Lets see your lightweight camping setup!!

[YZman]

Originally Posted by Wallowa

I have been resisting building one of these for years...many PCT hikers use them and swear by them...my MSR Whisperlite Int [burns car/bike gasoline and damn near anything else] has always been all I needed backpacking or kayaking until a new pump failed in Norway on our honeymoon trip way in the back of no-where [no wood "up top" in Norway and besides they have a complete ban on open camp fires in Summer]; no pump, no stove-fire, cold stick and twigs for food, ugh!..SOOOOOO, I guess my time has come to give an alcohol stove a try...old dog, new trick?

Thanks for website Scott..

I just built an alcohol stove this week. Pretty cool that it actually works

[earwig]

Originally Posted by GSWayne

What are those panniers?

Did you steal the projector cases from the High School AV department?

[Evenflo76]

linky: http://www.actiongear.com/cgi-bin/ta...Flevel3c%2Etam

[GSWayne]

Originally Posted by earwig

What are those panniers?

Did you steal the projector cases from the High School AV department?

http://www.micatech.net/product.html

They are great for showing movies in the campground in the evening

[rockt]

Originally Posted by earwig

What are those panniers?

Did you steal the projector cases from the High School AV department?

[SR1]

Sorry I'm so late to the party, I am a Hennessey freak too. You can't use them in the mid-west because there aren't enough trees, but east coast, Rockies, and west coast are fine. Here's mine, in Jacksonport State Park, AR:

[earwig]

Originally Posted by GSWayne

http://www.micatech.net/product.html

They are great for showing movies in the campground in the evening

I stand corrected. Those are really nice! Never seen them before.

[dreamsupply]

Just got back from a little trip up CA-1, from LA to Eugene, Oregon, and wow what a trip! This was my first tour on my new 2007 F650GS, and though I'm not sure if my setup was lightweight, it was certainly fun and educational. There will definitely be changes to the camping setup to make it lighter and more streamlined. Here are two pics, one of my bike when it was stock about a month ago, and one with some mods and fully loaded for the CA-1 trip:




Basic mods included a Corbin Seat to raise me up an additional 3-4" and provide for rides longer than the thirty minutes I could hardly bear on the stock seat (I'm 6'3" and could've used the height of the Dakar, but when I was looking for a bike there were apparently only 3 new ones left in the country), a BLM Tail Rack which I think I first read about on this site, as well as a Powerlet adapter to power my GPS, iPod, etc., and a GPS mount with a sunshade that I built out of a few empty DVD cases and zip ties. I can't say enough good things about all these items.

The Corbin Seat made every mile comfortable and provides a much higher vantage point from which to see cars, ruts in the terrain, and open areas to break away from traffic build-ups. The BLM Tail Rack is amazingly solid, with numerous mount points, and I never worried about losing anything from that rack. And it was sent superfast from Bill McAvan at BLM Accessories in order to be used for the trip. Here's a pic of the rack and a link to Bill's site:


http://www.blm-accessories.com/

And here's my dash, with the GPS suncreen I constructed, my Cortech Mini Tank Bag, and the Powerlet outlet peeking out on the right side. Still haven't figured out the perfect solution for the placement of the Powerlet outlet, so until I do it will live zip-tied to the crossbar, and worked well for all devices being so close to the tank bag. The GPS sunscreen worked way better than I expected and even doubled as a rain guard. From this picture it looks like the sunscreen blocks out the whole BMW display, but it doesn't hinder vision or impair steering. It is kind of like looking down into a dark tunnel, with a brightly-lit GPS at the end of the tunnel. Here's the dash and GPS sunscreen:



Here's a link to Powerlet, should anyone need it:
http://www.powerletproducts.com/index.php?mid=0

And here are some better pics of the loaded bike from the road to get a better sense of size and scale:



This picture is the most telling, I think, because it shows all the junk unloaded (except for side cases) and next to the bike:


My basic set up includes a compact sleeping bag, tiny pillow, about 8"x8", two tarps to be used as a ground cloth and to cover the bike in case of rain, a self-inflating pad, and at the moment a low-rent Wexel tent. I think the tent will be the first to go. Nice enough for $20, but it is too big to fit in the side cases which is where I'd like it to go, and a rather odd shape for my big frame. I kind of have to sleep angled inside. Otherwise it is fine. I'd like to get a smaller bivy tent, one that I can fit in and that can fit in the side cases, as well as a larger camping pad. I think I'm going for the biggest self-inflating pad I can find, so if you have any suggestions for a lush pad or a bivy tent, please pass them on. I pack all that, along with a regular cotton towel and the liner of my Motorcycle Jacket into that blue stuffsack, and I'm good to go. I think that towel will be replaced with one of those REI-type travel towels next time too. So that's all on the pillion.

Tail rack gets a little food cooler, and on this trip, my open-face helmet. I'll likely leave the open-face at home for future trips just to conserve space, but it was nice to ride open-face in some places. I think I'd like a better food solution too, something that can hold cold beverages as well as any dry goods. Any suggestions? I'll be bringing a little camp stove next time, too, either an esbit or a whisperlite, not sure which yet.

Here's a pic of an Esbit:


And the whisperlite:


And finally, here are some pics of the basic setup at various camp sites, the first pic being my favorite campsite: a little "no outlet" farm road on the outskirts of San Luis Obispo. I pulled in late, around 8pm, set myself up on the ground behind a bush so nobody would bother with me, and not wanting to drag out the Wexel tent for the first time, and not wanting to pay for ever-climbing campground rates. At first I was a little worried because right before I set down to sleep I saw a few ants angling for me and I had to decide if I was going to move my whole set up to another location or tough it out, but it only took me about two seconds to decide to take my chances. Only killed three ants the whole night long! When I woke up they were circling around my tarp in small numbers, but they couldn't get any traction on the tarp or on that amazing Jerven sleeping bag my Norweigan friend Freddy gave to me, so I slept like a baby. Look for that sleeping bag online, it is amazing. It is waterproof, can be used as a poncho, uses your own body heat to keep you thermo-regulatd, and I evern took it up to the arctic last winter while working on "Ice Road Truckers" and it worked marvelously in an otherwise frigid shelter. It's warm when it's cold out, and cool when it's warm out. Good stuff. Anyway, here are the camping setups:






And lastly, some random pics from the road, including two bikers I road with and talked with, Dave Young and a photographer named Datnoff. Last one is me, wired for sound.










Fantastic trip. Wish there were more pics of the amazing road that CA-1 is, but then that's when I was riding. Have a good one!

[R_W]

Originally Posted by SR1

Sorry I'm so late to the party, I am a Hennessey freak too. You can't use them in the mid-west because there aren't enough trees, but east coast, Rockies, and west coast are fine. Here's mine, in Jacksonport State Park, AR:

Set on the ground (one tree or the over the bike for one side of the tarp) is still a lightweight bug and/or light rain shelter, but you definitely need a sleeping pad. I wouldn't carry it as first choice on a midwest only trip, but it will work that way for the few nights you can't find suitable trees.

[Oldrice]

Oldrice-

[punk_emo_tx]

Originally Posted by Oldrice

Oldrice-

I'll join the wait. We might be waiting awhile.

[Rusky]

Don't really need a tent. 5 l of water and 5 l of extra fuel. Food for 2 days. Camp stool.



Camp site



More pics here
http://s88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...Track/?start=0

[ad0351]

I'm wondering how many people pack "ultralight" and have a 20lb gut?

[Lone Rider]

Originally Posted by Rusky

....


More pics here
http://s88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...Track/?start=0

Nice, clean, simple setup, but I have a habit of camping where ants roam in large herds.

[the kaz]

Originally Posted by YZman

Nice stove BUT "decaffeinated" ????