Altrec.com
Altrec.com always offerers a great selection of outdoor recreational items, along with good buying advice and tips. Check out what’s new from Marmot, Patagonia, Nike ACG, Mountain Hardwear, Mountainsmith, and Arc’teryx. Free shipping today

Backcountry.com
A top online shop that offers lots of winter and ski gear as well as climbing, hiking, and backpacking gear. Usually free shipping on orders over $50.


Bassproshops.com
Not just a fishing gear store. They now offer some of the best camping, hiking and backpacking gear along with kayaks and paddling equipment.

Campingworld.com
Probably the best selecting of car camping gear in the world. They have every item that will make your camp feel like home.

Moosejaw.com
Moosejaw brings you great quality, higher-end mountain apparel and outdoor equipment from top manufacturers like Kelty, The North Face and Marmot .

REI.com
By far the largest selection of outdoor gear in the U.S. They have you covered from tent stakes to dehydrated foods. Backpacking to cycling they cover all outdoor activities.

Sierratradingpost.com
Nobody beats Sierra Trading Post when it comes to discounted outdoor clothing and gear. It seems that they get the best closeouts from outdoor gear companies and passes the rock bottom prices on to you.

Summitonline.com
These guys lean more toward sports but they usually have good camping gear for sale if you look through the site.

If you need a good car camping stove to last you for many years you should check out one of the two-burner Coleman PerfectFlow stoves. They are fast to set up. You basically just fold it out. They put out plenty of heat even at high altitude so fast boiling times are not a problem. The fold out side panels do a good job of blocking the wind from blowing out the flame. You can also find the 16.4-oz. propane cylinders the camping stoves use at any department store or Ace Hardware you run across on your way out of town.

The Coleman PerfectFlow stoves come in a few styles so you have your choise of a match light or the built in ignighter style called InstaStart. If you want a stove that you can pull out at any time and know it is going to start you should try one of these Colemans.

This pass allows you and the occupants of your vehicle (up to four total adults) free entrance to all National Parks. It replaces the Golden Eagle, Golden Age, and Golden Access Passports. The old National Parks pass only allowed free entrance to family members in your vehicle. The new National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Annual Pass will emit anyone in the vehicle into the park free without having to be related.

The pass can pay for its self in as little as three visits. Knowing that it won’t cost you anymore each time you enter a National Park will encourage you to get out and enjoy them more often. All of the $80 fee goes to helping run and improve our National Parks and Federal Lands.

The National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Annual Pass can be purchased at most National Parks and at the Government web site. http://www.store.usgs.gov/pass/

Big fuel type lanterns still work great for car camping. Nothing puts out the amount of bright white light like a fuel powered mantle based model. I still take mine along for setting up a car camp site at night.

With the improved brightness of the new LED Lanterns you can come closer to reproducing that large amount of light. The LED models are much smaller and easier to pack along on backpacking trips. Some of these battery powered lanterns will run on high setting for over 70 hours before new batteries are required.

Most LED bulbs will burn for over 100,000 hours before needing replaced. That is a lifetime of use for most people. This can mean no more running to the store at the last minute to find replacement mantles. Also extra batteries are a lot safer to store than a big can of Coleman fuel.

Small backpacking LED lanterns like the Brunton Glorb LED XB Lantern use 4 AA batteries and will fit in your pack. It comes with a rubber sleeve to protect it and is the lantern I carry with me backpacking.

Another option in an LED lantern is the slightly heaver but rechargeable Freeplay Indigo Lantern. This one will let you plug it in when the battery runs down or use its built in hand crank to recharge the batteries.

For the added convenience and reliability of a new LED lantern it is hard for me to consider carrying anything else on backpacking trips. Say goodbye to carrying that extra fuel and those messy candles. Hello LED.

This tent is one of those tents that doesn’t do anything special but doesn’t seem to do anything wrong.

The 2 person Kelty Trail Dome tent is a good solid construction simple 2 pole tent. Its fast to set up with easy clip to pole design. One thing that stood out with me was that the floor seams are about 2 inches above the ground. That can be helpful in hard rains or when the ground is really muddy by making it harder for water to seep in. I have had tents who’s seams touch the ground and it can be hard to keep water out.

The Kelty Trail Dome 2 is a bit tight on space for 2 large adults. It may serve some better as a tent for one plus plenty of room for gear setup because with no vestibule you just don’t have room for much gear and another person. It’s a solid tent but I would go bigger if it is for 2 people.

capacity 2 persons
minimum weight 4 lbs. 12 oz.
packaged weight 5 lbs. 6 oz.
Floordimensions 88 x 54 inches
Floor area 30.4 square feet
Peak height 39 inches
Doors 1
Canopy fabric Nylon taffeta
Floor fabric Coated nylon taffeta
Rainfly fabric Coated polyester taffeta
Number of poles 2
Pole material Aluminum
Pole diameter 12.4 millimeters
Packed size 8 x 25 inches

The Gaz Turbo 270 Stove has always been one of my favorite backpacking stoves. I have owned various versions of the model for over 12 years.

This little compact stove comes tightly packed and folds up in a neat small carrying pouch. You just unzip, fold out and screw it onto one of Camping Gaz’s butane/propane cartridges. Super fast and easy setup gets you cooking right away.

The cartridge works well as a sturdy base but doesn’t take up much room. It is very easy to control the flame with the smoothly adjustable knob. If you have ever tried to use a stove under a tent vestibule you will appreciate how fast you can light it and not have a big flame flair up on you.

The stove is however susceptible to winds as most pack stoves are. This can be helped by wrapping a piece of foil around the outside of the burner to block some wind. Also canister stoves can have trouble producing good heat when used in very cold conditions. This can be helped by keeping the Gaz cartridges in the foot of you sleeping bag overnight. The warmed cartridges preform better in the morning on cold days.

I highly recommend the solid little Gaz Turbo 270 Stove . Unless you are on a long backpacking trip this stove may keep you from ever priming up a stove again.

The North Face Cat’s Meow +20 Sleeping Bag – Regular

I took this bag out for a three day weekend in the Colorado Front Range Mt.s . I have to say to begin with that it was probably the warmest +20 degree sleeping bag I have ever used. The second night out it got down to 15 degrees and I stayed comfortable all night without having to put any extra clothing on. That more than I can say for most bags in this very competitive category.

Build quality appears to be quit good. The zippers moved very freely and the hood was easy to pull uptight around my face without any discomfort. There was plenty of room around my shoulders but the foot box did seem a bit confining.

Being 5ft 10in tall the Cat’s Meow in the standard size gave me just enough room to really stretch out. I would say the bag would max out at a 6ft 1in frame. From my cold weather experience in the bag the new Polarguard Delta insulation does store a bit more heat than the now trusted Polarguard 3D.

If your looking to spend under $170 on a good 3 season sleeping bag and want it to last for many seasons to come you should give this bag a hard look. I would definitely recommend this one.

The North Face Cat’s Meow +20 Sleeping Bag – Regular
Specs:
Material: —-57% Polyester, 43% nylon
Insulation: –Polarguard Delta
Shape:——-Mummy
Degree: —–20F
Draft Collar: -Yes
User Height Max: (Reg)6ft; (Lng) 6ft 6in
Weight: (Reg) 42oz (1204g); (Lng) 46oz (1294g)

The New REI Half Dome 2 HC Tent

This is the new version of REI’s best selling two-person backpacking tent. For those familiar with the old Half Dome there has been a few improvements. The fly now has a small window to check out whats going on without having to pull back the fly. Also the sides and floor pull out more tightly to give more usable space thanks to a redesigned center pole hub. The hub keeps the two pole connected to each other which makes it a little faster to clip the tent to the poles.

The New REI Half Dome 2 HC Tent easily fits two 6 footers with enough room for a small amount of gear. This is almost the same tent they have been selling for years. Just a few cosmetic up grades and a new way of attaching the two poles. Its a trusted design and will keep you dry without breaking the bank.

There are a lot of tents in this category. The New REI Half Dome 2 HC sits somewhere in the middle.

Specs:
REI Half Dome 2 HC Tent

Sleeping capacity – 2
Packed Weight – 5 lbs. 11 oz.
Floor area is 34 square feet
Peak height is 41 inches
Packed size is 7 x 23 inches