Camping and Backpacking GEAR thread

She already has an ice box.

 

Check out Pelican Elite Coolers. Can get them on Amazon a lot cheaper than Yetis, they have better latches, steel reinforced lock, built in tie down points and keep ice just as long as yetis. I had mine out in Joshua tree for four days and still as cold as could be with lots of ice left.

 

X2 on the pelican cooler

 

You just missed a group buy for fridges. 25% off and free shipping

Expensive but worth it to not have to deal with ice or anything.

The pelican one is the one my buddy had! And it worked quite well. Not sure if rei has them though.

 

Igloo marine and five half gallon jugs water frozen solid, two bags loose ice = one week everything still cold.

 

My Coleman Extreme loaded with ice held a week worth of food and drink cold sitting in direct sunlight all day in 80-85 degree days at Lassen NP.

Dumped ice and water out when I left.

Still not as good as a fridge.

 

I have a 12v/110v fridge in my camper (and a solar hook-up), but truck camping I just use an ice chest. Critical to use a size you can fill, or add water frozen in milk or juice jugs to fill and add cooling. The solid ice in the jugs will usually last about 3 days or so.

 

Did a little easy backpack trip this past weekend to a desert mining community about an hour north of Phoenix AZ. There's still some good snow melt drainage into a couple of canyons, so we didn't have to worry about water. Daytime temps were almost 90F in the canyon during the hottest part of the day, and down into the low 40's at night. Went with hammocks this time, and the weather was clear so we didn't even bother with tarps. Last time I was out here exploring during the day with my son, we saw some very large mountain lion tracks in the sand wash beds, so hopes were high to see some predator action on this trip. Unfortunately, all we ever found were just that - tracks. No mountain lion this time. Definitely their country though with all of the high canyon walls and caves, and plenty of overwatch spots.

I spent a little time making a PLUQ (poncho liner under quilt) since temps weren't headed into freezing, and it worked perfectly as a lightweight underquilt to keep the chill off of my back. I stayed nice and toasty in my military patrol bag.

Lots of mining activity in this area. Right across the creek from our camp, and 30' up, were 2 mine shafts that were very well built. Only 4' tall for the first 30' or so, then they opened up to about 6' high. A few different tunnels leading different directions into the mountains. No good souvenirs from there except for an old counterweighted hanging scale but it was broken. On the hike in to camp, we passed by about 6 other mines on the hillsides but they looked filled in and just had tailing piles by them.

There was no trail on the way in to camp, so we just bushwhacked along the game trails. Lots of coyote and javelina in the area, and they left great trails to follow. Had to cross the stream about 20 times, some requiring sandals to keep the boots dry. Finished the day off with a nice bottle of whisky and a good night's sleep before packing out on Sunday and getting some Ray's pizza on the way home.


You can see the game trail on the left of the creek. It was clear like that about 1/4 of the trip. The rest was boulder hopping and bushwhacking.


Sun coming up stronger, but great shade with the canyon walls. Patches of cottonwoods make for some nice oasis spots.


Near camp area. Water flow and quality was great for filtering.


Lots of mine activity in this area. See the tailing pile in the top right corner. There were 2 more out of view of this angle. The water runs through a break in an old retention wall that the miners had made out of river rocks and mortar. There's about a 6' drop to the big pool below.


Here's a shot of the pool below, and the other side of the wall.


First time using the new backpacking chairs. I went with the Helinox because it holds up to 300# while still under 2# carry weight, and even in the sand it worked great. We went with woodburning stoves on this one (my friend used his Solo stove, I had the Toaks smaller woodburning Ti stove). I cooked up one of my new recipes of dehydrated food - noodles, chicken breast, mixed veggies, onions, mushrooms, and seasonings. It was fantastic. The little thing in red on the rock by my chair is my bluetooth speaker. Can't have whisky by the fire without tunes.


Hammocks set up. I went lean this time with the Grand Trunk single on the right (looks short but it's at an angle to the camera). My friend brought his GT skeeter beeter but those make it tricky to hang a PLUQ unless you build it a certain way. I don't have the underquilt on mine yet in this picture. If you look close, I'm literally hanging 5' from the water's edge, so the sound of running water right next to me really put me to sleep. Up the hill from my hammock and across the creek, there were 2 mine shafts that went way back. Nothing good inside of them, and I didn't have my camera with to get pics. Found a huge African bee hive by one of the other openings so we bugged out of there before pissing them off. There was some old nasty purple looking water in them, and no sign at all of animals so I'm wondering if the water had some sort of toxic residue left over from the mining process.




Sun going down. Beautiful scenery.

 

Badger springs?

 

Your ice chest sucks get a new one.

 

Turkey Creek, about a mile east of Cleator, AZ

 

@MTgirl do you prechill your cooler like @Seabass suggested?

I have a yeti 35 and it kicks ass! But i keep it in the bed not the cab. Not enough room in my ext cab.

 

Fridgeless problems

 

But convenience and lack of fuckery.

 

is your cooler in direct sunlight in your Runner? even throwing a blanket over can help insulate it. but pretty ridiculous you're losing ice like that.