I am going camping. Gonna be a solo trip. I am all packed and ready for a good time. I am heading out on Tuesday to one of the three lakes in Arizona and I will return Thursday night, Friday morning.

No open flames allowed (as in raging open campfires) so I made a coffee can wood stove (aka hobo stove) as well as two kinds of soda can stoves (aka penny stoves). One is a simmer and one is high heat that I just timed and it boiled .5 liter in under six minutes. When using the penny stove, I will place it in the hobo stove as a wind guard and pot stand. My pot is a Chunky Soup can with wire hanger handle. All very light weight and all nest inside my hobo stove with room for fuel, lighter and lid.

I am bringing two fishing poles. One for bass fishing and another for catfish. Hopefully I will catch a dinner or two while I am out there. If I don't catch anything, I am coming prepared with three cans of heat and eat soups for dinner, peanut butter and honey tortilla wraps for lunch, oatmeal for breakfast and a few energy bars and some jerky in between. I am also bringing four gallons of drinking water as I don't feel like taking the time to purify my own on site. One shorts, one pants, one short sleeve, one long sleeve, one light fleece jacket, one wind breaker, water shoes and boots, sunscreen, wide brim hat, hand sanitizer, first aid kit, carbon water filter, purification solution. I am bringing a one man tent and a tarp but I hope not to have to use it. Should be comfortable enough to just lay out a sleeping pad and sleeping bag.

Well, that's a nearly full inventory of my pack of about 40 lbs. (not that you all care lol). Hope to have a relaxing time out there and it would be bonus if I bring back some fish.

What biome/ecological climate are you camping in?

Bring a satellite phone or something. I don't want 127 hours on our hands, man.

Aha, on our hands.


Also:

On second thought insultobot, don't answer my question but have fun on your trip.

What biome/ecological climate are you camping in?

^_^

85 degree days, 55 degree nights this week.

Stythe, don't be starting something.

Going again on June 11.

My work is always doing volunteer events and this one is cleaning up trash around part of the lake I went to last time. Convenient for me! I signed up as the ink on the print out was still wet.

Here's some pics of the stove and pot and pot stand I made this afternoon for the trip.

https://picasaweb.google.com/insultobot/PennyStove#


Here's a video of me testing it out.

Lake Pleasant was too hot so I drove four hours north to the forested mountains where I camped under the stars (nearly froze the first night) and fished the nearby lake. I went way into Apache National Forest. It was a good thing I made those stoves as I was two hours from one of the AZ wildfires. As you can imagine, there are no open fires allowed. On the way up, I stopped at a rangers cabin and asked about the stoves I made. He said they are fine and to be careful out there alone.

I had to hike for about four or five hours to where I decided to put up camp. Spending all that time alone in the woods was a lot of fun!

Tonight, my wife and I are driving three hours south to some caves outside of Tucson AZ. We are going spelunking in the morning! Neither of us have ever been inside a cave but we will have a guide. So in about two hours we will hit the road, get a hotel in Tucson, go to dinner or a movie and then in the morning it is CAVE TIME!

I'm excited.

That sounds like a bunch of fun (both the camping and spelunking)! Spending time by yourself in the middle of nature seems like like it would be really relaxing.

The cave was a lot of fun. I will see about some pics later.

We also went to BioSphere 2 on the way home. Much more science than as Pauly Shore would have you believe...

That penny stove was interesting. I like seeing certain creative things like that.

But I'm still against the outdoors.

Yeah, I was in this strange forbidden place called "Outdoors" this past weekend. And it was a nightmare. The sun was none to kind to my very sensitive nerd skin. Skin that's only light comes from the dim glow of a computer monitor... or three.

As some of you know, I plan on hiking the Arizona Trail. It is the newest of the seventeen National Scenic Trails and runs from the Mexico/Arizona border near Tucson all the way to Utah at the North. In all over eight-hundred fifty miles of desert, mountains, forests, and canyons including one of the most grand sort.

I won't begin until this spring. That is if I can manage to get enough time off for the hike as well as an Alaskan cruise my wife and I plan on taking in May. We'll see. Otherwise it will be put off a year. I'm loose with plans and I expect some of my plans to change before beginning. I have been reading up and preparing for the past many months. My collection of necessary lightweight gear has been growing as well as replacing heavier items. Lightweight is a must as I will be carrying my own water supply for days on end. Water is heavy.

Hopefully, after my two week vacation three weeks from now, I will be able to find the GPS unit I would like to take with me. One that has an SOS feature would be nice.

More immediately, I am going fishing this weekend with my brother. Perfect chance to test out my automatic mechanical fishing reel, otherwise called a yoyo reel.

Anyone else enjoying the summer weather?

What's summer weather?

Summer weather was lovely but it's descended to sporadic torrential rain, i think summer days are at their end. =(

The thread title makes me shudder ever time I read it.

Last night I went fishing. Got caught in a dust storm and had to hunker down. I ended up having to stay the night, but that worked out for the best since I caught my biggest cat fish of the year this morning!

Tonight we shall have blackened catfish with Cajun ramoulade and fried potatoes with onions and steamed asparagus, carrots and snap peas.

Oh and a bucket of chicken