Camping and Backpacking GEAR thread

My Facebook just informed me that it was today! that I was at Phantom!
When it's 120*. You just get in.

 

I'm off in the morning with 3 friends to do a 3 day hike on the Mogollon Rim here in AZ. We are dropping sharply into Chevelon Canyon, taking bare minimum packs and setups to test out some bushcraft gear and techniques. All of our food will be foraged, so we will be doing a combination of fish traps, crayfish hunting, small game hunting, and foraging for wild edibles. I'm going to be breaking in the new Osprey Kestrel 32 NPS centennial pack which I have designated as my new go-bag. I'll post successes, gear list, and lessons learned after we get back on Sunday.

 

Do you think the water's a bit cooler in late October?

 

*crawdad

Kraft cheese slice in a old mesh type strainer.

 

The water may be a bit cooler, but what more important is the air temp.

 

I was going to use crawdad, but people usually get all spicy when I don't use the formal name!

Not carrying any edibles, so we'll be catching them by hand by flipping over rocks to start. If we get some trout, the guts/head/skin make great crawdad bait if I feel like spending a day making a trap. I do carry an emergency gill net though...

 

Mud bugs...

 

Just got the email from REI about the 25%-30% off for Labor day!!!

 

Any outfit make ultra lite carbon poles for a pyramid tent? Can't seem to find any for the life of me! I see some folks just use trekking poles tied together as support and get the height. Only trouble is I don't use them but might have to start! I need about 6 feet in height

 

Would an avalanche probe work?

 

Yeah it might? Are they pretty light?

 

Yeah that should work if I pull a couple sections! They should be strong enough, they have to drive through snow right! Thanks!

http://www.camp-usa.com/products/snow-gear/carbon-fiber-avalanche-probe/

 

Probes work, but they're not stiff enough for much wind

 

Ok, I'll go check them out at REI or some where. Thanks

I might just have to learn to use trekking poles.

 

Just carry one trekking pole, and use it as a tent pole only?

 

If you search ebay for "carbon fiber tube" there are many items. I added 2000mm to my search and came up with this one listing.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/6-PC-Glossy...450834?hash=item3abe7522d2:g:v18AAOSwll1Wz2Zq

It says they're only 156g per 2000mm tube. You could also buy smaller diameters in shorter lengths but you'd need a sleeve to assemble them.

 

Well, the trip was a bust because we had a nasty weather front come through. We didn't feel like getting soaked again for this trip, so we bounced out on day 1. The goal of this trip was to practice a wide variety of bushcraft skills. Since we already fully tested our wet gear last year in the same spot, we just called it and went back into the local town of Payson. We ended up getting a nice hotel room, and taking a shuttle to the local casino and getting drunk while eating ourselves to death while playing blackjack. I call it a success!

 

Left out house for only 36 hours, visited 3 different REI's, a running store, and Home Depot (and a host of food and beverage stops).

Let's just say the REI stops were successful. My wallet would disagree but...
2 pairs of shoes, a new ArcTeryx jacket, drip coffee thingy, and The Man got a pair of shorts and shoes.

Best score was a bump from a regular room too a suite with its own assigned parking spot!

 

Keeps her at home.