Hiking. Tell me all about it.

[Wyldewode]

Now camping I have a little experience with, but it's all been park, have your stuff hauled to the campground, canoe all day, arrive at the campground, set up tent, etc.

[Cail]

My Therm-A-Rest is about 1-1/2" thick, and I don't have an issue with the ground at all. After my experience with it, I'd never go back to an inflatable, especially in colder weather.

[Cagliostro]

I guess a Therm-a-Rest is essentially what I've been thinking of as "air mattress", as that's all my camping ex and I referred to them as. I didn't think of a pool raft air mattress-like thingy as an option. That actually sounds especially comfy in a big car camping tent. I've always used the 1 1/2 thick thingy, which boosts you up just enough off the ground and keeps you warm as well. But doesn't provide much movement room if you are a man my size.

Hmm...

[aliantha]

A couple of summers ago, I upgraded my sleeping bag to a Big Agnes ('cause I'm a big girl -- I need the extra room ) and got the inflatable mattress that fits it. The mattress is kind of a cross between a Therm-a-Rest (which I also have used) and a pool-float-type mattress -- it's not self-inflating like the Therm-a-Rest, but it's got the ribby-roly things like yer pool float, and it's insulated like a Therm-a-Rest. The other nice thing about it is that you don't have to store it inflated, like you do a Therm-a-Rest. There aren't that many places to store the things, and I've got cats. I've always been afraid one of the cats will use the Therm-a-Rest as a scratching post....

This is what the mattress looks like. The Big Agness sleeping bags don't have insulation on the bottom; instead, they have a pocket for the air mattress. The pocket also keeps the mattress from slipping out from under you at night. The sleeping bag also has a sewn-in pillow pocket. It's *really* comfy.

I took the new bag and mattress on a Girl Scout leader training campout. In the morning, my tentmates, who were using Therm-a-Rests, compared notes on how many rocks and roots they'd slept on all night. I hadn't felt a thing.

The GS trainers recommended using stoves in the backcountry instead of a regular fire, so that's what I do. I also splurged and got one of those UV lights for disinfecting water. The pumps just seemed too fiddly to me. Maintenance -- bah! Just wave the light around in the water and let it do its magic.

[Wyldewode]

The Big Agnes bag looks cool. . . and the UV light would certainly make things easier!

[Zarathustra]

I didn't think of a pool raft air mattress-like thingy as an option.

It's dirt cheap ($10), it deflates down to nothing, it's light-weight, and has beer holders. It gets me about 6 inches off the ground, so I never notice cold temps in my bag.

[Cagliostro]

I didn't think of a pool raft air mattress-like thingy as an option.

It's dirt cheap ($10), it deflates down to nothing, it's light-weight, and has beer holders. It gets me about 6 inches off the ground, so I never notice cold temps in my bag.

I'm so doing this when I car camp next.

[aliantha]

I didn't think of a pool raft air mattress-like thingy as an option.

It's dirt cheap ($10), it deflates down to nothing, it's light-weight, and has beer holders. It gets me about 6 inches off the ground, so I never notice cold temps in my bag.

I'm so doing this when I car camp next.

On a different GS training campout, one woman brought an Aero bed. I thought that was going a little overboard.

And yeah, Lyr, I love my bag and mattress. Now if only I could get some camping in.... Last fall, I was tied up every Saturday with classes, so it was kinda pointless to plan a campout. But I just realized this week that there are a couple of parks with campgrounds *very* near my house. So once it warms up a little, I think I'm going to go. Yay!

[danlo]

Hiking is one thing, hiking to camp another and car camping much different. I like to go either day hiking or a combination of day-hiking and car camping. At my ripe old age I think I've finally graduated from sleeping on the ground>to airmattress>to pop-up.

Also camping with dogs and, obviously, kids is a different story. Unless you have a big and mean dog(s) I don't reccommend you camp on the trail over night with them (actually, in most places it's not allowed). So, for both stay at the campground. People do go in with kids (but they can wander off and get real pissy).

In New Mexico it's mostly high altitude hiking, if you stay in the mountians you're, relatively, safe from nusiances (especially above the cow line cow-line>tree-line ) no chiggers, no bugs, no poision ivy, sumac or snakes. Yes we have snakes in the desert, desert hiking is much more dangerous. The four main things you have to do in high altitude hiking, if you're not used to it, is gradually adjust to the altitude, wear boots-some of the terrian can be unforgiving-especially if you want to get to off trail overviews, take water purifiers and bring plenty of water-people dehydrate out here very quickly and can really hurt themselves.

Cail's dead on that the CamelBack M.U.L.E is the best water system out there, and bringing a mutlipurpose knife is a must. I just read somewhere that National Parks will only let you bring a firearm in if it's unloaded and stays in the trunk---which does you no good, anyway. For some reason I like to hike with a walking stick, or the best piece of wood I find lying along the trail. It makes a decent defensive weapon too.

Of course hiking at 7000 feet requires good judgement in all things, especially seasonal judgement.

[aliantha]

Yeah, I bring a *lot* more gear when I'm car camping: quad chairs, a cooler full of food, etc.

Camping in a pop-up: one more GS story. Back in the day, when I was a Girl Scout my ownself, our troop went on a campout in a state park. The girls slept in tents (those nasty old-fashioned weigh-a-ton-and-leak-when-it-rains canvas jobs) and the leaders (including my mother!) got to sleep in a camper. We, the girls, said that didn't seem fair to us -- and the leaders basically told us that when we got to be their age, we could sleep in a camper, too. How come I'm still sleeping on the ground in a bloody tent, I'll never know....

[Wyldewode]

Now you have me thinking about camping as well. . .

[Gil galad]

My hiking list goes:

1: Boots or shoes adequate to the terrain; if you're walking on a formed trail strong shoes are an OK start and you can always buy good boots later when you get some idea of what you're in to.

2: A raincoat; for any hike longer than 30 minutes no matter what the weather looks like at the start. Of course a raincoat can be just a $2 plastic rain poncho, as long as you're carrying it.

3: Drinking water: Doesn't really need any explaination, if you're thirsty it will be uncomfortable and dangerous.

These are the most essential things I'll always have with me.

I think that knives, special packs, mattresses etc are all great things but they're the things to pick and choose from depending on the duration, difficulty and season of your trips.

[Wyldewode]

Yeah. . . I'm just starting out, and wanted to hear what everyone else had to say about it.

[emotional leper]

Yeah. . . I'm just starting out, and wanted to hear what everyone else had to say about it.

There is one very important question about camping that you must be asked, yet I'm afraid it's too risque to ask.

[danlo]

(EL it is not true that girls, who as I remember you saying, "have cooties", get extra horny camping [especially in the mountians] and tend to be sleep naked in sleeping bags. God I love camping! )

[Wyldewode]

(EL it is not true that girls, who as I remember you saying, "have cooties", get extra horny camping [especially in the mountians] and tend to be sleep naked in sleeping bags. God I love camping! )

Can't wait to see what he says to this. . .

[emotional leper]

(EL it is not true that girls, who as I remember you saying, "have cooties", get extra horny camping [especially in the mountians] and tend to be sleep naked in sleeping bags. God I love camping! )

That wasn't what I was going for, sir.

And personally, I've given up on the sex thing.

[Wyldewode]

That wasn't what I was going for, sir.

Oh? I be interested in the question. . . though of course I do reserve the right not to answer it.

[emotional leper]

That wasn't what I was going for, sir.

Oh? I be interested in the question. . . though of course I do reserve the right not to answer it.

Hm.

It appears the Emotional Leper still has some... some...

instinct for self preservation?

[Wyldewode]

Wow. . . don't think I've seen you blush before.