Tatonka Pots

I bought a 1.6L and 1L Tatonka when I bought my Tentipi out of the UK. I do not know where these are available in the US, and normally I would not justify the shipping cost from the UK. However, adding these two items to my Tentipi order did not change the shipping cost at all. So, I figured I would give them a shot.

First, I wanted to show off my pot stand. I have seen many homemade pot stands for backpacking. But, they are mostly a single piece and curved. I still might make one like that, but I had the idea to make on jointed, so that it would fold up flat. The small pot, lids, handles, trangia stove, and stand still all fit in the large pot.

All of these photos were taken at the "modern" campground. You would think that being a professional photographer and all, my pictures wouldn't be so crappy. But, when I go on vacation, I want to be on vacation : ) So, ALL my vacation were done on a point and shoot.

Here is a close up with the smaller (1L) pot, with lid. The handle happens to be attached to the lid/skillet in this photo.
Here it is farther away, with both pots in the picture.Overall, there isn't too much excitement here. They work as you would expect, are a good thickness of stainless steel and overall are great quality. One interesting thing to note is the locking mechanism for the handle.

The handle has two hooks on one side. When you lift up on the handle, it locks into place. Quite convenient for pouring, and it worked quite well. The handle also locks when you push down, which I didn't quite understand just yet. The only thing it seemed to do for me at this point was get in the way of removing the lid. When in the backcountry sites, I only used the small pot and used it both on open fire and with the stove. I had cut a pot hook for grabbing the hot handle and for pouring. No use for the downward locking feature. In fact, since there would be more clearance for removing the lid with it gone, I had considered cutting off the lock when I got home.

When I got "modern" campground, they did not even want you to scavenge down wood for firewood, so I suppose cutting a green stick for a pot lifter was out of the question :) That is where I figured out the use for the other lock. Not wanting the handle by the hot fire, or simply relying on it not pivoting to stay away from the fire, when you push down, you can lock it in the upright position. Even after staying on the fire for some time, I could grab the handle with my bare hand without it being too hot. Ah ha....there is a reason for the lock. So, I guess the jury is still out. It looks like the lock will stay for now, but I will still have to experiment more.

Here is a picture of the locking mechanism (sorry for the crappy photo):

GA Trip Summary

I plan on doing more gear specific posts here real soon. But, I wanted to give a summary of the trip so that when I reference different areas you know what the heck I am talking about without having to repeat everything.

We just got back from a 9 day trip to Georgia. The first 3 days we spent with our in-laws in the Atlanta area. After that, we took off for the Savannah area.

The first two nights the wife and I put on the backpacks in order to hike into a backcountry site. The hike was only just under two miles, but still pretty good considering we had a 5 year old and a 2 year old that could not be carried in a backpack, since we were both wearing one :) Even though it was not that far, we still had to plan as though it were a long hike.....meals and all that stuff. We slept in the tentipi, but I still brought the Hennessy Hammock for trying out.

After the first two nights, we left for a more modern campground so that we could be more tourists, and see the area. So, some pictures will be in backcountry, and some in the campground. Here we also slept in the tentipi, and the Hennessy was up the whole time as well. It was used for a chair, for relaxing, and I also slept in it one night for testing.

Here are the two views of our backcountry camp site.

Here is the path into the camp site.

On to the gear related stories......

Something New Soon....

I haven't posted much in quite a while. That was mostly due to the fact that I was not doing much except getting prepared for our 9 day vacation in Georgia. Well, we are back now.

We spent 5 nights camping in Georgia. Two nights were in backcountry sites in the middle of the salt water marshes. The other 3 were at a more typical campground. The good news is that I had a chance to try out a few items that I accumulated over the winter. So, as soon as I have a chance to sort out the photos, I will be posting a few comments on the following things:

- The Tentipi Varrie 9
- Hennessy Hammock
- Tatonka 1.6L and 1L Pots