Knots, Knots, and more Knots

You can never have enough knots in your arsenal.  One of my favorite knots, the Prusik is incredibly easy to tie and a very handy knot to know how to tie.  I use two Prusik knots on my tarp setup to help easily tension the tarp after stringing my ridge line.  To learn how to tie the Prusik and other knots, check out www.animatedknots.com.  This is one of my favorite sites for learning how to tie knots.  ​

Cold Weather Pads

Cold weather tip: Do not takn an air mattress in frigid temps if the pad has any type of metal valve.  Moisture causes the valve to freeze and then you can't re-inflate once the initial warm air compresses.  This should be obvious, but for me it wasn't.  I guess it is all in the small things and thus why we go push ourselves into more difficult and challenging environments.

On the cold weather pad front, I am excited to see that Thermarest has continued to evolve their NeoAir line of pads to include a winter version, the XTherm.  This pad has an R value up in the 5's making it one of the lightest and smallest packing winter pads around.  Compared to a Downmat Exped bag, this is pretty good for a fraction of the weight and most definitely a smaller packed size.  For winter cycling and back country touring, this extra space in your pack or bags is a huge bonus.

Adventure Tip -- Pack in small bags

Adventure Tip: Packing in one big bag just is just plain lousy.  Even if there is some organization to it in the beginning, it is quickly thrown into a state of disarray as you begin to look for things.  Pack your gear in smaller bags and keep things organized. As you make camp, you will greatly appreciate the ease in which you can find things.  When breaking camp, the use of smaller bags actually helps you determine if something is missing.  Travelling by kayak or bike, small bags allow you pack your boat or panniers in a way that makes the most sense.  An example is your sleep kit and camp kit can go at the bottom or in the back of the kayak because you won't need those items until the end of the day.  Your lunch and rain clothes should be closer at hand because you will use them earlier in the day. Snacks should be even more readily accessible.

I have used quite a few dry bags during my travels and without a doubt I have found the Sea To Summit river bags to be the longest lasting bags of them all.  I still have several bags from my first trip up to AK, and while they are no longer the driest, they are still very useable for items where a bit of condensation is not an issue.  I am also a huge fan of the small ditty bags that come in 3 packs and can be used to organize your small stuff such as camera bits, cables, toothbrush/toothpaste, and tools.  They are cheap and generally last a long time.

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.

Protect that Brooks saddle

Here in Oregon the rain is winning its battle over the sun and that means protecting your leather saddle.  My friend Dave had given me this great tip for protecting beloved Brooks saddle once I got into really wet weather.  He told me, don't go buy that expensive Brooks saddle cover, but instead, go get the cheap plastic shower covers, the ones that ladies use to protect their hair when in the shower.  The best part, 3 for $1!