Two night trip in Skåne with C in September

On By Småland OutdoorIn 2022, Trips, Two-night trips1 Comment

It’s been a while since C and I where on more than an overnighter together. Last time was our hike in Fulufjället more than a year ago. I’d been wanting to do more than just overnighers for a long time, and to go back to Skåne where we’d been a couple of times before.

I got off from work a bit earlier on Friday afternoon and picked up C from school. The bags where already packed so we just made the final preparations at home before going. We left home around 15.00, and had a two hour drive ahead of us. The weather report had shown rain for most of the week, but the closer we got to the weekend, the better the weather report looked.

There was just one other car in the parking lot when we arrived, and as the last two times we where going to hike mostly off trail and didn’t expect to meet anyone. We hiked the first part on Skåneleden, and there we actually met three people. It’s hard to say whether they just started hiking, or had been on the trail for a while.

But we soon left the trail and headed up to the ridge. The nature was stunning, with old beech forests and a deep canyon. C wanted to put up the tent right away, but I wanted to get up to get some nice views before we set up camp. C loves camp life. The hiking part of a hiking trip is not her favorite.

Once up on the ridge, we found a nice spot, with a good view. A bit too close to the edge of the reserve for my taste, since we still could see houses, cars and tractors in the distant, but C got to call the shots for this trip.

We set up camp, and C got to set up the tent, with me giving a helping hand. She really enjoyed setting it up. I’ve done most of it before, but I thought it was time for her to learn it more hands on. The tunnel tent is a lot easier to set up than a mid or tipi too.

Once we had our camp up I started to make dinner. I had brought ingredients to make reindeer stew with mashed potatoes. I used fresh cream and frozen reindeer meat, so it made sense to do the heavy food in the beginning of the trip.

The reindeer stew was delicious, and it was really nice to sit and enjoy a good meal with such nice views.

C wanted to spend a lot of time inside the tent so we did that. The tent was really comfortable and I think I’ll like this one. I really like the straight walls and the dual entrances.

The next morning we saw a herd of fallow deers close to our tent. It’s becoming somewhat of a tradition now, and they are abundant here.

We had breakfast before we packed up our camp, and then we hiked along the ridge. While it’s up above the canyon there’s still a lot of ups and downs. It didnt take too long until C wanted us to put up camp again. And since she got to call most of the shots this trip we did.

We found a beautiful spot where we put up the camp. The rest of the day we mostly hung out in and around camp.

I made West African rice stew for lunch. I really liked it, but it wasn’t C’s favourite, and I made far too much.

We went on and explored the surroundings. We found a sea of boulders, and for a couple of hours we played “floor is lava” and jumped around on the rocks.

We needed to fill up on water, and had to get down into the canyon. Doing so is an adventure on its own (and so is getting back up), but with a slow and steady pace we managed to get down. Down at the stream my Sawyer Mini filter wouldn’t work though. I pressed as hard as I could, but could only get a few drops through. I hadn’t used it in a couple of years, and cursed myself for not trying it before the trip. But we filled up with unfiltered water instead, and had to boil it before drinking.

By evening we started to carve wood. C had gotten a Mora Scout as a present, and was eager to try it. We sat for two hours carving, and she didn’t want to stop. I had to drag her into the tent.

I had planned to do a lot of cooking on this trip, but we ended up not being that hungry. So for dinner that night we just had snacks and popcorn.

We’d had gorgeous weather the first two days, but the last morning we woke up to rain.

We packed up and discussed which way to go back to the car. Retracing our steps or go in the other side of the canyon?

We decided to go on the other side of the canyon and found a deer trail that led down in the canyon. We passed a meadow and hiked for a while in the canyon before getting up on the other side. The foliage on the uphill was so thick that the rain barely reached us.

We paused for a couple of times to watch the view before we got back to the car.

The trip had been absolutely great. C had really loved it and said it was the best weekend ever. We are definitely going back here together again.

(As I’m writing this I’m here again on a solo trip. I’ve started this trip report a long time ago, but I never got around to finishing it until now. Hopefully the trip report from this trip won’t take 6 month to finish)

First solo overnighter in a long time

On By Småland OutdoorIn 2022, Overnighters, Trips3 Comments

When I first started this website and my Instagram I had a goal to spend at least one night a month, and 10% of the nights of the year in a tent. I never actually made it to 10%, but the point is I was out hiking, camping and canoeing a lot more than I’ve done the past couple of years.

I can’t really point out any specific reason to it. I still love it, but I guess short overnighters on the same spot time and again just didn’t do it for me anymore. I guess I want more. Longer hikes and paddles, multiday trips and trips further into the wilderness and mountains. I really miss the mountains, and my heart aches when I look at my old pictures from Sarek and Jotunheimen.

I also missed solo trips. I love going on trips with C, but for years my solo camps was my go-to way of winding down, getting rid of stress and recharging my batteries.

Since it’s been so long since I’ve been out on a solo trip, and I’ve just been out on two camping trips in total this year, I was looking forward to going on a solo trips this weekend. It would just be a short overnighter, but I was looking forward to the solitude, and most of all the silence. I had visited my planned location before on a day hike, and there wasn’t any man made sounds there. Living somewhat central in the city means it’s almost always sounds of neighbors, traffic, sirens etc. Just disconnecting from all those sounds is a great way relax.

I quit work a bit earlier on Friday afternoon and packed my bag for the overnighter. I was going to Lunden nature reserve, about 20-30 minutes drive from home. It’s a relatively new nature reserve, and the northern section has a lot of oak meadows and pastures, while the southern part consists of mires and pine forests. I have camped in the northern section with C before, but this time I would camp in the southern parts, where I had a lot of different camp sites checked out from my previous day hike.

On my way out I stopped at a supermarket to buy ingredients for my dinner, as I had planned to make Pasta Carbonara,.and also stopped at Systembolaget to buy a couple of beers. I ended up buying two locally produced ales, that where brewed just 14 km from my campsite.

I got to the parking lot, and my car was the only one there. I started hiking north, and in the beginning there was an abundance of blueberry- and lingonberry bushes. They where completely full of berries and I picked blueberries while I hiked.

I came to an intersection where the left turn would mean I’d follow the circle trail around the northern mire, and the right turn would lead across with mires on both sides.

I choose the right path, as that was the quickest way to my planned camp site, and I wanted to get my camp up right away.

I passed a few possible campsite until I finally choose one. I had wet lands on both sides, and camped on the somewhat narrow stretch of dry land.

After I’d put up my tent I put up the hammock. I had hesitated whether to bring it or not, but I was glad I did. I almost fell asleep laying there, but wanted to stay up so I wouldn’t have trouble sleeping at night instead. It was really relaxing, but the down side was all the black flies and moose flies. There where a lot of them. And I do mean a lot. If I hadn’t brought my mosquito net I would have gone insane.

With the mosquito net on it was easy to just ignore the flies. I forgot I had the net on a few times though, and tried to put cheese in my mouth through the net.

After chillin’ in the hammock for a while I made dinner. They only had pre chopped pancetta at the store, so it was really easy to make. I mixed the egg yokes with the pecorino romano and fried the pancetta. Then I cooked the pasta and mixed everything together and added some of the starchy pasta water. It was delicious. I choose to bring my full Trangia 27HA set. It weighs around 1kg with the chopping board, spice box, spork and dish brush. But I just love using it. I think it’s really fun to cook on it, and on shorter trips where I do more than just boil water for freeze dried food I think it’s well worth the weight. If I could only have one stove set for the rest of my life I’d choose the Trangia 27HA that I have now.

After dinner I got back into a horizontal position in the hammock, and tried the local beers that I bought. They where really tasty, and I preferred the lighter one, Småland Haze.

The sun disappeared and I thought it was time to get into the tent. It was quite warm and sticky, and I really wouldn’t need the quilt until later in the night. I had planned to read, but my ebook reader had died (and unfortunately I would not be able to get it back to life again). I watched half an episode of Westworld and then I just laid in the tent and listened to the birds nearby.

I slept somewhat ok, but while I’ve had worse pillows, my stuff sack pillow isn’t the most comfortable. I’m a side sleeper and woke up with neck pain every now and then.

I woke up at around 06.00 and laid there for a while before I mustered enough energy to get up. I planned to lay in the tent and make coffee in the vestibule with the door open, but the black flies stormed through the entrance right away. I thought it was better to get up instead of having the whole tent invaded by them.

I got out, got the Trangia up and boiled water for coffee. But when I was going to get the coffee I just couldn’t find it. I searched everywhere, but realized that I had forgotten it at home. Disaster, but I would have to endure. Fortunately I had brought a bunch of chanterelles that I had picked the other day so I had something to comfort myself with. I chopped the chanterelles and finely chopped half a red onion. Then I fried it in butter, before adding salt, pepper and cream. I let the cream boil in to a stew. Then I fried a slice of bread in butter and added the chanterelle stew. The stew would probably have been even better with a few drops of brandy in it, but it was still a really tasty breakfast.

After breakfast I packed up camp and left. I took the longer way back to the car, and picked a few blueberries here and there on the way. I saw the feathers of a bird, probably taken by a fox, and later I say a dead mouse on the trail.

I got back to the car and drove back home. I was back at 09.30. It was a short trip. Too short really, to actually wind me down. But it was still nice to get out again, since it’s been so long. Next time I’ll probably try to make it a full weekend and two nights, to really get a chance to disconnect.

Canoe camping with Friluftsfrämjandet friends

On By Småland OutdoorIn 2022, Canoe camping, Overnighters, TripsLeave a comment

(Disclaimer: Below list contains two affiliate links, which means I get a small commission for purchases made through the links. The gear is bought with my own money though and I have not been asked to review the gear.)

I have gone from camping almost every month of the year a few years back, to barely be out at all this year. I can’t find any specific reason. I love it but I just haven’t had the feeling. I don’t know if it might be because I’ve done so many short overnighters all around here that I want more. More hiking, longer paddles, mountains and multiday trips.

But in July me and C finally got out on an overnighter. We went on a canoe trip with Christoffer and his daughter E, that we met through Friluftsfrämjandet Skogsknytt and Skogsmulle. Both Christoffer and I are leaders for a Skogsmulle group.

We decided to do the trip on Tolgasjön where C and I usually paddle and camp, since it’s a narrow lake to paddle and short distances. It was E:s first canoe camping trip so we didn’t want to make an expedition out of it.

We had also decided to go with two cars and drop off one car at the end of our route, and drive the other car with the canoe to our starting point. We didn’t want to have to paddle too long back, in case the kids would be homesick.

The paddle wasn’t long though, and in retrospect we could have chosen a starting point further away from the island we had planned to camp on.

Last time we camped together we had one tent each, but this time we shared my HMG Ultamid 4, so I brought the full inner.

We had loads of room, but we had to tell the kids several times that they couldn’t use the carbon fiber center pole for pole dancing.

We fought an uneven battle to stop the kids from tripping over the guy lines. Christoffer put backpacks to block the way, but they would still wrestle through and trip. Eventually he found a big branch with a lot of leaves on it, pushed it down by the guy line (basically planted a tree) to block it. Still they kept running through it and trip.

Since we had brought the tent Christoffer said he could bring the food. He had brought burgers, and I decided to fry some on my pan too, to make the cooking speedier. The kids played and seemed to be content, and me and Christoffer had a couple of beers. I had put mine in the freezer before we went, so it was more or less beer slush. But I liked it. A cold slush beer on a camping trip is still a cold beer.

Most of the afternoon and evening we had good weather, but we did have a couple of rain showers. But it was plenty of room for the four of us in the tent so we didn’t mind much.

The kids had a hard time going to sleep. I read “Frejas första fjällvandring” by Emma V Larsson to get them sleepy, but I had scared them earlier in the evening when I told them the (true) ghost story about the times that me and my father had seen the legendary ghost that roams the road up to the house where I grew up.

Eventually, sometime after 23.00 they both fell asleep. C woke up at 04.00 though and had a really hard time getting back to sleep. I went outside and took a few photos of the sunrise, and I was afraid that C wouldn’t get back to sleep. Eventually she did though, and I dozed of and fell in and out of sleep until it was time to get up.

Christoffer made breakfast to all of us. Toast with bacon and fried eggs. A great way to start the day.

The kids seemed tired, and had a few arguments between them. It was time to go home, so we broke down camp and packed the canoe. The paddle back was very short, just across the lake back to the shore where there’s a campsite for Värendsleden canoe route.

The 400 meter uphill carry of the canoe from the campsite to the parking lot was a pain though. The canoe really isn’t lightweight, but I thought I would try to carry it on my shoulders anyways, while Christoffer took a lot of the other gear.

Once back at the car we drove to our starting point to get my car. I got back and picked up the canoe and all of us got back to the city and got some ice cream.

It was a nice summer trip. We’ve had great weather all summer and it’s perfect for canoe camping trips like this. Next trip will probably be a solo trip though, and I already have a place in mind.

First bike touring trip, 82km on Sydostleden

On By Småland OutdoorIn 2022, Bicycle touring, Overnighters, Trips1 Comment

When we lived in Blekinge, and our son was small enough to sit in a bicycle cart we used to go on day trips with our bikes more or less every week. When we moved to Växjö, and he got too big for the bike cart we got out less. Because of his handicap it’s hard for him to learn how to ride a bike by himself. But last year we got a tricycle for him. At the start he just rode it back and forth on the street a couple of times before loosing interest, but this spring we got him to go on a 5km ride without any major problems.

We have biked the 42km Växjö Runt and parts of Sydostleden a couple of times without him, but we both have classic bikes that are heavy, slow and not really meant for touring. But with both our younger kids now being able to bike we got back the interest in doing bike touring trips. For my wife, who’s not too fond of camping, bike touring is sort of a perfect middle ground, where you can alternate between tents, hotels and B&Bs. We have wanted better bikes for touring for a couple of years and started to look around for some that would suite our needs. I ended up buying a Nishiki Rush, and my wife bought a Crescent Femto. Biking with a backpack isn’t very comfortable, and after this trip we decided that we will get both side panniers and water bottle holders to our bikes. So after next trip we might be able to review some panniers.

Info

Sydostleden is part of the three national bicycle trails that together forms a 929 km long route. It starts in our hometown Växjö, goes down to the Baltic sea in Karlshamn where it more or less follows the coast to Simrishamn. Here Sydkustleden starts, and follows the coastline in Skåne all the way to Helsingborg. From Helsingborg you can follow Kattegattleden all the way to Gothenburg. It was named the European cycle route of the year in 2018.

There is a map with a route planner, where each section is estimated to be a suitable day trip. You can download the routes to your GPS as GPX-files. The route goes through the dark spruce forests and lakes in Småland, over the longest bicycle bridge in Europe in Blekinge and along the endless beaches of the coast of Skåne.

Trip report

My oldest daughter and her friend was going to celebrate a friends birthday, and for that they wanted our house for a sleepover. We had promised that they could use our house but as usual we didn’t really plan ahead on what to do. But the youngest kids would stay at my parents house so we could decide on something just for us.

On Thursday we decided that we would drive to Åhus in Skåne and bike south on Sydostleden. The first plan was to drive down on Friday afternoon, sleep in a tent, bike on Saturday and then stay at a B&B on Saturday. It ended up being too late to drive down on Friday afternoon so we drove down on Saturday morning instead. We had booked a B&B in Åhus that had great reviews. The owner wasn’t there when we arrived, but we parked the car, got our backpacks on and started to bike south. Our goal was to bike as far south as we felt like, and then turn back to Åhus and sleep there. We had to get back home right away on Sunday morning, which was the reason for us to have to stay at the same place as we parked the car.

The forecast had changed during the week, from showing strong wind and grey skies, to showing moderate wind and some sun. But once we got out the weather couldn’t be better. Hardly a cloud in the sky and not much of a wind to speak of. And the bikes felt great and really easy to ride.

We did a lot of stops in the beginning, to find geocaches. The whole route is littered with them, and we just choose different ones here and there. If we where to stop at everyone we would get nowhere.

While some of the biking is done on smaller roads, much of the route consists of bicycle lanes. This part of Skåne is really beautiful, and we biked through pine forest with the beaches close to us. The beaches here seems endless, and have the finest whitest sand you can imagine.

After passing Furuboda we left the route and biked down to the beach, made coffee and had some snacks. It was surprisingly warm and really nice to lay in the sand and watch the beach streach as far as you could see. Far in the distance we could see Stens huvud national park.

Instead of biking back to the designated route we biked a while along a trail on the sand dunes. But it didn’t take long for the sand to get too lose for the bikes. So we ended up walking for quite a bit before we got back on solid ground and could bike back to Sydostleden.

We biked for about an hour before we stopped for lunch when the trail turned back to the ocean.

We put the blanket up against a fallen log, and layed in t-shirt and rolled up pants and just enjoyed the surprisingly warm March sun. We had regular Real Turmat freeze dried meal, but I added a lot of parmesan to mine.

We almost didn’t want to leave, but Mia wanted to bike all the way to Kivik to have a solid goal to aim for.

It was a lot of gravel, and tough to bike through. We where starting to get tired so it was nice to get closer to Kivik.

We biked the last stretch down to the harbor in Kivik and discussed on our options. We were pretty tired and hungry, but didn’t look forward to another freeze dried meal. We ended up sharing a pizza at the harbour pizzeria. We had discussions on wheather we should take the bus to Brösarp and bike back to Kivik from there, to skip the worst uphills, but in the end we decided to just push through and bike the 40 km back to Åhus.

There are a lot of hills between Kivik and Brösarp, but in a way I guess it was a good thing to start the return trip with the hardest part. We pushed through the uphills and even had rednecks yelling something at us when they passed us with their shabby EPA-tractors.

In Brösarp we put on the lights on the bikes, as the sun was setting. We saw a lot of rabbits when we passed Brösarps backar. It was getting darker and darker, and I was glad that Mia had bought a front light that felt bright enough to cut through steel. Near Furuboda we saw a bus, and almost wanted to hop on, but we only had a little more than 10 km left.

When we got back to Åhus we looked for the B&B but eventuellt we came to the conclusion that we had missed it. We looked it up on Google Maps, and as it turned out we had to turn back. We laughed about how tired and zombiefied we were to have just biked passed it, since it’s just next to the bike lane. It was wonderful to take a shower and get into a real bed instead of a tent after 82 km of biking.

We had read the reviews of the wonderful breakfast on this B&B, and they sure wasn’t lying. By 9am the hostess knocked on the door and came in with a large tray filled with freshly baked bread, coffee, fresh pressed orange juice, yoghurt, berries, fruits, cheeses, ham, salami and proscuito.

It was a great way to end a really nice trip. It really felt like spring, and when I write this with sleet pouring down outside the window it doesn’t feel like it was just a couple of weeks ago.

First trip of 2022

On By Småland OutdoorIn 2022, Overnighters, Trips1 Comment

For a few years now I’ve had a tradition of going camping in the first week of the year. This year though all of the family got Covid by new years eve. But on 14th of January C and I got away on a trip to Stocksmyr-Brännan nature reserve.

Info

Stocksmyr-Brännan is the largest nature reserve in Kronoberg, with its 2313ha. It has trails between 80 meter to 16,2 km long. There are two different shelters, one of them next to a lake in the northern parts. There has been a forest fire here, so there are signs all over the place to be wary of falling trees and the stems where still black. The fires can burn off the roots, and the trees can fall without warning.

Trip report

C and I wanted to use a tent, and it had been a long time since the last time we camped together. But since I’d never been in the reserve I wanted to check out the shelters first, to have a backup plan.

I used Google maps to find the way, but it took us out on a tractor trail, and it was almost too rough for my car to handle. But eventually we found our way through and parked at the shelter near the lake, on the northern part of the reserve. There was a flat area that could house our tent, but since it was pretty close to the parking lot I wanted to check out the other shelter before we decided where to camp.

I drove to the center of the reserve, and we started hiking on a trail south, to reach the southernmost shelter. The trail was really nice, with old pine and spruce forest and mossy grounds. C hiked with a good pace, but did long for the tent. Hiking is ok, but camp life is her favourite.

After a while we came to the southern parking lot, where we turned east back into the forest. After a while we spotted the southern shelter, on top of a small hill. The hill was just large enough to house the newly built shelter. I thought it was really nice, and wanted to stay there, but C was dead set on sleeping in the tent. There was no room what so ever, even for a 1 person tent, so setting up our Ultamid 4 was impossible. We hike back in a circle to the car and drove back to the northern shelter.

When we came there it was already starting to get dark. I set up the tent, got all of our sleeping gear out and C snuggled back in the inner tent with a movie. I sat in the vestibule and started to make dinner. Spaghetti Carbonara. It was delicious, but C didn’t eat too much of it.

After dinner I got into the inner tent with C. The trees creaked a bit ominous, and while I had checked for burned trees nearby I got anxious that I had missed one, and the forecast had predicted quite strong gusts during the night. In the end I realized that it was better to be safe than sorry. I would never forgive myself if a tree fell on the tent and hurt C.

I managed to persuade her to move to the shelter instead. So we moved all of our gear over to the shelter and lit a fire and played “Go fish” together for the rest of the evening. I haven’t been too fond of shelters before, and prefer a tent. But it was really cozy with the fire, and comfortable to spread out our gear all over the shelter. It was Cs first time in a shelter, and while she prefers the tent she still liked it. C fell asleep, but I stayed up a bit longer, before I dozed off to the dying fire. ‘

I slept fairly good that night, and the next morning I forced myself out of my comfortable sleeping bag and started a fire. After the fire got going I got back into the sleeping bag and made breakfast.

When we finally mustered enough energy to get up we packed up the gear and got back to the car. On the way back I checked out the site for our tent, and there where no dead trees nearby, so we could have stayed there safely. But as said, better safe than sorry.

Stocksmyr-Brännan was a nice nature reserve, and I want to explore more of it. I’d love to try the southern shelter too one day, but it might take some persuasion to get C to agree on that.

Kids camping with Outdoor Life Växjö

On By Småland OutdoorIn 2021, Car camping, Overnighters, Trips1 Comment

There’s a Facebook group called Outdoor Life Växjö where we share tips and tricks about gear and sweet spots nearby. The group has meetups every now and then. Since a lot of the members in the group has kids I thought it would be fun to have a meetup with the kids.

In mid September a bunch of us met up on Skälsnäs on the northern side of Helgasjön. Christoffer and E from Friluftsfrämjandet Skogsknytte also joined, and Christoffer also brought E:s little brother. A couple of the guys who came with their kids only stayed for the evening but four of us camped with our kids.

Skälsnäs is a good place for car camping trips. There’s a shelter, privys, a sandy beach, several fire pits and lots of room for tents.

I had brought the Tentipi with the HeatPal. Since it was a car camping trip I wanted as much comfort as possible. I had also brought a lot of good food, with a couple of beers and tasty cheeses and sausages. But despite having the carriying frame I wouldn’t want to carry this setup any longer distances. It really is heavy.

We had a fire next to the shelter and hung out there most of the evening. The kids where playing, but C was a bit shy until Christoffer and E came. C was very happy that E came and they played together for the rest of the evening. When it was getting darker they went inside the tent with snacks and an iPad to watch a movie. The kids had been soaked from playing near (in) the water and I hung up the clothes to dry and fired up the HeatPal.

The adult stayed by the fire, chatting and eating. It was really nice and relaxing. By midnight it was time to go to bed. Dario, who started the Facebook group, and his daughter and friend used the shelter, while the rest of us used tents.

Next morning Christoffer and I had to leave pretty early, since we where going to Skogsknytte with the kids. It was more important for Christoffer since he is one of the leaders om Skogsknytte.

It was a fun trip, and nice to be out with the kids and meet other patents. I’d love to do it again, but next time I would like to do a hiking- or paddling trip instead of a car camping trip.

Review: Hyperlite Mountain Gear Ultamid 4

On By Småland OutdoorIn Gear, Reviews3 Comments

(Disclaimer: Below list contains affiliate links, which means I get a small commission for purchases made through the links. The gear is bought with my own money though and I have not been asked to review the gear.)

Hyperlite Mountain Gear Ultamid 4 at Fulufjället National park

I’m going to give a review of my Hyperlite Mountain Gear 4, with the full- and the half inner and go through my likes and dislikes with it. While it’s a great tent, it still has its downsides. I’ve owned the tent for a little less than a year, and used it both below and above the treeline and I have used a lot of different tents before this one.

For those who don’t know, the HMG Ultamid is made out of Dyneema composite fabric, formerly known as Cuben Fiber. The material was originally made to make sails for sail racing boats, but have been widely used by parts of the outdoor business. The pros, as opposed to sil nylon which is the standard material used in tents, is that it is both lighter and stronger. It doesn’t stretch, sag when wet or soak, and is easier to just shake or wipe off moisture. The cons however is that it is less resistant to abrasions and folding. I’ve read that you can expect almost twice the amounts of nights a Sil tent will take before worn out, compared to a DCF tent since the material will wear quicker. Another downside is price. The material itself is expensive, thus making the gear expensive.

I’ve owned gear from Hyperlite Mountain Gear since 2017, and before the Ultamid 4 I had the Ultamid 2. I have the backpack Southwest 4400, pack pods and a stuff sack pillow, and I’m generally happy with the gear I have from them. I’ve used a lot of tent before; Bergans Compact tunnel tent, Hilleberg Enan, Niak and Staika, Luxe Sil Hex Peak, Twin Peak and Tentipi Olivin Light, Olivin BP and Safir 5 BP. My reason for buying the Ultamid 4 was to have one tent that was light enough for solo use, but still large enough for family camping.

The Ultamid is a so called Mid, or Pyramid shelter. It’s easily erected. Lay it on the ground, put the pegs in the corners and make sure the corners are in a 90⁰ angle. I also recommend securing one guy line to a backpack too, to mitigate the risk of it blowing away while you are setting it up or taking it down.

Insert the center pole and adjust the guy lines. Tighten them a little bit at each corner to get even tension and then go around again and tighten them some more if necessary. The half inner gets secured to the fly with hooks, and with pegs in the corners, and then secured to the top with a carabiner.

The tent, with the material and shape, is made to withstand much of what nature can throw at it. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard or read ‘bombproof’ in tent reviews, and while I don’t plan to do any camping in the conflict areas of Syria any time soon, it do tell some about whats expected of it.

Pegging out the full inner before adding the fly. The inner can be left attached to the fly to set up both at the same time

So whats my impression of it then? I’ve had both the Ultamid 4 and the 2 on both low land trails and in the mountains above the treeline. And it do handle wind very well. Despite not having a solid inner it doesn’t get particularly breezy inside, even in hard wind. When it comes to quality it’s OK. It’s not Hilleberg quality, and while I didn’t have any issues with the 2, I had water seeping through the seams and dropping down in my face at night in the Ultamid 4. HMG refunded the shipping cost and sent me a few meters of DCF tape, and I taped up the weak spots. One area in the top was supposed to be covered with tape, but the tape there didn’t cover the seams. This made it possible for water to seep through, and on two trips I frequently had water dropping down on my face at night. I have a lot of other gear from HMG, and I had the Ultamid 2 without any issues, so I could have just gotten a bad one, since it was made when HMG where overwhelmed with orders during peak Covid in late 2020/early 2021.

Hyperlite Mountain Gear Ultamid 4 with the full inner
Hyperlite Mountain Gear Ultamid 4 with the full inner
Hyperlite Mountain Gear Ultamid 4 with the half inner
Hyperlite Mountain Gear Ultamid 4 with the half inner

When it comes to details it has 8 peg out points along the perimeter, and 7 guy line points half way up. You get a lot of guy line with the tent, but you have to cut it and tie it by yourself. I cut mine in a length of roughly 4 meters, and use a Tautline Hitch at the end, to easily be able to tension the guy lines. With all guy lines pegged, the tent should be able to take quite a beating from the elements. But hard wind will put a lot of pressure on the center pole.

I have a carbon fiber pole from Ruta Loca. It’s lightweight, at 266 grams. I can’t say how well it would fair in extreme weather, but there is also the option to strap two hiking poles together with the HMG pole straps. I use aluminum 4-season poles from Black Diamond, and with a fair share of the poles overlapping the center pole gets really strong.

The tent itself weighs 774 grams for the fly with guy lines, 539 grams for the half inner and 823 grams for the full inner. My pegs weighs 305 gram, and I have a mix of MSR groundhogs, generic Y-pegs and nails.

But the biggest issue probably is the price. In USA the price is $890-$975 for fly, $405 for the half inner and $510 for the full inner. In Europe it’s even more expensive with 1141€-1238€ for the fly, 486€ for the half inner and 624€ for the full inner.

Another downside with a Mid with a full inner is that in a downpour it’s hard to not get a lot of water inside the tent while entering and exiting. When I camped with my daughter with the full inner in 12 hours of torrential rain it was a pain.

But do I like it?

I do, despite some downsides I feel that it’s the best compromise there is for my needs, which is lightweight, large enough for four persons but light enough for one to carry. And despite the downsides with the full inner in rain I do really like the modular approach. I think it really shines when used as a palatial 2-person tent. With the half inner as a fairly large area secured from bugs and the other half as a vestibule with a groundsheet, for cooking and gear. And with only the half inner you could enter and exit without having a swimming pool in your inner tent.

Do I recommend it?

It’s not a tent for everyone. Is a bit more complex to set up than a regular tunnel- or dome tent, it’s very expensive and DCF is bulky and not very resistant to abrasion. But if you prioritize having a large tent that can handle rough weather to a really low weight I do recommend it. For me, the benefits outweighed the downsides, and I would rate it a 4 out of 5 stars.

Hyperlite Mountain Gear Ultamid 4 at Fulufjället National park

Gear walkthrough from our Fulufjället hike

On By Småland OutdoorIn 2021, Gear, ReviewsLeave a comment

I’ve tweaked my gear over the years, but the thing that’s changed most of the times is probably the tent, since I never seem to find the perfect one, and still haven’t. Having a lightweight setup felt more important when hiking with my family. I carry most of my daughters gear, and I also wanted to carry more of the shared gear since I wanted Maria to be as comfortable as possible since she’s not as used to hiking as I am.

(Disclaimer: Below list contains affiliate links, which means I get a small commission for purchases made through the links. The gear is bought with my own money though.)

Backpacks

I used my Hyperlite Mountain Gear Southwest 4400 (int) (SE) with the pack pods (int) (SE). It’s a good roomy pack that’s more or less waterproof. It feels durable, and I’ve had it a few years without any issues. I really like using it with the pods to fully utilize all the space and I like the roomy front pocket.

Maria used the Exped Lightning 60 with the optional front pocket. It was my first lightweight backpack, and it is super comfortable. I seam sealed it on the inside to get it a bit more waterproof. The bungee straps on the front pocket is getting a bit stretched out, but other than that it’s in good shape. It’s a really great pack, and since it has an adjustable back height Maria can use it too.

C used a Bergans Lilletind 12 rolltop. They sell them with top lids too, but I prefer roll tops as it’s a lot easier to compress the pack when you’re not carrying that much. It has a waist belt, but it’s important to remember not to pack too heavy for a kid, even if it fits in the backpack.

Tent

We used Hyperlite Mountain Gear Ultamid 4 (int) (SE) with a full inner (int) (SE) and a Ruta Loca center pole. I’ve had quality issues with my tent (probably because it was made when they had a record high demand and was getting behind schedule), and using a mid with a full inner in a downpour means a good likelyhood of getting rain in your inner. But despite the downsides I was very pleased with the tent.

It has a large footprint, but since it is that large, and use a tall center pole it has a lot of usable space inside. It was very welcomed at our second campsite, as it was swarmed by mosquitoes. I like to spread out too, so using it for 2 adults and 1 kid was perfect.

It’s also very lightweight. I haven’t weighted mine, but the official weight is 657g for the fly, 765g for the inner and 271g for the center pole. I think my mix of groundhogs, shepard hooks and nails weigh 200g. It’s a 4 person sub 1900g shelter, and you could save 250g if you ditch the center pole and use pole straps (int) (SE) and hiking poles instead.

When we had our camp set up we used half the inner for mine and Marias sleeping pad, 1/4 of the inner for all of our gear and 1/4 for a CCF-mat for C, where we also could sit, cook etc.

Sleeping pads and pillows

Me and Maria used an Exped Duomat HL LW. It weighs 1155g, so the UL-purists might frown upon the LW-part but it is definitely worth it in my book. It weighs more than two UL pass, but with a size of 200x130cm and two separate air chambers it’s a very comfortable pad, and it takes up half of the inner tent. I think this is as comfortable as it gets when sleeping outdoors.

We brought my Exped Winterlite HL for C, but she kept rolling off, so she used a CCF-mat instead, and preferred that.

As a pillow I used Hyperlite Mountain Gear Stuffsack pillow (int) (SE) with my Cumulus Incredilite Endurance downpuffy (int) (SE) and extra socks stuffed in it. It’s fairly comfortable. Maria used a Thermarest Compressible Pillow, that is quite heavy and bulky, but probably one of the most comfortable hiking pillows there is.

Sleeping bags

I used my Cumulus Quilt 450 (int) (SE)and I love it. I had their first generation quilt, but never liked the strap system. With their updated models they fixed the issues I had and I really like it. It’s lightweight, warm and flexible, as it can open up as a square quilt, or strap up a foot box.

My wife used an Aegismax G1. I’ve washed it with Nixwax Downproof to make it more moist proof, and it is well worth it’s money. It’s warm and light and a good choice for someone on a budget, or buying for someone who rarely uses it like my wife. But if that’s not the case I do prefer Cumulus and supporting local high end manufacturers.

C uses a Cumulus Junior 250. Originally they use 750cuin down in their Junior bags, but they make them for order, and I ordered C:s with 850cuin down instead, to get more loft with the same weight. She’s never been cold in it, but when we’re winter camping she sleeps in a fleece base layer and I usually bring a quilt to throw above the back if she would get cold.

Stove set

I have a lot of stove sets, and a nostalgic love for Trangias. I did consider bringing my Trangia 27HA but in the end I didn’t want to carry all that weight. So I used my Toaks 1350ml pot (115g) (int) (SE), an Evernew titanium frying pan (155g) and a Firemaple 117T burner (104g). It’s really lightweight but a large enough pot for us, and a frying pan for pancakes or falafel. Since the hike I bought a Soto Windmaster (int) (SE) that I’ve heard a lot of good things about.

Conclusion

I was happy with the gear we used, and I don’t have any complaints. I do look forward to trying the Soto Windmaster, as I’ve read that its a very efficient stove even in wind. The sleep system is dialed in and I also think it’s hard to get a better setup with the tent, since I like to keep the weight down while still having a lot of room to spread out. In general I’d say my gear is as dialed in as it gets. I have considered a couples quilt, but I don’t know if it would be worth the money, since Maria doesn’t join us that often. I have also considered buying the Thermarest Compressible pillow in the large size for me, but it’s really heavy and bulky, and I think I’ll just stick with the stuff sack pillow.