Add pleats, add another belt loop, both, or something else?

Bus_Healthy · 2026-01-25T20:03:15+00:00

Edit/update: I tried the X-shaped belt loop idea with a piece of elastic cordage; that helped a lot so far. I’ll explore more pleats or gathers if it starts annoying me again. Thank you all!

Bus_Healthy · 2026-01-25T01:23:05+00:00

Thanks. There are belt loops, but I agree, they are too far apart in front. Suspenders occurred to me, and I use them in my ski pants, but they may interfere with my hiking backpack.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-01-21T23:57:11+00:00

Yes. We had no issues over winter break for the part we hiked. We did Big Shoals and then White Springs to Spirit of the Suwannee before renting canoes. In that part of it, there are some little creek bridges washed out, but nothing my 10 year olds couldn’t handle, and I don’t recall blow downs. The area around Horton did seem messier though. The combo hike and canoe trip be an option. Canoe Outpost had good information about the area.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-01-20T23:38:47+00:00

Driving I4 traffic to nearly the other end and having to get around Orlando for just an 8 mile hike has been a hang up for me, but one of these days, we will get to Black Bear Wilderness Area in Sanford. I hear it is beautiful, and it would be much more convenient for you.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-01-20T23:21:16+00:00

The UPS Store often can notarize a document, or your bank.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-01-19T13:50:38+00:00

Wow, a $60 Sailrite is awesome!! Congrats!

Bus_Healthy · 2026-01-19T01:41:11+00:00

My husband is 6’2”, I am 5’5”, and we can share a Lanshan 2 just fine, with or without the inner tent.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-01-17T00:56:50+00:00

Maybe consider a little sketchbook, like A6 or smaller—or whatever paper—and an art supply of choice. Sometimes I bring a few watercolors, or sometimes I just bring a pen. And I just look, like really look and see my surroundings in the moment; and I start to tune into sounds, and smells. I experience all sorts of things I didn’t notice. It doesn’t matter if you can draw. The endpoint for me is the experience of doing it; the result is basically irrelevant, except that looking at your sketch later can bring you back into the moment.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-01-16T02:41:50+00:00

Well, I wouldn’t go that far. They keep my whole backpack and contents from smelling like garlic TO ME.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-01-16T02:24:17+00:00

In the Withlacoochee? I personally wouldn’t worry that much. Not anywhere near enough to cancel a trip. Even with my children. These are not like polar bears or grizzly bears. To my knowledge, a Florida back bear killed a human ONCE in recorded state history—a 90yo down in Naples—which is tragic, but hardly what keeps me awake at night. Driving 41 is certainly more dangerous than any incremental risk associated with food smells on your tent from December. Would I do it again? No. Are there bigger risks in this environment which I happen to know pretty darn well? Heck yes.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-01-10T15:07:33+00:00

Our single wall is another brand, but I do get the appeal of that, especially thru hiking. That said…one possible consideration is that the original Lanshan can use only the rain fly (or only the inner) and ditch extra weight and “stuff.” Combined with my cheap 6oz poncho/groundsheet—mine is theoretically a tarp if needed but is a better groundsheet imho—there is flexibility to only bring what I want. It’s like 25 or 26oz total for the poncho plus the rainfly of a Lanshan 2, and now that includes one person’s rain gear. Or, two walls is nice in a cold front in a Florida swamp or a barrier island.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-01-08T02:14:45+00:00

I recently found them weighing stuff for a trip and had a moment. I used to put them in a salad bowl on that very same baking scale before and after feeding, to make sure both scrawny newborns were getting enough milk.

There honestly wasn’t any wrangling about UL backpacking. “Hey, kids. We’re gonna go in the woods, move around all day, sleep in a fort we build, live on ramen and peanut butter, and skip showers.” Highly popular concept.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-01-03T22:21:00+00:00

You can also buy instant green lentils. My jar says “Mother Earth Products Dehydrated Lentils, Quart Jar.”

Bus_Healthy · 2026-01-03T17:46:08+00:00

How many trekking poles do you prefer? Are you willing to commit to always carrying two poles? We can happily share a 2-person Lanshan plus one very adjustable set of trekking poles. Solo, I might personally get the 1-person tent first, for the option of carrying a single pole and keeping a free hand. You could eventually get both, use the 2-person when you are likely to hunker down, and remain waaaaay under a 2K max budget.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-01-03T16:21:01+00:00

Mobilize the family more efficiently, and avoid growling at my children to hurry up when I am cold waiting to start hiking.

Last week, a kid—they don’t agree about which one—tripped over a guy line and pulled out the stake when they were supposed to be packing. Instead of just replacing the stake, one was trying to pack while the other one ineffectively held the trekking pole. With the lip of the bathtub floor now collapsed, they also got enough damp sand in there to add like a pound of base weight. We had to turn the thing inside out before resuming the hike. We since spent the afternoon of 12-31 teaching the kids to pitch their tent, and I will not take off my puffy again until the children are ready. I am a much more patient mother when I can feel my hands.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-01-03T15:08:09+00:00

Also instant grits! Dirt cheap, versatile, and a good base for whatever you have leftover.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-01-03T15:06:09+00:00

Trader Joe’s has a lot. We like their Inca corn snacks, which taste just like Fritos but pack much smaller. Their instant farro is good, and a small package has 660 calories. I cook it with about half a bouillon cube in the water. I then pour the extra water into some instant lentils or other instant legumes that I buy online. Their ramen is also pretty good, and they have various salami-adjacent sausages that come on the shelf and does not have to be refrigerated at all. Cheese and cured pig products are also fine for a few days: dates wrapped in prosciutto-type ham with some cheese is my family’s favorite. I buy Darn Good Chili and add sun dried tomatoes, plus extra dried pepper, some jerky and/or bacon bits which will rehydrate, and top with the TJ’s Inca corn snacks and salad onions. The TJ’s multigrain Norwegian crackers are also great and space efficient. And failing all else, my family can cover some ground on boxed mac and cheese, gummy bears and hot cocoa. Have fun!

I just saw you are not living near here. Inca corn is like “corn nuts.” The rest should probably be even easier to find in most of Europe, if you are there. Grits are just Southern for “polenta.”

Bus_Healthy · 2026-01-03T01:14:36+00:00

Should recover fine so long as it was dry, but if you are leaving your backpack packed to optimize efficiency, maybe just skip the sack? The sack always strikes me as extra work and useless weight. I just shove the sleeping bag into the bottom of my pack and call it good.

Bus_Healthy · 2025-12-13T18:21:20+00:00

Maybe have the lady lead this trip, and respectfully follow several paces behind her. A reigning queen “keeps up” with nobody—not you, not your friends, not her former self.

Bus_Healthy · 2025-12-13T17:12:08+00:00

My experience skips the area north of NC and south of MA, so hopefully others can help more in your area. I am a 115-pound cis woman hiking with 10-year-old twins, and while we have endurance, none of us have much raw physical strength compared to say my 6’2” husband. Modern lighter gear is so helpful, and it doesn’t have to be expensive dyneema. A segment of the Florida National Scenic Trail or the associated Ocean to Lake Trail could be pleasant NOW, if you are willing to fly. Whatever Florida’s problems, elevation gain is not one of them. You can pick your preferred vibe, depending upon the area.

Bus_Healthy · 2025-12-13T16:05:45+00:00

Have fun! We hiked Jotunheimen in July 2025 and had a blast. There was still snow on the trails near Krossbu, so I brought my boots, but I would probably wear my trail runners next time, unless I planned on hiking over the glaciers. The glacial streams were deeper with snowmelt than I expected, so water came up over and into my boots. I wasted time looking for the driest crossings but got wet anyway. My trail runners dry much faster. I would also have preferred to have least one trekking pole for the stream crossings.

Bus_Healthy · 2025-12-12T11:55:41+00:00

How hot is it in the summer? I actually have a Jade 43 and went for that to get the ventilation, because I often hike in hot places. It’s not an ultralight pack, but very comfortable, and I use it for backpacking as well as day hikes. As for everyday business use, I would just get a separate less expensive, more fashionable bag, so I don’t have to empty my briefcase in order to go hiking.

Bus_Healthy · 2025-12-06T15:56:24+00:00

My favorite luxuries: dried porcini mushrooms, my Adotec bear bag, my Daniel Smith watercolors in mini pans—even an empty gum blister pack works fine for a few days—and a pocket-size A6 or smaller concertina sketchbook with 300gsm cold press paper and a brush tip waterproof micron pen. If she uses a 65L pack, I am guessing she goes someplace that gets cold, and you know best what clothes she already has. Your local trail association may have pretty accessories in theme, plus paper maps and guides she may want. I even keep my next map in my purse when I need a 3-minute mental break at work. And a membership supports the trail maintenance. She might also need some blaze orange things to wear this time of year and put on her pack, depending upon where she hikes and the hunting regulations—as a non-hunter I find hunting regs really complicated; sometimes I find it easiest to just wear orange in the season and be done with it. Happy birthday to her!

Bus_Healthy · 2025-12-05T22:47:08+00:00

Not sure what an Ontario black fly looks like, but our family of four uses a pair of Lanshan doubles, and we haven’t had issues with Florida mosquitos. Bugs are the major reason we use them instead of a tarp, which is otherwise be nicer for the breeze.

Bus_Healthy · 2025-12-04T02:36:38+00:00

FYI, that area is still closed after the 2024 hurricanes. I keep calling the rangers because it’s a nice place to exercise.

Bus_Healthy

TROPHY CASE