The weekend of May 10th, an old college friend and myself headed a few hours east of Kansas city to Knob Noster State Park. The goal of the weekend was to hang out, catch up, test some gear, and have fun. The weather could not have been better for the weekend. Low forties for the lows and high sixties to low seventies for the highs. Perfect temperatures for tent camping. We left my place around noon and picked up a few last minute items and grabbed lunch before heading out of town.
The park was relatively empty when we arrived with a few RVs and spots taken for the weekend. We arrived set up camp and headed out for a quick hike before dinner. The hike was a nice one and a half mile loop and was a perfect warmup for the weekend. The trail ended at the park office and as we walked through the campground to our site in the back the entire place had filled up almost completely while we were out hiking. We built a fire had dinner and just chatted the rest of the evening.
I had heard of Knob Noster the town and had visited Whiteman Air Force base, but this was my first time to the park. Overall its a great park and I recommend going if you are in the area. It is quite small and only has a handful of trail to hike. We grabbed some maps from one of the trail heads, but they ended up being incorrect and the longest trail was 6 miles.
View of the trail.
Testing tents. Big Agnes Fly Creek UL 1 (on left) and Big Agnes Fly Creek UL 2 (on right)
The first night I opted to test out the Big Agnes Fly Creek UL 1 tent. I will not spoil my thoughts on the tent but it was easy to set both of the Big Agnes Fly Creek tents and they are quality shelters. The other gear that I tested the next day was the RIBZ Front Pack. We hiked several trails and were able to get in about 8 miles that day. There is not a whole lot to do at Knob Noster state park if you go there to hike. It is great for folks who camp in RVs or campers because its quiet and allows you to just enjoy whatever you RV folks do. A great weekend catching up and testing gear. Also did some research on possible locations for other hiking and camping trips later in the summer.
Ribz Front Pack
Grass Trail
There are several ponds to fish in at Knob Noster State Park
To view more photos of the weekend please check out the Knob Noster Photo Gallery.
Happy Trails.
This past weekend I got to experience testing out my first ever front pack. The pack that I was able to test was a RIBZ Front Pack. Before I get into the review let me take a brief moment to explain what a front pack is.
A front pack is a bag or pack that allows for easy access to important equipment from the persons waist or chest. These have become very popular in Europe however they are quite new to the outdoors in America. The front pack not only provides ease of access to your essential gear but it also provides a counter weight if worn with a backpack.
The RIBZ Front Pack uses a unique harness system to allow for the weight distribution allowing the pack to be comfortable as a stand alone or used in addition to any backpack. It also allows for the weight in the RIBZ Front Pack to be distributed comfortably and even. One thing about the RIBZ Front Pack is that the harness system can not be removed to be used with a backpack. (more…)
Give people enough time and they will surprise you.
In my last post I talked about community. Today I want to talk about people. There are always people who will rub you the wrong way and then there are others who you will more naturally gravitate towards. On the AT you can always hike on your own and you can choose to camp on your own but if you camp near or in the shelters you are stuck with those people for the night. Being stuck with some people is not always a bad thing. (more…)
So, you’ve decided that you are going to come on your first mountaineering expedition, or perhaps you are actually quite experienced in the field. Whatever the case may be, you need to have the proper foods to sustain you through your journeys.Protein/Carbs
As you may know, a combination of protein and carbohydrates is one of the best ways to gear you up for your expedition. Whenever you are participating in some sort of sporting event or physical activity, a strong chance exists that this combination is the way to get most of your strength. Of course, you want to make healthy choices so that you are not bogged down as you are climbing. For example, whole wheat pasta with homemade ground turkey meatballs is an excellent choice for you.
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Otter and Boar Cabin Crews
Living in the city and working in corporate America many people tend to loose sight of the amazing feeling of community. This is not always their fault it can be caused by many factors of life.
Leaving it all behind and hitting the trail for a few days, weeks or even months can restore that connection to community. What is community? Community happens when people connect or come together for a common purpose. You live in a community, your social networks are a community, and the trail is a community. (more…)
I have mentioned to a number of people that the AT is the Disney World of hiking trail. This statement can be seen as both positive and negative. Before you go off and think I am crazy let me explain first.
Every year is the “biggest year” in terms of the number of people who are hiking the Appalachian Trail (AT) whether it be thru-hikers, section hikers, weekend hikers, youth groups, scout groups, or spring breakers. The numbers are staggering at how much of an increase they have each year. To see some of the past totals and the most up to date numbers of the AT they can be found at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s Website. (more…)
For most of my experience in Georgia on the AT the nights were very cold as were the days. I found myself wearing my warm gear both during the day and at night. I did make a decision on one of the harder days to wear my merino t-shirt and my fleece jacket instead of my Columbia Omni-Heat Reflective shirt. This turned out to be an extremely important decision. After hiking six miles in this weird misty fog with the temp below freezing causing all the water that hit the trees or myself would instantly freeze. However it was still wet enough to cause my pants and socks to become soaked after only after twenty minutes or so into my hike. I stopped at a shelter and evaluated things. I could have gone another five miles to the next shelter and risk it being full. I stayed put and quickly unrolled my sleeping pad and sleeping bag. I also changed out of my wet clothing and into my warm gear right away. Inside the sleeping bag with my warm clothes I began to finally warm up. (more…)
People are fixated these days on the most effective means of toning up or getting into shape in general. While there are countless approaches to do this, including going to the gym, this might not be the best thing for you specifically. For example, there are several reasons why something like hiking is actually better than going to the gym regularly. This particular article will be focused on detailing some of the reasons why this might be a better option for you personally.
The Ups And Downs
Sure, treadmills and other equipment has incline and decline features. However, what they do not have is the possibility for intense incline or decline that nature does. When you are hiking along an actual trail, you are going to be going up and down at various points, around bends and other movement scenarios that simply cannot be replicated by modern machines. (more…)
The weekend of May 10th, an old college friend and myself headed a few hours east of Kansas city to Knob Noster State Park. The goal of the weekend was to hang out, catch up, test some gear, and have fun. The weather could not have been better for the weekend. Low forties for the lows and high sixties to low seventies for the highs. Perfect temperatures for tent camping. We left my place around noon and picked up a few last minute items and grabbed lunch before heading out of town.
