Tents and Tarps

First off I have no major preferences for tents or tarps.

Now that being said anything you bought at Canadian tire

or Wal-mart is not good for hiking, camping yes, hiking no.

The main reason for that is the fact these types of tents

are made of heavy fabrics, are very solid built and therefore

very heavy.  For hiking the lighter the better, though I like

to have mosquito netting and a bath tub floor.  Tarps are the

lightest and probably the easiest to setup, there are a few

places to get them, and Ray Jardine actually tells you how

to make one that is really very good.  Doing the Appalachian trail

in 2005, I used a Hennessy Hammock, hope I spelled that

right.  Now truth be told I only used the hammock 1/3 of

the time, most of the time on the Appalachian Trail I used a

shelter which were spaced about every 8 to 10 miles apart

and fit about ten people inside.  The Hammock with extras

I added totally just over one and a half pounds, most tarps

are a pound or less.  Big Agnes makes a series of tents called

Seedhouse superlight and come in one, two, and three

person sizes.  The two man Seedhouse superlight is just over

3 pounds and is a free standing tent with a nice vestibule

for your packs.  Now for Henry Shires and Tarptents.com , most

of these are tents are single walled and not freestanding and

are less than 2 pounds, come with mosquito netting and

bathtub floors.  Now the tent I purchased from Henry Shires

is the Double Rainbow , is a two person tent and is suppose to be

able to be freestanding.    I purchased the Double Rainbow for

three reasons first is its a lightweight 2 person tent

(just over two and a half pounds), second its has two entrances

and vestibules and the third reason is its suppose to be free

standing.  Now the reason I keep saying suppose to be is that

I have tried to do the free standing part with my trekking poles

and its dam hard to do and worst if the winds up and even Henry

says its more stable staked down.  If you want a really good free

standing tent buy the Big Agnes Seedhouse 2 person superlite

and trust me you will not be disappointed.  The Hennessy

hammock was okay but the reason I am not going to use it is the

simple fact I am a person who sleeps on his stomach not on my

back, when I am really tired I can sleep on my back otherwise no.

Thats it for tents, the only other thing I would suggest is watch

were you pitch the tent.  Just before I did my 2005 hike

someone was killed by a tree falling on their tent.  I, myself

had a tree fall between my hammock and Brother buzz’s tent

which were only 5 feet apart.  Now Hora pitched his tent a

few times in very nice spots up until it rained and the spot

became a lake with his tent in the middle, pitch on a bit of a

slope to avoid this.

Okay not doing a lot of typing, tonight’s blog is mostly the video.

I stated in the video blog, Pacific Crest Trail organization, this is being

corrected here to Pacific Crest Trail Association.  See the video

for the rest of the blog. Video is having a problem uploading

go to the link and see on myspace.

http://www.myspace.com/anarkist4now/blog

Food and Cooking Utensils and Equipment.

Since water was the previous blog I figured food should be next.

I am not going into all the different brands of hiking foods

available or mention any other food brand name products.

One reason for this is that years ago packing only trail hiking

food into Algonquin Park with my sister for a week.  This one

brand specifically, the stuff all tasted the same, tasted like the

food preservative that was used.  After a week of eating the

horrible stuff I swore never to make that mistake again. Now

I mentioned packing light yesterday and along the same lines

today, you could actually do with out cooking equipment and

just pack food that doesn’t require to be cooked or heated up,

saves weight but does cut down on the variety available.

I prefer to heat up some of the food I carry, I like hot

chocolate on the trail and my sister loves a good cup of

coffee in the mornings.  Peanuts and Raisins also referred

to as GORP (Good old Peanuts & Raisins) took me a while

to work that out is great and a lot of hikers mix this with

other stuff like M&Ms.  I also take a mix of food bars such

as Sweet and Salty bought at a grocery store, premixed

spaghetti packets, peanut butter and jam (packet style

little in fast food restaurants), flat bread or tortillas.  That’s

basically if for food not much imagination. 

Now for cooking utensils what I use is simple just a spork,

no knife, no nothing else.  Simple effective and very light weight.

Now for Equipment such as a stove I use, as stated in the video

part of this blog, an alcohol stove .  Its light weight and

with the windscreen cut to size from a whisperlite windscreen

very effective.  There are two draw backs however to an

alcohol stove the first is that you have no control over the

flame, once you light it you have to let it burn off the fuel.

The second draw back is that in cold weather it takes longer

to startup and in so doing uses more fuel.  There is only one

other stove however that I would use for backpacking and

its the whisperlite from MSR, its heavier but still lightweight,

cooks fast, and gives you good flame control.  I only use a 2 liter

pot for cooking, its stainless steel and from MSR, one of the

best purchases I ever made.  I have a separate pot grabber

which I recommend for and too any one, because I would hate to see

someone get burned grabbing the pot handles after cooking.

Always remember safety first and for most.

And that’s it for tonight’s blog.

Water and hiking, Importance and Equipment.

I remember hiking the Appalachian Trial with Hora (George) in 2005

and on one stretch we both were almost out of water.  Hora turned to me,

Tomatohead and asked “Do you thing we should take the side path for

water as we are both almost out”. “How far down the side path is it before

we get to the water” I ask. “About 1.5 miles” he answered. “Na” I said

“we’ll probably find another path with water closer by”.  For the next 8 mile

stretch no water was available and we were both getting desperate just

before we got to the next water hole.  Lesson here is fill up while you can and

don’t take chances.  I read and article a year later about a guy who swore he

could do this one hike through the desert with just a specific amount of water

and that he was going to prove it.  I do not remember names, or which paper

the article was in but I do know he almost completed the hiking, dying within

sight of his car. which was filled with water. So please remember to always

have enough water, I may dislike a lot of people but I wish death on no one.

I am an atheist so I do not believe in god however there is only one piece of

evidence that a god may exist and that is the miracle called life, and please

if your reading this do not attempt to preach at me or try and change my opinion.

So we have discussed the importance now the equipment.

Carrying water some people use nalgene bottles, some a platypus,

myself gatorade bottles as I was to cheap to buy either alternative.

Which one you use is personal preference though I have have been told

by some reusing gatorade bottles may not be to health.  Reusing anything in

my opinion if not properly cleaned is risky so I keep the bottles clean and if

they look risky, simply and cheaply get new ones.

For water purification, I prefer the pur water filter but it is not the lightest.

The easy and lightest is of coarse tablets I just don’t like taste of the water or

fully trust health issues. Now according to some this is because I am an impatient

person and if you wait long enough these issues are resolved. Next lightest is the

Msr Miox Purifer which Hora carried using battery power, salt and water it creates

chlorine and does a similar job as the tablets. The filters are last and there are a lot

of different brands, now which you use is again personal preference though I will

say that I may one day switch as I like the idea of going lighter.

Now going lighter is not always safer in hiking but everyone must find out their

own personal preferences in all things, I would however suggest you check out

Ray Jardine’s site in regards to going lighter, name is very searchable with any search

engine.