Finally feeling like I was confident enough with a tarp to take it out with me on a multi-night trip, I headed to a beautiful valley forest and pitched a simple a-frame, the light fading not long after I arrived as the days are so short now!
For this trip I also decided to forgo my usual water bladder and sawyer squeeze filter and take a life straw instead
I loooved the freedom of not carrying water and just drinking wherever you find it 😍 but, you realise pretty quick that you need some kind of cup or vessel. Without a cup, you have to get right down on the ground to drink. In winter this means getting very wet, in summer it means potentially getting covered in ticks. Not ideal!
It was really nice not having to stop, take off my rucksack and filter water into a water bladder. And it was lovely not having the water weight on my back, along with my heavy winter gear. This was a totally different way to hike that I really liked, although you do have to stay around water of course (I planned a route close to a river, although finding water is not usually a problem this time of year). And I did bring empty bottles so that I could carry water to camp at the end of the day
The forest was gorgeous with the last of the autumn colours and a view of the river winding through the trees. I settled down for a lovely night under the stars and a deep sleep in the fresh cool air
Day 2On Day 2 I woke up under my tarp well rested but slightly traumatised, to find that a slug had attacked me in the night. Wondering why my sleep mask was stuck to my face, I realised I had dried slug-goo over my hand, pillow and puffy and worst of all, through my hair 🥴 The slug itself was in the hood of my sleeping bag, looking rather dead. RIP slimey. I kicked myself for not bringing my lil head bug net, cleaned up the mess and shuddered all the way through breakfast. In fact I'm still shuddering a bit now, 2 weeks later.
I spent the short late-november day wandering about the forest on my way up to a lake and drinking from lil waterfalls with the life straw and my cool collapsible cup. On the way I stopped for lunch and had a go at making a mini shelter with my ground tarp (DD Magic Carpet XL) and my trekking pole.. I really loved it, cant beat a multifunctional bit of gear!
On arriving at the lake, I found a lot of bogginess and unstable evergreen forest full of blow downs, none of which were suitable for camping..
Feeling like the day hadn't even properly got light yet, but with only a couple hours before sunset, I searched high and low for a camping spot. I wrestled with the tarp at one of them for about an hour in the wind and ended up giving up, before eventually finding the most idealic spot with views over the valley 😍
I pitched the tarp as a tarp tent - unsatisfied with its floopy appearance because my trekking pole was a tad too short to get the tension I wanted. Or maybe the ground was just too wonky-donkey. But, it was a nice lil shelter and kept me out of the heavy downpour that would come in the night
Day 3Despite some low-level anxiety about another potential slug attack, I slept soundly for 9 hours under my tarp tent in the rain 😍
The morning was still, hazy and beautiful. And now that I didn't have the worry of getting the tarp up before nightfall, I was finally able to sit and appreciate my surroundings. My pitch was above the tree line of evergreens, with views across the valley and up into the mountains. The colours were rich and gorgeous and glistening from the rain. I felt so at peace here and lingered until late morning
On the hike back to my car, now that I didn't have to worry about getting drenched, I decided to try using the lifestraw in it's purest form - direct from various water sources, without a cup. As you can see, it's not ideal and you get pretty wet haha!! Quite fun though 😄
I really loved using the freedom of using a lifestraw and in future I'll be trying a filter squeeze bottle.. it seems that one of those would conveniently do the job of a lifestraw and a cup in one
My first multi-night trip with a tarp was challenging, but I loved it. There's so much more to think about than with a tent - particularly a freestanding tent. In fact, I think the next time I use a pole tent will feel like pure luxury haha! 🌿🐻