Backpack Cover: Cabelas Blaze Orange

One of the items that comes up on most through hiker gear lists are backpack covers. As most of our backpacking trips have been under fair skies with only a handful of thunderstorms, we have largely backpacked sans cover for several decades. We have never needed a cover as we have been diligent regarding encasing everything dry in heavy duty trash bags sealed with doubled goose necks. Those few time that rain was heaped upon us, we simply pulled out an extra plastic bag and pulled it over the pack. Often, we have been the only person in a large group with a dry sleeping bag and clothes in the morning.

As we have never hiked in pouring rain and due to the abnormally cool wet weather this spring, there is a good possibility of our needing a backpack cover. Looking through the catalogs, there is no shortage of backpack covers. Prices usually ranged from twelve to twenty-five dollars depending on material and brand. Most are black or green. A few are bright blue. Only one backpack cover stood alone in blaze orange - Cabela's Blaze Orange Pack Rain Cover.

As we have long performed search and rescue on the ground and in the air, we are big believers in "see and be seen" in emergencies and to prevent emergencies. So, it was with some concern that we discovered that this year's section hike would take us through Pennsylvania state game lands during turkey hunting season. We have a lightweight mesh blaze orange vest that we wear on ground teams, but with a backpack covering much of our reverse, a blaze orange backpack cover seemed just the thing.

Our online order from Cabelas was swiftly delivered well before the estimated delivery date. The cover is well made from one large piece of blaze orange nylon. A cord with lock runs around the perimeter of the cover. The online reviews said this cover was large and large is an understatement. Its huge! While its an easy match for our large Camp Trails 5,000 inch pack, we were able to cinch it down to fit our smaller 3,100 inch Outdoor Products Arrowhead backpack. We were able to fold the cover into fourths and roll the cover into a small roll that easily fit into the undersized top pocket of our Arrowhead backpack.

We did note that when we put the cover over our backpack straps and waist belt ("the "wrong way") that we were able to cinch the cover down small enough that only the handle on our backpack was protruding. This should help protect our backpack straps while our backpack rides below on the Greyhound bus. The nylon seems too light for our pair of protruding poles, so we plan to hand carry our trekking poles onto the bus and store above or below our seat.

The Cabelas Blaze Orange backpack cover isn't for everyone, but if you want a large cover or a very visible cover, then this may be the backpack cover for you. For $15 plus another five for shipping, we consider a blaze orange backpack cover cheap insurance against not only rain, but flying wads of lead.

Trail Food: Freeze Dried Strawberries & Bananas

After lunch today we rummaged in our office food cache for something sweet for desert. Among the various little foil pouches from our recent grocery expedition was an individual sized pouch of Disney Freeze Dried Strawberries and Bananas. Remembering with fondness the freeze dried strawberries that we sometimes found among our MREs years ago, we decided sure, why not?

Ummm... Freeze dried strawberries. All the deliciousness without the sticky, staining juice. After crunching a few of the flat crisp strawberry sections, we opted for some banana. While the strawberries were our favorite, we do prefer freeze dried bananas to the hard dried banana chips that we have previously packed along the trail.

Unlike the freeze dried apples we reviewed earlier, we're a bit pressed to come up with ways to integrate the freeze dried strawberries and bananas into our meal plan. One thought is to open the bag up and separate the two fruits. Then, repackage the freeze dried bananas with some instant banana pudding mix and some Nido powdered milk for a more robust banana pudding. As for the strawberries, our only thought is to pack them along separately and later rehydrate them with water and sugar to form a chunky strawberry syrup to drizzle over a Twinkie for an improvised strawberry shortcake.

To summarize, we liked Disney Freeze Dried Strawberries and Bananas. We liked them so much we ate the entire bag in record time. We'll probably take a bag along on our section hike, but probably as ingredients in other entrees.

Disclosure: We select and purchase the product(s) reviewed. We have no material connection to either the manufacturer nor the retailer(s).

Freezer Bag Cozies

If you read our earlier post on Disney Freeze Dried Real Sliced Apples, you know that we tested "cooking" our trail food breakfast in a freezer bag cozy. For those not familiar with freezer bag cooking, we're talking about putting a dehydrated meal into a quart freezer bag, adding hot water, waiting several minutes, and then nooshing right out of the plastic bag. No plates. No bowls. Just one small plastic bag with a messy inside that you deflate, zip close, and pack out to your home trash can. The one flaw in this system is that your hot water may cool down before your dried noodles or rice have had the opportunity to fully hydrate or soften. Thus, the cozy.

Making a homemade cozy

For our freezer bag cozy we selected a standard manila bubble padded envelope that a papperback book had arrived in. Ignoring the labels and the shipping tape, we trimmed the torn parts of the bag off and then trimmed one side of the bag to be about 2-3 inches shorter than the other. (Just remove a rectangle from one side at the opening end.) This provides a flap that can be folded over to trap the warmed air inside. We weren't sure how well an ordinary padded envelop would work. Would the plastic bubble wrap inside melt from the heat? Would the envelope distort causing our meal to suddenly pour out across our desk? Inquiring minds wanted to know.

Using a freezer bag cozy

Again, if you've read the freeze dried apples review, you already know we put a quart ziplock freezer bag into our modified envelope, dumped in two packets of oatmeal and a packet of apples, dumped in a cup of boiling hot water, zipped up the freezer bag and closed the flap on our "cozy". After a few minutes we opened everything up and give our oatmeal a short stir with a spoon. (Caution, do not use forks or knives inside your freezer bag. The heated plastic is extremely pliable and very easily punctured.) A few minutes later, we opened up the cozy and the freezer bag and dug in. HOT! Too hot!

Eating out of the bag while inside our cozy was a bit ackward. Taking the freezer bag out and putting the bag inside a small bowl proved more satisfactory. (Warning: do NOT take the hot freezer bag out of your cozy without having somewhere to put it. Its way too hot to hold in your hand.)

So, our hastily improvised bubble mailer cozy worked. The plastic bubbles did not melt, pop, or otherwise distort. The air withing the plastic bubble wrap provided extremely good insulation and kept our meal hot. We didn't need to line the bag with aluminum foil or anything.

As our cozy weighes next to nothing and packs very flat, we'll probably take it or an upgrade along on our section hike. While picking up some small plastic flip top bottles at The Container Store, we noted that they also carry Bubblope mailers, a bright foil version of our manilla mailer but with a velcro resealable flap. Bubblopes come in various colors of silver, gold, red, blue, and purple foil for just under $3. At that low price, we may shell out a few dollars for some trail bling.

UPDATE

We bought a $3 red Bubblope and used it on a two week Appalachian Trail section hike. The bubblope held up well and did not leak. There was some separation of the outside plastic from the envelope at the end of our hike. The bubblope was plenty deep and the velcro closure was extremely useful. Enjoyed some very hot oatmeal with apples and some wonderfully hot instant mashed potatoes.

Backpacking Fuel: Everclear Grain Alcohol

Now that we have made a couple of Super Cat alcohol stoves, our attention has turned to sources of fuel for said stoves. One form of alcohol mentioned as fuel is Everclear grain alcohol. Come to find out that Everclear grain alcohol comes in two versions: 190 proof and 150 proof. We did not know that as we seldom partake of hard liquor, just beer and wine mostly.

While stopping at a local liquor store to get a large Heinekin beer can for a homemade ultralight cooking system, we had inquired as to the availability of Everclear. We stopped by a second time to ascertain which version is sold in Arkansas. We get the full monty - 190 proof! A pint retails from four to six dollars depending on location. So, for local hikes, we have a source of stove fuel that we can also consume in a late night beverage, if desired. (By the way, Everclear grain alcohol has about 190 calories per ounce, so a nightcap does provide significant calories with zero fat or carbohydrates.)

While researching Everclear grain alcohol., we discovered that it is actually illigal to purchase in several states, including Virginia. This is cause for some concern as we had previously located a state liquor store Harpers Ferry, WV just west of the ATC Headquarters and a liquor store near Union Train station in DC. Both were possible sources for stove fuel. Now, we'll have to make some calls to check if Everclear grain alcohol is available, and if so, the proof, amount, and price. We'll post an update below once we know the details.

Trail Food: Disney Freeze Dried Real Sliced Apples

Today's trail food experiment was a "two fer." We combined two experiments into one. The trail food candidate was Disney Freeze Dried Real Sliced Apples that we found in the fruit section of our grocer. The freeze dried apples come in individual serving sized bags for about $1 ea. Each serving contains about one and a half apples for about 40-50 calories.

As we do for all taste tests, we opened the sealed bag and tasted the apples directly. Our first thought was "Oh, look! Little pieces of apple flavored foam." The bag was about a third full of little thin crisp wedges and looked as if a foam plate had been shattered. Fine. Not the most appealing look, so how do they taste? Munch, munch, munch... They taste vaguely familiar for those of us having dined on freeze dried peaches in meals rejected by Ethiopians (MREs). There was a bit of apple taste, but not overpowering.

We then proceeded with our "two fer" experiment. When we bought the freeze dried apples for trail food, we thought they would likely be good for supplementing the small bits of apple that come in our flavored oatmeal packets. So we added our remaining apple crisps to a quart freezer bag containing two packets of instant apple flavored oatmeal, one of our favorite trail foods of all time. We noted there seems to be more apple in the oatmeal packets than we remember. Nonetheless, we placed the quart bag in a bubble wrap padded envelope and added about a cup of hot water. (The padded envelope is the two in our two fer. More on that experiment later.) Minutes later we stirred everything; waited another minute or so; then chowed down. Yum! The now rehydrated apples were a welcome addition to the oatmeal. The meal seemed heartier and more satisfying both in taste and amount.

Disney Freeze Dried Apples makes our menu for the upcoming section hike, at least until the first resupply point. We plan to combine the freeze dried apples with two packets of Quaker apples and cinnamon oatmeal in a quart freeezer bag. That will be a major portion breakfast for the first five mornings, along with protein fortified hot chocolate and snack size fig newtons. So, our next trip to the same grocer in two weeks will include five bags of freeze dried real sliced apples.