Tiny, functional and lightweight – the TerraLUX LightStar80 flashlight is that. 5 hours run time on 2 AAA batteries, it produces a focused 80 Lumens of brightness. The light comes packaged with batteries, just add and use. It features a rubber end that can be used to bite on, with an easy tap button on the end to tun on/off. It is also water resistant as well.

As a backup flashlight in the pack (to go with your headlamp) or kept in your vehicle, it works great. Just enough to do what you need, without a lot of weight from batteries.

The light can also be found on Amazon below retail: Terralux TLF-802AAA-BK Grey LED Pen Light.

~Sarah

Trail Map:

Mud:

Flames:

Mod Butterfly:

Compass:

Find the new cozies for sale at TrailCooking!

~Sarah

Kirk and I came across the line of Febreze Sport Spray recently at Target (look in the laundry cleaning product aisles) and it is carried by other big retailers including grocery stores and drug stores. Designed to be used on items you can’t launder such as shoes, gear, backpacks and more it cuts the stench to nothing quickly. There are two scents to choose from – Active Fresh and Fresh & Clean.

We have tested it on gym gear and it works nicely. The scent is not much different than using normal Febreze although for me I have to spray it outside. Spray till damp and then let dry. And enjoy not breathing in funky old odors for once!

~Sarah

Backpacking Washington: Overnight and Multi-Day Routes

To put it lightly it has been far too long since a modern – and easy to use – guidebook for backpacking Washington State has been published. The past decade has been a long run of dayhiking guides, which in reading a recent survey of WTA the numbers said 64% of those responding just dayhike. It is though nice to have a new up-to-date book now. One that wasn’t written in the 1980′s and updated in the late 1990′s! Craig has a passion for the trail and for writing about it.

Even with as many trails as I have traveled, at his presentation I still found many I had never heard of – it was almost embarrassing! Until I realized…why be shamed? Lets go hiking! But one question to myself, how have I never finished the High Divide in the Olympic National Park? I simply don’t know.

With the average being 18-25 mile trips this is a modern book – for those who can get 2-3 days off. I don’t know about others but for us that is the perfect amount of time. That is about the time an average person can get off from work. And while I sometimes dream of doing “treks” for the most part they have never held my attention – I get ancy after 4-5 days, ready to sit in a car and be lazy in front of my computer – and dream of the next adventure.

Attending Craig’s presentation I was able to experience his book without even reading it – it was a wonderful slide show of many of the hikes in the book, each with personal tales. As he showed Hike 22 on page 113 – Ipsut Creek and Seattle Park it made me smile. That hike (also known as The Mother Mountain Loop) is at Mount Rainier NP. The first time I did it was June 25th, 2005 with my friends Drew and Marty. We did it as a dayhike on a very cold and socked in day (well hey, at least you don’t overheat…..). That was a low snow year (not like this year!)

The hike starts at Mowich Lake and follows the Wonderland Trail down to the Carbon River and then runs up to Seattle and Spray Parks on the Wonderland Trail alternative. It is a loop trail that I would tell everyone that they must experience it once in their lives!

Heading up Cataract Valley:

In the rock and snow “wasteland” of upper Seattle Park:

Me and Drew behind me, one of those moments where if you quit moving you realize just how cold it is up there:

Heading down out of Spray Park:

Those are the kind of wonderful trails written about in this guidebook. Not too wordy, portable size book, true elevation gains (Oh Harvey Manning, how you loved to fib on that!), easy “cheat sheet” for what is at certain mileage on each trail (including potential camping areas). If you live here in Washington State or are thinking of visiting do check out Backpacking Washington: Overnight and Multi-Day Routes.

PS: Look on page 290 – Craig was awesome he even mentions my cookbook in the Recommended Reading section.

~Sarah

FTC Disclaimer: We received a review copy of this book for potential review.

They have two options, Velcro closure and drawstring. Both work great but I found that the Velcro one would be superior for using in hiking.

The sandwich bags have a pleat on the bottom.

If anyone has looked for a reusable and washable bag for carrying food items (obviously not wet food, dry only) take a look. The interior is lined with a nylon material, cotton on the outside. There is a tiny gap on the closure that would allow small items to fall through  (the drawstring bag would work better in that way) but used for bars, nuts, candy, etc this is a nice option for the food bag.

I don’t have a weight for the bags – my office is packed up currently as we are remodeling and my scale is tucked away – the bags are feather weight though, no heavier than a shy ounce for the larger bag.

~Sarah

The JetBoil systems (of which there are a number of) are either rabidly loved or hated on. Just depends on which camp you are in. What they do well is boil water quickly and efficiently.  The downside of the JetBoil is its bulkiness, due to being tall, although one can make this a lot less bulky by breaking down the kit before stowing it in their pack. It can also be a pain to clean if you have big hands and you fry food on the inside (note – broth based meals work best if cooking in).

The other issue was that the JetBoil performed amazing in 3 season weather but had issues in cold, particularly in altitude. In the SOL version they have worked on this issue:

“True 4-season upright canister cooking system, Jetboil introduces advanced Jetboil Thermo-Regulate™ Burner Technology to deliver consistent heat output down to 20˚ F (-6˚ C).”

Well, it comes close enough to solving it for most users. For those of us who backpack/camp in minus temps…well, suck it up and carry a traditional liquid fuel stove designed for mountaineering! Those clunky old fireballs do have a place – and deep cold is one of them.

The details:

JetBoil SOL Advanced Cooking System
- Price $119.95

Set includes stove/pot/bottom cup for covering stove bottom (turns into mug and measuring cup)/fuel canister stabilizer/pot support.

The pot support is for if you wish to use the stove with a traditional pot – one that isn’t a JetBoil. It turns the JetBoil stove into a normal canister stove.

- Insulating cozy for pot with heat indicating strip
- Lid with drinking spout/strainer
- Stove cover doubles as drinking and measuring cup
- Pot stabilizer for use with other pots

- Push button igniter (although always carry back up matches or lighter with any stove!)

- .8 liter FluxRing® cup (pot)

Weights from manufacturer:

10.5 ounces – which includes everything but the pot stabilizer and pot support. (So pot/lid/stove/bottom cup)

Dimensions:
4.1″ x 6.5″ (compacted), 11.5″ when fully assembled.
Pot size: 0.8 Liter/27 ounces

Our weights:

Stove/Pot/Lid: 10.5 ounces (Notice our weight doesn’t include the bottom cup, which weighs in at 1.1 ounces)

Stove/Pot/Bottom Cup/Lid/Fuel Stabilizer: 14 ounces

Stove/Pot/Bottom Cup/Lid/Fuel Stabilizer/full 100 gram fuel canister: 1 lb. 3.7 ounces (This is the ‘ready to use’ weight, with everything you need)
Full (new) 100 gram fuel canister: 6.9 ounces

Pot support: 1.3 ounces. (Not normally needed)

Claimed boil time:
16 ounces water in 2 minutes, 15 seconds, averaged over life of canister.

Can boil 12 Liters water with one 100 gram canister of fuel (small canister) as claimed by JetBoil.

Our boil time:

16 ounces water in 2 minutes 10 seconds on a new canister – meaning the averaged out time by the manufacturer holds true.

Photos in use -

Set up with 2 cups (16 ounces) cold water:

With the Sol is the strip on the side of the cozy that reacts to heat. When the pot is cold it is black:

As it starts heating:

Halfway there:

Nearly there:

Full boil:

Of the entire stove setup I liked the heat strip the best – it was easy to watch it climb up. No need to peak in the top.

As a water boiler and occasional meal cooker it is a tremendous stove – if one can get over the bulk and and hard cleaning.

On a side note – is the fuel stabilizer needed? It depends. If you are klutzy I would suggest it, otherwise it really isn’t “needed” for supporting 2 cups of water. Stabilizers work better when one is using wide pots (say 2L or bigger). So do keep that stabilizer, it will fit most brands of fuel!

~Sarah

So what showed up today?

A Primus AluTech 1.2 Liter pot – with screw on lid (with pasta strainer holes), fold-able insulated handles and a stuff sack. Big enough to cook one pot meals for 1-2 people, plenty of hot water for 1-2 people and its lightweight styling makes for easy carrying in a pack (it is just shy over 8 ounces). The pot is HAA (Hard Anodized Aluminum) – which as our readers know is my preferred choice o’ metal for cooking. Durable and naturally non-stick (although it isn’t true non-stick, if you do fry food on you can soak the pot or scrape it off). And did I mention this pot retails for a measly $32? It is a refreshing oddity in the current mindset of many manufacturers – just the pot and lid. Nothing else. No plates, bowls, cups, mugs, spoons, sporks. And $32 is a lot easier for a hiker to afford than $50 to $120. And more so, you get only what you need – just that one pot not a multiple of pots.

Being used on a typical canister stove:

It boils 4 cups water easily:

More to come!

~Sarah

FTC Disclaimer: We received this cookware for potential review from the manufacturer.

What is the advantage of these wood burning stoves over traditional camping stoves? The biggest is you always have fuel to use. You can burn almost anything in it – twigs, pine cones, dry animal dung (yeah, I know gross but it does work!). It is quick to get a fire going, even in nasty weather. And while the stove with all the accessories is heavy/bulky you are not carrying containers of denatured alcohol, HEET or bulky canisters of fuel which when empty you have to pack out. While on short trips (say a weekender) this might not pay, on a long trip or thru-hike it can.

Empty Firebase:

Loaded with twigs:

Having said that there are a couple limitations – open fires must be allowed. Know your rules! Especially in areas with fire bans. Know that the fire pan under gets hot and you can leave scorching. Use the stove on a bare surface such as rock or dirt and make sure there is nothing nearby that will catch on fire. You will mar picnic tables in the same way you see alchy stove rings….. you can always bring a piece of light metal to put under for more protection.

- You can use many different pots on that support, but keep them small for stability.
The Kelly Kettle Trekker Stainless Steel kit combo is sold for $96.99 with everything below included.

Water capacity for Kelly Kettle: 0.57 Liter/19 ounces
Size: 10.6″ packed
Set up just shy of 13″ (with pot supports), 11″ without. (Kettle inserted atop of firebase)
Diameter of kettle: 5.5″
Also comes with stuff sack, stainless steel pot and lid, pot lifter, pot support system and fire grill.

Kettle w/ all accessories (kettle/firebase/pot set/pot lifter/pot support/grill): 2 lb. 6.3 ounces fully loaded.
For the accessories by themselves, broken down by weight, size and cost:

Pot set w/ Grill:
Price $19.40
Pot size: 0.45 Liter/16 ounces
Diameter: 4.05″
Height: 2.56″

Pot Support:
Price $8.80

Kettle With Fire Base: 1 lb. 11.4 ounces
Pot Set (pot/lid/lifter/pot support): 9.4 ounces
Pot w/ lid: 5.3 ounces
Pot Lifter: 1.8
Grill: 1.3 ounces
Kettle: 1 lb. 6.7 ounces
Pot Support: 2.3 ounces
Firebase: 4.7 ounces

Time to boil water:

Well, that really depends on the user! Once you master the fire building it is a couple minutes – until you master it plan for 10 to 15 minutes, or better carry a tiny container of alcohol based hand sanitizer – a little dab will get nearly any fire going…..

And more on the boiling – while you boil about 19 ounces of water internally (in the kettle), if you have the pot supports with you, you can also boil more water on top. The stainless steel pot brings another 16 ounces (2 cups). So not only can you boil water for dinner, you have plenty for hot drinks. And on the adding of water to the kettle? Very easy to do, even when on top of the firebase. The pouring of the hot water is elegant as well – take the wood handle and the metal chain and tilt to pour, no spills.

There is something to be said for elegance – it can be worth the extra weight.

PS: That grill?

You can use it to cook over the hot coals after you have boiled your water….while it isn’t big it is fun. And hey, you can always roast marshmallows and wienies!

~Sarah

FTC Disclaimer: We received a review copy for potential review.

Does it work? Yes. It works very well. But….and a big but….the towelettes have a VERY strong perfume. If you don’t wear heavily scented products at home this will be eye watering strong. And it isn’t a natural herb scent either – it is a cloying perfume scent. And the scent hangs on – hours after using. This makes it a pretty bad choice for the backcountry – strong scent in animal territory? No thanks. And while some women may like the scent I cannot fathom men liking it.

Good product, good idea….but how about a version not so scented? For now I cannot say I would use them again. If the scent was a lot less I would.

~Sarah

FTC Disclaimer: We received product samples for potential review.

If you have noticed I like to call for exact measurements in my recipes versus the “cover with water” method used by others – simply because your meals will come out more exact and taste better. That means though you need to carry a way to measure. Many drinking cups/mugs made by outdoor companies now come with measuring lines, as do some cooking pots. Lets say though you are making cold meals – like my Lentil Couscous Salad – and you don’t want to carry a mug, a pot or a measuring vessel. After all, you are going light and trying to carry less weight and bulk.

Pull out some freezer bags! Pint size works best, you can also use a quart or a sandwich bag as well (Wal-Mart usually carries the pint size by Ziploc® brand). That and a permanent marker. Using a measuring cup add ¼ cup water to the bag, hold it up by the top and make a line across the bag and then repeat through 1 cup, marking each measurement.

I did 4 measurements but if you might need 1/3 or 2/3 cups, make those lines as well.

Now that you have one bag done use it as a template and make a couple more for future use (stash the template away in your hiking food stash!).

With water in the bag:

Now get out there and have fun!

~Sarah