Guide To Mountain Bike Camping And Bikepacking

[oldglorymtb]

I have recently published a guide to bike packing and mountain bike camping. I included bags for packing your gear and a complete list of all of the essentials to bring along on a trip. I believe I covered everything. I added some listings of great places to do MTB camping and some video inspiration. Let me know what you think.

http://oldglorymtb.com/mountain-bike-camping-and-bikepacking-guide/

[nick]

link not working

[oldglorymtb]

Should be fixed. I messed up the code. DOH!

[wisaunders]

Great guide.  I posted a link on my bikeraft rental company's Facebook page.  Hope you get some hits!

[JRA]

Wow! a big effort and a nice job.

I enjoyed the videos too.

[Mark_BC]

Great summary. Go USA!

A few notes:

Water filters: there is this new Sawyer Squeeze out that is way lighter than a pump, perfect for biking. The bags tend to fall apart apparently but the filter is good. Hopefully they'll fix the bag issue soon.

Stoves: I like my Trangia the best but I haven't found a good pot system that isn't bulky. The setup that comes with the Trangia isn't ideal. So I put my own set together with a Clikstand, and another MSR bowl. I got one of those folding titanium sporks and all my cooking gear goes between these two bowls, the Trangia pot goes inside the MSR on (I had to grind it a bit to reduce the lip diameter). Now I have a really small complete cook set that can hold a litre. I haven't seen anyone else's that is this small that still has decent capacity. I think I should start marketing and selling them, since no one seems to have figured out how to make an effective, small Trangia stove setup.

Tent: I got a Tarptent Moment which is good. One thing about tents is that if there is rain you don't want a ground sheet because it will create a lake under your tent. Also, the Moment has good visibility in all directions, important if you are in bear country and don't want to be surprised.

Spot GPS in case you get into trouble?

I love my new Alpackaraft. It is 4 pounds and goes on the rear rack. You can also use it as a mattress so the space can be somewhat offset by not bringing a mattress. You also need paddles. This greatly increases your versatility if in areas with rivers or lakes or ocean.

[oldglorymtb]

Thanks for all the info Mark. Very appreciated.

[Colorado Cool Breeze]

Great guide. Excellent read. Thank you for sharing.

[tdg]

Good stuff, thanks.

[mtnbound]

Good stuff.  Thanks for sharing. 

I have a few suggestions to add the gear list:

Water Filters - Sawyer Squeeze (as mentioned above, but use with evernew water bags since Sawyer's bags are too fragile) and the Steripen.

Shelter - TarpTent (Contrail) - fairly light (24 oz) and cheap ($200) that packs pretty small and quick to setup (about 90 seconds)

Lights - Black Diamond Storm and Fenix (there are several, such as the BT20 and PD35 (formerly the PDE32)).

Duct Tape - Gorilla is also very good.

GPS - another good option is Etrex 20 or 30.

[SlowDave]

Nice.