I used to hate coffee. I loved the smell, but just couldn’t understand how people drank it like it was going out of style. Enter marriage. My wife absolutetly loves her java. So I began experimenting with foo-foo coffee at Charbucks and other coffee shops. Now I actually like coffee, and drink it most days. Granted, it is about 20% sugar and cream when I partake.
So I’m planning a solo backpacking trip for a week this summer and got to thinking, can I have coffee? Is there such a thing as ultralight coffee? After a little research I found that there are several methods for camp coffee. These include bringing a small percolator, using brewing bags, or making cowboy coffee. The percolator isn’t exactly ultralight. I read some bad reviews on the brewing bags, saying they were pretty crappy when it comes to taste. Then cowboy coffee is where you bring some water to a boil, drop your grounds in, wait til they settle, and try not to get a mouth full of sludge toward the end. This isn’t exactly what I had in mind.
So I went into my kitchen and started playing. The solution I came up with worked pretty well. I’m sure this has been done plenty of times before, but I didn’t find anything about this method, so I’ll just pretend like I’m the first person to think of this.
Step 1 - Put your coffee grounds into a coffee filter.
Step 2 - Place the filter into the top of the bottle.
Step 3 - While holding the filter in place just inside the bottle, slip the sipper into the opening to secure the bag.
Step 4 - Slightly tilt the sipper so the drinking side is lower (causes a slide for the hot water to fall down)
Step 5 - Slowly pour your boiled water into the bottle. It will drip down over the grounds making the coffee.
Okay, so this isn’t rocket science. And BlowSnow will most likely point out that I’m nowhere as great as his hero Eli Whitney. But, this is an effective way to make coffee and the only extra items you probably wouldn’t have had with you in the first place are the filter and coffee. Weighing in at practically nothing.
Just be sure to put the sipper in snuggly. If it falls… you get cowboy coffee anyway.
Just wanted to drop a quick line to let everyone know that we have a winner for the New Zealand contest. We had several great entries, and a few that were, well… detailed!
But as with every contest, there must be a winner… and this one is no different.
Absolutpink, if you’ll just message me with the address you’d like your Kelty pack and Lonely Planet Guide sent to, 100% New Zealand will get it in the mail to you! Hopefully you’ll make your way to NZ some day very soon.
Thanks so much for all the great entries… stay tuned, another contest is hot on the heels of this one. We want to give as much free gear away as we can this year!!!
There has been some chatter on the site lately about adventures in Iceland. The images people bring back from that country are beautiful. But even more than a photographers paradise, it’s an adventurers paradise.
I saw in my latest issue of Wend Magazine that they are featuring a story on Iceland. Wend is the magazine that offers $3 off their subscription price to Outdoorzy members. Check out how to get your discount if you haven’t yet.
Here’s an excerpt from the Iceland story…
“We’re getting spit off this hulk of a peak—Hvannadalshnukur, the highest in Iceland. The wind is blasting us at over 80 miles per hour, and tiny ice particles scoured from the glacier higher up pelt our exposed cheeks. Ski touring uphill while shouldering big packs would be demanding enough, but in this tempest it is brutal. Drop a glove, and it’s gone. Let go of your ski poles for an instant, and they’ll scurry down the mountainside like rats down an alley.”
I got the opportunity to spend some time trekking and exploring Peru last year. But I have to say the southern tip is my next stop in South America.
ArgentinasTravel.com is a great resource for finding out more about a trip to Argentina. They update their content often and have quite a bit of detail on specific locations. Just don’t forget that the seasons are flipped in the southern hemi. Right now it’s Summer, and our Summer is their Winter. Don’t worry though if you want to take a Summer vacation, there are plenty of climates to choose from.
Well it is when you go trekking in Nepal. This kingdom in the clouds has been on my adventure travel list for quite some time now. I have literally had vivid dreams about trekking through the monstrous peaks of the Himalayan highlands.
One decision that people are often faced with when booking a trip is whether or not to stay in teahouses along their trek or to lean more toward the old-faithful tent. The advantages of the teahouse trek are many. One important difference is the opportunities for cultural interaction. Teahouse trekkers can get to know the daily lives of the Nepalese villagers.
Another advantage to teahouse treks is the comfort factor. Teahouses have been notorious with bug-ridden mattresses and showerless mornings. But these rough spots are increasingly a thing of the past. Many trekking companies offer fluffy mattresses, big meals, and even hot showers. The Everest region is best for the comfort factor, but can be more crowded.
If this might be your dream destination then the flight will be the killer. Pushing the $2,000 neighborhood can really hit the pocketbook hard. But once there, things can be cheap. Especially if you are willing to travel independently and research all the pricing options.
Okay, tell me this New Zealand Trip isn’t the coolest adventure ever.
There aren’t many of us out there who can’t say that a trip to New Zealand is not on our life list. I have to say, it’s definitely in my top 5 places I have to go before I croak. Why? Well, white sandy beaches, black sandy beaches, rugged mountains, glaciers, wineries, epic trekking, and people who say FEED EEKS when they want to send something Fed Ex. What more do you want in a vacation?
If you want to win the Kelty Tahoma daypack and a Lonely Planet Travel Book, just tell us what you’d do if you could spend a week in New Zealand. If we pick your story, you get the prizes… it’s that simple.
So head on over to the Forum to enter yourself in the contest and let us know what you’d do if you had a week in NZ?
Check out NewZealand.com to get some ideas… and trust me there are plenty.
A couple of weekends ago, my fiancé and I were watching MTV. They had a “True Life” marathon on and I will admit; I am a fan of the 60 minute documentary. When we turned on the TV we had about 10 minutes left of the current show and the Tivo guide showed us the next program, “A Map For Saturday”. Thinking it might be a True Life that involves the outdoors, I was ready to watch it.
As the show starts, the narrator goes into his story and about the show. The guy, Brook Silva-Braga, leaves a nice job with a TV network to travel the world with clothes in his backpacks and several pounds of video equipment. He sets out to see the world for a year by himself and along the way he meets many new people or as one guy puts it, “friends for a day”.
“It makes me laugh when people say I could never do what you’re doing. All our friends gave us six weeks and then we’d be home and it now been 14 months.”
Karen: 21, England
“In fifty or sixth years I’m dead. I want to say, ‘I had a good life’.”
Jens: 27 Germany
“I’d like to travel 364 days and go back for Christmas.”
Bill: 27 Northern Ireland
The people he meets along the way are also solo travelers, some are just starting out, others are in the middle of their adventure, and some are heading home. The solo travelers he meets and travels with from one location to another help tell the story of why and how they are traveling as well as share some personal accounts of their own travels.
At times lonely and difficult; more often joyous, and always adventurous. In the end, Brook travels for 12 month, and travels by plane, train, automobile and by foot to 26 countries on four continents.
This is Adventure Travel Week here at Outdoorzy and we’ll be bringing you travel ideas and contests that have an international flare.
So what are your dream destinations… Africa, New Zealand, Tibet? I’d say anywhere with blue skies, mild temps, and beautiful views will do for me. Many people talk about that dream trip. Why not now? You’re not getting any younger! So, let us inspire you this week. Set a goal for yourself to book a trip or at least set a date to decide what your next adventure will be!
next stop in South America.
This is Adventure Travel Week here at Outdoorzy and we’ll be bringing you travel ideas and contests that have an international flare.
