Camping at Cycle Adirondacks was the first time in my adult life that I slept outside with a tent and a sleeping bag. When I was a kid, we had a standard, multi-room car camping tent and I had a standard, massive sleeping bag. My parents and I didn’t even know that being insulated from the ground is a critical element in sleeping outside. The cold I experienced on those few nights in our front yard explains why I always thought camping was terrible.

But in adulthood, I started doing more things outside. I started cycling, and later, visiting national parks and reading about wilderness backpacking. Now, I’m enamoured by both the simplicity of getting away from it all and the complexity of managing basic life functions while out of civilization.

This tour was a good introduction to camping. Now, camping in a town park with hundreds of people, dozens of portapotties, and a trailer full of showers is a long way from wilderness camping, but at least it solidified my packing ideas. I’ll be visiting Grand Teton National Park again in a few weeks and eagerly await sleeping under the stars.

But actually, there are two real differences between camping in civilization for a bike tour and camping in the backwoods: food and cycling gear.

For this tour, I didn’t need to bring any food or food preparation tools. But, I did need to bring a crap ton of cycling gear, things like clothes, shoes, a helmet, gloves, chamois cream, tools, spare parts, etc. I think the volume and weight of the cycling gear far outweighs the food stuff I’d take on a weekend trip.

Ultimately, here are the lessons I learned about camping on the Cycle Adirondacks tour:

• Bring earplugs: Even though one of the campsites was adjacent to a waterfall, dampened silence was a wonderful thing. Having tried them all via a sampler pack years ago, I like the Howard Leight Laser Lite the best.

• Sleeping warmth: I brought a 20°F Enlightened Equipment Revelation, based on opinions from Outdoor Gear Lab and /r/ultralight and a Sea to Summit Thermolite Reactor, mostly to keep my bag clean and partially out of a fear that the 20° bag would be too warm for the summer weather.

  My fear was mostly realized, with the bag being useful only just at the lowest low at 50°F, but it was still a great choice because it opens into a full quilt. I would have had to choose between boiling or freezing if I chose a 20°F mummy bag that doesn’t open. Paired with my sleeping bag liner, I was able to vary my warmth needs very comfortably. Despite being literally see through, I was able to sleep comfortably in just the sleeping bag liner until the temperature got down to the mid-50°s.

• Tent: I’m pretty happy about my choice of tent. The MSR Hubba Hubba NX two-person tent was perfect for the 5'11" of me plus gear. Out of all the tents I saw in use, it was by far the easiest to set up due to its single pole design. I like that the fly can be pitched first, on its own, and then the body can be attached, which is useful when it rains. The one-person version would have been fine; were I to do it over again, I would probably get that and save a full pound.

• Hammocks: However, having now understood the disadvantages of sleeping on the ground with a thin tent, hammocking is much more attractive. (Hammocking would have been impossible in Cycle ADK, however.)

• Tent footprint: Contrary to the general sentiment of ULers, I actually like the purpose-built groundsheet and I’m happy I didn’t stress out over making my own out of Tyvek. If you’re handy and have the time and space, by all means make your own, but if you live in a New York City apartment, feel free to disregard the naysayers and trade time for money instead.

• Organization: Think about what you’ll need and when. Keep items used together stored together. Keep things you’ll need first, like rain protection, at the top of your pack. Keep as much crap outside under the vestibules of the tent and in your backpack as possible; this makes life simpler inside the tent and makes packing up easier.

• Neck support: A pillow is a great accessory. Sleeping just on my pad would have been doable, but uncomfortable. I used the REI stuff sack that turns inside-out into a pillow, stuffed with my extra clothes, and it worked great. I think I might try out the Sea to Summit Aeros pillow since I probably won’t have extra clothes on my next trip.

• Laundry: Washing clothing that won’t be immediately worn or dried out is a bad idea. If you wash a piece of synthetic clothing, you can wear it and it will dry relatively quickly just from your body heat. Even in direct sunlight, clothing can take quite a while to dry fully. If it doesn’t dry, it’s going to start smelling really, really bad. Err on the side of not washing, I’d say.

• Camp clothing: Bring long wool baselayer tops and bottoms to sleep in, even if you don’t think you’ll need them. Not having them when they’d be useful sucks, and they also help your sleeping gear from getting dirty with sweat.

• Minimize toiletries: Lots of weight could be shed by measuring out toiletries into smaller containers that only hold what is needed for the duration of the trip. I plan on getting small, refillable containers that will hold just a few days of each substance.

• Backpack: I can definitely live out of my Osprey Atmos AG 50L backpack comfortably for a few days. Without my cycling gear, my backpack had a ton of room. I’m glad I didn’t buy the 65L version. The bag was super comfortable, though I really only ever had to transport it across a football field.

• Avoiding water penetration: Trash compactor bags for water protection are far, far superior to using a pack cover. In this tour’s case, my luggage was dropped off in a field, moved by truck, and dropped off in another field before I picked it up. The trash compactor bags were always in place, ready to protect my gear, and can’t be as easily removed and lost as a pack cover.

• Stuff sacks: Compression and stuff sacks are useless for the most part: loose items fill in pack space better. But small items outside of sacks do become disorganized. I ditched the stuff sacks for my sleeping bag and pad and didn’t miss them. The sleeping bag was stuffed inside of a trash compactor bag, which was stuffed in the bottom compartment of my backpack. Then, my rolled up sleeping pad, loose bag liner, and sleeping clothes were stuffed into the compressed sleeping bag.

• Beware of the sun: Camping on tour is done in fields with no tree cover. I wore long pants and a long-sleeved shirt when the sun was out. I’m ordering a shemagh because additional coverage beyond what my hat provides would have been nice.

• Water is heavy: Tighten the rain fly guy lines if condensation causes the fly to touch the tent body. (This might be kind of obvious, but I have never seen this mentioned in literature).

• Plan, execute, observe: Use lighterpack.com to plan everything you will take with you. Then, use your list as a packing checklist. When you’re done with your trip, note what you didn’t use, and don’t bring it next time. I have lighterpack lists for both what I brought on this tour and what I plan to bring for my backpacking trip.

Here are cycle tour-specific lessons:

• Tent privacy: Pitching a rain fly is necessary just for visual privacy, even if it doesn’t rain. Sadly, this limits ventilation.
• Entertainment: I didn’t use my Kindle at all and I shouldn’t have brought it. Instead, I rather enjoyed the tour entertainment, meeting people, or even just lying in my tent.
• Bike storage: I should have brought some sort of cover for my bike to keep it out of the rain when stored in the communal bike rack. This could have been as simple as a strapped-down, oversized trash bag.
• Bladder management: Don’t have a beer just before going to bed. You’ll need to get up out of your tent to pee in a dark porta-potty. One person on tour had a pee container for just this purpose, but I won’t recommend this practice. Instead, actively manage your bladder.
• Relax in the morning: There’s no need to rush in the morning; this isn’t a race. Other people set their alarms to before sunrise and immediately started breaking down camp. Instead, I had very leisurely mornings, and still got on the course in good temperatures. I woke up when the sun came up, put on normal clothes, did my morning routine, had breakfast, and then got dressed and packed up, all with plenty of time to spare.
• Avoid chafing: Definitely bring chamois cream. My favorite is Chamois Butt’r Her': it works well and smells better than the original version.
• Repel rain and wind: Bring a packable rain jacket for on the bike, which is also useful for chilly mountainous descents.
• Off-bike footwear: Bringing sandals (specifically, Made-in-the-USA Chacos) was a good idea: they’re more versatile than shoes. Pair with wool socks, when needed, for best results.
• On-bike food: Bring your favorite snacks and water additives. This is useful if you want to deviate from the prescribed route, if you miss a rest stop, or the stops don’t have the fuel you want.

Yuko and I took a trip to Jackson, WY after falling in love with the Four Seasons there (where we ultimately didn’t stay). We used a voucher from Delta, which prohibited us from flying into JAC itself, but instead we made a forced visit to Idaho Falls.

This turned out to be fortunate, as the drive from Idaho Falls allowed us to pass through Victor and the Targhee National Forest.

Food

Villa Coffeehouse - There isn’t a whole lot of non-chain breakfast options in Idaho Falls. We chose to visit this coffeehouse before driving two hours to Jackson because of their extensive breakfast sandwich list. Their food didn’t disappoint: the breakfast burrito was delicious. Stick to drip coffee (first refill free) over their espresso offerings.

Grand Teton Brewing Company - This brewery is located between Idaho Falls and Jackson. Their tiny tasting room was a great pit stop. Their beers were great, the popcorn was hot and fresh, and both the staff and the visitors were convivial. I heard their home-made root beer on tap was quite good. They have chairs on the deck which looked lovely, but it was a bit too cold when we visited to take advantage of them. Aside from delicious popcorn, they don’t serve food, but a food truck might eventually arrive. Get a few special release bombers to go for the evenings in Jackson.

Local - Upon arriving in Jackson, we walked around the town center to get our bearings. We came across Local and decided to have dinner at the bar. As it turned out, Local was already on our shortlist of restaurants to visit, as T&L claims they have the #2 burger in the area. We liked the food, the menu, tap list filled with local brews, cocktail list, and bar service so much we returned a few nights later. (We did see that food was slow to arrive for some other patrons, however. Pass the time by having another beer!).

Jackson Farmer’s Market - The market surrounds the town square on Saturday mornings. There are a number of eateries with stands. The breakfast sandwiches from Sweet Cheeks Meats. Both sandwiches we had were only okay, but the optional pickled toppings gained some acclaim. The wait was also long and they were slightly disorganized in handling orders. We got massive donuts from Nom Nom Donuts. I like the plainest of the plain donuts and had the cinnamon twist; it was quite good, though expectedly too sugary for me. Yuko had the nutella doughnut, which was filled with a metric ton of hazelnut spread.

Snake River Brewing - The largest local brewery, Snake River was on the top of my list because it won Small Brewery of the Year twice at the Great American Beer Festival. The food is fine bar food, but otherwise unremarkable: The peach/chorizo pizza was worth trying if only due to originality (though the barbecue sauce added even too much sweetness). The pulled pork was average. The beer, though, was great. I had both of their IPAs on offer: Olde Gregg, an alternative to their best-selling Packo’s, and the I Do, which was specially brewed for the brewmaster’s own wedding. I wish we had the time to come back just for drinks.

The Handle Bar at the Four Seasons - I had wanted to check out the Four Seasons' grounds and their beer and whiskey-oriented restaurant was conveniently on the way to the hiking trail we chose. I had completed my bike ride earlier and was starving, so had the burger, which was excellent, paired with a Deschutes IPA. It was fun watching the downhill mountain bikers complete their runs from the outdoor, umbrella-covered patio. The service was impeccable for us, as can be expected at the Four Seasons. It’s worth coming by if you’re in the area.

Persephone - This is a cute little bakery that you must visit at least once. Persephone ticked most of the boxes I have for a breakfast place:

• They have delicious baked goods: I’ve never seen Yuko fawn over a cinnamon morning roll before).
• They take coffee seriously (I was warned that my macchiato would be made properly, not like most outposts in the midwest; indeed, it was perfect).
• Their prepared breakfast foods (mostly egg-based) are good (but small).

The biggest downside is that they only offer counter service, which was distracting: it requires that you listen for your name and make several trips around their tiny storefront between lots of people and tables. If it were warmer out, we would have eaten outside on the deck, which looked lovely.

Cafe Genevieve - We were in need of lunch and sat down on their patio outside. The food was only okay (the chorizo tasted like the Ortega taco mix my mom used to use when I was a kid). The bathroom was disgusting. The location, right off of the town square, and the seating were great.

Moo’s - Yuko is an amateur ice cream critic and gives Moo’s a solid 8/10. She likes the huge variety of flavors (they serve 24 each day out of their repetoire of 200), the good chocolate-covered waffle cones, and the organic and locally-sourced ingredients. She required that we return another day for a second cone. Strangely, you can also resupply for your next paintball outing here.

Couloir - This was the surprise of our vacation. While we were sitting at the bottom of the mountain at The Handle Bar, I mentioned to Yuko that there is a restaurant and bar at the top of the mountain. She found the last reservation for the following evening for the last seating of the night, at 8:30pm. They serve a four-course prix fixe menu with many choices for the first three, with a dessert sampler to finish.

To get there, you have to take a phenomenal ten minute gondola ride, and includes a glass of sparkling wine. (In fact, this gondola is how all of their supplies are transported up to the restaurant as well). The view was fantastic, though the sun was only up for part of our stay. The food was excellent: we thoroughly enjoyed every course. The service was on par with the food. The wine list is so extensive that they have won Wine Spectator awards for their program. The ride back down via the gondola in the pitch-black darkness was exhilarating.

I think the winning move here is to book at least one night at the Four Seasons, have lunch at The Handle Bar, get a reservation for that night at Couloir, and enjoy the wine and beer in the safety of not having to drive through buffalo-filled roads.

Old Faithful Inn

• After driving to Yellowstone in the morning and arriving at Old Faithful just before an eruption, we had lunch in the namesake restaurant. The service was good, but the food was slow to arrive. The vegetarian reuben was surprisingly good. The buffet was surprisingly sad looking. If it were a bit warmer, I would have preferred to get a sandwich from the adjoining cafe and sit out on the deck overlooking the geyser.

Lake Lodge Cafeteria

• This cafeteria (in the style of a college dining hall) was along the return leg of our Yellowstone drive. Its primary purpose is to serve the visitors staying at the adjoining cabins and campgrounds. It was surprisingly good cafeteria food: I had a Thanksgiving-style turkey dinner that I wouldn’t mind having again. It was likely the best dinner option we had after a long day of visiting Yellowstone and having to drive back to Jackson.

Nora’s Fish Creek Inn - This restaurant got put in our travel plans because it won the 2012 James Beard Award for the American Classic category. As recommended, we came for breakfast, on our way from Jackson to Idaho Falls. The breakfast burrito with choizo was phenomenal. The ambiance was rustic log cabin, and there were a lot of locals in the seats. Come early, come often, but definitely come.

Activities

Running in the National Elk Refuge - This was one of my favorite runs I’ve ever done (though I’m not an avid or accomplished runner). National Elk Refuge Road runs through the entirety of its namesake and starts right at the edge of town. The surface is fine gravel all the way and it provides some beautiful views of the surrounding buttes.

Grand Teton National Park - I really loved visiting this park. Not only are the mountains gorgeous, but there are hidden lakes, great drives, and a lot of wildlife.

• Hiking Taggart Lake - I would do this easy hike again.
• Cycling between Moose and Jenny Lake - We rented some bikes from Dornan’s for Yuko’s second bike ride in her adult life. The path is set quite away from the road and offers a very relaxed ride with amazing mountain views.
• Road biking between Jackson and Signal Mountain - I rented a decent, working road bike from Hoback Sports and did a 70+mi out-and-back from Jackson to the only notable road climb in the park. Getting out there was gorgeous and the view from the top was stunning, but getting back took a bit of extra energy due to a headwind. Gros Ventre/Mormon Row/Antelope Flats was a worthy dirt-laden detour to add some variety. Here’s some more inspiration for other rides.
• Getting way too close to bison - When we were there, a huge herd of bison would congregate around Antelope Flats Road near sunset. They seemed like such docile creatures, but I’m happy we made it out in once piece!

Yellowstone National Park - It isn’t possible to spend one day in Yellowstone and see everything that is worth seeing. We decided to stick to the lower loop and see whatever we could.

• Old Faithful - Go here first and wait for the next eruption. It was surprisingly worth waiting for.
• Upper Geyser Basin - We spent a ton more time visiting all of the smaller geysers, fountains and pools that we had expected: they are all so different and interesting.
• Grand Prismatic Spring - Amazing colors. Definitely stop.
• Fountain Paint Pots - Bubbling mud of a variety of colors. I liked this more than Yuko did.
• Red Rock Hike - We did this short-but-vertical hike because we thought the trail would lead to a great view of the Lower Yellowstone Falls and we weren’t disappointed. Definitely worth seeing.
• Artist’s Point - Totally overrun by tourists, detracting from the beautiful view of the canyon. I probably would skip this if I knew about the competition from other visitors.

Accomodations

Rustic Inn at Jackson Hole - We researched almost all of the resorts in Jackson Hole and settled on this one because of the kitschy individual cabins. The pictures on the website make the cabins look pretty spread out with a view of the creek and a hillside. In actuality, the cabins are very close together, and ours had a scenic view and acoustic environment of a parking lot. The interior of the cabins themselves were nice. The included breakfast was fine and standard. I would probably look elsewhere for our next trip.

Holiday Inn Idaho Falls - Exactly as you would expect. It was totally sufficient for a single night before heading out to Jackson.

Food, researched but not visited

The following are places that made our list of places to go, but we didn’t have enough time to actually get to.

• Betty Rock - #1 lunch according to T&L. The turkey, cranberry, pesto sandwich is recommended.
• Bridger Deck - This is the bar located on the lower level of Couloir. I’d totally come here for a drink or two, since it includes a gondola ride to top of mountain. They are supposed to have a good margarita.
• DOG Breakfast - BREAKFAST BURRITO ALERT. I can’t believe we didn’t come here one morning: I keep reading about it after having come back. Call to order ahead ahead to avoid a wait.
• Granary - Cocktails on a deck with a view. Jazz Friday, piano Saturday.
• Haydens Post Breakfast #3 breakfast - T&L.
• Idaho Brewing Company - For obvious reasons. We didn’t happen to be in Idaho Falls during its open hours.
• Jackson Hole Roasters Coffee - Well regarded roastery.
• Liberty Burger - Lots of variety. #1 burger according to T&L.
• Mangy Moose - Good cocktails, recommended: spicy margarita.
• Million Dollar Cowboy Bar - Pretty famous. Saddles for barstools. We would have gone even though it isn’t really our scene.
• Pinky G’s Pizzeria - Pizza On Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.
• Sweetwater - #4 lunch - T&L.
• Thai Me Up Thai + Brewery Never been to a Thai place that brews their own beer.
• The Lotus Cafe - Organic/vegetarian/vegan. OMG vegetables would have been amazing. (Also on Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives).
• The Rose - Food & Wine top 25 Cocktail bar.
• Wild Sage - #1 thing to do for couples - T&L. 7 tables == make reservations.