Marv's and Others' Backpacking Tips

Backpacking Alone

After Dark Entertainment. When it gets dark, and it gets dark very early in the winter, what are you going to do with you time alone? Think about this. Don't let boredom ruin your trip. You might play solitaire by fire light. You will need a flashlight to read, so bring extra batteries. A candle lantern is handy for reading. You can star gaze, bring a star guide. You can sing, but you need to know the words.

Camp Tips

Firewood Wet firewood won't burn. But, if you peel off the bark or split some smaller limbs, it will be dry inside. You may be able to get enough of a fire going to dry the remainder of the wood you want to burn.

Fire Starters. An emergency fire starter can be made from Vaseline or grease, and cotton balls or dryer lint. Mix the fiber with the greasy stuff, and put it in a film can. If you need an emergency fire starter, remove the lid and light the fiber.

Stoves In Tent. Don't even think of it. You might be able to cook in a vestibule, but light your stove outside first to avoid flame-ups that could burn your tent. If it's raining you might have to sit inside your tent with the stove outside in the rain, but do not risk fire and boiling liquids inside your tent.

Scenic Overlook. Avoid camping near a "scenic overlook". Persons answering a call of nature during the night can easily become disoriented and fall over the edge. Especially, don't combine the scenic overlook with alcohol or drugs.

Vent Tent. Do not close up your tent completely, regardless of how cold or rainy it may be. When you breathe, water vaper is released inside the tent. You need to give it a way out. The alternative is water inside your tent.

Ecology

Moreover, the logs are full of nutrients that are slowly released back into the environment as the wood decays. In an area that's been unglaciated for only a few hundred years, the nutrients inside a log represent the sum total of the work of several hundred years of lichens, fungi, pioneer green plants, and the trees themselves. Take a log out of circulation, and you've ruined several hundred years of nutrient accumulation.

Human Waste. Bowel movements in the woods are inevitable. Find a spot several hundred feet from the nearest source of water. You must carry a garden trowel with you. Dig a hole and bury your waste, especially the toilet tissue. Find a large rock and place it on top of the spot. If it is safe, consider burning your toilet tissue. There are those who advocate packing out toilet tissue; but I find this a bit extreme.

Washing. After a long day in the woods, you will want to clean up. I usually bring soap, a washcloth and hand towel, and a small plastic bowl. You can wash very well with a bowl or two of water. The important thing is to wash well away from a stream, do not allow your soap to pollute the stream.

Gear Tips

Cell Phone. Bringing a cell phone into the backwoods is definitely controversial. Purists scoff at it. A family member might require you to carry it as a condition for being in the backwoods, especially if you are bring children with you. Don't expect that a cell phone will work in all areas; don't establish an expectation that you will definitely contact someone back home. Even if your cell phone does work, you may find yourself needing a credit card if the local company does not have a billing agreement with your home company. Small cellular companies may ask for a credit card other than Visa, so be prepared.

Flashlight. Reverse one of the batteries in your flashlight and it will not come on in your pack.

Pocket Knife. Do not take a knife you really care about on a backpacking trip. Having camped a lot in areas with sandstone, my experience is that the knife gets filled with grit. Mine remains a fine knife. It is just an irritant that, whenever I open a blade, I hear a gritty noise. As far as selecting a knife goes, keep it simple. I have a Swiss Army Knife with a few blades; but the only ones I use in the woods are the main knife blade and the can opener.

Sit-upon. The purpose is to keep your butt off the ground in damp and cold weather. A good way to do this is to sit upon a foam-backed plastic placemat. This is especially handy when the ground is damp or cold. There are other things to do with a placemat. You can stand upon it when you have your boots off and are washing up. You can put your boots on it in your tent. You could use it as a splint. (Thanks to Carl Thompson, Columbus, OH {CDTYES@aol.com} and maybe to Backpacker magazine)

Miscellaneous Tips

Pillow. Everyone stuffs their clothes into the bag their sleeping bag was carried in, and uses that as a pillow. The bag drifts around in the nite and you wake up with a crick in your neck. A good alternative is to take along an old pillow case. Pull it down over the top of your foam pad, and then stuff your clothes inside. Your "pillow" will stay where you want it all night. (Thanks to Jerry McKinney, Cincinnati, OH)

Plastic Bags. If you want it to be dry, put it in a plastic bag. No exceptions. If it rains, you will find that your pack is water repellent and not water proof, and something will get wet that you wanted to keep dry.

Blisters. Blisters are quite common, and you can avoid them completely. Purchase moleskin at your pharmacy. It is smooth padding with an adhesive backing. Cut it into 1.5 - 2 inch squares. When you feel your shoes rubbing your foot, stop immediately and put moleskin on the spot. You will not get a blister if you follow this procedure. Novice hikers ignore the rubbing and ruin their trip because of the pain of blisters.

Winter Tips

Read Book. Visit your library and read a book on cold weather backpacking.

Cotton Kills. This means that, when cotton gets wet, it loses its insulating ability. That rules out your jeans and cotton sweatshirt for wet conditions. If you get cotton clothes soaking wet, you must replace them with dry ones quickly or else you take a great risk of death by hypothermia (See OA Guide to Hypothermia & Cold Weather Injuries). You should be wearing clothes that will insulate when wet, clothes made of materials like Coolmax and polyproplyne.

Vent Tent. Just because it is cold, do not close up your tent. As you breathe, water vapor is released inside the tent. On a cold night it will condense on the inside of the tent, on a very cold night it will freeze. You need to leave an opening, perhaps the size of your head, at each end of the tent for ventilation.

Cold in Sleeping Bag. If you are cold inside your sleeping bag after a few minutes, you are not likely to get warmer. So, deal with it! You might have to get out of your bag and get even colder for a short time, but the alternative is to be uncomfortable all night and to whine the entire next day.

• Cold Feet. If your feet are cold, you will never be comfortable. Put a zipped jacket or sweatshirt in the bottom of the sleeping bag. Put your feet inside it.
  
• Cold Hands. Put on your gloves, or pull an extra pair of socks over your hands. Mittens or socks will create an air pocket and keep your hands warmer than gloves with fingers.
  
• Cold Head. You lose a lot of heat through your head. If you have a knit hat, put it on. If you don't, put something on your head to cover it--a T-shirt, a sweatshirt, et cetera. You should always bring a knit hat to sleep in.
  
• Cold Body. Bring along sweats to sleep in. If you are not staying warm, put on more clothes. Zip a jacket and pull it up over the bottom of the bag.
  
• Cold From The Ground. You should be sleeping on a foam pad, especially in the winter. If you find cold coming up through the ground into your body, put anything you can between you and the ground--extra clothes, your jacket, the magazine you were reading, your rain gear, et cetera.
  

Reading and Gloves. You want to read in your tent, snuggled in your sleeping bag, but you can't turn pages in gloves. Buy a pair of cheap cotton gloves. Cut out the tip of the thumb and first finger.

Freezing Water Bottle. I have had ice in mine, but it has never frozen solid. People talk of putting a water bottle inside their sleeping bag--hope it doesn't leak. I have read that you can store it upside down over night so that, when the ice forms on the top of the water, it is really in the bottom of the bottle.

Water For Morning Meal If you think that the low temperature will be low enough to freeze your water supply, put your cooking water in the pan the night before. If it freezes, you can just heat the pan on the stove to thaw the water. (Thanks to agreen@silcom.com)

Call of Nature. You wake up at 4 AM and need to urinate. Crawl out of your bag and do it. If you don't you will be uncomfortable the rest of the night. This is good advice on any night, but the problem seems to be aggravated on a cold night.

Stove. Butane stoves do not work well in extreme cold. A mixture of butane and propane seems better. It helps to warm the fuel cannister with your hands until the heat of the stove starts to warm it.

Don't Close Sleeping Bag All The Way. On coldest nights I have pulled the hood of my sleeping bag up tight around my head, and stuffed a shirt inside the little hole remaining. Not a problem for one night. However, I have read user group postings pointing out that this keeps the moisture inside your bag and the bag will get wet. A good thing to consider if you are going to be out several nights.

No Alcohol. Drinking alcohol will not warm you. It will make the blood vessels on the surface of your skin expand and act like a car radiator, and you will only feel colder.

Fire Starter. Even if you don't plan on having a fire, you may find yourself in need of one. Take along some sort of fire starter in case you have a problem with wet wood. See tip elsewhere on this page.

Backpacking Alone. There is greater risk in the winter. If you fall or have a medical emergency, your condition will be made much worse by the cold. I don't suggest you don't go alone because I do it and enjoy the solitude. I do suggest that you keep your gear with you, and not put yourself in a situation where you do not have the means to keep warm in an emergency.