Camping Gear List of Yesteryear

I don't know about you, but the "sleeping pocket" looks like a pretty cozy place.

[via the yard]

Hey Procrastinator!

Yes, you. Don't resort to CVS or Walgreens. Check out these holiday gift picks from REI instead:

It's hard to make a movie about backpacking.

While the scenery is often beautiful, and there can be many high and low points, there aren't many cliffhanger moments that lend the sport to enthralling filmmaking. But Ian and Andy's from The Dusty Camel have just released the trailer for their upcoming film, As it Happens. And as it turns out, the film is about much more than traveling the backcountry by foot:

"As it Happens is more about the pulse of America. Our national parks were founded thanks to people like Muir, Roosevelt, and Albright, to name a few, who understood that sharing stories inspires awareness and therefore concern about these places. Thus, we created our movie, which hopes to share the story of our journey through these arteries of the USA, as we travel north from border to border. While we pass through amazing landscapes and some of the most remote areas of the country, the emphasis is also on the people we meet along the way. They exhibit extreme kindness where none is warranted, and as we are surviving with nothing but what is on our backs, we found ourselves thriving as we began to understand that freedom is enabled by a system of support. People are what makes this journey inspiring and the landscape is what makes it (aesthetically) beautiful. The excitement comes from the fact that every moment is a true instant captured, a linear story from A to B, recorded exactly as it happens," says Ian Mangiardi from theDusty Camel. 




~Kate

Bear Can Packing

Always a challenge to get 10 days of food into these things. Here's one attempt at close-packing food:

FYI, not a good idea to keep all the breakfast oatmeals on the bottom of the can. It makes every morning a food inventory morning.

Helio Q&A

Helio Pressure Shower arrived in our warehouse a couple weeks ago (and has since been shipped out to stores). We've already heard back from folks that have been playing with their new toy and had a few questions about the product.

Q: Given the color, I assume it's meant to be left out in the sun the way other camp showers are. How long do I need to leave it out before it warms up?
A: The long answer? It depends. It depends on what temperature the water starts at when you put it in, how much water you put in, the temperature outside, whether it is exposed to direct sunlight, and what you want the final temperature to be. But to give you a data point in space, when we were out at Trail Days in Damascus, VA, we filled Helio halfway up with water from the spigot (~55F) and let it sit in direct sunlight where the outside temperature was about 85-90F. It took the water inside the tank about 3 hours to warm up to what felt about 90F.

Q: How strong is the hanging strap? Am I messing with disaster if I hang a full Helio by this strap?
A: The strap is a carrying strap, not a hanging strap. It is meant to be used to carry Helio a short distance, and should NOT be used to hang Helio—unless the tank is empty and is just being dried. Hanging the weighted tank by the strap puts undue stress on the welds. Over time, both the material and welds can be compromised by the constant loading. Plus, the beauty of Helio is that you don't have to hang it. The bottom of the tank is structurally rigid, so it can stand on its own, which means you won't have to search for the perfect tree at the perfect height to wash up.

Q: It looks like you open the valve at the top of the foot pump before use. What's the valve at the bottom of the foot pump for?
A: The valve on the underside of the foot pump is just for drainage purposes when you are finished using the pressure shower. Be sure to keep it closed when pressurizing the tank.

Q: What's the best way to store Helio?
You should only pressurize the tank when you're using it. Keeping the tank out and pressurized over long periods of time puts the fabrics and welds under constant tension. Over long periods of time, this can affect the durability and longevity of the product. So when you're done showering/rinsing dishes/etc, take the time to properly depressurize the tank. The easiest way to do this is to spray water out of the nozzle until the stream dies out. Then open the valve on top of the tank to let the air out.

If you have any other questions, let us know!

Doing Double Duty (DDD)

Not everyone has a tent quiver. We've been there—sometimes you have to make do with the gear that you have. We heard from a customer who has an Espri 2P, and got in some good winter camping with it this season. 

This is his campsite on the Comanche snowfield before his climb on Comanche and Fall mountain the next morning in the Mummy Range (Northern Front Range of Colorado). 

Camping with Kids (and living through it)

We like any book that has the words "down and dirty" in the title. 

There has been a huge movement towards scaling back family vacations, and camping is undoubtedly one of the best ways to get bang for your buck. After all, it is 2012, not 2001. But there are fundamental differences between resort-y vacations where you go to escape your kids, and camping—where connecting with your kids AND nature can be amazing and disastrous, all at the same.

We prefer amazing over disaster, and that usually comes with experience. Take a look at Helen Olsson's guide to camping with kids. With three children under the age of nine, she's llama-trekked in Colorado's backcountry, canoe-and-kayaked in the Niobrara River Valley of Nebraska. So yes, it CAN be done.

Why I Love the Outdoors

One of the best things about spending time in the outdoors is that it is one of the more humanizing and connect-y activities I can think of. In a world otherwise where avoidance of eye contact is the norm, I have had more experiences sharing trail conditions, wave reports, snacks, shade from the sun, cover from the rain, and equipment advice with strangers than I can remember. This REI ad from last year is spot-on.



A couple weekends ago, Suz and I took a short backcountry trip to Little Harbor, Catalina Island. We offered to take a group's picture at a scenic point in the hike, and they mentioned that the other half of their party, a fishing boat, was meeting them at their campsite. There was talk of feasts of fresh fish, sashimi, stews— and somewhere tucked between there was an invitation to dinner.

After setting up camp, exploring the land, we decided to say hi to the folks we had met earlier.  

I believe this is a pictorial definition of the word feast:

Clearly this hiking/backpacking group from SoCal has their priorities straight. I can't say that I've ever eaten so well in the backcountry. Instant friends? Felt more like instant family.

-Connie

Creative Stakes

The most commonly forgotten item on the NEMO camping trip was stakes, which is what happens when samples and prototypes are used. We had to get a little creative with our stakes, which was reminiscent of the invention of the spake a couple years back.

-Connie

East of the Cascades

Almost everyone in the NEMO office makes a trip out to the Pacific NW at least once a year, whether for business or pleasure, and I'm wrapping up my family vacation in Washington. For this year's annual camping trip we made a pilgrimage to a long-time (3 generation) family favorite -- the Okonogan National Forest along the banks of the Chewuch River.

- Bridget

Family Adventure, in progress

I met Damien and Renee last weekend at Outdoor Retailer, who dropped by the NEMO booth to see our new offerings for 2011. Damien is a contributing editor for Backpacking Light, but they both moonlight as editors for their blog Adventure in Progress, which encourages families to get outdoors and go on adventures together. Not just any adventures though, we're talking about multi-day backcountry, all-conditions, put-in-sweat-equity-for-your-dinner type adventures.

For most folks with families, this might seem outside the realm of possibility. But D+R get it done (with 3! children). Talking to them reminds me a bit of a Banff film fest entry from a couple years back called Finding Farley, which details the travels of Leanne Allison and Karson Heurer as they canoe/hike/sail with their 2 year old son from Canmore, Alberta to Nova Scotia.



Check out the blog and movie trailer, and get inspired to bring your family outdoors, one step at a time.

-Connie