August 12, 2007 at 2:21pmTrip to Algonquin

Hey, I set up this thread so we could discuss the upcoming trip to Algonquin the last week of August. Justin, you might want to invite Ravin to join the group so he can take part in the discussion.

August 13, 2007 at 1:01pmRE: Trip to Algonquin

I attached a photo gallery of a trip I did two summers ago. Don't get your hopes up. This close of an encounter is very rare. That was my nineth trip.

August 14, 2007 at 1:27pmRE: Trip to Algonquin

Here's what we decided regarding food:
Breakfasts and lunches will be Bring Your Own, while dinners will be cooked and eaten together. These are the dinners we've chosen:
night 1: StoveTop, instant mashed potatoes, and summer sausage.
night 2: Mac and Cheese
night 3: Bean and Rice burritos (using Bear Creek tortilla soup mix and RiceSides instant spanish rice)
night 4: pancakes
 
Now, this is not necessarily the order we'll eat them in. We might have mac and cheese the third night, etc.

Edited August 22, 2007 at 10:00am by Mark Montri

August 14, 2007 at 3:27pmRE: Trip to Algonquin

Added pita to the mac.
 
night 1: StoveTop, instant mashed potatoes, and summer sausage.
night 2: Mac and Cheese with pita
night 3: Bean and Rice burritos (using Bear Creek tortilla soup mix and RiceSides instant spanish rice)
night 4: pancakes

Edited August 22, 2007 at 10:00am by Mark Montri

August 14, 2007 at 3:56pmRE: Trip to Algonquin

Packing list:
 
~Backpack - I'll take care of Ravin's unless he buys one.
 
Food: (dinners are taken care of)
~ Breakfast: Bagels (more filling/great to pack) or breakfast bars/granola and Instant coffee, tea, hot chocolate, etc.
~ Lunch: Flat bread or pita bread, granola, jerky, trailmix, dried fruits, cheese, things like that.
 
Cooking:
~One water purifier for all of us
~Mark has his pot, and I'll have a set for Ravin and I
~Spoon
~Small cup
~Bio. dish soap
 
Sleeping:
~Sleeping bag - Ravin can use one of my extras or we'll go buy one
~Nights will get chilly; you may want to wear a winter hat at night. It's nice to have.
~Mattress - I have one for Ravin, or we'll go buy one.
~Small flash light - We're all set with that stuff
 
Shelter:
~Mark is set
~I'll have my bivy bag
~I'll take care of Ravin's tent - in bad weather I can use Ravin's extra space.
 
Clothes: (All clothes shoud be of synthetic materials, no cotton if possible.)
~Hiking shoes/boots - tennisshoes work with agressive tread
~Rain jacket, rain pants if desired (something light)
~2 pair socks or three
~1 - 2 pair of sock liners (thin nylon dress socks work well)
~2 pair underwear or none if your clothes have a liner. Your call.
~1 sleevless or t-shirt (you can wash it.)
~1 long sleeve shirt
~1 fleece
~1 shorts (liner preferred for swimming and hiking)
~1 pants or zipp-offs will be shorts and pants together and save weight
~1 hat or bandana works well and serves multiple purposes
 
Safety:
~Map
~Compass for fun and learning mainly
~1 small knife or multitool (1 per group is fine)
~1 First Aid kit for group
~Phones usually don't work but 1 per group.
 
Travel:
~Birth certificate
~Passports are nice to have
 
Money:
~Camping will come to roughly $55
~We'll split gas
~Food on the way there and back
~In all, have $150 available whether you need it or not.
 
If I think of anything else I'll post it.

Edited August 22, 2007 at 10:00am by Mark Montri

August 22, 2007 at 10:06amRE: Trip to Algonquin

Just one week from today...
 
So the plan is to leave early on Wednesday morning (Aug 29). If we're on the road by 5am we should be there at 1pm; if we leave at 6am then be there by 2pm, etc. Since we've only got 2.5 miles to cover the first day (1-1.5 hours hiking), we don't need to get a super-early start.
 
Where are we planning on meeting to leave, and have we decided for sure who is driving? We can take my car if we need to. I have plenty of trunk room and my car gets fairly decent mileage.

August 24, 2007 at 2:29pmRE: Trip to Algonquin

Hey I was thinking we may want to reconsider having pancakes for dinner. I tried making pancakes today with my camp stove and cookset, and while it did work, it was kind of messy and time consuming. It would be a lot easier if we had an actual frying pan, rather than the deep pots, but there are other considerations, too.
First of all, syrup will be heavy. Second of all, it's difficult and messy to eat pancakes without plates, which means we all have to bring plates in addition to our cups/bowls.
I was thinking eggs might be a better alternative (keeping with the breakfast foods theme). We could carry a carton of EggBeaters, and it would probably weigh the same as the syrup we'd be carrying for pancakes. We could then just pour the EggBeaters into the pot, and stir it to make scrambled eggs. We bring along a little shredded cheese (or if one of us has a block of cheese, we can just cut some off) and sprinkle it on top to make a sort of omelette. If we get the garden vegetable EggBeaters, it's even got green and red peppers, onions, and celery mixed right in the carton.
If this all seems like a bad idea, we can go with ramen or some other pasta or something like that, but I just think pancakes are going to be a bad idea.
 
edit: I was just looking on the EggBeaters web site, and they also have a southwestern flavor. It has red and green peppers, onions, hot chillies, and southwestern spices. That sounds really good. If we had some extra tortillas from our burrito night, we could even make breakfast burritos!

Edited August 24, 2007 at 02:33pm by Mark Montri

August 24, 2007 at 2:31pmRE: Trip to Algonquin

Also, I just checked the weather forecast, and it looks like clear skies Wed-Fri (the forecast only went as far as Friday). Temperatures look prefect, too. Wednesday's high is in the low 70s, but it drops into the mid 60s for Thurs and Friday. Overnight lows in the high 30s, so bring a fleece.
I'm getting pumped!

September 3, 2007 at 11:09amRE: Trip to Algonquin

More to come.