Theirs been a ton of great hiking and camping gear being introduced this year. Like the Dry We Phone product in another post this product caught our atention. The Vortex Portable Mixer. This peace of gear is obviously optional and will add a little weight to your pack, But think about this.

With this Vortex Mixer the user can make nutritional drinks or even mixed alcohol drinks anywhere. The mixer requires no electricity. It works on cranking power. Green Powered Blender, Drink Mixer anyone can use.

We’ve all sat in a high-mountain base camp or a sweltering summer camp site after a long day and dreamed of a frosty margarita or a tasty cocktail. Thanks to the GSI Vortex Portable Mixer / Blender, that dream can be a reality. In addition to mixing up crowd-gathering cocktails, this portable Vortex Mixer, mixes up smoothies, sauces, pancake batter, and whatever else you want to make in your camp kitchen.

The GSI Vortex Portable Mixer has two-speed gear and hand crank easily crush up ice, and a bottom C-clamp keeps the blender secured to a table, tailgate, or any other sturdy surface. When it’s time to move camp, the blender base stores easily in the pitcher until the next base camp.

Next time you head into the mountains to see fall foliage, hike or camp remember with one extra piece of gear like a Portable Mixer can make the party.

Josh the Camel and his owner Chris Butler are the first Camel and Trainer to hike the 6288 foot Mt Washington in New Hampshire's White Mountains. They made the ascent Sunday June 8, 2009 on the MT Washington Auto Road. Josh and Chris began there day on the coast and ended it in the mountains.

Josh is a Dromedary or Arabian Camel. He is the first of his species to climb the mountain. The dromedary camel is one of the best-known members of the Camel Group. LLama's and Alpaca are members of the camel family from South America. Known for being great pack animals Llama's are know being used in many National Parks in the Western United states.

See Video at Read the rest of this entry »

The White Mountains of New Hampshire are world famous for extreme foliage colors in the fall. Million of leaf peeping tourist show up every fall to take in the fantastic views. As you approach the various regions of the white mountains from the south the color become more and more vibrant as you go north.

Franconia Notch State Park, located in the heart of the popular White Mountain National Forest. Franconia Notch is a spectacular mountain pass traversed by a unique parkway which extends from the Flume Gorge at the south to Echo Lake at the north. For eight miles, I-93 winds between the high peaks of the Kinsman and Franconia mountain ranges.

Depending how adventurous and healthy you are should dictate your hiking plan. The White Mountains of New Hampshire can be dangerous. The weather changes by the second. One minute the sun is shinning the next it could be snowing in August.

Facing Mt. Lafayette

Considered a novice hike Lonesome Lake Trail at Franconia Notch State Park is easily completed in a day. The Lonesome Lake Trail starts at the camping and hiking hub of the Notch is centrally located in the Park at Lafayette Place. It provides a great base camp from which to enjoy hiking, biking, fishing, swimming, and many attractions in the White Mountains.

The Lonesome Lake Trail start at Lafayette Camp Ground and climbs past the Hi-Canon Trail 1.6 miles to the Lonesome Lake Hut and Around Lonesome Lake Trial. Around the Lake is a 0.8 mile loop. The Trail also intersects with the Kinsman Ridge Trail AKA The Appalachian Trail.

Our Hike starts at the campground and turns left onto the Around Lonesome Lake Trail to the Lonesome Lake Hut passing these great views. After the AMC Hut we continued on around the lake the back down The Lonesome Lake Trail. The first awesome view we see is the lake with Cannon Mt in the back ground.

Read the rest of this entry »