backpacking - CWSpencer

CW Spencer February 2, 2015

Back in the Loop–Part One

Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 February 2, 2015 Bonnie and I have been busy working on the marketing aspect of Hiking Without Dave, so I’ve had my latest hiking story on hold until now. It was the biggest backpacking trip I’ve ever taken, so big I’ve divided it into multiple chapters. The Preparation My hike had to be big. After all, it commenced on my wife’s birthday. I wouldn’t have missed her big day for something puny. Another reason I supersized it was that it would be taking …

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CW Spencer October 20, 2014

The Rest of the Story

by guest blogger Bonnie Spencer October 20, 2014 CW recently wrote about his backpacking trip to the Smokies. However, he neglected to tell you the whole story. After you read this, you’ll probably understand why. He began his tale near the end of the hike and never made it all the way back to the real beginning. On Sunday morning, George came to our house to pick CW up. Though I had heard George’s name a lot, I had never met him, so I walked outside to do just that. I also made myself useful …

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CW Spencer October 11, 2014

Smoky Mountain Seven

October 11, 2014 It was the end of the day. We sat around the fire in Spence Field Shelter talking about yet another great backpacking trip . . . and we waited for the bear. Tomorrow we would descend from the misty mountains to our vehicles parked in Cades Cove, then head for home. That is, if we survived the night. We had arrived three days before on Sunday night. Monday we began the day by hiking a few warm-up miles near Newfound Gap. I appreciated this chance to work out some of the bugs. …

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CW Spencer June 16, 2014

A Golden Ticket Encore

June 16, 2014 In the “Golden Ticket,” I told you about my continuing quest for the perfect sleep while backpacking. (That was two blogs back and needs to be read first to make any sense of this one.) My air mattress has to be light enough to pack for several days or weeks. Maybe even months—who knows? But it also has to be comfortable and, most importantly, wide enough for both my elbows. The fact is, I never did actually use my new birthday Klymit Static V sleeping pad. Shortly after trying it out on …

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CW Spencer January 18, 2014

Hiking For Poppie—Part One

January 18, 2014 It was an unusually mild December day, perfect weather for a walk down those lonely back roads. We weren’t hunters, and we trusted our bright colors to alert the people with rifles that we were not deer, either. I listened as my hiking partner, Andrew Purdy (aka Yogi), detailed our mission to a curious gent in that rural part of southeast Ohio. The man sat on his porch enjoying the Indian summer day. He rarely saw hikers happen by. Yogi explained that he was on leave from the Navy and was hiking …

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CW Spencer December 23, 2013

Everything (Mostly) in Its Place

December 23, 2013 My brain reached its saturation point fifteen years ago; unfortunately, it was about five years before my retirement date. Lesson plans, parent activities in the evenings, organizing the yearly Mary Ingles Festival in town—my plate was piled so high that I couldn’t keep track of everything in the heap. So I did what Bonnie does to maintain her sanity: I made a to-do list. I recoiled at the idea at first. It seemed much more adventurous just to deal with life as it happened. But I could see that I couldn’t put …

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Tag: backpacking