Friday, November 14, 2014

After the Camp - Falling Leaves Overnight Adventure





This is After the Camp - Falling Leaves Overnight Adventure.
Let's go over the gear and discuss the trip.
….

The Trip : This trip was everything that I needed psychologically and spiritually.  It was beautiful.  It was an adventure and I was able to say good bye to Susan’s mom in my own way.  Since she passed I haven’t been able to do that; I’ve had to be strong for my wife and for my kids so this gave me the chance to shed a tear and press on.

The Gear : - You will notice that with this trip I used a lot of custom made gear and this allowed me to go lighter weight and assisted with a higher degree of comfort.
Yes custom made items are expensive but when you love to get outdoors most people want to get the best gear that they can.

ZPack Arc Blast Pack (16.5oz) - I am super impressed with this pack.  Extremely comfortable especially considering that it was made to order.  That’s the nice thing about getting a handmade, personalized pack made because you can get it to fit your body PERFECTLY!  Plenty of room and basically it’s a large rucksack.  There are no pockets and I like that.  Much rather have all of my gear in a centralized location than have it spread throughout a pack in a bunch of pockets.    That way I always know where my gear is at.

hyper lite mountain gear flat tarp.  8’6 x8.6 cube fiber tarp (9.5oz with guy lines)
Set up was storm mode.  With storm mode, you have a simple setup that can withstand even the harshest environments.  It works just as well in the woods as it does on top of a mountain that lacks trees.  You can easily use a trekking pole for the front and go from there.  With the front door, angle it away from the wind and if winds are blowing from all directions, cover the front with a jacket, some some rocks, whatever you have.

mountain laurel designs bug bivy (6oz) - This piece of gear offers protection from the bugs in a very light weight package.  It has strings which you can string out so that it doesn’t lay on your sleeping bag and your face or if you’re just bivying it on a mountain, you don’t have to.

humangear Uno: .53 oz. (15g) spork - Great little spoon spork.  Very strong and they are  right around the $10 mark.  They are longer than many competitors sporks and stronger too.

Katabatic Gear Alsek 22F 900fill power down - 5’6 in length - (19.7oz) - At 19.7oz this is one of the lightest 22 degree bags on the market.  The quality is absolutely top notch and the warmth is amazing.  This is another custom made item so it’s made for my size.  The length on my bag is 5’6 and I’m 5’4.  This allows me to pull it up to where I want it and with it being a quilt I can also adjust just how tightly I want to have it around me which is great for those warmer nights.
This quilt comes with strings which allow you to run them underneath of your sleeping pad so that when you move, the sleeping pad doesn’t go with it.  SUPER NICE feature!  It’s easy to say that’s not a big deal but anyone who has spent some time out and about with a sleeping bag will tell you, tossing and turning in your sleep only to wake with your bag all twisted sucks.

Vanquest Husky organizer continues to impress me.  Very versatile organizer.
I had everything in it to get a fire going, first aid kit, battery bank for my phone, water purification and so on.

swiss m71 stove - having this stove really saved me a lot of work since it’s an alcohol based fuel.  I forgot my lighter on this trip so all that I needed to do was strike a spark with a ferro rod and I was good to go.

The M71 is a great stove, fairly light and reliable. If you’re going to use one, make sure to have a windscreen!  The easiest and cheapest way to get a windscreen is to make one from tin foil.  It’s also very light light weight.

If I didn’t have a stove for this trip I would have had to result to collecting the driest of materials.

We did find the saw dust while hiking and that made getting getting out fire for the evening going very easy.  Saw dust is nothing but very fine bits and pieces of wood.

This really goes to show you that you have to pay attention while you’re out backpacking.  Look at the land, analyze everything.  When I’m out hiking I’m often day dreaming about how I could utilize everything that I’m passing by.

Toaks titanium pot 750ml

Clothing : mountain hardwear convertible pants
Woolx Merino wool Shirt
keen merino wool socks

1 comment:

  1. Hey Luke! What camera did you use to record the adventure? The image quality is so goood. Take care, be well! :)
    Marius

    ReplyDelete