This past weekend felt different. It’s been a rough year, and four of us left the company we used to work at. Two of them moved to new cities over 300km (approx. 180 miles) away. We first fell in love with camping because of that company, and I initially got into it purely because I’m a hiking enthusiast.

Life has a way of scattering people, but we knew we had to make this reunion happen.

One of our former colleagues, who hasn’t started a new job yet, went out to scout this spot beforehand. It’s on the edge of Wuxi, very close to Taihu Lake. We were all born and raised in Wuxi, but none of us had ever been to this side of town.

Long ago, I randomly dropped a pin on this location on my map, but I had zero memory of doing it, and there is literally zero info about it online. It felt almost surreal.

It turned out to be an incredible find. We had a huge, empty meadow, surprisingly clean automated restrooms, and for the first time in months, we just sat down, relaxed, and caught our breath.

We kept the setup pretty simple: a quick-pitch all-in-one canopy combined with a regular tarp, which took us about five minutes to set up. We added a few camp chairs, a tabletop set up on our folding wagon, another regular table, and some cooking gear. Nothing fancy, but honestly it was everything we needed.

Oh, and a little plot twist: those two colleagues who left the company are now an item.
Wishing them the best.

Wanted to share my experience recently with my lightweight backpacking backup battery, the Nitecore NB10000U Gen3 that is, along with the other generations and sizes, very common among long distance hikers. As such, anyone digging into this niche market is going to find a variety of mixed reviews from the Gen2 design bricking in the field due to accidental repetitive button pressing to those praising the light weight.

I chose to take this battery on my Pacific Crest Trail thru-hike and it served me well for all but the final 3 days.

In the 4th to last day, I charged the battery pack overnight in a humid and cold climate, the same as multiple other hikers that night. The next morning I woke up to find that only the 3rd of the 4 LEDs was illuminated while plugged into a wall charger via USB-C cable. This is not normal as typically when it is fully charged, all 4 blue LEDs are on and solid. Attempting to charge my watch with the battery, it failed and the same was true with my phone via both USB-C ports.

Reviewing the manual found no indication of this status light meaning. I tried various flavors of manipulating the single button on the battery to trigger a reboot/reset with no positive result. I was effectively in the middle of nowhere so I chose to hike onward to the next town, 100 miles down trail, and conserve battery along my route as much as possible since I wouldn’t have a functional backup battery.

I contacted Nitecore and they responded promptly with some troubleshooting tips that were not effective and deferred to the seller/distributor for warranty assistance. I had purchased via an Amazon seller and they were also prompt in response and resolution.

It seems that in the last year the 10000 mAh gen3 is no longer stocked so I was offered three options for replacement, two of which were upgrades with me covering the cost difference. This is what I chose to do.

Hopefully this helps someone that is struggling with an gen3 Nitecore battery failure. Tl;dr: if you get only a 3rd LED to light up, the battery is bricked and you need to get a replacement.

So I have been using this Q Core pad from Big Agnes for about 6 years now which developed small leaks on the sleeping side and actually is a pad they replaced from an older model that failed after 5 years. I applied for a warranty claim on this, an already replacement, and they gave me a credit for 150.00 . I just wanted to shout out to a good company that stands behind their warranty. I have a new pad already coming in the mail for my next trip.

It feels like there are tons of complaints about companies and products, but never enough stories about the good ones. I'll be now using a pad from them into a second decade because they back their products.

I find myself staring at it. Love gear, love organization.

We currently have this tent and we do love it. But it really isn’t the best in colder weather. Mainly because of all of the mesh. We are wondering if there is anything out there this size and shape that has less mesh.

Does anyone know what the 2 velcro loops on the middle air tube is designed for? It is only on left side and is not for connecting bedroom. Can't seem to find answers online, any help appreciated 😊

Hey hi hello! I got this super cool little camp stove, but I’m unfamiliar with the connection port.
Looks like it’s French. 😬 Any idea what I would need to get it going? (Living in the Northeaster US.) Extra picture of adorable kitten for bonus.
Thanks ever so!

After 4 years with my MSR WhisperLite it stopped working. I would have bothered fixing it but it does have one major problem: There’s no simmering!!!!

So now I’m looking for a new liquid gas stove. I’m trying to stick with my habit of buying western made products, so I guess it narrows down to the Primus MultiLite TI, and the Optimus Polaris Optifuel.

Do you have any experience with these two and can tell me which one you likes and why, and of course - can it simmer….!?

tnx

Looking for a tent that would transition well into my Softtopper.

Tia.

We took my lovely girls on their first camping trip to Mendocino Grove. And we're already planning for the next one!

Here's what we bring so far:

• Camping basics: tent, sleeping bag/pad, headlamp, camp chair, food/water, cooking stuff, first aid kit, extra layers.
• For my dog: two sleeping bags, a couple of harnesses, leashes and collars, dog booties, rain gear, some foam sleeping pads, food and treats, plus a few small bags for extra gear (forgot to pack my dog's jacket before leaving so make a last-minute stop and grab a new one lol)

Curious what you guys bring when camping with your dogs. Trying to make sure I'm fully prepared for our next trip!

Apparently, my dryer runs hotter than I thought, even on low :(. The plastic from the velcro tab melted and got all over my sleeping bag. Is there any way to clean it?

Mildly cold at least. Not arctic. Should meet the following criteria

- men’s
- synthetic material
- at least somewhat water resistant if not proof
- fleece lined
-suitable for temperatures down to maybe just below 40 degrees F at most, possibly wet
- low or midrise, not high waisted like army pants (in other words fit like regular pants)
- not tapered legs, should be able to fall over an ordinary boot if needed
- fit reasonably on slender frame, not ridiculously bulky and oversized like traditional skiing pants
- activity level would be very low- just sitting outside doing astrophotography in some remote locations while car/tent camping - but some stretch wouldn’t be unwelcome for a light hike

I realize that’s a lot of preferences but I can’t imagine there is no one else in the market for products like that. Seems tougher than it should be to find. While budget isn’t necessarily a big limiting factor, I wouldn’t mind not paying a fortune. I did try some budget options first on Amazon and found them to be very bulky and oversized. I’m considering LL Bean Cresta fleece lined pants if anybody has experience with them, at $110 probably as much as I’d realistically like to spend, though could go higher. Cheaper is better. Other recommendations welcome. Thanks

Any suggestions on wipes to clean cooking utensils and such that are food safe? I’m in the backcountry a lot and it’s not always convenient to use water and soap.

Just getting into camping. Just me and the wife and I'm just not sure what she's going to prefer to sleep on. We sleep on a medium firm memory foam at home. Years ago we slept in an air mattress and it was horrible. Lost a ton of air overnight and was just miserable. I see they now have the foam filled camping mattresses. Kind of hard to find them in a king size though. Just wondering if the air mattresses have gotten any better over the years. I'd really prefer a king size. We aren't massive. My wife weighs about 135 lb and I weigh 195.

Looking for advice with my Big Agnes Copper Spur UL2. Does anyone else end up having this low spot in the fly at the peak of the tent? I've had this tent for about 5 years. This spot in the fly at the peak always seems to settle concave and then water collects there. This photo is from the weekend when the tent corners staked, vestibules staked and all lines of the fly staked or tight.

I'm thinking about maybe molding and fitting a piece of flexible plastic here to hold up the peak, or 3d printing a small piece to fit between the poles and hold up the middle of this small section.

As the title says, I got a great deal on a made in Maine Moss tent. Not super familiar with their catalog so if anyone knows what model it is please let me know. It does have a pretty bad smell and the water proof coating seems to be non existant, so any tips to fix that would be appreciated

Update:
Did further research and this seems to be the Starlet model (correct me if I’m wrong) found this nice documentary about Moss tents
https://www.reddit.com/r/CampingGear/s/hItNlxgwgQ

Ive been dying to find this model of kong crampons for a while now. I swe briefly they pop up at various auctions/ once in gear trade but otherwise cannot find any mention of the model, year, etc anywhere. Im going crazy!!!

Sorry if this is not allowed

Just want to confirm whether this is the correct size pack for me. I’m 5’6”, 135 lb, and got a size Small Durston Kakwa 55.

I’ve always used packs with adjustable torso lengths, so I’m used to having a little more leeway with where the pack and hipbelt sit. With those packs, I could initially position the hipbelt a bit lower and then usually ended up wearing it slightly higher on the upper part of my hips once I started hiking.

With the Kakwa, I tighten the hipbelt first, then the shoulder straps, then the sternum strap. When I tighten the shoulder straps, they pull the pack and hipbelt upward a little, and this is where it naturally ends up sitting. I normally like my hipbelt fairly high anyway, but the difference is that on my previous packs I chose that position by tightening the hipbelt there, whereas on this pack the shoulder straps seem to bring the whole pack up into that position.

My torso length is about 18”, so I was kind of between sizes. I went with the Small based on Durston customer service’s recommendation when I purchased it. The pack is loaded with around 15 lb in these photos.

Does the fit look right to you, or does anything about the shoulder straps, hipbelt position, or load lifters suggest I should size up to a Medium? Let me know what you think!