Recently, a new hiking friend pointed out that we referenced “Dads involved in scouting” in the intro to our podcast. She wanted us to know that we left out the Women involved in scouting. In an attempt to make up for our blunder, this show includes only emails from women hikers. Eventually we will re-record the intro so as not to offend anyone else :).

The rest of the conversation is all about hiking and camping with kids. The boys and I were recently Cub Scout camping at a state park in Huntsville, and we went to the Space & Rocket Center as a group on the last day of the trip . We did some hiking around the state park, and I was assessing how well my 6 & 8 year olds could handle a short backpacking trip. So Golden discussed his early Len Foote Hike Inn hike with his daughter and the planning he’s done for an upcoming Pinhoti hiker with her. He’ll update us on that trip next week.

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We are a few months away from a week on the Appalachian Trail, so we are beginning to talk about it now. In the upcoming weeks, we’ll plan our meals and gather and prep all the food. We are also going to make several adjustments with our gear, and we will be discussing that soon.

This week John send us a picture of the 1000 mile marker along the AT. It is included at the end of this post. In a recent email we were asked about the best cigars for backpacking. There’s only a few that we smoke (fairly inexpensive), so we don’t have good information on the subject - but that didn’t stop us from discussing it. We also had an email voting to remove the Family Travels podcast. It had nothing to do with backpacking and now I’m interested in getting a few more opinions on it. If I have another hiker or two suggest we unpublish that show, I’ll remove it.

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Golden has been talking with Dane about Dane’s and Connie’s mental preparations for their AT through-hike, and he shared some of their conversations. We talked a little about my preparations for an upcoming Cub Scout trip to Huntsville where we’ll camp for two nights in a state park and then spend Sunday at the space and rocket center. We also discussed a few emails, but we spent most of our time talking about our trips to The Len Foote Hike Inn. The Inn is a 5-mile hike from Amicalola Falls State Park at the Southern end of the Appalachian Trail. Golden and his daughter were there for the Winter equinox, and his pictures follow this post. I’m introducing my boys to backpacking, so I’m thinking of taking them there in the Fall.

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This week we were on location at Golden’s office going through email again. We’ve had several more campsite photos come in. Several with hammocks and tarps. Also Katz shared an amazing picture that he took of a mountain’s reflection in a lake. They are all shown at the end of this post. An article was shared with us about the Pinhoti connecting to Springer Mountain at the Southern end of the Appalachian Trail so we spent some time rambling on about that.

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We are out front in the rain this week, and we are glad to have it! The rain reminded us of an outdoors motto from Dane & Connie - “Just Do It! Don’t let the weather get in the way of getting out and enjoying nature.”

Matthew from AlaTrails joined us at the table this week. He was recently hiking & camping in the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. He was thinking of us and sent in this some audio that he recorded while he was there. Also the pictures at the end of this post are from his trip.

Golden canceled yet another hiking trip and updated us on the progress of his office (his excuse for canceling backpacking trips). Apparently several people have asked what Golden does for a living so he talked a little about his profession.

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Sorry, this episode of SouthEastern Backpackers has absolutely nothing to do with backpacking or outdoors. Golden and his daughter were at Disney last week, and me and my family were in Nashville and Chicago. Since we had missed our regular Thursday meeting last week, we were just catching up this week. He and I have recorded 2 more episodes in an attempt to get “caught up.” We have dozens of emails to get through so if I can get it edited and posted, we will be making a few bonus shows.

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We are a little late this week. Both of us have been out of town. We have a backlog of recorded conversations, and I fully expected to have an opportunity to edit and upload one while I was away; it never happened. I hope to be back on something of a regular schedule next week.

This week is all about emails we’ve received. I love reading about everyone’s adventures and browsing through the pictures. Keep ‘em coming! You can post your stories here if you would like, and you can comment at iTunes too.

This week Shug of sector 7 joined in again. He has several items for us, and he let us know his thoughts on trekking poles. I quizzed him about sector 7 because I think that is where Buzz Lightyear is from or trying to get to. So he followed up with a Shug / Buzz / Sector 7 picture that I’ve included here.

Matthew has given us his latest update from his tests on The Bug Button. He also sent in some pictures from a trail maintenance group that he worked with rebuilding a bridge over Crabgrass Creek. I’ve included some of those pictures too.

There’s a lot of tips and stories on this podcast that have been sent in to us. Also the audio quality for the Trekking Poles show was a little messed up. We explain and discuss what went wrong, but just so you know - I didn’t have a cricket trapped next to the mic while we were recording!

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We seem to be developing a regular show segment, as once again we spent a lot of time discussing emails we have recently received. Other hikers email us stories about excellent trips they’ve been on or adventures they are putting together, and the material is just too good to keep to ourselves. Anytime we get some valuable information and good solutions to backpacking problems, we like to be able to spread that kind of worthwhile information around.

This week we were exposed to Minimus.biz, where you can purchase individual packets of anything you want (mayo, ketchup, jelly, etc.). You don’t have to buy an entire case of something since they sell stuff one packet at a time. It’s a really good resource for backpackers (and should keep you from having to raid the condiment bins at your local fast food joints).

We talked about food again, discussing FreezerBagCooking.com and her approach to dining on the trail. I talked about one of the recipes as an illustration for Golden of how her meals work, and I’ll probably take one of her meals on the next hike. She also has several trail cooking videos on YouTube - they’re worth checking out!

I’m also including several pictures that have been sent to me. Ken said we encouraged him so much to get on the trail, that he got some friends from church and put together a trip. He shared some pictures from that trip which we’ve included in this post. Kirk, originally from Georgia but now residing in Washington, also sent in some pics to share. The scenery in his pictures is nothing like The SouthEastern Backpackers have witnessed. Be sure to scroll to the end of the pictures. We talked on the show about the wood burning stove that Kirk invented and uses INSIDE his tarp to take the temperature on a 20 degree night up to 80! I’ve never seen anything like it and I’ve never heard of anything like it either. You’ve got to take a look!

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All we did this week was discuss backpacking emails that have come in. We’ve had several recently, so our conversation was all over the place. Much unlike all our other shows which stay strictly to the subject at hand! John (Old Fogey) included a picture of himself, his campsite, and his hammock & tarp set-up, so I’ve included it here.

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We started our adult hiking with trekking poles and loved them. They were a must going in and out of the Grand Canyon, but we haven’t touched them in years now. We’ve lightened our packs a lot and found the poles to be unnecessary for the trails we are on these days. Of course, Golden pointed out that it’s very difficult to smoke a cigar when you’re hiking with poles in each hand! We snack a lot while hiking and sometimes eat our lunch while hiking too, and the poles just get in the way then. Please let us know about your experience with trekking poles. We’d love to hear your views, and we’ll share your stories with everyone else too!

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We got this Trail Pizza recipe from the guys at Hike It All. They’ve done several trail cooking meal video’s. We’ve tried some of them and they are fantastic!

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And we have a little video of our campsites along the Conecuh Trail.

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We have been off schedule lately, so this week we had to play catch up on Memorial Day. We sat out in front of Golden’s new office and talked a little about backpacking when we finally stopped talking about Memorial Day and the work he’s done on his office. We’ve been contacted by a few listeners lately, so we started our hiking discussion with their stories. Many of our shows lately have been shaped by comments from other hikers - we love the email and the suggestions for future shows. Many of the suggestions are ideas that we wouldn’t have come up with otherwise. Hiking in Alabama’s heat and humidity came up in the conversation, as did Llamas to carry our gear.

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Golden and I missed our regular Thursday night meeting this week, so I had to dig up some audio so we could post a show. This is a conversation we had just after our last hiking trip. In it, we reviewed our experience on the Conecuh Trail a few months ago. We talked about the trail and the parts of the forest we hiked through. We did much more cooking on this trip than we normally do. We carried fresh eggs, sausage and corned beef hash for our breakfasts. We made our usual trail burritos and used two recipes from the guys at Hike It All: pizzas and lemon pepper chicken wraps. I must say the food was superb, even if I did all the planning and cooking of it! And naturally after a hike, we discussed our backpacking gear.

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Not finding ourselves on any trails lately we’ve both been able to do the next best thing; car camping! Some families at the school that Golden’s daughter attends went on a camping trip, and my 5-year-olds’ preschool class camped out on a farm owned by one of the families. We both prefer backpacking; but if you can’t get on the trail, and you have the opportunity to go camping with a bunch of other families, it’s a great experience! This week we talked about how much we have enjoyed our car camping trips and how much the kids loved them too.

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We had a little response to the last podcast, What Is In Your Pack. Britt sent in these pictures. The boys in his Scout troop call his pack “The Fridge”. I don’t know what is in it, or how much it weighs, but I would be afraid to be wearing “The Fridge” and starting a hike at the bottom of “Cardiac Hill!” Thanks for the pics Britt. We also reviewed what Shug carries and where he packs it, which lead us to discuss several items that we forgot last week. Golden showed us a new kids pack he picked up for his daughter and a new aluminum water bottle called a SIGG. Our conversation was prior to Mother’s Day, so I mentioned that we were giving Karen a floor washing robot.  Golden didn’t really think appliances were the best choices for Mother’s Day. We wrapped up the podcast talking about how backpacking and the woods can be one’s church. Shug stated that when he’s hiking he feels lifted up, rejoice-ful and at peace.

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This week we decided on a topic, stayed on it and put together a serious show. Another hiker suggested we talk about what we put in our packs and where we put it in our pack. We covered most of the items we carry and where we put them. Some items always go in a particular place, and we covered why that is. We also mentioned some concerns we have- like where the water will go from a leaking Platypus - and we talked about a few little tips that we’ve stumbled across along the way.

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With our real lives getting a little busier, we didn’t have a chance to properly prepare for our regular camping discussion this week (yes, believe it or not, we actually do “prepare”). This discussion is what happens when we have no particular subject to stay focused on. Instead of our usual serious backpacking talk, we bounced around on several subjects. First aid and medical emergencies came up again because of another hiker’s suggestion about the SPOT Satellite Personal Messenger. We skimmed over hiking meals and plan to do more podcasting on that subject later. We talked about washing clothes on the trail, planned a little summer camping and even did a little singing. I suppose you could say this is our first variety show.

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This week Golden and I reminisced about a surprise ice storm that slipped in one night while we were backpacking on the Appalachian Trail. We put our tent on the top of a ridge and didn’t have the rain fly drawn down well so the chilly night winds blew into the tent all night. At that time we were early in our experimentation with light-weight gear so we were carrying small blankets instead of quality sleeping bags. We laughed at our own mistakes and reflected upon meeting the unique challenges that hiking and camping bring.

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We spent our last night on the Conecuh Trail at a recreation area at Open Lake. They had a very nice shelter which shielded us from the wind while we cooked our lunch, trail pizza. We got the recipe from the guys at Hike It All. They have made a video illustrating how to prepare and cook them. While two of our crew members were away on errands, Golden, Mike, and I discussed the days’ hike, the yellowish-colored water, and some of the food we enjoyed.

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Whenever we talk about our trips to The Grand Canyon, we put ourselves in the mood to go back. It’s a big trip to arrange and a hard hike to make, but it’s an amazing experience. The Canyon has come up a little in previous conversations, but it’s about time we discussed it more in depth. I’m looking forward to the day when I can take my boys out there, and Golden is already planning a Canyon hike with his daughter.

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Golden and I have handled and processed our water a few different ways. You could’ve heard about that on the “Water, Water Everywhere” podcast. Since we all have to “clean” our water on hikes and there are many different ways to process water, we heard from several people with how they deal with the water issue. This podcast is all about the ways to handle water that were sent in from listeners to the show. There’s a lot of additional water processing information here that Golden and I haven’t tried yet. But we will be experimenting with many of these suggestions. If there is any additional water processing information out there, send it to us and we’ll share that with everyone too!

Enjoy the trail!

Finally we got in a little hiking. This podcast is part of the conversation from our last night on the trail. We hiked around on the Conecuh Trail for two days and then wandered into the Open Pond Campground. We set up camp in their primitive camping area reserved for “Boy Scouts and groups”. One of their Forest Rangers checked in on us and told us we would probably be o.k. camping here as long as we didn’t get “rowdy”. Rowdy isn’t usually what we do after backpacking during the day, but we agreed to keep it under control. We had a little campfire which we usually don’t do and made S’mores. By the way, there is a proper way to roast marshmallows!

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When I go on a trip I always tell my wife she won’t hear from me till I’m done and driving home. If I’m in a tent 30 miles into a hike and there’s a tragedy at home, I can’t get back any faster.  So I’d just rather not know till I’m heading home anyway. I was backpacking this weekend with some guys that are new to the trail. One guy took pictures of himself hiking with his iPhone and sent them to his wife. Another was texting the manager of a restaurant he owns. And another received several calls and carried on several conversations while hiking along the trail. The cell phone is just the beginning of the electronics we can carry on the trail. This episode of our podcast includes the other electronics we’ve taken with us.

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We’ve got a lot of response on our water podcast. We will do more on water soon. Keep letting us know how you process water. There’s a lot of good ideas running around - lets keep passing them along. We started this show with some pieces of business: Golden’s new email, the video Shug sent in, iTunes reviews, and the sound quality of our shows. The rest of the show is all about some other hikers we met along the trail. They weren’t backpacking or camping they were hiking the trail to get to Oktoberfest in Helen, Georgia.

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One of our podcast listeners, who has become a new hiking friend, sent us this video. Shug listened to our last show on our history of water treatment and has some great additional information to share. The filter he demonstrates is under $20. At that price I’m going to get one just to play around with! Shug also makes some excellent points on cold weather hiking with filters.

When starting out for a three- or four-day weekend on the trail, we can’t carry all the water we are going to need. I guess maybe we could, but it sure would be heavy! I recently started using a water filter / purifier which I love. I need to make a post here about it soon. Before I got this new filter, I used a Pur filter. I loved it too. It always served me well, and it always worked. The only reason I moved to the new filter is because it was something new and different. I’m like that. New gear? Gotta get it! The pump and filter stage has gone along for about ten years; before filters got into our packs, we used iodine tablets. That was the briefest stage - iodine tablets only joined us on one or two hikes. Scooping up water and dirt, then adding the iodine color and flavor wasn’t appealing to us for very long. This podcast discussion contains some of our hydration experiences.

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Golden’s mother was in town for a visit but spending time with his mom didn’t override our regular Thursday cigar time and podcast chat. Part way through the recording she joined us in the smoking lounge (the back deck). The recorder continued to run for the rest of the evening. Her joining us really didn’t detract from the planned podcast. We weren’t getting to the subject for the evening anyway. Since this show has little or nothing to do with backpacking, her contributions are really what made the recording usable. If you’re here looking for a little backpacking info you might want to move along. If you’d like a little chuckle this one may be a good choice.

Enjoy the trail!

Available at Paragon Sports

When we take trail burritos, we cook up everything at home and dehydrate it. On the trail, I put the dried burrito mix in the Nalgene bottle and dump in boiling water. In no time at all it’s ready to spread on a tortilla and dine. I’ve re-hydrated many of my own dehydrated meals in it and clean-up is a breeze. Add a little hot water and some camp suds, put the lid on and shake it up. Now rinse it out and dish washing is over! At times we hide our packs in the woods and take off exploring a side trail. The small Nalgene has been great for carrying a little water in my pocket while exploring. The topper may be at the end of the day. Put in a packet or two of hot chocolate mix and boiling water. It’s far too hot to drink so light your evening cigar and roll the hot Nalgene bottle around on your thighs. Use the edges of the bottle to knead a muscle or massage the bottom of your foot. Now that you’ve got your cigar going and your muscles are feeling good from the heated massage, sip your hot chocolate. It goes great with a trail stogie!

A listener of the podcast was recently viewing our Photo Albums and noticed that we were currently using ULA backpacks. He was in the market for a pack and got in touch with me. He had several questions about the models we were using. He and I wound up in a long discussion a