Walking In

This video is exactly what I needed right now.

After working on a writing assignment last night, in which Tristan and I articulated what outdoor adventure means to us, I was left remembering those times on mountain tops, or in deep wooded hollows, waking up to the sun filtering through trees onto the fabric of our tent, or crossing the most beautiful stream you had seen yet. I had nowhere to be but there, nothing to do but walk, or sit and take in the view if I preferred. The colors, sounds, smells, all of it. But mostly the feeling is what I remember: truth, pureness, vitality, health. And don't get me wrong, there were hard times and low times, but they were real too, and part of the experience.

I am so grateful to have had these experiences, like backpacking the Long Trail, spending three weeks deep in the central California wilderness, and living for four continuous months on the Appalachian Trail. I can't believe I have been so lucky. To know these places and these people. They will forever be in my heart, moving from there to my extremities, where these past experiences become just as my flesh. And they are in Tristan's heart and being too; we will forever be connected by these shared times, having been nourished and grown from the same vital tonic.

Last night, as we finished our writing assignment, it was late and I was tired, with a cold setting in. I thought as I shut down the computer about the visions in my head conjured from the sharing of our experiences: I have to get back there.

Finding this video today brought it all back.

"Walking In", courtesy of A Secret Burger Media production.2011.

One-Pot Meals in the Backcountry

While out on a multi-day trip in the backcountry, one of the greatest pleasures can be getting into camp, setting up your home for the night, and cooking a warm meal.
T and I subscribe to lightweight backpacking, and part of keeping our pack weight down means we cook all of our meals in one pot and eat out of that pot (we don’t carry dishes; we bring only one cup and spoon each and a multi-use knife). One pot meals can be tricky to make, they require some forethought and practice, but they can be very yummy.
Here are a couple of our tried and true favorites. Most of these recipes involve saving your cooking water. You can use a nalgene or aluminum drinking bottle to reserve this water and the water can be used for making hot chocolate, tea, or instant pudding after dinner. And because this is leftover cooking water, it contains carbohydrates and nutrients leached from the food during cooking. Using this leftover water is a good way to get as many of those into your system as possible, since both are in short supply on backpacking trips. Lastly, a wise person turned us on to carrying oil. Adding a tablespoon to each meal adds much-needed fat, calories, and nutrients to your dinner.

When packing for your trip, all meals should be re-packaged individually in Ziploc bags. The Ziploc bag reduces the size and weight of your food bag by getting rid of excess packaging, and the Ziploc serves as a garbage bag to carry out your trash or uneaten leftovers (these should never be left in the backcountry). Put indivudal Ziploc trash bags into a larger Ziploc bag that can carry multiple days worth of trash. All of this double-bagging helps to insure trash doesn't leak out on the inside of your pack.

Thanksgiving Dinner: Ingredients – dehydrated mashed potatoes, dehydrated seasoned stuffing mix, turkey or chicken in a small can or foil pouch, dried cranberries. Bring enough water to boil to re-hydrate the potatoes and stuffing; bring the water to a boil and then reserve boiling water in a nalgene or other drinking bottle; turn off stove; put the potatoes and stuffing into the pot and add water slowly until rehydrated to avoid adding too much water; add a little extra water, put pot back on the warm stove with the lid on, and let sit; when the potatoes and stuffing are at the desired consistency and moisture, stir in the meat and dried cranberries (adding as many as you like). If using a can, crush it and carry it out with you in your trash.

Sweet and Sour Rice: Ingredients – boil in a bag rice, chicken or salmon in a foil pouch, dried pineapple, packets of duck or soy sauce from a Chinese restaurant. Cover the bag of rice with water and boil, reserve boiling water in a nalgene for another use (use this carbohydrate-laden water to make warm drinks after dinner, allowing you to absorb the carbs in the water, too); stir in meat or fish and pieces of dried pineapple; drizzle duck or soy sauce over the dish.

Burritos: Ingredients – package of dehydrated bean soup or chili, tortillas, hard cheese like cheddar (hard cheese will keep for a week or more without refrigeration), salsa or taco sauce packets from Taco Bell. Prepare soup or chili with just enough water to rehydrate – you don’t want this to be soup, but rather just rehydrated beans; once cooked, turn off the stove and spoon beans into tortillas, sprinkle with chunks of cheese, and drizzle salsa or sauce over the top; roll up and enjoy! This tends to be a big meal, with a lot of beans, so this is a god one to share with friends or other hungry hikers.

Mac-N-Cheese: Ingredients – your favorite mac-n-cheese (Velveeta is nice because the cheese is already rehydrated; for dehydrated cheeses, you can add dehydrated milk, water, and oil to reconstitute the cheese sauce); tuna or salmon; dehydrated vegetables (purchased or made at home in a commercially-available drier or your oven). Boil the noodles and dehydrated vegetables until done and reserve extra water in a nalgene for warm carbohydrate drinks; add cheese (plus milk powder, water, and oil if using dehydrated cheese) and continue cooking for another minute or two to allow the noodles to abosorb the cheese (this is especially important for dehydrated cheese, otherwise it will be like mac-n-cheese soup); turn off the stove; stir in fish.

Please use the comments section below to post some of your favorite recipes - we're always looking for new ideas! ~Happy trails!

Learning and Evolving...

T and I are learning to do car camping a little better each time. We're both so enthralled with the lightweight, minimalist approach that backpacking can offer. But car camping has its pluses, though it will require a whole new set of gear. We did just add the MSR Mutha Hubba to our tent line-up (we backpack with the Hubba Hubba which is the best tent ever made), and it is the three-person, beefier, three-season version. And we brought pillows! But we cooked our dinner in one pot...and ate out of that one pot...on our MSR whisperlite. Our next purchase is going to be a two -no, three! - burner Brunton fold-out stove. I can envision eggs, bacon, and coffee - each cooked in their OWN POT in our near future!

Despite our hybrid backpacking - car camping approach, we can still kick back and relax:
Though you can usually find us by a camp-fire in the evenings on our backcountry trips (of course always in an established fire ring and following all leave-no-trace guidelines), this one was considerably less smelly (we were not dirty and sweaty from many days in the woods without a shower) and more beer-y. And there were pillows in our tent! (I'm always excited to have a pillow in my tent.)
And while on the topic, New Hampshire has a wonderful state parks system, many of them with beautiful, well-maintained, quiet campgrounds. Do check them out if you're headed for a visit with our neighbor to the east: http://www.nhstateparks.org/explore/find-it.aspx
Happy trails! Er...happy roads, leading to campgrounds!

A Winning Combination

Here's my rule for keeping a light backpack on long-distance trips: Keep the weight of your three essentials (pack, shelter, and sleeping system) under 10 pounds.

I recommend:

- Pack: Granite Gear Nimbus Lattitude (3.8 lbs.)
- Shelter: MSR Hubba Hubba (3 lbs.)
- Sleeping bag and pad: EMS Mountain Light (1.5 lbs.) and Thermarest Prolite (1 lb.)

TA-DA! 9.3 pounds total. Next, find a pal you can share a tent with and divide that shelter by 2.

Happy trails!

Soda Can Stoves 101

T and I subscribe to lightweight backpacking. We've each been known to carry less than 20 pounds on long-distance trips, food and water included. One of our secrets is to hike with a pal (you only carry half the gear). Another is this awesome little soda can stove. We've had ours since 2005.

These are also called denatured alcohol stoves because they burn isopropyl, or denatured, alcohol. You can get the fuel at a hardware store, or in a pinch you can burn 90% rubbing alcohol from a pharmacy.

We bought our stove (and a pot stand) on eBay for $10 from some guy in Canada who was making them. Since then, T has learned to make them himself: a necessary skill in case you step on yours while out on a trip. Last week we had a few friends over and made some stoves.

Step 1. Drink 2 beers.

Step 2. Make the cans into a stove.

OK, so there's several more steps than that. If you want to know them, guess you'll just have to attend the next workshop. Until then, happy trails.