Camping: Time to pitch the tent?

We opted for a two-man tent, on sale for $20

This begins the Camping thread of Man of Merit. I recently bought a two-man tent for twenty bucks at Bass Pro Shops. The plan was to have something basic, so on our road trip from Florida to Massachusetts last summer we could save money by staying at campgrounds instead of motels. We didn’t use the tent once, choosing to sofa surf instead because finding an appropriate campground was a daunting task since we were traveling with dogs (and because neither of us had been camping for years).

Nearly six months after we bought it, we’re heading out on another much-longer road trip, and we probably still will not be using it. Still, once we’re out in Albuquerque we will definitely try it out on an overnight trip one weekend in January. Of course, before that happens, I need to learn (or re-learn) a few things about camping equipment, backpacks, sleeping bags and the like.

I’ll start now by focusing on the first three of 10 progressively difficult requirements. According to the web site Boy Scout Trail, these are:

1. Show that you know first aid for and how to prevent injuries or illnesses that could occur while camping, including hypothermia, frostbite, heat reactions, dehydration, altitude sickness, insect stings, tick bites, snakebites, blisters, and hyperventilation.
2. Learn the Leave No Trace principles and the Outdoor Code and explain what they mean. Write a personal plan for implementing these principles on your next outing.
3. Make a written plan for an overnight trek and show how to get to your camping spot using a topographical map and compass, or a topographical map and a GPS receiver.

Actually, tonight I’ll start by reading the tent’s assembly instructions. Then tomorrow I may take it to the back yard to lay out the parts and verify I’ve got all necessary equipment, perhaps even setting it up, sort of test my knowledge before I’ll need it in the field. Meanwhile, I’ll start considering the overnight trek plan as well, so I’ll be ready to camp the first chance I get once settled in The Land of Enchantment.

Hiking: To miss lush New England is to love arid New Mexico!

We pack the car and move to the Great American Southwest next week, and I have to admit, I'm really going to miss living in the Northeastern Coastal Forests Ecoregion. Hiking these hills and mountains of New England, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland, I've never felt more connected to the source of all that supports our fragile existence in Megalopolis. Trees that clean the air we breathe. Precious, clean water. Wildlife living in balance with us. Still, I'm fraught with anticipation of what life will bring us down in the subtropical steppe, somewhere between the Chihuahuan Desert and the Southern Rockies. Less water for sure. But the hiking should be phenomenal!

Hiking: Third 10-mile report - Middlesex Fells (Skyline, Rock Circuit and Cross Fells trails)

Well, I did it! I finally completed my third 10-mile hike! I drove to the nearby Middlesex Fells Reservation today and hiked a 10-mile lopsided dumbbell loop (that’s two loops, one larger than the other, linked at the middle by an out-and-back connector trail).

I dropped off Khizer at work in Watertown at 9 a.m. and drove about 30 minutes to the Long Pond trail head on South Border Road in Winchester. I had set out on the trail in the western Fells by 9:35 a.m., starting off by heading north on the Skyline Trail. I was considering starting off on the more rugged south loop, but I got discombobulated at the Skyline crossroads and so I looped around the North Reservoir and passed through Sheepfold just after 11.

Then, I crossed over to the eastern Fells via the Cross Fells Trail at I-93 and reached the Rock Circuit Trail in under an hour. I started on the southern half of the Rock Circuit Trail and reached the other side (along East Border Road) by 12:30 p.m. It was then, somewhere near the halfway point of the day’s hike, in the eastern Fells, that I came across a geologist from a local university who was doing an experiment on felsitic rock in the area.

I asked for the geologist's card and told him I was interested in knowing more about basalt deposits in the Fells. He was then generous enough to take me on a short side hike to a spot on the Rock Circuit Trail that featured a basalt ridge formed by an ancient volcanic eruption. It was pretty cool to realize the rock I was standing on was from the Paleozoic Era.

I left the geologist around 1 p.m. and started my return to the western Fells, taking the Cross Fells Trail all the way back under the interstate. From here I completed the Skyline Trail loop doing the southern half.

I made it back to the Long Pond parking area just before sunset, just around 4:10 p.m. Overall, it was an amazing day - sunny, but cold, hovering somewhere above freezing, but not quite 40 degrees. By the end of the day I felt a bit chilled and chapped. Still, I ended up not needing the extra layers I'd packed. The long-sleeve cotton t-shirt and thermal moisture-wicking base I wore was plenty.

At the end of the trail I had such a sense of accomplishment. My first 10-mile hike in the Blue Hills a few weeks ago seemed like a fluke. Then, the second 10 miler was much less rugged than the first, mostly on roads, so it felt easier, though still an accomplishment. But after this third 10-miler, I realize that this is the kind of stuff I’m capable of on a regular basis. Ten miles is not as difficult as it seems when you first set off on the trail. And by the time you arrive at trail's end, you wish you still had more trail time before the sun fell to dusk.