Recap of Thanksgiving Adventures and Gluten Free, Vegan Backpacking Recipes

The motel tent

Brian and I have gone camping every year for the long Thanksgiving holiday since we've been b&d. Since I always go home for Christmas, Thanksgiving is our only real extended vacation time that we can spend together, so we feel we have to take advantage of the time and enjoy the beauty of nature and each other's stinky company for a few days - totally away from it all.
Our first trip was an 11-day adventure up the coast of California - all the way up to Humboldt. That was our first real camping trip just the two of us, and at the time I had no faith in Brian's yet-to-be developed outdoor skills. Our giant tent collapsed on us, we could barely start a fire, and I am pretty sure a psycho killer stalked us on our 14-mile hike through the creepy, car-sized redwoods of Humboldt. Needless to say, we were hooked!

oops! drove through a tree in Humboldt

lost IN a redwood tree

stocked with camping games

ran into jellyfish everywhere in morro bay

tree love in Big Sur

The next year we drove 8 hours to Zion National Park, where we spent 36 hours in pouring rain, hiking in our $2 rain ponchos and drinking boxed wine in our soggy tent before calling it quits and heading for the Grand Canyon on our way to the Petersons' warm home in Phoenix for the rest of the weekend. Somehow, however, we missed the Grand Canyon - you know, that massive giant hole in the ground that is likely our nation's most famous natural tourist attraction in the middle of nowhere...

Wild turkey stopped by our camp on Thanksgiving- go hokies!

cold, wet Zion National Park

Some fall foliage

can't you tell how much I love rain

Well they say the third time is the charm right? We kept it simple in 2009 and went back up the coast, but stopped at Big Sur since we didn't have as much time. On that trip we managed to once again hit a crazy thunderstorm and have our tent impaled by a massive redwood tree branch, but other than that it was smooth sailing.

Bike ride to waterfalls in Solvang

drove all the way to Holland! I mean Solvang.

got lost in a tree again!

Instead of turkey we had to eat wild mushrooms

rain leads to rainbows

back to hugging trees in Big Sur

Go Chargers!

beautiful big sur

Last year we didn't technically camp. We stayed in a "cabin" that was actually a gorgeous large house in the High Sierras with the Petersons again. There we got snowed in, our car stuck, and froze our booties off hiking in the 4 or so feet of snow.

Brian's about to feed someone a mouthful of snow

winter wonderland

boy scout bridge of values

i also identified with the value "thrifty"

the SoCal Peterson family lovin the snow

thanksgiving snowhokie bird

got lost in snow this time

making our only traditional Thanksgiving meal in the past 5 years

The Sespe Wilderness

So what was this year's Thanksgiving adventure? A 4-day backpacking trip to the Sespe Hot Springs in Ventura County. We ended our curse of rain/snow this year and enjoyed 4 gorgeous days in the sun, following a fall foliage-lined river to the hottest, most secluded natural hot springs you could imagine to find in Southern California. It was unbelievably relaxing and rejuvenating.

Dehydrated Apple Rings make great back country jewelry

I have found it really hard to find backpacking foods that are not all over-processed and preservative packed, and even harder to find any that are gluten free, vegetarian, and dairy free. So I spent the previous week dehydrating up a storm so that we could enjoy organic, gluten free, dairy free, vegetarian backpacking meals that didn't break our back (and that could fit in the bear canister since we were definitely in bear country). Here's what we ended up with and plan to replicate for the most part on our next trip:

Breakfast:

Snacks on the Sespe River

Gluten free oatmeal, using Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Oats which I pulsed a few times in the food processor to turn into quicker cooking oats. I also packed in a mini shaker of cinnamon mixed with coconut sugar. Since oatmeal is Brian's specialty, he treated me each morning to a warm almond and raisin oatmeal.
Snacks:
A big batch of homemade gluten free granola.
Dried apple slices (apples cored and sliced in 1/4" rounds, dehydrated at 135 degrees for about 5 hours or till dry but pliable)
Organic brown rice cakes
Almonds and cashews
Trader Joe's Organic Olive Oil Popcorn
Baby Carrots
Lunches:
Brown Rice wraps rolled with peanut butter, banana slices, raisins, and honey

Brian liked the lentils and amaranth cause they were "cheesy-like"

Dinners: 
Dehydrated Black Beans with Quinoa and Avocado
Dehydrated Lentils with Amaranth
Dehydrated Lentils with Quinoa and brown rice wrap wedges with smashed avocado

Simple warming meals from simple kitchen supplies

To prepare these backpacking dinners for the trip I cooked the black beans and lentils as you would normally and then dehydrated them at 135 degrees for about 6 to 8 hours. To rehydrate at camp I just brought water to boil at about a 1 to 1 1/2 food to water ratio, added the beans/lentils/quinoa (separately) then let warm for about 20 minutes covered on hot embers at the edge of the fire (because luckily we could have fires every night!). However, if you can't have a fire, which is usually the case with SoCal backpacking, I think simmering them on low would work well too. Then I just combined them and sprinkled on a seasoning blend I had mixed up at the house (salt, cayenne, and Bragg's Organic Seasoning Blend).




Here are some pics from the trip:

One of the many natural hot spring pools

Hiked in my VTshirt to show moral support during the rivals game with UVA, Brian hiked in a Mexico jersey...bc he's from LA?

apparently someone else is as excited for Christmas as me

Steaming hot springs!

Didn't plan that ray of light on the random  stone labyrinth

Bighorn Sheep!!!

This spring was seriously HOT

I got a "tan line" just from putting my legs in

I love fall!! Hiking in my favorite fall colors on fallen leaves

And in once again....lost in a tree...

no clue why one of us ends up in a tree every thanksgiving!

I can honestly say that this Thanksgiving holiday gave me plenty of reminders of all the things I am so thankful to be blessed with! I wonder what next year's adventure will hold...

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