@Dad_Aint_Hip  Southern Illinois is not bad in winter... well, mostly muddy, if you're lucky maybe a half inch of snow. Winter isn't horrible here if you get away from the north end and get to the sensible end of the state LOL. I still wish they'd divide the state up, but that's a political story and doesn't belong here.   ... View more

@REI-JohnJ  I took a full one on this trip, figuring it would be close to empty when I got back. I was surprised to only use half of it. I usually take 50% more than I think I'll need, but I really missed my guess on this one. If it had been a few degrees cooler or more windy then I probably would have been closer, wind in particular seems to be hard on fuel usage. ... View more

@OldGuyotI've never had any trouble down to around 20F by simply putting the canister in my coat for 30 min or so before supper or keeping it in my sleeping bag overnight for breakfast/coffee. But I'm looking into buying an inverted canister stove since I do a lot of backpacking when the temps hover around freezing. I have a liquid fuel stove but it's considerably heavier. Also, on this particular trip I only had mild or no wind to contend with. ... View more

@Philreedshikes It was actually 10 days, I just skipped a couple of meals. It was the River To River Trail in Shawnee Nat'l Forest in southern Illinois. 157 official miles, my iphone said I walked 173 miles and climbed 414 floors. ... View more

I've had good luck finding suitable (cheaper) clothes at Academy Sports. In particular, I use their baselayers, zip-off pants, and fleece jackets. I think the jackets are around $20, but I bought a couple on sale for $12. ... View more

@Philreedshikes Yes, the canister is the one that contains 220gr of fuel. To be honest, where I live it is next to impossible to buy the smaller ones, I've probably seen the bigger (440 gr?) ones as much as I have the smaller ones. And, also unfortunately, about the only place near me that carries them is the big w-mart, and they only carry Coleman, and only in the 220gr size. So I always take that size canister, although I may take one that's half full or whatever I need, and I have an adapter to transfer partial cans. Keep in mind that I never "boil" water, just get it close to boiling.   ... View more

I have recipes for imitation KIND bars, but I haven't made any yet. It's on my list though.   ... View more

@Dad_Aint_Hip @GreenWorldWalker  It took a little experimenting LOL. I took a spare sawyer cleaning syringe and drilled out the end, filled it with Nutella, made bags with my vacuum sealer, weighed 37 grams into each packet, and vacuum sealed it on low vacuum. I found it's easier to get the nutella in without making a mess if I make the bags more or less square instead of long and skinny. ... View more

@Oliver_twist86      There's a downloadable guidebook (2018 version) here:  https://www.rivertorivertrail.net/home/trail-information/ As far as maps go, I usually just use Gaia topo, but I have bought some which show more trails here:  https://friends-of-the-shawnee.square.site/product/west-side-shawnee-national-forest-trail-map/13?cs=true and here:  https://friends-of-the-shawnee.square.site/product/east-side-shawnee-national-forest-trail-map/2?cs=true ... View more