Simple foods for the backcountry

Backpacking is a great way to explore the great outdoors and disconnect from the hustle and bustle of daily life. However, planning the right meals for your trip can be a daunting task. In this series, we’ll share some of our favorite go to meals and snacks. Here are some of the best simple backpacking foods to help fuel your adventure:

Dehydrated meals: These are a great option for backpacking as they are lightweight and easy to prepare. Simply add water and they're ready to eat. Some popular brands include Mountain House and Backpacker's Pantry.

Camp foods should be simple, light, and delicious!

Jerky: High in protein and easy to pack, jerky is a great snack for the trail. Opt for beef or turkey jerky for a healthy, high-energy option. As vegetarians, we’re huge fans of Louisville Vegan Jerky.

Nuts and seeds: These are packed with healthy fats, protein, and fiber. They're also lightweight and easy to pack. Almonds, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds are all great options.

Energy bars: These are a great option for a quick energy boost on the trail. Look for bars that are high in protein and low in sugar. Clif Bars, Quest Bars, and Lara Bars are all popular options.

Instant oatmeal: An easy and nutritious breakfast option, instant oatmeal is lightweight and easy to prepare. Just add hot water and you're good to go.

Ramen noodles: Ramen noodles are a staple of backpacking food. They are lightweight, easy to prepare, and can be a tasty addition to your meals. A favorite meal of ours for an “alpine start,” is a mish- mash of dehydrated mashed potatoes, Ramen, and chunks of cheese. It’s dense, filling, and quick!

h/t Tim Watson

When planning your backpacking meals, it's important to consider the weight, ease of preparation, and nutritional value of each food. The above options are all great choices for the trail, and will help keep you fueled and energized on your adventure.

5 Things We Love About Western North Carolina

We’re a pretty lucky family. This business allows us to hike and camp in some pretty spectacular places; from the coasts of Maine to the mountains of Patagonia and LOTS of places in between, we’ve seen a lot in our 30+ years of adventure travel. 

One of the places we return to again and again is the mountains of western North Carolina. Below are just some of the reasons that North Carolina is on our regular rotation.

The Smokies are drivable for 2/3 of the US population

1. Its proximity makes it a perfect getaway for a long weekend or week-long trip. The Smoky Mountains are considered driving distance for two-thirds of the US population Because of this, Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the nation’s busiest with over 12 million visitors each year.

2. Even with this high visitation rate, the western side in North Carolina is the “quiet side.” While Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge receive the bulk of visitation, those seeking a more serene experience can head to North Carolina for more than 900 miles of hiking and biking trails. With all this room to spread out, one rarely feels crowded out on the trail or in the parking lot!

A familiar scene in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

3. The Cherokee Museum in Cherokee, NC.  There is a huge collection of artifacts and a timeline which lays out the history of the Cherokee, including their forced removal to reservation lands in Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears. This is a can’t miss stop as it supports a fuller understanding of the history of this region.

Isn’t the idea to stay IN the boat?

4. Water, water, WATER. Seemingly every hike leads to a waterfall or swimming hole. There are whitewater runs on the French Broad, the Pigeon, and the Nantahala. You can paddle any number of lakes, such as Fontana, Junaluska, Hiawassee, or Bear Creek. And for an idyllic lazy summer day, we love tubing on Deep Creek.

5. The wildlife is pretty spectacular. From the Elk in Smokemont to the bears and salamanders everywhere, the Smokies are teeming with wildilfe. And because of its quieter character, your chances of seeing something new is much greater on this side of the national park.

For these reasons and many more, we believe our five day North Carolina trip is the perfect introduction to overnight camping. With no extended backcountry camping, our campers have a consistent home each night (and running water and flush toilets!), while still being able to sample the variety of some of our longer trips. For those who have done day camps or sleep away camps and are ready for a little more, our North Carolina trip can’t be beat!

What We’re Reading- January 2023

Ahh… the new year. A time of hope. A time of planning. A time for resolutions. 

Here’s the thing, though: resolutions are for suckers. 

That’s our takeaway from our current favorite book on habits anyway, James Clear’s Atomic Habits. It has become our go-to resource for creating and maintaining good habits, and making our less desirable ones less attractive, obvious, and hopefully less common. 

What we love about the book is that it is full of actionable steps, not just a lot of theory. In fact, the main ideas are laid out in a simple to follow framework that has ideas for implementation in every chapter. 

If you’ve fallen prey to the resolution → → → off the rails → → → back on track → → → off the rails → → → new resolution cycle, we highly recommend picking up a copy of Atomic Habits. 

The other book that is currently on our coffee table is Prisoners of Our Thoughts, which is an exploration of the works of Viktor Frankl, specifically Man’s Search for Meaning. If you are not familiar, Frankl was an Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor who devoted his life to studying, understanding and promoting “meaning.” 

Frankl was a survivor of Nazi concentration camps, where he developed the idea of “Logotherapy,” or man’s quest to ascribe meaning to life. Now, we don’t claim to be any sort of experts in the field of psychology, but many of Frankl’s observations resonate deeply with us. For example: 

“What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him.”

This forward-looking philosophy and desire to pursue worthy objectives is another timely reminder that while setting goals can be productive, it’s the meaning behind them and how well the goals represent our true values that ultimately determine whether or not we reach them. 

Last but not least, we have Life Lived Wild, by Rick Ridgeway. As a young high school “adventurer,” I fell in love with Seven Summits, which Ridgeway co-wrote with Dick Bass and Frank Wells. It turns out “co-wrote” was doing a lot of work there, as Ridgeway has gone on to pen multiple adventure classics.

He writes in a style that is clear and vivid, taking us all around the world, chronicling his 5 decades of adventure. From Himalayan summits to the offices of Patagonia, Ridgeway writes with a humility that invites us to come along for the ride (or hike, or paddle, or climb…)

Have you read any of these? What’s on your current or future reading list?

10 Benefits of Summer Camp

Travel offers myriad benefits, but where do we begin? How do we learn to go confidently beyond the horizon? Overnight summer camps are a good start. WIth great guides providing a safe environment in which to explore new places, summer camps can lead to a lifelong love of travel and adventure. Below is our list of the top benefits of joining a summer camp. Let us know in the comments which resonate with you, and if there are any you would like to add. 

Climbing in Colorado

10. Learn new skills. From knot tying and paddle strokes to learning a new recipe, outdoor travel offers the opportunity to try new things with expert guidance. Who knows, maybe the next new thing you try may become a lifelong passion!

No porters, no housekeepers!

9. Make screen-free connections. Summer camps are the original “unplugged.” Hike, bike, climb, paddle, and swim your way through the days while reconnecting with the natural passage of time. 

8. Meet new people who aren’t just like you and learn respect for those differences. The world becomes much more interesting and has a lot more to offer when we learn that we are not the center of it. The perspective gained through traveling with new people is addictive, though, so don’t be surprised if one trip leads to the next, and the next… 

You meet all types…

7. Become more organized. Take ownership of your own comfort. Knowing where each piece of gear is at all times makes for a successful trip. You’ll find that these skills transfer over to your day to day life. Now where did I put that rain jacket?

6. Feel small and foster empathy for the natural world. For most of us, “being green” was not inspired by fear of losing the rainforest to deforestation, but leisurely floats on a local creek or family trips to the mountains or lake. There is nothing like an expansive view or an encounter with wildlife to remind us that we are merely a piece of the puzzle. 

Contemplating feeling small.

5. Gain independence. For many adolescents, overnight camps are the first opportunity to spend time on their own. Practicing personal decision making, all while considering the needs of the group, is a powerful tool for growth. 

4. Be stimulated intellectually and learn to be a problem solver. Any program worth joining will offer the opportunity to learn and even present to the group about local cultures, flora and fauna, and natural history of the area. Solving group initiatives and learning to orient using a map are other challenges to be solved.

3. Earn some grit by doing hard things. Earn your stripes while having some type II fun. Every time we persevere and push through difficulties, we are learning to face and overcome new hardships in the future. 

A well deserved break after a looooong hike up.

2. Become valorized by contributing to your community group. Learning to contribute to our social group through our own abilities, ie. to make and keep promises, is vital to becoming fully adapted adults. 

“It is the ‘valorization’ of the personality, to become aware of one’s own value… he is independent, he is sure of his own actions and knows how to act. This is the basis and law on which the soul must stand...  For the ‘valorization’ of the child’s personality there must be very definite basis in social experience.” (Montessori, “Moral and Social Education” 86).

1. Improve your mental health by gaining a broader perspective. We live in challenging times for adolescents. We’re bombarded with messages from parents, friends, and social media about who and what we should be. Taking time for ourselves in our natural surroundings allows perspective on life and time for reflection. We often return to daily life with clearer priorities.

There are no strangers at summer camp!

Holiday Gift Guide

Buying gifts for the outdoors lover in your life can be daunting. With new brands and categories seemingly arriving daily, the line between utility and “I’m never using that thing” is getting pretty, pretty blurry. 

But don’t despair! We’ve created the non-hiker’s guide to holiday shopping. Gift ideas are sorted by price, but don’t feel obligated to spend big bucks- some of our favorite pieces of gear cost $50 or less. We hope this guide will make navigating holiday shopping a bit easier, and bring lots of (real) smiles to your loved ones. Happy hunting. 

Note: we encourage supporting small  businesses whenever possible. Links are provided as a courtesy and in this case, an endorsement of these outstanding companies.

The list:

Gifts under $25

Many of the items at this price are among the most forgotten in campers’ packs every year. A good pair of lightweight gloves is useful not just in the winter, but on summer trips in the mountains or far north. One of our favorites is this liner glove from Smartwool. Smartwool makes some of our favorite base layers and- of course- socks. Made from super soft and durable Merino wool, these gloves feel fantastic even after multiple seasons. 

View fullsize

Speaking of forgotten items, have you ever tried to drink coffee or hot chocolate from a plastic water bottle? And then had water from it the next day? Yuck! This mug from GSI hits the hiker’s trifecta: cheap, durable, and lightweight. Ours have traveled from Patagonia to Mount Rainier over the last 6 years and are still going strong. 

Camp coffee presents a conundrum: keep it simple (and gross) and go for the instant stuff? Dirty your cookware with cowboy coffee? Or should we add weight to the pack and carry a separate apparatus? For the coffee lover in your life, GSI once again comes to the rescue with the collapsible JavaDrip. Java junkies can enjoy fresh pour over coffee without adding weight to the pack.

Gifts under $75

Ok, so it’s technically not a camping item, but yoga has been a part of our maintenance routine for a long, long time. Keep those bodies durable with an Introduction to Yoga for Beginners with Element Yoga and Ayurveda. This six week series will help build a solid foundation for establishing or continuing practice. 

Weight matters when considering items to add to the backpack. Warmth also matters, which is why we love the Thermolite Reactor Extreme Liner from Sea to Summit. Weighing only 14 oz, this liner adds up to 15 degrees (F) to the temperature range of your sleeping bag. Additionally, it can be used alone in milder temperatures. 

A good headlamp is a necessity, not a luxury. There are seemingly infinite choices in this category, but we love the tried and true Spot 400 from Black Diamond. This lamp is lightweight, durable, water resistant, and a bargain at $45. 

For car campers, a good chair is a must. Helinox is king of the category here, and we love their Rocking Feet chair for those nights around the campfire. It’s not the lightest item on the list, so it won’t be carried into the backcountry, but you’ll be the envy of everyone at the campfire sing- along.   

Is it a teapot? Is it a bowl? A large mug? A small saucepan? At a scant 4.2 oz, the MSR Titan Kettle does it all. We’ve used it as our only pot on solo trips and as an accessory on big group trips. It is lightweight, durable, and serves multiple purposes.

Gifts under $150

A great insulating mid-layer is like a security blanket. The Teca Fleece Hooded Half-Zip from Cotopaxi has a hood and hand warmer pockets just like your favorite hooded pullover. Unlike that old cotton thing, this pullover is constructed of camp- appropriate recycled fleece and repurposed polyester. 

What do you get the person who has everything? We think the Helio LX Pressure Shower is a pretty safe bet. Never again will we have to bring the dirty remnants of our hike, climb, or ride into the tent with us. We were skeptical right up to the time we were able to have a riverside warm shower after an early spring paddle trip. Luxury!

The gold standard in canister stoves for the last 20 years is the Jetboil Flash. This system combines the burner and pot in one super efficient unit, sized perfectly to house together with a small fuel canister. A small canister has lasted an entire 3-day weekend trip for 2 in the mountains. Now that’s efficient!

Of course, no list from us is complete without a bit of shameless self promotion. A gift card from Crooked Trail Adventures, available in $100 denominations, is a great way to encourage the adventurous spirit in your loved ones. Our gift cards are valid for any program and have no expiration. Send someone to camp this year!