• Gear

    Testing The Cold Rating on a New Sleeping Bag

    October 19, 2022 / No Comments

    We all know that the temp rating on sleeping bags is, shall we say … optimistic. This is especially true of synthetic bags which tend to quickly lose their loft making them colder than rated only a couple of years into their lifespan. (This is, in part, why down is a superior fill.)

    Sleeping out in the backyard under the tarp

    I picked up a new bag from MEC last weekend which is rated at -9C. Wanting to make sure the rating was accurate, I set up the tarp in my backyard last night and slept out. I even moved the canoe into place to help with drafts … a true simulation of being ‘out there.’

    The bag is the Draco from Mountain Equipment Coop here in Canada. It’s a down filled bag and is the Long/Wide version to fit my man sized body.

    It went down to at least -8C (about 17F) … so within the bag rating. I’m happy to report that I stayed toasty warm. There are a few things I noted:

    • the drawstring which cinches the hood closed was constantly tangling up around my face. Not a fan of that system.
    • the zipper pulls easily but did get caught in the bag material initially. It happens.
    • the pillow situation needs work. As usual, the biggest discomfort for me is due to crappy pillows. I was using my Thermarest pillow (not sure the model,) but it was not good enough. I will fix this.
    • the tarp needs side flaps to stop drafts and hide the very bright moon
    • the hood on my hoodie was more comfortable than a toque. Leave off the toque next time.
    • cats will jump on you in the night …

    All in all, this was a very successful test and I am pleased with this bag. I expect it to last many years and now have the confidence to use it when the temps really dip in the fall.

  • Food

    Drying TV Dinners for Hiking

    October 14, 2022 / No Comments

    I hate carrying extra weight … and I hate double humping portages, so I try to dry as much food as I can, even for quick overnighters. Leftovers are good, but with a couple of teenagers, often there is not much left over to dry up. So I had to look to other sources of food. Enter TV dinners.

    Cook ’em and dry ’em. Works great.

    I’ve been experimenting with some of the old standards, and this is what I’ve found.

    Stouffer’s Diner Classics – Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes (with gravy.)

    • Love this one. Cooks well. Dries well and tastes great!
    • It takes 3 dinners to make one good camp meal
    • Dries from 813 grams down to 179 grams
    • Unfortunately this only provides 780 calories

    It reconstitutes well making a kind of mashed potatoes with meat stew. Love it. Need to add a bit of extra calories for this meal though, especially if sharing with someone else.

    NOTE: I’ll be adding to the post as I record other meals.

    Swanson Beef Pie

    This one is not one I would normally have chosen to dry up. I saw Xander using them though, and figured I’d give them a try. These take a long time to dry out for some reason. Probably because they are so wet after cooked? Again I did 3 of them to get the amount of food that I would be looking for in a meal.

    • 1260 calories for 3 pies together
    • 600 grams dried down to 202 grams (for 3 pies)
    • The crust kinda disappears and thickens everything. Flavour is good.
  • Canoeing

    New Site – New Canoe

    September 30, 2022 / No Comments

    Welcome to my new site dedicated to Nessmuk … the OG of modern camping. Here I hope to share bits and pieces about how I do the outdoors with an emphasis on simple trekking/hiking/canoeing. The ‘old woodsman’ concept that Nessmuk talked about is the way I tend to camp, so I hope to show that here.

    With a new site comes a new canoe. Picked up this very sweet ride last night. She’s a 16.5 Wenonah Solo Plus in Tuf-weave. Only 54 lbs! Gonna be a nice change from Big Red, my Old Town which runs around 85 lbs. She is used but only lightly. I plan to head out this weekend for a quick overnighter to give her a good test.