Trying to get my girl into backpacking, any tips?

[dial1911]

She will NOT poop in the woods. I will guarantee that. I think I might put some ExLax in her coffee just to see what she does, my guess is she would hike back to the car and poop inside it instead.

Well, you can skip packing in TP... That should save about one ounce worth of weight... JK.

All good suggestions in the other posts. I might add a lightweight hammock to the list. That was my GFs favorite thing on a past camping trip.

I took exactly one camping trip with a girlfriend- one was enough. It was years ago on cumberland island. Two other girls tagged along too... Pretty good trip all around. I think my favorite part was sharing a campsite with a boy scout troop one night... I was the lucky b*stard sharing a tent with three hot girls.... Ah- to be in my mid twenties again.

 

[Lumberman]

Possibly a start to a new thread. Camping Chick Pics

 

[Troy Brown]

Leave a trail of snicker bars dangling from tree limbs going up the side of the mountain........Thats how they got me started hiking!!!!

 

[jsquared]

Well its gonna be a little tougher than I thought, just realizing this.

Yesterday we are at REI getting some last minute stuff together and there is a demo backpack laying there filled with about 40 pounds of weight. Shes like "Let me try that on and see how it feels." So I pick it up, she throws it on (completely unadjusted, without the hip belt even buckled) and is like "Oh thats not bad at all, I could carry this all day." So, either she is going to impress the crap out of me, or she is going to get 1/4 mile down the trail and start crying.

Then today, she asks me if I want her to pack my facewash. I go take a look at what shes bringing for toiletries and stuff and she has like her entire bathroom sink in a pile. THAT was a tough talk, cant wait to start really packing!!!

Wish me luck guys

 

[jloneill17]

Well its gonna be a little tougher than I thought, just realizing this.

Yesterday we are at REI getting some last minute stuff together and there is a demo backpack laying there filled with about 40 pounds of weight. Shes like "Let me try that on and see how it feels." So I pick it up, she throws it on (completely unadjusted, without the hip belt even buckled) and is like "Oh thats not bad at all, I could carry this all day." So, either she is going to impress the crap out of me, or she is going to get 1/4 mile down the trail and start crying.

Then today, she asks me if I want her to pack my facewash. I go take a look at what shes bringing for toiletries and stuff and she has like her entire bathroom sink in a pile. THAT was a tough talk, cant wait to start really packing!!!

Wish me luck guys

Dude that's hilarious.

 

[JWC]

You want ME to give you advice on backpacking? My idea of roughing it, is staying in the Ramada Inn instead of a Hampton Inn! I do not do sleeping outside. Been there, done that, not again.

 

[jsquared]

Dude that's hilarious.

Remember the walk back up? yeah....

 

[jloneill17]

Remember the walk back up? yeah....

How could I ever forget? i thought my thighs and calves were on fire.

 

[SpeedyR]

I used to lead backpacking trips for a university and always laughed when people would break out food for dinner on a summer backpacking trip with a full jar of mayonaise. pretty funny but I've seen it all when it comes to backpacking trips. Between scouts, the university outdoor rec program and a stint with outward bound, I've seen all the spectrums of backpacking. somewhere I have a photo of me with my 100lb backpack (i was about 165 at the time) headed up a mountain. probably shouldn't have packed that small generator, hilti TE-10a hammer drill and a few hundred expansion bolts. ah.. to be young and stupid again..

 

[jsquared]

Well, the trip was a full success, had to cut it one day short on account of the weather but it was a great time and my girl really surprised me. She took to primitive camping really well, and aside from a few blunders in the basics we had nothing but good times.

We got our packs ready to go the night before and I wanted to get a look at how she packed hers on her own. After taking a look she did really well in some areas and needed a bit of help in others, but we got everything sorted in no time. Her biggest issue in packing was being too trusting. I am the type that, if I have a critical piece of gear, it gets tied down, lashed, stuffed deep in a pocket, zipped up, etc. She had a bad habit of putting critical things in places where they could easily fall out, get lost, etc. After going over it with her she totally understood and made the adjustments herself.

After arriving at the trailhead we got on the trail at about 9 and started the 2 mile hike into the Cohutta. The hike down the Chestnut Lead trail is pretty easy going, and it is deceptive how much elevation you are losing while hiking in (something you most definitely realize on the way out, more on that later). Got to the end of the trail and hiked about another half mile down river to find a good camp site, where we set up camp and started gathering wood. The area had had a bit of rain it looked like, and it took some time gathering enough wood for that night and the next morning. Finding anything not soaking wet or rotted out got to be pretty tough. After getting a nice sized pile together and making sure our tent and bags and everything were squared away we took a day hike down river to a nice scenic mini waterfall and had lunch, then sat and pondered life for a bit before heading back.

Bugs were not an issue the entire trip really, a few squirts of bug juice and we were left pretty much alone. We did start the fire early on Saturday, though, under the pretenses of learning some different techniques (flint/cotton balls was our primary fire starting stuff, then some backup matches if that didnt work out). Well, good thing we started early, because it took a LOT longer to get the fire going than I had anticipated. I learned a thing or two about starting fires in wet areas this trip, so it was good training for both of us.

I packed along my Midland two ways (with weather band) and my Grundig shortwave radio and both sets did great. The Midlands were awesome for picking up dedicated NOAA signals (which let us know we should pack it in early on Sunday), and the Grundig helped pass the time by picking up FM from Chattanooga and shortwave from all over. I spent a few hours on Saturday DXing by the fire and it was a nice break.

Back to the weather. We went to bed Saturday expecting a slight drizzle, with more rain Sunday and a muddy hike out on Monday morning. Woke up Sunday morning to clear skies and a slight breeze and were excited, thinking we might luck out. Jumped on the weather radio and low and behold, flood warnings and severe thunderstorms coming right at us. So, we both felt it would be better to beat feat out of there and not get stuck on the mountain trying to drive down 6 miles of dirt roads in a flood Was really glad to have packed the radios and kept an ear on them, and sure enough it started raining right when we got back to the car.

We broke camp at about 10 and had everything packed and ready by 11 or so. Filtered some extra water for the hike out and started in on the 2 mile uphill battle back to the car. I had only done this hike once before and remember it being tough on the way out, but man o man I had forgotten just how tough it was until we were hiking! At first I made it a point to stop every once in a while to make sure I wasnt going to fast for her, then I had her leading so she could stop when she needed to, and finally towards about the middle we were both pushing ourselves to the limit trying to make it up the trail step by step. Guess its time to renew that gym membership lol. All in all though it was a real challenge and by the time we made it back to the car we both felt like sleeping for a few days. No time for that, though, we jumped right in the car and drove down the mountain, making it back to the paved roads just as the rain started coming down.

So, to recap, it was a fun trip and nice to spend some time with my best girl away from life for a few days. The hike back up the Chestnut Lead was worse than I remember though, and we are both really sore still. Gotta love it!