Mark Durling: camping

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

So excited to go do some weekend hikes.

I'M totally ready to go camping and backpacking!

I have an Osprey Atmos 50 backpack that is really lightweight and well ventilated

I needed a new stove so I got the MSR pocket Rocket and I got the MSR Titan Titanium Kettle to go with it. If you dont use the Red carrying case then the stove and a fuel canister will fit nice and snug inside the kettle/mug. Perfect little package, and super light.

I got a Silk sleeping bag for super hot california summer nights but I'll need to get a 3 season sleeping bag sometime. For right now the superlight silk bag is all good.

I also got a ultralight packing towel that folds up to the size of a babies fist. It works just like a car shamy but way better and way lighter!

For the Rainy days I also got myself a new gore-tex jacket by Arc'teryx

and finally I needed a new tent or shelter. I have a great 3 person tent thats fast to set up and works great rain or shine, but its pretty heavy so its been relegated to out of car camping trips. I really didnt want to drag that tent on a 4 or 5 day hike. So after a lot of research and pondering I finally thought I'd try out a hammock. Lots of the Ultra light weight backpacking people love the hammocks. They are super light and a snap to set up. The one draw back is the you have to have trees to set it up but that shouldnt be an issue. Some people warn that you lose a lot of heat from underneath you but thats not going to be a problem in Southern California. I went with a great company based out of British Columbia called HENNESSY HAMMOCK. I'm really excited about trying it out this weekend. I have two different size rain flies so I'll have to experiment to see which one works the best.

Now I've got to find some awesome weekend hikes to do!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Man Camping

So this past weekend I went on a camping trip up to Los Padres National Forrest near Santa Barbara. I went with a great group of people from LA and from San Fran. 8 people in total and we had a blast. Friday we left late afternoon and got to the campground in the mountains just before dark. We managed to put up all the tents and get everything set up before it was pitch black. We then just relaxed beneath the stars out in the wilderness crowded around a camp fire. We cooked up some fantastic steak tips and my new friend Lizzie brought some dank couscous and sauce! We were expecting our San Fran crew to show up around 11 or 12 but we just waited and waited, did some exploring, had a creek strobe light rave, roasted a few year old marshmallows candice found before we left aaaaand finally they showed up around 2:30. We all had a few drinks and talked a little bit then hit the hay.

Saturday we got up got the fire going and cooked up some sausage and eggs for everyone. Then we jumped into the jeeps and headed off the mountain towards the beach. I have a big lifted 4x4 jeep Cherokee so I drove really fast through the windy turns and dirt roads, maybe a little too fast for my passengers in the back! We drooove forever to get to a beach that had apparently had a cool trail to a light house. We played some frisbee then started our trek to the light house. 2.5 hours later we still hadnt reached the light house but we had seen some old WWII sea walls, a few small caves, a bird stuck in some Oil that we tried to rescue but was a goner. When we turned around we decided to head to the railroad track up on the cliff and walk the tracks back to the parking lot. When we got back everyone was beat so we piled into the cars and made our way into town and had a greasy meal before heading to the camp site. When we got back we made smores and then one by one everyone headed for the tents.

Sunday we got up and had hot dogs and couscous for breakfast b/c thats all we had left! Then we tried to find a trail at the top of the mountain that was supposed to be really pretty but we never found it, instead we ran into NEVERLAND RANCH? Yep Michael Jacksons RANCH. We were driving along and we saw a whole bunch of cars and people, we thought it was a family reunion or maybe some type of memorial and as we got closer we realized it was NEVERLAND RANCH! So we pulled over and paid our respects. After that strange detour we said goodbye to our San Fran friends and the LA crew made for Red Rock. Red Rock is little secluded fresh water pool. It was fantastic, really deep in some parts with lots of rocks for sitting and enjoying the water, sun and beauty of the surroundings. When we turned all pruney we dried off in the sun and made our way to Cold Springs Tavern for an amazing pork sandwich and blues music. Cold Springs Tavern is a little bar in the middle of the woods, a big biker hang out! When we had our fill and the music went from live to a boombox we started back for LA. Typical California freeways were parking lots and it took us forever to get home!

All in all a fantastic trip with some great people, I cant wait for the next one.

Heres some photos from the trip taken by trevor lizzie and myself!