Glenn Charles

LIFE-STYLE | TRAVEL | AERIAL

Photographer/Videographer specializing in Life Style, Travel, and Aerial Imagery.  FAA 107 Certified for sUAS flight operations throughout the US.  Fully insured.  Videography work is limited to Aerial productions.

Based in Maine (May-December) and SWFL (Jan - April). Available for travel year round.

Filtering by Tag: Bikepacking

Layer, Layer, Layer

This can't be said enough when talking about the best way to travel light and travel in mixed conditions.  It does not matter if you are hiking, trekking, cycling, kayaking, or just walking, layering is the key to dealing with conditions. 

For example, on my winter Gaspe' bike expedition last year, I was garunteed to encounter conditions that ranged from zero degrees at night to highs in the 40's during the day.  Snow, sun, sleet, and rain were all in the three week forecast.​ In order to deal with these types of conditions, while still meeting my goal of traveling light and in a bike-packing stye, layering was critical.  In my book, everything in your kit should have multiple uses and this is absolutely mandatory when it comes to clothes.

Riding the beaches with bergy bits​

My upper body clothing kit included:​

  • Base wool​
  • Medium weight wool​
  • Rain Proof Soft Shell​
  • Patagonia Puff​
  • Winter Parka​

With this kit, I could start the day out cycling with just my base wool and softshell.  As I heated up, I could vent the soft shell and regulate my body temperature very easily.  Wool is a great insulator, does not stink, and dries out very quickly.  At rest stops, when temps were cold and the wind was blowing, I simply threw on my Patagonia Puff to keep in valuable insulation and provide one more layer of wind break.​

At camp, I would simply take off my soft shell, add my medium weight wool and throw on my parka.  This allowed me to be somewhat comfortable while cooking, and then absolutely toasty in my sleeping bag.  By layering up with my clothes, I was able to take a 20 degree bag into 0 degree conditions and sleep very comfortably.​

Everyone is different with regards to how they react to cold and heat, so you will need to adjust accordingly.  For me, I actually run a bit cold up top and a bit warm down below.  So for this trip, I spent most of my time in my cycling knickers, only occasionally adding my wool knickers for added warmth.  At camp, I would just throw my insulated pants over everything was good to go.​  On extremely cold days, the addition of my rain pants over my knickers was all I needed to warm up my lower body.

Lastly, the same was true for my head and my feet.  Layering up my feet with sock liners, seal skinz and wool cycling socks was all I needed during the day.  At night I would replace the seal skinz with a pair of heavy weight wool socks and my feet were then toasty warm for the night.  My head was almost always covered with a Buff and then at camp, breaks or in the hammock, I would add on a beanie for additional warmth.​

With this kit, everything had a purpose and nothing was wasted.  By layering up, I was able to compensate for changing conditions and still have everything fit in my 3 bag (Seat Bag, Frame Bag, Handle Bar Bag) setup.​

Tarps, Tarps, & more Tarps

Tarp camping on the Georgia barrier islands using my Greenland Paddle as one anchor pointTo say that I am a huge fan of Tarps is an understatement.  I was first introduced to them during my paddle up the Inside Passage.  As part of my preparation I had been reading articles about the use of silnylon tarps and their benefit for any type of camping.  With not much more knowledge than that, I purchased an Oware silnylon tarp, 10x8, and stuffed it into my kit. 

As I worked my way up the Inside Passage, I constantly attempted to use the tarp, but was always frustrated by the experience of setting it up.  When I did get lucky enough to magically get a taught setup, I was always thrilled.  It wasn't until I reached Alaska and met my friend Christine, that I finally got how to set up a tarp. 

Camping in a park with a fellow cyclist and his huge dome tentFast forward 3 years, and I am still using my Oware tarp, but have continued to evolve my tarp skills.  I think anyone who is going out into the wild should have one of these, even if you already have a tent.  However, once you get a taste of the tarp life, you will begin to question life in a tent.  There is a tremendous cottage industry in the U.S. that is making some amazing tarps and tarp tents.  I will save talk of those for later, but suffice it to say that what Oware, Mountain Laurel Design, Hyperlight Mountain, and others are doing is nothing short of revolutionary.

 

On my Bike Around America tour with my Salsa Fargo, my primary form of shelter was a tarp and bivy.  For the trip, I really wanted both a lightweight form of travel and a simpler, more efficient way of setting up a tarp.  For all types of tarps, you need two anchor points to effectively string up the tarp.  I wanted to accomplish several things with my tarp setup.  First, I wanted to be able to use my bike as one of the main anchor points.  This would allow me a great deal of flexibility in where I chose to camp.  Now I would only need to find space where I could park the bike and attach the other end to some form of fixed object or something like a stick. Secondly, I wanted flexible way to move the tarp around as it was set up.

 

Creating anchor points on bike for stake outsTo accomplish this, I first had to create two mounting points on my bike.  I used spare 2mm rope and created tie loops that would serve as stake line attachments. I put one around the headset and the second around the seat post.  These were attached in a permanent way so that I never had to worry about them.  In my stake bag, I have two tie out lines that I simply loop through each of these attachments and tie off to stakes. Then, using my seat post as one of the anchors for my top line, I have the ability to stand the bike up in the middle of empty space and thus have a solid anchor for one end of my tarp.  The other end of my top line is then attached to any other form of fixed object such as a tree, building, fence, or even a stick.

Now that we have two endpoints, we have to decide how to attach the tarp.  There are several schools of thought here, but they can be broken down into two distinct choices.  The first choice is that your main ropes are individually physically attached to the tarp.  This is how I originally setup my tarp.  The advantage is that you can keep everything attached to the tarp, making it easy to roll out of the bag and begin stringing up the tarp.  The down side is that it is a pain to adjust the tarp because you have to go to your main attachment points, the tree, and the bike, and adjust the ropes accordingly.

Tarp strung using bike and tree as anchor points for the top line

Because I always thought there was a better way, I began to experiment with another way of stringing your tarp.  This method involved first stringing a top rope between your two anchor points (the bike & the tree).  I chose to buy two packs of Kelty Triptease Line , which I then cut up into the lengths needed for my top line and for all of my anchor tie outs.  Once this is strung, you no longer have to adjust anything.  Using my bike as one of the anchors, I  attached one end of the rope to a fixed point, then string the line and attach it to my seat post.  Now I can stand up the bike and use my two stake lines to tension out the bike and top line.  This also has the added benefit of attaching your tarp to your bike so it does not walk away in the middle of the night.

 

Once you have the top-line setup you now have to attach your tarp to the line.  Some people choose to simply drape the tarp over the line and then stake out the corners.  This method works but lacks any flexibility to adjust the tarp location.  I instead have opted to do things slightly different. 

Prusik attached to an S-BinerTaking 2mm line, I have created a prusik knot on each end of my top line, placing them in the approximate location the tarp will be attached.  On the free end of the prusik I have attached a small Nite Ize S-Biner - Size 2 .  If you are not familiar with a prusik knot, it will slide along its attachment point until it is under tension.  Now, if you take the s-biner and attach each one to the tarp attachment points you can actually slide the tarp up and down the line until it is located exactly where you want it to be.  By now choosing one end, you can pull it taught and the entire tarp will be tensioned correctly.  All that is left now is to stake out the 4 primary corners and you have a complete setup.

Prusik attached to s-biner that is attached to the tarp tie out on the long endIf weather changes and you need to adjust things, it is now a snap to move the tarp around, especially in wind, without it blowing away or getting fouled on the top line.  I traveled with this setup extensively and it works amazingly well.  While I have chosen to use tarps/bivy's as my primary shelter, having the skills to setup a tarp quickly and in any situation, even when you are tent camping, can really benefit your overall camp skills.  Sometimes we are in situations where we just need to get people out of the elements and other times we are camping in locations where we need to cook and eat away from our primary shelter.  Using a tarp gives you the flexibility to to do both, and the weight penalty, with line and stakes, is nominal.