Green Energy Solutions

Backpacking in California?

I am planning my first backpacking trip ever from San Francisco, my home town. I plan to be gone for more than a week. What are the basics as far as gear/food that will keep me alive for that long? As far as destination, I will be heading south for the milder weather. Are there any suggestions of any good paths I may take? The one requirement I have is I want to stay on a lake/swimming hole/river for a while. Which mild temperate areas containing someplace nice to swim are free to backpack in? Once I get my gear in order, I would like to leave asap. Kind of trying to be Off The Grid for a while. Looking for a place where I can swim/fish freely, stay for more than one day, and do it legally if possible. My large dog may or may not be coming with me. Lets say I’ve got around $300 to spend.

That’s more than can be answered in one question. Here are some books I use for reference:

Basics on gear, techniques, what you need to bring: http://www.amazon.com/Hiking-Backpacking-2nd-Essential-Techniques/dp/0897325842/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259524221&sr=1-5

Guide to EVERY car camping and backpacking campsite in the Bay Area. I’m not sure if there are any with swimming, but they are good for beginner trips because they are close to home, at lower elevations, and usually have a few amenities at the campsite (running water, toilet, table). http://www.amazon.com/Camping-Backpacking-San-Francisco-Area/dp/0899972950/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259524392&sr=1-1

Guide to backpacking California. This one covers the whole state, from the deserts in the south to the Sierra to the far north. http://www.amazon.com/Backpacking-California-Mountain-Foothill-Adventures/dp/0899974465/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259524472&sr=1-1

Another good resource is Backpacker Magazine, and their website http://www.backpacker.com/

In the winter, the best places to go would be places in the Coastal hills (like the Santa Cruz Mountains) where it is wet and cool all year round, or in the deserts/forests of Southern California. I don’t know about swimming, fishing, or bringing your dog – you will have to check out specific trips to see if that is going to be an option.

Unfortunately, backpacking is an expensive sport. $300 isn’t going to get you very far unless you can rent or borrow your gear. Outdoor stores like REI rent gear, so go there and ask them how much they charge.

Off the Grid, San Francisco’s Food Truck Party

30 Days – Season 1 $5.00 30 DAYS SEASON 1 – DVD Movie…

California Road & Recreation Atlas: Landscape Maps, Recreation Guides, Detailed Roads, GPS Grids (Benchmark Maps) $24.95 Explore the highways and back roads of California with this unique atlas. Combines Landscape Maps with a complete Recreation Guide keyed to separate, dedicated maps.128 pages….

Fat of the Land: Adventures of a 21st Century Forager $26.95 Explore the Pacific Northwest via these adventures in foraging—and discover a regional stew of food, natural history, and oddball characters… Foraging is not just a throwback to our hunter-gatherer past; it’s a way to reconnect with the landscape. And Langdon Cook is not just your typical grocery cart-toting dad. For him, gourmet delicacies abound, free for the taking if we just open our eyes. As a result, he finds himself free-diving in icy Puget Sound in hopes of spearing a snaggletooth lingcod, armed with nothing more than a “Hawaiian sling.” He tempts fate by eating mushrooms that may or may not be poisonous. He strings up a fly rod to chase after sea-run trout. He even pulls on the gardening gloves to collect stinging nettles. In wry, detailed prose, he traces his journey from wrangler of pre-packaged calories to connoisseur of coveted wild edibles. Structured around the seasons of the year, each chapter focuses on a specific food type and concludes with a recipe featuring the author’s hard-won bounty, a savory stop to each adventure-filled morsel. LANGDON COOK was a senior book editor at Amazon.com until, in 2004, he left the corporate world to live in a cabin off the grid with his wife and son. Now a freelance writer and editor, Lang has written for the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Outside, Gray’s Sporting Journal, Fly Fisherman, the Stranger, Seattle Metropolitan, and Conservation Magazine. He was the recipient of the Joyce Waddell Writing Award at the University of Washington, received the Margery Boyden Wilderness Writing Residency, and attended the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference on a grant. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

Fat of the Land: Adventures of a 21st Century Forager $8.6 Explore the Pacific Northwest via these adventures in foraging—and discover a regional stew of food, natural history, and oddball characters… Foraging is not just a throwback to our hunter-gatherer past; it’s a way to reconnect with the landscape. And Langdon Cook is not just your typical grocery cart-toting dad. For him, gourmet delicacies abound, free for the taking if we just open our eyes. As a result, he finds himself free-diving in icy Puget Sound in hopes of spearing a snaggletooth lingcod, armed with nothing more than a “Hawaiian sling.” He tempts fate by eating mushrooms that may or may not be poisonous. He strings up a fly rod to chase after sea-run trout. He even pulls on the gardening gloves to collect stinging nettles. In wry, detailed prose, he traces his journey from wrangler of pre-packaged calories to connoisseur of coveted wild edibles. Structured around the seasons of the year, each chapter focuses on a specific food type and concludes with a recipe featuring the author’s hard-won bounty, a savory stop to each adventure-filled morsel. LANGDON COOK was a senior book editor at Amazon.com until, in 2004, he left the corporate world to live in a cabin off the grid with his wife and son. Now a freelance writer and editor, Lang has written for the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Outside, Gray’s Sporting Journal, Fly Fisherman, the Stranger, Seattle Metropolitan, and Conservation Magazine. He was the recipient of the Joyce Waddell Writing Award at the University of Washington, received the Margery Boyden Wilderness Writing Residency, and attended the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference on a grant. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

Fat of the Land: Adventures of a 21st Century Forager $16.95 Explore the Pacific Northwest via these adventures in foraging—and discover a regional stew of food, natural history, and oddball characters… Foraging is not just a throwback to our hunter-gatherer past; it’s a way to reconnect with the landscape. And Langdon Cook is not just your typical grocery cart-toting dad. For him, gourmet delicacies abound, free for the taking if we just open our eyes. As a result, he finds himself free-diving in icy Puget Sound in hopes of spearing a snaggletooth lingcod, armed with nothing more than a “Hawaiian sling.” He tempts fate by eating mushrooms that may or may not be poisonous. He strings up a fly rod to chase after sea-run trout. He even pulls on the gardening gloves to collect stinging nettles. In wry, detailed prose, he traces his journey from wrangler of pre-packaged calories to connoisseur of coveted wild edibles. Structured around the seasons of the year, each chapter focuses on a specific food type and concludes with a recipe featuring the author’s hard-won bounty, a savory stop to each adventure-filled morsel. LANGDON COOK was a senior book editor at Amazon.com until, in 2004, he left the corporate world to live in a cabin off the grid with his wife and son. Now a freelance writer and editor, Lang has written for the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Outside, Gray’s Sporting Journal, Fly Fisherman, the Stranger, Seattle Metropolitan, and Conservation Magazine. He was the recipient of the Joyce Waddell Writing Award at the University of Washington, received the Margery Boyden Wilderness Writing Residency, and attended the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference on a grant. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

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This entry was posted on Monday, January 23rd, 2012 at 2:54 pm and is filed under solar power. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.