damien's blog

My family has heard the spiel enough by now and they drink the Kool-Aid: minimalist footwear is better for your feet. Every time a shoebox arrives in the mail, my kids rip it open and proceed to critique the design. The last time that happend I had just arrived home from work. As soon as I walked through the door, Brienne (my seven year old) proceeded to tell me that the latest pair that had arrived were too narrow and that the heel was too thick. When I took them out of the box to take a look, I agreed with her synopsis.

Considering that this is an outdoorsy blog, most of the shoes that come in the door are designed for outdoor wear. However, I am a firm believer that when barefoot won't do, minimalist footwear is suitable for all occasions, not just hiking. For my son that isn't much of a problen as he doesn't really care how things look, as long as they work. My daughers on the other hand will pick fashion over function for everyday use given the choice.

"I am delighted in the pinkness" were the first words I remember coming out of Brienne's mouth when she opened the box for the first time. It was her turn to review some shoes - a rarity for someone who usually settles for hand-me-downs from her siblings. She didn't care that they were minimalist and support the proper development of her feet, she just cared that they were pink. Beautifully constructed, the Vivo Barefoot Pally by Terra Plana satisfies her desire for fashion, and my desire for function.

• They are durable - built with a smooth, flexible leather upper and a strong, grippy, rubber outsole.
• They are comfortable - lined with soft microfiber around the heel and trimmed around the ankle with comfortable, padded lycra.
• And they are minimalist - there is no elevated heel, no cushioning (except for the insole), no arch support, a wide toebox, and a thin flexible sole.

If they were my shoes, I would go into great detail about the fit, the ground feel, the function, etc. But they aren't mine, and I couldn't even try them on if I wanted to. So the only thing I have to go on is the fact that she loves them, wears them all the time, and never complains about having blisters or sore feet. In my book, that is considered a home-run. My girls evaluate shoes using two parameters: are they comfortable and do they look nice. The Vivo Barefoot Pally fits the bill on both accounts.

I have had tents on the brain quite a a bit lately, especially in light of our last backpacking trip. I thought it coincidental then that Ryan Jordan posted his thoughts on what he thinks is a good group shelter, the GoLite Shangri-La 6/8. It so happens that we have one of those too, however while I like it a lot, I am finding my satisfaction waning. Am I just not seasoned enough in the backcountry to fully appreciate its greatness, or is there something else to it?

We appreciated our tent's wind-worthiness during our last
car-camping trip on the coast of the Gaspe Peninsula.

I was thinking back to when we lived in Alberta, and the terrain and climate of the Rockies. The air was generally pretty dry, and the nights could get fairly chilly. Although there were trees, there were also many exposed places, including those above-treeline where the storms could get intense/nasty/windy. The main bug we had to contend with was the mosquito.

Thinking about that context, I see how a floorless shelter like the Shangri-La would be quite ideal. You stake it to the ground, kill the mosquitoes, and away you go. The heavier-weight silnylon fabric, the sturdy poles, and guy-line tie out points make it a very mountain worthy shelter for a larger group.

Then I thought about our current playground, the east coast. Here in Maine the air is generally humid, and the summer nights can be quite warm. The land is mostly dense forest everywhere, with the (infrequent) open areas being on the rocky peaks of mountains (there is a reason the AT is sometimes referred to as the Green Tunnel). There can be a lot of rain, but wind is less of an issue due to all of the trees. The bugs we have to contend with are mosquitoes, blackflies, and ticks. While living in Alberta I had heard of blackflies and never knew what a tick or Lyme disease was until we moved East.

You would never know it, but in this photo our tent is setup over a nicely leveled tent
pad in the White Mountains. Our shelter was so large that it covered the entire
pad, including the logs that were placed around it's perimeter.

Our current shelter configuration consists of a Shangri-La 6 with a Shangri-La 4 Nest underneath. It's actually a pretty cool combination that allows us to have full protection from the ticks and flying bugs, a decent sized vestibule, and the ability to open up the doors at either end for good ventilation (even in the rain to keep the humidity down). The downsides to this setup are the weight (10 lbs = 2 lbs per person), and the fact that there is NEVER (OK, rarely) a good backcountry location to set up a tent of this size.

Considering the density of trees where we are, sizable clearings are hard to come-by. When we do find one, it is guaranteed to have huge roots, rocks, or fixed objects sticking up into the bathtub floor - there is just no way to avoid it considering the Nest covers over 90 square feet. Proper site preparation for keeping the floor protected from puncture would require bringing some form of excavator. It is only a matter of time before the floor will be riddled with holes; no matter how gently I tell the kids to tread.

At a glance, this may look like a nice clearing for setting up a tent. What
you can't see here are all the huge roots and rocks throughout.

I have been thinking through some possible solutions:

• Use multiple tents: This would certainly open up our available options for selecting a tent, as most manufacturers top-out their light-weight tent capacities at 4 people (we need 5). This would also make it easier to find suitable tent sites because we wouldn't need such a big area to setup on. On the flipside, this is not ideal from a togetherness standpoint. I like it when we are together under one roof, and I like being able to reach over and help out a child if they wake-up in the night with some sort of issue.
• Have a custom-made, lighter-weight bug shelter made: This option could certainly save some weight (but probably not more than 1.5 lbs). The downside would be that we would still have the issue of site selection, and the lighter-weight materials would probably make the floor even more prone to holes.
• Go floorless: This would certainly allow us to save a lot of weight; using our Shangri-La 6 without the nest would shave off over 3 lbs.  This would also give us more options for selecting a lighter-weight shelter by going with a single-poled pyramid/tipi styled design from a company like Oware, Titanium Goat, or Kifaru. Site selection would be much less of an issue because we woudn't have to worry about puncturing a floor. It wouldn't really matter what the ground was like and we could even setup over small shrubs if we needed to. The downside of course we be that this would afford us little protection from bugs because we keep the door open for ventilation, and even if we did close the door we still wouldn't be protected from ticks.
• Go floorless with light-weight bivy sacks: From a weight standpoint, using the Shangri-La 6 with bivy sacks would save us about 1.25 lbs. Using a single pole tipi-style shelter as described above could save more. Since bivy sacks would be carried by everyone, the shelter weight would be more evenly distributed in our packs. One downside of this configuration is the cost: 5 bivy sacks cost a lot more than a single bug nest. Another is the added complexity for the kids. The upside is that the bivys could also be used without the tent when sleeping in shelters along the AT during bug season.
• Lighter poles: The poles for the Shangri-La 6 weigh about 14 oz each, that is almost 2 pounds in poles alone. For strength, you really don't want to go with anything lighter as it would most certainly be too weak for a shelter of that size. The best bet to save pole weight would be to try to find a single-pole shelter instead. Perhaps some sort of hooped/tunnel design may work as well (i.e. Hilleberg, Warmlite, Integral Designs, etc.), but that would require more investigation.
• Use a tarp: This certainly would solve the ventilation problem, but I have no experience with using group-sized ones. Anyone have any insight on that?
• Other options? I am open for ideas! If you have any, please share!

So where does this leave us? I am not sure.

At the moment I am leaning towards a light-weight pyramid shelter with bivy sacks as it seems (in theory) to solve most of the problems for the least amount of weight. I am open to change however, and will be spending some time exploring the possibilities over the coming year to see what I can find.

When we head out on our backpacking trips we usually make our own food rather than buy pre-packaged products (you can find some of our recipes here). Given our preferred diet (vegan), a couple of food intolerances, and the fact that we don't have a limitless budget, it really is the best option for us. Our family can eat out for the same price as it costs us to buy a round of freeze-dried meals - not exactly economical! I am also not a fan of all the waste generated by most backpacker meals, there has got to be a better way to package those things.

Last weekend's backpacking trip included a few product tests,
including minimalist footwear for my upcomig series on BackpackingLight
and some trail food from Outdoor Herbivore on my Bushcooker LT III.

Occasionally however we will splurge. The last time we went for a splurge I looked around for something healthy but almost went into shock when I saw the price tags. In the end we had to compromise considerably on our usual healthy fare to keep things on a reasonable budget.

About a month ago I met Kim and her cool new company on Twitter: Outdoor Herbivore - a vegetarian camp food company based out of North Carolina. After perusing her website for a few minutes I quickly decided that next time I buy backpacking food, this is where I am going to get it.

Outdoor Herbivore makes vegetarian and vegan meals using whole foods, whole grains, and no artificial flavorings or preservatives. Most of their ingredients are organic, they use much less packaging than the big companies, and to top it all off their prices are very reasonable. The last time I looked at Backpackers Pantry organic meals they cost almost $8 - $10 each for about 300 calories of food and way too many ingredients. Outdoor Herbivore meals are priced in the $5 - $6 range, have around 600 calories each (depending on the meal) and much better ingredients.

I asked Kim if she would be interested in sending us a sample for review and she agreed. Next came our requirements: we preferred vegan and wanted something both wheat and corn free. For most backpacking food companies there are exactly zero items on the menu that would qualify. For Outdoor Herbivore it was no problem, we were sent three meals that met our requirements, and I am sure there are many more that would qualify. Note: their food is processed in a facility that processes wheat, soy and nuts, so if you are really allergic to one of those, you may need to look elsewhere.

Lickety-Split Lentils - This one was our family's favorite of the two entrees we tested.
It has a little bite and tons of flavor accented by crunchy peanuts. Delicious!

Naked Freckle Burrito - A multi-purpose meal, this one is designed to be eaten
as either a soup (just add extra water), a filling for a tortilla, or on it's own.
Although not as flavorful as the lentils, it was yummy and filling.

Apple Quinoa Oatmeal - This one is perfect for breakfast, although we found it
works equally well for dessert. Absolutely delicious, with big chunks of apple,
and whole grains.

We like the packaging - the meals come in little ziploc-style bags that can be cleaned and re-used (if you are into that sort of thing). Cooking was easy too. Of the three meals we tried all that was required was to boil water, add the package contents, stir, and let sit for 10 minutes.

In addition to creating great food Outdoor Herbivore has some other products and services for long distance hikers. They sell a sprouting kit that allows hikers to make bean sprouts and greens while on the trail. While not practical for shorter durations, these kits make sense for longer trips and thru-hikes allowing more options for fresh vegetable matter. As a service they will ship food to over 100 locations along the AT, and they offer discounts for large orders.

And the verdict is...

A unanimous 5 thumbs-up for Outdoor Herbivore from our discerning backpackers!
Our entire family really enjoyed these meals. Believe me, finding food that
everyone can agree on can be a challenge, but nobody in our family disliked any of
the samples we tried.

Win Your Next Backpacking Meal!

Outdoor Herbivore has offered to supply one backpacker with their next meal for free. All you have to do to qualify is leave a comment. The cut-off date for comments will be midnight on Sunday August 15th. We will then randomly pick one lucky winner and send them a free meal!

Update 17/08/10: Congratulations to Kate who was selected as our winner! Enjoy your meal, and stop  afterwards to let us know what you thought of it!