Last August I got to go on a “business trip” to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. There is one very special place I like to go at least once per summer with the huge trees and a most pristine and wild creek called Big Creek, which isn’t too far from where I grew up in Cullowhee, NC.
My goal was to bring a lot of the new Lucky Sheep gear which has been in development and give it a field test. I tried out the new 50-80 L. Backpack, and filled it with the rewilding gear.
I have been perfecting the art of living and sleeping outside my whole life. I noticed the problem with feeling damp, clammy and uncomfortable a lot of the time and thought that was just part of sleeping outside. Until I discovered WOOL. Now I can go out in the elements, sleep next to a misty creek with wild water crashing, waterfall, field of dew, or any type of rain or snow, and still be dry.
Little by little I have been perfecting every aspect of my backpacking style and gear set. In this video I show my camp while it is set up, then I show each item I brought along with me, then I show how I pack it into my backack.
I talk about my philosophy with moisture management. How the body is already 70-80% water, so how can you really keep the water out? Synthetic fibers and down trap the moisture inside, causing overheating, sweating, and later over cooling. This statement is heretical to most modern backpackers who follow the herd mentality.
But at Lucky Sheep, we are part of a free thinking flock and we like to follow the laws of nature. The way wool works is comfortable because you feel dry even when it is up to 40% wet, and your body regulates heat the way it is designed to, and similar to the way other animals with fur do. Because the human body is not a static building. The phenomenon called ‘heat of adsorption’ means, the wool adsorbs moisture from the environment, puts it in the middle of the fiber, then slowly releases it in the form of heat. All the while, the outside of the fiber is dry. Anyone who hasn’t experienced a night in the wild covered in wool has a pleasant discovery ahead.
This video is chock full of tips and tricks, information and knowledge based on a lifetime of honing my skills for rewilding, camping, and backpacking.