What's in my Backpack?

 I usually keep my backpack loaded up and ready to go either hiking or geocaching.  It makes it a lot easier to pick up and go at a moments notice.  All I usually have to add is a couple water bottles and something to eat.  Let's take a look at what I have....

My backpack is a SwissGear brand.  It's nothing fancy and it's not made for heavy duty backpacking because it's on the smaller size.   I'd call it more of a "day" pack.  Clipped to it is my Traveling Snoopy.  He goes everywhere with me and I usually like to take photos with him.

One of my favorite items and a necessity in my book, is my Jackery External Battery Charger.   I make sure it's fully charged before I go anywhere and it comes in very handy in case my GPS or my cell phone go dead.  I also have a Garmin GPS.  I mostly use this to mark the trailhead or where I parked my car.   It's a nice piece of equipment to have along in case you get confused in the woods and need to find your way back to your car.  

I always keep a small notebook and pen with me.  You never know when you might need it.

I love this Streamlight ProTac 1L flashlight!  It's 3 1/2" long so it doesn't take up much room but it packs a solid punch in terms of providing light.  It's super powerful and mine came with a little carrying case.

Next is my Go-Bag which says Geo Tools.   I use alot of this stuff when geocaching, but it's all things that come in handy anytime you're out on the trail.  It's just a heavy duty pencil case.

It contains a spare pair of reading glasses, a compass, a Coleman emergency poncho and a reflecting emergency blanket....

I'm extremely allergic to any type of sting, so I carry an Epi and Benadryl with me everywhere I go.  I also have an emergency whistle, a small mirror to use for signaling, a pill container filled with fire starter (cotton balls dipped in Vaseline) and a lighter.  The whistle has come in handy more than once - one time we were geocaching in the woods with my parents and we got separated.  We eventually found each other by using our whistles.

Also in this bag I have a sharp knife, a flint for fire starting and a survival knife....

I'm a huge fan of Ebags and this one is filled with toiletries...

Suntan lotion and bug spray....

Hand sanitizer, aspirin, Neosporin, lip balm and band aids...

My Go-Girl, toilet paper, and wet wipes....

My other Ebag contains clothing items...

A windbreaker with a hood, spray mace, and a couple carabiners..

 A  skull cap, a buff, a pair of work gloves and a bandana.  That bandana has come in handy more times - I particularly like it on a hot day because I wet it down and tie it around my neck....

I'm a fan of Lightload towels.   These things are great because they come in super small packages and take up next to no room.  The larger one can be used as a bath towel and the smaller ones are great for just about anything...

And last, but not least is my survival bracelet.  In an emergency I can untie it and have about 15 feet of paracord.

So that's my basic backpack and what works for me.  You may decide not to take some of the items and you may have others that you need.  A backpack is kind of person specific.  All loaded up, mine usually weighs between 10-15 pounds.  I've heard that the general guideline for backpack weight should be between 10-15% of your body weight.  I weight 108, so I'm within the guidelines and I've found this is a good weight for me to carry.   I grab my hiking sticks and I'm good to go.  Happy trails!!

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Keeping Your Standard Cooler Cold

Keeping your standard cooler cold for as long as possible is always a hot debate.  I've heard plenty of great solutions, so I thought I'd share some of them here as well as show you what I've done to help solve that age old question.

Personally I have 2 coolers that I take with me.  The first is a vintage Coleman cooler that I found several years ago at a garage sale.  This thing is a beast!  It's huge, measuring in at 28" x 15" x 16" tall....  

I love the red color and the top of it is a perfect place for my State sticker travel map.

The second cooler I take is my  SetPower Refrigerator/Freezer and it's been a game changer.  Sleek and efficient, it has the ability to be used as a refrigerator or a freezer.  It easily does the trick for both.  SetPower has 2 sizes and I splurged on the larger one.  You can plug it into your car for power or into a Jackery type unit if you have one of those.  

But back to the standard cooler and how to keep it cold.  Here's some pictures of my Coleman cooler and what I've done with it.  As you can see I lined it with Reflectix that I cut to size and just taped along the edges with duct tape...

I found this plastic insert at a garage sale and snapped it up!  It's just the right size for inside the cooler.

The left side of the cooler holds mostly my groceries - things like peanut butter, crackers, buns, chips, cookies, chocolate bars...  

 

I freeze quart and gallon size jugs of water and iced tea and place them inside the plastic insert.  I also throw packages of lunch meat and cheeses in the plastic bin.  The bottom of the plastic bin catches all the condensation as the ice melts.  I drink the water and tea from the jugs once it's all melted...

For me, this has worked perfectly and I usually get 5-7 days before the ice in the jugs is almost all melted.  Here's a few more tips for you....

• Open your cooler as little as possible
• Get it cold the day before you leave and then add fresh ice when you're ready to go
• Use frozen food in the bottom of your cooler
• Cover your cooler with a blanket
• Keep it out of the sun
• Line the inside of the cooler with Reflectix
• Instead of bagged ice, use blocks of ice.  I freeze gallon water jugs and water bottles and use those.  An added advantage is that you can drink the water once it eventually melts
• I've heard of people using dry ice but I've never personally done this
• Keep soda in a separate cooler to minimize opening and closing your food cooler

So there you have it - Happy camping!

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Chattanooga/Smoky Mountain Trip Day 1

Chattanooga/Smoky Mountain Trip     Day 1

Saturday

I was so eager to set out!!  I’ve been looking forward to and planning this trip since last fall.  The night before I left I was nervous and second guessing myself but I was at the point of no return.    

After I dropped the dogs off at the vet I stopped for gas and breakfast at McDonalds.  Properly fortified with a breakfast sandwich and my favorite Mocha Frappe, I hit the road.  I hooked up my I pad to my sound system, started my 1970's music soundtrack and within 15 minutes all my worries slipped away and I realized how excited I was!   Being on the road was so freeing and exhilarating and I kept thinking to myself how lucky I was to be doing this.   I made good time until I hit Nashville, which was bumper to bumper with traffic due to a semi-truck accident that was sprawled out across 2 lanes.   It didn't look good.   Here I am as traffic was coming to a stop...

After a 45 minute back up I made it thru the pile up and sped on my way.  I stopped in Tennessee and did 2 geocaches, one of which was near this horse statue.  I love when I see crazy stuff like this....

As I approached Chattanooga I decided to make a quick detour into Alabama..... 

I’ve never been to Alabama and it's my goal to eventually hit every state.  Although I didn’t have any time for sightseeing that day, my main goal was to grab 2 geocaches, one of them at a Trail of Tears historical marker.  That was very interesting!  

The other one was at this cute little statue.  See, I told you that you see crazy stuff geocaching....

 

I was thrilled to have visited a new state, also get credit for my geocaching state map, and add another state to my travel map.  Woo hoo!!  

After a brief delay in Chattanooga due to road construction - is there road construction everywhere???  I arrived at Holiday Travel Park where I would be spending the next 3 nights.  The Travel Park is located on a Civil War Battlefield, so that in itself was pretty cool.  They even have an historical marker there which I went and visited, and then quickly found the nearby geocache.  

Set up went quick and I liked my camp site.  It was a beautiful afternoon with temperatures in the low 80’s and a nice breeze.  Initially I was worried that it was going to be too hot in my tent, but once the sun started going down it began to cool off.  

Dinner was hot dogs and potato chips, and for dessert I had a piece of chocolate cake.  Did you notice how I improvised and used a hamburger bun for my hot dog???  LOL!

 

After much debate and hemming and hawing between a rooftop carrier or a rear mount carrier, I took the plunge and got the roof top one.  I was exceptionally pleased with my JEGS rooftop carrier.  

It was the first time I’d gotten to use it and I was thrilled with how much stuff I was able to put it in.  It took me about an hour to stop worrying that it was going to blow open on the highway and toss my belongings all over the place.  But once I settled down and stopped worrying, it was great.  I didn't even notice it was up there.  It doesn't make any noise or anything.  If you're short like me tho, reaching the roof is an issue so I had to do some searching before I found a good solution.  This car door step comes in really handy.  You just hook it on the inside of the back door and it holds up to 400 pounds.  It makes reaching my JEGS carrier a breeze.

Two more new items that I used for the first time were my SetPower freezer/refrigerator and my Jackery generator.   

I'm going to go more in depth on these in a future post but for now, let me just say - OMG – how did I ever live without these before??   No more messing around with ice cubes or ice blocks.   Hip, hip hooray!!  The SetPower is really nice.  I kept it plugged into the outlet in the rear of my car while driving and then once I reached camp I plugged it into the Jackery.  The Jackery can charge your USB items with the 2 provided USB plugs and it has 1 AC outlet and 1 dc car port.  It came in so handy for everything!

All in all my first day was a success!  I didn't get lost on the drive and I felt so self-sufficient as I set up my camp all by myself.  I was really looking forward to the rest of my trip now.

Come on back for the next post - I'll be covering downtown Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain.

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DeerFamy Tent: Link 

Coleman Camp Stove:  Link

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Car Door Step:  Link

SetPower Freezer/Fridge:  Link

Jackery:  Link

Video on My Favorite Camping Must-Haves!!

I have a nice collection of what I consider my "must-haves" when it comes to tent/car camping.   I thought it would be more fun to show you in a video, so here goes....  Enjoy!

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