In the spirit of the workout thread, perhaps we could share some photos of the back country, or some of the gear we used in the back country. I'll start it off

A couple Seek Outside Backpacking Tents in a new color "Redwood Brown"






Some Paradox Packs



LBO with vestibule used as an awning


Solar charger etc on pack , solar charger is a suntastics That is a Paradox Unaweep in Cuben Ranger Green


LBO (Lil' Bug Out Shelter) with a clothes line rigged up http://seekoutside.com


I'm giving Tenkara a try
[img]http://seekoutside.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/tenkara.jpg[/img]

Waterfalls are doing nicely
[img]http://seekoutside.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/waterfalls.jpg[/img]

Lake fishing
[img]http://seekoutside.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/lake.jpg[/img]
It was a great few days in the back country.

Awesome Pics thanks for sharing!!!!

Nice pics.

Not going anywhere until next week. Should have some pics afterward.



Travis

Cool! I'm so jealous...back to work for me!

Beautiful!

Awesome photo's.

Great photos Kevin, looks like some beautiful country. Here are a few from my last month at home in the mountains.













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Tanner

Kevin -

Cool pictures, thanks for sharing.

Looking at them brings up a question I've wondered but not thought to ask.

Looking at the pad, bag, etc, how do you keep them out of the grass, weeds, etc? Is it so dry there that dew isn't a problem? That's one thing that's kept me from floorless. How big a ground sheet does it take?

I usually have a choice ... either sleep back in the timber where all I have to deal with are some sticks or sleep out in the open and try to keep the dew from 18" tall weeds off my gear. (Or use a tent with a floor.)

Tom

Tom: If you have a tent or tarp overhead, dew won't be a problem. And if you pitch the tarp/tent so that you get good air circulation, condensation on the inside surfaces won't be a problem either. For a ground sheet, my preference is a 4X8 sheet of tyvek. It's light, water resistant, and big enough to fit a pad/bag and some gear. I've had water running under the tyvek and stayed dry. I also bring a large trash bag to put my pack on if the ground is wet. Works for me but I'd like to hear what Kevin uses too.

On this trip, none of us used a thing except pads. I had an Lawson pad that was larger, and the others had CCF pads under air pads. We had frost on our bags once or twice, but it only took a few minutes in the sun for it to dissipate. We had snow and hail one day, but not at night.

We did not have any problems with dew or condensation. Several nights we were camped by creeks with beavers dams etc not very far away. If the weather was fair, we slept with the tents more open, but far above timberline they were closed due to wind which got rid of any condensation in itself. About half the nights, we were camped just below timberline, and about half above timberline.

As for packs, all of them were from waterproof material so it was not an issue / worry for the packs. My pack frame was usually a pillow sort of head rest. I have gotten used to that when I use the pack frame for naps on long day outings.

Sometimes I use a ground sheet, but really I prefer an oversized lightweight pad if I can get away with it. The pad does dual duty. Sometimes, I use a lightweight bivy, but not on this trip.

Certain areas were very very wet, but it was never an issue when we decided to camp. There was always a dry ish outcropping somewhere.

It wasn't really a high tech trip. It was high, fast, sort of long, a bit spartan and a lot of fun.

Thanks for the info. I appreciate it.

Any thoughts about situations where the ground is wet from rain? I'm sure it's something the long-distance, UL backpackers face. Most of my backpacking, hunting or otherwise, is either in dry cold or dry hot. I'd like to branch out into later fall / early spring, but getting wet sucks. (Wearing glasses and hating to deal with trying to keep them dry so I can see doesn't help a lot either.)

Tom

This trip was extremely wet. The ground was soaked to begin with, and it rained all night and all the next day.


First, I used almost exactly the same strategy with the addition of a lightweight bivy, and a wood stove. How did it work ? Ok, but not great. I've been stuck in real wet conditions a few times and I am not a big fan. There is a difference between a lot of rain, and just wet (I know it doesn't make a lot of sense).

First, sleeping on fairly wet ground does not bother me a lot. CCF pads won't absorb water, so if you have a large pad it is effective at keeping what is on top of it dry. A ground sheet, or small tarp work well as well. The lightweight bivy I had was effective, in case I rolled around or rolled off, which is not a big problem for me. The stove was effective at keeping the inside of the tent dry while it was in operation. The problem was "misting" as it's known in the middle of the night. Misting , is when condensation builds up inside the tent, and big rain drops knock it off. I was mostly ok in bivy, but my son was in his bag only and it got wet, but not wetted out. In the middle of the night , I wished I had a partial liner for the rear of the BCS which would have kept misting at bay, or someone (not me) would have started the stove, which would have dried it out as well.

So in summary, my strategy does not change a lot when dealing with the ground itself. Where my strategy changes is condensation. Wet ground, makes for more condensation. If you set up camp and use a wood stove on top the wet ground it will dry out, but not so much the first night. If you move camp everyday, you will never be on dry ground, if you have more of a basecamp it will get dry. Under a big pine canopy would be my first campsite choice when it is real wet.

In this particular case, I would have been much better off camping on pine duff under a pine canopy, but that option was not available. With a partial liner, all would have been fine as well, and a ground sheet, tarp or bivy would be fine for the ground. On this trip, I had a puppyish lab with me, which was my reason for using the bivy.

BTW, I knew that was going to be a wet weekend, the precip chance was 90 percent and some areas had potential floods. I went out anyway, just in case it was nice and sunny Tent "misting" was going to happen, the air was so wet, it was practically dripping on it's own.

I expect to be relocating camp most every day. I'm not very good at sitting still. Some of it is patience, some of it is low back pain which hits me real bad sitting and limits how long I can lie down.

Is "tent misting" an issue with tarps as well?

I'm glad you mentioned bivies. I don't do well with mummy bags, don't sleep good with my feet constrained, so I have switched to semi-rectangular bags. I still squirm around a lot but it is better. I picked up a Bear Paw WD bug bivy which seems to have a tub floor which will address some of the problems with sliding off my pad / ground sheet / whatever. (I hope.) I haven't gotten a chance to use it yet ... "soon", whenever that is. Fingers crossed.

I also need to try a hammock. With my back, it's either going to be bliss or sheer agony, nothing in the middle.

Tom

Misting is less of an issue with tarps, but can still happen. In essence , if there is enough condensation to form on the canopy, and hard enough rain (or hail) to knock it off it can happen. Steeper sides on a tent /tipi can lessen the effect as well, since it is more likely to run off due to gravity. Tarps pitched off the ground and open ended will get less condensation, but in can happen given the right environmental conditions. I've never had it be what I would consider awful, and honestly in the times it has happened it has been extremely wet, and in fact wet enough that I suspect I would have had issues with whatever double wall / floored tent I could have been in as well. I've had double walled / floored tents leave me wet when the right conditions were in place before.

Not always the case. Everyplace else ain't CO. Vek has explained the physics of this a few times here.

Tom, the best way to avoid condensation inside your shelter, is, ventilation of course as Smoke suggested, but equally important is to camp in the woods, if any are present, as they typically are in the eastern highlands.

Go over to hammockforums.net and try to attend one of their get-togethers, often times folks will bring one or more hammocks for you to try and that would dramatically shorten the learning curve for how to use one. Above 20F in the eastern woods, anything else pales in comparison.

Tanner how you liking the Stone Glacier?

Nice pic's everybody!

These are from last year or earlier, hope to have some current ones soon:













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[img]http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p46/cpwatts_2006/DSCN0043.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p46/cpwatts_2006/IMG_1056.jpg[/img]

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Nice pics folks. I'm outta work, and all the other things hittin me financially & otherwise right now (a real country western song era), but guess what?
You see these pictures and you remember what it's really all about;
gettin out there in Gods' country. Thanks for sharing !!!

Great photos smokepole. A couple of those mountains look familiar.

No, those are all in Idaho. LOL.

Great photos!!

From a recent coastal trip.

Eberlestock pillow

Oldest living organism, cut down in the name of science.

Snubbie,

That looks like Hunting Island. Did you try the JCT or the redfishing?

HD

Stuck in the wife's bead shop. Dreaming of the mountains. I will be there soon.

He landed the Cessna there? Holy smokes.

From this weekend.




Is it legal to hunt marmots with dogs?




These next two are from the continental divide at 12K:









[img]http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p46/cpwatts_2006/DSCN2131.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p46/cpwatts_2006/DSCN2098.jpg[/img]

Yep Hunting Island. Actually, not exactly backcountry photos like the OP requested!
Stayed at Fripp with the family. No fishing was done.

The infamous log jam of Trout Lake, GNP


Standing at the bottom of an avalanche field the resupplies the log jam;


Sharing the trail with furry critters;

Tanner needs to post more ass shots.










Travis

How'd you fall in?

Water bladder filled with vodka...



Travis

Nice. I usually like to bring a case of Coors Light.

Are you unemployed?



Travis

No. I bring a good single malt for serious drinkin'. The Coors is just so I don't have to filter water to drink, that's a pain in the butt.

Are you unemployed? Vodka's pretty cheap around here.

Gotcha.

Yes. I am unemployed. Have been for a long time.



Travis

That feesh pic is badass....

I gave it a SURPRISE afterward.



Travis

Yodeling Practices. Can't quite hit the notes that Travis can yet.



Tanner

Get the surgery.

Just some pretty backcountry, no gear.

Stone Glacier 7400. The thing is cavernous.



Tanner

BC a while back- I had way more hair then LOL

Couple of Alaska moose hunt photos

Great pixs wildone

That top one is familiar, was it on a Kifaru ad?

Yeah cover photo for the 2005 catalog good memory. LOL

Like a steel trap........all rusted shut.

Way back in the Beartooths, we came across this unusual rock formation...

I call BS. I've been there.

That's outside the Denny's in Rock Springs.

Who says meth isn't good for you???

Weight loss .. those teeth are heavy.

Tom

Figures he would get the up skirt shot of her. . LOL Always tryin to work the angle aren't ya there bud. LMAO