My first plan for four days hiking the Berryman Trail was dashed. I decided to spend three days on the Big Piney Trail at Paddy Creek Wilderness instead. It was a good hike, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing.
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I don’t have any footwear suitable for bad weather, so four years ago I bought some waterproof socks. I tried them out in the snow after the recent winter storm.
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I’ve never been backpacking or camping in true winter conditions with snow on the ground. A forecast winter storm in Southwest Missouri on January 9 and 10 was just what was needed to let me get some time out when the trail conditions would be a bit more challenging.
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This was my last backpacking trip of 2024. I got nowhere near my goal of hiking 240 miles in 2024, but spending four days hiking the twenty-seven-mile Berryman Trail near Potosi, Missouri, got me a bit closer. However, the trip didn’t start quite as smoothly as I anticipated.
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There was a break in the weather and even some rain in the forecast. I went to Irish Wilderness and hiked the Whites Creek Trail counterclockwise, taking a leisurely four days to do so.
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I’ve not spent much time on the trails this year, so I decided to get outside my comfort zone and put in some miles with the daytime temperatures below freezing.
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The year started well with two trips out in January, followed by another four trips by the end of April, including a three-day outing to the Mark Twain National Forest to watch the total solar eclipse. Read on for links to all the trip write-ups, plus notes on my gear changes.
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A quick roundup of the backpacking trips I managed to fit into 2023. And, of course, some pictures.
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A look through my 2023 Backpacking cooking kit, which I’ve been using for the past three years. 2 pictures
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Video. Part way through a recent Hercules Glades five-and-a-half-mile hike back to the trailhead, I decided to make a rough video of the remainder of my hike for my family in the UK. I’ve never done this before and may not bother again, but here are the final three-and-a-half hours of my hike, compressed into 14 minutes.
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A quick roundup of the few backpacking trips we managed to fit into 2022. And, of course, some pictures.
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A quick roundup of our 2021 backpacking trips and a rundown on our gear changes. And, of course, some pictures.
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We try out some new gear, and once more I manage to break something … Trip write-up: three-minute read.
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Seam sealing my new tarp – it’s time to start thinking about fall and winter camping. I’m prepping my new winter tarp.
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Got your own land? Go for it, cut down trees, and make as much mess as you like. Public land? Leave no trace. Let’s not trash the wilderness. One-minute read.
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I looked at this picture I took before I set off on a recent trip, and I realized there are a few things I can do to improve how I stow things. Two-minute read.
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Wet shoes, dry feet – Waterproof socks, and they worked. Now I have a footwear solution for snowy trails. It’s just a shame I didn’t get these before it snowed. One-minute read,
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I’m usually pretty easy on my equipment, but recently I’ve got careless and damaged three items of my backpacking gear. Today I removed my temporary duct tape fixes and applied permanent repairs to my underquilt protector and rain skirt. One-minute read, 6 pictures
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Keeping clean while hiking or backpacking is an oxymoron in my book. Nature is all about dirt, and working up a sweat comes with the first steep hill you have to climb. The squeamish and easily frightened should probably stop reading at this point. Backpacking is perhaps not for you. Six-minute read
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A quick run-down of what electronics and electrical items I take out with me when I’m backpacking, and how I carry and manage them. Eight-minute read
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With my final trip of 2020 over it’s time to sum up what I did and where I went.
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My trip had been dogged by a series of stupid mistakes. My last mistake could easily have been fatal, but as is usually the case when I do something stupid, I was lucky and got away with it. Until possibly one day I won’t. Five-minute read, 3 pictures
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An in-detail run through all the gear I’m currently using to backpack and hammock camp in temperatures down to around 20°F
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On this trip I was trying out my new backpacking clothing options, and while I was checking how well my choices were working, I was slow to make changes when things weren’t. And that was a problem. Three-minute read
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No, I’m not referring to COVID-19, though that has thrown a monkey wrench into my backpacking and hiking plans. I’m going to briefly talk about what I’ve been doing on the trails, plus some life and gear changes.
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