Finding this perfect stopover so close to a road that we travel every summer was a great reminder to always keep exploring, even when you’ve been there before.
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If you’ve never camped on BLM land, read this post where we provide more background information about the perks of BLM camping and share an easily accessible camping area outside of Moab, Utah. Continue reading
I’m not a planner per say, but mention a trip idea and I’ve already booked the accommodations. There’s just something about travel, adventures, and vacation that puts me into planning mode and not the crazy, ‘there are so many things to think about that I can’t even think’ type of planning mode, but the, ‘wow, what wonderful possibilities, let’s go with the best one‘ type of planning mode. I have a certain travel planning chi that allows me to avoid the overwhelm and skip right to the excitement. I started my travel guiding service, Schu Tours, partly because everyone is always asking for travel planning help. Continue reading
Once the calendar turned to September, we leapt into fall with all of our hearts. Granted the days have still been warm, but we’ve found that if you climb high enough into the mountains, then the evenings are cool, the leaves are changing colors, and the mornings are perfectly crisp.
Here are a few snapshots from our recent weekend camping trips. If you feel inspired to hop in the car this weekend, at the very bottom of the post, I link to a few posts to hep you get started, including some of our favorite/essential gear.
Hey y’all! Happy weekend! In need of an adventure this autumn? I’m (Sarah) hosting two camping retreats in North Carolina during October and November. If you’d like to learn more you can visit my website where you’ll find the dates, details, pricing, and itineraries for two epic outdoor weekends in beautiful North Carolina. I’ll explain them briefly here too.
HIKE! For this two night adventure, we’re rustic car camping (no electricity, but we do have showers + bathrooms) at Lake James State Park. Due to park rules, you’ll need to make your own campsite reservation ($40 total), but otherwise I have you all taken care of. Not only will I feed you and build your fire, I will lead you on four separate day hikes totaling about 12 miles, all with breathtaking views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Think expansive vista views, interesting rock formations, and the height of fall foliage, and that’s where we’ll be hiking.
This adventure is perfect for those completely new to hiking and camping, but it’s also perfect for those wanting to transition to overnight backpacking trips. I will demonstrate the type of gear needed to sleep on the trail overnight and even point out some possible first trips on the trails that we hike together.
Here’s a link to all the info about HIKE! + how to register for this event.
CAMP! Camp is an overnight at Jordan Lake. Camp is meant to bring you out into the changing yet not too chilly forests of North Carolina during early November. Between day hiking, paddling, hammock hanging, and fire building, we will do a fair amount of conversing about set ups, gear, and best practices. We’ll also share our experiences and learn what works for others and what works for us. Camp will also encourage you to craft easy and delicious camping meals in the future for your own crew as I help demystify camp stoves and cooking over a fire.
CAMP! is perfect for those completely new to hiking and camping, but it’s also perfect for those simply wanted to decompress in the woods for a night. Join us at CAMP! and meet other awesome locals like yourself.
Here’s a link to all the information about CAMP! Dates, pricing, and all the details.
Back in May we went on camping road trip. If you’re interested, here’s info about our visit to Canyonlands, our visit to the Grand Tetons, and camping on BLM land. Back in July I told you about our big camp kitchen snafu during the road trip. The one where we forgot the stove!
In that post, I described how we adjusted our menus so that we were still able to camp and eat well. Without easily accessible hot water, priority #1 was figuring out coffee. We made Nescaffe Frappes. And I may have said that “knowing this recipe is up there with knowing how to escape a grizzly bear attack or how to cut off your arm in an avalanche. Life or death.”
You probably read that and freaked. Then you started stressing about how you’ll get caught in an avalanche because you couldn’t cut the grizzly off of your arm. And the bear only attacked because you were SLOW-AS-F on your hike because of the POUNDing caffeine headache because SOMEONE forgot the camp stove. F*ck.
Sarah recently shared detailed lists for setting up your camp kitchen and your backpacking kitchen. I think we can all agree that one of the most essential items on those lists is the stove. It’s essential for hot coffee in the morning, teas at night, eggs for breakfast, ramen for dinner. Should I go on?
We spent many years backpacking with our homemade beer can stoves (thanks, pop!). When we started car camping more regularly, the mini burner on a gas canister was a great option. Sarah’s a recent convert to the Jetboil system. The nice thing about each of these stoves is that they’re relatively small! They can easily fit in your camp box/bag, ensuring that you never leave home without them (bit of foreshadowing there).
Now that we’re a family of four, we’ve made the leap to a Coleman camp stove. It’s definitely not an option for a backpacking trip, but it’s perfect for car camping, especially with a group. You can use larger pots and pans, have multiple items cooking at once, and you don’t have to worry about balancing a tippy pot, which is clutch with a couple of crazy kids.
Unfortunately, we FORGOT THE STOVE on our last trip. I can’t remember when we realized our mistake. Maybe on the drive? Maybe when setting up the van that first night? Either way, with little hesitation we knew we could rise to the occasion and camp without the stove.
Whenever we’ve mentioned this blunder to people, they’ve all asked or assumed that we would run out and buy another stove. Admittedly it crossed our minds, and that’s because it’s so hard to imagine a weekend without a stove.
But really, it’s not that bad, and here’s how we handled it. The first step was to decide what we could live without and then find alternatives to the items that were absolutely necessary.
We often pack no-cook lunch options, so that was always an easy meal. The boys didn’t get their regular hot chocolates for breakfast, but they were just as happy with cold chocolate milks.
At the end of the trip, it was fun to have this little snafu success under our belt. On a personal note, it was nice to work through this situation in front of the boys, giving us a real-life “problem” to solve together.
And now we’ll always travel with a jar of instant coffee in our camp bag.
Earlier today we shared Car Camping Kitchen Essentials and now we’re back with backpacking must haves. When it comes to backpacking you basically want to get away with as little gear as possible. Below is what I take on any standard backpacking adventure.
The Stove – this is a very personal decision. How many are you cooking for? Are you crafty? My pop has used this DIY stove for over a decade and loves it. I bought this lil’ guy when I was backpacking solo a lot. Recently I’ve used the Jetboil a lot and I really like it so that’s what I linked to here.
Bear Proofing Measures – will depend on your location. In most National Parks out west, bear canisters are required and available to rent for super cheap. I have researched bear canisters for hours and still haven’t come to a conclusive decision so I haven’t purchased one yet. Now that I’m typing this, I bet there are some used ones floating around out there that I could buy. I’ve already invested in this bear bag so you could see why I’m not jumping into another investment.
Water Purification System – there are several options and I really don’t know what’s best for you. I rely on the tablets. I don’t mind that they take thirty minutes to dissolve. I have owned a SteriPen in the past, but it failed on me. I’m still upset about it.
When I was little I would marvel at my parents’ ability to pack a few rubbermaid containers and a camping stove only to have it unpacked to reveal a full camping kitchen. I couldn’t understand how they had managed to pack every utensil, gadget, and piece of gear necessary to feed a family of six outdoors for an entire week. I always wondered how they managed to think of everything.
I remember when Katie published her van camping post detailing her canvas bag of cooking gear and again I thought, that’s it? That’s all you need? After a lifetime of car camping and four years packing the camping kitchen myself, I can confirm that yes, that’s it. Creating a starter kitchen for a camping trip is pretty darn easy. It’s a shame it seems so intimidating.
That is it! That is all that’s in the box. If I have that list, I know that I can cook basically anything I pick up at the grocery store. Overtime, your car camping kitchen will shift to fit your needs, maybe you use exclusively bowls instead of bothering to bring plates along. Or maybe you drink wine not coffee so you lose the Aeropress, but add silicone tumblers. Maybe you add a table to your kit. Whatever you add or subtract, let me know in the comments.
Hiking the Hoh River Trail to Blue Glacier is an epic weekend adventure and one I haven’t stopped thinking about for a full year. The route is an out and back trail and comes to 37 miles round trip with about 3,700 feet of elevation gain. The highest point on the trail is at 4,300 feet where you’ll stop to eat lunch and gaze at the big Blue Glacier. The Hoh River Trail starts in a temperate rainforest, progresses to an alpine meadow, and then arrives at a dramatic Blue Glacier.
There are plenty of websites that will give you the play by play step by step of this hike, I won’t do that, but I will tell you why you should absolutely schedule this into your summer, give you a packing list, and menu, and any other helpful bits.
Hike as far as you can on day one. We started quite late and ended up hiking in the dark for a few hours, but we made it all the way to Lewis Meadow. You could even hike further than that to really set you up for success on the Glacier day. On day two, we left everything we had at the campsite except for water, warmth, and lunch. You could take your things with you, drop them at a campsite further down the trail and then continue on to the glacier, but we really liked our initial campsite and we wanted a shorter day (11 miles!) on day three. Day two was loooong, but the benefit of an in and out trail is knowing exactly what you’ll have to hike once you turn around and head back, so there were no surprises. Also, since you hike up, up, up to the Blue Glacier, the second half of day two is all downhill until dinner time.
You’ll definitely need a permit – check the NPS website for more info.
Washington Trails Association has a good write up.
Here’s the Hiking Project’s take on it.
