On the October Long Weekend We did a self sufficent Muni trip cycling a challenging section of the six foot track from the Old ford Reserve camping ground to the Coxs river camping Ground.in the Blue Mountains Australia.It was the first trip we’d done carrying heavy packs and mine started out weighing over 15kg, as I was carrying sleeping bag,pillow,food,water, cooking utensils,clothes etc.I soon figured out I needed to shed some of the weight and managed to get my pack down to about 12 or 13kg.(i weigh 55kg so it made a big difference) It was a big learning curve and we figured out the bring agains pretty quickly.The water purifying tablets are a definate bring again as we all had to refill our water bladders from the coxs river.The sachets of porridge,rice and noodle meals are all bring agains.Light and easy to cook with the boiled water from the billy.And the tinned spam and baked beans which we fried over the fire tasted great and was filling so thats on our good list too.My greatest success was the prawn crackers which we cooked in a small amount of oil over the camp fire.Everyone was sceptical it could be done but it was quick and easy, didnt make a mess in the cooking pans and tasted just as good as the local chinese restaurant.It was a huge hit especially with the kids who are fussy eaters and enjoyed this luxury while camping.Theyre light ,taste good and feed lots of people so they are on the top of our list for our next trip.It was heaps of fun doing this and I cant wait to do many more such trips.id love to get other peoples food ideas,suggestions and well tried and proved secret recipes for such trips.
Sounds like an amazing trip! Did you have to carry equipment for others or did everyone carry their own equipment? Did you carry extra tubes/ tires or other repair equipment? With a little practice, my pack w/ my equipment and food(with 2 liters of water) for a 3 day hike usually weighs about 8.5 kg. I imagine tools would add some weight, but if I was near water I could eliminate some weight by carrying less water.
I could get my weight lower by buying more expensive gear, or leaving a few things behind, but this is where I’m comfortable.
a kind of extremley heavy, sticky bread, with raisins in it. Completely indestructible, can be submersed in water, sat on, and carried around for days and still be edible. Contains enormous amounts of energy, both sugar and carbohydrate. Best served sliced with butter, can be eaten perfectly easily on its own, you can even eat it right out the packet like a giant chocolate bar. Offers great spine protectin in falls if carried in your backpack.
sounds good for day trips. but
Weight is very important on multi-day trips. Carrying dehydrated food is best. Powdered foods; just add water from the river.
It would be really hard to carry all your water for … let say, 3 days, two nights on uni with backpack. You got to have to water supply on the trail to go camping.
:oIt sounds tuff to carry a 26lb backpack on a uni.
We basically carried our own equipment.next time we plan a bit better and not duplicate on a few things like toothpaste,pumps etcAt first we were going to carry spare tubes but we were desperate to save weight and carried a repair kit only.Wow u only went through 2 litres of water in 3 days?I went through 3 litres in one day.It was a pretty challenging track though and really hot.I carried 2 types of spanners and an allen key set.Think I could save weight there too.I had a fair bit of food left over but thought this was a good thing in case their was an emergency.We did eat well.might have to lean it down a bit next time to try to get down to your 8.5kg.Dont know how u did that.Is your pack itself particularly light?I did have left over toilet paper too.Id hate to have run out of that though.
Sure prawn crackers are meant to be cooked in oil.Theyre like flat little chips and when cooked into oil expand out to 5 times the size so their edible much like popcorn.(i may try cooking popcorn next time)
Noone is more surprised than me.I thought mounting would be difficult but it was surprisingly relatively easy even with the extra weight.My uphill sucks normally, but with the extra weight it was no better but no worse either.I think the extra weight pushing down gave me some extra torque to get up the hills which compensated for the heavier load, and therefore the net effect was nil.Downhill was awsome fun but a bit more dangerous with the extra load and coming off the uni.You seemed to go flying and hit the ground harder with the extra weight.Landing on loose rocks this was a problem and we tended to roll our ankles a little more.(we dont have brakes on our 24’s)Good shoes are a must and my shimanos are great shoes.It was funny when we took our heavy packs off and then rode the unis.We’d be all over the place on them until we adjusted to the lighter load.Camping and Muni in my opinion is a little piece of heaven on earth.
Popcorn is a fun challenge for cooking over a fire, whenever I bring popcorn on a group trip it ends up being a competition to see who has the best popping technique. I think of it as a sort of entertainment that you can eat.
I have often found that my tent is the heaviest thing that i am carrying. It is surprising how much weight you can save and how comfortable you can still be using a lightweight tarp instead. Especially if you are camping in remote enough areas that you can cut a few small trees to help build a temporary shelter.
I find Dehydrated soups are great as an emergency food, they weigh practically nothing but can be really nice when you are cold and exhausted and don’t want to go through the effort of cooking something fancy.
for snacking throughout the day a good GORP (Good Old Raisins and Peanuts) is almost a must, of-course it needs chocolate to be complete.
When I go walking for 3-4 days with a friend of mine, we eat deshydrated soups for dinner (as long as there are “solid pieces” in them, like in “chorba” or “chinese soup”).
For lunch: dried sausage, bread, sometimes crisps, Chorizo, cheeze and we sometimes pick up some sea shells that we cook on the beach (yummie!)
For snacks, I prefer dried apricots, almonds, nuts and raisins, dried figs…
(at least) one bottle of wine per trip
1 week before we go walking around Brittany again, I can’t wait!
Ah a person after my own heart.I love a good red wine.But what do you mean dried sausage? Do you mean salamis and cabanossis and things.In warmer climates i think these wouldnt keep so well.Excuse my ignorance if you mean something else.
Ah thank you Zzagg for the picture.Looks like a type of meat we would buy in the deli.I will go there this week and ask for your saucisson sec.It looks very interesting and tastey to try.
…Tell me wether you like it or not. I like it when it’s so dry you need a chainsaw to slice it. Plus you can use it as a club to defend yourself is you meet some random australian animal:D
