Tag: tolg
Camping and first canoeing of 2021
It’s been a while since I wrote here. It has been a lot going on this spring and I just haven’t had the time or energy to write. But I do have a few trip reports to post, so I’ll start with No. 1 out of 4.
Trip report
On 30th of April C and I got out on an overnighter together. It was our first overnighter together since our hot tent overnighter in Januaury, and it would be the first time C got to use the new Ultamid 4. I had only used it once before, on my ski trip in February, but that time I used the half inner. For this trip I brought the full inner, to get a chance to test it.
We got away later than first planned, and since we had to get back early the next day drove to our “secret” spot, that is close to home. It’s also C:s favourite place to camp. I brought the canoe too. We didn’t plan to paddle to a campsite, but I wanted to do at least a short paddle.
When we arrived I set up camp right away. The spot where we usually put up the tent was in the danger zone though. A pine tree had cracked about 100cm up, but was still standing. It would have been stupid to put up the tent within falling distance from it, so we cleared out a new spot and set up the tent.
After that we made dinner, chicken paeng red curry with noodles. I loved it, but C prefered the noodles over the paeng.
We paddled for a while and C got to use her new fishing rod. We didn’t catch anything though. But after a while C wanted to get back. It’s neither the hiking nor the paddling that she prefers. It’s playing in the tent.
So we got back to the car, put the canoe back in the roof and went back to the tent.
There where a lot of Canada geese that honked all around us. Their nests are everywhere in these parts. But we also heard the lonely calls from Loons. The sound of their cries cut through everything, and I think it’s one of the most beautiful sounds in nature.
As the sun was setting we got out on a rock on the far edge of our peninsula and just sat there, looked over the lake and listened to the sounds of nature.
After a long time we got back to the tent. C slept like a log all night, but I woke up several times when my Massdrop Klymit mat had deflated (I later found a tiny little hole in it.)
The next morning I made french toast from a pancake powder mix I had made at home. It was a pretty nice breakfast.
We packed up after that, and when I started to take down the tent the rain started.
And that’s that. A simple short overnighter, but a nice time spent in nature and hanging out with my daughter.
First canoe camping trip of 2020
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.
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.
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.
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.
Video from first canoe camping trip of 2019
This was my first attempt at filming a trip. It’s sort of Slow-TV, with no talking, so it might not be everyone’s cup of tea.
The trip it self was great, and I’ll post a written trip report soon.
Day trip with the canoe
Spring (summer?) came quickly here in southern Sweden. While the temperatures still drop below freezing on occasional nights, the day time temperature rise to above 20° C. I’ve been waiting for a chance to take the canoe out for a paddle, and last weekend I put it in the water for the first time of 2019.
All of the family, except my oldest daughter, joined me, and we drove to Tolgasjön. Near the peninsula where I’ve been camping with C the last few times, there’s a perfect parking spot, wide enough for a few cars. We parked there, walked out to the far end of the peninsula to make some coffee before we put the canoe in the water.
The farmers had been fertilizing their fields, so every time there was a breeze, the air was filled with the sour smell of what I think was pigs manure. Other than that, it was perfect.
The weather was warm and sunny, and most of the times we only had a slight breeze. Perfect paddling weather.
We paddled to an island in the lake, where C and I had camped in November last year. It was almost dinner time, but when we walked up to the nice sunny area where we planned to lay out the cellfoam mats and make dinner, a Canada goose started yelling. It stood up, trying to look big, and shrieked endlessly. Another goose flew in too. We saw that it had a nest with eggs in it, so we decided to move away, and make dinner further away from in. It calmed down, but kept looking at us.
The rest of the afternoon we did as little as possible. The kids played by themselves most of the times, and enjoyed the simple pleasures of throwing sticks and stones in the water. Maria, my wife, rolled out the sleeping mat on a cliff an dozed off in the sun, while I hung up the hammock between two trees next to the kids and relaxed in the sun.
We had a really relaxing time. Apart from the occasional airplane passing above us, we didn’t here much man-made sounds. The wind blew through the trees, but when it died down it was absolutely quite. When you live in the city, where there’s constant sounds of traffic, dogs, sirens, music and people, getting out in nature and get this sort of tranquility is really remedy for the soul.
Eventually it was time to pack up though. I would have loved to stay overnight, but this was only a day trip.
We made coffee one last time, before we put on our life vests and packed the canoe again. We slowly paddled back towards the car, on the calm beautiful lake.
It was a nice day trip, and I’m really glad I bought a canoe. It makes it so much easier to find secluded beautiful spots near home. Småland is littered with lakes, filled with small islands like this, perfect for short getaways.
We’ll see when I’ll get out on a canoe camping trip again. But I’d really like to get out on a trip again soon.
First 2019 camping with my 2-year old.
I really hadn’t planned to get out last weekend, and at first I didn’t really feel like it. But my wife needed to study and wanted the house to be a bit calmer, so she asked me if I wanted to take C on a camping trip.
C was excited to get out in the woods again, since it’s been two months since she spent a night outdoors.
I had decided to go to Tolgasjön again, to the “secret” spot that I had discovered a couple of weeks earlier.
I packed up the car with a bag of firewood, my canvas tipi – the Tentipi Safir 5, a backpack with the sleeping gear and other stuff and my duffel bag with the stove and the cooking gear. I go all in on luxury on trips like these.
We stopped by the store on the way and bought snacks and ingredients for our dinner. Then we set off toward the camp site. C fell asleep in the car, and I carried the gear out to the peninsula and set up the tent before I woke her up. When I was back at the car to get her two cars slowly passed us, and we waved to them. One of the cars had a brand name on them, and I think it might have been the land owner. I hope they don’t put up a gate at the beginning of the road but let us still have access to this place.
When they had passed we walked out to the end of the peninsula together. C made herself comfortable inside the tipi while I chopped up some wood and made some feather sticks. We loaded the stove with fire wood and quickly got a hot fire going.
Temperatures outside the tent was below freezing, but it didn’t take long for us to get sweaty, and we had to remove layer after layer.
C barely wanted to leave the tent, but just wanted to stay inside the cozy warm tent, play and eat snacks. So that’s what we did for most of the afternoon and evening.
When it was time for dinner I boiled potatoes in the pot and made reindeer stew in the frying pan. We ate it in flat bread rolls. This time I remembered to bring the lingonberry jam. It tasted delicious.
The rest of the evening we just played and relaxed in the tent, before it was time for her to sleep.
She fell asleep pretty quickly, and I spent a couple of hours reading and watching Netflix.
I slept pretty good, and C just woke up once to go out to pee. I woke up a couple of time, and listened to the sound of snow falling on the tipi.
The next morning C woke me up, and wanted us to get up and make some breakfast. I didn’t want to leave the warm sleeping bag, but I got up and quickly made a fire with the pre chopped small pieces of wood I had.
The skies where covered in clouds at first, but after a breakfast of fried pita breads with cheese and salamis, we got out again. This time the sun had come out, and it was really beautiful outside.
C didn’t want to get back home, and neither did I. The weather was perfect, with snow, sun and a couple of degrees below freezing. But we had other obligations so we had couldn’t stay too long. While we waited for the stove to cool down I packed up the rest of the gear.
When the stove was cold enough we packed it down, packed down the tent and headed back home. Once again it had been a short overnighter, but a great time outside. I got one more week at work before I got four weeks of parental leave. I’m planning on spending a lot of the following weeks outside with my little rug rat.
Autumn canoe camping in a canvas tipi
A couple of weeks ago, in the middle of November, I went on a canoe camping trip with C. After trying hot tent camping a couple of times, I got really hooked, and upgraded the tipi to a Tentipi Safir 5 BP.
I had looked up an island on Tolgasjön that would be perfect for a camp. Since it was November I didn’t want to paddle too far with C, and this was just a couple of hundred meters of paddling from the campsite on mainland where I had planned to put in the canoe.
I drove to the area, but there was a sign at the private road down to the lake, that said it was prohibited to drive on the road. In the end of the road there was a designated campsite for the hiking trail Sigfridsleden and the canoe route Värendsleden.
I knocked on the house closest to the road where the owners lived, and they told me it was ok for me to drive down to the lake and unload the car.
I put the canoe in the water and packed it with my gear. It got pretty filled up, with a sack of firewood, the stove, a backpack and the large bulky tent. I had expected the tent to be large, but I was still surprised by how bulky it actually was. But this wasn’t a tent intended for hiking or having to carry it any longer distances.
C and I got into the canoe, and paddled out to the island. It didn’t take long, and once there we set up the tent and the stove, to have the camp ready.
We made some lunch, Pepper steaks, fried bell peppers and onions with rice, as usual. It really felt like fall, with the cold damp air around us. It was really nice to hang out in the warm dry tent instead.
After lunch we paddled out to do some fishing. It was a team effort, where I threw in the lure, and C reeled it back in. We did it for a while, but didn’t catch any fish. I didn’t really put much effort into it either, but it would have been nice to catch a pike.
The rest of the day we mostly hung out in the tent. With the damp cold weather outside, C preferred the inside of the tent instead of the cold outside.
When it got dark we lit the oil lamp and my new UCO candle lantern. That, and the light canvas of the tent gave us some really ambient lighting.
For dinner we had burgers, which was C:s choice. But I’m not complaining.
I kept adding firewood to the stove to keep us warm and snug, and eventually it was time for C to go to sleep. This night she was sad though, and it took a long time for her to go to sleep. Eventually she fell asleep next to me, in my sleeping bag. She woke up sad a couple of times, and I gave up the idea of getting her back into her sleeping bag. We ended up having her sleeping bag as a quilt above us.
The next morning C was up and running early. Too early in my opinion. She had used my arm as a pillow, which forced me to lay on one side the entire night. I usually toss and turn a lot, so I didn’t get the best sleep this night.
We fried some pita breads for breakfast and then explored the island. It was a small island, and we had camped at the southern end of it, but there was a nice spot for a tent at the northern end too. Good to know for future trips.
We went out with the canoe again to do some fishing. Same procedure as the day before, with me throwing it out, and her reeling it back. But we didn’t get anything this time either.
After that last attempt to catch something we paddled back to the island and took down our camp. We paddled the short stretch back to main land, packed up the car and drove home.
This had been my first night out with a canvas tent. I actually sold my Bergans Ally to fund the Tentipi Safir instead. It’s heavy and bulky, but roomy, light, comfortable and easy to set up. The quality feels impeccable, and since the fabric breathes you don’t get bothered by condensation. For these kind of trips, where comfort and good food is the main goal, a tent like this is perfect.
Småland Outdoor 