discovery in action: Fleece insulates even when wet

January 13th, 2009

Last weekend, B discovered why fleece makes great winter wear.  It just doesn’t absob water the way cotton does, and if you happen to be holding the baby Wiggles in Home Depot when the diaper has a malfunction, you might have a wet spot on your shirt and leave a small puddle near the circular saws.  When you walk out to the car in the snow, your wife–who always has camping and hiking on her mind–might say, “Isn’t it great that fleece doesn’t absorb water.  This way he won’t get chilled on our way home.”

Cotton kills, y’all!  Keep that in mind when you go out this winter.

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Dressing Baby for Winter Walks

January 3rd, 2009

I have a 6 week old baby and it’s winter.  How can we get outside and be sure my baby is warm enough?

The guidelines for dressing a baby for cold weather is the same as the guidelines for dressing an adult.

Dress Baby in Layers

When you are dressing your baby for cold, plan on dressing him in layers.  Start with a wicking base layer.  Follow with an insulating layer.  End with a waterproof, windproof outer layer.  If this sounds like a familiar formula, well you dress a baby the same as you would dress an adult.

Avoid Cotton Clothing

Babies, as well as adults, should not wear cotton clothing in the snow.  When cotton gets wet, it loses it’s insulative properties. 

For the base layer, Halo (the sleep sack people) have come out with a Technical Comfort System line of infant clothing made from Cool Max fabric.  These are available as footed coveralls, onesies, or 2 piece sets starting in size 0-3 months.

The easiest insulating layer would be something like this Fleece Blanket Sleeper by Little Me.

For an outer layer, you are looking for waterproof and windproof.  You also want to look for something that has an attatched hood, pullover mittens and booties.  Columbia Sportswear has several good options like their Snow Powder Bunting or Snow Powder Down Bunting .  These both come in sizes from 6-24 months.

Perhaps the most important piece of clothing for your baby is his hat.  As with adults, most of a baby’s heat is lost through the head.  This is actually more true of babies because their heads are proportionately larger to their bodies.  You can layer hats the same way you layer clothing.  Consider getting a fleece hat with a velcro chin strap to make sure baby’s had stays on baby’s head.

Use One extra layer for Baby

 One of the best guidelines that I have gotten for dressing a baby is to dress her in one layer more than you would need to be comfortable.  If you are going out snowshoeing or cross country skiing, you need to dress your baby for going out and being sedentry.  You may be working up a sweat, but your baby is probably just resting.

Wear your baby in a Wrap

Finally, my favorite cool-weather accessory for baby is my baby wrap.  This is a long swath of fabric designed for wearing your baby.  While you are wearing your baby, he will benefit from your body heat (and you from his).  As a Mom, I can relax so much more about whether or not he is too cold when I am wearing my baby snuggled up against my chest.

If you want to make a wrap, MamaToTo.com has instructions on how to make (no sewing required) a wrap. For outdoor, cold weather use, you can even make a wrap out of fleece. Choose a plain colored fabric and you might even be able to get Dad to wear his baby. (My husband likes wearing our baby because he likes the extra body heat).

If you are not crafty, the Moby D wrap is a good choice to wear your baby.  The Moby Original is made from jersey cotton, but the Moby D has a fleece (or silk–your choice) panel in the center for extra warmth.

Moby has provided good instructions on how to use a baby wrap .  For going outside, I prefer the hug hold (for a young baby, check out the newborn hug hold).

Other Considerations

While babies can get cold quickly, they can also overheat quickly.  A sweating baby will quickly get chilled in cold weather.  To check if your baby is too warm, touch the back of his neck and see if it is damp with perspiration.  If he is sweating, remove a layer of clothing.

If you take your baby out often, eventually you will have to do a cold-weather diaper change.  Chose your baby’s clothing so that you can change his diapers quickly and with minimal undressing.

Having a new baby doesn’t mean you have to stay indoors all winter long.  Following the basic rules for winter dressing and taking some basic precautions can open a winter wonderland to you and your baby.

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Spontaneous Car Camping

September 18th, 2008

May 2007 Archives from Dandelions and Daydreams

I love spontaneity. That being said, It’s no surprise that last Friday night when Brenton came home in an out-of-sorts-mood we threw two sleeping bags in the back of the car, loaded a cooler with ham, cheese, and bread. Fifteen minutes after the idea struck, we were on the road and headed towards Montana for a night of camping in the back of the car.
Any good adventure has its setbacks. Our obstacles proved to be trains and red lights. You know, those things are nothing but annoyances when you are trying to run away from civilization. I thought I was going to pull my hair out before we got out of town.

As we headed East on towards Montana on Highway 200, I snapped a picture of the green Monarch Mountains. This was taken right before the rain started pouring down. We kept on driving east chasing a patch of blue sky that we didn’t actually find until the next morning. It was getting dark and we had driven about 100 miles, so we found a national forest road that headed north somewhere past Thompson Falls, MT.

The road caught Brenton’s attention because it headed up into a valley between two mountains. He was thinking of how much fun it would be to fly into the valley. While he was thinking of airplanes and flying, I was keeping my eyes open for a place to pull in and park for the night.

It’s still pretty early in the season up here for camping. Most of the parks will open on Memorial Day weekend. We actually came across several campgrounds that were still closed for the season. With no worries, we kept on driving. The national forest roads are just dotted with campsites along the road. These campsites are little more than a parking space and a fire ring, but they do the job. we found one beside a nice river in the valley between two mountains.

At this point I should probably mention that we didn’t bring any matches or lighters or flashlights or a tent (of course I brought the important stuff–a camera and accessories). I scrounged around the car a while and found a flashlight buried deep down in the glove compartment. We had actually planned from the start to sleep in the car, but we hadn’t planned out the logistics of it.

I had thought of putting the back seats down and sleeping with our feet in the trunk, but I dismissed the idea. As we were trying to figure out how to sleep Brenton suggested folding the back seats forward and sleeping with our feet in the trunk. It took a little extra padding and wiggling around to get comfortable, but sleeping in the trunk of the car was definitely not the most uncomfortable sleep I have ever had while camping.

The next morning we planned on having sandwiches for breakfast, but there is nothing like a hot breakfast after a cold night of camping. We did what any logical person would do after heading out on a spontaneous camping trip. We headed north on the national forest road into uncharted territory.

The road followed the Thompson river. Any road that follows a river snakes back and forth incessantly. There were places where three roads ran side by side just ten feet apart. I thought that the road crew could have planned that a bit better. I was getting hungrier and hungrier until I finally gave in and had a ham sandwich. Brenton on the other hand was still holding out for a stack of pancakes.

We finally came out of national forest about 40 miles East of Libby Montana. By this time I was hoping we would have enough gas to get us into town. Brenton was easy going as always.

About a mile outside of Libby we picked up a hitch hiker. Brenton asked the man if he knew where there was a good place to get a bite to eat. The hitch hiker recommended Torgys. In fact that’s where the gentleman was headed himself.

That was a good breakfast! Brenton had pancakes, eggs, bacon, and coffee. I had eggs, bacon, and toast (and of course coffee). The food was just right. The coffee a bit weak (but then I like it so you can stand a fork up in it). Overall the price wasn’t too bad at Torgy’s Restaurant. I think my plate was $4 and Brenton’s was $5.

Back on the road we drove home to Sandpoint where we rounded out our camping weekend with opening day of the Farmer’s Market, sighting in my rifle, and hauling horse manure in for the garden. At the end of the weekend, It was a good weekend.


During the whole trip we kept a count of wildlife sightings. Here are the totals and my conclusions:

White Tail Deer: 36

Mule Deer: 3

Black Tail Deer: 1

Bald Eagles: 8 (including one juvenile who didn’t have the characteristic white head yet)

Geese: WAY TOO MANY TO COUNT

Bear: 1–in my dreams, no really I dreamt about a bear.

Conclusion: if Bald Eagles are endangered, the moose must be extinct because we didn’t see any of them.

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How we got our Kayak

September 17th, 2008

Digging up more old posts, May 2007

Last weekend was paddlefest. Paddlefest is when Full Spectrum Tours brings out kayaks for a free test day on Lake Pend Orielle. At least it’s free until you buy one.Brenton and I have been dreaming of buying a kayak for about a year and a half. We had thought about it and debated it, and came to the conclusion that a hard body kayak just wasn’t quite what we wanted. We wanted a kayak that we could pack in and out to remote alpine lakes and that we could easily carry in the car. After a lot of consideration, we decided to hold out for a folding kayak like the ones offered by Folbot. But the price for a folding kayak starts out at about $2000 so that wasn’t going to happen any time soon.

We walked down the beach admiring the various kayaks that were available to be tested. There were probably 70 different kayaks of various brands and styles for us to try out. We didn’t test nearly all of the. At the end of the row was a kayak that made me stop and look again.

I have never really been impressed with inflatable kayaks. They all look like beach toys to me, but when I saw the Advanced Elements Advanced Frame Convertible I knew I was looking at the solution to our kayak problem.

Here’s the stats about this little beauty:

SPECIFICATIONS:

Length: 15’

Width: 32”

Weight: 56 lbs (25 kg)

MaxWt.: 550 lbs (249 kg)

Color: Red/Gray

The bottom is made out of the same PVC tarpulin that is used to make white water rafts. There are 6 air chambers. The two main chambers both go all the way around the kayak so you would stay afloat even if one of them punctures. The main air chambers are protected by three layers so a puncture is pretty unlikely. The seats clip in. There are three sets of clips so you can convert it from a tandem to a single kayak. Set up and take down took us about 10 minutes a piece on the first try. I’m sure we will only get faster too (in comparison, my friends with solid body kayaks say it takes them about 15 minutes to get the kayak on and off their roof racks). And I can fit the kayak, paddles, and PFDs all in the truck of our car along with two sleeping bags and a cooler. That’s some sweet stuff. We’ve been out 3 times since we bought it. I would buy it all over again.

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Paddling Sand Creek

September 16th, 2008
City beach at Sandpoint, IdahoImage via Wikipedia

Another Post from my blog archives, May 2007.

With spring still being a bit temperamental, Brenton and I are taking every opportunity we can to get out and about when the weather cooperates. Yesterday the high was in the upper 70’s so we went out for a paddle in our new Advanced Elements Advanced Frame Convertible Kayak. We drove to Schweitzer Cutoff Rd and put in Sand creek at the bridge. Sand creek is a fairly well behaved creek with just enough speed to keep you moving (at least until you get close to Lake Pend Orielle).

Right beside the bridge is a nice parking area that can easily accommodate two cars. We were not the first to think of putting in there. A truck had already parked and was long gone down the creek by the time we got there. It turned out that our fellow boater was one of Brenton’s Co-workers, but that’s another story.

We scouted the best path to portage before we inflated the kayak. There’s nothing worse than getting all set up to go only to find out that you can’t get into the water because the bank is too steep. We had to hug the fence a bit to carry the kayak down to the waters edge, but we made it. The bank was a bit steep.

I went into the water first and WOW it was cold. We are still getting some spring melt from the mountains. The rocks were slick with alge and I thought I was going to take a swim once or twice as we were trying to get all situated.

We managed to get into the boat and head down the creek with no major events. Brenton paddled most of the way, I was just there to help around a few rough spots. It’s a good route for inexperienced paddlers, a few shallow places, a little bit of a current, but nothing too intense. Mostly the route is just flat, slow moving water.

It’s spring around here so we saw lots of goslings and ducklings. I have to say the ducklings are cuter than the goslings. We saw a long boardwalk along sand creek that was getting pretty old and decrepit.

As I was looking at the boardwalk, I thought about another time in Sandpoint, ID. This town has always revovled around the lake and water. Whether it was the timber industry or the tourism industry, Lake Pend Orielle is at the heart of Sandpoint.

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North Idaho weekend

September 15th, 2008

Upper Priest LakeI Found this post in my other blog archives, Dandelions and Daydreams from June 2007.

God must have had Heaven in mind when he designed North Idaho. Living here is like living in a playground. If you like to hike, bike, hunt, fish, ski, sail, camp, or do anything outdoors, North Idaho is a great place to call home.If you like art museums don’t come here. We like the great outdoors.

On Friday, I took off for the lake right after lunch. The sun was shining and a nice wind was blowing.I put our inflatable kayak out on Lake Pend Orielle and paddled out to the middle of the lake. For the next two hours, I let the boat drift while I was reading and working on a writing project. Next time I plan on writing on the lake, I think I will bring my MP3 player/voice recorder.It’s hard to write when the waves are rocking the boat.

The next day, Brenton and I decided to paddle the thorofare to Upper Priest Lake. Upper Priest Lake is a scenic wilderness area with no roads in or out and no houses built on the shoreline. The three mile paddle from Beaver Creek Campground to Upper Priest Lake took us about 1 1/2 hours, but we were not in a hurry at all. In a few weeks, we are going to take some people camping at Upper Priest Lake, and we wanted to check out the sites.

The camping is primitive. There are four campgrounds that offer fire rings, vault toilets (AKA outhouses), bear boxes, and not much else. The view is perfect, and I really hope we can do some stargazing when we camp up there.

Monarch ButterfliesThis kayak trip was special because it was the first time I was brave enough to bring my camera along. I intend to buy a waterproof camera eventually. For now, I double bagged the camera with zip-lock bags, and hoped it would survive the trip. The risk was well rewarded.

We saw quite a few ducklings swimming. On a sandbar, there was a congregation of Monarch butterflies, but the real highlight of the trip came on the paddle back down the thorofare. As we slipped around a corner, a moose broke through the brush on the bank not more than 50 feet in front of our kayak. Brenton held on to the bank while I was taking pictures. A minute later, her baby came out into the water with her and began nursing. We floated there, on the opposite bank, for probably ten minutes watching this pair as they went about their evening feedings. Cow Moose and her babyAll too soon, we had to paddle on down the thorofare so we could get off the lake before darkness fell. We had to paddle across open water for about 1/4 of a mile at the North end of Priest Lake. The wind was headed right down the lake, so the waves had picked up speed and height. We went splashing over the waves and were quite thankful that our Advanced Elements Kayak is very stable. We took out at Beaver Creek Campground, where we had put in. At the end of the day we were both exhausted and hungry, but grinning from ear to ear.

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First backpacking trip and some painful honesty

September 2nd, 2008

First Hiking trip and a rainbow

At some point in your life, you will probably have to admit that you don’t really know anything.This is me, standing up and admitting, I don’t really know anything about backpacking.

For years I have loved the thought of backpacking.  I have dreamed of doing the Appalachian trail as a thru-hike.  I have talked about how much I love hiking, but I have never been on a backpacking trip.

I always thought that a backpacking trip had to be at least a week long.  I tried to plan such a trip but always ended up overwhelmed by the thought.  I didn’t have the “right gear.”  I wanted to buy one more thing to lighten my pack.  Heck, until last November, I didn’t even have a pack!

Last winter we bought backpacks thinking we would be able to do winter camping.  More honesty in the post–that was a dumb idea.  Mercifully, everytime we planned that first camping trip, something else came up to keep us at home.  With a little more experience I think that newbies on a budget should not try winter camping for a while.  In our defense, we were planning on doing it as car camping so if things got too rough we could ditch.

This summer we had great plans to do some weekenders on the Idaho Centennial trail.  B and I dream of hiking that one in sections while we are living in North Idaho.

This spring, April 3 to be exact, we discovered that there was a huge bend in the road ahead of us and all our plans changed.  The baby is due November 26.  We still had high hopes of spending time kayaking and backpacking, and I had no idea that morning sickness would last all the way until week 24.  Our few summer outings (on days I felt good) always resulted in 2 days of nausea and sleeping just to recover.  Our plans continued to change.

This past week, B and I talked and decided that we couldn’t really consider ourselves backpackers until we had at least done an overnight trip.  We also decided that we didn’t have to plan a big expedition trip to really be backpacking.  Just going and doing is enough.  That was Wednesday.

Friday I bought a few extras while I was out grocery shopping.  I hoped that Saturday would take us to the trail for our first backpacking trip.  I had to wait until Sunday, but I was not disappointed.

At 6 months pregnant and probably in the worst shape of my life, I can honestly say that I have done an overnight backpacking trip.  One trip taught us a lot of stuff.  I wrote most of it down in the field so I could remember and blog about it.  The hike was 2.5 miles one way, and I almost didn’t make it back to the trail head.  Anyone who has ever been pregnant will understand when I say that I never knew my calf muscles could cramp that way before.

Today I am tired and sore but satisfied beyond measure.  I will probably require a week to recover from the trip, but we did it!  What’s more, I would do it again–even at 6 months pregnant.

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Prepare for The Worst

June 11th, 2008

Yesterday I saw that a hiker died on Mt Rainier. The circumstances surrounding this hiker’s death act as a good reminder that you should always be prepared for the worst weather that you might encounter whenever you go out for a hike. Right now, in the NorthWest that means being prepared for a late blizzard. In the SouthEast you should be ready for blazing hot temperatures and torrential downpours with thunder and lightning. If you are in tornado alley, you might want to brush up on your “What to do in a tornado” skills.

The Sierra Trading Post blog has posted an article about hiking in high altitudes.

It may be June, but three hikers were caught in a blizzard on Mt. Rainier yesterday. Rescuers saved two of them, but the third hiker has, sadly, passed away.

It’s hard to believe something like that could happen during a summer day hike. It’s yet another reminder that when hiking high-altitudes, even in the summer months, you need to be prepared for sudden changes in the weather. Sometimes you don’t have much notice before an alpine storm hits.

click here for full article

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Chinese tent cities

June 3rd, 2008

I just saw this on the outside blog:

You’ve seen the tag on your high-tech camping gear from brands like Mountain Hardwear, Marmot, and The North Face: Made in China. SNEWS reports today that as part of its disaster relief efforts, the Chinese government has seized control of all Chinese-owned tent factories and existing stock. The report puts Chinese army soldiers on factory floors for at least a month, maybe more. The move may have some effect on US suppliers gearing up for the outdoor season, and could bottleneck production into the spring of 2009.

Seems like prices on everything are going crazy. Now you won’t even be able to afford a tent to sleep in. Unless of course you decide to make a tarptent.

I am glad that this option is available for temporary shelter for people who have been left homeless due to the recent earthquakes.

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Back from the wilderness…and a few changes.

June 3rd, 2008

I can’t believe that it has been 3 months since I posted here.  I have a good excuse…really.  The Dog ate my homework.

Actually, March was spent on the couch with a cold/cough/upper respiratory crud.   I recovered just in time to go on vacation (I have posts to write from that).  I got home just in time to relapse with aforementioned cold/cough/upper respiratory crud.  April marked a big change in life as I lay on the couch still recovering from the crud and coming down with morning sickness.  Between now and November, the blog will probably have some focus on getting outdoors while pregnant.  Then you can expect Wild Bound with Kids to start up sometime after Thanksgiving (okay, maybe I’ll take a break between Thanksgiving and New Years).

Welcome to my new life.

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