Campinglife

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Three-Season Backpacking Gear List 2022 (v2)

Three-Season Backpacking Gear List 2022 (v2)

I’ve made a lot more changes to my gear list than I had anticipated, but many of these changes have been a long time coming. This gear is for three-season backpacking and would not be sufficient in winter conditions. Some items have been included for shoulder season hiking – like the base layers – and it’s been noted that I wouldn’t normally carry them for warmer-weather hiking. What’s changed…

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july 2023

"Can I use an emergency blanket in place of a sleeping bag?"

This question comes up from time to time in the Ultralight backpacking community. So, I did a not smart thing and gave it a go. (I used an SOL XL emergency blanket for the experiment.)

My first test was in Oregon, 3 nights with a low of 45-50F temperature. Then in Washington, two nights with a low of 35-40F-ish.

My takeaway? Don't replace a sleeping bag with an emergency blanket. Even with safeguards in place, this can be dangerous.

The details below.

For my Oregon trip, I didn't bring a tent. (I generally don't unless Im expecting rain. And chances were at 5% this trip. My friend brought one though, should I need it.)

The first night, my bedding was a 1/8" EVA foam pad folded in half, over an inch of pine needles and other forest debris.

Wearing every piece of clothing with me, I was too cold to sleep. The emergency blanket was slippery. Every small shift, some part of my body came uncovered.

To increase the insulation, and hopefully hold the bag better in place around me, I put my feet in my clothing stuff sack, and cinched it closed. Then I crawled as deep as I could into my pack liner (a plastic garbage bag). And finally, I stuffed my swadled feet and legs into my backpack. It helped. But, it still wasn't a pleasant evening.

The air was saturated. I didnt sleep well. Two minutes of rain reached me through the dense tree cover. The warmth ebbed with the hours. Condensation was gathering in both the trashbag and the emergency blanket, slowly soaking into my clothing. It was leaching my heat even under the emergency blanket.

Sorry folks, I don't remember the details of second night.

The third evening was less bad. The pine needles were at least 4 inches deep. I left more of the miniature pine cones in place under my foam pad to add airpockets to trap more heat. The temperature was up, and the air was not so saturated.

For my Washington trip earlier this year, It was supposed to be 10 degrees F warmer than my last trip. And with innovations to improve the experience: a velcro taped footbox for the emergency blanket, a tent, and a Sea to Summit Max Reactor sleeping bag liner. With google at the helm and us unaware that more than one campground shared the same name, we arrived to the wrong place, hours off course. It was late, we decided to stay.

The weather here was colder and wetter than planned. The first night, I was miserably, but still tolerably, cold.

The day next day was pleasantly warm. I even gained a slight sunburn. But by the second evening, the temperatures had dropped. It was even colder than the night before. I employed all of the insulation strategies from my Oregon trip. Ideas even brought my sit pad into the liner with me. The condensation gathered, it soaked into my clothing.

By 3am, I was shivering violently. I was well-hydrated, I'd eaten through my high calorie snacks, I'd done crunches to generate extra body heat. Signs pointed towards a growing risk of hypothermia. It was time to implement the next safety guard: my friend's extra sleeping bag liner. It was silk, but it was something. If that was insufficient, the plan was to get into my friend's tent with them and their dog, and share my friend's sleeping bag.

The extra sleeping bag liner tipped the scale. But only just. I layered the emergency blanket between the two liners, and fell into a fitful sleep. (Important to point out, by this point there were no weight savings over my sleeping bag.)

Waking before the sun was fully up, I left a note and walked along the lake to warm up.

inventing a new style of backpacking called UltraHeavy where i pack not just things i know i’ll use, but things i know i’ll never use

June 2023 - a long walk with dear friends pt. 2

The Alpine Meadows "Attaché" Foodbag, weighing in at 0.6 oz. It's a Dyneema sack with a reinforced Xpac butt, built for durability where the bag falls taking down a PCT method bear hang. Translucent material makes it easy to navigate in the dark or with tired eyes.

i need to pick up backpacking as a hobby <- is watching adventurearchives on youtube again

I'm not the world's greatest at social media. It feels that I can be a bit of a fish swimming in a different direction than the proverbial school sometimes too. I’m a photographer, never a content creator. I make photographs, not content. I’m a creative person, not “a creative”. Modern wordage saying things we’ve said before? Maybe, maybe not. I just don’t relate. Maybe I’m a fuddy-duddy at 33 for feeling this way; maybe I’m protecting my personal sense integrity where I can. My hope is always to print my work (books or prints) and have it seen in such a way. I’ve been so fortunate this year to do be apart of two gallery shows, both at Cedarhurt in Mt Vernon Illinois and The Frist here in Nashville. Right now I’m toying with a few major project concepts. Been busy making a few album covers, doing some commercial work, and wrapping up a series I shot in Scotland when I have time. It’s hard to believe we are well into September, but it’s been a great year with lots of great people and projects. I’m just trying to make honest work, study photography I love, stay positive, and be a good person to the people in my life. My thoughts are don’t let social media or capitalist mentalities consume you, get off your phone, make plans to immerse yourself in time with people, the planet, experiences, and so on. That phone in your hand, that toxic email, those situations or people that made you feel unwell, don’t let these things absorb you. Look for the deep stuff in life and suck the ever living marrow out of it - adventures are not only photoshoots and thru hikes, but so are coffee dates with friends and smelling the flowers in your garden. You won’t get any of this time you are given back - make your days magic, my friends. Tha beatha àlainn! Taken at the end of a 156 mile walk across Scotland | Loch Ness | May 2023 | After this portrait, I walked Eastbound a few more miles and found a pub and an inn. Apparently, this 18th century inn hosted many including Charlie Chaplin quite a few times. Anyways, I bought myself a room, veggie curry, and a few pints. Ended up sitting with a group of older ladies from Northern England and getting a little tipsy with them. That night I fell asleep stuffing my face with Walkers Shortbread biscuits in bed. The next day I caught a bus to Inverness, and then a train back to Glasgow, the place where I began my walk.

Hyperlite Mountain Gear Camera Pod Review

Hyperlite Mountain Gear Camera Pod Review

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when someone asks me if i manage to get good sleep while camping and i go into my incredibly specific sleeping setup that allows me to sleep like a rock without fail