The Best Backpacking Food
The Best Backpacking Food
Maybe your favorite backpacking food is a freeze-dried turkey dinner. There really is no "best" backpacking food. There are reasons to bring certain foods, though. Here are ten foods, and the reasons you might want to consider them.1. Nuts. This is one of the most calorie-packed foods you can take. That means less weight to carry. With lots of protein and other nutritonal benefits, nuts are one of the best backpacking foods.2. Olive oil. Add a little to your soups or dip bread in it. The best of the oils health-wise, you can eat it before sleeping, to stay warm, because fats generate heat when digested.3. Trail mixes. Any mix with raisins and nuts is great for backpacking. Vitamins, minerals, protein, and the best reason - convenience.4. Corn products. Tortilla chips or corn nuts are convenient, and they don't seem to cause the tiredness that potato chips and other simple carbohydrates can cause.5. Ramen noodles. When you need a hot meal fast, there isn't much that's better.6. Instant coffee. A necessity for caffeine addicts, and it's good to have a stimulant available for emergencies.7. Wild edible berries. Learn to identify a few, and you'll have a nutricious excuse for a break along the trail.8. Instant sports drinks. Pour a little in your water bottle and shake. Replacing electrolytes doesn't get more convenient.9. Instant refried beans. When you want sustained energy, eat beans.10. Your favorites. Having your favorite foods can help salvage a rainy backpacking trip spent in the tent.Always consider the nature of the trip when you choose your backpacking food. Hot meals are much more important in cold climates, and convenience is king, if you want to make miles. A bottle of rum might even be appropriate, if it's a trip wih friends.Steve Gillman is a long-time backpacker, and advocate of ultralight backpacking. His advice and stories can be found at http://www.TheBackpackingSite.com
Ultralight Backpacking Versus Traditional Backpacking
Ultralight Backpacking Versus Traditional Backpacking
Contrary to what many think, ultralight backpacking is not just about the freedom to hike more miles or to take your whole pack up the mountain with you. It is also about comfort and safety. Backpackers with heavy loads work too hard and threaten their joints too much. Challenges may add to the experience, but why suffer more than is necessary?The Disadvantages Of Traditional BackpackingLack Of FreedomYou can't easily take a side trip up that hill, just to see what is there. If you do it without your pack, you have to go back the same way to get your pack.It's A HasslePutting on and taking off your heavy pack quickly becomes a chore. You start leaving it on even during rest stops, just so you don't have to deal with it.It's TiringBackpacking is clearly more tiring with a heavy pack, and you probably won't enjoy yourself as much when you are tired.More InjuriesSprained ankles, blistered feet, sore muscles, and back and knee problems are just some of the common consequences of too much weight on your back.SlownessMore weight equals slower progress, which means less access to wild places (you can't go as far on your four-day trip), or it means less time to for enjoyable activities, like a swim in a mountain lake, or a relaxing evening in camp.More DangerousMore injuries, and the inability to move quickly when a storm is coming or an emergency requires you to get to a road, means that backpacking can actually be more dangerous with a heavy load. Add to that the possibility of bad decisions due to tiredness.The Ultralight Backpacking AlternativeDone the right way, ultralight backpacking gives you more freedom, more comfort, more safety, more enjoyment and less suffering than traditional backpacking. It allows you to move faster, but notice that I say "allows." It doesn't require it. It just gives you the option. That's more freedom.I have yet to meet or hear about a person who has tried lightweight backpacking for a while, and then gone back to a heavy load. I'm not saying it is for everyone. Bad ankles may require heavy hiking boots, and bad habits may require a big pack to satisfy them. But even a backpacker who needs a pillow and big rectangular sleeping bag, can find these in lighter forms.You just can't understand the sense of liberation felt by a convert to ultralight backpacking, until you try it yourself. When I, with my eleven-pound pack, walk past overloaded backpackers struggling up steep trails, I remembered being in their place, and I know I am enjoying myself more now.Misconceptions About Ultralight BackpackingLighweight Backpacking Means SacrificeNot so. Bring your favorite camera! A lighter load means you can stop to use it more easily. If you leave behind the things you don't need, and bring a lighter backpack, tent, and sleeping bag, you can more easily bring that telephoto lense or whatever is really important to you.Lighweight Backpacking Is Less SafeThe opposite! Bring all the safety items; a sleeping bag, first aid kit, shelter, water purification, etc. Just bring lighter versions. A light load makes you less likely to lose your balance and fall, or to otherwise injure yourself. It also means faster response to iffy situations.A note about safety:It is lagely a matter of knowledge and experience. A trained survivalist will always be safer backpacking with no shelter than a neophyte with the best tent. Learn a little about how to use you equipment properly, or to read the sky for comimg storms, and you can go lighter and safer.Lightweight Backpacking Is Less ComfortableIs it less comfortable to have 18 pounds on your back than 50? Is it less comfortable to have an ultralight sleeping bag if it keeps you just as warm? I stopped getting blisters (totally) when I started using running shoes instead of hiking boots. Cut the weight on your back by twenty-five pounds, and you can add back a heavier coat, if that is what you need to be comfortable.Lightweight Backpacking Is ExpensiveUltralight sleeping bags are expensive. Almost everything else needed for ultralight backpacking can be found for the same price or cheaper than traditional gear. There are many sub-three-pound backpacks under a hundred dollars, for example.Bottom Line:Try it. The first time you are fifteen miles into the day, and you realize that you can easily run up that hill-just to see what is there, you'll know you made the right decision.Steve Gillman is a long-time backpacker, and advocate of going light. His advice and stories can be found at The Ultralight Backpacking Site. (http://www.the-ultralight-site.com)
Stay Warm – A Backpacking Skill
Stay Warm - A Backpacking Skill
Stay warm or die. That's what it comes down to at the extremes. More people die in the wilderness of exposure than from any other cause. Staying warm, of course, also means more comfort, and for backpackers, it can mean going even lighter, without more risk.Staying warm in the wilderness is about proper gear and good skills. Proper gear means clothing and equipment suited to the enviroment you're in. This is a subject in itself, worth studying if you spend much time backpacking. With better materials and designs, the newest clothing and equipment saves lives. It is skills, however, that make the biggest difference.How To Stay Warm - Tips and Skills- Set up camp in the right places. Hilltops are windy and cold, and cold air also fills valleys at night. Level ground somewhere in between, out of the wind, is best.- Wear clothes to bed. Shake and fluff them up to make them insulate better. Some recommend against sleeping in clothes, but I've tried it both ways many times, and it's always warmer with clothes on.- Wear a hat. This may be equal to a pound of insulation in your sleeping bag. A lot of heat is lost through an uncovered head.- Go to bed dry. Stay up until your clothes have dried, or change into dry clothes. On a warm, dry night, however, you can put damp clothes on your sleeping bag to dry them with body heat. You may need warm, dry clothes the next night (Thinking ahead is a great wilderness skill).- Breath into your sleeping bag. Only do this in a dry climate, or if you're sure it's your last night out. You'll get damp, but you should dry quickly from hiking in the morning.- Take a water-bottle full of hot water to bed with you. This is easier and safer than heating rocks and placing them around you.- Make a pine-needle mattress. Dead leaves and dry grass work too. Scatter the leaves in the morning, so they won't smother the plants underneath. I've slept warmly below freezing, with no sleeping bag, in a pile of dry grass collected from a frozen swamp.- You can breath into your sleeping bag if you're really cold. You should only do this in a dry climate, or if you're sure it's your last night out. You'll get damp, but you should dry quickly from hiking in the morning.- Fill a water bottle with hot water, and take it to bed with you. This is easier and safer than heating rocks and placing them around you.- Adjust your clothing as you hike. Remove and add clothes as necessary to stay warm without sweating. Sweat can cause you to lose heat rapidly when you stop.- Stay dry. On a cold day, wet and hot can become hypothermia soon after you stop moving those muscles. On a hot day, however, wear wet clothing to dry it out in preparation for a possibly cold night.- Conserve your energy. It's tough for your body to keep itself warm with no energy reserves. You may also need that energy to gather firewood or hike to the car to escape a blizzard. Finally, you'll make better decisions if you aren't tired, and you'll remember how to stay warm.This is a sampling of wilderness skills and knowledge. There are many more things to learn about how to stay warm. In fact, I've left out one of the most important, because it deserves its own artcle: how to start a fire in any conditions.Steve Gillman is a long-time advocate of lightweight backpacking. His tips, photos and stories can be found at The Ultralight Backpacking Site: http://www.The-Ultralight-Site.com