Hopefully this won’t be a short-lived series where the next post is titled “Camping – The End”. And by that you probably assume, I am starting camping (again).
I have camped. Let me clarify. I have car camped, where you pull the car up to the site in the park or preserve and set up camp no more than at the most one hundred yards from your vehicle.

Recently my partner in crime and I set out to work our way toward TRUE backpacking. You know, where everything you need in camp is on your back? Where you are 101 plus yards from your vehicle, hanging with the lions and tigers and bears? ____________ ! Yes, this is where I briefly chronicle our adventures in doing just that. Will this help you or anybody else out there? I’m not optimistic. But at the very least you can be entertained or sit there reading, adding your own commentary as if someone else was there to hear you. (And this may be a clue… while you are reading this, you could be out there camping or breathing in the air. Instead you are reading this? It’s a dilemma.)

My gear. Main things: Nemo Losi 3P tent, Mountain Hardware Lamina +35 bag, Exped SynMat UL 7 pad, Deuter ACT Lite 65+10 pack, Jetboil Flash system, Sawyer Squeeze Water Filter, Vasque Breeze Gore-Tex boots (not shown)

To cut to the chase, I got a weed up my… well, where it shouldn’t be and decided we should start camping. It’s highly active, outdoors and there is some REALLY cool stuff out now compared to the days of the Coleman kerosine lanterns. Places like REI and Campmor allow for you to completely geek out on things that’ll aid in adventure, keeping you moving AKA from getting fat. And it’s just so darn cool!

Instead of starting this out with a 13 mile death march up a hill to pitch a tent and live on twigs and berries for a week, we are taking baby steps on the way to a decent goal of backpacking the GA section of the Appalachian Trail. One goal at a time… and it’s easier to start learning to drink from a garden hose rather than a fire hose… or a waterfall. BUT in the meantime we’ll learn HOW to drink from that waterfall, safely.

So where did I start? Shopping. When you have nothing, you gotta get it somehow and trading furs or the roommate’s dog doesn’t seem to work anymore. EBay, scratch and dent, clearance, and plain old sales help you buy some good equipment without breaking the bank. The picture is of my gear. On a future post I’ll go through a few pieces and describe how or why I chose them. For now take a look…