Category: Gear
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🎒What’s in my backpack
I found such posts helped me a lot at the beginning of my backpacking adventures, so here goes mine. I packed for a weekend trip (Friday evening – Sunday afternoon). We are spending the nights at a backcountry campsite, so there will be things like privys and wood but no running water. We don’t expect…
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6 tips to survive winter backpacking
So we went backpacking in Joshua Tree National Park in November. It was a lot of things, fun, beautiful, memorable, incredible… but also, COLD. Lessons I learned: 1. Every part of the sleeping system counts. All my gear is 3-season, which is just enough for November in the desert. Kinda. Ish. My sleeping system was:…
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Food for a weekend backpacking trip
Somehow I managed to pack *just* the right amount of food for the weekend. I returned home with 1 tea bag and 1 coffee bag (both taken just in case). For reference, we left Saturday morning and returned Sunday around lunchtime. I had Saturday breakfast and Sunday dinner at home. We hiked 11 miles on…
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5 tips to keep warm on cold camping nights
We went camping in October. My sleeping bag is rated 22F survival, 30F comfort. I’m a cold sleeper. The temperatures dropped below 30F. Here’s how I stayed comfortable. 1. A sleeping bag liner. A liner is basically sheets for your bag. It keeps your bag clean and you don’t need to wash the bag as…
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Here’s what I take on a hiking day
Tomorrow we go hiking. Here’s my hiking stuff: What I’m also taking: My list is for day hiking in a popular area (i.e. we’re unlikely to get lost or stranded without help). It’s September and we’re in Maryland, so while it is still very warm, we don’t need sunscreen or protection from extreme weather. What…
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A Packing List For Your First Camping Trip
There are many such lists online. Here’s mine. I’m assuming car camping, which means driving up to your camping spot and parking right there; good weather (no rain, no extreme temperatures); no or little experience; essentials only. I have a blog post with some links to both essential and extra stuff I’m happy I bought…
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Starter sleep systems: cheap, cheaper, cheapest
A sleep system is gear you use for (you guessed it) sleeping. It usually refers to (1) a tent, (2) a sleeping pad, and (3) a sleeping bag. I recently bought my own gear and studied many reviews. Here, I want to share what I ended up buying and what other options I considered. Of…
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The Ultimate Guide to Cheap Camping Gear
I’m a PhD student and I live on a scholarship. Being on budget is essential to me. Camping is an expensive hobby to start. Now that we have all the gear, we only pay the camp fee ($30-$50 a night), park entrance fees and food/wood. When you’re just starting up though, you need a sleeping…
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9 things we forgot on our first camping trip (and you will probably too)
Our first camping trip was a great experience. We went to Elk Neck State park (Maryland) and it was perfect to start off. Clean facilities including free showers, a great camp store, lots of things to do… However, these items would have made our trip better: 1. Cash. Omg take cash! You never know when…
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Amazon (mostly) finds for car camping
I am completely new to camping. This is my first summer trying it out, during which my boyfriend and I car camped three times. We needed to purchase everything from scratch, from tents and sleeping bags (check out my blog on how I chose mine here) to crockery and a coffee maker. Here are some…
Marie goes camping 