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.
Ok, so the term thru hike is probably more or less reserved for longer trails, but this was the first time C hiked the entire length of a trail, so I’m calling it a thru hike for her.
My oldest daughter got a gift card for a spa on her 16th birthday, and was going to Kosta Boda Art Hotel with her mother in late June. At the same time my son was staying a couple of days on “Kortis” (a sort of relief home for families with disabled children). This was a perfect time for me and C to go hiking.
We dropped off my wife and oldest daughter at the hotel, and drove north towards Visjön. We parked the car in the west side of the lake, just north of a shooting range. It had started to rain when we arrived, and the forecast showed rain for the next two days. But C was in a good mood. After a short hike along the borders of the shooting range we arrived at the lake. We turned north and hiked along the esker that borders most of the west side of the lake.
After a while we saw the ground sort of moving. With a closer look we saw that the ground was littered with small 1-2cm long frogs. They where everywhere for a long part of the trail. We tried to watch our steps so we wouldn’t step on them. Every now and then we stopped to pick blueberries.
We came to the north side of the lake, and turned down south on the east shore before making dinner. We had noodles with beef jerkey and cheese. So far we hadn’t seen a single suitable place to set up the tent. Eventually we came down to the parking and info sign marked on the map. On a small peninsula nearby we found a perfect spot for our tent, and room for many more too.
The rain had stopped earlier, but we set up the tent right away, and put up the hammock. This time I had brought the half inner, to be able to get in and out of the tent without having rain falling into the inner. On 2/3 of the vestibule I had a polycro groundsheet for the gear. This was actually a perfect setup for me and C. The half inner was large enough for us, without feeling cramped, and we had a large area for the gear.
I made dinner for us, and then we just hung out in the hammock and eat snacks. It didn’t take long before we both fell asleep.
When we woke up it started to rain slightly, so we took down the hammock and retreated to the tent. C watched Vaiana on my phone while I was reading a book writter by a reporter and a photographer who got kidnapped in Syria a few years ago.
After the movie it was time for C to go to sleep. The rain had started to pour down, and once again I had water seeping through, and dropping down on my face. I was pissed. I had carefully taped the insides where the midway corner guylines attatches and where the plastic struts for the vents are, but still water came through. But this time I saw the source. Water kept seeping through the seams on the top hat, and ran down on the inside of the tent before dropping down on my face. I sent a mail to HMG again, and this time I got the $58 i paid for the shipping back. Since then I’ve taped up those seams too, so I think it will be ok now. But then and there I regretted selling my heavier Hillebergs for this. Hilleberg fans can almost be a bit cultist from time to time, but in the end there’s a reason for it. I’ve had three Hillebergs (and a lot of other tents too) and their quality do stand out.
I was a bit annoyed that the super expensive tent didn’t hold up as expected, but I managed to let it go and go to sleep.
The next morning we had chocolate banana oatmeal for breakfast, before packing up. It was raining heavy this morning. C jumped in water pools as we hiked along.
On the southern section of the trail we came to a large open area that probably serves as a pasture from time to time. There weren’t any animals there at that time, so it could have been a nice place for a tent. The place had an abundance of wild strawberries. We ate a lot, and I could barely get C to continue hiking with me.
After that we had a section of road hiking before turning back north on the esker we started with. C was starting to get a bit tired, but it was only a short hike left to the car. When we got to the car we took of our wet rain gear. C was dry as a bone, but my cheapo rainpants had leaked through, and I might as well have skipped them all together.
This was C:s first hike of an entire trail. We’ve done a lot of paddling, camping and off trail hiking but this was the first time she hiked an entire trail. It went really good, even though her favourite part is hanging out in camp. (It’s actually my favourite part too, when I’m not solo hiking)
C has been going to Frilufsfrämjandet Skogsknytte for 1,5 years. Some of us have talked about going camping with the kids, and in the middle of May we got out on a camp with E and her father Christoffer.
We had scouted suitable areas, and I had found a nice looking oak meadow, just south of a nature reserve close to Växjö. Camping is prohibited within the reserve, but allowed outside through “Allemansrätten”. To be fair, the oak meadow was more beautiful than lots of the reserve. There are pastures around here, so one isn’t allowed to camp here if there are any animals there.
Under the old magnificent oak trees the ground was covered with Wood Anemone and Heath Peas.
C and I arrived first, and found a nice spot for two tents. After a while we heard E and Christoffer coming through the meadow. We set up our tents, and it started raining. We’d had sun and great weather all week, but once we got out we had rain. And it rained a lot. A litteral downpour all evening and all night. Having a Mid with a full inner provided some difficulties in a never endimg downpour, as it kept raining in everytime we entered or exited the tent.
We made dinner, and on the meny this time was tortilla pizza. I liked them, but they weren’t C:s favourite. Perhaps because she just wanted to play with E instead of eating.
The kids played with My Little Ponies in the Ultamid at first, but later in the evening they retreated to E and Christoffers tent, where they watched movies until late in the evening. Christoffer and I stayed outside, eating snacks and having a couple of cold beers. When it was time to put the kids to sleep we asked ourselfs why we had stayed out in the rain instead of just sitting in the tent.
C was super tired when we got back to our tent, and she fell asleep right away. I didn’t though, because I had found out that the tent was leaking. Water seeped through somewhere, and dropped down on the inner, and through the mesh onto the gear. I got pretty upset with it. The tent costs a fortune, and all the reviews holds it up to be some kind of super shelter, and I had water dropping down. I’ve had the Ultamid 2 before and didn’t have this issue. I mailed Hyperlite Mountain Gear right away, and later got a roll of DCF-tape sent, and a description on where the trouble spots usually are. (The story unfortunately will continue in my next post)
The next morning I had to wake C up. It felt like she could’ve slept forever. I made french toast for breakfast and we explored the area around the meadow before packing up.
It was fun to camp with E and Christoffer, and the first time to camp on that place. The rain was unfortunate though, but we’ll definitely come back here again. Christoffer and I talked about bringing canoes the next time.
I have wanted cross country skis for more than a decade, but it wasn’t until last year that I actually got around to buy a pair.
I wanted a pair that could suite all the potential adventures I could think of. My dream is to make ski camping trips in the mountains, and I bought a pair of Åsnes Amundsen with Alaska BC boots.
Last year I only got around to use them on a couple of occasions before the snow melted. But last weekend I could finally get out on a short ski camping trip.
I hadn’t really planned to go camping, but the weather was fantastic, and my new tent had arrived the same week so my wife thought I should take the chance to get out, since it would probably be the last week with snow.
Since I hadn’t planned anything I quickly had to search for a place nearby where it would be possible to ski and camp. I found Storasjöområdet, 30 min east of Växjö, checked the authority website that camping was allowed, quickly packed the back pack and skis and headed off.
I’d never been in that area before, but from the info I had it seemed to be a lot of mires and a couple of descent trails. I expected a smaller version of Stora Mosse, where I had been on a day trip a couple of weeks earlier.
Once there I read a sign that said camping was prohibited. It looked old though, and double checking on the website it said that camping in caravans and motor-homes was prohibited.
I started skiing the yellow trail. After some 500 meters a sign pointed to a side trail leading to a bird watching tower. I skid out to the tower, watched the view and then went back to the main trail. I was scouting for potential campsites from the beginning, since I didn’t know how the rest of the trail would look like, and it was already a bit late when I arrived.
I came to a sign that showed that the longer trail had been closed, and from the looks of it there where a lot of storm felled trees. I continued on the 2,1 km yellow trail instead.
The trail had been nice to ski on in the beginning, but soon turned for the worse. It hadn’t snowed enough to even out the ground, and the trail twisted and turned between rocks and tree stumps. My skis really took a beating, and in retrospect I should have just carried them and walked instead.
I had passed a couple of potential campsites in the beginning of the trail, and closing in on the end of the loop trail I started to realize that I wouldn’t find anything else. Blood sugar was getting low, and I just wanted to get to camp.
I came back to the car and started a new lap on the round trail. About a km in I stopped at the area that I had checked out in the first round. It was a large fairly flat area, and I stomped the snow with the skis to compress it and make it more even.
After that I started with dinner while the compressed snow got time to freeze more solid. The dinner was just a freeze dried Goulash. It wasn’t bad, but it certainly wasn’t a taste experience to write home about. I haven’t made any home dried meals in a while, so I’ll have to make due with the bought stuff.
As I’ve written before I’ve sold tents to buy another one that better suits my needs. When I transitioned to UL/LW most of my gear got pretty dialed down, but when it comes to tents I never seem to find one I’m pleased with. But I bought a HMG Ultamid 4 with a half- and full inner, to minimize the number of tents in the gear shed and have one tent for everything from solo trips to family trips. With my Tentipi Safir 5 for hot tent camping I thinks these are the only two tents I’ll need.
Since it was brand new the guy-lines weren’t attached, so I laid out the tent, dug holes in the snow to secure the tent pegs for the corners and cut and tied the guy-lines while the snow around the tent pegs froze solid. I used a midshipman’s hitch for the bottom ends of the guy-lines to have easily adjustable loops since there aren’t any linelocs for them.
When the pegs where solid and all the guy lines attached I set up my two connected ski poles as a center pole and set up the half inner. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and no wind was forecasted so I didn’t really need a tent, and absolutely not an inner. But I was eager to try out the new gear.
When everything was up it was already dark. I was getting really cold and just wanted to get inside my sleeping bag. Temps where forecasted to drop to around -12⁰C, so I had brought both my Cumulus Panyam 600 and my Wind Hard Tiny quilt. I don’t know if I really needed the quilt, but I’ll rather be too warm than freezing during the night.
I laid in the sleeping bag, snacking on nougats and chocolate and reading. I always bring my ebook reader with me, but I had to warm it up inside the sleeping bag for it to wake up.
I was really tired so around 21.00 I decided that I wouldn’t fight it any more but just try to sleep instead. But despite being so tired I had a really restless night. I wasn’t cold, but I couldn’t relax, so I drifted in and out of sleep all night.
I woke up before dawn. I had brought both a down- and a synthetic puffy and put on both. The down puffy had served as my pillow in the HMG Stuff sack pillow, and the synthetic one had been stored in the foot end of my sleeping bag so it wouldn’t be cold in the morning. I stayed in the sleeping bag while I made breakfast. I boiled some water for coffee and for my porridge. One of the water bottles was frozen solid, but I had put hot water in a vacuum bottle the night before, and poured it in the pot and added snow to melt.
The sun started to come up, and it was a beautiful morning. I was tired from tossing and turning most of the night, but I still felt great. It was cold outside, but with hot food in my belly and two puffy jackets on it was actually okey to leave the warm sleeping bag.
I packed up the tent and all my gear, took a stroll around camp to make sure nothing was dropped or lost, put on my skis and started skiing back to the car.
This was my first ski camping trip, and I’d love to do it again. It was cold, and next time I want to do it in an area that’s more suitable for skiing, like Stora Mosse National park. I liked the Ultamid 4 too. It’s large and lightweight and after trying a few different options these last years it feel great to be back again with a lightweight tent. A 4p double walled tent for roughly 1,5kg is really nice to carry.
Gear used
(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 for full price though)
I have an addiction. My great poison is tents, and I’ve bought and sold numerous tents over the years in search of the perfect one. But I don’t think it’s just the chase for a prefect tent that drives me, but also the fact that I really like tents and want to try a lot of different ones. I guess I should have been a tent salesman.
But lately it’s been stressing me with the different tents I have and what to use on which occasion. When I started the search for a 3-4 person tent to have something that both me, C and my wife could share now that C is getting older, I realized that I wanted to clear out the gear shed and minimize my options.
I had a Hilleberg Staika, that I bought to use together with C and my wife, naïvely not counting in how fast kids grows and how tight it would actually be inside when the kids get a bit older. I also bought it because I planned to do ski touring trips in the mountains, but it looks like that’s in a far away future. I decided to sell this one. I’ve discovered the option the rent tents recently, and if I’ll get away on a ski trip where a tent like the Staika is needed, I rent it.
I also had a Hilleberg Niak that barely got used. I bought it before I bought the Staika. I never had a freestanding tent before and wanted to try it out. I thought of it as a solo tent, but wanted to use it with C too. She was used to large tipis and mids though, and thought it was way too small for us. And to be honest, so did I. It was very roomy for one though, but it doesn’t look like I’ll get out on a lot of solo trips. C accompanies me on all my trips lately, and despite not being as calming as the solo trips I love to bring her out and share my love of the outdoors with her. But not getting used, the Niak acted as a bad conscience every time I looked at it. It felt like better use of the tent to sell it, than to have it laying on the shelf.
The previously owned Tentipi Olivin BP that I bought on a whim is put up on sale too (still there if anyone’s interested). I wanted to have it as a small canoe camping or bushcraft tent that’s more portable that its large siblings. I love sleeping in a canvas tent, but since I already have the Safir 5, it felt like an unnecessary purchase to have both of them. I really like it though, but I want to minimize the number of tents in the gear shed.
With the need for tents that are light enough to be used solo, mostly will be used for trips with me and C, but are suitable to use with both my wife and one or two of my kids I decided to have just two tents. I’ll keep the Tentipi Safir 5 as a great tent for car-, canoe- and hot tent camping. I’ve also looked into using the money from the tent sales to buy a HMG Ultamid 4 with an inner if they’ll come out with a discount (missed Black Friday). If it was only meant for me and C I would probably settle with just the floorless bugnet. But since I’m trying to persuade my wife to come with us more often, and she’ll definitely prefer at bathtub floor, I’ll get that one instead.
Hopefully I’ll never look at another tent again after this. It’ll be nice to get back to a lighter option too. I’ve had heavier tents for a few years now, and I’ve missed having a really lightweight backpacking tent.
I’ve also looked in to the option of setting up a UL cookset suitable for family use. Right now it’s leaning towards a Toaks 1600ml pot, a Storminstove cone, base and burner and my Evernew titanium frying pan. It’ll be an estimated weight of sub 450g, which is half of what my Trangia 25 weighs (though I really love the Trangias). I think this will be a nice, stable and fuel efficient set suitable for more outdoor cooking than just freezer bag meals. For solo use (and previous trips with C) I’ve used the Storminstove setup with a Toaks 700ml pot, and it’s a really great setup.
Merry Christmas in advance everyone. I hope everyone is safe, and that we’ll see an end to Corona soon. Until then I hope everyone has the option to get out in nature, at least for short periods, to recharge and disconnect from all the negative aspects we’ve seen this year.
With the Corona restrictions the outdoors have gotten more attentions. This is especially obvious when I’ve been on day trips near the city, and it’s been difficult to find unoccupied fire places, and at times difficult to even find somewhere to park the car.
We’ve been on a lot of day trips this fall, but somehow I’ve never got away on any overnighters. But in late October C and I got away on a short overnight trip. My first plan was to paddle to an island we discovered on a day paddle in Asasjön, the lake bordering Tolgasjön where we usually paddle and camp. The weather forecast didn’t look too good though, and with headwinds and rain on our way home I decided to do a car camping trip instead. I want to keep it comfortable for C, so she doesn’t get put of from camping.
We drove to our usual spot at Tolgasjön where we set up our camp. We brought a small Tentipi and a firebox. I had bought the previously owned, but barley used tipi on a whim earlier this fall, and was eager to try it out. I do like gear too much, and have bought and sold quite a few tents this decade.
The sun sets early, and we got away a little later than expected, so I set up the camp as soon as we arrived. It was more of a bushcraft camp than a hiker camp, with the canvas tipi, the firebox and the cozy sheep pelts to rest on. We also brought the Feuerhand- and the UCO lanterns.
I got the fire going pretty quickly, and we fried a couple of burgers for lunch. By dinner time we weren’t really that hungry, but I still made some rice, fried veggies and and a steak.
The rest of the evening we just chilled by the fire. Eventually C went inside the tent and played there while I laid by the fire and just enjoyed the moment.
When it was time to sleep I read C:s new book; Det stora tältäventyret (The great tent adventure). By the third chapter she was asleep.
The tent door was open, and the fire burned outside in the firebox. I stayed in the sleeping bag and listened to C:s heavy sleeping next to me, and the sounds of the fire outside the tent. I felt fully at peace. Being in the outdoors like this really reduces all the stress and is the best way for me to recharge.
As usual C woke up earlier than me, and eventually woke me up. I got the fire going again, and started to prepare breakfast. I had made a bag of krabbelurmix with egg- and milkpowder, and added water an let the mix sit for a while. When it was ready I fried up krabbelurer to us, that we ate with honey on top. It was a great start of the day. We didn’t stay long though, and after breakfast we drove back home.
I’m way behind in writing trip reports, but here comes a report from my trip in April with C.
We have found our perfect lake to paddle and camp by, so as usual we drove north of Växjö to our designated putin.
Weather was great, but we paddled straight to “our“ island, as that’s what C wanted. When we arrived I set up our camp, and quickly got the hammock up. The hammock has turned out to be an essential piece of gear while camping with C, and we both really enjoy just hanging out and munching on all of our good food.
For the first time ever I was going to fry pancakes for lunch. I’ve never done it on a camping stove before, and I had a home made mix with powdered eggs and powdered milk. It didn’t work out good at all. It mostly turned out to be either a burnt mess, or a raw mess. But at least I tried (I altered the recipe for the next trip, and that worked great. So practice gives results).
During the afternoon we paddled to the cape where I filmed my canoe movie last year. There’s a mini island just outside the cape, and we paddled to check it out. When we rounded it we found a Canada goose nesting on it, so we quickly left to let it be alone. The lake has a lot of Canada geese, and we had seen both nests, eggs and eggshells.
We paddled back to the island and got started with dinner. On our menu was falafel with couscous and Ajvar. I used a premade falafel mix, mixed with water and fried it in a generous amount of olive oil. The meal was really good, and easy to make.
After dinner we got back to hanging out in the hammock, before it was time to get to sleep. I had a plan to stay awake and watch the stars with C, but I was too tired. I have insomnia, but when I’m tucked in it’s still hard to get out of the warm cozy quilt to get outside.
Next morning we set up the hammock again, on another spot, to be able to warm up in the morning sun. I boiled water for coffee and hot coco, to rinse down the tortillas and varieties of cheeses and salamis.
After breakfast we spend a while just relaxing in the hammock, looking and the birds and enjoying the sounds of small waves crashing against the shore.
Eventually we had to get back home, and packed down our camp. The canoe got loaded up again, and we headed back towards the car. This time we had a lot less wind than last time, and had no problem getting back. We had the lake mostly to our selfs this time, but with all the Corona related travel restrictions abroad I suspect finding a campsites this summer will be harder.
In late March it was finally time put the canoe in the water for the first time this season. I had really longed to get back into the lakes, and the weather reports looked promising.
The lake was like a mirror when we first set off
I took C with me to our usual spot at Tolgasjön, loaded up the canoe and set off. I had planned to paddle to the northern parts of the lake, and check out the narrow passage between Asasjön and Tolgasjön.
C tried to grab reeds as we passed through the passage
We found it, but when we had paddled for a while dark clouds formed ahead of us, and we turned back. We paddled to a small island in the northern parts of Tolgasjön. We have camped here before, and it’s a nice spot.
We set up our camp, hung up the hammock, and had lunch. The rest of the day we mostly just hung out in the hammock and enjoyed the serenity of nature.
The Trangia stove set really isn’t UL, but there something nostalgic about it that just makes me want to use it.
For dinner we had macaronis and meat sauce. I’ve started to use my Trangia 27 HA stove set again. For hiking I prefer my Storminstove set, but I really like the Trangia. It might come down to nostalgia, from using it as a kid, but it is great for more advanced outdoor cooking. I made quite easy meals on this trip, but I have started to experiment with more recipes.
We went to bed, and once again I praised my Exped Duo mat LW. I sleep a lot better now that I don’t have to wrestle with C for space on my narrow HL mat.
We woke up to a sunny, but windy morning, and had a breakfast of tortillas, different cheeses and mini salamis.
We packed up camp and left the island. Unfortunately we had a strong head wind, and the canoe rocked quite a bit. C got really scared, so I decided to get to shore closer to the island, and the walk back to the car instead.
I walked along the shore, and at first there was a trail. But the terrain got more and more rough, and eventually I had to carry C. Finally I tripped on a stick, and while trying to fall in a way that kept C safe I twisted my knee. I could walk back to the car, and we drove back to the canoe to pick it up. When I picked it up I hurt my back. I felt like a broken old man on my way back home.
It was a nice first trip first trip, despite the back pain, and having to walk with a limp for a couple of weeks. And we got back to the island only a couple of weeks later.
I haven’t been out camping a lot this year, and the last overnighter I had was in September.
I’ve been longing for the outdoors, but things have come in the way.
Last weekend I finally got out again, on a short overnight trip with C. She too had been longing for some time in a tent, and it was nice to get out together.
It’s became a rather sudden decision, so when we finally got out to our “secret” spot north of Växjö it was already dark. But the sun do set early in the winter up north.
C had fallen asleep in the car, so I set up camp before I woke her up. I had decided to film this trip, and the darkness provided some difficulties to the filming. But filming in the warm light of a candle light or a storm lantern gave its own feeling to the shots.
With darkness already upon us, and a cold windy weather C and I stayed in the warm tent.
With trial and error I’ve finally seemed to have managed how to keep the stove relatively warm for a long period without using up too mush wood.
We made a dinner of fried vegetable , pepper steaks and rice. Sort of out usual dinner while hot tent camping. But it is delicious.
After dinner C kept playing with pine cones. “Mommy pine cone and baby pine cone” She also “found a map” in the magic red light of her head lamp. It was a map of England and Beach Land, that she studied in the red light against the tipi wall.
We had Christmas porridge (rice porridge) before we went to bed.
I used the Exped Synmat Duo UL LW this time too, and I truly love it. It is such an improvement to my sleep. It’s super comfortable, and C always crawled up on my sleeping pad before. This way we can share a 130x200cm pad with lots of room. For camping with a kid this is really an awesome piece of gear.
For other gear I also used my Frost River Isle Royale Jr pack. For hiking I’m a light weight backpacker, but I do love traditional canvas- and leather gear, and for car- and canoe camping like this, I prefer them.
I had aligned the sleeping pad in a different angle than I use to, so when I woke up the next morning I first had trouble figuring out where the door was in my sleep drunken state.
I had chopped up small pieces of firewood last night to quickly get a hot fire burning. We then fried some breads for breakfast that we ate with salamis and cheeses.
C didn’t want to go home, but unfortunately it was time to go home after breakfast. We stayed in the tent while the stove cooled down, and packed down the rest of the gear.
As usual we had a nice time camping. There is less hiking nowadays, but I love camping with C. She longs for the canoe again, and so do I. I can’t wait to get out on a canoe camping trip with her again.
The video from the trip is up on YouTube. Both filming in the dark and filming with a tree year old was challenging. But I’ll try to film more this year. The editing is still rudimentary, but hopefully it’ll improve the more I do it.
Småland Outdoor 