Owlbebak

In my younger years when camping, my body could stand the discomfort of sleeping on the ground without a pillow. Those days are long gone. After trying  wadded up clothing , stuff bags and a few other pillows that never gave me the comfort I needed, I discovered the Therm- a- Rest Compressible Pillow . Because my form of camping is backpacking, I require a pillow that is light and compressible since weight and space is critical. The Therm- a- Rest Compressible Pillow meets all of my requirements. It compresses to 25 % of the expanded size, provides nice head support, while also giving that nice cozy, head enveloping feeling, and the medium size weighs only 9 oz. I prefer to camp when the weather is cool to cold and I discovered this pillow tends to capture some of the heat of my head, which helps to keep me warm during the night. I can't say how it might be during a hot night since I have never tried it in the summer. A pillow is a very personal thing. What works for one is terr

Do you love hot, fresh brewed coffee while on the trail? I certainly do. I have tried both instant coffee and the "tea" bag type and while they are ok, I still yearn for fresh brewed without toting a big coffee pot.  While shopping for an alternative method that will work for backpacking I spotted this product made by GSI Outdoors. They make a product called H2JO that is used to brew coffee by screwing it to a typical wide mouth bottle such as a 32 oz Nalgene . First I grind my fresh coffee beans to a medium grind at home and put in a zip lock bag. Out on the trail I then put the coffee in the H2JO, pour the hot water into the bottle, which is a 32 oz Nalgene, screw the unit on, then the bottle cap and shake. After the coffee steeps, the unit is removed and I enjoy fresh coffee. Afterwards, I screw the unit back on the bottle for storage. The bottle is still usable for any other beverage as the liquid will pour through the mesh. For under $15.00 this is a great

In about 12 days JaxTal Adventure Club will be heading to Providence Canyon State Park in Georgia to backpack to their backcounty camping area. We understand this part of the park is primitive, meaning without bathrooms, water or shelter. We were told that there are many vadosity streams and the water is very bad tasting for drinking. We will pack in as much water as practical and will test out a new water filter and also a new water chemical called PUR . I have read that the man made canyons were really interesting and we should be ready to trudge through clay mud and to wear some good boots.   Read and post comments | Send to a friend