Camping and Backpacking GEAR thread

Do you think you stayed warmer in the hammock than you would have been on the ground with the same mat and bag?

 

I would say Yes, or close enough to be a yes.
At 25° the pad was overkill, the HG 20° UQ would have been enough, and I fell asleep with my OR down jacket on. I really thought it was going to get colder than that.
I over prepared, so not a valid test.

Shug has a video on YT that he is at -40° F in a hammock.

The Snow Lion is very fluffy, and is a bag I got for my wife, from a friend that had it. Car camping last year we were in the low 20s. We washed it, in Down Wash, last spring. I just wanted to try it. It has TWO zippers and TWO draft collars. I had it unzipped like a TQ.
It is heavier then the WM, but also really 'Vintage'. We have 4 WM bags, 0° Puma, 10° Versalite, 32° Summerlite, & 35° Caribou (woman's).

 

Question, so currently I have an empty bedroom. I pitched my tent in there to store it. I was wondering if this is bad for the tent? or should I pack it up?

 

Hmmmm... I cant imagine its doing much harm but you are stretching the materials and keeping tension on the poles, also might get poked accidentally or whatever... I would definately pack it up if i were you.... just pack it loosely so it can breathe...

 

Thanks, ill pack it up then. I took it out camping in November and there was lots of rain. so I originally set it up in the room to dry and clean. Then just left it up. but ill take it down and store it loose.

 

Does anyone have any information on visiting Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park during this time of year? I will have my dog with me so I am kind a limited on what I can do in the park but I would definitely like to check out some areas outside of the park as well. I know the weather can be bad at times but I really don’t know what to expect.

From my understanding it sounds like there are some nice scenic drives I can take with the dog inside the park. But I am also interested in camping and hiking outside of the park.

 

So I searched didn’t see any post about it...


Anyone seen the Kickstarter:

Morphcooker

Looks pretty interesting...


https://www.kickstarter.com/project...he-all-in-one-electric-camp-stove/description

 

Any tent that is put away wet has the potential to delaminate, had an MSR Twin Sisters that I apparently put away damp and when I opened it again the weatherproofing liner had melted to itself and became a huge gooey mess! If you have the space, hanging the tent loose isn't a bad idea but no need to set the tent up fully unless you just like to look it at it frequently

 

The tent was packed wet only for the day when we were packing to head home. Once I got home and unpacked it, and wiped it down as much as I could and set it up to dry.

 

I dunno man. The more backcountry gadgets I have, the less backcountry I feel-and that's what I'm going there for. Don't get me wrong, I carry some stupid tech into the woods, but I gotta draw a line somewhere... Besides, my stock leaf packs are already sagging! Long live the smell of smoke in my clothes!

 

This thing is a trip. People will surely buy it for the gimmick factor. I wonder how stable it really is when there's food in it in some of the flat modes. I'm assuming those sides are a thick silicone accordion design, like a collapsible cup. Not a need I have to fill, but at least it's creative.

 

I'd recommend not leaving it set up. You're putting tension on the seams for a long period of time, which might cause them to stretch the seam tape and threads and possibly prematurely separate? If it's a nylon or polysil fabric, it will stretch over time and not give you as tight of a pitch when you go to use it? I'd just take it down and store it loose indoors or store it in its bag like normal. My first thought is that it would just take up too much space. You're already doing it a favor by storing it indoors where it's climate controlled, and that will definitely extend the life of your tent versus storing it in a garage/shed.

 

There’s a stacking pot-pan set that a lot of rv and teardrop campers went gaga over. Most now say they hate the set and have sold it or repurposed it.

 

Gear room renovation update

• I moved the shelves to the right and on the same wall as each other and expanded the hanging items to the full length of the back wall to get more items out of storage and to get my backpacking clothes out of the other closet
• Added a new drawer system to the shelves so I could phase out the small clear bins that were overflowing. Still a few more drawers to buy to fill in that second row
• Hung the trekking poles on a new rack system by the door
• More gear coming in, but it should all fit in the drawer systems once complete

 

Looks awesome! Could you please share what brand/model the shelves and drawer system is?

 

Holy cow! It’s like you’ve got your personal REI store.

 

What I was thinking. Looks like a camping store
Great organization

 

The shelves are made by Whalen, and I got them a while back at Costco. I haven't seen this particular model available at Costco for almost a year though, and I always look for them because I need a couple more. Having them shipped would just be too expensive. I liked them because they have flat MDF board shelves so I can put small things on them without falling through any grating. They used to be in my garage but I have a different system out there now. I think I have 6 of them total, some still in the garage and 2 in my home office for books and work stuff. They were by far the most stable of all of the shelving units I looked at that had flat solid shelves. The others twisted and just felt/looked cheap. The set is basically two shelves that can be either attached vertically and locked together by the center shelf, or they can stand alone as 2 shorter shelves (2 shelves on one half, 3 on the other). They come with the little connectors to link them vertically and they are super stable. The uprights have holes every couple inches so you can set the shelves at different heights if you want. They also come with metal clips so you can attach one shelf set next to another and the whole thing is even more stable.

https://www.whalenfurniture.com/cat...p-beam-5-tier-shelf-625073-ws184872bw-sb5msc2


The drawer systems are from The Container Store, and they're sold individually so you can create your own modular layout. I searched high and low to find a good set of something to house the small gear, and they have worked out better than I had hoped. They come in various heights and widths, and they nest vertically and they also can snap together vertically for more stability (unsnap the lid from one and just snap the bottom of another drawer of the same size right to it). They had them in grey and in white, but the grey was a better match to the shelves and to the utility racks that hold the packs and everything on the other wall.

https://www.containerstore.com/s/st...-smoke-modular-drawers/12d?productId=10034766

 

Amazing organization! Puts mine to shame...I have one of the cheap wobbly shelves from Costco. But all my stuff is right by my camper so I can load it quite fast.
Those drawers are pricey!

 

Yeah they weren't cheap. I've been buying a few at a time here and there to make sure I don't get more than I need. Then it started bugging my OCD that I didn't have full rows of drawers.