Restless Wilderness' End of 2015 Budget Gear List

Backpack: Jansport Klamath 55R
Store: REI Outlet $107.73 
Weight: 57oz

My previous gear list had a phenomenal deal on the Katahdin 50L pack. The Klamath is the katahdin's external frame brother. Yes. Let me be clear. the Jansport Klamath packs are External Frame. As always the BEST things you can do for a backpack are to try them on with a load before you buy, and check the REI Garage Sales, but I can't really link to that on a blog.

The Klamath 55R is twice the price that the Katahdin 50, and since it's a 2014 closeout, I'm surprised that it's still so pricy. But, it's the cheapest pack I've been able to find at the moment. If you MUST buy a pack right now and you're on a budget, this looks like one of your best options. Yes, I did see smaller packs for lower prices, but I'm loathe to recommend lower than 50 liters for multi-day trips.

If you can hold out until say, Late Febuary, you might be able to get a better deal on things, or a newer revision. Personally, since it's winter, I feel like I can afford to wait. But, if you're gift shopping or looking to outfit yourself before spring rolls around, you could do worse than this.


Trekking Poles: Cascade Mountain Cork/Flip Locks
Store: Amazon $47
Like I said here Trekking Poles are a must. Cork is good. Flip-locks a must. $47 is hard to beat.

Tent: Stansport "Scout" Tent
Store: Amazon $23.88 
Weight: 60.8 oz

I'm just enamored with the idea of this tent. It's remarkably cheap and weighs less than my Passage2, and it reminds me of the LL Bean backpacking tent that my dad bought decades ago. You could shave off even more of the weight by leaving the poles at home, and using your trekking poles in their place. I think I'd rather be in my Passage2 if it were raining cats and dogs out, but this should keep the raccons from cuddling with you and hopefully keep you dry outside of monsoon season.

This is the same tent that was on the last iteration of my list, and I don't think you're going to find a tent cheaper than this. If you want to go cheaper and lighter, we start talking make-your-own gear shelters out of Tyvek and Dropcloths. which IS an option, there are ultralighters who do entire scenic trails with little more shelter than that.



Sleeping Bag: Kelty Cosmic Down 41 Long
Store: Amazon $87.17
Weight: 35oz

Same essential bag I recommended last time, but now for cheaper!  Where weight and warmth are a premium, Down is a must. Kelty's Cosmic Down line is a great entry level option, and my own hiking bag is a 2014 closeout Cosmic Down 20 Long I picked up at Scheels Sports in the local mall. I can vouch for these bags, and the 20 is almost TOO warm for me, particularly in the summer. the 41  ought to cover most people's three-season camping/hiking needs.



Sleeping Pad: Blue Closed Cell Foam Pad
Store: Wal-mart for roughly $10
Notes: Cannot find online
Weight: 7.5 oz

For whatever reason, Wal-Mart's online selection and their camping section at every store I've been to, have been in no way similar. I can't in good conscience recommend any of the ones I see on Amazon. I use one of these myself. My car camping self inflating insulation pad is a lot nicer to sleep on, but it's far far more bulky.



Item:  Bacon Grease Strainer used as Cooking Pot
Store: Amazon $9.69 
Weight: 3 oz (w/o strainer part)
Notes: Lightweight and Inexpensive, I keep seeing this popping up in people's gear lists. Up a few cents from before, but still quite affordable. Bring a pot lifter


Item:  Pot Lifter
Store: REI $1.93
Notes: Goes with the Grease Strainer. Needs a handle. Marked down since last time! (might be clearance now)


Item:  Canister Stove
Store: Amazon $7
Notes: Same stove I'm using. Wholly endorse this. Highest price to satisfaction ratio of almost anything I own.
Weight: 3.7 oz
Weight: 2 oz


Item:  Sawyer Mini Water Filter
Store: Amazon $19
Notes: Save on shipping by buying locally if you can find it for a comparable price. If you're in appleton, try the east side wal-mart. Consider pairing with Aquamira or Potable Aqua for thorough purification.
Weight: 6.4 oz


Item:  10L Food Bag
Store: REI $9
Notes: Combine with Paracord, Carabiner and Stick and you can use the PCT Hang on the bag and prevent Yogi from getting into your pick-a-nick basket.
Weight: 1.7 oz


Item:  Morakniv Companion
Store: Amazon $16
Notes: a basic, reliable, inexpensive knife. If you want something heavier duty, I recommend the Buck 110 folding or Buck Pathfinder 105 fixed blade knife.
Weight: 4.1 oz


Item:  Sea to Summit Alphalight Spork
Store: REI $9
Notes: I'm still quite happy with mine. Puts up with a good deal of my abuse with nary a sign of wear.
Weight: 0.4 oz

Make Your Own Gear: "Super Cat" stove

I'll bet you guys haven't seen enough stoves yet, have you? If $6-8 and 3.7oz is too decadent for you, then find a cat to feed, pick up a 3.5oz can of cat food, a hole punch and a bottle of HEET. Should run about $3-4 total at wal-mart. I followed the directions here, which really couldn't be simpler. Just punch a ring of holes spaced about the size of a hole apart below the lip, and then punch a second ring of them offset

And that's pretty much... it. the stove is ready. Fill it to just below your second line of holes with alcohol. I picked up a bottle of HEET to be my fuel, but you can use other alcohol sources if you find them cheaper. 

I lit it with a match, and it was hard to tell, at first, if it was lit at all. This is not a stove for the careless, clumsy or uncautious. The page that I was following directions from suggested keeping your pot off until it warms up, but I found that it seemed to work better if I had the pot on top from the start. It boiled water in an acceptable amount of time, filling it to the second line of punches seemed to be enough fuel to get the water to a rolling boil, and it was almost out of fuel when I took the pot off. 

Now, it might just be the bottom of my pot, or that this was the first burn from the stove, but the stove didn't want to let go of the pot when I first went to take it off. Second, this also seems to be a case where you'd want a pot, and a separate pot lifter, the integrated handles on my titanium pot got pretty hot from the flames licking them. Third, if you were preparing a knorr meal with this, you'd probably find yourself having to refuel at least once, if not twice. If all you're doing is boiling water for a bag meal though, you'll be fine. Fourth, I made the mistake of testing it on the barbeque grill. Figured if anything went wrong it could burn safely in there. Well, I couldn't use my 5oz can to snuff it out at the end since it was on the bars. Fortunately it burned itsself out in short order. One good thing about the limited fuel supply. You'll also benefit from using a lighter rather than a box of matches.

So what's the verdict? This stove is as light and as cheap as you can practically get. The fuel is abundant and inexpensive, and you can even use everclear/moonshine if you want your fuel supply to double as a luxury item (though that'll cost a lot more) (also, don't drink HEET). It gets the job done with a minimum of cost and weight. I can see why the toothbrush-drilling crowd loves them. Personally, I think I'm going to stick with my $6 canister stove or my biolite as my first choice in stoves. I might try doing a version of this on the 5oz can, using a wider pot, see if that burns longer.

GEAR REVIEW: North Face Cool Breeze Hiking Shirt (PhotosPending)

On my travels last summeer, i fell in love with the Gander Mountain Guide Series convertible pants. But, it occurred to me on my adventures that I was still wearing the same old t-shirts I'd always worn, and those weren't ideal for hiking conditions. Wet Cotton is not very friendly in adverse conditions save for perhaps the desert where you can count on evaporation cooling. I distinctly remembering being absolutely miserable in my shirts some years on car camping trips. Normally I love high temperatures and high humidity, but the real key things there are (1) I like not doing anything in those conditions, and (2) I wear as little as possible. Not really the sort of conditions you'll encounter on the trail.

So, before Bob and I went off to Flint Ridge near the Klamath, I stopped at a local outfitter. Browsing their shirts, I found some rather nice ventilated shirts from The North Face. I'd been hoping for something that zipped open at the elbow, the shirt equivalent of my convertible pants. No dice.  But close enough, I found these north face shirts had a button to pin a rolled up sleeve  Just below the shoulders, but above the chest pocket, they have hidden vents beneath a fold, that lets the shirt breathe. Much like the nylon pants, these shirts are very lightweight. a bit pricy though, I'm astounded how much some of this clothing can cost. Lucky for me, I found one left, in just the right size in a tan/khaki color at Scheels on clearance for like 40% of the cost I paid for the first. Score.

Pretty much everything I listed as an advantage of the convertible pants holds true for these cool breeze shirts. They're lighter weight and quite well suited to many of the conditions you might encounter on a backpacking trip. You'll probably want, as with the pants, to have a base layer option because while they block the wind, layers are important when you want to stay warm. I don't often get this excited about a shirt with buttons... actually, I don't often get this excited about any sort of clothing, but I'm quite fond of these shirts. Definitely recommended.

Cheap & Light Gear List Suggestion

Sample Light and Cheap Base Gear List:

Item:  Jansport Katahdin 50L Backpack
Store: Campmor: $50
Notes: This is as inexpensive as you're going to get brand new. The Jansport pack seems a serviceable pack for someone who doesn't want to invest in a high-end pack.As always, the most important factor with a pack is that it fits *you*. Consider checking out the REI Garage Sale instead. Last time I was there, I saw a bunch of packs.
Weight: 33 oz

Item:  Alpika Taiga3 Tent
Store: Ali Express: $61 shipped. 
Notes: Untested chinese made tent aimed at the russian camping market. Remove the included poles, Replace with adjustable length Trekking Poles. Picked this one as it reminds me of Bob's old tent. Or go prowl the next REI Garage Sale and hope you find a good deal on a tent. Seriously, you're probably much better off trying for a deal at REI.
Weight: 77.6 oz

Edit: Forget that!
Item: Stansport "Scout" Tent
Store: Amazon $23.88
Weight: 60.8 oz

Item:  Kelty Cosmic Down 40 Sleeping Bag
Store: Amazon: $104
Notes: You can spend a little more to get the Kelty Cosmic Down 20, which worked quite well for me, but you can shave off a little money by going with the Cosmic Down 40.
Weight: 31 oz

Item:  Closed Cell Foam Pad
Store: Wal-mart $10
Notes: Cannot find online
Weight: 7.5 oz

Item:  Bacon Grease Strainer used as Cooking Pot
Store: Amazon $9.41
Notes: Lightweight and Inexpensive, I keep seeing this popping up in people's gear lists.
Weight: 3 oz (w/o strainer part)

Item:  Pot Lifter
Store: REI $4
Notes: Goes with the Grease Strainer. Needs a handle.
Weight: 2 oz

Item:  Canister Stove
Store: Amazon $8
Notes: Same stove I'm using. Wholly endorse this.
Weight: 3.7 oz

Item:  Sawyer Mini Water Filter
Store: Amazon $17
Notes: Save on shipping by buying for $19 if in appleton. Consider pairing with Aquamira or Potable Aqua for thorough purification.
Weight: 6.4 oz

Item:  10L Food Bag
Store: REI $9
Notes: Combine with Paracord, Carabiner and Stick to hang the bag and prevent Yogi from getting into your pick-a-nick basket.
Weight: 1.7 oz

Item:  Morakniv Companion
Store: Amazon $16
Notes: a basic, reliable, inexpensive knife. If you want something heavier duty, I recommend the Buck 110 folding or Buck Pathfinder 105 fixed blade knife.
Weight: 4.1 oz

Item:  Sea to Summit Alphalight Spork
Store: Amazon $12
Notes: good for getting to the bottom of mountain house bags without slopping all over your knuckles.
Weight: 0.4 oz

Base Gear Weight/Cost: 157.2oz / $263.88

You will also need:

Simple First Aid Kit - Recommend something basic, small bandages and anibiotic ointment. Ducttape, Painkiller, and Allergy pills

Clothing & Storage -  Recommend among other things a cooling shirt, convertible pants, lightweight wool socks, compression bag. Stay away from cotton.

Expendables such as Food & Gas - Recommend Mountain House Entrees, Backpacker's Pantry Desserts, Knorr Rice and Salmon Packets. Also obtain some energy or candy bars, trail mix or other snack food to keep energy and morale up. Other expendables include gas canisters for around $5 each.

Boots or Trailrunners - Footwear is an intensely personal choice, Personally I prefer a boot, but there is a growing school of thought that prefers the lightest footwear they can field.

Trekking Poles - If you're not using them as tent poles, try grabbing ski poles from a garage sale. If you are and need them adjustable I recommend the REI Traverse series.

Headlamp - Just pick up a $10-20 headlamp from wal-mart or a hardware store.

Compass and Map

This is not a comprehensive list to give you everything you'll need. But starting with all this would get you out on the trail for a minimum of cost.

Post-Trip Wrapup: IAT SAFL/WR/HCSP

So, part of this hike was to test my equipment. It served as a good shakedown run. By in large I'm quite happy with my purchases.

Vasque Breeze Boots? A+ But we knew these were awesome boots already.

Gregory Baltoro 65L Pack? A+ And while we knew this pack was incredible, my estimation of it improved as I found a use for the hip pockets.

Canister Stove? A+ this stove would be fair at the $20 price I saw it for at wal-mart, to say nothing of the $6 I paid.

MSR Sweetwater Purification System? A+ I felt totally safe drinking from the water sources available to me with this purifier.

REI Trekking Poles? Ah, Complicated. Given that one of the poles began to fail in it's primary task, only 3/4ths of the way through, I'm tempted to give it a D- for the day of. But they proved so handy earlier in the day that I'd soften that to a C- for the day of. Upgraded to B+ after getting home and tightening them properly. I don't nudge it higher because that necessitated a philips screw driver to tighten them, and my Nite-ize multitool's slotted screwdriver blade wasn't enough.

Columbia Neck Gaiter? A++ Best New Gear. Keeping my head comfortable, this was an unexpected Rock Star.

REI Vented Explorer Hat? A++ would hat again. Review Pending.

50oz Camelbak? A- Could be larger. Should be larger. Why didn't I buy Larger?

Buck 110 folding knife? A+, but I didn't really need it for much this trip.

REI Passage 2 Tent? A. Totally happy with the tent, but it did add weight to my gear load, and the hammock would have been lighter. Still earned it's A rating for simple design, durable construction, spacious interior (I can sit up! Bob can't do that in his old tent) and keeping the raccoons of of me. Someplace busy like Hartman Creek, I worry that in my hammock, I might wake up cuddling one.

Lensatic Compass? A++, Super glad I brought one. I had thought "oh, the trail's pretty well marked, why would I need a compass?" Definitely needed a compass. Not so much on the trail as on the roads, FINDING the trail, but still, invaluable.

Titanium Pot and Aircraft Aluminum Spork? A+ and A+ They do exactly what I need.

Mountain House Chili Mac? A+, an old favorite
Mountain House Chicken Dinner? A++, a new favorite.
Alpine Aire Bananas Foster? A++ Delicious Dessert.

So, that's what I DID have. What did I want, that I didn't have? I think next time I might bring my camcorder. What I wanted most was company. Someone to chat with, to share the hike with, would have been excellent. I think I need some trail mix (the kashi coconut trail mix is excellent) or some gorp of some sort. Also some manner of fruity, sugary boost for the end. For cognition and morale as much as energy. I'm thinking maybe a Larabar or two. Their cherry pie bar was pretty much "cherries and nuts" but man, that would have hit the spot at that point. What did I have that I didn't need? Not much! I probably could have gotten away with not having my Columbia Polar Fleece shirt/jacket thing... but it weighed little enough and was a comfort at the beginning and end of the trip. Made a good pillow too.

But, this hike wasn't just a test of the gear, it was a test of the hiker. And how do I feel I performed? I'm pretty happy with this as first outings go. I'm still essentially a Level 1 backpacker, which feels weird, since I'm pretty much an Epic Level car camper. I could have done without the morning coffee, I think. Being so active, I got the caffeine shakes pretty bad. I learned my lesson about finding a filtering site.

I think, overall I deserve a B+ for my hike. I need to be in better shape, need to toughen my feet up. I didn't do things perfectly, but I'm still very happy with the outcome.

GEAR REVIEW: Columbia Omni-Freeze Zero Neck Gaiter

This was the surprise rockstar of my recent Ice Age Trail Hike. A Thrift-store find gifted to me by my mother, I had never even heard of a neck gaiter before I was given it. But damn am I impressed with it! The Columbia Omni-freeze line seems to be cooling-oriented, so it's weird that I'm so enthusiastic about it. But those of you who know my love for heat, know that I also tend to be lazy in heat. And normally, I'm very fond of being lazy, but it's at odds with my purpose while hiking. While my neck remained fairly dry, I can think of cases where I'd appreciate it for sun cover. How I used it on this hike was to keep my head from drenching me with sweat. I wore it like some cross between headband and bandanna underneath my REI Explorer hat, and it did a marvelous job wicking the sweat from my brow and evaporating it. I worked far harder on that hike than I have in some time, to the point where I had salt lines on my face when I finished.

It's a very versatile garment, in addition to covering my neck, and serving as a headband, I can see using it to cover my mouth on a cold morning start, or if for some reason of dust or smoke I wanted a filter over my mouth. While I'm hiking I probably shouldn't sleep in, but if I need something to cover my eyes, it'd serve pretty well as a blindfold. You can either rely on it to wick sweat and evaporatively cool you, or if that's not enough you could drench it and let it evaporate the absorbed water for greater cooling. The fit around my neck is pretty loose unless I bring it up around my chin. (also good for feeling like some sort of beige ninja) and after a minute or two of wearing it on my head I tend to forget that it's there. It's thin so it fits easily under a hat as well. I'm so pleased that I'm entertaining getting a second.

Would I recommend it? Heck yes! If I've piqued your interest, why not head on over to Amazon and pick one up? I bet you'll be as happy as I am!

GEAR REVIEW: REI Passage 2 Backpacking Tent

Boy, I just love REI's tent design. You've already heard my feelings on my REI Base Camp 6 car camping tent. So recently when we attended the REI Garage Sale in Madison, I took a look at the backpacking tents. I didn't particularly NEED one, I have a Hammock, and a Car Camping Tent, and though I have a lot of complaints about the quality of my hammock's accessories, it worked pretty well for me when I camped in it at Flint Ridge. But I wanted to see what they had. Lots of them were fairly expensive even after the generous discounting that the garage sales imply, and I'm sure they were fine tents... but I was looking for a tent on the cheap. I checked tag after tag, and had gone through most of the tents, seeing $300 tents marked down to $150. $400 down to $200. I was about to head back into the ramp and find Bob when I saw it, a REI Passage 2 tent, normally $160, marked down to $50.

I packed that tent up lickety split! The tag that explained the return reason claimed that the poles were bent. Either REI replaced the bent poles and never updated the price, or the reason given was bologna. The banter I had with the REI employee nearby seemed to indicate that a lot of the reasons were. Bagged up what looked like a perfectly fine tent, grabbed the boots I was buying, and made for the checkouts. When I set it up at home, I found that it WAS 2 stakes short, but those are a trivial addition to the purchase price. We picked up a pair of Coghlan Ultralight stakes at wal-mart for $0.76 each, but I don't have anything impressive to say about them. I accidentally kicked one and it bent. It did come to me used, and you can tell this tent has seen a number of adventures. The mesh shows a little wear, there was some grit inside, the exterior looks a little weathered. Those 'bent' poles are immaculate. The rainfly is in great shape. The bag holds everything fine, though the webbing straps that tighten it don't like to stay snug (that's okay though, we have Gear Ties for that.

It's not an ultra-light tent, though if you combine the rainfly, Poles and footprint and leave the tent at home, you can use it as a very lightweight shelter. I'll take the extra weight and use the full tent. Set-up is super fast, you just plug the poles into the grommets in an X shape, clip the tent to it and sling the fly over, socketing the fly's grommets into the pole-ends on the bottom. Stake it all down and you're done. 5-10 minutes when you're first figuring it out. 15 minutes when every step you take, every move you make aches like hell. And then you've got shelter. Easy peasy.

Spent the night in the tent after my 12.5mi jaunt down the Ice Age Trail this Tuesday. Like I said above, setup is a little slower when you're in pain, but it's still easy. It's good that it is simple to put up, because after 7 and a half hours on the trail, my mental capacity was way down. Didn't bounce back until after dinner and two desserts. So, setting up a tent while tired, hurting and derpy is not a good situation for complicated designs. I've gotta say, Thanks REI for making such an easy to pitch tent. Ventilation was good, I left the vents at the top open (and you can move the door zippers to their upper most position and open them wide enough to get a hand out , if you need to open/close the vents from inside the tent.) and it got kinda chilly in the tent but I didn't have to worry about everything being soggy from condensation.

Would I recommend this tent? Based on what I've seen so far I definitely would. You can get lighter, but I'd wonder about their sturdiness. You can probably find sturdier, but I can't imagine they'd be any lighter. This one sits comfortably in the middle of weight and durability. The retail price is hard to beat too, I don't think you're going to find many worthwhile tents cheaper than $160. If you're not an ultralighter and you're looking for a backpacking tent, I say head over to REI and pick one up!

Wish List: Inexpensive Canister Lantern

Now, I'm not certain how useful it'd be, or if it'd be worth it's space and weight... Likely, I suspect that I'll be better off calling it an early night, using my headlamp if I need to be active in the dark, and that my fuel is better off used for cooking than illumination... but there's something about this Canister Lantern that appeals to me. Car camping I'm accustomed to having my coleman stove and my coleman lantern. backpacking, I have several stove options that you've already seen my reviews of... but no real lantern options. I've seen some battery lanterns, even little LED ones that'd take up very little space... but they just don't call out to me the way this does.

I found this on Amazon when I got curious if there were any such devices after writing my Coleman Lantern Review. REI has a Snow Peak (same people who made my titanium pot!) Canister Lantern for $75. Which is surprisingly expensive. Even the less expensive Amazon Option is pricy at $20 relative to the stove I picked up for $6. But I'll take $20 over $75, no questions asked. The reviews seem to indicate that it's as much a radiant heater as a lantern, which makes me think this might be more worthwhile in adverse conditions/colder weather than something I'd need on a summer hike. Unsurprisingly, it indicates they're a bit of a fuel hog too. 

Probably not NECESSARY gear, but it'd be neat to have and try out at least. For now, I've got better things to drop $20 on. For now.

GEAR REVIEW: Gregory Baltoro 65 (2014)

One of the difficulties in properly reviewing this equipment is that to get the full impression of how gear handles, you need to use it out in the field. And some times, as in the case of this pack, that ends up meaning that you deliver a review for the 2014 edition of a product in 2015. (Also, I didn't blog about this sort of thing back when I first bought the pack.)  I can as a result though, tell you that I am very happy with this bag and it's performance in the field. I can tell you that I know that it fits, but just barely, in most Amtrak overhead storage. You'll have to contort the waist belt a bit to squeeze it in, and you'll have to detatch the gear-tied-on foam roll, but it'll fit up there! Really though, take the foam off before you board, it'll barely make it up the train's stairs. I lived out of this bag for a month, in which I camped, hiked, partied and traveled by train. And the bag did not disappoint.

First, the small flaws in the bag, most of which have been resolved in the 2015 edition. What bugs me the most, is the pitifully small waist belt pockets. They're tiny! I keep a ton of junk on my keyring, and I can barely fit my keys into one of them. I'm not certain what the designers had in mind here, but it sure wasn't anything of substance. Fortunately, I have heard from a redditor with a 2015 version of the pack, that the pockets are more useful on the new edition. I'm jealous! Second, the trekking pole stowage is pretty much inaccessible while wearing it. There are velcro loops included on the back of the pack to attach your poles. You might even be able to reach them while wearing it, in order to disengage them. But you won't be able to put the poles back in, unless you've got arms longer than mine, and a wicked case of double jointedness. Again, I have it on authority that for 2015 they've switched to a system that lets you stow your poles at your waist. This was a feature I thought worthwhile on the pack I thought I was going to buy, the Osprey Aether. So, I'm impressed that Gregory has improved their pack since I bought mine, and a little jealous of the 2015 buyers.

One thing that doesn't seem to have changed, is that if it still has a pocket for a hydration pack (like a Camelbak or Platypus bladder) that it's still an internal one. One thing I liked about the Osprey Aether was that it kept the hydration pouch in a space created by the mesh suspension that keeps the pack from riding directly against your back. This seemed like a better place for it, since then my gear wouldn't be pressing against the bladder and making it difficult to get the bladder in and out of the bag.The work-around is that I'll probably just wind up pumping water directly into the camelbak hose, and refilling the bladder that way.

One thing that HAS changed, is that now the Baltoro series comes with an integrated pack cover. I'm not certain how to feel about that, if it got punctured or otherwise compromised, it'd become dead weight, or require me to replace the pack. I just obtained a separate gregory-made pack cover (their Large size seems to fit the Baltoro 65 well) and that would be independantly replaceable in the event of a problem. But, I also had to pay extra for it, whereas the integrated one is built in to the cost of the bag, and a guaranteed fit, too.

I can tell you though, that the pack still feels great even loaded down with 50lbs of gear and provisions. I can tell you that if you have to stand by the doors, waiting to load onto a train you arrived just in time to queue up for, that you will not regret buying this pack. I can also tell you that if you DO miss a train, and have to ride a little shuttlebus from Portland to Eugene, that the bag does take up roughly the size of another person, which could be good or bad, depending on if you want to monopolize a row all to yourself and have something to lean your head against as you fall asleep. And it wears just as well on the 20 minute hike from parking to campsite at Flint Ridge. Even with everything I was carrying, the bag felt like an extension of my body.

Fitting all that gear in did necessitate the use of a couple of compression bags. I picked up a couple of Sea To Summit large compression sacks, the blue colored ones. I used one for clean clothing, and another for dirty, but I've since heard a suggestion that I think I'll employ in the future, to put the clean clothes first into a trash compactor bag, and then put that into the compression sack, to help keep the clean clothes dry and clean. Then put the dirty into either a second bag, or loose in the same compression sack. Either way, I've got two for whatever I need. There's a bottom compartment that's just the right size for a Kelty Cosmic Down 20, or a Polar Fleece Sleeping bag. I have a hard time imagining, even in a compression sack, fitting in my big synthetic cold weather bag. The lower compartment is partitioned with a small nylon separator, but with that out of the way you can also access it from the top down, in addition to the exterior zippered access they provide. There are two side pockets, but they tend to expand into the pack itsself the more you put in them. If I grow sick of the interior pocket provided for my camelbak, I can however fit the bladder in one of them pretty easily. There's an exterior pouch on the back of the pack suitable for smaller items, and it does not impinge so badly on the interior space. A mid-level zipper arrangement allows access to the pack without removing the lid, with the zippers running around the sides of this rear pouch. As I mentioned before, there are also loops on the back and on the bottom for attaching additional gear, and there are ice axe/trekking pole velcro attachements that I don't think terribly highly of. I was able to use the exterior loops to gear-tie on my Foam Roll, and the adjustable exterior straps just outside the sleeping bag compartment were the right size to attach a rolled up L L Bean tent my Dad had purchased in his backpacking days.

Additionally, there's a two-compartment lid segment, that can be removed to serve a fanny pack if you have someplace to go, but don't want to carry your whole bag. a belt stows in the underside of the lid when not in use. The main compartment is accessible by reaching over your shoulder while wearing the bag, making it a good place for your phone, your maps, a knife, anything you might need to access without taking the pack off. Adjustable straps allow you to fit something in between the lid and the bag if you wish, and similar straps allow you to tighten the sides of the bag to keep the contents in place. There is a clip on the chest buckle that holds your hydration pack's mouthpiece nearby.

I've yet to take it on a 10-20 mile trail day, and perhaps I'll learn some new things about it when I do but I feel confident that it is more than ready for the experience. Also of note is that since I have the Large version of the pack, the volume is closer to 68 liters than the advertised 65.

Would I recommend it? I'd definitely recommend trying one on! It would have to fit you well, to get my full endorsement. Mine fits me great, but don't let that stop you from finding YOUR backpack the right way.

Gear Review Update: $6 Canister Stove

Just thought I'd make a quick post with an update on the $6 Canister Stove. It has been working quite well, doing a great job at helping me prepare many of these trail meals I've been testing and today I found myself in a wal-mart across town as I drove home from visiting a client. I stopped in to pick up a hydration reservoir cleaning kit. I found that the East Appleton Wal-Mart has a camping section that's twice as good as the one out by the Fox River Mall. And what I also found was a familiar face! Right there on the shelves was a stove that was IDENTICAL to the $6 stove I reviewed here. The only differences were the carrying box(a slightly different green plastic box), Sterno branding, and a $25 price tag. Same leg design, same piezo igniter, same burner.

If you're in a hurry you could pay for the privilege of getting it fast, but me, I'd say just buy one now on Amazon. I mean, it's $6, why not?

GEAR REVIEW: Ozark Trail Closed Cell Foam Pad

Not all of the gear I have, or will ever have, is super glamorous or expensive. Sometimes there is no need for it to be. Take my foam roll for example. You can actually spend quite a bit on one of these, but you will have an incredibly difficult time making me think that it's worth spending more than the $10 it would cost you at wal-mart. I suppose you could make an argument for wal-mart not being a very nice company, and I'd have no argument there... but as little as I like the corporation behind them, I have a hard time justifying spending 150-600% of the price I paid for a simple roll of foam simply on principle. If that sort of thing bothers you, this special buy at REI would be a good alternative. $14 while they last!

The purpose of a closed cell foam pad in your camping kit, is to insulate. It also serves as a little bit of padding, but your body weight (or at least mine) will compress it enough that it only has a minimal padding effect. But all those little bubbles in the foam hold air inside them, and this prevents the ground below your tent, or the wind beneath your hammock, from sucking the heat out of you. Open Cell Foam would do this as well, but there are a number of reasons NOT to use open cell foam for this. First of all, it is basically a sponge. It'll suck up water and hold onto it. Not something you want to lay on, and not good for the conditions you're likely to be in. Second of all, having dealt with open cell foam in various applications (halloween masks, these old rolls of it we had for sleeping on, various cushions and upholstery) it gets old, and it gets dry and it breaks down. If you get even a speck of the dust that they make when they get old into your eye, it is an awful thing. NOT something I want to sleep on.

There are more advanced pads that fold up squarely, or have dimples/eggcrating, but in my experience none of that justifies the added cost of them. They all pack up to roughly the same size, they all weigh about the same, the primary differentiation is on cost.

Would I recommend it? Yup! It's a good deal on a simple, humble piece of equipment. Anything more expensive and all you're buying is dubious bragging rights. Final note, if you have to travel by amtrak with this, attach it to your backpack vertically, it will just BARELY fit horizontally through the staircase. and be prepared to fast-detatch it to fit your bag above in the luggage rack.

Potato-quality shots of mine in my hammock at flint ridge:

Gear Tied, Vertically to my pack (high cliff state park):

GEAR REVIEW: Military Surplus Alice Pack (Large)

I picked this up long before I started thinking about backpacking. I was just browsing the Military Surplus aisle at Fleet Farm, drawn in by the ammunition boxes they had displayed there. But $40 seemed a good deal for such a large, heavy duty backpack. So I jumped on it, just like that!

It's not really ideal for a long through hike though. By backpack standards it's heavy. And it comes from an age before ergonomic considerations were made for the guy who had to wear the pack. The waist support is somewhat rudimentary, and I didn't even figure out that it HAD waist support until I'd owned it for a few years. The webbing belt is just a little bit too short for me to wear comfortably, but it might work better for someone else. Due to its age, it pre-dates the MOLLE attachment standards, so there's a whole world of attachments that a newer military pack can take advantage of, but the ALICE misses out on.

It's nice and big though. Real big. And covered with pockets, thus lessening the need for those attachments. And these pockets are quite generous in size, I can fit my whole BioLite stove into one of them. That means it'll also take a good sized nalgene bottle or similar device. The interior is only divided into two different compartments though, an upper interior pouch and and the roomy main compartment. The Large Bag is probably capable of carrying way more equipment than you need or is good for your back, though you may want to pack it in compression sacks or gear bags to better segment and protect your load. The Medium bag is really more like a small bag with good PR, and I highly recommend seeking out the large bag instead. The main compartment closes with a drawstring, and then a flap covers the drawn aperture. Despite not being a MOLLE compatible bag, there's plenty of room to attach to the frame or bag with gear ties or similar.

The big reason I'm loathe to use mine is that my back and the frame don't quite agree right. One of the supports presses into me in a way that just isn't something I'd want to deal with while hiking for 20 miles in a day. Its great though, if I only have to go for 20 minutes to an hour, or if I need the storage capacity. And for the price, it's pretty nice. a MOLLE II bag or ILBE, more modern bags (themselves rough and tumble cousins of the modern hiker's bag) run over twice what I paid for the Alice. That said, $100-150 is cheap next to some hiking packs, and certainly a worthwhile consideration for someone who wants to get outfitted without paying REI prices.

Would I recommend it? For certain situations I would. If you need a bag to get from X, to Y and stay there, it's good. If you need a big bag, cheap, I would. If you're a masochist and don't want a more ergonomic bag, it'll do. It's not ideal for backpacking though. If you need a backpack that you can drag through hell, it'll answer the call.

TRAIL MEALS: Mass Review of Freeze Dried Bag Meals

Rather than trickle these out one article at a time, and thus inflate my post count, I thought I'd do a more comprehensive writeup. I've been testing a bunch of these, left and right, in the field, on a train, or just when I'm too lazy to do something more involved. I really love the concept. Freeze Dried meals in a bag have an appeal to me I can't quite explain. Not only am I fond of them for their intended purpose on the backpacking trail, but I also think they work great for eating like a king aboard an amtrak train. You can get water hot enough to prepare them from the cafe car, and they beat the heck out of the $5 microwaved hotdogs. And when you're on the trail, not having to do dishes is an excellent thing.

Highest ranked in my esteem are the following meals. From Mountain House, their Beef Stroganoff, Lasagna, Chili Mac, Chicken With Noodles, Sweet and Sour Pork, and finally Apple Crisp. From Backpacker's Pantry, their Creme Brulee, Cheesecake, and Dark Chocolate Cheesecake. And Alpine Aire's Bananas Foster. This group are the meals that I spend all day anticipating, just waiting for it to be mealtime. Great candidates for your end-of-day meal so you've got a reward waiting for you at the end of your hike.

Next highest, what I'd rank as "Good" are the Mountain House Chicken Teriyaki (included here if you add a more flavorful teriyaki sauce. a little more lackluster if unmodified) Spaghetti (it really begs for garlic bread, my thought is to pick up some croutons and mini packets of parmesan cheese to enhance it. as a bonus these would go well with the lasagna too), Chicken and Rice, the Granola and Blueberries cereal and their Freeze-dried icecreams. I rank the icecream lower because it's difficult to eat without having it crumble apart, the granola and blueberries was good but just didn't seem deserving of the highest praise, and the Chicken Teriyaki and Spaghetti really beg for modifications to make them shine. The Chicken and Rice is tasty but could stand larger chunks of chicken. Flavor-wise it really reminds me of lipton instant soup.

I'd consider the Mountain House beef stew to be squarely middle of the road. I don't know that you could make a better beef stew but there's just something weird about the way the freeze dry process or perhaps the rehydration process effects the potatoes. They come out kinda... springy. And the uniform size of everything makes for some unsatisfying meat bits. Some manner of stronger beef taste, perhaps adding a boullion cube, maybe some dehydrated onion or some sort of gravy mix might improve the rating of this, but with so many better options I can't see why you'd go out of your way to make this better. Likewise, while I'm a pretty big fan of Macaroni and Cheese, their Mac and Cheese meal was rather... lacking. It was far better than say, EZ Mac, but fell far short of just about any other instance of mac and cheese I've ever had.

Difficult to consume were both of the Backpacker's Pantry entrees I've had, the Kung Pao Chicken and one of their asian noodle bowls. I probably ought to give something more staid like their beef stew or stroganoff a shot before I condemn their entrees entirely, but I find it difficult to work up any excitement for such prospects. I can see what they were trying for, and I think they just have too lofty gourmet goals in mind for their trail meals. They stretch beyond what magic a bit of boiling water is easily able to impart, and the end product just winds up unenjoyable. I suppose out on the trail, with a hunger kindled by a day of walking, I'd be better able to tackle one of these but even as I sit here, I find myself dreading the prospect.

If you'd like to try any of these, check your local suppliers or hop on REI's website. If you try something I haven't listed here, and there's plenty I haven't had yet, I welcome your recommendations.

Boiling water for some Mountain House at Hartman Creek

Dinner at Flint Ridge, near the Klamath River, CA:

Mac & Cheese (biolite in the background) at Van Buren SP:

Event Report: Spring REI Garage Sale, Madison WI

REI is a pretty cool company. If you've been reading, I'm sure you've heard all the praise I have for their stores. They've got one of the most relaxed return policies I've ever seen. When I joined, their policy was "Return Anything. Forever. For Any Reason." and people abused that, so sadly now it's the still very cool "Return Anything, for a whole year. For any reason." Also, some locations rent gear as well. I believe the Madison location, one of the two within driving distance for me DOES do some rentals. And what they do with all this returned gear, and some of the rental stuff, is recoup a bit of money by selling them in their garage sale. This is an all sales-final, low prices, first-come-first-serve affair.

I'd never been to one of their garage sales before, and while we were hiking earlier this spring, Bob mentioned that he'd like to go to one. Middle of this week, I happened to look at the REI Event Calendar and I saw it. Their quarterly garage sale. We had to go. And so we went! Got up at 6am and drove down to madison, arriving a little after 8am. There was already a bit of a line, and we drove towards what we thought was the back of it. I mean, we saw people lined up against the front of the building, running from the corner towards the main doors. Thought "okay, they're queued up and the front is at the doors." Nope! The garage sale was actually out in their loading dock, and I had to dash to the back of the line.

There was a bunch of really cool stuff in great shape, and some interesting some-repairs-needed items. I saw two 2014 Gregory Baltoro packs at half the price they retailed for, one a 75L bag and one a 65L bag, both looked perfectly fine. Didn't need one, I've already got one. Saw a lot of camp bedding and insulation mats, tons of shoes, a bunch of puffy jackets and clothes items, various mobile electronics, gpses and headlamps and the like. I looked at two pairs of snowshoes, but they were still way up above my incidental purchase target price. Saw a pair of trekking poles similar to mine, but with the rubber grips, only $15, but there was a reason. One of them was missing the locking bolt that held them open.

So, what DID I get? Wound up finding a slightly used but otherwise identical pair of boots to the ones I already reviewed here. There was no tag on the boots, and I had to run down an employee to price them for me. Those were $29, and I paid around $125 for the brand new ones last year. Grabbed a pair of  trail runners with vibram soles as well, for less than half their retail price. Went up to the little tent town they had set up, and saw a lot of backpacking tents at half their usual cost, but what really caught my eye was a little REI Passage 2. $50 for a tent that sells for $160 retail. Previous owner said that the poles were bent. I looked them over good, Couldn't see even the slightest bend in the poles. ... Well, other than the natural arc of them while in use. My guess? somebody felt the need to give a reason for their return, and lied about the poles. If so, they have my thanks, because I made out like a bandit!

So, after I got more than I expected to leave with, they routed me into the main store, and I found myself a wide-brimmed hat like I've been wanting, and headed for the checkouts. Expect to see more in-depth reviews of this stuff soon. For now, I've got to head outside and set my new tent up, get some pictures of this stuff! Would I recommend checking out the REI Garage Sale? Oh yeah. Enthusiastically. I really wish I'd had been aware further in advance, and could have enticed a few friends who need gear into coming.

REI Passage 2 Tent (Used):

Vasque Breeze Boots:

Hat, Packed Tent, Boots: