Taking Stock

Ohio doesn't have much in the way of a true backpacking experience. Most of our state parks only have campsites that have relatively close car access and group everyone close to one another. It's nice if you want to meet other people that share your love of the outdoors, but it can make it difficult if you want solitude. Having campsites with all the basic amenities is nice for families, but it isn't the kind of trip that I want to take. I want to do something more challenging.

The first thing I did to prepare was I took stock of all my gear. Having never actually been on a strictly back packing trip, you can imagine just how under equipped I am.

My current back pack is old. It might be as old as or older than me. It's an old external frame backpack that’s seen a ton of abuse. It has a massive tear in the top compartment. A lot of the straps are broken or been torn off completely. I picked it up at an auction over ten years ago, and since then it's been on most of my camp outs with the Boy scouts. It's pretty clear that I will need a suitable replacement.

I have one of those orange two pole tents, and I know for a fact that it’s older than me. All the waterproofing has gone out of it. The one time I did use it dew soaked almost everything. Most trips I've been on have been with friends and they normally had a family tent or a two person dome tent.

 I've already determined to pick up a Eureka brand solitaire tent. It sleeps one, is lightweight, and has overwhelmingly positive reviews. The only downside is that it doesn't have any space for gear, so I'll have to make sure that whatever back pack I get also has a rain cover.

            My sleeping bag is in good condition but it has no stuff bag. They sell stuff bags on Amazon, but I’m not quite sure of the size. I also have one of those blue foam mats for a floor barrier, so no issue there. I don't think it would be worth it to look into some kind of bag for that too, but it might be nice to have one.

My current mess kit is an old aluminum one and it's high time that it gets retired for something a bit more sturdy and compact. I also need a portable camp stove. I wrestled back and forth for a while between a white gas or a butane/propane stove, but the efficiency and low effort of a compressed gas stove finally won out. White gas won't heat food as fast and also requires pumping and priming. Since the only downsides to a canister stove is potential failure in the cold and the inability to determine exactly how much fuel is left, the choice was obvious.

I have a good flashlight, It's a tiny little Smith and Wesson LED light. It's pretty lightweight and it can poke a beam out there a pretty good distance. Still, I've heard that it's a good idea to have a headlamp for situations where I need both hands. Like if I needed to setup my tent after dark, or even just for cooking in the dark.

From previous experience, it’s generally a good idea to have some kind of lightweight rope or cord, because you never know when you'll need it.

I plan to pick up a personal first aid kit. I'm the kind of guy that could make do with some Kleenex and duct tape, but out in the middle of the woods I would rather not improvise that kind of thing.

I have good enough pocket knives, but I could certainly do with a better multi-tool.

Then there's the toilet situation. There aren’t that many restrooms out in the middle of the woods so I'll need a small trowel to dig a cat hole and plastic bags to carry soiled toilet paper out. Gross. Speaking of which, I wonder if they make TP just for hikers.

I'm not sure what to do about food yet. Pasta seems to be the favorite when it comes to back packing meals. Pasta and peanut butter. Hell, I could do an entire post on just food. At some point I probably will. I haven't quite figured out what to do about the water situation just yet either. To take the trip I want to, I will need some method of filtering water. Water will probably be the heaviest thing I have to carry, so finding ways to minimize that weight would be great.

I’ve been putting some money aside each week to afford all the new gear I need. Now the biggest challenge I’m facing is getting to an actual store to do some shopping. Sometime in April or May I want to have a short weekend trip to test out new gear. It's important to familiarize myself with new gear and identify potential problems.

            That seems like enough for a good start. It’s exciting to have a project to work on and the prospect of being able to get away from everything is refreshing. Next week I’ll be working out the budget and logistics of getting to where I want to go.