Archive for July 2008

Well, I'm on day two of illegally wearing my Targhee boots to the office. I'm sure the folks in HR would have a coronary to know I'm not strictly adhering to the corporate dress code. Oh well. I love living on the edge.

The boots feel a lot different than my North Face shoes. There's a lot more support in the arch and I'm still trying to get used to that. They still feel pretty good though and I can't believe how little I feel when I walk around. The footbed is textured. That's taking a little getting used to. I feel it when I crinkly my toes. It's not bad, just different.

It looks like I'll be hiking later in the day this weekend. I want to hit the Hanna Park trails again but we have a welcome home party for a Navy friend coming back from deployment. I guess I'll leave from the party and go to the park while the little one naps.

I did end up picking up a camera. We'll have to see how it works out. I spent more than I wanted but it's supposed to be shock and waterproof. I got the new Olympus 850 SW. As a photographer there's very little control that you're allowed. That's a downside for me but a plus for the wife I guess. I only snapped a few pics last night and it was stuck on auto ISO and picked 800. Talk about grainy. I'll post a review when I've had more time to play with it.

I finally had the chance to take the latest gear acquisitions into the field. The wife was hosting a baby shower so the last thing I needed was for our son and I to get caught up in it. It was the perfect excuse to go hiking. Before anyone arrived we grabbed the pack and headed to Hanna Park.

What did we have to test today?
- Hennessy Hammock (Explorer Ultralite)
- GoLite Jam2 backpack
- Targhee II Mid boots

We hit the trail and after doing the hiking trail for a while jumped over to a bike trail. There's 15 miles of bike trails and far fewer hiking trails. They're also pretty nice with a lot of switchbacks, slight changes in elevation, etc. Unfortunately I didn't realize there was some sort of race going on. There weren't too many bikers that we saw but we did have to wait on the side of the trail several times.

The Targhees felt great on my feet. I finally got the right size! No more pressure marks on the tops of my feet when I take them off! I barely felt the ground under me and I was walking on rocks and tree roots. There were a few spots of soft dirt/sand and they felt solid there also. I'm very pleased with the purchase and can't thank the folks at Gander Mountain (both the Jacksonville [Chris] and St. Augustine [Lisa] stores) for helping me out so much.

Now for the pack. I decided to go lite. :-) The pack weighed in at 16 lbs wet. I had my 3L Camelback in the sleeve and 2 Nalgene bottles on either side. I also carried my Jetboil, Hennessy, snacks, diaper stuff, etc. Unfortunately I didn't get to hike as much as I'd hoped and my pack went from 16 lbs to close to 50 when my son wanted to be carried. That put the hurt on my back with him on the front and the pack on the back. Before that it seemed to be just fine. I might need to fine tune the pack but it seemed to ride well on my hips and I didn't feel a lot of pressure on the shoulders.

I'm going to need to do some more trail time to really make a good assessment, though. I also need to get the larger Pacific Crest pack out there again. I've only walked around the neighborhood with it.

After the hike and a trip to the playground we went to setup the Hennessy. We found a nice spot back in the woods a short distance from the lake. There was a good bit of shade and a cool breeze blowing (one benefit to being close to the ocean). The trees were a good bit apart from each other (maybe 16-18') so I had to put the tree straps overhead. I have to admit that I think the snakeskins are a brilliant idea. If you're considering a Hennessy you're a fool not to get them. If you buy now they're free! I got the hammock up quickly and jumped in. I decided to leave the fly off for now as I just wanted to give it a whirl (at least better than I got the first night I put it up).

My son and I crawled in and it was great. Very comfortable with the two of us. I was honestly hoping that he'd fall asleep since it was nap time. He lasted about 20 min before he wanted to get out and gather firewood. Oh well. While he did that I put the fly up and got in a few times to fine tune the positioning. I think I still need to work on that a bit so I don't get rain on my head.

So in closing, the overall impression of all three pieces is high. I think I made three smart purchases that'll serve me well over the next few years. I have church and a birthday party mid-afternoon tomorrow but I'm hoping to get over to the neighborhood college to hit their hiking trail if only for a bit.

Sorry I don't have any pics. That's the next major item on the list. I really don't like the idea of dragging my DSLR out there. Not only is it heavy, it's also fragile. I've got to find a camera I can take out with me and not worry about something happening to it.

Well, there was a little snafu with the Hennessy. It was shipped insured which requires a signature. The wife wasn't able to sign for it and I had to wait until this morning to pick it up. Fortunately the PO is on the way to work. When I got home my GoLite Jam2 pack was here also. w00t!

I have to say that I'm highly impressed with just how little the Jam2 weighs. The 1.5 lbs is a big difference from the 4.5 lbs of my other pack. With the Jetboil, hammock, water, and Hiker Pro I'm at 10.5 lbs. I need to throw some more stuff in but so far I don't think that's too bad for a wet weight.

The Hennessy took a little work. Unfortunately I had a meeting tonight and by the time I got started it was about 8 and the sun was going down so I had to rush. It took me a few tries to get the tree huggers at the right height. I still need to play with it some more. I think I was still too low. I was getting eaten alive by the skeeters so that didn't help matters.

Well, it's late and I'm tired so I'll keep it short. I should have pics soon.

Tomorrow should be another great day. I'm hoping to finally get my Kenn Targhee II Mids in. It's been crazy finding the right size. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that 11.5 works for me.

I'm very excited. I've heard so many positive things said about the Hennessy Hammocks but I was having a real hard time dropping over $200. I've been watching eBay for several weeks but with my height/weight I felt I needed the Explorer Ultralite. The Deluxe would work but it was heavier than I wanted. Also, the Ultralite is supposed to be good in high mosquito areas. I think FL qualifies as such a place.

As luck would have it, I found a used Ultralite last week. I watched the auction but wasn't really feeling like I'd win in. I waited until 45 min were left, placed my bid, and sat down for dinner. I had about 2 min left when I finished dinner and kept refreshing. With 45 secs to go I was still the winner. 30. 15. 10. 2. I WON!!

I'm a great buyer so I paid immediately and today I received the shipping notice. It's coming Priority Mail so I'm hoping I'll have it by Wed. I can't wait to try it out. I'll post more when I get it up.

This morning I decided to see what it's like using the pot support and stabilizer. What better way than to whip up a nice little breakfast? Today's mission? Pancakes. Mmm.

You can't really start breakfast without a nice cup o' joe. So first off I fired up the JB and boiled my water.



It wasn't long before the water started to boil. The "Jet" part of the name is pretty accurate.



Once I had a nice boil I just turned the stove off, removed the cup, and added the coffee.



Once the coffee was in the cup it was time to add the coffee press.





Ok, so with the coffee steeping it was time to start breakfast. I used Backpacker's Pantry pancake mix. Just add 3/4 cup water and mix. It's kind of hard to get in the corners of the bag to get everything mixed in. I also couldn't get all the clumps out.





Here's my word of warning. Be sure to have the flame on LOW. I had it too high and almost immediately warped the bottom of my GSI pan. I'm really hoping I didn't screw up the nonstick coating.





Here's an issue of concern. With the jet flame right in the center of the pan everything burned in the middle. I don't think I had a single pancake that came out unscathed. I wonder if the actual Jetboil cookware fares better at distributing the heat. I also wonder if other stoves like the Giga Power have the same results.



I was surprised at how much the little pack actually made up. When it was all said and done I had eight pancakes filling my Light My Fire kit.



I cheated a little and took everything back inside to eat. It was a nice, filling breakfast. Overall time including prep was about 25 min. Probably a lot longer than I'd want to spend if I were actually on the trail but really not too bad if you're looking for a filling breakfast and not in a rush.





As you can see, I did manage to clean my plate. :-) If you see the remnant in the other portion of the kit, I decided to save a little for my son so he could try it.



Overall I thought things went well. I'm curious about the Jetboil cookware but it's very expensive. Fortunately, I was able to push the bottom back flat when I pulled the last pancake off and hopefully I got it true enough. I also noticed that the heat did a number on my GSI spatula. It really gave it a beating. I'll have to see if something else holds up better.

One thing I can say is that it didn't take any time at all for a drop of water to boil on the pan once I put it on the support. I think I'll probably stick to just boiling water but at least I know that it's a viable cooking platform for pots/pans also if needed. You just have to be more careful.

I have to say I'm pretty happy with my purchase of the Jetboil Personal Cooking System. I've been looking at it for quite some time but wasn't sure it would be the best option when compared with other, smaller, stoves. The $100 price tag was also a contributing factor towards my indecision. Well, I ended up finding it online for $75 shipped at Outdoor Daily and decided to take a leap of faith. It's very well rated and figured so many people couldn't be wrong.

My initial hope was that it would be in hand before a planned camping/hiking trip but as the day for the trip arrived, the Jetboil still wasn't in hand. Unfortunately, OD ships parcel post and that takes about as long as Noah's trip with the flood. The package finally arrived three days after we returned from the trip. Oh well.

I need to get some more pics but here's one of it getting ready to fix breakfast.



It really does boil in just over 2 minutes. It's incredibly fast. And it's great for that morning cup of coffee!

What really impresses me the most is how (almost) everything fits right inside the cup. I have the pot support & stabilizer for it as well and it makes one small package. To stow, just remove the lid, drop the fuel canister in the cup, push the pot support in (upside down), follow that with the stove, and put the stabilizer in the top of the stove. Replace the lid and you're done. It obviously weighs more than other stoves like the Giga Power, Whisperlite, etc, but you have almost everything you need. My only beef is that you can't fit the coffee press inside with the rest of the goods. This is just a minor irritation, though.

If you're looking for a quick way to boil water for your prepackaged foods (think Mountain House & Backpacker's Pantry) this might be just what you need. I haven't actually used the pot support yet but hope to whip up some pancakes this weekend. Standby for a future review.

Welcome to my blog. I've been wanting to get back into hiking and camping for a long time. I've finally gotten the wife to start going out with me and we've even dragged our toddler along. So that's the basic scoop. Imagine a long lost Boy Scout rediscovering his roots. That's what this blog is about.

Hopefully I'll be providing some interesting write-ups on gear, places, etc. I'm also a photographer so expect to see a lot of pictures.

Well, that's enough for now. Look forward to more. See you on the trails.

Oh, and before I forget, if you're a hiker in Florida, be sure to join the Florida Trail Association if you haven't already.