No bento box required

I was working late and asked my husband to bring me a snack. The result was a reminder that you don't always need a bento box to make a big impression with food displays

Dayhiking Pack List and Rainy Day Blues

It's raining this weekend and while I could hike in it, I prefer not to. Not only do you get uncomfortable, but I don't want to be in a downpour 6 miles away with a river to cross. The best prevention is avoiding a bad situation. So instead, I wanted to cover what I keep in my day pack.
I see TONS of lists on long hiking gear lists and found some dayhiking lists (see below) but they are harder to find and probably what more people are doing.

For my pack, I have a camelback bag that's probably about a 30 liter bag. The very back of the bag has a separate compartment for a 1.5 liter camelback.

Below is the gear that lives in my bag for all hikes -

Starting at the top left and working down, row by row we have:

• Extra hair band
• Headlamp with extra battery
• Lip balm w/ SPF
• Notepad
• Cell phone
• Long sleeve shirt
• Beef Jerky (or some food/snack)
• Trail map (I typically pick it up from the visitor center)
• Sun Block (Yes, I have two - 30 and 70 SPF)
• Bug spray
• First Aid tape
• Pens and pencil 
• Wet ones, travel size
• First Aid and survial gear
• Emergency blanket
• Emergency Whistle - It's a five in one!
• Rei microfiber towel
• Sunglasses (not pictures - they live on my head)

Then my maybe gear list includes:

• MSR water filter
• Rain coat 
• flip flips
• Hat (not pictured)
• Swiss Knife (not pictured)

I know there are a lot of other things people encourage you to bring, but I've never really needed anything outside of this list. In Georgia, the cold is not an issue so I don't bring a warm hat or gloves. The rain feels pretty good, so I rarely pack my coat but it's nice to have the option. I include my flip flops when I'm breaking in new shoes. After a few bad blister situations, I rather have them on me then wish I did. My husband has a good knife, so while it's not the best practice I typically don't have one in my pack.

Here's what some other people suggest:
- Backpacking.net's Dayhiking list
- The Backpacker.com's list with weights
- Erik the Black has what I consider one of the best lists

I think next week, I'll break down the first aid and other emergency gear. Until then!

A week off..sort of

Sorry for the lack of posting last weekend and no, I did not even get to hike. That's because I was busy doing something just as fun and a bit more important:

That's right! I have a badass job and part of it is planning Commencement. To see all the fun of the day, check out the Flickr album and the PhotoStream. I have some ideas for this weekend's post that are a bit more technical so keep watching!

Red Top Mountain Dayhike

Another weekend, another hiking trail! This past weekend we went to Red Top Mountain. Located in Lake Allatoona, you have some pretty lakeside views throughout the hike. Like many other state parks, you have your choice of trail and length. And like us, we went with the longest one we could find which would be the Homestead Trail.

The trail length is a moderate 5.5 miles but only has a 250 ft elevation gain. However, I felt like we had a nice combination throughout the entire hiking of small, semi-steep uphills followed by downhills. It's very well marked and is packed dirt the whole trail. At the trailhead, it said was a four hour trail - we did it in 1 hour, 40 minutes.  We think the 4 hours applies more to families than a seasoned hiker.  Anyway, let's enjoy some pictures!

Hiking in the woods - beautiful and serene

A scenic outlook about 1.5 miles in

Our trail map. Pictures taken at the gray pin dots

Backpacking adventure!

This past weekend, my husband and I went on our first backpacking hike. For a trail choice, we went with Raven Cliff Falls in Helen, Georgia.

This is an easy out and back trail with a total distance of 5.5 miles. All the books say five miles, but run keeper had it being a bit longer. What I love about this trail is that you follow a creek the whole way so you have some smaller and pretty falls you can stop at along the way for lunch or a swim. The swim is key during a Georgia summer.

For camping, this trail is great for groups and all skill levels. There are spots from the parking lot to the falls so you have a lot of choice on how far in you want to be. All sites have firepits and logs already set up from previous campers. There's even a bathroom in the parking lot so if you don't go far, your could avoid going in the woods, but that is more for the wussy camper.

Anyway, below are a few pics of the adventure and of raven cliff!

Our first backpack meal!

Tent Sweet Tent

Our runkeeper map of the hike to the campground

Weekend hiking - Kennesaw Mountain

And now for the hiking side of the blog! I can't tell you how happy I am to get to write about this passion of mine. My god, why did I ever wait this long?

Anyway, last weekend I went to Kennesaw Mountain. I had only been once before the weekend prior and loved it so much I brought him back. Kennesaw Mountain offers a variety of trail lengths from one mile to a 17 mile loop. We did a six mile loop down to pigeon hill. I highly suggest this area to locals who want to just get out there. It would be a great trail to test new gear since if things go wrong you can easily get back to the starting point. Maybe i'll be back out there soon with some hiking poles...

View from Kennesaw Mountain

Top of Little Kennesaw Mountain - Love the cannons

Hiking down the trail back to the visitor center

Piegon Hill - definitely a hill, not a mountain

Bonus! We saw deer really close on our loop back!

One bento, two ways

So when you go to awesome bento sites like Adventures in Bento Making (http://www.aibento.net/) or Ohayo Bento (http://www.ohayobento.com/index.html) I always notice the boxes. They always seem so nice, so fancy, so perfect for bentos. And I felt like I was at a disadvantage with my lack of boxes. So today I'm here to show one meal done two ways: in my bento and in Tupperware for the hubs. Check it out and I hope be inspired!