HikerDeals' Best-of-the-Best Outdoor Gear Deals:
- Sierra Trading Post: Extra 15% Off Fishing, hunting & Work Gear
- Moosejaw: 10% off with coupon code MOOSE, extra 10% off sale items with code SUPERSALE
- Sierra Trading Post: Extra 10% Off Boots, Shoes, Gear, and Workout Apparel + January Coupon 10% Off $100+ Orders
HikerDeals Bargain, Deal, and Sale Archive for June, 2006
$12.04 - Zoic Cell Block Performance T-Shirt, Men’s Short Sleeve
Great for summer workouts, running, or just having to be outdoors in the heat - Zoic’s 100% polyester Cell Block t-shirts wick sweat away and dry faster than cotton to help keep you cooler. They’re also 65% off at Steep and Cheap in another one-day-only sale (that’s June 29th-only). currently available in M, L, and XL sizes but only one color - sorry if you get there after they’re sold out
$182 - Moonstone Lucid 20-Degree Down 800-Fill Sleeping Bag
The superlight Moonstone Lucid down sleeping bag is 30% off at Backcountry.com. $182 is a bargain price for a high-end 20-degree down bag with 800-fill power down (newbies, higher fill power means the same warmth with less weight), and especially for one with a Pertex shell. It’s not quite Dryloft, but with less weight (and no nighttime crunching noise when you roll around) Pertex is WAY more water resistant than normal nylon sleeping bag shells.
Even better, Backcountry.com is still offering free shipping on all orders of $45 and up.
PerformanceBike.com Coupon 10% Off Any Order, No Minimum
A new coupon, thanks to a Hiker Deals commenter. Coupon code 6001707 is good for 10% off any size order at and it doesn’t expire until August 4th, 2006.
Backcountry.com 4th of July Camping Gear and Clothing Sale
just opened their “60% off” . Anything that wasn’t already on clearance, and not selling well at that, is about 20% to 25% off. Those are still good discounts on backpacks, tents, and sleeping bags from brands like Marmot, The Noth Face, Sierra Designs, and Mountain Hardwear. And, .
Choosing Good Hiking Boots
What’s more important for a backpacker, good hiking boots or a good sleeping bag?
It can be argued both ways (endlessly), but … Even if you’ve been watching Survivorman, notice that he’s always wearing at least a decent pair of boots or shoes. Good footwear is that important.
That’s why this boot-picking guide by the St. Louis Dispatch is a great piece for beginning and exerienced backpackers. One thing to remember is that the article gives great advice from professional boot-fitters - but doesn’t specifically recommend that you should do the same. In my experience, no matter how experienced you are with camping gear get a second opinion when your own feet are involved.
One other useful thing: Don’t trust the shoe sizes printed on the outside a box. Some European boot companies don’t accurately convert their own shoes sizes to American sizes, use a good shoe & boot size conversion table as a second opinion. Likewise, every brand’s sizing is different, so go based on feel and the advice of a boot-fitter with experience fitting that brand.
Link credit: Thanks to the Two-Heel Drive hiking blog for the original link
Sierra Trading Post Free Shipping Weekend
Free shipping
at Sierra Trading Post this weekend. Free shipping is good on all orders made before June 25th, but I’m not sure if it can be combined with the coupon for $10 off any order of $75 or more (HikerDeals link).
Coupon: PerformanceBike.com 10% Off $100+ Orders
may not have the hottest mountain bike or euro road frames, but they’ve got always XTR or DuraAce parts to fix what I’ve broken - and you can use coupon code 575001 to (expires June 25th, 2006).
REI 4th of July Sale Starts Today
Unless you’re already camping, the should be worth checking into. Camping gear, outdoor clothing, and a lot of other gear is marked down 20-30% - admittedly, not everything is on sale. I’ll try to post the biggest bargains on gear over the next few days though.
$11.59 - Women’s Moonstone Meridian Long-Sleeve Base-Layer/Tee
Steep and Cheap has another great deal today (and today-only) on Moonstone’s Women’s Meridian Long-Sleeve tops. They’re 66% off, in tons of colors and sizes, and a great lightweight for keeping the sun off, general workout wear to take the chill off, or a base layer when snowborading or skiing. What really caught my eye is the word “sexy” in the Steep and Cheap description, which means they don’t fit like a garbage bag or just any old size-small men’s long underwear.
Campfire Cooking: Cinnamon Buns & S’Mores Nachos
I just watched a great outdoor cooking episode of the Ham on the Street cooking show. Two really tasty-looking recipies, “Phoenix (Orange) Cinnamon Buns” and “Nacho Mama’s S’mores“, can be cooked with the coals of an open fire. I’ve included some modifications below for each recipie. The modifications make the recipies hiking- and backpacking-friendly, especially since Southern California usually doesn’t allow open fires in many camp grounds during our dry summers.
Orange Cinnamon Buns:
The orange cinnamon bun recipie cooks cinnamon roll dough that’s stuffed inside scooped-out orange peels that are wrapped in foil and buried in hot coals. Scooping out the oranges probably takes a bit longer than most of you camp-cooks want to spend prepping, but the peels will stop any burning or drying of the dough and let you just leave the rolls deep in the embers instead of constantly turning and moving them out of the hotspots.
Unfortunately, the cinnamon dough recipie uses milk, so unless you’re lucky enough to be camping outside an RV with a powered ‘fridge replace both the 10 tablespoons of milk and 10 tablespoons of brown sugar with 2/3 cup (about 5 1/2 liquid ounces) of canned condensed milk and an extra half-teaspoon of cinnamon. Even farther in the backcountry or just don’t feel like carrying canned milk? If you’re backpacking, or somewhere hot enough that a tube of biscuit dough won’t even last inside a cooler, try the rewrite of the recipie below for backpacking-friendly orange cinnamon buns, no oranges required:
Backpacking-style Orange Cinnamon Buns Recipie
Mix the following dry ingredients in a gallon-size, zip-lock bag before leaving on the trip (hint, label the bag “Cinnamon Buns” and stick a print-out of the recipie instructions inside it):
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup sugar, white or brown (Stick with white sugar if it’s going to be hot, because brown sugar can get stucky and clump things up.)
- 4 Tablesp. dry powdered milk
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/3 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 cup walnuts or pecans (optional)
Bring the following ingredients along, each packed separately:
- 2/3 cup warm water (cold water can keep the dough from rising completely, so this means air-temp water during hot summers and half-boiling/half-cold water when it’s getting cold at night)
- 1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil (olive and corn oil can be too strong tasing)
- 1/2 tsp. dried orange peel (in the spice aisle)
Cooking Instructions: Mix the water and dried orange peel together first. If it’s colder than 80 degrees out or the water is cold heat it a bit in a pan - cold water keeps the baking soda and powder from working right and can cause the buns to be really dense. The first step also softens up the peel and keeps you from having hard bits in the buns. Feel free to add the peel directly to the dry ingredients bag and skip this step altogether if you’re rushed or happier with the faster, easier school of camp-cooking. Once the water is warm (about body temperature), or if you’ve skipped the earlier step, add all the ingredients together and mix well in the dry ingredient bag.
There are three ways to cooks the buns up, but one involves a “fancy” backpacking oven setup: Personally, I like to mix the dough in a plastic bag, put a twist-tie on loosely, and boil the dough in-bag until it’s done (Dough-in-bag Musts: Use the biggest pot you can find and enough water that the dough bag can almost float, plus use a heavy freezer bag & heat spreader under the pot. Plastic won’t melt in boiling water, but it will if it sits on a bottom-of-the-pan hotspot for several seconds.). The second method is to use of a “backpacking oven” system - you’ll know what I’m talking about if you have one - and bake the whole batch of dough as a single loaf. Finally, the classic backpacking method is to pour a portion of the dough into an oiled skillet and cook pancakes instead of buns or biscuits.
Makes enough for 2 very hungry hikers, or 4-5 campers if it’s not the only thing on the menu.
Nacho-style S’mores:
Cooking s’mores up nacho-style in ingenious. Cooking them in an open skillet cuts down on prep-time, mess, burnt fingers, and serving-size fights (you know: “How come he got the bigger piece?!?”). Plus, it’s a lot faster than roasting marshmallows when the only open flame allowed is from a backpacking stove.
Instead of carrying a cast iron skillet on hikes or backpacking trips you can use any matching skillet and lid from your cook kit and a backpacking stove instead of an open fire. When using one of these lighter steel or aluminum skillets, line the inside-bottom with foil - both to keep the graham crackers on the bottom from over-toasting and to save yourself from scraping off the sticky, gooey, sugary mess in the dark. Place the ingredients in the skillet as-described and top with the lid.
When cooking with a lighter skillet keep the backpacking stove on low, and/or use a heat spreader plate, and/or constantly move the skillet around just above the flames (so no one spot in the skillet heats up completely). Just a few minutes should get everything toasted and melted together.
Photo: lbeefus on Flickr
Dell Coupon, $15 Off Any Order of $150 or More
The Dell web store emailed me a coupon code that I’m not going to use. They had a great price on a digital camera a few months back, but I don’t need any new toys now. If you’re in the market though use coupon code Z3KB??ZMW1WHD6 to get $15 off any digital camer, software, or computer purchase of $150 or more (expires June 28th, 2006, at 11pm Central Time).
REI-Outlet.com Coupon, 20% Off One Item
On top of the sales and discounts at REI-Outlet.com has a new coupon code for 20% off one item. Use the code GM623 during online or phone order checkout, good through June 23, 2006. Good on all that gear just added to REI-Outlet
, including gear from The North Face, Patagonia, Mountain Hardware, and Ex Officio … unfortunately it’s not valid on bikes, boats, Suunto, or Oakley products.
$136.94 - Sierra Designs Hyperlight AST 2-person, 3-season Backpacking Tent
An awesome tent at 4-pounds, 8-ounces for 43 square-feet of space, the Sierra Designs Hyperlight AST 2-person tent is a deal for $136.94. This is an awesome lightweight backpacking tent on sale today-only at Steep and Cheap. I’m short on time, so here’s the official description:
“Sierra Designs created the Hyperlight 2-Person 3-Season Tent for backpackers who need a lightweight shelter with tons of strength. The Hyperlight Tent includes the same Jake’s Corner pole supports that Sierra Designs uses to beef up their 4-season tents. A large vestibule provides extra storage space to keep your gear out of the rain, and large mesh sky panels provide great ventilation. Though this burly tent stands up to nasty storms and provides 43sq feet of floor space, the Hyperlight’s ultralight fabrics and Featherlight poles add up to only 4lb 8oz.”
$25.32 - The North Face Pandora Daypack, 35% Off
At 35% off the Pandora backpack by The North Face is a big bargain on a small daypack. With 700 cubic-inches of space and weighing just 1-pound it’s smaller than even some Camelbak packs are now, but it has better comfort with contoured shoulder straps and more padding in the back panel. There’s just enough space here to slide in a hydration bladder, rain jacket, and a short day’s worth of food - perfect for car-to-car hiking days in better weather (and not many of us do short car-to-car hikes when it’s rainy and cold out anyway).
The small size of the Pandora pack also makes it great for steep, technical terrain and even climbing. That’s great for both male and female hikers, even if this pack is marketed toward women. Quick Tip: On technical terrain a smaller pack that doesn’t extend down below the small of your back will not interfere with your stride or hips and stays more stable & comfortable when you’re stretching and scrambling around.
Just $25.32 for the Pandora daypack at BackcountryOutlet.com, if you’re in the market for a few other camping or hiking essentials - any order of $50+ will get free shipping too.