I was born the year that Watson and Crick published their
first
article
on the double helix structure of DNA - this was the year that Queen
Elizabeth ascended to the British throne. I was 14 years old when I
went to Philmont Scout Ranch during the Israeli Six-Day war. This trip
was my introduction to backpacking. We walked a lot of miles over the
course of a week, hung our food, saw a bear, and got tired.
During the winter, the year I was 49 years old, my father loaned me a
copy of Bill Bryson's "Walk in
the Woods" about his partial hike on the Appalachian Trail. It got me
hiking in the woods again in my 50th year. During the planting
moon,
celebrating my 51st birthday, I walked the same 200 miles that
Bryson and Katz walked - from Springer Mountain to Clingman's Dome.
Here is a link to my first book! It is about learning how to hike long distances.
This book is especially intended for backpackers who know how to go out for a weekend, but would like to understand how to make a two-week (or longer) trip successful. To learn more about the book or to purchase it, please go to my publishing house:
Over the last several years, I
have become an ultralight camper with
a
three-season base pack weight of about 17 lb (8 kg) and skin out weight
of 25 lb (11 kg). I have completed many section hikes on the
Appalachian
Trail (AT) in all four seasons, with a total mileage of about 1400
miles (2250 km). I am a gearhead, a hammock camper, and make much of my
own equipment.
I have been testing outdoor gear for several years with the BackpackGearTestorg
group. It is fun on trips to have
someone
ask: "Are you a tester?"
Risk Self Portrait testing gear
on the trail (Tilley TH4 Hat)
I started reading about
ultralight hiking as developed by Ray
Jardine
in his classic "Beyond Backpacking." I bought a 1 pound pack, sewed a
tarp, and cut the tongues out of a new pair of running shoes. Next, I
began experimenting with hammock camping. Since it was the middle of
the winter, I was able to do cold weather testing of the hammocks.
Hammock
Camping ReferencesI have done some research on
various home-built stoves. I even went
to
the trouble to build a couple of the Brasslite Stoves. The first wood
burning cooking apparatus was the UltraLite Kettle listed to the right
below. The Forge, WoodGas, and CoffeeStove stoves are my most recent
wood burning works in progress.
My
Trail Journals with Pictures
