. If I planning back packing the pack is getting crammed with everything I might want.

When I'm packing the car some of the stuff no longer looks like such a great idea and gets left there by the door.

The same thing happens if I'm leaving my base camp to back pack. Lots of the stuff gets left in the car as being lazy I try and only leave the stuff in my back pack I'm pretty sure I will need.

One of my favorite luxuries used to be taking a bunch of soda and a big piece of ice busted off of a block. If I figured it right I'd have enough ice to get me well into the hike. I'd drink the first soda and then cut the top out of the can. Then I'd have a glass I could put busted off pieces of ice in and man did it taste good. Sometimes it would be so cold my can of soda would have ice in it all night and still be there in the morning.

[Root]

Nice pictures.

It looked like your phone did pretty well to me. Light and handy has a lot going for it.


Remember when you wrote this?

"My biggest "concern" right now is boredom once I'm settled, before I sleep. Thoughts?"

I'm not really remembering boredom while camping. Specially as night settled in.

I got lucky. Once I figured out where camp was, yes, I had plenty to do. Shelter, firewood, place to stash food, general recon.

The sunset and fireworks were very pleasant distractions. I also had some cell service while up on Buck Mt, so I was able to text with my lady friend for a while. That made me feel less lonely.

If you anticipate boredom on a hike, I will suggest you are approaching the activity with precisely the wrong attitude.

While actually walking, hiking my mind was too busy looking for the next trail blaze, plotting the best course through the trail and keeping a eye/ear open to my surroundings.

I completely agree. Hiking isn't about being entertained. If you have the right attitude about it, it can be a very peaceful and spiritual endeavor. Trying to constantly distract yourself is not what hiking is for.

While actually walking, hiking my mind was busy so looking for the next trail blaze, plotting the best course through the rocky sections, eating and drinking enough water, and keeping a eye/ear open to my surroundings.

[Natural Citizen]

As a younger man, when everything with my body was in tiptop condition, I'd do week long stretches on the Appalachian Trail. Now as an older man, I just mostly do long day hikes often in the company of at least one other.

I tried to pm you but it seems like you have it turned off. That's my back yard. Or it was. Is where I grew up. Will probably be going back not too far in the future. Really, it only caught my interest because I was just looking at your thread on the Native American prayers and happen to be Cherokee myself and looked at some of your other postings. Not just a "lil bit" like you sometimes hear from people. Not often I come across a injun.

[fr33]

Love the pics.