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Lauree
I have more backpacking questions for you!
We're trying to plan our first backpacking trip for Memorial weekend. Do you have any suggestions for a good first time location? We'll be there 1 - 2 nights and want to hike less than 5 miles per day. I know that's kind of wimpy but we're feeling really overwhelmed and just not sure of what to expect. Plus we may bring my dog and 5 miles will be pushing it with her.
Have you backpacked at any of the state parks? How do you haul firewood to your campsite or do they let you pick up downed wood for a fire?
How does the water taste after you filter it? We're planning on getting this MSR MiniWorks http://www.rei.com/product/695265/msr-miniworks-ex-water-filter.
Any tips for food? We're thinking oatmeal for breakfast, fruit and trail mix for lunch and rice and beans for dinner. If we go 2 nights, we'll bring some sort of meat for DH and a veggie burger for me for the first night to cook over a fire. Does that sound reasonable? It's going to be strange cooking with only 1 burner and 1 pot....and hard to plan when you have a vegetarian and a meat eater.
Thanks!
Tired after a long morning of hiking and swimming.
Re: Lauree
I'm butting in....sorry. When I go hiking in the Rockies we always bring some frozen meat and eat it day one or two for dinner. Hard boiled eggs keep really well and are a great protein for lunch, along with some heavy bread and peanut butter.
Dinner was usually packed tuna (since cans get heavy) with some pasta of sorts. It was great to bring dried fruit to boil and add to morning oatmeal for some extra flavor.
Last time we went, we ended up getting lost for 3 days and ran out of everything, luckily my dad had thrown in some frozen deer jerky and candy or else I don't know what we would've eaten. Pack extra iodine tablets if you are treating your water.
There are plenty of sites that help with meal planning. This is one I have used. Let me know where you end up going! I haven't gone in a couple years since I moved to MN...
Oh I'm so excited you guys are going to try backpacking! I hope you both love it!
Filtered water usually doesn't taste too bad. For cooking you def never taste any difference, for drinking you might, we usually add a propel single serving packet to our waters just because the nummy taste encourages us to drink more and not get dehydrated. For a filter we have the Katadyn Hiker Pro and we love it. It's pretty reliable, so check that one out too. Our buddy has the Gravity MSR filter and that one is awesome for 2+ hiker groups.
We backpacked at Lake Maria (pronounced Mariah) State Park in May last year and had an ok time. There are lots of sites and lots of trails but also a lot of horses and the horses got really annoying to be around (plus their manure on the trail). We've also day hiked with backpacks on at Afton State Park and that wasn't too bad, no horses, but we haven't stayed overnight there.
I have heard fantastic things about the backpacking campsites at Jay Cooke State Park near Duluth, we're going to be trying out that State Park this summer.
As far as wood, at Afton there was an all you can use wood pile that you could take from for around $4 I think. At Lake Maria we gathered downed wood, don't remember if they had a wood source or not. I'm guessing at Jay Cooke you could gather downed wood as well because I think their backpacking sites are a bit out there. Usually within the main camping areas State Parks do not allow gathering your own wood.
Food, mmmm, one of my favorite parts of backpacking! I love planning good meals because it really gives you something to work for and look forward to when hiking a long distance. You can definitely bring meat to cook over the fire for the first night, we usually do this as well. Cheese also stays good for a few days and can be a good addition to almost anything. One of our favorite meals is a packet of instant Idahoan Potatoes, a packet of instant gravy, and a foil packet of chicken chunks (which you could do without in your case :-). Boil two cups water and add gravy, potatoes, and chicken- stir and eat. Another favorite is Velveeta shells and cheese. We usually do oatmeal with brown sugar in the morning (I prepackage this in baggies on my own). For lunch, we do bagels and cream cheese, and/or an instant soup, or just snacks, which are usually homemade trail mix, granola bars, beef jerky, and hard candies. If we're carrying two pots I love to do the McCormick packet of spaghetti sauce and whole wheat noodles, so delish. Don't forget hot cocoa/tea and stuff for smores if you're willing to carry it. We do all of our cooking in a Jetboil.
Anywho, ask away if you think of anything else and I'd love to hear about your trip when you get back!
Ugh...stupid nest. I had a post all typed out, hit send and poof. It's gone.
I'm relieved the water isn't too bad. Good idea for the propel packets!
Thanks for the filter and stove recommendations - we'll check them out. I'm not sure if we're going to buy the stove right away or rent one from REI this time. We are on a super tight budget and both need sleeping bags, although I suppose we could be really ghetto and bring a sheet and blanket instead. I know we're going to rent the backpacks and sleeping pads the first time just in case we end up hating backpacking. I doubt that will happen but I guess you never know.
Jay Cook is probably my favorite non-North Shore state park. the hiking is great and the walk-in sites are awesome. I'm glad to hear the backpacking sites get good reviews too. We'll definitely add that to the top of our list.
Thanks for the meal ideas. It's very helpful to know what actually works on the trail.
This is going to be a huge change for us. For car camping, we're all about comfort and end up with the entire back of the pickup loaded with stuff. And now we have to cut it down to what will fit on our backs. Yikes! I've always had in the back in my mind that I wanted to try backpacking but it seemed so intimidating. We went to a basic backpacking how-to class at REI last week and it feels way more do-able now. I'm really excited but I'm pretty sure DH is going along just to humor me.
Anyway, thanks for all your help! I'll definitely let you know how the trip goes.
Tired after a long morning of hiking and swimming.
I'm glad to hear another confirmation on how great Jay Cooke is! We're definitely looking forward to checking that park out this summer.
What about bears? We were scared away from a campsite a couple years ago by a coyote that kept circling us and now I'm freaked out about bears. Crazy and irrational, yes, but I can't get it out of my mind. I especially worry about getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and running into a bear.
Any tips for hanging your food?
Tired after a long morning of hiking and swimming.
Urg! Why does the nest hate me so?!?! Had a nice, long response typed out and got the error message and lost it. Boo. Oh well...
I was super freaked by the idea of bears my first few trips out as well, so I know how you feel! But don't worry too much. There are black bears in MN but for the most part they won't bother you. One of the guys we regularily backpack with never, ever hangs his food and he's never had an issue. We usually hang our food (except the cold weather trips- we just keep it in our tent then). DH has a rope that he attached carabiners to on each end and that makes it easy to loop it up over a branch and raise the food. Last year I asked an avid backpacker/REI employee what she did on the Superior Hiking Trail with her food and she always keeps it in a drysack (we do too) and will just hike into the woods a few yards and stores it under a downed tree. But for your first trip, and your peace of mind, I would probably hang the food. Though some of the parks provide bear boxes for their backpacking sites, so you can see if you can do that instead.
I have backpacked almost 200 miles in Minnesota and have never seen a bear or any signs of a bear. But if you do run across one, make noise, pull yourself up tall, and you can even toss a few rocks in its direction, it should turn tail and run.
As far as peeing in the middle of the night. I keep a large baggie with wipes, TP, and a quart sized baggie in it. I exit the tent, walk downhill (key detail here) five or so feet from the tent and squat and do my business. I use the quart sized baggie for used TP. Dark woods freak me out so I stay close to the tent. Recently backpacked with our buddy's new girlfriend and she has SOLO hiked the ENTIRE Appalachian Trail. She uses a hanky for her #1 business, and just keeps the hanky tied to the outside of her pack when not in use. I tried that out on our two winter trips and it worked great, not sure how I feel about doing that on our warm weather trips yet though...
Ha-HA! The nest errored out on me again but this time I copied my stuff first :-D
Maybe the nest just doesn't like this post!
I think we're going to Itasca or Scenic state park for our first trip....let's hope they have bear boxes. I googled videos of how to hang a bear bag and came across a PCT bear hang. It looks like the easiest option, assuming you can get the rock over the tree relatively quickly.
Dark woods freak me out too. I'm always paranoid that something is going to jump out or a creepy stalker is following me. Or that the flashlight battery will die and then I won't be able to find my way back. I have a feeling DH and I are going to get to know each other on a whole new level because he's coming with me.
Tired after a long morning of hiking and swimming.