On Holiday...

Yesterday I made the hour or so drive up to Angeles National Forest for an overnight backpacking trip. I camped about 6 miles in from where I parked, the last 3 miles I hiked in the dark. I actually enjoy hiking, and the challenge of setting up camp, in the dark.

I over packed for the trip and still weighed in with a base weight (weight of pack and gear without food and water) of just over 8 lbs. The night turned out to be pretty chilly, so I was glad to have the extra clothes.

A highlight of some of the gear taken, and links, in case there are other gear nerds reading this:
Gatewood Cape tarp
down sleeping quilt
GoLite Jam2 pack
thermarest short pad
Patagonia micropuff pullover
REI Sahara convertible pants
Gossamer Gear trekking poles
Inov-8 Roclite 315 trail runners
Tilley hat
Tikka XP headlamp
capilene shirt and compression shorts
UL waterproof silnylon stuff sacks

As I look through this list I appreciate how nice it is having a select arsenal of quality, lightweight gear. Much of it was used for the AT thru-hike last year. Also, I think everything on the list was bought on sale or gifted by generous friends and family.

And the food that I ate on this trip? A gourmet selection.
-a variety of cliff bars
-spicey ramen noodles rehydrated with cold water in a zip lock freezer bag
-instant potatoes made the same way with tuna fish mixed in
-a chunk of cheddar cheese
-a huge snickers bar
-2 milky way bars

That is what I call fine dining. For most shorter trips like this I have found that I enjoy the convenience and freedom of not carrying a cookset. Mind you my entire "kitchen" on the AT (stove, fuel, utensils, cookpot) weighed in at under 8 oz.

Anywho. That is my idea of fun. The parting shot below is of my camp site...bye now.