Tag Archives: campfire cooking

Camping in the Middle of Nowhere – Jeep Tank on Empty

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Cold weather backpacking and hammock camping in Central Pennsylvania’s Tiadaghton State Forest.

For this adventure, I decided to grab my tarp and hammock and hike into the woods with not much of a plan other than to do some random exploration, find a suitable basecamp, and maybe have a little fun with some campfire cooking. Instead of relying on dehydrated backpacking foods as I usually do, I packed in a bunch of “real” food and a frying pan with the intention of skipping the backpacking stove and cooking exclusively on a good ol’ open campfire.

My backpacking load-out for this trip was relatively lightweight and minimal, but I did spend a few extra pounds on some fun camping items like a hatchet, cooking gear, and some cold weather clothing to deal with the forecasted 20° temperatures at night.

In addition to the camp food, I’ll give you a full look at the items that I pack in on a typical colder weather backpacking trip as well as my go-to tarp and hammock camping setup.

While I didn’t really use an official trailhead for this trip, I did stumble upon Pennsylvania’s orange blazed Mid-State trail before going off trail to look for my campsite for the night. The nearest town was Waterville, PA, which does have a very nice general store and parking for anyone interested in doing a proper backpacking loop with Pine Creek as the center piece. It’s an awesome area for fishing, hiking and backpacking.

In my case, I ended up on the upper ridges of gorge instead of down along the creek where I usually go, but it did make for a memorable experience somewhere deep in the woods of Pennsylvania…

Beginner Backpacking – Campfire Cooking & Abandoned Hotels on Echo Lake

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3 Days of Camping and Backpacking on Echo Lake in the Catskill Mountains.

FTC Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through some of my links.

For this backpacking trip, we headed up to New York’s Catskill Mountains for 3 days of campfire cooking, mountaintop abandoned hotel exploration and lakeside camping with crew consisting of a wide range of experience levels – all the way from 10 years to a very first backpacking trip.

Our Late Fall temperature range for this trip was between 35° and 70° without a chance of rain until the latter half of the trip.  With the possibility of rain on our last day hike out, and the addition of some fun comfort items like a stool, firewood saw and some other surprise goodies, my base weight was a little over my typical sub-10lb base weight for this particular trip.

Mike and I went with hammock camping setups for this backpacking trip, while Mike’s son and his friend decided to share a Nemo 3 person tent. Our  plan was to do our 3 day trip basecamp style by snagging a decent campsite alongside Echo lake and remaining there for both nights.  This would allow us to do a day hike up towards Indian Head Mountain on the ridge lighter daypacks.  This also gave us the advantage of returning to a campsite that was already setup if our hike back ended up taking longer than expected.

Water would be plentiful at basecamp due to the nearby lake, but their is beaver activity in the area, so water filtration and / or treatment is strongly encouraged.  There is also a stream that feeds the pond not to far from where the spur trail for the Echo Lake Shelter begins.  Our chosen campsite was on the opposite side of the lake, so went the filtration route with my Katadyn BeFree water filer system.

Full GPS track data, including campsites, etc, for this trip Sintax77 and many others can be downloaded on my Trip Data Page.

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3 Days Winter Camping with NO STOVE – Cooking with Fire!

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3 Days of Winter Camping, Backpacking & Campfire Cooking in Pennsylvania’s Pinchot State Forest.

 

FTC Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through some of my links.

For this late winter backpacking trip, I decided to challenge myself to cook “real food” using only fire for the duration of my trip. If you know anything about my patience for making fires, you’ll know this will truly be a bit of a challenge. 🙂

For shelter, I went with my minimalist camping hammock and ultralight backpacking tarp set-up. I also utilized a grill grate, a folding saw for harvesting campfire wood, and some extra cold weather clothing layers, as the temps were forecasted to head down to  around 15° F or so. There was also a chance of snow, sleet, and even rain, so I brought a full set of rain gear for warmth at camp and keeping dry while hiking.

Full Route Overview – Pinchot Trail North Backpacking Loop – Sintax77

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3 Days of Campfire Cooking and Hammock Camping – Harpers Ferry West Virginia

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Hammock Camping, Trail Cooking and the search for an Elusive Hearth in the Woods of West Virginia.

FTC Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through some of my links.

For this early February hammock camping trip, I set out to hike a 3 day hike with a nostalgic goal – to find a giant campfire hearth that my friend and I had built five years ago, somewhere off of the Appalachian Trail near the town of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.  I had always wondered if it was still standing after all these years, and thought it would be a great excuse to spend some time in the woods a cook some hearty camping meals.

My weather conditions were forecasted to have a pretty wide range during this trip, from the upper 50’s down to 30 degrees each evening.  I had a rough idea of the hearth’s location.  We built it at camp not too long after leaving the Harpers Ferry National Historic Area’s boundary while heading south on the Appalachian Trail.  My goal for the first day was to get myself to a legal camping area in this general area so I could search for it first thing the next morning.  If I found it early, I would then have the option to do a day hike to Loudoun Heights and Split Rock for views of the Shenandoah River and Potomac River below the ridge.

For sleep and shelter on this trip, I went with a simple hammock camping and ultralight tarp setup (gear list below).  I used the extra space in my winter backpack to load up on extra clothing layers, a saw for harvesting firewood, a stool for working in my makeshift camp kitchen, and my white gas stove system paired up with a fry pan and diffuser to try my hand at baking some trail bread at camp.  The cooler temps also allowed me to bring some “real” food, so I brought along some ingredients to make some smoked sausage one day and pasta with a slow cooked meat sauce the next.

This trip video was sponsored by Anker and their model 521 and 535 Portable Power Station.

Route Overview – Harpers Ferry Loudoun Heights Winter Backpacking Trip – Sintax77

Full GPS track data, including campsites, etc, for this trip and many others can be downloaded on my Trip Data Page.

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Honey I Forgot the Tent – When Backpacking Goes Wrong

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Hiking, Backpacking and an attempt at Tent Camping in the Rain in Virginia’s George Washington National Forest.

FTC Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through some of my links.

For this overnight backpacking trip, Sara and I decided to do some summer backpacking with our dog on a section of Great North Mountain, a 50 mile long mountain ridge that runs along the border of West Virginia and Virginia.

Despite the threat of a quickly approaching storm, we decided to forge ahead with a modest 3 day, 7 mile backpacking trip. Our plan was to keep the itinerary relatively simple in hopes that we could get to camp in time to beat the rain. And then we ran into a slight complication. Actually, it wasn’t slight at all. It was quite possibly the biggest backpacking mistake I’ve ever made…

White Rock Cliff Loop Virginia – Route Overview – Sintax77

There is no parking fee or backcountry camping permit required for this section of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest.  More details regarding dispersed camping can be found on the official GWJNF website here.

Full GPS track data, including campsites, water sources, etc, for this trip and many others can be downloaded on my Trip Data Page.

This trip video was sponsored by RevolutionRace. Use code 15sintax to get 15% off their entire Amazon store site until 9/11/21 here.

Trailhead Used: Sulphur Springs Parking Area Forest Road 1725
38°58’31.4″N 78°34’03.5″W
FR1725, Maurertown, VA 22644

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Hiking Halfmoon Mountain – Camping & Backpacking in West Virginia

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Solo Backpacking, Hiking, & Camping with my Dog on the Halfmoon Mountain Loop in West Virginia.

For this 2 day, 1 night spring backpacking trip, I’ll be hiking a 10.5 mile loop in the George Washington National Forest.

Route Overview – Halfmoon Mountail Loop – Sintax77

No permit is required to camp in the George Washington National forest, but there are rules and regulations regarding backcountry camping. You can find more information on the George Washington & Jefferson National Forest website here.

Full GPS track data, including campsites, water sources, etc, for this trip and many others can be downloaded on my Trip Data Page.

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