# Greenlight goes camping



## greenlight (Jun 23, 2006)

*Update: post 26.*​





Enjoyed 5 nights and 6 days on the Eel river in Northern California with my Dad and his buddy. We rafted about 72 miles, 12 per day.




The rapids were class 2, but some were challenging anyway. We spent some time pushing the boats over rocks, and there was some tough headwind to paddle into. The weather was beautiful and we were able to swim each day and move on to another beach. I cooked all the meals for the group, that was fun, I figured out some new recipes.





I forgot my energizer headlamp at home, but didn't need it because it was the summer solstice and not a lot of darkness. I brought along these 5 lights:
Streamlight Lux. Jr. (Not great for up close or in the tent, but easy to find glow powder under lens).
Inova X1 v.2 (One of my favorite lights.)
Dorcy 3 led 1AA light (Similar output to X1, longer runtime)
Nuwai 1aa (backup)
Green Infinity task light (Why not)
I only used my light to read in the tent for about 1/2 hr., and to look for animals in the camp at night.









Here's my dad running the rapids.










We set some stones upright:





Have to make sure all the gear is tied in tight!









A bat!!





It was great to get away from civilization for a while. For one week we get to just "go with the flow". No phones or tv, just the music in your head. 

I read a great book, too, "Why Things Break", which I picked up from the library.

The gorillapod came in super-handy. I was able to set my camera down with confidence and program some shots I would never have gotten otherwise. It is so useful.

All photos are taken with my newish canon A610 digital camera. I took 12 AA batteries on my trip (3 sets) but only used 2 sets of batteries. I changed batteries on the 4th day so I wouldn't get caught with a dead camera. There was probably more juice in that set, but I went to a fresh pack anyway. I was able to review my photos and delete the unwanted ones without worrying about running out of power.

I would recommend the Canon A610; it's a great cheap digital camera with manual modes that work perfectly. I'm hoping to upgrade to a camera with either time-lapse features and/or an infra-red remote.


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## Sigman (Jun 23, 2006)

Excellent post! Thanks for sharing indeed - GREAT pics too, I almost feel I was there as well!

:thumbsup:


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## jtice (Jun 23, 2006)

Great post ! and wonderful pics!
Hope to see more soon !


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## Mags (Jun 23, 2006)

Great pics! Must have been a fun trip. Ive been rafting before, and it was quite a fun experience!


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## greenLED (Jun 23, 2006)

Great pics! Luv the one where you painted the shot with green.


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## greenlight (Jun 23, 2006)

The Safari Qwik-cook stove is so awesome. It breaks down to 3 pieces for packing. We can cook all our meals with just small twigs and branches... it's very efficient.


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## Lee1959 (Jun 23, 2006)

looks like a great time


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## tygger (Jun 24, 2006)

great pictures! cool stove. it looks like you made it. where did you buy it? and the pots, did you customize them especially for the stove?


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## greenlight (Jun 24, 2006)

The stove can be had online or you can search google  for other vendors. We use an enamel steel pot like you would take camping... very simple setup. It can be used in high wind and burns everything to a fine ash. Good for places that require a fire pan. We even burn our aluminum cans to ash. Steel cans we burn too, but I'm not sure if they change or just get dirtier.


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## kelmo (Jun 27, 2006)

Wow,

Your pictures bring back happy memories of camping with my family in my youth. My parents would take us on an annual camping trip to the Eel river and the Avenue of the Giants (for those not familiar with Northern California this a Redwood Forest).

Thanks for sharing Greenlight! Did you and your Dad do any steelhead fishing?


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## Manzerick (Jun 27, 2006)

i haven't been camping in a long time (maybe 10+years) but after seeing these pic's I wanna go to go camping w/my lights.

I take walks in the woods near my house (in Breakheart resveration, right outside of Boston, not wilderness but as close asd a city boy can get) and now need to step it up!

Awesome pics!!!


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## KingSmono (Jul 1, 2006)

Awesome pictures!! I am envious... looks like you had a BLAST!!

-Allen


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## Changchung (Aug 3, 2006)

Great pics, thanks for share, i love camping and outdoors activities...


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## Lightmeup (Aug 3, 2006)

Looks like a fun trip. Whitewater rafting is a blast. I once got thrown out of my raft on a class 5 river. Spent about 10 minutes shooting the rapids and waterfalls by myself. Was lucky to live through it. Great fun though, except for that one time.


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## evanlocc (Aug 3, 2006)

Wow! make me think of those days...

Thanks for sharing. 

hehehe... gonna check on the A610 now.


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## LuxLuthor (Feb 11, 2007)

Really great post and pictures. Especially has me dreaming this time of year.


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## fnmag (Feb 12, 2007)

Thanks for the pics. Just what I need to combat cabin fever.


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## luigi (Apr 19, 2007)

Thanks for sharing, very nice pics and thanks for the details.
No mosquitoes ?

Luigi


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## greenlight (Apr 19, 2007)

There were a lot of mosquitoes on the Green river (Utah) and the Missouri river (Montana). There were days that I didn't want to leave your tent, even to pee. I think we even ate in our tents. I always bring a net hat and body armor (thick poly clothes). Gloves would be good, too. 

I'm getting ready to plan my next river trip, we're going to raft the Klamath river for 7 days to the mouth of the pacific ocean. We did that once before, it was our best trip ever. Keeping my fingers crossed for good weather!!!

This year I'm going to take my video camera and try to make a video CD for memories.


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## yellow (Apr 19, 2007)

reading the 1st posts and looking at the lights, I wondered, but then (post #5) everything went clear:
"greenlight" not "greeenled" 

those pics are great, I very much like how remote everything looks and how "shiny" everything is (sorry, not the right word, I mean no brush, no garabge at all, nice dark sand, ...)


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## Omega Man (Apr 19, 2007)

Can I post some pics here if any turn out this weekend? I'm bringing a cheapy digital cam, the pics it takes are really hit or miss.


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## scubasteve1942 (Apr 20, 2007)

Nice pics! Looks like you had a great time.


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## greenlight (Apr 20, 2007)

Omega Man said:


> Can I post some pics here if any turn out this weekend? I'm bringing a cheapy digital cam, the pics it takes are really hit or miss.


Please leave this thread for my personal camping adventures. I have more planned and am going to post them here.


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## SilverFox (Apr 20, 2007)

Hello Greenlight,

Excellent adventure.

Tom


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## tygger (Apr 26, 2007)

hey Greenlight, 

I'm trying to plan a river camping trip similar to yours. No more than class II as I'm a beginner. Where along the eel river did you start and end? Would you recommend it for a newbie? If not, where else? 

thanks


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## greenlight (May 21, 2007)

I just returned from my annual rafting trip with dad. We spent a week on the Trinity/Klamath river. The weather was great, with sun and swimming each day. 





Here's me running a big rapid:




A nice campsite:




We had lunch in a nice meadow:








Viewing petroglyphs:




I cooked some nice dinners:




This year I brought 5 flashlights:
Gerber Firecracker
Infinity green led
Gerber sonic
Streamlight Lux. Jr.
Garrity 3aaa led headlamp




-




-




-
It was the week of the new moon, so it was dark all night. I was looking forward to using my lights, but we were tired and went to bed soon after dark. I used the sonic the most because it is the least bright of the lights I brought. It was good for reading. The Streamlight is a good bright light, and mine glows so it is easy to find at night (to look for other flashlights). The Gerber Firecracker is a great little light that throws really far. It penetrates into distant trees and has little annoying spill light. I was looking for eyes watching me. I never used the headlamp or the green infinity, oh well. Once or twice I woke up and needed a light; having a glowing flashlight really helped. Otherwise, there was little need for artificial lights. No one brought a lantern, and flashlight usage was minimal at best. I didn't even get to show off my flashlights or compare with the other guys. Mostly to help get ready for bed. We had a lot of daylight, so I guess in other seasons a flashlight would be more useful.

At the end of the trip we paddled out to the Pacific ocean and spent the night on the beach. There were hundreds of seals and sea lions. Native tribespeople were spear fishing and hunting for eels at night with flashlights. It was very peaceful and the moon finally came out. It's not clear in the picture, but it's a small crescent moon.




When I woke up in the morning, this was the view from my tent:




It was really great to get away and spend some time with my dad. Nothing changed at home while I was gone. And the world didn't stop without me around for a week.


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## Sigman (May 21, 2007)

Thanks for sharing greenlight! I always enjoy it when folks "share their adventures" - I need to get out more often!


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## tygger (May 22, 2007)

You just made my day. Again, thanks for sharing the wonderful photos AND for including the map!


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## greenlight (Aug 21, 2007)

I'm still working on the video of the trip.


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## Federal LG (Nov 29, 2007)

Great pics! I really enjoy camping too!
Next month I´ll gonna camp in a jungle, with some friends, here in Brasil!

Thanx for posting! :wave:


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## Dreamer (Dec 1, 2007)

Wow, nice write-ups and photos. Thanks for sharing.


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## cup (Jan 7, 2008)

I'm into white water rafting myself, seeing the pictures and reading the reports from your camping was fun, I certainly miss some outdoor time but I'll have to wait till the spring.

http://www.mykayakingbuddies.com/


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## verbie (Jan 7, 2008)

nice pix! sounds like so much fun!


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## Grox (Jan 9, 2008)

Great photos and story. I enjoyed the read!


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## ttran97 (Jan 9, 2008)

See, rest of America, California is more than the concrete jungles of Los Angeles & San Francisco! Thanks for the pictures, greenlight! :twothumbs


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## LED-holic (Jun 2, 2008)

Great pictures!!

Any 2008 camping pictures / video?


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## greenlight (Jun 3, 2008)

We're planning on leaving June 21. It should be another great trip. This year my youngest brother is coming along. He's 17 and just graduating from high school. (I'm going to try to get him to do some of the heavy work, like carrying rocks for the tents).

We're rafting the same river this year (Trinity/Klamath to Pacific Ocean). The trip is later this year and that river is guaranteed to have good flow all year long. Also, it's easy to get to.

I just ordered a new camera to replace my broken Canon. I chose the Canon A590 for its reasonable price and feature set, including manual control and AA batteries. I expect it will be good. I'd like to go DSLR, but haven't bothered due to the price and expecting to break the damn thing on the rocks or in the river.

Here's my menu contribution for the trip:

Couscous with chicken and salmon:

Chicken soup/canned salmon/canned mussels
Potato/carrots/celery
Salt/pepper
Ginger
Olives
Pistachios
Couscous
Beef Chili:

2 cans chili/black beans
can of corn, jalapenos, can of salmon
spices, rice,
chips
Beef Barley soup with lentils:

Add celery/carrots/potato
Salt/pepper
Couscous
These are guaranteed to have the guys scraping the bottom of the pot for the last bit.

Some fresh limes and tabasco sauce are great to top off a delicious meal.


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## greenlight (Jun 3, 2008)

We're starting during the full moon this year, so flashlight use will be minimal. I'm bringing along my coast AA lenser, gerber FIRECRACKER, gerber sonic, and I think that's it. Even that's overkill. Walking around on a sandy beach with the full moon out hardly even calls for a flashlight. They mostly get used for reading before bed or showing off.


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## LED-holic (Jun 3, 2008)

Trip sounds like a blast!!

I returned my Coast AA lenser because it was too unreliable. Just a couple of drops from 4-5 feet rendered it useless.

Not sure about your other lights, but I bought the Zebralight H50 Q5, which I would think would be nice in case it's cloudy. Also a Fenix L1D or L2D would be great for longer distance throw.

Have fun!!


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## greenlight (Sep 12, 2008)

I did a little bit of video editing before my equipment failure. You can view a few vids that I uploaded. I'm no Spielberg, but I got something:





I'm the final rafter. I always go first or last so that I can do most of the camera work.

On this trip there was very little flashlight usage. I mostly used my gerber sonic, which is the very minimum.


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## primox1 (Nov 13, 2008)

Cool trip...thanks for sharing ur stories and pictures.
I need to grow some balls and do a trip like that.


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## greenlight (Mar 26, 2009)

This isn't from a camping trip, but it is survivalist related:

I noticed miner's lettuce season had started and passed a healthy crop today, so I went back with a bag and harvested some for dinner:







When I got home I put it in a bowl to soak to get off any unwanted matter:






It tastes sort of like spinach. It'll make a nice salad for dinner.


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## clg0159 (Mar 29, 2009)

Nice find! I love wild edibles..........mmm


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## tygger (Mar 29, 2009)

Wow, thanks for sharing, I just learned about a new wild edible.


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## Cornkid (Mar 30, 2009)

Nice pictures!
What program did you use for the panorama pictures?

Tom


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## greenlight (Mar 30, 2009)

Cornkid said:


> Nice pictures!
> What program did you use for the panorama pictures?
> 
> Tom


I prefer Photoshop CS3. It does a great job at blending the sky. 

There is even an online panorama program that I haven't tried, yet:
http://www.clevr.com/


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## greenlight (Feb 28, 2010)

Here are some pics from my most recent trip (2009). I needed a camera so I bought a Pentax K-m (K-2000) but I only had the kit lens to take along. We rafted the same river as last year (Trinity/Klamath/Pacific Ocean). It's a great trip and easy to get to, so we do it a lot. 


A little frog made friends with my brother and he rode along for a couple of days.




Five boats





Stacking rocks:




Chili for dinner:




Predator!!!




Dad running rapids:




Swimming!





Nice bridges, California!





Dad, brother, behind me for once:








Lunch time:




Ocean beach:




This is a composite image of me paddling by my brother with the camera:




Weitchpec bridge, confluence of the Klamath and Trinity rivers:





There were no forest fires this year so the air was clear. We were blessed to have sun each day. Swimming was great, and I even met some local college girls on the bank of the river who gave me one of their beers. Fun fun fun!

I cooked four meals out of six... pretty much the same recipes as last year... there were no leftovers. 

Once again there was very little flashlight usage. I carried my Gerber firecracker to the campfire and used it to find my tent. A little night time reading and that's it. My dad loves his headlamp, but I don't like them.


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## tygger (Feb 28, 2010)

Again, thanks for sharing. Excellent photos. What a great trip.


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## dealgrabber2002 (Sep 19, 2011)

bump. I want all the new members to enjoy these beautiful pics.


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## dealgrabber2002 (Nov 12, 2011)

Hey greenlight, did you go camping this year?


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## greenlight (Nov 18, 2011)

dealgrabber2002 said:


> Hey greenlight, did you go camping this year?


I didn't go camping this year (2011) . Home repairs required all of my time. Maybe next year we'll do it, again.


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## Sub_Umbra (Nov 18, 2011)

Great post, *Greenlight.* Good to see you're still around.

My wife has a thing for the Inova X1 (gen1). I still have a couple NIP but I am dreading the day that the last one dies. I know this is off topic but have you ever found another light that has a beam *even remotely like the gen1 X1?*


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## dealgrabber2002 (Apr 6, 2012)

Every year I come to this thread hoping to see more pictures. I enjoy your camping trips.


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## greenlight (Apr 6, 2012)

dealgrabber2002 said:


> Every year I come to this thread hoping to see more pictures. I enjoy your camping trips.


Thanks, I haven't been camping in a while  so I haven't purposely abandoned this thread!


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## eh4 (Apr 6, 2012)

Great post, man that looks like it was a fun trip. 
Great stove. 
You might like the books "Why buildings fall down" and "Why things bite back".


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## scottyhazzard (Apr 7, 2012)

Ah, memmories of midnight runs on the South Fork of the American river. Chili Bar to Coloma under the light of the moon. It would sure be a lot less frightening now with water resistant head lamps and lights that can be taped to the fun-yaks. Oh to be immortal again. (20-26 years of age i thought accidents happened to other people) 

I wish I had the lights I have now when I was knocking around the rivers of Costa Rica and the 3 forks of the American. I had a piece of crap yellow plastic pelican Incan that ran off of 4 AA's and I thought I had a can of sunlight in my hand. 

Greenlight thanks for stirring the memmories.


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## dealgrabber2002 (Jan 4, 2013)

bumpity. Hope you have time this year to go camping. We really enjoy your adventures. It's the next best thing since most of us can't do what you did or will do. So we'll tag along via internet.


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## dealgrabber2002 (Jul 9, 2014)

Heading to Sequoia at the end of this month. Hope you had time this year to do some camping.


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## Monocrom (Jul 13, 2014)

Some topics deserve to be unburied. A fun romp through Memory Lane.


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## dealgrabber2002 (Aug 8, 2015)

Did any camping lately, Greenlight?


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## nbp (Nov 11, 2015)

Just bumping these older ones so they show up in the thread list; I assume most people only have it set to show 30 days back.


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## bestellen (Mar 15, 2016)

Great tip. Can I see your video from this tip?


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## dealgrabber2002 (Sep 8, 2016)

Holy smoke, it has been 10 yrs. How time flies.


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## Monocrom (Sep 8, 2016)

dealgrabber2002 said:


> Holy smoke, it has been 10 yrs. How time flies.




Gonna have to agree with you there. 10 years.....


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## Subterrestrial (Nov 11, 2016)

This a great thread. Another great example of the lasting legacy of CPF. Thanks Greenlight!

I don't know about whitewater rafting, but I would like to go boat camping some day. Canoeing across a lake to an island or the shore on the other side would be a blast. When I was really little, we used to rent a houseboat and travel Lake Shasta every year. Good times.


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## bewerbung (Mar 9, 2017)

Also a Fenix L1D or L2D would be great for longer distance throw.


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## dealgrabber2002 (Oct 26, 2017)

What happened to the awesome pictures??? bummer.


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## dealgrabber2002 (May 31, 2018)

woohoo the pictures are back!


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## dealgrabber2002 (Jan 14, 2019)

another year, another bump! still enjoying the pictures.


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