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Useful Camping Tips: The Little Things That Can Make a Big Difference

A mutual friend of ours introduced us to backcountry camping a years ago. We set out on our first backpacking trip with borrowed gear. We completed the trip with painful blisters on our feet and loved every moment of it. Since then, we've spent every weekend available exploring the outdoors through back-country camping. Along the way we've learned a few things that have made a big difference for us, hopefully these tips will do the same for you.
Bring Fire Starters  
Assuming you have the right gear, sleeping through a rain storm while camping outdoors can be quite a soothing experience. Unfortunately when it comes to time to leave your tent the next morning, starting a fire with wet wood and frozen fingers is no fun, not to mention nearly impossible. Louis and I learned this the hard way. We had slept through a rain storm the previous night and woke up the next morning refreshed and ready for some hot breakfast next to a warm camp fire. After twenty minutes of failed attempts to start a campfire with moist tinder, we were ready to give in to our hunger. Luckily, a seasoned backpacker came to our rescue with a handy fire starter made from dryer lint ball.

Being new at backpacking, Louis and I consoled ourselves on this little oversight and vowed to never forget to bring fire starters, we really love our morning camp fires.

Make sure to take into account elevation when planning a back country trip 
This is a problem we often run into at the beginning of backpacking season in spring or even early summer. Personally, I blame the perfect Pacific Coastal weather in Orange County! ;)  Last spring, Louis and his friends decided to backpack Mt. San Gorgonio (San Bernardino National Forest) in mid April. The weather in Orange County that week was in the mid 70s, the boys did their due diligence and called the ranger to inquire about the trail condition. They were told by the ranger that the trails were in great condition,unfortunately for them, this turned out to be the incorrect information. At mile 2 they ran into ankle deep to knee deep snow. With no snow shoes and lack of proper winter gear (two of the boys were wearing shorts!) they headed back down the mountain after completely losing sight of the trail 7 miles in. Lessons learned from this trip, don't always trust the park ranger (see below), check the snow reports and read online blogs or forums to check real time trail conditions.

Don't just rely on the park ranger
Don't get me wrong, most of the park rangers we've met while hiking/camping are very helpful and knowledgeable. Most of the time, the more popular the trail or park is, the more knowledgeable the rangers are. We do most of our weekend backpacking in Los Padres National Forest in Southern California. And every year, there is one ranger there that ALWAYS provide us with false information about the availability of water and trail condition. I don't think he means to but it's starting to get REALLY annoying. The two most frequent questions we ask the ranger are 1.) is there snow on the trail 2.) where are the stream crossing locations for water. Unfortunately, we've been given unrealistic answers to both questions on various occasions. It's important in the backcountry to know where your water sources are to correctly ration water for the duration of the trip because ending your day thirsty is no fun. As always, in addition to talking to your park ranger,try to find online real time trail conditions and be sure to read log books in the beginning of the trail when available, they can be very useful!

Helpful links for to check for trail conditions at Los Padres National Forest:
http://www.ventanawild.org (Northern Los Padres National Forest, Big Sur Region)
http://prdp2fs.ess.usda.gov/alerts/lpnf/alerts-notices/?aid=10432 (Los Padres National Forest road closure and conditions)

Bring an extra shirt for the car ride home
Sure, after a couple days in the wilderness you and your travel companions will smell the same. But if you are like us, we usually indulge ourselves with delicious food immediately after leaving the campsite. Leave a clean shirt in the car for the restaurant, trust me, people at the restaurant will thank you for it.

We'd love to hear tips and tracks you have when camping out in the wilderness! 

Traveler's Diarrhea- Mexico City Part 6

We've heard about it, prepared for it on most trips but have been lucky enough to avoid it until Mexico City. It's usually caused by our fascination with street foods, the better the food is, the bolder we get. Cooked foods and beer are usually safe, but beware of the raw vegetable that usually accompany soups or ice with tasty drinks. I usually try to stay away from uncooked foods for the first couple days when visiting a new country, as I become more acclimated with their food, I start becoming more adventurous. 

Traveler's diarrhea usually starts with a slight discomfort, then the stomach cramping starts, many times the cramping will become unbearable and looking for the nearest bathroom becomes your number one priority. I know this is not a sexy topic to talk about but it is very important to let your travel companions know you are feeling under the weather. Ignoring the symptoms can become very unpleasant when it can be easily cured by some antibiotics. Cipro is usually the antibiotics we bring with us when we travel, they are also obtainable for 5 dollars without a doctor's prescription in Mexico. 

Lisa was the first one that came down with travelers diarrhea on our second day in Puebla. Like a trooper, she tackled the pyramids of Cholula without any antibiotics. Louis became the second victim to come down with traveler's diarrhea. Luckily, he was able to get it out of his system after a handful of trips to the bathroom that morning. 

Riding the Metro- Mexico City Part 5

Traumatized by our car rental experience in Costa Rica, we decided to rely on public transportation in Mexico City. We relied mainly on the metro system during our stay in Mexico City and found it easy to use and extremely affordable. Regardless of the distance, one way ticket on the Metro is 3 pesos, yes, 3 pesos ($0.20 USD) and it goes everywhere! At the metro station, you will have the option of purchasing a metro card, which is 10 extra pesos on top of your single fare or single trip tickets. Frequent commuters often use these cards because tickets are easy to lose and purchasing lines are often long. And if you want to hop on the Tren Ligero to visit Xichimilco, a metro card will be required. The metro is very user friendly, all the lines are color coded and named after their final destination, making it easy to navigate the stations even if you don't speak the language.

The metro also turned out to be quit an interesting place for people watching. All day long vendors move in and out of the trains selling anything and everything, from mole recipe books to hand held sewing machines to 90s rock music, you name it, it's available for purchase. Watching these vendors' salesmanship, or at times, lack of salesmanship became our main source of entertainment during the time we spent riding from one destination to the next.

Unfortunately, not all of our metro riding experiences were pleasant. We hit the peak commuting hour on our last day in Mexico City. Even with its efficient schedule, the train could not keep up with the number of people, the rider demand was just too high. Be careful while getting on the train, the doors do not seem to have motion sensors, we saw it close on a man's briefcase while he tried to cram the rest of his body inside the train. As if getting on the train was not difficult enough already, getting off the crowded train proved to be an equally difficult feat. If you are existing one or two stop away, make sure to squeeze/push/shove your way near the train door, failure to do this until the last minute could leave you stranded on a the train for a couple more stops. 

Map of the routes

Train doors without motion sensors closing its door on the man's bag

Waiting for the train

Mexico City Sights- Part 4

Mexico City has always been a place I want to visit, with it's rich history, delicious foods and ancient pyramid ruins, a week around the city sounded like a perfect getaway. As always, thanks to travelzoo, we were able to snagged super cheap plane tickets!  We arrived to Mexico along with two of our friends late afternoon on Wednesday, May 1st, the short three hour fight with Air Tran out of John Wayne Airport was uneventful and quick. Once we arrived in Mexico City, we took a taxi from the airport to the Condesa neighborhood and stayed at a local B&B Condesa Comtesse for the next three days.

Day 2
We arrived at the city's Zocalo (town center) shortly after breakfast and realized we picked the same day to visit the city center as President Obama. Due to high security measures taken around the area, none of the museums were open for viewing.

With the help of from the friendly locals, we changed our plans for the day and headed to Coyoacan and Xochimilco via the metro. First stop was to Coyoacan to visit Frida Kahlo's famous blue house- Museo Frida Kahlo. It's a bit of a walk from the metro station and most locals didn't seem to know where the museum was. Thanks for our handy Lonely Planet book, we found the museum. The tickets to the museum was 80 pesos, it is an additional 60 pesos if you wanted to take photos inside the museum. I highly recommend this museum even if are not too familiar with Frida's work. The house is beautiful, it is the home Frida spent the most of her life in. Her husband Diego Rivera donated the home with its contents in the mid 1950s in honor of Frida. I was impressed with the architecture of the building and the large collection of personal belongings they still kept within the house.

After the museum we headed south to Xochimilco to see the floating gardens.  We opted for an one hour boat ride after bargaining with the boat guide. The negotiated price was 400 pesos for four people for an one hour boat ride to the floating garden. What our salesman failed to mention to us is for one hour, you don't actually get to see the floating garden, just its surrounding areas. To make things worse, I saw a sign for 350 pesos for one hour boat rental plastered at the exit as we got off the boat. Oddly enough, the entire experience reminded me of the boat tour I took last year at a fishing village (Tonle Sap) in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Even though this was on a different continent, different body of water but it left me feeling the same- cheated from the authenticity of the experience.

Party boat, Mexican style

Day 3 Teotihucan
Teotihucan is the main reason for our visit to Mexico City. It is the world's third largest pyramid next the pyramid in Giza and Cholula, Mexico (which we plan to visit later in the week). Getting to Teotihucan requires taking the bus from the Autobuses del Norte metro station. The bus tickets to the pyramids were 36 pesos each way and the trip takes about an hour. Buses come and go every 15 to 30 minutes until the pyramids closes at 6PM.

Be sure to look for the Teotihucan sign at the bus station, not all buses go to the pyramids!!

We arrived at Teotihuacan around lunch time, to our surprise, the places was not very crowded. We opted out of a tour guide and used the Lonely Planet guide book instead.

One of the smaller pyramids near the entrance

View looking down from the Temple of the Sun. This is a HUGE site, make sure to wear comfortable walking shoes and sunscreen, we walked about 3-5 km around the pyramids!

Top of Temple of the Sun, the pyramid far ahead is the Temple of the Moon. 

                                 

One of the few original pieces of the pyramid, almost every part of the pyramid has been rebuilt due to structural damage.

There were not many places to purchase food at Teotihucan and it's only mediocre at high prices. I would recommend packing your lunch and enjoy it outside.

Day 4 Mexico City's Zocalo and it's surrounding area 
Since the National Palace did not open until after lunch, we decided to tour the Templo Mayor first. Situated in the middle of the city, this temple was not truly discovered until the mid 1900s. According to the Aztecs, they believed the location of the temple was at the center of the universe, it must have been a prime real estate spot since it was rebuilt by different rulers seven more times. The ruins are great to look at but be sure to leave time for the museum in the end. It had tons of great information and air condition to escape the heat on a hot day :)

Day 5: Puebla 

The smog in Mexico City was becoming unbearable so we hopped on a bus and headed to Puebla for the weekend. The bus ride to Puebla was 140 pesos one way and it took about 2 hours to get there.

Mole galore! Pubela is known for it's vast variety of moles

Beautiful architecture in DT Puebla

Lunch! Mole sauce that tastes like chocolate, what's not to like?

Day 6: Pyramids at Cholula

Cholula is about a fifteen minute taxi cab ride away from Puebla, if you are traveling in groups of three of more, I would advise getting a cab since it comes out it's comes out to be the same as the cumulative bus prices. Even though this is the second largest pyramid in the world, the majority of the structure remains buried today. Currently there is a Catholic church on top of the pyramid that people still come to worship. It is an interesting site to visit if you are already in the area visiting Puebla, otherwise, I wouldn't advise traveling a far distance to just see the pyramids, as there is not much to see. 

Excavated tunnel of the pyramid at the entrance. 

Partially excavated ruins with the Catholic church in the background.

Day 7: Last day in Mexico City

We put our learning caps on and visited the Anthropology Museum on our last day in Mexico City. This is one big museum, each building is broken up into a different period of time so make sure to give yourself plenty of time (we failed to do this) and visit all the buildings in chronological order(we also failed to do this).

Eating in Mexico City and its Surrounding Areas: Part 3

Let me start off by saying we LOVE Mexican food. Being long time residences of Southern California, we have tasted our share of good authentic Mexican food. With that said, it is still a challenge to find good variety of Mexican food close to where we live. In Mexico City, we depended heavily on the street vendors when it came to chow time, they were easy to find and almost always delicious. Our advise to you is to keep an open mind, always use your judgement about the cleanliness of the food stalls and sit back, enjoy your food!

Below are a photo collection of the foods we tried while we were there. We wouldn't recommend looking through these photos on an empty stomach, it may leave you craving for some delicious Mexican food ;)

Coyoacan and Xochimilco

Torta stand nearby the Frida Kahlo museum in Coyoacan. Why can't we have more torta shops instead of Subway at home??

My Al pastor with avocado torta, it is as delicious as it looks!   The avocado tasted amazing on with the pork.

Awesome market we found after our not so awesome boat ride in Xochimilco.

We found a street vendor selling jamicha. The kart has all sorts of condiments you can sprinkle on your jamicha, when in doubt, say yes to chili and lime toppings it goes surprisingly well with...everything.

Zocalo: Mexico City

Tlayuda purchased for 20 pesos. We had saw a little girl selling it in front of the Zocalo and suddenly lunch was calling our names. Tlayuda is basically a giant hard shelled tortilla topped with bean paste, roasted red peppers, cilantro and queso (cheese). We've heard pretty good things about these snacks, unfortunately the one we had was only mediocre. 

                            

                                       Second course lunch at the Zocalo: Chicken tamales 

Eating out every meal when traveling can get tough, this was especially true for us since we cook at home most of the time. After a late lunch on the third day, we decided to stop by the grocery store to pick up some food for a light dinner. We ended up getting beer, fruits and desserts. Fruits are healthy... right?

Pubela   

Puebla is famous for its wide variety of mole. We found a street vendor selling mole in the middle of a street market during the Cinco de Mayo celebration and had it for lunch

After we ordered the food, the owners brought us back to a seating area hidden deep inside the market. We were excited to try the food and it did not disappoint. The mole tasted rich and the chicken, tender, we just wished there was more meat on the chicken! We also ordered the chicken posole which Lisa craved for all week. Unfortunately for Louis and Lisa, the raw vegetables on the posole caused a bad case of travelers diarrhea.

Dinner at La Suprema Salsa near our B&B in Puebla. They sell their Al pastor (deliciously marinated pork) by weight, the four of us tackled 1 Kilo of pork on our second night in Puebla, it was one of our tastiest meals on this trip.

Cholula

Chapulines (Grasshoppers) outside of the pyramids in Chlula. Again, lime and chili for flavoring is the way to go.

  

Edwin's facial expression after trying the chapulines. If you can get over the fact it's a grasshopper, eating it should be no problem. They really just tasted crunchy and the flavor it's been marinated in.

Mexico City, Metro Chilpancingo and Condessa Neighborhood

Right off the metro station Chilpancingo there is a huge variety of street food in between Insurgentes and Baja California. On Calle Chilpancingo, we decided to have flautas for lunch.

 Flautas in Spanish literally means flute, which it resembles prior to adding on the condiments. It is a deep fried tortilla filled with meat  in the middle(we had a choice of chicken or beef) and served with salsa tomatoes, avocados and some sort of creme. 

Believe it or not, we were a little taco-ed out by our seventh day in the city. On our last night in Mexico City we wanted to try something different and Trip Adviser led us to Quebracho Condesa located on Alixco street. We ordered a huge meat platter, side salad and a bottle of wine and ate like kings. The platter gave us a good variety of meat, it is a great choice for first timers at the restaurant or parties that prefer to eat family style. 

Mexico City Part 2- Cuando Es?

Normally I budget $1,000 for one week in Latin American per person including airfare. Obviously, depending on what you want to do and when you buy the airfare, the prices can differ dramatically. Since our jobs do not limit us on when we can take time off, our trips in last couple of years have been driven by Travelzoo's flash sales. We bought the plane tickets to Mexico City from the John Wayne airport in Orange County for $280 RT including taxes and travel insurances and started planning from there. The next big chunk we spent on was our room and board. We seldom book hotels because they are 1) expensive 2) lack character. We tend to stick to hostels in touristy areas and bed and breakfast in less traveled regions.

Brief break down of our trip expenses per person for 8 days:

Airfare (Air Tran direct flight from Santa Ana, CA to Mexico City): $280 
Bed & Breakfast (4 nights at Casa Cometesse and 3 nights at Bed and Breakfast Pubela La Paz): $227
Transportation (Taxi, buses and metro): $25 per person 
Dining and souvenir: ~$270
Total: ~$800 per person 

For $800 per person, this is the cheapest trip we've had in the past couple of years. This is just another great reason to visit Mexico right now!  

Mexico City Overview- Part 1

This is a blog series about our travels to Mexico City earlier this month. To avoid a super long post, we've decided to break this trip down to several series consist of the following.  

• Overall cost of the trip (Part 2)
• Eating in Mexico City and its surrounding areas (Part 3)
• Sights (Part 4)
• Riding the metro (Part 5)
• Travelers Diarrhea  (Part 6)

The Quick and Dirty:
Location - Mexico City, Teotihucan and Puebla 
Travel Duration: 8 days
Visa needed for US Citizens?: No
Vaccination needed for Americans: Routine vaccination and antibiotics 
Spanish necessary for traveling: for most places outside the capital, yes. 
Type of trip: sight seeing, city/urban trekking and museums 
Top reasons for visiting Mexico now: friendly locals; convenient public transportation in Mexico City; CHEAP and delicious food.

Manzana School House

Manzana School House Trail

The Quick and Dirty:
Location - Los Padres National Forest
Distance - 8.5 miles one way, 17 miles round trip
Terrain Type - Flat terrain, Canyons, Meadows.
Difficulty - Beginner to Strenuous (varies by season)
Best Time - Fall through Spring
Special Conditions - 25+ Water crossings, hunters, private land, cattle grazing, off-road vehicles

If you haven’t checked out the Santa Barbara Hikes Webpage, I suggest you do so.  Santa Barbara has great coastal hikes and backpacking trails.  Varying ecosystems and moderate terrain make Santa Barbara a good beginner backpacking area.  However, I have learned (the hard way), that this area also has mixed weather conditions that can be unforgiving.  I suggest visiting the area between September through May.  The summer months are hot, dry, with no water.  The forest also becomes an active hunting area, making backpacking difficult.

Manzana School House was built in the late 1800’s for the residents presiding in the area.  The trail leads pass old structures, grave yards, farm land, and private properties.  The trail is flat, but rated strenuous due to the water crossings (approx. 25 – 35, we stopped counting after seven).  During the later months in March through May, the water level is low enough to ford.

Manzana Trail starts at the San Rafael Wilderness tucked away in the Los Padres National Forest.  From Santa Barbara, it takes an hour of driving through private and poorly maintained side roads to get to the trail head.  The trail is well maintained with short climbs, primitive campsites along the trail, and runs long the Manzana Creek.

Lisa, Aimee, Edwin and I took a out-and-back overnighter in early April to get away from the City.  We attempted to do this trip last year in August but due to heat and the lack of water, we were forced to turn around.  This time around, the weather conditions were favorable, with ample shade and plenty of water. The schoolhouse is 10 miles from the trail head.  We started 1:30 PM on Saturday and were able to get to the school house (our base camp for the night) by 5:30 PM.

There is a log of all the hikers and backpackers that have entered and exited the area recently.  Make sure you log your information and read what others have written.  One vital  thing you should look for in these logs is WATER.

Aimee rocking Sam's Deuter ACT Lite 60 + 10 SL Pack.  Part of the trail becomes a Jeep trail.  You will occasionally see off road vehicles pass through on their way through the forest.  The Jeep trail is the only way for many of the private land holders in to access their land. 

The trail was busy in the beginning, after mile five - we were the only group heading towards the school house.  The water was ankle deep, making fording easy.

An interesting thing about this trail is the amount of old farm equipment that was left behind by the original settlers.  There are still small farming operations in the woods today.

Seven miles into the trail you will find Dabney Cabin.  The cabin as a old hunting lodge and currently is a Santa Barbara historic landmark. There is a primitive toilet here with good access to water.  Make sure you sign the book!

The water is hip deep during the rainy season.  At some of the larger crossings, you will find rope that will help guide you across the river.  In our case, the water only got above ankle deep.  If you want to stay dry, make sure you keep and eye out for alternative routes.  There are many easy-to-spot crossings. 

The trail will cut through several private land holdings.  Forest Service has clearly marked these points.  You must stay on trail.  Please also remember to close the gates as you pass through the trail.   Respect the private properties, close the cattle gates and leave the livestock alone.  You are given the privilege to travel through their land.

There will be a few downed trees that will make navigating through the area fairly difficult.  Some make shift trails criss-cross through the area.  Just remember that the school house follows the creek. (Note:  In the last two photos, we are hiking back towards the trailhead.  I didn't snap a photo on the way to the school house).

We took a break at the final crossing before hitting the camp site.  This is one of the wider crossings.  The exposed the river bed makes a nice spot to take a break.

Once we passed the bend, we finally hit the camp site.  To find the school house, you will continue down the trail.  It will be on the plateau to the left of the trail.  

The camp sites are well established.  Each site has two picnic benches, a fire pit/grill, and a shovel.  A primitive toilet is available with the nice view of the canyon (as you do your #2). We set up our Big Agnes Fly Creek UL 2 and Big Agnes Fly Creek UL3 Tents  at the first available camp site.  

Water access is easy as the Mazana Creek runs through the camp sites.

The school house is to the left of the trail.  If you follow the trail and fork left up the hill, you will be able to access the school house (Note:  There is a geocache in the area!).  Alternatively, you can also climb the hill side directly across the camp site.

Edwin helping me unpack all our goodies from the day.  For a quick a simple meal, we usually opt for Mountain House Spaghetti With Meat Sauce.

A much needed snack towards the end of the day as we wind down.  We always fire up our Jetboil Flash and have some tea and a small Hersheys chocolate.

One final photo on the way out. 

Over all, I recommend this hike if you just need to get away.  The trail continues and can easily be made into a four to five night trip.  With the short amount of time we had, we opted to get to our destination and hike out.

Final Notes:  Do not trust the mileage on the signs, they are useless.  Also, remember there are hunters and private land holders out here.  It is very important that you stay on trail, close the cattle gates as you pass through, and leave the livestock alone.