Backcountry Forum
Backpacking & Hiking Gear

Backcountry Forum
Our long-time Sponsor - the leading source for ultralite/lightweight outdoor gear
 
 
 

Amazon.com
Backpacking Forums
---- Our Gear Store ----
The Lightweight Gear Store
 
 WINTER CAMPING 

Shelters
Bivy Bags
Sleeping Bags
Sleeping Pads
Snow Sports
Winter Kitchen

 SNOWSPORTS 

Snowshoes
Avalanche Gear
Skins
Hats, Gloves, & Gaiters
Accessories

 ULTRA-LIGHT 

Ultralight Backpacks
Ultralight Bivy Sacks
Ultralight Shelters
Ultralight Tarps
Ultralight Tents
Ultralight Raingear
Ultralight Stoves & Cookware
Ultralight Down Sleeping Bags
Ultralight Synthetic Sleep Bags
Ultralight Apparel


the Titanium Page
WM Extremelite Sleeping Bags

 CAMPING & HIKING 

Backpacks
Tents
Sleeping Bags
Hydration
Kitchen
Accessories

 CLIMBING 

Ropes & Cordage
Protection & Hardware
Carabiners & Quickdraws
Climbing Packs & Bags
Big Wall
Rescue & Industrial

 MEN'S APPAREL 

Jackets
Shirts
Baselayer
Headwear
Gloves
Accessories

 WOMEN'S APPAREL 

Jackets
Shirts
Baselayer
Headwear
Gloves
Accessories

 FOOTWEAR 

Men's Footwear
Women's Footwear

 CLEARANCE 

Backpacks
Mens Apparel
Womens Apparel
Climbing
Footwear
Accessories

 BRANDS 

Black Diamond
Granite Gear
La Sportiva
Osprey
Smartwool

 WAYS TO SHOP 

Sale
Clearance
Top Brands
All Brands

 Backpacking Equipment 

Shelters
BackPacks
Sleeping Bags
Water Treatment
Kitchen
Hydration
Climbing


 Backcountry Gear Clearance

Topic Options
Rate This Topic
#95631 - 05/03/08 08:34 AM Multi-Day Hikes and entertainment
taylorcleblanc Offline
newbie

Registered: 04/21/08
Posts: 8
What do you guys do to kill time after a long day on the trail?

So far I have tried cards and carving useless items

Top
#95632 - 05/03/08 09:28 AM Re: Multi-Day Hikes and entertainment [Re: taylorcleblanc]
Pika Offline
member

Registered: 12/08/05
Posts: 1814
Loc: Rural Southeast Arizona
What do I do? Well, if I am in camp a bit early, I spend some time looking around the area and perhaps taking a few photos and then I get started on dinner. After dinner, I will listen to music on my wee Ipod (I'm partial to Mozart, Schubert, Vaughn Williams, Beethoven, The Chieftains, Enya and Hank Williams) and then into the sack where I read awhile until I go to sleep. Nothing too exciting. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
_________________________
May I walk in beauty.

Top
#95633 - 05/03/08 10:08 AM Re: Multi-Day Hikes and entertainment [Re: taylorcleblanc]
Trailrunner Offline
member

Registered: 01/05/02
Posts: 1835
Loc: Los Angeles
Reading.

Photography.

Exploring.

An evening movie on my Ipod. I usually fall asleep and continue it the next night.
_________________________
If you only travel on sunny days you will never reach your destination.*

* May not apply at certain latitudes in Canada and elsewhere.

Top
#95634 - 05/03/08 07:22 PM Re: Multi-Day Hikes and entertainment [Re: taylorcleblanc]
Jimshaw Offline
member

Registered: 10/22/03
Posts: 3983
Loc: Bend, Oregon
never mind - deleted
<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />
_________________________
These are my own opinions based on wisdom earned through many wrong decisions. Your mileage may vary.

Top
#95635 - 05/03/08 08:59 PM Re: Multi-Day Hikes and entertainment [Re: taylorcleblanc]
hikerduane Offline
member

Registered: 02/23/03
Posts: 2124
Loc: Meadow Valley, CA
After a long day? Not many of those. Whatever the length, stomp around camp some, explore, fish and read. Stomp around camp some more. I don't leave any trash behind, but I walk around lots. I don't sleep very good, even at home, so early to bed isn't something I look forward to. Nights snow camping are long.

Top
#95636 - 05/06/08 07:17 PM Re: Multi-Day Hikes and entertainment [Re: taylorcleblanc]
lori Offline
member

Registered: 01/22/08
Posts: 2801
I only know from what I've done before, and since I'm still mostly a noob that isn't much. Some things I've done in the past few months:

Explain to passing hikers/campers why I have a hammock.

Toast my shoes over a fire after crossing a river.

Try to take pictures with a dead battery.

Search for undetermined minutes with a headlamp for a high branch from which to suspend food bag, in order to defeat killer rats/raccoons.

Scrape a pan with a stick.

Wish I hadn't forgotten my jacket.

Next hike will be two nights - I may take a book, and I will NOT forget my jacket or battery for the camera.
_________________________
"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities. In the expert's mind there are few." Shunryu Suzuki

http://hikeandbackpack.com

Top
#95637 - 05/06/08 07:45 PM Re: Multi-Day Hikes and entertainment [Re: taylorcleblanc]
aimless Online   content
Moderator

Registered: 02/05/03
Posts: 3292
Loc: Portland, OR
I've never found it a problem. Time has a way of killing itself withouot my active participation. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> Plus, I am so easily amused that I can spend a whole week just talking to the birds and trees. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Top
#95638 - 05/07/08 12:16 PM Re: Multi-Day Hikes and entertainment [Re: hikerduane]
Jimshaw Offline
member

Registered: 10/22/03
Posts: 3983
Loc: Bend, Oregon
hikerduane

re: long nights snow camping. Yeh - the further north you get the worse it is. Anyway if you have a friend, take a lantern and a deck of cards and some dice. I love to cross country ski by headlight or better by moonlight without the head light. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I think melting water is maybe the number one winter camping activity as far as time goes. Afer that you can always go through your gear and write noes about what to leave at home and what you should have brought instead. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

Brings up a point. I have written myself trail notes to avoid a problem the next trip, and read the notes and [thinking from a city point of view] decided the notes were wrong and took the same stupid thing again. Your "City Logic" and "Country hand - meet - face" are pretty different. That is what always makes me suspiscious of hyper UL gear lists - like are they totally virtual? Can I get points for having a 4 pounds virtual pack even if I don't own any gear? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />
Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />
_________________________
These are my own opinions based on wisdom earned through many wrong decisions. Your mileage may vary.

Top
#95639 - 05/08/08 01:21 AM Re: Multi-Day Hikes and entertainment [Re: lori]
OregonMouse Online   content
member

Registered: 02/03/06
Posts: 6799
Loc: Gateway to Columbia Gorge
Lori, LOL!!! Been there, done that!

Seriously, I take sections of a cut-up pocket Bible, generally the Psalms plus whatever section I am reading at the time. If you're not into the BIble (although I recommend it), then something else that is a slow read (Tolstoy or Shakespeare comes to mind). If you read another language, a book in that language would be good. On my last trip to Europe, it took me a whole three months to read Dumas' Three Musketeers in French.
_________________________
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view--E. Abbey

Top
#95640 - 05/09/08 04:31 PM Re: Multi-Day Hikes and entertainment [Re: taylorcleblanc]
tpdwr Offline
member

Registered: 01/04/02
Posts: 45
Loc: So. California - Murrieta
If I get into camp before 5:00 I like to have a cup of coffee. I usually set up my tent, find a place to clean myself up and then have dinner. This generally gets me into early evening. I'll read or poke around the vicinity until it gets dark, do some star gazing and hit the sack. I'm also not a very good sleeper, but 9-10 hours laying down and I'm ready to go again.

Top
#95641 - 05/09/08 07:15 PM Re: Multi-Day Hikes and entertainment [Re: OregonMouse]
lori Offline
member

Registered: 01/22/08
Posts: 2801
I have a paperback or two on my stack I haven't got to. I'm in the process of asking around for a backpacking buddy so I might forgo the book and take some dice or cards, or perhaps a bottle of conversation stimulant. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />
_________________________
"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities. In the expert's mind there are few." Shunryu Suzuki

http://hikeandbackpack.com

Top
#95642 - 05/10/08 07:26 AM Re: Multi-Day Hikes and entertainment [Re: taylorcleblanc]
mockturtle Offline
member

Registered: 06/06/07
Posts: 251
Loc: WA
In a group, one person will read aloud for an hour or so in the evening. If I'm alone, I read to myself. As Oregon Mouse has suggested, the Bible and Shakespeare make satisfying reading. Other favorites are classics in paperback form. They seem to develop new life in the wilderness. It is interesting how silly the trivial pop literature appears in a majestic setting.

Top
#95643 - 05/10/08 09:17 AM Re: Multi-Day Hikes and entertainment [Re: taylorcleblanc]
Paul Offline
member

Registered: 09/30/02
Posts: 778
Loc: California
I just got back from a week of solo backcountry skiing, and I tried a new mode of entertainment - MP3 books. I took a little MP3 player loaded with Tolkien, and it was great. Much lighter than the books would have been, and I could listen while I was eating or doing chores. My 2GB player would hold over 60 hours of books if I filled it up - you just have to bring enough batteries.

Top
#95644 - 05/10/08 08:37 PM Re: Multi-Day Hikes and entertainment [Re: taylorcleblanc]
Mattress Offline
member

Registered: 05/14/07
Posts: 109
Loc: Victoria, BC, Canada
I'm looking forward to when products like Kindle (Amazon's eBook reader) become lightweight and weather resistant. I always bring a book (6-7 oz) and the Kindle is currently 10oz.. so it's almost there.. and this way I could take 100's of books (and mp3s and magazines and..)

I will also help when they're no longer $400 <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
_________________________
http://lighterload.blogspot.com/

Top
#95645 - 05/11/08 02:54 PM Re: Multi-Day Hikes and entertainment [Re: Mattress]
chaz Offline
member

Registered: 10/22/07
Posts: 1149
Loc: Tennessee
I bought an MP3 player on woot for $50 and it's 6 gig. It holds pics, tons of MP3's and video clips. I only use it for a couple of hours in the evening in my hammock before I doze off. I used it for 4 days off and on. When I returned and unloaded my pack the battery indicator said it had 3/4 charge left. I used it for several hours thru the week before I charged it. Don't know all the specs but it's a Sansa 270.
I also have a small digital camera that will shoot short video clips. I might spend some time reviewing them in the evening also deleting the unwanted ones.

Top
#95646 - 05/11/08 06:30 PM Re: Multi-Day Hikes and entertainment [Re: chaz]
Mattress Offline
member

Registered: 05/14/07
Posts: 109
Loc: Victoria, BC, Canada
Yeah I often bring an mp3 player too, and the batteries seem to last forever. I'm not a huge fan of audio books though, I really like to read, so the ebook reader should add a new flavour. I'm predicting Apple will have an ebook/ipod type combo in the next year or so.. hopefully the market will get competitive.
_________________________
http://lighterload.blogspot.com/

Top
#95647 - 05/12/08 07:18 AM Re: Multi-Day Hikes and entertainment [Re: chaz]
BarryP Offline
member

Registered: 03/04/04
Posts: 1574
Loc: Eastern Idaho
“Don't know all the specs but it's a Sansa 270”

They definitely give ipods the run for the money. My youngest daughter has the sansa 260 (4Gb). She loves watching her movies on it. The 3-hour Sound Of Music is only 300MB on this machine. That musical sounds awsome in the outdoors <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />.

-Barry

Top
#95648 - 05/13/08 02:53 PM Re: Multi-Day Hikes and entertainment [Re: taylorcleblanc]
wandering_daisy Offline
member

Registered: 01/11/06
Posts: 2865
Loc: California
After a LONG day - sleep. After a moderate day- explore. The few times I have taken a book, I do not even read it all. I find simply being out in the wilderness plenty entertaining. When I go with my women friends - we talk, talk, talk! My S.O. does not understand what women can talk about for so many hours. He brings a book!

Top
#95649 - 05/13/08 11:29 PM Re: Multi-Day Hikes and entertainment [Re: taylorcleblanc]
MountainMinstrel Offline
member

Registered: 12/27/06
Posts: 107
I have a Samsung i730 phone that I take. It is a bit heavy but it holds my bible and mp3's. Plus it gives me a way to write trip reports and has some games on it if I get pounded with rain. It also makes a decent light for those night-time excursions. I think ti is worth the weight.
_________________________
Just an old newbe

Top
#95650 - 05/16/08 05:57 AM Re: Multi-Day Hikes and entertainment [Re: Jimshaw]
hikerduane Offline
member

Registered: 02/23/03
Posts: 2124
Loc: Meadow Valley, CA
Jim, I can't make up my mind what kind of skis I want/need. May never get them at this rate. Skiing by moonlight sounds great, we used to go on full moon snowmobile rides, my friend and I or a bunch of guys.

Top
#95651 - 05/25/08 09:54 PM Re: Multi-Day Hikes and entertainment [Re: taylorcleblanc]
Wolfeye Offline
member

Registered: 01/11/07
Posts: 413
Loc: Seattle, WA
Down time... I'll chat with whoever I'm hiking with, write in my little waterproof journal, make sketches, maybe explore & take pictures. For me, it's a time to be away from cell phones, blaring music, traffic, everything. It's the down time that feels the best because I earned it.

Of things I haven't tried but would like to:
- talk my brother into camping so we can write native songs with nature right there as an inspiration
- carve and paint native artwork, using found woods & pigments
- have a bible study with my fiance
- stargaze with a little spotting scope
- make a bow from deadwood and target practice with it
- have a big pinochle game

I've toyed with the idea of making a hiking trip out of collecting food items, such as berries, seaweed, sea asparagus, fern fronds, hudson bay tea. We used to do it a lot back on the res when I grew up and it's something I'd like to show to my non-res friends & family. Collecting food and preserving it for winter is an old, pre-electricity habbit my tribe hasn't quite grown out of yet. They probably will forget someday, maybe after a generation or two more of grocery stores and fast food.

Top
#95652 - 06/05/08 08:19 PM Re: Multi-Day Hikes and entertainment [Re: hikerduane]
northernbcr Offline
member

Registered: 05/26/08
Posts: 125
Loc: bc/yukon border area
i would suggest getting a ski similar to one you use for alpine skiing maybe a little torsionaly softer using bindings with heel retention is nice a set of skinns and away you go. but using skiis you will be comfortable on is imp they don't have to be special they just need to get you down in a fun style .

Top
#95653 - 06/05/08 08:30 PM Re: Multi-Day Hikes and entertainment [Re: MountainMinstrel]
northernbcr Offline
member

Registered: 05/26/08
Posts: 125
Loc: bc/yukon border area
it seems a little odd to me packing these electronics it is why i head out to get away try practising making fire by rubbing sticks, building snares (for practice only) finding edible forest food calling for animals if in season fishing night sky orientation writing poetry midnight walks to viewpoints and stargazing.

Top
#95654 - 06/06/08 04:18 PM Re: Multi-Day Hikes and entertainment [Re: northernbcr]
MountainMinstrel Offline
member

Registered: 12/27/06
Posts: 107
I go to relax and get away from work. Most of the things you mentioned sound an awful lot like work to me. I do not use the phone itself, only the PDA for reading and writing. In a week I might listen to an hour of MP3's, and then only if I get locked down by weather. If I could find one that weighed less than 3 lb's, sound decent, and didn't cost an arm and a leg, I would take a guitar for intertainment.

ken
_________________________
Just an old newbe

Top

Shout Box

Highest Quality Lightweight Down Sleeping Bags
 
Western Mountaineering Sleeping Bags
 
Lite Gear Talk - Featured Topics
Backcountry Discussion - Featured Topics
Make Your Own Gear - Featured Topics
Featured Photos
Spiderco Chaparral Pocketknife
David & Goliath
Also Testing
Trip Report with Photos
Seven Devils, Idaho
Oat Hill Mine Trail 2012
Dark Canyon - Utah
Who's Online
0 registered (), 38 Guests and 0 Spiders online.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Newest Members
Noodles, McCrary, DanyBacky, Rashy Willia, WanderBison
13240 Registered Users
Forum Links
Disclaimer
Policies
Site Links
Backpacking.net
Lightweight Gear Store
Backpacking Book Store
Lightweight Zone
Hiking Essentials

Our long-time Sponsor, BackcountryGear.com - The leading source for ultralite/lightweight outdoor gear:

Backcountry Forum
 

Affiliate Disclaimer: This forum is an affiliate of BackcountryGear.com, Amazon.com, R.E.I. and others. The product links herein are linked to their sites. If you follow these links to make a purchase, we may get a small commission. This is our only source of support for these forums. Thanks.!
 
 

Since 1996 - the Original Backcountry Forum
Copyright © The Lightweight Backpacker & BackcountryForum