Ultimate Camping Thread

im tickled pink that this thread is still going...food wise there is a guy on youtube. his name is babelfish5. he shows you how to make your own backpacking meals and dehydrate them. very very good meals as well. i have done a few and they taste great!

 

browse through the grocery store and find things that are "instant". Ramen noodles, etc. I refuse to buy M.H. meals anymore because they are so expensive. One thing I just found on my last trip was the Easy Mac meals. Got 2 of the Easy Mac meals in the little cup things... Poured both in to an empty (clean) gatorade bottle and put the little packages of cheese in a ziplock bag. Just boiled up some water with the Jetboil, through the noodles in, cooked those, drained the excess water, added cheese, ate! awesome meal! yes... it is a little messy, Luckily I had a river (that was relatively clean) to rinse the cheesy pot out with... but it is worth it.

Big thing is... make sure your light... but you have stuff that tastes good.

 

i agree with aaron....i love to pack them little cup o noodle things.....there great

 

Heheh - just bought some of those noodles. Always need something quick and easy like that.

Hey, thanks, guys, for the advice on the dry bag. After looking at everything suggested and assessing my environment in the coming months, I ended up getting a Seal Line 70L Boundary Pack. It's rugged, watertight and holds air if my boat sinks.

I was checking out one of those North Face Base Camp duffels, though...

 

Just wanted to share some wealth with yall, the clymb is a members only sale (pro deal prices) website for all kinds of camping gear and clothes and all sorts of other cool stuff. If you want to join, click here: http://www.theclymb.com/invite-from/EricSandusky .

To be 100% honest and clear, I do get a kickback of $10 for the first item bought by whoever signs up through that link. Thanks for the support!

 

Looks like it's legit, thanks!
How long can we buy stuff from this site till?

 

once you sign up, you are able to buy forever

 

We've decided to go to colorado near silverton because I've never been there and it sounds absolutely amazing. $75 on gas isn't too awful either. I'm pretty stoked. Anyone in the area know of an awesome trail that won't be crowded with too many mofos? We'd like to be near a stream or water source too.

Flag is still pretty warm. They've been averaging in the mid to high 80's over the past few weeks. Plus, I don't know that there is any running water up there.

I'll definitely check out the guy on youtube, that sounds pretty awesome! The guy at the REI class I went to last night says he freezes steak, and then by the time he gets to the campsite on the first night it's thawed and ready to be cooked. That sounds amazing, so I might be looking into that.

Ughhh. Those are good things for backpacking. Unfortunately, instant ramen and mac n cheese made up my diet my freshman year of college. Needless to say, I'll be waiting for a while before I can eat those items again. I'll walk through the isle again at the store, hopefully I haven't ruined every easy food.

One thing I've done in the past is got a stick of salami and some triskuts. That was fantastic!

I totally spaced posting my gear last night, but I know most of it off hand.
I have:
MSR Hubba Hubba
Cat's Meow mummy bag
Cocoon Mummy liner
Exped Synmat UL 7 Air Pad
Random-ass backpack I got from china town
and a black katadyne water filter

I have a bunch of other odds and ends, but that's the bulk of what I own.

The Hubba Hubba is a FANTASTIC tent. It might be a tad heavy for people into ultralight backpacking, but it's fast and easy to set up. My only annoyance is the lack of vents in the rain fly. When I went snow camping a lot of condensation built up along the inside and rained down on my when I bummed the tent. I would still highly recommend it, because that has only happened once.

The cat's meow kicks ass. it can be packed down pretty well, provides some pretty good protection against the cold, and is great for all around camping. I augmented it with my cocoon mummy liner for an extra 8* comfort.

The Cocoon mummy liner is fantastic! It weighs nearly nothing to the size of my fist. It's made of a very thin material which is great for summer camping. I've used this in my cat's meow when camping in flagstaff, and this kept me pretty damn warm in a blizzard. I would highly recommend it.

The exped synmat is also fantastic. It has an R value of 3.1, and is designed to be used year round (4 season). I haven't had the chance of using it in the snow yet, but I can tell you that I sleep like a baby when I camp now. It is extremely comfortable. It also packs down to the size of a water bottle! It's a tad pricy at around $150, but you will not regret it.

The katadyne water filter I use is pretty good. I haven't gotten a chance to use it a whole lot, but when I have the water comes out clean and tasteless. I'll be using this a lot more when I go to Colorado this weekend.

I use my Samsung Galaxy S for GPS when I'm out in the bush. The program that I've liked the most is Locus Free. It was a lot better before they added advertizing, but it's still a fantastic tool. My phone absolutely sucks though. It has a large screen which absolutely chews through the battery. I would HIGHLY recommend NOT getting this phone. Get an iPhone, the battery lasts longer, and there is a better free topo app on the market. Anyway, Locus Free allows you to download apps for offline use in the bush. To augment your phone or gps device in the woods, I'd recommend buying "TuneJuice." It's a portable usb charger that runs on 3 AA batteries and works pretty well. Make sure your droid phone is off while you're using this, otherwise your phone will run off of the charger and use the batteries up much faster. Make sure to bring a few sets of batteries though if you have a droid.

Well, I think that's all of the notable things I own.

 

this vvvvvv The Clymb is awesome!

I know what you mean. Some of my friends are like that as well. I can never turn down mac n cheese though. haha the only way I can eat ramen is with chilli... that meal only goes with me on the really short trips where I only hike a few miles back.

 

heres a packing tip for yall. if you get mountain house meals you will notice the dinners come is servings of 2. I am happy about this cause i can usually devoure 2 servings in a few min and still want more after a long hike. but what i dont like is the bags they come in. there big and worthless to pack. i like to seperate them into single servings and label them according to what they are. makes them alot easier to pack and eat for lunches and dinners.

 

mine come vacume packed....

 

wow i have never seen that. mine comes nitrogen packed. i still dont like the top usless part of the bag.

 

much easier to pack

 

interior of my tent

 

Love this site! I've been a member for a lil while now!

Nice Gear list, I;ve always liked those Hubba Hubba tents! I'm going to look into that cocoon liner too, thanks!

Dude put on some pants haha

 

Do you put the chili in with the ramen? Me thinks this might be good.

 

yep! its very tasty. If you do it on the first night, you can pack some shredded cheese!

 

Do you put the chili in something else, or leave it in the can?

 

yeah. i empty it in to a empty gatorade bottle with a piece of saran wrap over top of the hole, then the lid on top of that. that way i just toss the bottle in the fire or use wash it out and use it as a water bottle.

 

I have been looking for spaghetti sauce in pouch so I could take some cooked pasta and then toss it in hot sauce. I thought that might be pretty tasty out in camp.