Backpacking Food Cooking Essentials

MSR Dragonfly, bullet proof … but LOUD

bbt — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 22:54:08 +0000

I’ve said it before – I love my Dragonfly. It’ll burn anything, extremely simple design, bullet proof – only problems, it is on the heavy side, and it is CRAZY LOUD. I’m always a little self conscious using the stove when others are around – concerned I am creating too much noise pollution, ruining the silence we all seek while backpacking. I’m looking forward to trying out a new product, to bring my Dragonfly down a bunch of dB’s so I can use it with both confidence (always works) and knowing that I’m not ruining the silence of the outdoors. The product is called quietstove – anyone have any experience? would love to hear about it. I’m planning to get one and try it out.

Hike On!
Brian.

Mt Whitney v3.0

bbt — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 17:34:07 +0000

Mt Whitney v3.0 in planning. Woo Hoo, will be my third visit in 5 years. Taking the long way, Horshoe, up around the backside (Crabtree/Guitar Lake) up and back again.

Now time to start some gear and food planning…

for instance, will this be the right stove?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt0x1GeI-Mg

or stick with my trusty kerosene burning MSR Dragonfly?

or the incredibly efficient and lite JetBoil? need to plan for 5 nights – can’t wait.

Hike On!
Brian.

Day Hike – Pyramid Peak

bbt — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 17:06:43 +0000

Did a killer Pyramid Peak day hike this weekend, 3 hours up, 2 hours down. Definitely feeling it today. Meals were simple, trail food. Brought a bunch of stuff, but ended up just eating the Tri-Tip sandwhiches (Tri Tip, Mortons Break, mayo, onion, lettuce), and Honey Stingers (orange), and Tree Top All Natural fruit snacks. Gotta say, from a cost/nutrition/taste perspective – the Tree Tops win out. That plus some Stash Tea at the top of the peak – Black Tea with Orange. and a jug of Purple G2 – later refilled with water. We filled our waters once on the way up, and didn’t need more on the way down.

Hike On!

Brian.

Weekend Hike – meal planning

bbt — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 17:27:50 +0000

Ok need to determine what to prepare for this weekend. Simple overnight hike, one summit – time to keep it easy. Just Lunch, Dinner, Breakfast and snacks to determine.

Lunch: Tasty Ham Sandwhich with home-made pickles – easy choice.

Dinner: Time for an old favorite, Tuna-Mac-n-Cheese, maybe some salsa to go with it.

Breakfast: go simple, Oatmeal, coffee, hot cocoa

Snacks: beef jerky, Honey Stingers, Snickers Bars, maybe some Barz-Barz

How to make the Tuna Mac

Boil water
Add to noodles in coozy
let ‘cook’ for 10 minutes
drain most of water
add cheese powder, stir
add tuna, stir
add any veggies, salsa, stir
close and let sit for 3 minute
nom

Hike On!
Brian.

Salmon Roll Ups (Wraps) YUM!

bbt — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 22:43:43 +0000

Great new backpacking food find – Salmon Rollups/Wraps.

Enjoyed these twice hiking Mt Whitney last weekend

Ingredients:

Flour Tortillas (store them along the side of your bear box to keep them whole)
Packet of Salmon (no seasoning)
shredded cabbage – keeps a very long time, great CRUNCH
shredded Mexican Cheese
Crispy Fried red peppers (salad topping)

that is it, no cooking, no fuss…just YUM YUM YUM

would also work well with Chicken or Tuna

Hike On!
Brian.

Great Hike – Ate like kings!

bbt — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:48:06 +0000

Just got back from July 4th hike in the Sierra’s. Planned to hike around 8k feet – but snow and high water pushed us down to about 7.5k WONDERFUL weather, nice hike, great lake and waterfalls. WOW. We also ate like KINGS

Lunch: Salami, Cheese, Rykrisp Crackers (forgot how good these are), canned fish, raisins

Dinner: Rib-eye steak, Fresh Cantaloupe, and Idahoan Instant Potatoes ( 4 cheese and Garlic/Parmesan),

Breakfast: Oatmeal, Coffee, Hot Cocoa, Fresh Biscuits from the BEMCO Backpacker Oven.

Hike On! (burp)
Brian.

Winter Camp? Summer Camp? strange year

bbt — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 15:45:44 +0000

Prepping for a backpack trip this coming weekend. Camp will be at about 8k feet in the Sierras…so, will we be camping on snow, ice, rock, mud,…who knows! it’s a crazy year.

Meals this will be a quick out and back, so planning a more interesting selection of food

Breakfast 1: road food

Lunch 1: PB&Tortilla, can of sardines

Dinner 1: I’m thinking Steak, carry in some juicy T-bones, cook over open fire (or fry pan) YUM!, along with some cheesy cous cous, and some fresh veggies (carrots/green beans), cup of soup

Breakfast 2: dehydrated eggs, burritos, oatmeal, coffee, tea

Lunch 2: PB&Tortilla, can of Japanese pike

Dinner 2: Road food

hike on!

Brian.

Random Acts of Trail Kindness

bbt — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 15:38:56 +0000

Random acts of kindness trail work.

A huge pine fell over a trail near my house about a month ago. The trail runs across State Park land, though it’s run by a concessionaire – not sure what they do exactly, they collect money when you enter. Collect money when you launch a boat, and sell gas and snacks. I’ve never seen anyone actually tending to the park. For the past year, I’ve been doing some impromptu trail maintenance. Mainly just clearing trees that fall down during winter storms. It’s really amazing how many trees fall on the trail. The tree we cleared this week night was huge. A very big fall. It’s a digger pine, which are common in this area, if there is such a thing as a weed tree – then the digger pine is a weed. They grow up quick and weak. This tree fully covered the trail and forced people to walk about 30′ off trail, creating a new trail. The new trail would be very bad for erosion, straight down and up a hill – not a good thing. We attached it with two saws, one short saw (kind of like a pruning saw) and also a larger 24″ bow saw (OSH Backyard Pro)

so, anyone else out there doing some random acts of trail kindness? send me a comment – would love to hear about it.

Do you get permission – or just go Rambo? we went Rambo.

Food, I do wish we’d brought some energy snacks with us, maybe Jolly Ranchers, Barz Barz Cookie Bar, something like that.

Ventana Wilderness, gpx, kml, meals

bbt — Tue, 31 May 2011 20:50:33 +0000

Great hike in the Ventana Wilderness,

We did not make it as far as the Hot Springs (next time!). We camped overnight at the Terrace Camps on the Terrace Creek. A very nice camp area, though it is crowded. The toilet is really intended for those who are comfortable in the outdoors… The hike has a lot of up and down, but is very good, very do-able.

This is the map of the hike, including elevation data below. I’m also attaching the Google Earth (.kml) file, as well as the typical GPS (.gpx) file.

On a food side, a couple new finds.

1. Added some dehydrated tortilla soup mix (WinCo Bulk section) to dehydrated potatoes – very good, then did the same and added some dried cheese powder (WinCo Bulk section) to potatoes – the combo is a winner.

2. Camp fires are allowed in the wilderness (in fire rings), so we carried in some some-more makings – yum!

3. Used our trusty BEMCO Backpacker Oven along with equally trusty and LOUD MSR Dragonfly stove to make some delicious Honey Biscuits and Blue Berry Muffins.

Everything else was cooked in the ziploc tubs, Potatoes with the Tortilla soup mix (plus can’s of tuna or chicken), oatmeal in the morning. Coffee, Tea, and hot cocoa in the cups. Oatmeal/Raisin/Chocolate chip bars as ‘energy bars’, Snickers and Milky Way bars. We also tried some of the expensive beef jerky from REI. Surprisingly good and moist. I need to run some tests on various cuts of beef and dehydration levels.

On the hike out we saw a wonderful banana slug, shown here. The Sun was getting strong – I’m sure this guy was looking for a cool dark place to spend the day.

Bad Gulch was a great site. This also offers a fun place to do some rock climbing. Those who climb it are rewarded with even more interesting views of the water fall. As well as looking down on everyone on the trail. This patch of clover really caught my eye as well – fun.

Great hike

Hike On!
Brian.

Ventana Wilderness – Meal plan

bbt — Thu, 26 May 2011 20:11:19 +0000

Ok, plan is to do a quick hit, hike 10 miles in, setup camp – enjoy the hot springs

enjoy again in the morning, then hike out

Day 1: Road Breakfast

Morning Snack: Japanese rice cracker/almond mix

Lunch: Tuna/Chicken Salad Can
Tortilla/Peanut Butter/Onion
Sardines

Snack: Snickers Bars

Dinner: BEMCO Oven Pizza
Carrots
Liption Cup a Soup

Desert: BEMCO Blueberry Muffins

Day 2:

Breakfast: Oatmeal
Coffee / Tea
Hot Cocoa

Snack: GORP

Lunch: Tortilla, PB, Onions
Tuna

Snack: Snickers, Beef Jerkey

Road Dinner

Hike On!
Brian.