Camping and Backpacking GEAR thread

I recall what I decided when I stopped looking for dried juice.
They added so many crappy stuff I quit looking. Corn syrup solids, sugar, flavorings, etc.

Trader Joe's has freeze dried fruit that is only the fruit. I was going to crumble them to make a fruit in liquid form to add to chia for chia pudding, or as a fruit drink.
Chia soaked in fruit juice is really good. Less liquid makes a pudding, more liquid makes a drink. Careful, it needs constant shaking for a while, or it glues itself into a glob.

I recently dehydrated some Miso Master chickpea miso but have not tried that yet.

I make jerky a lot, it is awesome. Venison and Bison.

Anything you like to eat, think if you can dry it and it can be a meal. leftovers are a good one.
All my meals in the woods are in a pot and a cozy that 'cook' without heat. I just use the added boiled water.

But, if you cannot cook at home, you cannot cook in the woods either.
I cook at home all the time.

Ken in NC

 

Nice! Thanks for the info

How long are the dehydration times typically? Ramen with some dehydrated meat/hamburger helper is what I had in mind primarily because I'm not much of a cook even with a full kitchen.

 

That can be a problem.
Start practicing cooking at home. Take a class. Ask the restaurants you eat at how something is made.

Not everything you eat in the city can be eaten in the woods, but it does not have to be salty, sweetened cardboard. It does not have to be expensive.

Dried potatoes, dried sweet potatoes with maple syrup.

Desert:
Caldera Cone with MSR .85 kettle. (Or any stove/pot you can simmer slowly with)
Flat round shape of aluminum flashing with 'many' holes punched in it. Or aluminum mesh (stiff).
3 small stones, from your current campsite, to stand the sheet above the bottom.

This will take some testing to get it right.
A small alcohol stove that can simmer slowly, for 20-25 minutes, can keep a small amount of water steaming in the pot.
The amount of fuel and the amount of water is the trick. Practice at home.

A silicone muffin cup filled with cake mix that uses dried milk, dried eggs, and the only other ingredient is water, will 'bake' really well.
The amount of liquid for the cake mix is reduced due to the steaming. The ingredients need to be calculated for the ratio. Practice at home.
It can be stirred in the cup.

AND, it can be topped with dried maple crystals and end up as a frosting.

Place the muffin cup in the pot, on the flat sheet, and set the stove to simmer.
I use my 'Kitten Stove' designed by 'Dances With Mice' on White Blaze that i added a simmer ring to.
Trail Designs makes a great simmering set up.

Ken in NC

 

Oh, rehydration can be done in a container while hiking in the afternoon.
Add (filtered/treated) water to your meal at lunch, in a leak proof container, and hike. At dinner time just warm it up.

Dehydration times vary by thickness and wetness.

I use trays that are solid, fine mesh, and wide mesh depending on the item. Wet jerky I start on a solid tray like fruit puree I want to make fruit leather from. After a whle I can move them to a mesh tray.

 

My family will be in Zion this Saturday for a day. I was thinking of heading up there Thursday night to camp and hike on Friday then spend the full day with them on Saturday. The 2 trails that I would like to do would be Observation Point and The Subways (1st choice) I see that there are still permits available for this Friday so I can most likely grab a walk up permit. However, my question is has anyone done the subways in the winter? I would be renting dry suit or wetsuit to do the hike. Bottom up so no rapelling gear required. How far in do you have to hike to get to the nice locations? its a 9mi RT hike. Just in case I decide to turn around since I will be going in alone.

 

I can’t help with the Subway unfortunately, though it’s also at the top of my list. I have done Observation Point, however, and it is fantastic.

 

In other news, I ordered my EE Revelation and Hooligan today!!!

 

All of the trails in Zion are awesome. I spent 10 days there in '06.
I did an outfitter shuttle one morning that took me around to the far north and I spent 3 days getting back to the valley. I think I camped at 'Potato Flat' (?) one night. The last day took me past the junction up to Angel's Landing. I had done that a few days before.
There is one trail, on the other side of the canyon, right, that had a chain to hold onto while you went around a very exposed narrow path to a 'Hidden Canyon'.

I did not go up the 'Narrows' the flash flood warning was high during that visit.

Eat at Oscar's Cafe.

Ken in NC

 

I love Zion. I'm going to post a few photos again. Sorry, some of them weren't in ideal lighting conditions.

Observation Point, looking down at Angel's Landing:



A close-up view of Angel's Landing from Observation Point:



Somewhere between Scout Lookout and the top of Angel's Landing:



The path to Hidden Canyon:



The Narrows, approximately 3 miles in, just past the confluence with Orderville Canyon:



This photo sucks, but Observation Point is the highest point in the upper right. Also seen are the entrance to the Narrows:

 

I have a few stoves (Coleman exponent multi fuel, Svea 123, Jet Boil, Snow Peak GigaPower), but I'm looking for something specifically for winter snowshoe camping. Primary use would be melting snow and boiling water. I'm leaning towards the MSR XGK-EX.

Anyone have experience with this stove or have recommendations for other stoves I should look at?

 

Kelly Kettle sounds like it would work for you.

 

Thanks! I think the wood burning stoves are neat, but I spend a fair amount of time in wilderness areas and at or above tree line. I'm looking specifically for a White Gas stove.

 

Yes sir. I have an Excalibur and I do jerky, dehydrated veggies, dehydrated cooked egg noodles (rehydrate way faster than raw), etc. It's fun to play around with and make additions to other meals.

Freeze dried foods will always rehydrate faster, and they're usually what I carry. The best approach to rehydrating DEHYDRATED foods like veggies and pastas is to cold soak them first. I carry a small plastic jar to presoak with just enough water to get the food wet while I'm hiking and then put that in a ziploc freezer bag and add hot water to top it off and warm it up.

Look into the #10 cans of freeze dried chicken, ground beef, and rice/veggie meals to save money. I add a small scoop of those to other meals to enhance the flavor, volume of the meal, and calories.

 

Nice gear. Quilts look great!

 

Good info! I really need to look into the science behind dehydrating vs freeze dried. Freeze drying isn't realistic for casual consumers I assume. I really enjoy the freeze dried meals but man they are expensive

 

For you water filter nerds like me...

So I recently got my hands on one of the new Sawyer Select foam squeeze filters, which comes with a new Micro Squeeze filter screwed on top. I don't have any intention to carry the big heavy rubber foam part (although the extra filtration and taste enhancement that it provides looks pretty cool), so I took the Micro Squeeze off to use as a stand-alone. The Micro Squeeze is threaded on the top and bottom just like the original Squeeze, but it's 1 oz lighter (1.80oz total WITH the Smartwater sport cap) and noticeably shorter. It's even slightly lighter than the Sawyer Mini, which I don't like because its flow rate sucks and it's tall and you can't put a cap on it. The Micro has the same .1 micron membrane technology as in their other filters, and it has the flow rate of the original Squeeze. I've mentioned before that I just screw one of these right to a Smartwater-type bottle and go, because I hate wasting time filtering water and I don't want to deal with the added weight and parts of doing a gravity setup. I can get instant filtered water with this system anyways.

I don't see the new Micro Squeeze filter sold separately yet, but I'm glad I scored it from the Select. Here's a pic of it next to a Squeeze, on the same bottle type to show the difference. The original Squeeze always felt top-heavy on my bottles and stuck up out of my pack's water pockets quite a bit, so the Micro is an "upgrade" in my book.

I'm also working on a UL .5 micron field-serviceable prefilter project to remove sediment and even clay out of some nasty water sources that I come across, like cow ponds. I'll have pics of that new project as soon as it's field tested. If it works like I hope, I'll be able to keep my filters healthier for a LOT longer and not have to backflush near as much.


Sawyer Micro Squeeze on the left, and the original Sawyer Squeeze on the right. The Micro is just over a full inch shorter. I use these shorter/wider 1L bottles because they fit in pack water pockets better:

 

Filtration has come a long way since the pump style filters that are really heavy. If you follow Darwin On The Trail on YT he has moved from the squeeze to the gravity style which seems very similar. Backpacking has become much lighter even if you aren't an UL type.

 

Would an alcohol stove work at altitude? I've been eyeing those.

 

I'm one of his Patreon contributors. He puts out really practical stuff and has been a great help to me on some gear ideas. He uses that inline HydroBlu Versa filter which is essentially just like the Sawyer Mini so he can use it inline, but he still does like me and just screws it to a Smartwater bottle or to his Cnoc Vecto bags to gravity filter if he needs. I love those Vecto bags and picked up a couple to use as water carry bags to replace the heavier Platypus Big Zip bladders.

 

Yeah but they're a pain in the ass in the wind. You either carry a windscreen or you have to make one out of rocks/logs etc. Lighter? Yes. Hassle? Yes, IMO.