|  mgteixeira | Jan 17, 2:37pm | Hi all!
I'm preparing a really long journey where I'll be on the run every other day. It will take me 15 days to complete the journey. I'll go mostly to beaches and pretty warm places. I wont take a car. So I need to figure a way to take less weight as possible and still have water and food. How would you go about that ? |
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| | Grem | Jan 20, 8:00pm | Sleeping bag, poncho, stove... anything else is luxury.
Mind you after 7 days of living like this you will kill for a cup of coffee/cigarette/beer/chocolate/shower/etc
Know your limits, work out how much water/food/calories/vitamins you will need (and also how long you can go without), read the nutritional info to work out the lightest food you can take that packs the most protein/carbs/etc. You can survive on two minute noodles and chocolate but you will find you will stop eating it from a lack of variety and boredom.
Plan food/water drops en-route (mail supplies ahead of you) so you are carrying only the bare minimum between drops. |
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| | paizleigh | Jan 21, 8:39am | | Freeze dried food is super light but, very pricey. I can live for two weeks on Cliff bars and water but, that's me. I never carry a stove. EVER!! I hate cooking on the trail. Why go on vacation to cook? Water purification tablets are nice but, I prefer to purify mine by means of a small pump. Also , concerning coffee. I don't camp without it. MRE's have great lil coffee pouches that weigh next to nothing. If you get a case of those and pack only the main course and coffee you get high calorie meals with next to no weight. GL =D |
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| | mgteixeira | Jan 21, 9:04am | I don't need a stove either. I usually make a fireplace.
How does the pump works ?
One of my main problems is water. There is almost no fresh water around. There is lots of sea water. Does anyone know how to make it drinkable? |
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| | paizleigh | Jan 21, 12:27pm | | The pump I have is only good with fresh water. I'm not certain how one would go about making sea water potable. It seems to me that if you are doing a coastal trek you should pass many streams that empty into the sea. If that is the case a small light weight pump and a Camelbak would be sufficient. |
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| | Grem | Jan 21, 8:32pm | Here in AU, making a fire in a national park or on a beach is illegal as it's very destructive to the (read: our) environment, hence the stove. I reckon on the second day of nothing but cliff bars and water i'd stop eating. Carry a lime/lemon/citrus. When you get bored of plain old water, lime it up and enjoy the non-boring taste. (i quickly get sick of energy bars and water)
Purification tablets and freeze dried meals are awful, unless you like the taste of utter crap. Get a pump and take a bag of pasta/rice/couscous and some spices/garlic/salami/etc.
I once saw a doco of some guys in kayaks paddling around AU. They had these small pumps which converted salt water to something drinkable, however they were slow. You could try evaporation to remove the salt, but i doubt you'll have the time/patience to wait...
If it's fairly flat and on trails you could rig up a 'trailer' with fat wheels to pull along behind you. John Muir did this when he walked across the desert. |
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| | mgteixeira | Jan 22, 3:53am | Here in Portugal, every year, there are raging fires destroying our woods. Actually I found strange that there are still trees around every year. The landlords don't clean their lands to provoke fires in order to collect government aids and insurance money. Hence, it is important to clean the woods, collect dry wood and bring it out to a safe enviroment and fire them up.
Every year there is a set of campers that join efforts to clean the woods near by beaches. I'm one of those. The government does not aid us on our work, in fact they keep harassing. Still, around the campers paths no fire has broke out for years.
Regarding food: I usually take a fishing speargun with me and fish every day. Couscous is a great idea.
I never used pumps. Can you tell me which model you use ? (brand name). |
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| | Grem | Jan 22, 5:33am | Do you think about the little critters that live in that dead wood?
Or the slightly larger critters that eat the above little critters?
Our scrub catches fire regularly, in fact most of our native plants seeds won't germinate if they haven't first been burnt.
The popular water filters over here seem to be the MSR ones... msrgear.com [msrgear.com] |
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| | mgteixeira | Jan 22, 5:59am | Sure. It is impossible to clean it all, at least not with the resources we have. There still a lot of bugs left behind with enough food (wood). Other bigger species we do not take their homes away.
We try to minimize the risk of a fire that would kill all of the creatures in the woods. It's just like when you take antibiotics. It kill both good and bad. But you do it so that you protect it from utter damage. The way I see it, It is not so bad if a few have to suffer to prevent fires and higher levels of destruction. It's not perfect. |
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|  geezeus | Feb 21, 6:17pm | | I'm new to the group so hello everyone. I love going backpacking for long periods of time deep in the woods. I sometimes go with a couple friends but usually by myself. First off get an MSR water filter and plan by the map when and where you will get water(heavy), get a nice light mummy sleeping bag that stuffs small, I love my Big Agnes with a small inflatable pad that slips into the bottom of the sleeping bag. A nice one person or two person tent maybe even a biviouc, I like Mountain Hardwear tents. For a stove get the smallest you feel comfortable cooking on MSRs are nice. Get a nice internal frame pack I recommend Gregory. Bring as little clothes as possible no cotton. For food I like the freeze dried but they are expensive, I like bringing fresh eggs out with me and also a large block of good cheddar cheese, some jerky, and some rice, also bring candy bars you will want them. Because I'm kinda an alki I also bring a plastic bottle of the hardest booze, like some Wild Turkey 101. Have fun be safe cut the weight everywhere you can. |
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