My 5 Must-Have Camping Gear Items

I was catching up the other day with a friend who I hadn’t seen since April and we got to talking about our summers. He asked me what my favorite trip was and I had a hard time choosing. For some reason it feels like I haven’t gone anywhere, which is frankly not true at all. I’ve gone around the globe.

From the Dalles to Sweden to the San Juans to Montana, summer of 2017 has been one for the record books for me. I slept outside more than I have other summers, did more multi-night camping trips, and pushed myself further.

Rolling into our dream spot on the Deschutes River in May

All of this camping gave me a great opportunity to get really really familiar with a few pieces of gear that are now in my pack every time I go camping.

There are some pieces of gear that rotate depending on whom I’m going with, the weather, and how I’m getting there. These include my stove, sleeping system, and tent. If it’s super nice out with no rain in the forecast, I might forego a tent and sleep on a ground cloth. If I’m with my boyfriend, we’ll take the bigger tent and big stove. If it’s going to be cold and I’m going solo, I’ll take the insulated pad, warmer sleeping bag, and tiny stove. All sorts of variables going into picking these things.

But there are a few specific pieces of essential gear that absolutely must come with me EVERY SINGLE TIME. This is regardless of weather, destination, or company:

1.       Fozzils Folding bowl/cutting board combination

This bowl/cutting board combo is exactly what it sounds like. Folds up into a bowl, lays flat for a cutting board. I *think* it comes in a 2 pack, which is perfect for prepping on one, and then eating in the other. For any weight weinies reading this, each bowl is 1.4oz (40grams), so pretty damn light for a cutting board & bowl!

2.       GSI Drip coffee maker

This is another folding contraption, and while there are fancier ones out there, this GSI Collapsible coffee maker does the job perfectly. Collapses super small, never retains odors/colors/stains, easy to use with a variety of filter sizes when I inevitably forget one and have to borrow from somebody.

3.       Black Diamond Headlamp

Just like the coffee maker, there are fancier versions of this out there, but I arbitrarily picked the $20 headlamp a few years ago at REI and have been happy with it ever since. The battery lasts forever, it’s easy to operate, dims when I want it to, goes to red light for reading/not blinding people. Overall, just a functional headlamp.

4.       Paradox baselayer

Underwear are particular for every person. Wool underwear are like underwear, just longer, and more people see them, at least if you go camping with me. So, take this recommendation with a grain of salt. I absolutely LOVE my Paradox baselayer from Paradox that I got at Costco four years ago. They’ve got a few holes in them from embers around the fire and have been on countless trips. But goddamn do I love them. Perfectly soft (even from the first wear) and just the right weight that they’re great as a single layer on warm nights, or as a base layer on cold nights.

5.       Ditty bags (Waterproof and non. I have both.)

The secret to enjoying camping is staying organized. Knowing where my snacks are when I get hungry, socks are when my feet are cold, and Tylenol is to beat the hangover before it starts is the magic that keeps me coming back. Staying organized also makes packing and unpacking a breeze. The only way I’m able to do this is with ditty bags. I use these for everything – food, clothes, underwear, toiletries, bike tools. Everything.

So what are your go-to pieces of gear? (Also, sorry for the ads/affiliate links. I’m trying it out- let me know any feedback. Also, you should buy from a local shop and not Amazon, but if your'e gonna buy from them anyway, use these links and I'll get a very very very tiny %.)

To Take the Lane or Not – Rural Road Conundrums

I’m lucky to live in the Pacific Northwest, where great rural roads are a quick ferry ride away from downtown Seattle. Depending on the ferry, I can go from my doorstep to relatively quiet rural roads in under an hour. Not bad for the fastest growing city in the US with a metropolitan population of more than 3.5 million people.

Riding these roads is usually pretty uneventful, if not downright serene. Many of my favorite routes to close campsites (see this post for a quick rundown) have great shoulders for riding bikes on, and some even have dedicated bike lanes.

I get bored with the same destination over and over, however, and often find myself exploring new roads and route. These routes come to me from a variety of places – creeping on randonneuring maps, zooming in on Strava friends’ routes, and crowdsourcing. I’ll often fall back on the Washington State Gazeteer I invested in last year, which is always the most helpful in figuring out actual routes.

The challenge with these rural and suburban roads is that often they lack critical infrastructure that makes the kind of riding I like to do safe and comfortable. Sure, it’s legal for me to ride my bike there, but is it actually safe?

Bike train climbing up and out of Seabeck

I’ll give you an example- the route to Scenic Beach State Park. This park is 18 miles from the Bremerton ferry terminal, which for many people (especially weekend warriors and bike camping beginners), makes for a pretty good distance bike camping destination. The route even looks pretty benign on Ride with GPS and Google Maps- a few decent hills, and only one road named “highway.”  (Caveat- there is an actual highway option on route 3, which actually does have shoulders, but I don’t recommend it.)

Google Maps suggested route to Scenic Beach

The actual ride to get out there though is a frightening mix of blind uphill corners, long climbs, and narrow shoulders. (Another caveat, it starts out with these signs through Bremerton, which quickly transition into “Watch out for Cyclists, in Memory of XXXX”)

These signs are the best

I have Scenic Beach as a recommended spot on my list of spots within an hour-ish of Seattle, but might need to edit the description a bit. The last time I rode out there this summer I was white knuckled with fear the entire time I climbed up Northlake Way, a long, slow, twisting climb with no shoulders. As cars came up behind us, I could hear them swerving around us, as they didn’t know we’d be in front of them going so slow, nor was there a safe space for us to ride off to the side.

Notice the speed limit and shoulder conditions. Where would you ride?

So on rides like this, what do you do? Obviously, safety is paramount, as there are already far too many bike/car collisions. Also, I think it’s important to recognize our vulnerability on the road as cyclists, as we are by far the softest thing out there.

With those in mind, here is how I handle situations where I don’t have a bike lane, limited shoulder to ride on, or poor road quality:

I am as assertive, yet empathetic to road users as possible, while still taking up as much space as is possible and safe for myself. Often, this means riding just to left side of the white line (in the car lane), or sometimes, even taking the full lane. I try and wave to drivers who slow down for me, pull over when climbing in a pullout to let cars who are going slow behind me to pass, and in general, be a cooperative road user. As somebody who drives (occasionally) it can be very frustrating to see what appears to be a selfish person on a bike. I try and avoid that situation, smile at drivers, and yet still take the lane.

I also recognize my position of privilege in making this statement. I am a white woman in the USA. I do not look threatening while on a bicycle. I go slow. I am fat. Most car drivers look happy and encouraged to see me on a bicycle and more often than not, I get encouraging remarks from them. (Another post on that on another day.)

I’ve ridden with men before who get honked at, yelled at, and things thrown at them. Their experiences touring/traveling in a rural area is way different than mine, so I can’t really offer any advice for that.

CitiBike NYC - Catcalls and Close Calls

I'm in New York City this week for a few days for work meetings. NYC makes me feel so alive and is probably my favorite city. The diversity of food, people, languages- it's always so alive and happening!

Yesterday for my meeting in SoHo, I biked from Williamsburg and while it was fun and exhilarating and lovely, it was also a bit infuriating. And scary. I'll tell you why in just a minute. But first,  I'm going to digress briefly into a personal history of New York, and then I'll get back to yesterday's bike ride.

I lived here for a short in 2007 when I had an internship in Flatbush, Brooklyn. That summer was actually one of the worst summers of my life. I was newly 21, kind of figuring out that I might be bisexual, didn't really have a good handle on my finances, and was working a really crappy internship. I didn't have a good idea of the hobbies I liked to do, wasn't confident in who I was as a person, and definitely didn't take advantage of all that New York had to do. I spent most of that summer going on awkward JDates trying to meet people, taking the Q line to Coney Island and Brighton Beach, and exploring some of New York (all by train.)

I've subsequently come back to New York a number of times since 2007 and the bike culture has exploded since then. This wasn't by mistake or happen-stance either. Janette Sadik-Khan (the bike tzar) was appointed NYC Transportation Commissioner in 2007 and served until 2013. During her tenure, she implemented tons of bike-friendly policies in NYC, including building over 400 miles of bike lanes and 60 pedestrian plazas. She also led the creation of , which now has over 56,000 bikes all across New York. 

Seriously, the work she did is nothing short of transforming New York from an auto-centric city to a pedestrian and bike friendly city. You can now eat lunch in the middle of Penn Plaza (I just did today) and play ping pong, see art in the middle of Times Square, and ride your bike through dedicated bike lanes in Uptown. None of this was in place 10 years ago and it has totally transformed how people interact with the city.

Ok, so yesterday's bike ride. I'm staying at a great AirBNB in Bushwick, and it turns out, CitiBike hasn't quite made it out that far yet. The hipsters are there, but the bikes aren't yet. So I walked the half mile to the nearest station, installed the app, paid the $24 for a 3 day pass, and was off. CitiBikes are damn sturdy bikes and riding them feels good. No issues there.

I loaded up the route to Manhattan on Google Maps and had one headphone in, feeding me turn by turn directions. The ride was pretty uneventful, until I got close to the Williamsburg bridge. Here, bike traffic started to increase. I'm fairly used to Seattle super commuters passing closely and without warning, but this was on a whole different level.

Admittedly, I was going pretty slow, even by my standards. My foot is still technically broken and I wasn't super confident in where I was going, but I wasn't in people's way. I was riding to the far right of the bike lane, leaving plenty of space for folks to pass. And pass they did. Holy shit. So many people brushed by me with seemingly no concern that I was there. 

Eventually we made it through the narrow construction zone (oh hey signs in the middle of the bike lane) and onto the bridge, where there was a decent climb up the span. Morning rush hour was crawling along side us and I kid you not, I got cat called 3 times during my ride across the bridge. When I got off the bridge and riding through Manhattan, I got hollered at 4 more times. I don't know if things are just different, or I looked really good yesterday, or what was going on, but I have never felt so objectified in my life as I did yesterday.

The afternoon commute wasn't much different. 5 men hollered at me on the way home, with 2 explicitly commenting on my ass. I also almost got rear ended once on Bowery Street. 

So, while I was initially really excited about the prospect of biking in the city and how small it made this huge city feel, I'm not so sure how I feel anymore. I'll probably give it another go tomorrow, but I might stay on the Brooklyn side.

Biking on Cheng Chau Island - Hong Kong

This post is 7 months overdue. But better late than never, right?

I was fortunate to travel to Hong Kong with some friends from college in February 2017. I've traveled all over the Americas with these friends, from Mexico, Jamaica, Haiti, the Virgin Islands, to Canada, New York, California, Wisconsin, and lots of places in between. But this would be our first trip overseas together. 

Jada found round-trip tickets to Hong Kong for $300 each. He also works for W Hotels, so we were able to get a screaming deal on hotels. I, however, insisted on staying in a local neighborhood at least half the time to get a more authentic experience.

We spent the first three nights in an AirBNB in Sin Yai Pun and the last 3 in a fancy hotel in downtown Kowloon. The experiences could not have been more different.

First up, Sin Yai Pun. Wow. Sights, smells, sounds galore. 

Our apartment was on the fourth floor of a walk-up building on Queens Road Central, which turned out to be a main road in Hong Kong. It seemed to be a quite typical apartment building. Each residence had a small alter at the door with incense and a strong metal gate. Inside was very tiny, but the most efficient use of space I've ever seen. The three of us fit comfortably in a 2 bedroom, very cozy 2 bedroom apartment, with no room to be spared. At all.

Just outside the doors were lots of shops, selling everything from fresh fruits and vegetables, to dried goods (to be honest I couldn't tell you what the dried things were), to teas and herbs. There were also electronics stores, home good stores, and a 24 hour McDonalds. On our first night, battling jetlag I checked out the McDonald's and was pleasantly surprised by the sweet potato ice cream and corn on the menu!

My favorite thing about Sin Yai Pun was the restaurants and bakeries. I absolutely fell in love with the food. It definitely did not seem as if this was a very typical tourist area, as we got lots of bewildered looks when walking into restaurants. But everybody was always incredibly friendly (a recurring theme in Hong Kong throughout our trip) and accommodating for us. Even when we didn't ask for English menus, they would send out the youngest staff members to take our orders (who usually spoke English).

As I mentioned earlier, the bakeries were to die for. Seriously. If you ever go to Hong Kong, trust me and go to a bakery. Pick up a tray and pair of tongs and fill up it up with whatever looks good. It won't cost you much and it'll be the perfect snacks to take with you throughout the day. Sometimes we'd get savory surprises or sweet treats - regardless, it never came to more than $3 USD for a bag full of fresh, warm, mouth watering pastries.

Our first day in Hong Kong, we walked from Sin Yai Pun down the main street (Queens Road Central) all the way to the Mid Level Escalators. These are the world's longest outdoor escalators and they help people get from the harbour all the way up the hilly terrain to the top of the hill. During the morning they go one way, and in the afternoon they go the other. We got off periodically to check out the shops down below, eat food, and check out all the amazing things going on all around us. 

The Mid-Central Escalators

All throughout the day I was blown away by the beauty of the city, how clean the city was, and how orderly the city was despite how many people there were. It was astounding.

The rest of the week was filled with adventures in eating dim sum, riding the tram to the peak, and taking what seemed like nearly every type of public transportation possible. Seriously, Hong Kong has buses, trams, ferries, subway, taxis, and Uber. And they were all pretty easy to figure out.

We even took the train to Lantau Island to the Tin Tan Buddha and went hiking one day. Stunningly beautiful and serene.

But, this isn't really a travel blog, and while I'd be happy to give "insider" tips or whatnot, what I really want to share is about my day biking on Cheng Chau Island. 

When I travel with my college buddies, we're usually intentional about taking one or two days to ourselves to do what we want. When we went to Mexico, I took a bus alone and went snorkeling. On this trip, I took a ferry to Cheng Chau Island to explore by bicycle while they stayed back to relax.

I had heard of Cheng Chau while researching Hong Kong and bicycling, as I'm always excited to ride bikes whenever I travel. In my original research, Cheng Chau was highlighted as a low-key place to visit, ride bikes, swim, and enjoy the beaches. As it so happened, the day that I went, the weather shifted and instead of high 80s, it was cold and windy, so no beach time for me, but that meant more time for food and bike riding!

Cheng Chau is a tiny island, with a population of 22,000 and shaped like a dumbell. When you get off the ferry, it looks like photos of Europe, with rows and rows of bicycles. I was really excited about this, as it looked like these were all rental bikes. Despite this, it took me about 20 minutes to find a bicycle to rent, as I couldn't find a bike rental shop. All the bikes were unlocked, but I didn't just want to take one.

I finally ended up walking into a 7-11 and asking the clerk, who directed me to a seafood restaurant around the corner. From there, I ended up eating lunch (still not quite sure what I ate) and was able to draw a picture of a bicycle and got one to rent. This was quite surprising to me, as nearly everywhere in Hong Kong people spoke English, but Cheng Chau communication was quite a bit harder.

After giving a $10 deposit and paying $5 for the rental, I had a bike for 3 hours! Freedom!

Biking on the island was like nothing I had experienced before. The island is quite old and all the lanes are too narrow for regular cars to fit through. Because of this, nearly everyone rides either a bicycle or uses a tiny vehicle. It also gives the island a miniature feeling. Even though I was on a rickety bicycle, I was able to explore nearly all of it, taking in the sounds, smells, and tastes of this amazing place.

All too quickly my 3 hours were up and I needed to catch the ferry back to Hong Kong. I'm so excited to go explore another part of the world by bicycle.