hiking gear

Baxter State Park is located in north central Maine where my sister lives. It is a large state park that has several lakes, hiking trails, and picturesque Mt. Katahdin. My husband and I have been traveling there every year for about six years now. It is a wonderful place to hike, camp, and spend a great week in the wilderness. One of the things we have had to learn is that there is certain hiking gear that you need to bring there that you do not need anywhere else.

Since the weather is quite unpredictable in this part of the country, the hiking gear we need to bring is a little bit cumbersome, but needed. For instance, the first year we went up there it was in the middle of the summer. So, we didn't think we needed to take a whole lot of different hiking gear. We had the basics. Simple tent with lightweight sleeping bags. No extra clothing expect for the hiking clothes and some basic foods and cooking supplies. Of course, it had to be the year that it rained non stop and the temperature around the area stayed between 40 and 50 degrees F. After that, we took a new approach to our hiking gear.

The second year we went, we both took a lightweight sleeping bag and a heavier sleeping bag. And we needed them both! We also upgraded from a regular tent to a more appropriate domed tent that you see on arctic expeditions. Yes, hiking gear is much different in Maine than in Arizona.

This past year I noticed that there was a tear in my heavy sleeping bag. It wouldn't do much good up in the higher elevations when the temperatures drop or the wind starts to blow. I had to buy a new one before we took our annual trip. Especially since we were going to be going up later in the season. Buying hiking gear has always been pretty easy for us. We live close to a large outlet store so hiking gear has always been easily obtained. But, I have been doing a lot of shopping online recently and decided to check out the hiking gear sites.

I quickly found a site called KE Active Lifestyle that can be found by visiting their online store at www.kayserenterprises.ispeedway.com. They had a large selection of camping and hiking gear as well as some other outdoor products. I found a sleeping bag much like the one I already had and ordered it. It was a lot less than anywhere else! Once the  Backside HM +20° Blueice Mummy Bag arrived from KE Active Lifestyle, I opened it up and tried it out for a few nights. Very comfortable. But, I had to run the air all night or I would get too hot!