Who let that fukkin dog in here? He'd better not shit on the floorz, or there's gonna be hell to pay!

go to Costco and pick up your food in bulk quantities. Especially the brown rice. It might take a while to cook, but you can easily cook several days worth, store it in a ziplock in your cooler, then add it to whatever you're cooking. It's also pretty good in the morning with some milk, cinnamon and sugar on it.

Rice is a great source of carbs, plus it's relatively cheap and stores dry exceptionally well. PM me if you want some e-z gooking tips (as opposed to PM'ing epoch for those, that is.)

Also, rather than spend your money on ice constantly, perhaps you should consider picking up one of those coolers that plugs into your cigarette lighter, operating on 12v from your car battery. You'd have to be careful to not run your battery dry, but I'd imagine that it'd pay for itself within a few weeks of buying ice. Plus your food won't be constantly soaking in H2O.

You can check MP.com for the thread about tricking out a toytaco for OTR trips. Some of that stuff might be useful to you.

Don't worry he's trained.

Hard to eat too healthy, and I'm lousy at balanced meals so I'll just give some general cooking tips.

1) get a small non stick frying pan. It'll make cooling a lot easier, and its easy to clean up with a dry paper towel (less of a pain in the ass to do this and great when in areas without nearby avalible water).

2) dehydrated milk is nice if you want cereal, or to put in your coffee. And great when you get other dehydrated food that requires you to add dairy.

3) get a cooler. Use block ice, it lasts longer. Put lots of beer in there to help keep it cool. It might get too warm at some point and you'll have to stop using the cooler or deal with getting a block of ice every two days. You'll probobly stop 'cause it costs money to buy ice.

4) share coolers if you can and you only have a few small things to keep in there.

5) its amazing what works in tortillas.

6) bagels toasted on the aforementioned nonstick pan using lots of butter is really good.

7) every once in a while treat your self to a more complicated, pain in the ass to clean up/cook on a camp stove meal. Pancakes are fun.

That's all I can think of for now. What are you using for a stove? I have a MSR Whisperlite, and its inability to simmer could make it hard to cook a lot of things. Nathan and I have started taking an old coleman white gas stove, and those things are pretty kick ass as long as you have the space for it.

Get one of these, the grill you can use to cook hamburgers, steak, chicken and fish.
It's removable and there is a wire grill underneath that you can put pots and pans on.
This is a Coleman Roadtrip Party grill.

[image]http://www.coleman.com/coleman/images/products/9940-755_500.jpg[/image]

I'm bored.

I know I should go do something useful, like paint the bathroom, but I may or may not be going bouldering in a couple of hours (waiting for my friend to call).

Ya know what? I hate Southern Ontario. I couldn't find anyone who would go sport climbing with me this weekend.

*pout*

Oh.

Well, that's good. Is he "fixed", and does he get along with other dogs ok?

Yes and Yes. He also heals without a leash, lays down to eat his food, barks at the neighbour I can't stand (but none of the others), causes the path to be formed through the onslot of camera toting torons getting off the tour busses in Banff (easy to get through crowds, especially crowds who's cultures don't like dogs <--- general statement, noting meant by it Art), and...


...carries the rope, pins, bolt kit and my lunch out to the crag for me.

Not to mention disposing of all those pesky corpses....

One more for ya: do you guys have any info on bear canisters/boxes in the valley. I hear they are mandatory, but sometimes the park info is outdated...

http://www.nps.gov/...it/bearcanisters.htm

Are they provided? According to the site, any scented items are supposed to be placed in one. Reasons like this make me not want to get a grill or cooler, since I'll have to store them anyway....

What about t3h Okel?

there is an abundance of bear boxes in the valley.

I once left a haul bag full of gear in one (the top one) and a six week supply of grub (in the lower one) for a full year. This was due to the circumstances of the time, but the fact remains... there is not so much pressure on the bear-boxes that the NPS is going to be cutting locks. IIRC, they just added a shit-ton more over near manure pile buttress parking area too.

Bring your own lock.

Thanks, Art! That looks pretty sweet, do you have one? Are they a pain to clean?

Thanks Sty. I had a feeling this was the case, but wasn't sure if they were assigned to the campsites by name or something.

Mostly because water does not leave any bruises.

Oh but it does, if you hit it hard enough. An old friend of mine has a pic of a massive water-skiing induced bruise that was a bit horrifying. Wish I had a copy of it, I'd share.

And indeed I did go bouldering. I had a better time yesterday than Saturday, my arms are tight and my shoulders a little sore.

Kelly, I still can't get through the backstroke crux, but I might be getting closer.

Truck work Sat, Climbign Sunday.

New routing plans on Sunday got changed due to high winds and oh, that's right, my partner's realization that it was his wedding aniversary.

Shortened day out at a local crag for some instruction for him.
Re-seeated lots of the fixed pins at that crag.
Got lots of routes in too. Even managed to climb everything in my big wall boots/approach shoes... including the crux of a 5.9 slab in the R A I N! That was, well... interesting to say the least with approach shoes.

My belayer yells up: Hey it's raining a bit, eh.
Me: Yeah, I didn't fucking notice at all... the only dry hold being the crux foot holds U N D E R my feet and all.
Belayer: You think you can get up to that crack and get some gear in? Looks like you'll deck of you fall from there!
ME: Hey smart ass, thanks for reminding me of that, you can shut the %&^* up now. Thank you.
Belayer: *laughing*
Me: *Wishing the rock would dry faster*


Laughed about it when I got to the Anchor though...

What about t3h Okel?

Mommy duty while teh Bruce got to go away fishing.

Hey Kelly, when you getting your weekends to run away climbing!

By the fall we will nail that suka!!

GU. I was hoping this coming weekend was going to be one of them. But he wont be home til Sat late and the stupid holiday day is Tues, screws up the whole weekend! I'm pouting.
I think I am going to take off for a cpl days on my own to do a canoe route I've been wanting to do though.