BikePacking Begins

It is minus twenty outside as I write this and the heat from a summer's sun couldn't be further away. An overcast sky diffuses the winter sun and a wind is driving snow against the windows. This seems like a perfect time to get into the kitchen and practice drying food so that I won't have to lug a huge amount of weight this summer.

Carrying a lot of crap (Christina Lake down there)

The idea of dehydrating food comes from discovering an ultra - lightweight camper named Ray Jardine. His name was briefly mentioned in the movie "Wild" and I was curious to know more about his system of lightweight camping.

The man himself

One thing that Mr. Jardine does is to take all the moisture out of his food and then by rehydration at camp, the food becomes edible. My daughter has a sophisticated dehydrator that I am allowed to use but only with organic and vegan food.

Very sophisticated

Sitting in the fridge was a huge bunch of purple grapes which I knew I could not finish before they spoilt so it was a no-brainer that I would start my dehydrating with them. What I wanted to make was fruit leather. A healthy, chewy, light treat for the trail.

Doing the reverse

The Vitamix got a slight workout grinding up the grapes into a glop that spread easily onto the dehydrator tray and within a couple of hours, I was able to turn over the "leather" to dry it on its reverse side.

The end result

I surprised myself that I could make fruit leather so easily and in so little time. Maybe I will be toting a lot less weight this summer on one of my bike camping trips.

Look at all the crap

While I will continue making dried foods (spaghetti sauce is next), I next want to try eliminating my three and a half pound tent using Ray Jardine's kit for a tarp that offers shelter for mere ounces!

Here it is