Plus-sized ladies

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

Junonia.com is having a winter clearance sale. While this is not an outfitter, they do carry several items that are appropriate for hikers in larger sizes that are hard to find.

[Dancer]

Thanks for the heads up. I'm trying to lose weight and need inexpensive hiking clothes that it won't hurt my feeling to replace in a few months when I walk out of them that much thinner.

[BumpJumper]

Like what do they have that you can take with you? I am new to this hiking thing and I havent got a clue.
My friend Trailtalker got me into this. I told her I have a three room tent and a canvas tarp to take and I have a nice thick sleeping bag and a comfy portapottie....she started laughing at me....So, I take it this is too much to take on a little walk?

[Hana_Hanger]

Like what do they have that you can take with you? I am new to this hiking thing and I havent got a clue.
My friend Trailtalker got me into this. I told her I have a three room tent and a canvas tarp to take and I have a nice thick sleeping bag and a comfy portapottie....she started laughing at me....So, I take it this is too much to take on a little walk?

HI Not too much to take if you load it all in a car/van/truck set up camp and do day hikes...but for backpacking this would be a first to see any one hauling around a porta pottie

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

Welcome BumpJumper. Do some exploring around this web site to see some of the gear people use. Some of it will look really strange at first - backpacking gear is designed to be lightweight and functional.

We are a hiking couple with a three room tent for car camping with our grandkids. It weighs about 28 pounds. The tent we use for backpacking is much smaller and weighs 3 pounds. There are hundreds of backpacking tents - no single tent is the best or right for everyone. Your tent needs to meet your needs for comfort and function.

We also have a variety of tarps - the one we use for backpacking is huge by backpacking standards (10' x 12') and made of a very lightweight ripstop nylon that has been treated with silicone to make it waterproof (the fabric is called silnylon).

We own about a dozen sleeping bags and several quilts. Many are the nice thick sleeping bags you mention nd they are comfy for car camping. Unfortunately, they weigh 5 to 6 pounds each. For backpacking, most people use mummy-style sleeping bags that weigh 2 to 3 lbs. We use a homemade qulit (nylon on both sides with 2" of polarguard insulation in between). It has these 12" 'skirts' on three sides that hang down and keep out drafts. A piece of a 'skirt' hangs between our heads to keep out drafts there. (I warned you backpacking gear sometimes looks weird ).

You need to have some sort of insultion underneath you while sleeping to keep from freezeing and most of us need some padding for comfort. We are older and need more padding than a lot of the youngsters here. The he-dino uses a Thermarest Prolite 4 pad and I use a Big Agnes Insulated Air Core pad. His pad is so easy to use - you just open a valve and the thing fills up with air - you blow in an extra puff or two of air and close the valve and its ready. Mine has to be blown up like a pool toy every night. So why did I buy it? It is one of the most comfortable backpacking pads made and I have a lot of metal in one leg and hip -- it is worth the extra effort to be able to get a good night of sleep.

You're going to have to eat while your are backpacking so you need to find a way to cook. For car camping, I have a two-burner propane stove. For backpacking, I use a Vargo triad titanium stove. This stove is the size of the bottom of a coke can and burns denatured alcohol (no soot!). I also have a MSR Whisperlite International stove. I use it in cold weather because alcohol stoves are fussy when it is real cold - they don't want to stay lit.

The cookware I use while car camping is an old set of Calphalon cookware (what I used at home before T-Fal came along). This is way too heavy to take along backpacking. I use an ancient Coleman aluminum pot (holds about a gallon) and two snow peak titanium 'pots' (I call them cup / bowls ). I cook in the big pot and we eat from the little ones and also use them as coffee cups.

There is a saying among backpackers - the more you have in your pack, the more you will enjoy camping. The less you have in your pack, the more you will enjoy hiking. Backpacking involves a balancing act between weight and comfort.

[BumpJumper]

OMG...I am so in for a rough time...
I look forward to this adventure. I am all for lightening the load so whatever is the lightest is what I shall get.
I am 5'2. What kind of a bag do I need?
Has any of yall lost alot of weight doing this? I am like....where do I put my ice that my steak is on?

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

Freeze that steak and it will be thawed in time for dinner the first night out

[Dancer]

OMG...I am so in for a rough time...
I look forward to this adventure. I am all for lightening the load so whatever is the lightest is what I shall get.
I am 5'2. What kind of a bag do I need?
Has any of yall lost alot of weight doing this? I am like....where do I put my ice that my steak is on?

BumpJumper,

Look into sleeping bags designed for women. They are wider in the hips and narrower in the shoulders than those designed for men. Also being plus sized get in it at the store and make sure it's wide enough and you can zip up and move around comfortably.

Also on the clothing front avoid cotton like the plague. It's tricky finding plus sized hiking clothes but check out LL Bean, Lands End and some times Lane Bryant will have workout clothes that are not all cotton. I would say try men's sizes but if you are 5'2" that might be problematic. PM me if you want to talk plus size issues. I'm not that experienced a backpacker but I've been fighting the plus size battle for a very long time.

Amazonwoman