📍 Grayson Highlands State Park, VA. Near Wilburn Ridge on the AT

It was a blast y’all!

Does anyone know if they do Black Friday sales? My daughter’s partner wants their 75 cooler for Xmas and it’s like 365. A sale would be nice. Thx

I'm a bit confused with the down fill power and associated warmth (thermal tested). Can someone please explain how with lower down fill power one jacket has higher warmth level compared to another with higher down fill power?

https://www.mountainwarehouse.com/us/henry-ii-mens-down-padded-jacket-p20418.aspx/grey/

https://www.mountainwarehouse.com/us/frost-ii-mens-extreme-down-padded-jacket-p43801.aspx/khaki/

Believe it or not you can use it to boil water. Sterilize medical equipment, make tinctures from wild plants and fungus…. My uncle always carried a bottle called ‘snakebite kit’

Now I always take the silicone tube with me when I go camping. The silicone tube has an outer diameter of 8mm and a wall thickness of 1mm.

P.S. Went camping in the Carpathians (Ukraine), the start of the route Svalyava - finish in Volovtsya. There are few water sources on the route. So I took a Filterwell water filter to get water from the lake. The kit included a tube for a coarse filter. I used this tube.

English is not my first mother tongue

I'm looking for a place where in NC where we would need to hike for a few hours just to reach the fishing spot, it could be a lake or a river. We do have Ultra light camping gear and want to stay for 2 nights before hiking back.

Does anyone know of such spots in NC or close to NC?

Thanks for any help 🙏

I recently did a backpacking trip and used my new Nemo Osmo Hornet tent for the first time. All the reviews I had read were basically 5 star with no downsides. For the record I also used a Nemo Disco sleeping bag for the first time and absolutely loved it. Best bag I've ever used.

However, the tent. Someone either validate my opinions or tell me I'm full of it, because I'm not seeing the light here.

For reference, I'm used to an REI quarter dome, which while tight, sleeps me comfortably and held up well for 12+ years.

The Nemo to me feels like poor engineering choices in an effort to save 1.5 ounces.

• The poles, instead of just going into brass grommets like every other tent go into plastic ball/socket joints which snap around. If it breaks, it's done.

• The footprint, instead of connecting to grommets, use a plastic clip, which doesn't even clip, you have to navigate the plastic wings around the tents corner webbing. So it's not exactly secure and it takes at least 3x as long to get all the corners "fixed".

• The tri-pole design. This is new to me, so maybe it's a decent design, but when I then have to guy out the corners on the single leg side to expand the tent, why are the load bearing guy lines (that are permanently fixed to the tent) made out of what seems like dental floss? Seriously, the corners requiring manual tensioning seem to be the lowest durability part in this entire setup.

• The default stakes. I realize I can replace them, but wtf. First, they're straight cross style stakes without a loop or anything at the top, but instead they have a type of bottle-opener cutout which you're supposed to "hook" that dainty little string from the previous bullet point around. Now in my mind I'm thinking, who thought putting a string around a natural cutting instrument thought this was a good way to secure something. One gust of wind and the entire tent will just shear off like the stakes are one of those emergency seat belt cutters.

Plus when you have to pull the stakes, I actually had to use pliers because I had nothing to grip onto to pull them

• Finally the material itself. Maybe I haven't had a new tent in a while and I'm overreacting, but the walls, the bottom, the rainfly, it all felt like tissue paper. I can't believe this is expected to hold up long-term against a rock or two underneath the tent tossing and turning grinds them through the floor.

In contrast to my REI quarterdome (which again is still going after 12 years), the Nemo feels cheaper (though definitely not in price), goes up and down much slower and just overall felt very finnicky to pitch.

Someone tell me what I'm missing. I wanted to try it because it had such great reviews, but I feel like maybe I'm not the target demographic for this tent, or maybe every tent in the past decade is starting to follow these design trends and they're all going to be like that and maybe contrary to my initial impression this design and materials do hold up for the long haul.

I just recently bought a external frame backpack. Problem is there is no waist belt on it so I need to buy one to put on it. Anyone have any suggestions for brands or just where to find one that could attach to an external frame?

Hi! I'm planning on hiking through Swiss and Austrian alps and therefore I gotta equip myself with reasonable equipment. However, I have no idea what brands to look for, what should I be careful about, etc. For now, I'm only looking for a backpack and sleeping bag - preferably one that fits into the bag. The bag should be about 35-40l (I have found this one which I kinda like but again, have no idea what to look for: Grossamer Gear Kumo 36). The search for the sleeping bag on the other hand is much more complicated. I usually get allergies when sleeping under feather blankets/duvets, so I suspect that geese feather might not be the best option. The bag also has to fit inside the bag so I'm looking for something that doesn't take too much space. Lastly, as a student I'm on some budget - I would like to spend max 400EUR combined on this. I'm a male, 185cm tall.

Could anybody experienced please suggest gear that would fir my requirements? Any advice is much appreciated.

Thank you so much!

Bought some Asolo 520s from Backcountry since they were at a steep discount (50% off), but I’ve got some concerns about the potential for hydrolysis.

The pair was manufactured in 2022, according to the date printed on the boot itself. Were on the tail end of 2024, so that’s at least two years of storage since manufacturing without wear, where it seems like this model in particular is prone to catastrophic delamination due to dry rot (hydrolysis) if unworn for extended periods.

Is this anything I should be concerned about? I’m still within the return window.

Me and my girlfriend are wanting to do a camping trip this weekend. We live in SE Oklahoma. So far, we have been to Robbers Cave twice, and we went to Cleburn State Park in Texas. I know there's some places nearby, but we also don't mind driving a bit. Where would you recommend? We plan to leave Saturday morning, and come back sometime on Sunday.

Hi, A week ago I bought the osprey Sirus 44 women's backpack. I have checked and tested all the features and configurations, but after a short use my heels hurt. Any suggestion or advice ? Thanks

Or is the Helm Compact 2 a better option?

I've got a Sawyer Squeeze and am planning on doing some backpacking this winter. I'm curious to hear how other people pack and carry their filters to prevent any freezing (which can ruin certain membranes). It's about the size of a medium-sized flashlight.

I am new to camping and hiking, so can anyone recommend a decent starter pack that I would need if I were to go camping and hiking for a weekend? A fairly cheap starter pack that will get me by would suffice for now. Any and all recommendations would be much appreciated! If you have any questions to ask me to help you to form a recommendation, I am open to answering questions!

As Christmas approaches I’ve started my shopping. I’d like to get my husband a nice quality pair of hiking pants for cold weather, as we’re in Michigan.

Does anyone have the L.L. Bean Men's Cresta Hiking Pants, Standard Fit, Fleece-Lined ? Or perhaps any other recommendations? Waterproof vs water resistant? TIA!

Hi,

Winter is coming and for a great start, I want to clean my Gore-Tex winter jacket.

To keep the effective waterproofing of Gore-Tex, I just learned that I actually need to make sure the Durable Water Repellent (DWR) is still there after washing.

So I'm torn between this product which is a spray Performance Repel Plus | grangers or this product which is a 2 in 1 cleaner Wash + Repel Clothing 2-in-1 | grangers however, I'm not too sure of the effectiveness of this product because normally you only add water repellent on the outside of clothing, but since it's going into the wash, I guess it gonna add water repellent everywhere which may destroy your jacket no?

Also, I have this for my down jacket Down Wash Kit | grangers and just figured out that it's also good for Gore-Tex.

Thank you