Bushwalk Australia

From the time you wake up in the tent until the time you start walking. How long do you spend getting ready?

I find it takes me 1 1/2 to 2 hours.. which seems a very long time however that includes
- wake and visit to the bushes.
- breakfast and hot coffee. (Approx 40 mins, il usually be reviewing the days route while munching muesli)
- clean up dishes after breakfast
- wash body, clean teeth etc
- sort feet, I'm prone to blisters so I wrap or pad my feet each morning to prevent that
- sort/package food/water for the day (if a 4+ day walk I carry my trail food bulked not in per day zip locks)
- stuff sleeping bag/ down jacket/ roll mat.
- apply sunscreen/no friction balm.
- pull down tent and pack up.(about 20 mins)
- ready to go by 8.20am

Edit. Added a bit more stuff.

I like to have plenty of time. Packing up is pretty easy but a nice relaxed start is my style. Could do it in 30 mins but 90 is better.

Solo I'll pull stumps and be out of there within 20mins and have a cuppa and get sorted about 2 hours down the track. Hiking with others, I seem to be one of the last to get my act together.

Sorting stuff for the day can be done the night before.

It is the washing and packing that I find a chore. Minimising those and I can be quick, any problem there and I'm slow.

Too *&%$#! long. How is it that I can misplace things in a tiny one man tent?

about 15 mins to get packed and food down, I don't cook or soak. But I won't always hit the road rightaway, might sit back and enjoy the morning, take a dip if I'm at a creek.

About 15 mins if I wake up without any dew. If there has been some overnight I normally hang around for about an hour waiting for stuff to dry... So annoying.

The trick to a speedy exit in the morning is sorting stuff the night before. Get everything ready to go at night and in the morning just pack the tent and bag and hoof it. I dont normally eat until mid morning so I save a bit of time there.

Having less stuff helps as well.

Pop the kettle on as soon as you wake up, 20 mins to pack while sipping coffee.

Impressed by these quick exit times. I enjoy a lesuirly breakfast so I'm unlikely to improve mine unless it's a emergency departure.

@zapruda. Yep dew on the tent is a pain, ice is worse! Was in the snowys a week ago, camping above 1800m for several nights, trying to clear mushy ice in close to freezing temps was not great for the hands or pack down time.

One thing I also learnt, tri pegs and multiple guy ropes are great for holding in winds gusting at 80+ km/h but the tri pegs are also great for holding wet clingy dirt, which increases your pack down time as you need to scrap off each peg before storage.

Zapruda wrote:...dew. If there has been some overnight I normally hang around for about an hour waiting for stuff to dry... So annoying.

I find that I deliberately do everything slowly in the mornings if the tent is wet, in the hope that it might dry out a bit. It's usually pointless though. It never dries much except in mid-summer when the sun is high from early morning. But I rarely walk in mid-summer.

Wiping it down with a chux helps a bit, but I'm not convinced it's a much better than shaking the tent.

I'm starting to wonder if I'd be better off packing it up immediately, while still wet, and then getting to the next camp site earlier and setting it up there while the day is still warm. Surely it would dry out quicker in the warmer late afternoon than in the cold early morning? I don't know if I can convince myself of this - would somebody else please do a series of repeated tests and let me know the results?

And besides, I like having a slow cup of tea and hot porridge in the mornings, so I'm OK with taking my time.

It depends on the camp site too. Just spending time at a good camp site is worthwhile.

Son of a Beach wrote: getting to the next camp site earlier and setting it up there while the day is still warm

I do this sometimes but you can never guarantee that the sun will be shining later on in the day I guess. I get it out occasionally in the middle of the day to dry if its not too windy.

Son of a Beach wrote:Wiping it down with a chux helps a bit, but I'm not convinced it's a much better than shaking the tent.

Yep, especially on cuben. It just seems to move the water around. Maybe i'm not using an absorbent enough cloth. I don't bring one anymore.

If I'm doing big miles I get everything ready the night before and can get on the road within 15 minutes.
Includes a quick breakfast of cereal and rehydrated milk.
Brushing teeth etc I do at my first break 1.5-2 hours down the road.

If I'm having an easy day it takes between 30 and 60 minutes.
The big time killers that I have seen are lighting a fire and cooking breakfast.
I don't drink coffee in the mornings and that seems to be the biggest time saver.

It depends. My best time is 25 minutes, but that presupposes having everything organised the night before, nut bars for brekky, and a dry tent. It's usually closer to an hour. Ninety minutes if I have to wipe down the fly and separate the inner and take some photos. It's the photo opps that slow me down the most - I love morning light.

Does that include the time between waking up and getting up?

From getting up, I find it takes me about an hour by the time I have had breakfast - usually muesli and coffee - and packed. Washing etc is something I prefer to do in the afternoon/evening so I am a little cleaner when hitting the sack.

I do like to get the tent reasonably dry before packing it and if the weather is suitable I usually air my quilt. Best thing for wiping down the tent is a vidella cloth, chux don't hold the water. The vidella type cloth also works well as a towel and I have a 1/2 one for cooking, handling hot pots wiping up etc.

My morning 'washing' is the breakfast gear, not myself. I think others are the same.

About 30 minutes maximum. If the tent is wet I will just give it a shake and stop later to dry it. I also tend to walk about 20 metres then walk back to my campsite to see if I have forgotten anything.

Ha ha I use the Vidella cloth after you recommended it before Mark, thanks-it is a champ on the Duplex DCF!
You are right, it is so absorbent, the surface still feels slightly damp but nothing like before wiping. I cut a piece 12 X 12 and stick it in a ziplock-try it if you haven't Zapruda.
Up Sunday at 5, (in bed by 8.30) sleeping bag straight in its Stuff sack, (Xlite deflating) walked down to the wee creek, counted the stars, put the sleeping bag into the nylofume sack into the Ruck sack. Meant to have a coffee but thought I'll eat my mix of almonds and dates while I walked and forego the moka.
First time (EVER) without coffee, and I surprised myself, was walking in the moonlight waiting for the sun to come up, elapsed time -just under 15 minutes.
I have to say the roll top rucksacks (my Sonder) make packing SO MUCH easier therefore quicker. Zapruda you are so right, having less stuff makes it so much easier. UL -bingo!
Add coffee, I suppose another 5 minutes or as long as I want to just sit and look. For me it's the best part of the day by far.

I’ll try the Vidella this weekend. Thanks for the tip Mark and Lamont. Cheers.

Hiking with two kids (ages 8 and 12), my husband and I find that around two hours is a good estimate of how long it usually takes us. This includes time to query who had more hot chocolate powder in their cup, whose turn it is to fill all the water bottles and whose it is to wash the cups; and whether everyone has done their teeth for the requisite two minutes. We also include a mandatory lap around the site/shelter to ensure that everyone is entirely satisfied with the way in which their boots are attached to their feet.

Then we usually walk for about twenty minutes, and stop to take off jackets and retrieve forgotten walking sticks!

That having been said; I was hiking earlier in the year (just four days/three nights) with the two kids (my husband had to go back to work), and woke one dawn to discover the whole forest filling with smoke. I had the kids awake and between us we were packed and out within fifteen minutes: including packing up all our sleeping gear and tent. Amazing what the voice of calm parental urgency can achieve!

I pack the day before, and my breakfast is eaten on the road. So from waking up to going out the door, it can be between 15 and 30 min. I don't drink coffee and never shower the morning of a (day) hike so I won't scare away wildlife. I now also don't want to miss at least the golden hour, ideally sunrise. If I took me 2 hours to get ready it would mean getting up at 3 or 4 am. It's just not possible.

Usually well within the hour to have a breakfast, clean up self and the mess kit, pack everything away. Then a little more time to enjoy a little more of the location, photos, double check nothing lost and review the day’s plan, overall, ready to move under one and a half hour from waking. All pleasant and leisurely. Why rush? Just adjust bed and wake times.

Around 15mins...
I'm up early to watch the rising suns rays spread far & wide, pack my pack, then its on the track while it's still cool hoping to encounter a few creatures of the night before they go into hiding...I'll eat later, usually at a jaw dropping view or soothing cascade.

I'm a two hour guy nowadays.

I marvel at how in my twenties I could do it in one hour max including lighting the fire, cooking breakfast, having a wash with hot water, and extinguishing the fire.

Well, my morning slash will usually last about 10 minutes due to being to lazy to get up through the night...so there's that.
But after that has been taking care of, maybe 15 minutes? I keep everything pretty well organized and, like a few others here, eat mid morning and I still have never had a cup of coffee nor tea, so thats a time saver too.

And just for the record I HATE the dew problem also. Something is just not right about rolling that sopping tent up and packing it..not to mention the extra weight!!!

20 min. I normally hike alone and am an early riser (4am starts for gym when I'm home). I stuff tent into waterproof bag and just go - nothing like being on trail as sun comes up. Once sun comes up I'll stop to eat and spread out tent to let it dry.

Mark F wrote: Best thing for wiping down the tent is a vidella cloth, chux don't hold the water. The vidella type cloth also works well as a towel and I have a 1/2 one for cooking, handling hot pots wiping up etc.

I find the chux reasonably good. I wrung out 500ml on one test, after a good shake of the tent. But I'm keen to try something that's better. Google tells me there's 14 types of vileda cloths (are they the ones?). Some are clearly not what you use, but there are a few contenders (e.g.Actifiibre cloth, Quick & Dry, All Purpose, etc). Which do you use? Thanks!

14 types, Yowza! I just bought the first one I saw that said vileda and it is yellow. Works wonderfully. Especially when you really wring it out well so it is as close as you can get to dry. Maybe there is a better one?
I also used the Vileda/Coles copy -that works reasonably well too, way better than chux.

Lamont wrote:14 types, Yowza! I just bought the first one I saw that said vileda and it is yellow. Works wonderfully. Especially when you really wring it out well so it is as close as you can get to dry. Maybe there is a better one?
I also used the Vileda/Coles copy -that works reasonably well too, way better than chux.

Only 5 types of yellow Vileda cloths. Is it slightly spongy, or only cloth-y?

With reasonably new waterproofing on the fly, a good shake seemed to be all that's needed to get rid of most of the dew. No big deal is it?

But can understand this guy's perspective...

Spongy about 2mm thick, highly absorbent. Takes the bulk of the moisture from the DCF both outside and in. Wring it frequently.