I live, breathe, dream, and eat food. Most of the time, I go into the backcountry just to eat delicious food. Most of the time, my backpacking trips are no longer than 3 or 4 days, so I can weigh my pack down with cheese, chocolate and wine. While the majority of my backpacking trips usually involve luxurious happy hours, I was not afforded that opulence on the 195-mile Sierra High Route. Here’s what I came up with to ensure my Sierra High Route resupply food was delicious and nutritious.
It’s no secret that I only hike to eat and drink things. Most of my backpacking trips happen just for the backcountry happy hour. I previously wrote about how to make the most instagrammable snack board and how to have an amazing backcountry happy hour. Now, the Opinel Nomad Cooking Kit exists to make both of these things an absolute breeze.
For the longest time, I never had my own real camp stove. I’d cook things over my little Snow Peak Litemax, praying that the wind wouldn’t blow the stove over. When Primus introduced the Tupike stove at Outdoor Retailer several years ago, I wanted one. Stoves could be aesthetic, and functional? I couldn’t believe it. After lugging the Primus Tupike Stove around for the last few years, here’s how it’s been faring.
The truth is, I secretly love rainy day weekends. It gives me an excuse to slow down, be lazy, and catch up on things around the house. I was preparing to tuck myself away for the weekend when my friend, Liz from Nipomo, reached out about a getaway to the Stepladder Ranch.
As an avid pop country music fan, farms and ranches are absolutely my thing. Growing up, I also raised pigs in the 4-H program. I was instantly sold on heading down to Cambria on California’s Central Coast to experience the magic.
The Little River Inn recently extended an invite to attend their first ever Ferment and Forage Experience celebrating the gathering food from the land and sea. I grew up picking blackberries on bushes at summer camp and eating vinegar ants right out of the ant hill. After hearing countless stories of how friends foraged for mushrooms and the like in my metaphorical backyard, I wanted to learn how.
The Little River Inn brought Kevin from Countryman Forager, folx from Freedive Shop, Erica from Rising Tide Sea Vegetables, and the Inn’s own manager and resident fermenter, Cally, for foraging and cooking demos. If you’ve ever been curious about eating in the wild, this event is an excellent stepping stone.