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Active Families: Family and Friends Flotilla 2010

Kate, Doug and Max Goodin — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 21:22:46 +0000

For the past three summers my husband and I have hosted what we call the “Family and Friends Flotilla.” Basically, we invite everyone to join us for a meandering paddle on a nearby river. That was the original idea anyway, but it’s turned into a whole lot more.

The Gathering: Stopping for our first break along the Bearcamp. (Kate Goodin photo)

It started when my husband decided he wanted us to do something fun and outdoorsy with the WHOLE family. What you don’t know is that most of his side of the family is not the outdoorsy type. So asking them to come up to New Hampshire to go camping, kayaking, and hiking required a lot of cheerleading and positive reinforcement to get them excited about the idea.

The first year we did it, I was six months pregnant, but otherwise we had no children. That allowed us to do a lot of planning and river scouting before we chose a spot to throw our relatives into the current. Still, while we felt prepared and psyched, we were a bit nervous about being responsible for the fun of the whole family, some of whom were really new to this kind of adventure.

The paddle, along the Merrimack from the put-in near the County home down to the Hannah Dustin memorial in Penacook, turned out to be a bit long for some of the group. Those on either end of the age spectrum (every year we have some in the single digits and some octogenarians) were pretty spent by the end of the day. Thankfully the insane thunderstorm that descended upon us as we took out hadn’t come any earlier in the day. As it was it was a wild climax to a great, but exhausting, day.

The first year we focused primarily on the paddling, including just a short jaunt up the (easy) Warner side of Mount Kearsarge to initiate some of the younger cousins, nieces, and nephews into hiking. It was all over too soon, and everyone had so much fun that we decided to expand the festivities the next year.

While Year One had been based at our house, with some people camping in the yard, some on the couches, some just crashed on the floor in our loft, in Year Two we decided to get everyone to stay at the Baker River Campground for several nights. We figured that would give us a lot more time for visiting around the campfire and doing things in smaller groups. Some went to the Polar Caves while others hiked Mt. Moosilauke. It turned out to be a long hike under the circumstances, i.e. after a leisurely breakfast and more visiting around the campfire, but a good time was had by a few (minus my husband not staying hydrated and totally bonking on the trail…but that’s another story). Initiating a few people into the world of campgrounds was also an interesting experience.

"The Bagel Man toasteth." You can cook almost anything on a campfire. (Kate Goodin photo)

Our paddle in Year Two was a short—maybe too short—jaunt down the Baker River, which you can read about second-hand here. While fun for everyone, last year was tough for me. No longer was my son conveniently stowed in my uterus, but he was now a boisterous and inquisitive ten-month-old who liked his extended family, but generally preferred his Mama. And the whole camping thing was a new environment. We’d done several day hikes with him, but hadn’t ventured into the realm of overnights. I know I’m probably being a wuss, but I find the logistics of diapering mixed with overnight hiking off-putting.

So last year’s flotilla saw me mostly in charge of Max and feeling pretty useless and helpless. I couldn’t really help Doug with the tent or moving boats around, and I even spent the whole river trip under a canopy with barely a glimpse of what was going on around me. It was Max’s first time in a boat and he slept most of the trip, but even when he was awake, neither of us could really see. And I was being carted down the river like some kind of precious princess, which I most definitely am not!

Still, everyone had so much fun that they wanted to know what the plans were “for next year” even before they’d left the campground. So for Year Three we went with the same basic idea again, this time paddling the Bearcamp River and staying at Whit’s End Campground in Ossipee, NH.

We only scraped bottom once...oops, make that twice. (Kate Goodin photo)

Our biggest concern as the weekend drew near was lack of water. New Hampshire has been a dry place this summer and the Bearcamp is not overendowed with water in any August. So when Doug and I visited the campground two weeks before our mid-August float, we were relieved to see that the river, while low, looked easily passable with just a little bit of negotiating. We sent out an email to all our participants reassuring them and reminding those who were renting boats to check on their reservations.

We’ve been very excited to get a lot of newbies to come play in the woods and water with us and renting a boat is the best option when you’re just getting started. All of our rentals this year were from Ski Works in nearby West Ossippee. They delivered the boats to the campground, where we put in just steps from our site, and picked them up from the northwest side of Ossipee Lake when we were done. If we’d needed them to they would have transported even the non-rentals, for a fee of $10/boat. Parking is limited at the takeout and we did consider this option, but decided there was room for our pickup and trailer along the road.

The paddle itself was an easy float downriver. We took several breaks, allowing people to switch from doubles to singles if they wanted, and kids to switch out of tubes. There was even one rope swing that had enough water below it to allow even the big guys to let their inner-Tarzan out. We saw deer tracks and one swimming garter snake which caused quite a stir, (especially when I confessed I’d tried to catch it!) but I think even the most suburban of our campers had more fun than they expected.

Look out below! (Lois Goodin photo)

For those of you with young children, wondering how all of this might work with a toddler in tow, let me reassure you. They will probably have more fun than you will. During the paddle, Max was relaxed and cool headed on the water; he sat in the middle with his Nona for a while, then took a nap. Later I took him up in the bow with me. With him sitting at my feet I was able to paddle almost perfectly. He couldn’t see too well like that, so some of the time I let him sit on the seat between my legs. Since that put his head in my way a bit, when we got out on the choppy lake I asked him to sit down. Like the trooper he is, he sat right down and we went along just fine. He didn’t even blink when a jetski gunned it right next to us and created a wave or two that came up to the gunwales.

My sand-encrusted toddler, pondering his next move. (Kate Goodin photo)

With a little planning ahead (make sure you don’t change their routines too much and be ready to let them get used to new things slowly) camping and boating with a little one are a blast. He doesn’t talk much yet, but I think Max thought these were the best days of his life. He didn’t have to come inside for three whole days and he got cleaned up for bed by playing in the river. Bliss. Most of the weekend he was a giggly blur of sand, clean only when he was actually IN the river. He was more than happy to go off and play with the older kids, and instead of spending most of my time holding a baby, I was able to have fun, relax, and do my part to help out. I just looked up occasionally to make sure my toddler was still in sight somewhere. At night he was so overtired he was literally bouncing off the tent walls and being thrown, still giggling, into the sleeping bags. When we got home he slept twelve hours the first night and more than three hours the next day.

We’ve found that one of the benefits of making a “weekend” (some arrived at the campground as early as Monday!) of it is that you can enjoy more of what the area has to offer. We still found we didn’t get to do all we wanted. I had hoped to fit in a trip to Monkey Trunks, the ropes course on Rt. 16 in Chocorua. It’s just a few minutes away from the campground and looks like a blast. For anyone wanting to take some time off from having adventures, there’s always the shopping in North Conway.

Any way you slice it, taking time to get outside with your family is always worth it. Having seen how mellow Max is in the canoe, I can’t wait to get out on the lake and nearby rivers.

A 29-Hour Complete Vacation

Tim Jones — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 19:56:49 +0000

Pitching tents on platforms helps minimize the impact at popular campsites. Freestanding tents are much easier to set up on a platform. (Tim Jones photo)

My sweetheart Marilyn and I are back from a 29-hour vacation with our friends David and Susan to a wonderful backcountry campsite. Here’s how it went.

6:00 am: Car packed the night before, Marilyn and I hit the road. Like you, we have dozens of camping options close to home, but we were headed about two hours north to rendezvous with David and Susan who came across from Maine.

8:20 am: Breakfast, Bea’s Café, Conway NH (603-447-4900), eggs, hash, homefries, country fried steak . . . fuel for the hike.

9:45 am: Park at the end of Sawyer River Road in Hart’s Location, start putting on boots, loading food and last-minute gear into packs, set trekking poles to length. We’ve got lots of good food and wine and all the gear we need for comfort. Marilyn’s pack weighs 22 pounds, mine about 35. You don’t have to count ounces on a short, overnight getaway.

10:10 am: Hit the trail for the easy mile-and-a-half hike to Sawyer Pond campsite. The trail climbs steadily but gently uphill all the way. There are no steeps, no rough sections, only a few wet patches.

Pitching a mesh-walled tent inside a lean-to shelter lets you look out at the view while you sleep protected from night-flying mosquitoes. Alas, someone else had gotten there first. (Tim Jones photo)

11:00 am: Arrive at Sawyer Pond campsite on the White Mountain National Forest. This has to be one of the more popular backcountry campsites in the White Mountains thanks to the easy trail and the spectacular view across the pond. Any time from Memorial Day through the end of foliage season, you aren’t likely to have the place to yourself.

Sawyer has a lean-to shelter which sleeps eight (sardines in a can) and six tent platforms, all first-come, first-served. We had hoped to set up our mesh inner tents inside the lean-to (mosquito and rain protection with a view), but others had beaten us to it, so we set up our two freestanding tents with their rainflies on one of the large platforms. The rest of the platforms were empty. Some blogs mention litter here, but the whole place, including the outhouse, was immaculate.

Relaxing on our 29-hour vacation. With the hike behind us and our tents set on the platform, we could all enjoy lunch. The strange-looking headgear is all part of an effort to avoid blackfly and mosquito bites. (Tim Jones photo)

11:30 am: Lunch. Bold chipmunks tried to steal from our plates. We discouraged them. Feeding wildlife is wrong.

Noon: The weather forecast had promised an afternoon shower. Right on schedule, the skies darkened and drops started pattering on the tent fly. Nap Time!

1:30 pm: With the sun back out, Marilyn and Susan lounged in camp and read, while David and I bushwhacked partway up Mount Tremont and then circumnavigated the pond through some of the nastiest sidehills, swamps (with millions of mosquitoes kept at bay by Insect Shield clothing) and hobblebush we’ve ever encountered. Great fun.

4:30 pm: Back on the trail, where we found a newly-fallen dead striped maple. Dry firewood is scarce near the Sawyer campsite, so we hauled this back and took turns sawing and splitting wood for an evening fire in the metal fire ring (complete with grill) supplied at each tent site.

5:30 pm: Wine and appetizers while enjoying the quiet and the view.

7:00 pm: Dinner (chicken, sweet potatoes and fresh broccoli in a rosemary sauce, yum!) followed by campfire and quiet conversation while we watched the sun set.

9:30 pm: Bed—warm sleeping bags on comfy inflatable pads.

A quiet hour at sunrise enjoying this spectacular view--what more could you ask for in a 29-hour vacation? (Tim Jones photo)

1:30 am: Out of the tent for a few minutes to take care of business and admire a billion stars in a moonless sky. Too chilly for mosquitoes. Fall asleep again quickly listening to the loons calling. . .

5:10 am: Up before the sun, make tea, and coffee and spend a quiet hour watching the sunrise before enjoying a leisurely breakfast.

7:00 am: Pack up.

7:45 am: Hit the trail.

8:30 am: Back at cars.

11:00 am: Home. Vacation Over

Noon: Gear and clothes unpacked, sorted and either drying or stored, ready for next trip. I’m in the office, writing this story with a fresh perspective on the world. . . . A real vacation, just 29 hours door to door. Life isn’t a stay-at-home spectator sport. Get out and enjoy!

Bug Protection

Bug suits, headnets, clothing impregnated with insect repellent. Any port in a storm when the bugs are bad. The smiles prove all these strategies were working. (Tim Jones photo)

June in the northcountry means both blackflies and mosquitoes are out in force. You may not see many around if it’s cool or the wind is blowing, but as it warms up and the wind drops, look out.

Marilyn, Susan and David are all bug magnets, I’m not. So my bug-avoidance strategy is to always stay near one of them and use a little DEET-based Ultrathon insect repellent only as necessary. They need more severe measures. Marilyn wore a top-to-toe suit of armor from The Original Bugshirt Company, which she loves since it completely protects her from both sun and bugs with a combination of mosquito-proof, high SPF fabric and mesh. Excellent product.

David and Susan had bug-repelling shirts, hats and bandanas from Ex Officio. These use InsectShield fabric which is impregnated with Permethrin. The protection is supposed to last through 70 washings. More testing needed, but they sure worked well on this trip.

Beast Protection

There’s an ongoing problem at most established campsites, not only here in the east, but world-wide. People are careless with their food, animals discover an easy new food source, become habituated, and lose their fear of humans.

In a popular established campsite such as the one at Sawyer Pond, bears and rodents after your food can be a real problem. Our neighbors used this dandy setup to keep their food safe while they were off hiking and at night. (Tim Jones photo)

Those bold chipmunks we saw at Sawyer are an example. So are the mice which overrun most backcountry campsites. We took care no food was left out where they could get it easily. Putting your food in your tent or your pack is a bad idea—nylon fabric is no match for sharp rodent teeth. Food kept overnight should be stored in sealed, hard plastic or metal containers.

Bears are a different matter. A simple screw-top jar won’t stop them. I admit we were lax on this trip about protecting our food supply from bears overnight. Fortunately, we didn’t have a problem, but we could have—even though we kept a clean campsite and put our food away in mouse-proof containers.

Our neighbors did it right, hanging their food sealed in dry bags high between trees where bears can’t get it. They had it down to a system with throw lines, biners and bags all set up. Definitely worth considering if you frequent busy, established campsites in bear country.

GEAR NOTES:

Tents:

Marilyn and Tim: REI Quarter Dome 2. Long one of our go-to tents; spacious, free-standing 2-person, 4.7 lbs., easy set up once you done it a time or two. Mesh body, big doors, good zippers, handy internal pockets, easy-on fly with small vestibule.

Susan and David: MSR Carbon Reflex 3, 5.7 lbs, Spacious 3-person freestanding tent–space to spread out for two. Easy set up, mesh body, full coverage fly, vestibules, all the bells-and-whistles. Nice tent.

Sleeping bags:

Tim: Eureka Silver City +30 synthetic, 2 lbs, 2 oz lbs. Inexpensive lightweight synthetic mummy. Second outing, impressions still entirely positive, more testing needed but it looks like this is a real value winner.

Marilyn: Coleman Klickitat +40 synthetic. Very lightweight, inexpensive synthetic summer mummy. Alas, no longer made. The Eureka Silver City looks like a good alternative.

David and Susan: A 20-year-old pair of Sierra Designs down mummies that zip together.

Pads:

Marilyn: Therm-a-rest Staytec UltraLite 3/4, since replaced by Women’s Prolite.

Tim: Therm-a-rest Z-rest, older model, replaced by Z-lite, and Insulmat Thermalite, older model, replaced by the Peak Oyl.

David and Susan: A pair of Thermarest pads; being flat and fairly wise, they’re perfect for use with the double sleeping bag.

Stoves:

Coleman F1 PowerBoost A real blowtorch on high setting with big, stable post supports, good simmer control. Piezo igniter works well most of the time

Primus Express w/piezo ignitor. Small and light, good pot support, fantastic simmer control. Piezo ignitor is the most reliable one we’ve tested yet.

Cookware:

GSI Pinnacle Backpacker Four person compact set with small frying pan. Stay tuned for a complete review.

Lantern:

At this time of year, we can’t stay up late enough for it to get fully dark!

Hydration:

Platypus Clean Stream Gravity Filter. This let us use water directly from the pond without fear of contracting any water-borne diseases. Easily supplied camp water for all four of us in just minutes without pumping. We’ve used this a couple of times now, the heavy-duty plastic “zippers” are finicky and hard to use, but despite that issue, it’s become our go-to water purifications system when we need a lot of water fast. Stay tuned for a complete review.

SteriPEN. Lightweight unit uses UV light to quickly sterilize a liter or two of clear water at a time. Perfect for fast and light hiking. Stay tuned for a complete review.

Weather or Not?: Lightning Pleasure, Perils and Safety Tips

Tim Jones — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 20:36:04 +0000

David Shedd, my partner in Easternslopes.com, and I had scheduled a quick overnight getaway to the hills to test a new tent and some other gear. In the past, we typically would watch the weather and do these overnights last-minute when the forecast looked good. But, the pressures of work and family have intensified for both of us and our schedules are less flexible. So we pick dates ahead of time and we go, weather or not.

Pitching a tent in the rain and staying dry while you are doing it is easy if you have a tarp. (Tim Jones photo)

In this case, the weather forecast looked . . . not great. A gaggle of warm and cold fronts were wobbling and lurching overhead like a bunch of toddlers learning how to walk and the weather geeks were pulling their hair out. A pre-dawn computer check said the morning would be sunny, the afternoon, evening and overnight cloudy with occasional showers. One site predicted as much as half an inch of rain and another mentioned the possibility of an isolated afternoon or evening thundershower.

A little rain isn’t a big deal if you’re prepared for it. Even if the weatherman says there’s zero probability of precip, we generally go well prepared for the rain experience. Weather forecasters, after all, have been known to be wrong.

With rain in the forecast and a tent we weren’t familiar with, we went even more prepared than usual. In addition to the brand-new 3-person Carbon Reflex 3 tent from MSR we were trying, we threw in an 8.5 x 10.5 foot waterproof tarp and a 150 feet of lightweight nylon cord. My old tarp and cords weigh almost 2 pounds. The new siliconized nylon tarps are half that weight and gain almost nothing when they get wet.

Tarps are useful when you are camping in the rain. You can pitch the tarp and set your tent up under it so the tent stays dry until the fly is on. Then, use the tarp to shelter gear that won’t fit in the tent. If your tent fly leaks, you can add the tarp over the top for more protection.

We hit our campsite and immediately strung the tarp between four trees. As we tied the last knot, the sprinkles started, so we pulled our packs underneath and set up the new tent. It’s a beauty—well made, only 5½ pounds, roomy enough for two guys in comfort and a third in a pinch, with two doors which make it easy for two people to use and a covered vestibule at each.

By the time we had the tent fully up and moved to a level, well drained spot, the passing shower had passed. With raingear ready we headed out for a little hiking. Naturally, it stayed dry . . .

It's OK to sit out on an open ledge on a cool morning after a storm, not so smart when lightning is crackling (Tim Jones photo)

It didn’t rain again until dinnertime, and then only lightly. Under the shelter of the tarp, we heated healthy venison stew on one of two the new stoves we were trying out (stay tuned for more articles on camp cooking, stoves and cookware), ate, sipped wine, listened to the wind in the trees and the sprinkles on the tarp and got ready for bed.

An hour after we hit the sleeping bags, the fireworks started, first as flickers of light on the tent fly followed by distant rumbles we could almost feel more than hear. The wind picked up, the rain intensified, and the lightning and thunder seemed to park right on top of us.

For the next four solid hours we had heavy rain and constant lightning. And I do mean constant–there was NEVER more than a second or two between flashes. Most of it seemed to be cloud-to-cloud—but at least two bolts landed within a quarter mile of our tent site, not really a comforting feeling. Still, it was an amazing show and the tent stayed absolutely bone dry inside. Did I mention that this is a great tent!

(kabachok.blogspot.com photo)

I’ve never experienced a lightning storm as intense and prolonged as this one. If the weather guys had gotten the forecast right, we’d probably have stayed home and missed a once-in-a-lifetime experience. By all means watch the weather forecasts, then prepare for worse weather and go have fun. Life isn’t a spectator sport. Get out and enjoy!

Lightning Safety

Lightning isn’t something to fool around with, but, in my opinion, it isn’t nearly as big a hazard as the weather geeks would have you believe. You’ve heard the saying: “when thunder roars, go indoors.” Well, it ain’t that easy when a storm brews up at night when you are in a tent several miles from any road. Besides, the only two people I personally know who have actually been hit—indirectly, but still hit—by lightning were indoors when it happened.

How realistic is it to worry about getting struck by lightning? Not very. According to the National Weather Service, over the past 30 years an average of 58 people die in the U.S. each year from being struck by lightning. The same agency reports roughly 20 million cloud-to-ground lightning strikes in the U.S. each year. No wonder someone getting hit by lightning makes the news

Still, I’ve had lightning strike within a few hundred feet of me nearly a dozen times over the years and I’ve actually seen both a huge pine tree and an electrical transformer being literally blown to pieces by lightning strikes, so I’m not entirely ready to pooh-pooh the possibility.

So here’s what I do when thunder roars.

I definitely don’t want to be the tallest object around, even though lightning doesn’t always strike the tallest object. If you don’t believe this, check out this storm-chaser blog for some amazing photos of lightning striking wherever it darn well pleases.

Still, if I’m on or in the water, I get to land as fast as possible. If I’m on a high hill or a ridgetop or open ledges, I head for lower ground. If I’m in the open or among very tall trees, I head for low trees or brush preferably on lower ground. Old beliefs die hard.

Other than that, I just sit back and enjoy the show, figuring that short of bolting for the car, my only option is to ride it out. The other night, with lightning snapping overhead for four hours, I was able to lay back (on a Z-Lite foam mattress which should provide some insulation from a nearby strike, right?) , watch the flickering light play on the tent fly, and occasionally doze off until a particularly loud thunderclap would wake me, usually within a minute or two of dozing off, and let me watch the show again. You don’t get that kind of experience if you run inside and hide every time lightning flashes.

How To: Incremental Camping, Learning In Simple Safe Steps

Tim Jones — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 10:05:05 +0000

Is this campsite miles from the road or only a few hundred feet? (Tim Jones photo)

Recent articles we’ve posted on winter camping have prompted some readers to write and ask “Are you crazy?,” usually in somewhat gentler terms than that. The answer is, of course, “yes!, but not completely insane.” Insanity would be to jump into cold weather camping without experience or a good mentor.

I’m a big believer in incremental learning, taking new things one step at a time. Camping is one of them. If you are new to sleeping in a tent—or are introducing someone to it—it’s probably best not to start with a six-month trek on the Appalachian Trail.

There are lots of increments to “Camping,” but the eventual goal is to be able to put all the stuff you need for comfort, hygiene and safety onto your back, boat, or bike and go wherever you please under your own power. Sounds nice, doesn’t it? It is, and here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Arm yourself with information. Find an experienced camper who can teach you. That’s absolutely the best way to learn. If you don’t know anyone, join one of the organizations that promote outdoor activities (I’ll put a resource list below.) Read books and magazines and on-line forums and articles, and visit outdoor shops where the store personnel are experienced. But be cautious about who you trust; not every self-styled expert is experienced or reliable . . . If you have specific questions, contact me and I’ll be happy to help if I can.

This campsite offers an easy access to your car, but you can't drive right to it. (Tim Jones photo)

Step 2: Assemble your equipment. I mean that literally. First gather everything on your backpacking checklist, then try everything out at home before you head out to go camping. The time to try setting up a tent or starting a stove for the first time is NOT when you need it. A wilderness campsite is also an inconvenient place to find that your self-inflating air mattress won’t hold air . . . If you don’t have equipment and can’t borrow it, consider renting. I’ve often rented gear I need but don’t have from EMS, but there are other sources including REI and some on-line companies like Lower Gear and GITTO.

Step 3: Start easy. Personally I’m not a big fan of car-access camping, but roadside campsites are (next to your own back yard) absolutely the best place to do a first campout on your own. Unless you are traveling with someone who knows what they are doing, you should always start your camping career near your car. Having the car gives you the ability to replace something critical you left at home, to get instruction replacement or repair for something that isn’t working, and ultimately, the ability to retreat if things get uncomfortable. Besides, most roadside campsite have “indoor plumbing” which allays one major fear of camping newbies.

Step 4: Leave security in stages. For your first adventure “away” from the road. I’m in favor of what I call “The Great Quarter Mile Backpacking Trip” (though a quarter mile is a totally arbitrary number). There are places in the Adirondacks of New York, the Green Mountain National Forest of Vermont, The White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire and in the North Maine Woods, and some private lands where you can camp close to but not right on the road. Again, you have the security of having your car close by and, sometimes, an outhouse for “facilities, but you still have to pack up your gear into a backpack or into a canoe or kayak and carry it some distance before setting up your camp. It’s great practice and the perfect way to start your wilderness camping career. Life isn’t a spectator sport. Get out and enjoy!

Quarter-Mile Campsites

This past winter I discovered Merck Forest in southwestern Vermont, which has a number of tent sites a short distance from roads (and a number of backcountry cabin as well). This would be an ideal place for a first “away from the road getaway

Another place is at the AMC’s Cardigan Mountain Lodge where they have campsites a short distance from the lodge itself.

The Hut Alternative

Lonesome Lake Hut was Marilyn's first overnight "camping" destination. If you want someone to love the outdoors, it's best to introduce them in stages. (Tim Jones photo)

Before she met me, my sweetheart Marilyn’s idea of “camping” was a 3-star hotel. Now she’ll happily throw on a backpack full of gear and head out overnight with me (almost) any time I suggest it. (Hint to guys who want their sweethearts to enjoy camping: I don’t suggest it unless I’m confident conditions are such that she’ll enjoy it! The same goes for older kids. Little ones take to camping as naturally as they take to mud puddles,)

But her first wilderness “overnight” wasn’t in a tent. Instead, I took her to Lonesome Lake Hut, the easiest to reach of the Appalachian Mountain Club’s hut system. There, she had the adventure of hiking away from the road, but the security of four walls, food you don’t have to carry or cook yourself, a roof, composting toilets and other people around. Hut hiking means no heavy backpack, and I highly recommend it for a “first overnight in the woods.”

The AMC huts now have some competition in Maine. Maine Huts And Trails has opened two of its planned 12 backcountry huts.

Resources

Chances are any of these organizations can help get you started in safe camping wither through an organized class or by connecting you with like-minded folks

Adirondack Mountain Club.

Appalachian Mountain Club. Note they have state and regional chapters that are a tremendous resource.

Green Mountain Club.

Hulbert Outdoor Center

If you know any others, please drop me a note.

Gimmee Shelters: Pads, Platforms and Lean-tos For Spring

Tim Jones — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 01:37:39 +0000

A game of cribbage passes the afternoon in a snug shelter on an April trip. (Tim Jones photo)

Mud season is a great time to dust the cobwebs off your gear and head out for a shakedown overnight expedition. Or a longer trek if you have the time . . .

Yes, the hiking trails are likely to be a bit muddy at this time of year, and, if you hike properly and stay in the treadway of the trail, walking through puddles and not around them, your feet are going to get wet. Bring extra socks.

During mud season, the woods are as quiet as they’ll ever be. This is an especially great time to explore some of the more popular hiking and camping spots around New England without the crowds. From the first of March until Memorial Day, you can pretty much have it all to yourself, especially mid-week. Even weekends are amazingly quiet in most places

All along the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine, for example, mud season is quiet time. In the deep south, the thru-hikers are moving north, but up here in New England most folks haven’t ventured out yet.

The View: This is the view you see when you wake up in one of the shelters in the White Mountains National Forest. At this time of year, the “first come, first served” rules at these shelters isn’t usually a problem. (Tim Jones photo)

Same is true on the Long Trail that runs the length of Vermont. The state parks in New York and Connecticut get really crowded in the summer, but not in the spring.

And across the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont and White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire, this is the quiet time. Many of the gravel roads are gated for mud season. Lots of these roads have primitive campsites along them. In the summer these places are crowded, but at this time of year you can hike in on the roads and not see another soul. These are perfect for folks who aren’t up for a long hike with a backpack so early in the season and ideal for testing out new equipment before you head out on an extended expedition later on.

Along the more popular hiking trails in the Whites and the Greens, there are established, hike-in campsites, usually with tent pads (compacted, flattened ground), tent platforms (raised wooden platforms you can pitch a tent on) and/or lean-to style shelters. In the summer, these places get lots of visitors. At this time of year, not so many.

This lean-to along the Appalachian Trail provides welcome shelter for a spring overnight. At this time of year, you can probably have it all to yourself. (Tim Jones photo)

Established sites away from the roads are especially nice at this time of year. With an established campsite, you don’t have to go looking for a place to pitch your tent. No matter how muddy the trail is getting there, most campsites will have either compacted tent pads that dry quickly as soon as the snow goes, or raised wooden tent platforms that keep you up out of the mud.

Many also have lean-to shelters which are very convenient, especially if it’s raining. Setting up a tent in the rain isn’t much fun but ducking into a dry lean-to and listening to the rain on the roof sure is . . .

I’m big on privacy, basically don’t like to camp near other people if I can help it, so I tend to gravitate toward the most remote sites where other people are less likely to show up. So even if my destination has a lean-to shelter, I always carry a small, freestanding tent with me so I don’t have to share the lean-to with others. That happens so rarely, I’m not quite sure why I bother with the tent.

If you’ve been cooped up in your house all winter, getting out and about in the spring is a wonderful thing. You don’t have to wait for summer (when the bugs are out) to go camping. Life isn’t a spectator sport. Get out and enjoy!

One Exception

While most of New England’s trails and shelters are quiet at this time of year, there’s one very notable exception. In the spring, Tuckerman Ravine draws skiers and snowboarders from across the northeast, sometimes more than 1,000 a day.

An awful lot of those folks stay in the lean-tos or on the tent platforms at Hermit Lake in the White Mountains National Forest just below Tuckerman. If you’re looking for peace, quiet and solitude in March or April, best to look somewhere else.

Downsides

Of course there are always disadvantages to anything, and established campsites are no exception.

Though most established sites will have at least one fire ring where campfires are permitted, wood is usually in short supply nearby. Plan on hiking some distance to find dead, down, dry firewood. Cutting live trees is a huge no-no.

Finally, more people mean more food scraps left around and that means critters. I’m especially wary of bears near established campsites, but, truth be told, raccoons, skunks and, especially, mice are more likely to be a problem.

Tent Notes

QuarterDome Home: A freestanding tent like this dome style from REI is easier to set up on wooden tent platforms or pads than a tent which needs to be staked down. (Tim Jones photo)

A couple of things to keep in mind about tents at established campsites:

1) If you are planning on camping where there are wooden tent platforms, a free-standing tent (one that doesn’t need stakes to hold it up) is MUCH easier to pitch.

2) Wooden platforms and gravel pads are very rough on the nylon floor of your tent. Use a groundcloth underneath your tent to protect the floor

Last year I picked up a near-ideal freestanding tent for this kind of camping situation. It’s called the Quarter Dome from REI, comes in one, two and three person configurations (the one-person is really small but incredibly light—perfect as a backup), and by today’s tent standards, it’s very high quality at a low price. Two things I really like about it: First, it has an optional “footprint” that serves as a groundcloth, protecting the tent floor. Second, with that footprint, you can set up just the fly without the tent which is great for saving weight when there aren’t any bugs around.

Resources

Here are some websites that can guide you toward a campsite:

Connecticut State Parks

Massachusetts State Parks

Green Mountain National Forest

White Mountain National Forest

Merk Forest

Appalachian Mountain Club

Green Mountain Club

Adirondack Mountain Club

Appalachian Trail Conservancy

ITP A3 EOS LED Flashlight–A Tiny, Bright Phenomenon!

David Shedd — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:38:07 +0000

A tiny miracle! (David Shedd photo)

Ask my family…I’m a total flashlight buff. They almost invariably get the latest in their stockings at Christmas. At $23, this one is a little out of my stocking stuffer price range , but I’m recommending that they spend their own money on it!

LED lights are a no-brainer for emergency kits thanks to the durability of the LED over any standard bulb, plus the dramatically higher efficiency that saves batteries. My emergency kit flashlight for a couple of years now has been the Coast LED Lenser. It’s small, light, and bright; and of course it’s waterproof. But when I saw the ITP A3 EOS at Battery Junction, I had to give it a try.

There are two versions of this light, “standard” and “upgrade”. The standard has one light level; the upgrade has switching for 3 different levels so you can choose the amount of light you want with the longer battery life of a lower level. Great idea, but in an emergency kit, simplicity rules. One more switch is one more thing to break.

In it came…I knew it was going to be small, but I absolutely wasn’t prepared for just HOW tiny it is. Take a look at the photo…it’s smaller than a lip balm! And WITH the battery, it’s under one ounce. Let me put that a different way…it’s lighter than the battery for the LED Lenser. With two spare batteries, it’s lighter than the other with no spares, and takes up less space.

Size DOES matter! (David Shedd photo)

Obviously, the performance suffers, right? Wrong. This light is better in every way. First, it’s BRIGHTER, subjectively roughly twice as bright as the Lenser. Second, the light is whiter, more like daylight. Third, the beam pattern is broader, well focused in the center, with more around the edges to cover more area.

Brighter, better beam pattern--no tradeoff! (David Shedd photo)

Final analysis…flawless. Tiny, bright, with a (removable) pocket clip to allow you to attach it somewhere and keep it from rolling, this is a no-brainer for my backpacking emergency kit(for your car, you might want to consider other options). To paraphrase Lee Iacocca, if you can find a better light, buy it!

The Air Grill “Blower”

David Shedd — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:40:18 +0000

The "Blower" in its natural environment (David Shedd photo)

Nobody ever accused me of being a minimalist backpacker. I’ve been called “strong like ox, dumb like ox” and I believe it…so, why not carry a few extra pounds? On most trips I carry the Air Grill Blower (yes, “Blower” is the highly imaginative product name). My least favorite camp chore is getting down on my knees in wet duff and trying to blow life into a fitful fire. In the fall, when things tend to get wet, it’s a miserable chore… smoke always blows back in your face, you get lightheaded from hyperventilating, and it’s inefficient . So, when I saw the Blower in the Campmor catalog for 10 bucks, I had to give it a try.

The unit is lightweight plastic, with a crank handle and a metal end so that you don’t melt it the first time you get it near the fire. Gently turning the handle produces a good volume of air that you can direct wherever you want (not that irritating my dog with it EVER crossed my mind!). WARNING: Do NOT crank hard! The lightweight construction makes it easy to strip the gears. I ruined one, contacted the company, and they sent me a replacement for shipping cost. They told me that cranking hard doesn’t increase the air volume, and they’re right. With the new one, I’ve been more gentle, had zero problems, and fires start just as well.

Okay, since I’m going to get some abuse for carrying the extra weight, let’s quantify it. On my scale…4.1 ounces. Sorry, but that’s NOT a lot of weight, particularly when I can leave some firestarters at home because of it.

Lightweight, easy to use, makes camping more pleasant, and adds a safety measure (particularly to winter camping, where a fire can be critical to comfort), I rate the Air Grill “Blower” 10 out of 10. In anything other than hot, dry summer weather when campfires are a no-no, it’s always in my backpack! Even if you’re an expert firebuilder (if you aren’t, you can learn how to be one here), this takes a lot of time, aggravation, and in wet weather, stress out of the project. If you’d like proof that I actually use it, check out the photo in the “Warm/Cold Winter Camping” article!

Air Grill also makes a product called The Inflator. It’s basically a Blower on steroids…bigger mechanism, bigger handle, you name it. From a backpacking perspective, it’s a non-starter…it weighs twice as much as the Blower, takes up a lot more space in the pack…just doesn’t make sense. However, if you’re a car camping person, or like having a fire at the beach, this thing really works. It’s not just a firestarter, but has attachments so that you can blow up beach balls, air mattresses, etc. They of course say “don’t blow up big things like air beds”…so, of course I tried that. Amazingly enough, you CAN blow something like that up. It’s nowhere near as fast as a big foot pump, but in a pinch, it’ll do. And for beach balls, or for the pillows for the air bed, it works like a charm. Party friendly, it has a bottle opener built into the handle so you don’t have to go thirsty while you’re doing that hard work of blowing up a water toy. For only $5 more than the Blower, it’s a good value for that kind of use.

Kidding Around

Tim Jones — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:40:07 +0000

While the adults sat around after dinner, 12-year-old Dan jumped at the chance to paddle a kayak beneath a dramatic evening sky. Kids are a wonderful excuse to get outdoors, and if you don’t have any of your own, you can always borrow one or two. (Tim Jones photo)

“Who wants to go for a sunset paddle before dessert?,” I asked, ever the instigator for Active Outdoors adventures. We’d just finished a grand dinner in rented house overlooking a lovely lake in Maine. There were nine of us: seven adults, Dan (who is the 12-year-old son of our friend Susan), and me.

Clearly I didn’t fit in the adult category since the adults were all willing to sit around to sip wine and talk after an already-active day of biking, paddling and walking. But I’d had to work while they were biking, so I was eager to get out. Dan was up and at the door before any of the adults even had a chance to shake their heads “no.”

We spent the next hour paddling in the evening breeze on the empty pond, admiring the dramatic play of light on clouds as the sun set behind the surrounding hills, listening to the lap of small waves and the loons warming up for their nighttime serenade. On the way back to the landing, I tried to tempt a barred owl we’d heard the night before to join in the conversation, but got only echoes in reply.

Kids and adults enjoying the outdoors together bodes well for a bright future. (Tim Jones photo)

In the dark, Dan helped me to load my kayaks on the roof of my car so my sweetheart, Marilyn, and I could get an early start home in the morning. He’s big and strong enough now to do his fair share of the work that makes play possible. At least he didn’t shirk from lending a hand when asked.

My buddy David and I have been taking Dan with us on some short adventures with an eye toward maybe doing something more challenging in the future—depending, of course, on his level of interest and ability. He recently helped us cut wood, split and stack it at one of our regular fall backpack campsites. He worked as hard as we did and earned the right to go out with us again.

Dan’s 12-years-old in physical age, but much younger in outdoor experience—he’s never spent time just roaming in the woods. But he’s catching on, learning to pay attention to his surroundings, to see hear and touch what’s really there. Those are skills that you can’t learn with headphones on and a computer or TV screen blocking your view.

It’s been a busy summer for Dan as he also got to spend some time on a working lobster boat along the Maine coast and, presumably, to learn something from that environment.

David’s also teaching Dan how to ride both road and mountain bikes. I gave him a ski lesson last winter and plan more for this winter. We’ve both shown him how to move a kayak across the water. In each case, we’re showing him the basics, letting him define his level of interest. If he decides one day to do any of these things on his own, or specifically asks to do more, we’ll take his initiative and give him the support he needs to run with it.

Right now, I’m in that awkward stage between kids and grandkids. When one of my twin sons (usually Justin) will go hiking or fishing with me, it’s as a fellow adult. I miss the days when I actually knew more than he did. So, like many adults in this situation, I’m happy to borrow a kid occasionally. Having a kid along on any adventure forces you to really think about what you are doing and how they are perceiving it. It’s good for the adult and better for the kid. Life isn’t a spectator sport. Get out with a kid and enjoy!

LOOKING AT TREES

As a means to opening up Dan’s perceptions of the world, David and I have been teaching him to identify some of the common trees in our forests. There’s a huge difference between looking at something tall and green and thinking “tree,” and looking at the same object and thinking “evergreen, short, flat, feathery needles . . . Hemlock.” Or, “smooth, silver bark and arrow-head shaped leaves . . . Beech.” It’s a big task, and a whole a new way of looking for Dan. He’s struggling with some of it, but he’s learning how to learn this stuff and we are all celebrating his successes.

If you don’t know about trees yourself, now is a wonderful time of year to learn, since the colors of the leaves will give you a big clue in helping to identify the trees of the forest. Go to your local library and take out their tree identification books. Each of them will have different features and slightly different approaches. Chances are one will work for you and that’s the one to eventually buy.

SEVEN TIPS FOR KIDS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS

12-year old Dan paddles to catch up to the rest of the group while paddling on a quiet pond in western Maine. (Tim Jones photo)

1) Choose appropriate activities. Short hikes and paddling a quiet pond are perfect ways to introduce kids to the outdoors. You want them to be challenged but also to succeed. Of course some kids are more adventuresome than others and can take on more.

2) Set appropriate goals and let the child take the lead and set the pace. It may be very important for you to get to the top of the big mountain or to the end of the long bike trail or all the way around the lake, but it may not be that important for the child.

3) Make sure the child is adequately dressed for the weather. Cold, wet, or overheated kids aren’t going to have any more fun than you would. Layers work as well on kids as they do on adults.

4) Always bring enough food and water. Kids of all ages run out of fuel faster than adults do. Teenagers, can carry their own food—and some for you, too!

5) Adequate protection from sun and bugs is a must!

6) If the weather turns sour, retreat before it gets really bad.

7) Be flexible. If you and your kid companion aren’t having fun, quit, find something else to, or try another day.

Family Fun Flotilla!

Tim Jones — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 17:49:59 +0000

Photo by Lois Goodin. Where there’s a will, there’s a way! Kate Goodin and 10-month old Max enjoyed their river float from the shade of the makeshift “Sawyer Sampan.”

Life isn’t a spectator sport, and I don’t often write about other people’s adventures. But I’m still (mostly) out of commission with an annoying busted collarbone, so I’m grateful that other people are taking up the torch, getting out and having fun. My long-time friend Kate Goodin just sent me pictures of a recent outing, and it looked like so much fun, I thought I’d share it with you.

Participating in this delightful summer excursion were Kate and her husband Doug, their son Mad Max (10 months) and 18 other members of their extended family including brothers, cousins, aunts and uncles, parents, etc., ranging in age from six to 80-something. That pretty well covers the age spectrum, doesn’t it? Kate makes it clear that these folks aren’t heroes or athletes, just regular people having fun. Some of them had never paddled a kayak before.

They started their adventure with an overnight at the Baker River Campground in Rumney, New Hampshire, which is right on the Baker River. This is a tourist hotspot with Polar Caves (one of the great “tourist trap” attractions in New Hampshire–my parents took me there and I took my kids) just across the river. There are hiking trails at the Quincy Bog Nature Center area a five-minute walk away, and the rock climbing paradise at Rumney Crags on Rattlesnake Mountain is two miles down the road. Moosilauke is 15 minutes away.

A bear hanging around the neighborhood apparently helped make the overnight more memorable for the campers from suburban Connecticut.

The Baker River, which meanders down from the slopes of the southern White Mountains to join the Pemigewasset in Plymouth. Like all rivers, the Baker changes moods according to water level. When Kate scouted it as a potential playground earlier this summer, is was high and powerful—too powerful for a Fun Family Frolic, but by the time the adventure happened, it was so gentle, their only real risk was scraping the bottoms of their boats.

Speaking of boats, a supremely motley collection of canoes and kayaks made up their flotilla, plus a couple of tethered innertubes for kids to ride in. You don’t need (or even necessarily want) fancy floats on a trip like this. As long as it gets you safely downriver, it’s perfect! Kate and Doug modified their old Sawyer fiberglass canoe with a “Sampan” top that provided shade for fair-skinned Kate and Max while Doug and his mother paddled.

Photo by Kate Goodin. Fun for all ages! Grampas and Grandmas, moms, dads, sisters, brothers, cousins, uncles and aunts, everyone can have fun on a late-summer paddle.

According to the AMC River Guide “The farther downstream on the Baker River you start, the more it becomes a leisurely float trip.” Most of Kate’s party put in from right at their campsite and paddled downriver to the Smith covered bridge, an easy jaunt for a summer afternoon with plenty of opportunities for swimming and picnicking. According to Kate, the only real challenge (other than a fussing baby) came in getting the boats out and up the large granite steps at the takeout. They could have paddled a few more miles of flatwater to an easier takeout in Plymouth.

Four of the more adventuresome in the group started farther upriver at the state rest area on Route 25 and paddled about 15 miles total including a little quickwater and a Class I or II rapid to the same takeout. Kate notes that this would be a great full-day trip to the takeout in Plymouth.

On an easy family float, there plenty of time for a picnic and a swim.

(Photo by Lois Goodin)

Summer’s winding down but there’s still plenty of time to gather friends and family to go play in a warm, quiet river. Just remember to scout the river before you plunge in. Be ready to change your plans if conditions aren’t right. And wear a life jacket even when the water’s shallow. Life isn’t a spectator sport. Get out and enjoy!

FLEET SUPPORT

If you don’t own canoes or kayaks, don’t despair. New England is filled with great places to paddle. If you need to rent a canoe or kayak, here are just a few of the many canoe and kayak liveries that’ll shuttle you to the river and put you in a boat. Have fun!

Androscoggin River, Maine: Waterville Canoe and Kayak, Bethel Outdoor Adventure Center and Sun Valley Sports.

Aroostook River, Maine: Perception of Aroostook.

Blackwater River, New Hampshire: Kayak Country.

Photo by Doug Houston

Saco River: Maine/New Hampshire: Northern Extremes, Saco Valley Canoe, Saco Bound Canoe And Kayak, Saco River Canoe & Kayak, Saco Canoe Rental, River Run Canoe Rental, and Canal Bridge Canoe Rental (207-935-2605).

Merrimack River New Hampshire: Contoocook Canoe, and Hannah’s Paddles (603-753-6695).

Connecticut River New Hampshire/Vermont: VT Canoe Touring Center, (802-257-5008).

Winooski River, Vermont: Clearwater Sports .

Deerfield River.Massachusetts: Zoar Outdoor.

Housatonic River, Connecticut: Clarke Outdoors.

Photo by Kate Goodin

DO IT SAFELY

Some quick safety rules for playing on rivers in :

Don’t dive or jump into water you don’t know.

Wear a PFD (Personal Flotation Device) when you are paddling (and swimming in heavy current).

Don’t play near culverts or dams that you could get swept into.

When you are in the water and riding a strong current, keep your feet downstream and don’t try to stand until you are in quiet water

How To: Gear Up For Camping Season

Tim Jones — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:18:50 +0000

Camping before the leaves come out is has its advantages. Sunny campsites, no bugs, no tourists!

Is this the year you start camping seriously? When you head for the great outdoors every chance you get?

There’s extra incentive for camping in these tight economic times. Other than sponging off friends or relatives, there’s no cheaper way to enjoy time away from home, than to camp out in a tent.

I can hear some of you saying “Whoa! What planet is this guy living on?!? Has he seen what camping gear costs?” Yes, some top-quality equipment can be absurdly expensive—and worth every penny. But it doesn’t have to be. More on this in a bit. . .

I get a kick out of the folks who drive a house-on-wheels-with-an-engine, to a paved parking spot with electric hookups and call it “camping.” Ditto for a trailer with all the amenities of home. There’s nothing wrong with it (if you can afford it), but if it has a TV and running water, it isn’t camping.

When I talk about camping, I’m not even really including pop-up trailers or the big tents for car-camping. Again, there’s nothing wrong with it, except the fact that it ties you to developed campsites you can reach with a vehicle.

Camping, to me, means spending at least some of your time as far away from the sight and sound of other people and civilization as you can get. I want to be comfortable when I go camping, but I also want my camping gear to be portable. Sure it fits easily in the back of the Subaru wagon, but I can also carry everything I need for comfort in my BOB trailer behind a solo or tandem bicycle, in a canoe or kayak, or on my own back in a backpack. Portable camping gear can really take you places.

Need another reason to get away from the roads? Many backwoods campsites are free. Most roadside camping spots aren’t.

Cool temps, no bugs amke early spring camping a pleasure.

There’s a wonderful stretch of camping weather coming up for the next month or so until the weather warms and the annoying hordes of blackflies and tourists come out. It’s really the perfect time of the year to sharpen your camping skills with some easy overnights (why settle for just one?), so you’re ready for the long summer and fall ahead.

If you are an experienced camper, it’s just a matter of getting the gear out, checking everything over and making a warm-up overnight Do it now, in April or early May, so you are really ready to jump in once the more traditional summer camping season begins.

If you are new to camping, the best place to begin is your own back yard or at a roadside camping area. There’s a learning curve in camping—very few people ever make it through their first few experiences without a story or two to laugh about later. You want to start someplace where it’s easy to retreat to afe, warm and comfortable if (when) something goes wrong.

If you don’t have a backyard that’s big enough and private enough for camping, start, literally, in your living room, learning to set up and break down your gear, pack and unpack it efficiently. Practice starting your stove and preparing a meal, before hunger demands it.

Watch the weather and choose a dry spell for your first outing—rain makes camping more interesting and challenging unless you know what you are doing. But do it now. So you’re ready to get out a lot when the summer comes. Life isn’t a spectator sport. Get out and enjoy!

THE BARE NECESSITIES

When the nights are still chilly, a campfire and a snug tent with a warm sleeping bag make for a perfect evening.

Human beings aren’t much different from other animals. We need water, food and shelter. Those are the essentials

When you think of it that way, a cheap tarp to keep the rain off, extra clothing and a warm blanket, some food you can eat without cooking, and a recycled bottle to carry water are all you really need.

I’ve camped that way in the past, and it’s how I got hooked on the sport. But I have to say, I prefer more comfort. I get to test a lot of gear, and if you’d like to know what I actually use, drop me a line.

For shelter, I like a lightweight, waterproof two-layer nylon tent with netting for ventilation and to keep the bugs out. I put a ground cloth (a piece of cheap plastic tarp) underneath the floor to minimize wear and tear.

Sleeping comfortably takes both a pad beneath you and a sleeping bag around you. Mummy style sleeping bags give you more warmth for less weight and bulk.

I believe warm food and morning tea are essentials for camping comfort. You can’t—or at least shouldn’t–always build a campfire, so a small backpacking stove is mandatory equipment.

And, unless you are content with car camping, you need a backpack, bike packs, canoe or kayak big enough to carry everything.

Of course there’s a lot more stuff you probably will eventually want to have. But these are the essentials to get you started and, hopefully, hooked on camping.

BORROW, RENT, BUY WISELY

Now we get to the nitty-gritty. Price. It can cost a couple of thousand dollars to outfit yourself with a top quality tent, sleeping bag and pack, plus more for any accessories.

Or, you can do it all for next to nothing. Ask around, chances are someone you know has gear you can borrow to get you started.

If you want good quality to start, but aren’t sure you want to buy, consider renting. EMS (www.ems.com) , REI (www.rei.com) and a host of local stores rent good equipment and will often apply the rental fee to later purchases.

Finally, look around for used gear. Lots of people upgrade their equipment and their old gear is gathering dust. Use the classified ads if you want to buy gear or have gear to sell.

Remember, the more you camp, the less your gear costs you per night out.