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Clif Builder bars – Price is Good & Taste even Better
I know how this normally works – someone says a bar is good for some reason or another. You give it a try & end up with seeds in your teeth or glue stuck to the roof of your mouth. I’m always interested in getting extra protein on long trail days, so I can do it again the next day. The Clif Builder bars are a recent release from Clif (or at least recent to me):
Clif Builder, Peanut Butter Clif Builder, Chocolate Clif Builder, Cookies n’ Cream
The Review:
I think the worst thing about a lot of protein bars is the after-taste. Not only do the Clif Builders have no funny or chalky taste – they’re like some of the better granola bars I’ve ever tried. Without being overly sweet the bars are very close to the taste of Kudos-brand bars. In chocolate, cookies n’ cream, and peanut butter – the chocolate and peanut butter are both good. I’m a peanut butter fan, so the peanut butter flavor is my favorite – so much so that I would take it on hikes instead of a regular Clif bar if it wouldn’t melt. The chocolate flavor doesn’t have a downside either, it’s subtly cocoa flavored and not bitter or waxy. I haven’t seen the cookies n’ cream in my store, but I can’t imagine they’re bad the way the other two flavors taste.
A big part of the taste of any bar is the texture. Personally, I can even tolerate the bars that get crushed and flattened out down in the bottom of a pack, but when I’m eating those leftovers I can tell it’s not real food. Texture is probably what makes a lot of people dislike almost any and every brand of bar. Builder bars have a surprisingly good, foodlike texture. The three layer bar is like a cross between candy bars and a lot of chewy granola bars. Without being too sugary or to fat-filled these are just a bit denser than chewy granola bars but the creamy peanut butter or chocolate flavor on top keeps it from feeling too much like a block of grains.
All natural ingredients in Clif bars are a big plus. When it comes to bars, I’m more worried about being able to stomach them with too little water left in the bottle than I am about finding organic or natural ingredients. Once again the Clif bar company has managed to put both good
All-in-all the people over at Clif have come up with one of the best bars I’ve tried yet; it’s definitely going to be my choice for protein bars.
If you can stand to stockpile a few, they’re only $1.56/each from Amazon (when buying 12-packs), normally they’re $1.95.
Clif Builder, Peanut Butter Clif Builder, Chocolate Clif Builder, Cookies n’ Cream
Evolution Cookware, 30% off
Good camp cookware isn’t ultra-compact, shiny, heavy, or expensive. It is bulky – but only enough that you can actually boil enough water to fit a whole box of mac & cheese in. It’s also black – because cookware that’s black on the outside absorbs heat & heats up faster, plus cookware that’s black on the inside is usually non-stick because that’s easier to clean without wasting water. Light cookware is a must, so don’t bring that 2 liter pot unless you’re going with 3 other people and don’t buy fancy stainless steel or titanium cookware. Finally, good cookware is relatively cheap – the titanim stuff is actually heavier than aluminum of the same size (notice how those titanium pots are always the size of a coffee mug) and stainless steel is usually heavy and shiny anyway.
Sierra Trading Post has several different sizes of Evolution cookware at 30% off. I happen to own the Benchmark set, it even comes with a Teflon-safe scrub pad, and my only complaint is that they should have left the lid out (excess weight and cost) and put a lip on the skillet so it would make a better lid. If you do much car-camping or trips with lots of family then the Camp set, with handles built-in, looks pretty nice. Plus, a few more items in the cart and you can use the recent 50% off coupon too.
Evolution Soloist Cookware Set , two small pots, lid & pot gripper
Evolution Benckmark Cookware Set , two pots, one skillet, lid & pot gripper
Evolution Guide Cookware Set , two pots, one skillet, lid & pot gripper
Evolution Camp Cookware Set , two BIG pots, Big skillet, two lids & pot gripper
Katadyn Guide Water Filter
We think the Katadyn Guide water filter is the best deal for the money right now.
We own two Katadyn filters and one MSR filter. While the MSR filter is a high-quality item, the downside to their side pump design is the necessary pumping speed, plus the ceramic filter clogs more easily on the fine silt we encounter frequently in streams in the Southwest. The long pump-action of the Katdyn design keeps you from feeling like a spastic jackrabbit and the non-ceramic filter material has a large enough surface area that it’s much less likely to clog than smooth-faced MSR ceramic filter. The one downside of a Katadyn versus an MSR filter is the leverage that the MSR handle gives you. In a really muddy stream both filters will jam up enough to require some extra muscle. In case like this, where both filters get clogged quickly, the long handle lever-action on the MSR filters never seems to require as much effort as the Katadyn pump-action does.
Putting aside our preferences and the type of water we hike near – the biggest advantage the Katadyn filters have over MSR filters is the buy-in price. Unless you are a professional group-guide, or taking a 4-month trek the Katadyn Guide has the best balance of weight, size, and speed to keep you from getting frustrated and not filtering your water.
Here are the best deals we could round up on the Katadyn Guide Filter (regularly $79.95):
$62.99, at Amazon.com $59.50, at Sierra Trading Post, limited quantities $39.95 (search for “Katadyn Backcountry”), at BassPro.com . The ‘Katadyn Guide’ and the ‘Backcountry Guide’ are the exact same fitler, but the “Backcountry” model is $40 less than the Guide is at BassPro.com
Guide Replacement filter cartridge $22.40, at Sierra Trading Post, limited quantities
Our favorite accessory for the Katadyn Guide is the Bottle Adapter. It screws onto the bottom of the filter and replaces the hose that pushes out clean water. The base of this adapter is sized so a wide-mouth Naglene bottle (or a Platypus or Naglene bladder) can be screwed onto the filter unit. It’s easy to overlook the convenience of attaching the water bottle to the filter, but we forgot this on a trip last year and while trying to pump water from an unstable stream-shore. While trying to keep my own balance I realized that either growing a third hand or attaching the bottle to the filter would have saved me from spilling and starting over several times. The second bonus point for the water bottle adapter is that by removing the clean water hose it’s easier to keep the dirty water hose away from the parts of the filter that touch clean water – that’s right, smaller odds of contaminating the clean water side with the very stuff you’re trying to remove.
Best Sleeping Bags for the, $, Money
Four years working in a non-corporate gear shop scored me a lot of time with sweet (and very $$$) demo products. One of my favorite things to demo was always a new sleeping bag, despite a few nights spent shivering in shoddy products. The model-year for gear is a bit different than for cars. Right now is clearance season on great 2004 gear, and the bags listed below are at least 30% off.
With so many brands finally getting fit and hood-shapes right – durability is key to why I picked bags from Marmot, Mountain Hardware and Sierra Designs. If you can’t get to sleep when the loft is gone after a few months in the closet, then who cares what the warranty says. With that in mind: Down, the Marmot Sawtooth, 15-degree is only $130 and Sierra Designs Cloudripper
, 20-degree only $160. Synthetic, the Sierra Designs Wild Bill
, 20-degree is only $60 and the Mountain Hardware 2nd Dimension
, 15-degree bag is only $122 .
Just to mention my favorite bag: the single lightest-smallest-most convenient sleeping bag I’ve ever used is a Western Mountaineering HighLight, 35-degree. At $220-$230 it is pricey, but it’s worth it if you take most of your trips during summer months. The HighLight weighs only 16 oz., fits into a widemouth Nalgene (not recommended except as a stunt), and it works for everything I’ve encountered between June and September (light snow included). It will even cover April – November so long as you have a tent to block wind and add a pair of wool socks and some long underwear. It’s a tough bag to find and I found out personally that Western Mountaineering can keep you waiting for 4 months if you have to special order it. Here are a few reatilers who stock the bag (in this case, none offering commisions to this site): BackcountryGear.com, BentGate.com, MooseJaw.com, and Travelcountry.com. My only complaint is that the lack of a draft collar makes the bag seem shorter than it really is, because you’ll need to cinch the hood and burrow into the bag more. Only consider the 6’0″ size if you’re under 5’10″, otherwise jump up the the 6’6″ length (by the way, you can custom order a 7′ length from Western Mountaineering, but it may take 2 months to be made and delivered).