So I entered a trial in early July that's out in New York. This is the trial farthest away from home that we've done (close to 3 hours. I know, lots of people probably routinely have to go a lot farther, but I don't like road trips). I entered it because it's an outdoor trial, a good weekend for our schedule, it's good to try a change of pace, and ... camping.
I was enchanted by the people who camped at Muddy Paws last weekend. They were right there, didn't have to wake up early in the morning, and had everything they needed. Of course, the weather was also great, but hopefully it will be in July, too.
This trial site is located within close driving distance of the Catskills, Adirondacks, Green Mountains and loads of other parks. I figured it could be fun to do a one day trial and then spend Sunday hiking in new territory. As great as the big parks sound, we're planning a trip to the Adirondacks with my family in October and the Green Mountain park is close to our place in Vermont. The Catskills have great potential, but I found it challenging to navigate the websites about them. Thus, I selected a smaller park which is on the way back towards home in Massachusetts: Mount Greylock. Apparently it's the tallest peak in MA, which means it's barely a real mountain at just under 4k feet. I guess you can drive to the summit, but the camping seems pretty remote. There are 5 first-come-first-serve lean to's in the park which will be our goal, but I went ahead and booked a spot in the campsite in case we're late getting there and/or the lean-to's are taken. Even the established campsite requires a 1.3 mile hike to get there, so hopefully it won't be loud party type people or especially small children. I'm sure we'll have a good time no matter what.
Yesterday Dave and I took a trip to REI and looked at tents. They didn't have exactly the ones we were interested, but we were able to see what the dimensions of tents really felt like. They had 1, 2 and 4 person tents set up already, and it was clear that the 2 was doable for us plus gear plus Jonah, but it was far from roomy. The four person tent was unreasonably large and heavy, so we knew a 3-person was just the thing. We set up a 3-person that they had there for comparison even though it was outside our price range, but it gave us a good idea of what we'd be getting. Then, when we got home, we ordered our new home away from home: the Big Agnes Fairview 3. We found it at a good price ($180) at the REI Outlet. Unfortunately that means we won't have it for our trip this coming week, but we'll have it in plenty of time to try it out before the big trial.
Our other purchase last night was a pack for Jonah! Obviously we don't want to put too much stress on him, but I've been reading that dogs over 25 lbs can carry about a third of their body weight. We'll start light and see how things go, but Jonah could at least carry his own food. We tried the pack on him last night. At first he was hesitant to move around with it, but soon he was chasing us around the yard happily. I think it will take a little getting used to but in the end I hope it's a good purchase. I'll try to take a picture of Jonah with it on, but for now here's the ad picture. The product is the Ruff Wear Approach Pack. We generally consider him to be a Medium size dog, but we got the Small pack and it's the right size for him.
I was enchanted by the people who camped at Muddy Paws last weekend. They were right there, didn't have to wake up early in the morning, and had everything they needed. Of course, the weather was also great, but hopefully it will be in July, too.
This trial site is located within close driving distance of the Catskills, Adirondacks, Green Mountains and loads of other parks. I figured it could be fun to do a one day trial and then spend Sunday hiking in new territory. As great as the big parks sound, we're planning a trip to the Adirondacks with my family in October and the Green Mountain park is close to our place in Vermont. The Catskills have great potential, but I found it challenging to navigate the websites about them. Thus, I selected a smaller park which is on the way back towards home in Massachusetts: Mount Greylock. Apparently it's the tallest peak in MA, which means it's barely a real mountain at just under 4k feet. I guess you can drive to the summit, but the camping seems pretty remote. There are 5 first-come-first-serve lean to's in the park which will be our goal, but I went ahead and booked a spot in the campsite in case we're late getting there and/or the lean-to's are taken. Even the established campsite requires a 1.3 mile hike to get there, so hopefully it won't be loud party type people or especially small children. I'm sure we'll have a good time no matter what.
Yesterday Dave and I took a trip to REI and looked at tents. They didn't have exactly the ones we were interested, but we were able to see what the dimensions of tents really felt like. They had 1, 2 and 4 person tents set up already, and it was clear that the 2 was doable for us plus gear plus Jonah, but it was far from roomy. The four person tent was unreasonably large and heavy, so we knew a 3-person was just the thing. We set up a 3-person that they had there for comparison even though it was outside our price range, but it gave us a good idea of what we'd be getting. Then, when we got home, we ordered our new home away from home: the Big Agnes Fairview 3. We found it at a good price ($180) at the REI Outlet. Unfortunately that means we won't have it for our trip this coming week, but we'll have it in plenty of time to try it out before the big trial.
Our other purchase last night was a pack for Jonah! Obviously we don't want to put too much stress on him, but I've been reading that dogs over 25 lbs can carry about a third of their body weight. We'll start light and see how things go, but Jonah could at least carry his own food. We tried the pack on him last night. At first he was hesitant to move around with it, but soon he was chasing us around the yard happily. I think it will take a little getting used to but in the end I hope it's a good purchase. I'll try to take a picture of Jonah with it on, but for now here's the ad picture. The product is the Ruff Wear Approach Pack. We generally consider him to be a Medium size dog, but we got the Small pack and it's the right size for him.
And a shot with it on a dog:
So, this whole backpacking and camping will be a bit of a new adventure for us, but I think it has great potential.
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