Good to Go Gourmet Dehydrated Food - Yummy Thai Curry

 

I had the pleasure of eating a Thai Curry Good to GO meal in the Adirondacks I picked up from Eastern Mountain Sports in Lake Placid before hiking.  This meal blew me away how great it tasted.  All the coconutty Thai Curry goodness of it all.  The long hike may have had some bearing on how awesome it was, as backpacking tends to do, but I don't think so. Previously I have heard how good these things are and wanted to try it out - the shop employees at EMS even asked if I've heard how good they are and said the Thai curry were their favorite flavor.  They're made in Maine.  

 

 Good to Go has mainly have vegetarian dishes and some pescatarian dishes that includes some fish but really not much.  I wouldn't mind trying out a few more of them, like the Pad Thai or the chili.  This was so yummy, I had to pop back in to EMS on my way out of town to pick up a couple more since I don't think they're sold in Canada.  They are a little on the expensive side at around 12 dollars US (15 bucks Canadian - yikes!).  This one does take quite long to rehydrate (20 mins.), but I've found most containing rice do.

If you come across some of these, pick one up...  or probably more, you won't be disappointed!

Good To Go

Thai Curry!

Thermarest MondoKing 3D Review - Car Camping Sleeping Bliss!

I'm on the fence on what to think about the whole glamping movement.  On one hand I hate people for wanting/needing every single amenity from their house including the kitchen sink while camping.  Also a little bit selfishly is the more comfortable camping is, the more people will be camping and Ontario's Parks are already overcrowded and difficult enough to get a reservation for nowadays.
On the other hand, there are a few things I do appreciate.  One of them is the elusive perfect sleeping mat/mattress for car camping. So really I shouldn't complain.
I do a lot of backcountry camping so I have all the ultralight stuff, but let's be honest - sleeping on a NeoAir mattress or most camping mats isn't exactly a dreamy sleep.  It's just a compromise from lying on the hard ground while trying to get some shuteye.
In the past couple years I have used a blow up Coleman type of queen sized bed.  They're very popular at the Canadian Tire/Walmart type of camping sections because they are cheap on sale. But, even if you get a good one, the seem to ALWAYS leak sooner or later, which drives me nuts when I wake up in the morning with my ass on the ground and have to blow it up every night.  All that, and they are cold...  even in a temperate camping climate, you loose so much heat out of the mattress that I always put a blanket down on top of the mattress.
In any case, due to these shortcomings, I picked up a brand new XXL size Thermarest MondoKing 3D mattress to get rid of these issues. It is quite expensive, costing me 215 dollars at Mountain Equipment Coop.  It is quite large, coming in a bag about the size of a medium car camping tent.  The XXL sized mattress itself when blown up is about the size of a twin bed - a glorious 30x80 inches, and a full 4 inches thick.  Very comfortably long and wide for my 6'2" tall 180 pound frame.  Inflation is similar to any old old school foam Thermarest- open the valves.  Yes valves - there are two.. both leading to the same space, just to make self inflation quicker.  After half hour or so then I close one off and blow maybe twenty times to get it firm, then close off the second valve.  The mattress is extremely comfortable and supple, similar to memory foam.  I have used it twice in a Lean-To so far, and I am so glad I had this at the end of my recent 43km Adirondack hike to rest my sore and weary bones.  As well, it is the warmest Thermarest ever, with an R rating of 11.4 compared to around 3 for your standard NeoAir mattress.  Comfy sleep... ZZZZZZ.  This will also come in handy for winter car camping..  it's too large to be dragging around the backcountry.
Deflating is somewhat simple and painless.  Open the two valves, fold over itself a couple times and sit on it to get rid of most of the air, then lay out and roll, squeezing any remaining air out with your knees, then close both valves when rolled.  It comes with a handy stuffsack/carry bag with a strap on it.  The only thing I wish is that it came with a mini pump instead of having to huff and puff your way to the correct firmness.
I am super happy with this so far, and it is so nice to have a great sleep uninterrupted by pressure points as many camping mats have, or coldness and leaks as air mattresses have.  I am looking forward to great sleeps with this in the many years to come.

Thermarest MondoKing 3D

Black Diamond Distance Carbon FLZ Poles - The Trekking Poles That Couldn't

I wanted to get some high end, lightweight trekking poles for use while backpacking.  I thought these Black Diamond Distance Carbon FLZ Poles would do the trick, since I figured Back Diamond should surely know how to design some trekking poles - they have been doing it for quite a while.
Brand new, these poles seemed to be great - lightweight, easy to set up and extend.  My only issues were the hand straps - they're are non removable for some reason..  and the tips are plastic for some reason.  I had to buy some carbide tips to switch out, which is easy enough - the plastic tips simply unscrew.
Unfortunately it didn't take very long for me to find out how how unsuitable for trekking these poles are.  First trip with these was a three day backpacking adventure in the Adirondacks. I only got the chance to use them a day and a half, or around 10 hours/20kms of hiking, before one of them failed.  Basically the locking pin for them frayed the carbon fiber tubes and one pole was useless after that.  I looked at the other pole and it was showing signs of the same thing.  I managed to use the second pole for the other day and a half of my journey, but that pole is useless now too.

 

I am actually a bit shocked at how unsuitable these poles are for trekking - I expected much more out of Black Diamond for a set of poles that cost nearly 200 dollars.  I weigh only 180lbs and didn't abuse these in any way - slamming them down or falling on them - I was simply using them in a way that anyone would while backpacking in steep rocky terrain.. I honestly can't think of a use for these poles except if you are a senior and want to use them in the local city park, either that or if you weigh less than 130lbs they might be suitable for the backcountry.  I question if Black Diamond even spent any time testing these.
I rarely return gear that has been used, but I will be returning these to MEC.  I don't know which poles I will get next.  I don't know if I can trust Black Diamond to get a different model than these now.

Black Diamond Distance Carbon FLZ Poles

High Peaks and Back

I just got back from the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks.  I visited Lake Placid for a day and then headed to the Adirondack Loj and Wilderness Campground.  An amazing place, excellent for launching on a backcountry hike, as the trailheads are right there.  A last minute decision on the route had me going over Algonquin Peak the first day, I stayed at Opalescent River lean-to the first night, then over Mount Marcy from the Four Corners, over Little Haystack and on to the amazing, new Bushnell Creek #2 lean-to for a cold night, then out back to the Loj the day after. 
It was a great rip and it gave me a chance to builkd up my legs for Iceland, as well as test out a whole bunch of new gear.
There'll be some good reviews I'll write up soon with loyts of new gear I tested out!

Nikon 14-24mm Loose Lens Cap - Tighten 'er up!

I suppose you can call this a hack, although I hate that word.  The Nikon 14-24mm is a staple for landscape photography and offers excellent optics for the wide to super wide range of lenses for Nikon.  However, it has an unconventional lens cap.  Due to the bulbous optics and the built in flower petal lens hood, Nikon produced a lens cap that fits over the outside diameter of the lens like a cup.  The internals have little ribs spaced out that are supposed to keep the lens cap secure.  And for the most part, it does.  But, mine is several years old and the ribs have been sanded down by the number of times I have removed the lens cap and replaced it, so now it is a little loose for my liking.  Recently, my cap has fallen off numerous times when I use a Peak Designs Slide sling attached to the baseplate so the camera and lens hangs down.  Luckily, the lens cap is large enough for me to notice it falling off.

I was about to just purchase a brand new one,but I thought of a way to tighten it up, and it's pretty simple.  Just heat up a soldering iron and press sideways ever so slightly on the rib while melting it.  I did this to both sides of all ribs and the cap is much tighter now, and no need to buy a new one.

Garmin eTrex30X First Impressions

I'm preparing to go to the Adirondack High Peaks on Sunday and although it's not a must have, I do like to have a GPS for a little added security and lower frustration in some situations especially since I will be solo. I pulled out my old Garmin 62s and found out the micro USB connector had crapped out and I couldn't connect at all to my computer.  If I had a bunch of time, I'd probably send it in to Garmin to get it fixed, but I don't have time.  I figured I'd pick up a new one instead.  After doing some research I think I'd like an eTrex 30X.  Besides Garmin there really isn't much competition other than Delorme.
I can't stand touch screens for backcountry.  I don't know who would.  Your hands are dusty, wet, covered in gloves, etc.  But some people must since Garmin keeps pumping out new models. The eTrex and the 64s aren't touch screen.  The eTrex is the only thing you can even remotely call light weight in Garmin's lineup.  Somewhere along the line it seems noone gave Garmin's product managers the memo that people like super light weight things in the backcountry.  My old 62s is a beast and the newer 64s hasn't changed at all since that.  Honestly I think the only thing different is the processor is faster and maybe more memory.  The eTrex blows the others away in terms of weight, as well as an impressive-on-paper 25 hours operating time on batteries, compared to 16 for most others Garmin offers. On top of that, the resolution of 240x320 is twice that of the 64s ridiculously low resolution of  160x240 (what is this, 1992?).
Opening the box and taking it out, the 30X IS small, with a smaller screen compared to my 62s.  That's OK.  I transfered my old SD card with some maps on it to the 30X, fired it up and put some maps on the 30X via MapSource (screw Basecamp, it still sucks), then threw some batteries in it and turned it on.  The rear cover has a quarter turn lock on it, similar to the 62S but not with the overdesigned investment cast aluminum dovetail the 62S has - this time it's plastic for the eTrex, and I'm OK with that.  I managed to set my preferences easily enough as the controls and still confusing-as-hell to find the option you want OS is very similar to the 62s.
Putting it on my kitchen scale, the 30X is 99 grams sans betteries.  The 62S is 167 grams.  That means the 30X is only 60% the weight of the 62s..  sweet!
Well, I guess I'll see how this works practically in the next week, but so far, I think it's an improvement over my old 62s in terms of size, weight, resolution and battery life.  I'm sure Garmin could take another 1/3 of the weight out of this thing if they put their minds to it, and make the screen larger at the same time...  those two items would be on my wishlist for improvements.