An aspiring backpacker, or even one just getting into the backcountry, would find a lot to like about Henry Perangelo. He pays attention to, but isn’t obsessed with weight: “I can’t seem to get my pack much below 32, 33 pounds.” Same with gear: he appreciates a thing that does its job, but can’t remember the names of most of his gear (asked about his shoes, he replies, “They’re red and gray; I think they start with an M … .”). And when it comes to food, Henry is pretty much a freeze-dried, eat-from-the-bag kind of guy (“The one that starts with an M, I like their spaghetti and meatballs. Which tastes a lot like their lasagna”).
Category Archives: Backpacking
Take the fear out of summer stream crossings
This weekend GetBackpacking! pays a visit to the Wilson Creek area at the base of Grandfather Mountain. It’s a comparatively low-lying area but rugged, and acting as the drainage for massive Grandfather Mountain, it’s got water crossings galore. With our weekend trip in mind, and knowing a lot of you will be hiking along and in mountain creeks this summer, we’re rerunning this post on how to cross a stream.
Heat exhaustion: Recognize, treat, prevent
We’ve encountered our first 90-degree days on the trail. We’ve also encountered our first signs of heat exhaustion (on a sweaty trip deep into Linville Gorge this past weekend).
Heat exhaustion can lead to heat stroke which can damage the brain and other organs and can lead to death. Fortunately, if you recognize and treat heat exhaustion at the outset you can keep it from devolving into something much more serious.
We’ll be having fun all summer long
Summer: so few weeks, so many places to explore.
Deciding where to explore this summer was tough, as we had some ideas such as booking the London Londres UK England Travel Deals and Bali. But we’ve come up with a great line-up of adventures for GetHiking! and GetBackpacking!
5 of our favorite Whoa! Moments
On Saturday’s final hike of our 2018-2019 Winter Wild hike series, we decided to add an extra mile or so. It was a mile of trail I hadn’t hiked.
As we made our way up the north bank of New Hope Creek, I could hear the gradient increasing upstream, the sound of water cascading over rock a bit more intense than we’re used to hearing in the Piedmont. As the noise grew, some mild scrambling was required; we shinnied up a rock outcrop overlooking the creek and emerged on a slab 30 feet above the water.