Greenlight goes camping

greenlight

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Update: post 26.
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Enjoyed 5 nights and 6 days on the Eel river in Northern California with my Dad and his buddy. We rafted about 72 miles, 12 per day.

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The rapids were class 2, but some were challenging anyway. We spent some time pushing the boats over rocks, and there was some tough headwind to paddle into. The weather was beautiful and we were able to swim each day and move on to another beach. I cooked all the meals for the group, that was fun, I figured out some new recipes.

2006EelRiverpic663.jpg


I forgot my energizer headlamp at home, but didn't need it because it was the summer solstice and not a lot of darkness. I brought along these 5 lights:
Streamlight Lux. Jr. (Not great for up close or in the tent, but easy to find glow powder under lens).
Inova X1 v.2 (One of my favorite lights.)
Dorcy 3 led 1AA light (Similar output to X1, longer runtime)
Nuwai 1aa (backup)
Green Infinity task light (Why not)
I only used my light to read in the tent for about 1/2 hr., and to look for animals in the camp at night.

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Here's my dad running the rapids.

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We set some stones upright:

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Have to make sure all the gear is tied in tight!

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A bat!!
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It was great to get away from civilization for a while. For one week we get to just "go with the flow". No phones or tv, just the music in your head.

I read a great book, too, "Why Things Break", which I picked up from the library.

The gorillapod came in super-handy. I was able to set my camera down with confidence and program some shots I would never have gotten otherwise. It is so useful.

All photos are taken with my newish canon A610 digital camera. I took 12 AA batteries on my trip (3 sets) but only used 2 sets of batteries. I changed batteries on the 4th day so I wouldn't get caught with a dead camera. There was probably more juice in that set, but I went to a fresh pack anyway. I was able to review my photos and delete the unwanted ones without worrying about running out of power.


I would recommend the Canon A610; it's a great cheap digital camera with manual modes that work perfectly. I'm hoping to upgrade to a camera with either time-lapse features and/or an infra-red remote.
 
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Sigman

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Excellent post! Thanks for sharing indeed - GREAT pics too, I almost feel I was there as well!

:thumbsup:
 

Mags

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Great pics! Must have been a fun trip. Ive been rafting before, and it was quite a fun experience!
 

greenlight

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The Safari Qwik-cook stove is so awesome. It breaks down to 3 pieces for packing. We can cook all our meals with just small twigs and branches... it's very efficient.
 

tygger

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Florida
great pictures! cool stove. it looks like you made it. where did you buy it? and the pots, did you customize them especially for the stove?
 

greenlight

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The stove can be had online or you can search google for other vendors. We use an enamel steel pot like you would take camping... very simple setup. It can be used in high wind and burns everything to a fine ash. Good for places that require a fire pan. We even burn our aluminum cans to ash. Steel cans we burn too, but I'm not sure if they change or just get dirtier.
 
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kelmo

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Aug 27, 2004
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Sacramento
Wow,

Your pictures bring back happy memories of camping with my family in my youth. My parents would take us on an annual camping trip to the Eel river and the Avenue of the Giants (for those not familiar with Northern California this a Redwood Forest).

Thanks for sharing Greenlight! Did you and your Dad do any steelhead fishing?
 

Manzerick

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Dec 3, 2004
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Boston, Massachusetts
i haven't been camping in a long time (maybe 10+years) but after seeing these pic's I wanna go to go camping w/my lights.

I take walks in the woods near my house (in Breakheart resveration, right outside of Boston, not wilderness but as close asd a city boy can get) and now need to step it up!

Awesome pics!!!
 

Lightmeup

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Aug 3, 2004
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Chicago
Looks like a fun trip. Whitewater rafting is a blast. I once got thrown out of my raft on a class 5 river. Spent about 10 minutes shooting the rapids and waterfalls by myself. Was lucky to live through it. Great fun though, except for that one time.
 

greenlight

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chill valley
There were a lot of mosquitoes on the Green river (Utah) and the Missouri river (Montana). There were days that I didn't want to leave your tent, even to pee. I think we even ate in our tents. I always bring a net hat and body armor (thick poly clothes). Gloves would be good, too.

I'm getting ready to plan my next river trip, we're going to raft the Klamath river for 7 days to the mouth of the pacific ocean. We did that once before, it was our best trip ever. Keeping my fingers crossed for good weather!!!

This year I'm going to take my video camera and try to make a video CD for memories.
 
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yellow

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reading the 1st posts and looking at the lights, I wondered, but then (post #5) everything went clear:
"greenlight" not "greeenled" ;)

those pics are great, I very much like how remote everything looks and how "shiny" everything is (sorry, not the right word, I mean no brush, no garabge at all, nice dark sand, ...)
 
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