Corridor 9

Yesterday you got to glimpse a look at the new pack that I had. Well… today you’ll get a peek at the new pack that Sadie has. It’s the new 2008 Ruff Wear Palisades pack and it’s very cool. With her own water bladders, separate harness/pack system, and compartments to store enough gear for a week, this is definitely going to make her the talk of the trail. In addition to the pack, she’s also testing out Ruff Wear’s Grip Trex booties. I’m not much of a bootie fan, but these things look killer. Additional Pictures are in the Photo Gallery above.

You can see the reviews under the Animal Companion Gear link at BackpackGearTest.org.

The Lowe Alpine Is a lightweight day/overnight pack that I’m testing for BackpackGearTest.org. I’ve been able to use this a couple of times on hikes. There is one more report series due before this test is officially closed so I definitely have to get some more hiking in during the next few weeks. Have a look at the Gear Album in the Photo Gallery listed above to see some of the wonderful features this pack has. By the way, I stuffed all the gear in the picture above into this pack and still had room to spare!

So what is it? It’s really just a big name, small bag. I just received this item from BGT.org a few days ago and must say that it’s impressive so far. Basically this is a dry sack with a twist, rather than having to purge the air from the stuff sack prior to closing it, you close the bag, then purge the air through a air-permeable band near the bottom of the sack. Those of you who have used a standard dry sack know that stuffing these into the nooks and crannies of your sack can be rough due to the amount of trapped air left in the bag. With this new stuff sack, I should be able purge all the air out prior to placing this in my backpack.

I’ll keep you posted on the results!

Although I haven’t posted much in the way of gear lately, I’ve been finalizing quite a few reports for BackpackGearTest.org. Within the past month I finished testing five pieces of gear. Three of those reports have been finalized and closed.

You may remember me posting about the Black Diamond Mesa tent that I received about 6 months ago, or even the Big Agnes Lost Ranger & Dual Core Air Mattress that came shortly thereafter. Well… both of those tests are considered finished and closed.

I was extremely happy with the Mesa, as well as the Big Agnes items. The tent was nice and roomy, providing plenty of space for 2 people without even staking it out. In addition, when I used it on solo trips I had enough space to store my equipment inside with me while I was sleeping instead of having to make sure it was protected from the rain outside the tent.

As for the Big Agnes items; I don’t think I’ve ever slept more peacefully as the nights that I was on the Dual Core air mattress. It was wonderful being on such a soft pad, not having to feel the ground with my hips and knees every time I rolled onto my side, and having the extra insulation keeping me that much warmer all night long. The Lost Ranger is also a great piece of gear. It’s compressibility makes it such a packable 15 F sleeping bag. It compresses down to about half the size as my 15 F synthetic. In addition, because there is no insulation on the back, I was able to use this into the mid 50’s F without too much discomfort.

In all, these are great products that I highly recommend. More information about these products can be found at the following links:
Black Diamond Equipment
Big Agnes

In addition, my BGT reports can be found here:
http://www.backpackgeartest.org/tester_reviews/Rescue9

Pictures can be found here:
http://www.corridor9.net/v/Camping/Gear/

After waiting for months, the Giga Stove finally arrived. Unfortunately it isn’t the Titanium version that we thought we were getting but thats ok for me! I’ve been waiting to test a canister stove for quite a while now and so far I’m quite impressed. This things is SMALL! Weighing in at just under 4 oz, it’s much smaller and lighter than my MSR Whisperlite Internationale. I can’t wait to get into the woods to test this puppy.

I’ve reworked some of the links in the sidebar to more adequately resemble the pages that I visit the most. I would encourage you to visit some of these links and check out what some of my friends are up to.

Callipidder’s Blog: Rebecca has a wonderful backpacking and hiking blog. She also tests for BackpackGearTest.org and has some of her reports online.

Paige’s Smugmug: I’ve hiked with Paige before and consider her very knowledgeable on lightweight backpacking. I am absolutely awestruck at some of the photos she has on her page.

Stiglu: I’ve also hiked with Jason Lustig and consider photo’s to be exceptionally beautiful as well. He is the one who turned me onto the Nikon D40 camera, especially after seeing the tremendous pictures he’s taken with his D40.

The Big Agnes Lost Ranger arrived a few days ago with a bit of a surprise. Because Big Agnes wanted to make sure that we had the proper sleeping pad to test the bag with, everyone was issued a Dual Core pad in addition to the sleeping bag. This is a definite plus, and a wonderful opportunity to test gear that I’ve not been exposed to before.

I’m also looking forward to the Snowpeak Giga stove that should be shipping by Friday. I’ve never used a canister stove before, and from all I’ve read this is going to be a great test. Compared to my MSR Whisperlite Internationale, the Giga is lighter, smaller, and will allow me to simmer; something that has always eluded me with the Whisperlite.

I’d like to thank BackpackGearTest for allowing me the opportunity to test such gear.

Over the past few days I’ve been busy tying to get my EMT certification in order before it expires and finalizing a number of BackpackGearTest reports. Unfortunately I’ve either had a report due or the responsibility to edit other reports every week for the past month.

However, yesterday I was able to get a bit of time to work on the boat. After cleaning out a number of leaves and throwing away more than a few items of trash I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Because the boat was rigged more as a fishing vessel, I’ve had to remove some of the depth finder wires running throughout the hull. I haven’t decided whether I’m going to remove the duck blind poles yet, but we’ll just have to see about that.

I was hoping to get it in the water tomorrow, but I’m not sure that is going to happen. I’ll keep you updated on the progress. It would be nice to take the family fishing while Abby is down though.

Brown Santa delivered another nice goody to my door last night; the Black Diamond Mesa tent. I had initially planned on taking this out to test last night, but Santa didn’t arrive till almost 5pm and I wouldn’t have had time to weigh and document prior to heading out into the woods. I must say, this tent is much bigger than I thought it was going to be. I’ve used a number of 2 person tents before, but this one is just huge! I’d be willing to bet that it’s big enough for Kristie, Kendall, and I all at the same time. Now all I’ve got to do is find someone with enough free time to head out and test!

Maybe next week I’ll get a bit of time to get out into the woods for a while. {wishing}