No matter how much you love the outdoors, if you are a serious outdoor backpacker, one of the best feelings is finishing a grueling hike and seeing the car and the end of the hike. You know what makes this experience even greater – trailgating. This is when you have a cold beer waiting for you in your car. Stanley trailgating can help you turn this activity into an art.
This hike in the Great Smoky Mountains was the birth of Stanley trailgating
Trailgating in the Great Smoky Mountains
One time on a fall hike in the Great Smoky Mountains I have over 15 miles to go to get to my car in the Cosby Campground. I was so relieved when I hit Low Gap at 5 p.m. and only had three miles to go straight down the mountain. As I approached the Cosby Campground it was getting dark. I saw some movement ahead of me and thought bear, deer, or perhaps a wild boar. It turned out to be a rafter of wild turkey slow moving their way up the riverbed.
I paused to take them in and then finished up the rest of the trail and arrived in the parking lot in almost pitch dark. My car was the only car in the parking lot. Suddenly a great feeling came over me. Not only was I done with my hike, but I had beer in the car. I had partied with friends before the hike and bought some beer that I did not finish consuming. I opened the trunk and popped a beer. It was cold thanks to being about 2,000 feet up in the mountains during October.
Smoky Mountain beautiful mountain stream
I popped open a cold beer and plopped down on top of my car and listened to the wind whistling through the trees and the shimmering sound of the mountain stream roaring down the mountain through the campground while my tired body happily accepted hops and barley. It was a magical moment and my love for trailgating was born.
The Stanley growler and tumbler are the perfect pair
Enter Stanley trailgating with cooler and growler
Not every hike I take is during the cool fall in the mountains. Last year I hiked Big Bend in over 100 degree heat in April, and I just got back from a hike in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. I did not have the same good fortune to have beer stay cold in my car while I hiked. In fact, beer might have blown up had I left it in the hot car.
A Stanley flask and cook set used to take my mind off of Stanley trailgaiting in Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Enter Stanley Brand into the trailgating equation. While hiking the Buckhorn Trail in Theodore Roosevelt, I iced my beer in the Stanley adventure cooler. I enjoyed a cold beer after a two day 12 mile hike through the badlands of North Dakota. Now I have even more weapons at my disposal in keeping my beer cold in the car while I am hiking the wilderness.
Stanley trailgating after hiking Theodore Roosevelt with cold beer
The Stanley Classic Vacuum Growler and the Stanley Adventure Steel tumbler set are great additions so I can trailgate in style. I can now fill up my growler ahead of the hike at my favorite brewery and the beer will stay cold for 16 hours. Then I can pour it into one of the tumblers and really enjoy a post hike beer. Stanley products are built for life, so I will be trailgating with these products not only this year, but twenty years down the road. They also make a great Christmas gift for your favorite adventure backpacker.
The Stanley growler gets the front seat in my canoe
One also gets really hungry hiking in the wilderness eating nothing but granola and trail mix. With the Stanley Adventure Vacuum Crock I can enjoy some hot tasty food and seal it in the crock and really celebrate coming out of the wilderness. It might make me head off in the woods more often just so I can leave the wilderness in style again and again.
Adventure on!
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I concur with your thoughts. Rarely do I get my act together beforehand but when I do what a treat it is to come back to cold drinks and sandals. That’s the other thing that I love – relief fro my boots after a long hike.
You look very happy in these photos!
Leigh recently posted..An Outstanding Hike to the Summit of Fairview Mountain
Thanks to Stanley, I now have the tools to Trailgate. The rest is up to me.
Hi Ted,
I really enjoyed your tailgating review using some of your Stanley products. I must say, “I couldn’t agree more.” I am such a Stanley Devotee, owning many of their fine products including my newest find — the Stanley 3 qt Crock. The Stanley Crock when combined with a RoadPro portable oven kicks travel days to a whole new level! I used to hate travel days to get from Point A to Point B before hitting the trails — not any more — I look forward to those travel hours now. I start my day with my pack and ruck loading for hiking. First stop is a local grocery to the day’s lunch and dinner options while I travel, let’s say soup and grilled cheese for lunch and a hearty chicken breast with noddles for dinner. I load my RoadPro Portable Oven with a disposable tin and place the chicken and noodles inside to back while I an driving. About an hour later they are perfectly cooked. Next a pull over and transfer the cooked foods into my Stanley Crock (I line the crock with an Oven Cooking Bag bought at the grocery store. Tie it up with the included tie-twister and dinner awaits my evening arrival time — hot and ready whenever I am ready to eat.
Oh! But what about lunch, you ask. Stanley was there for me too! My Stanley Prep and Cook set performs flawlessly. Around lunch time I always seek out a local park and use my Stanley Prep and Cook Set on my Trangia T-28 aka Trangia Mimi T-28. The Stanley cook set is perfect for soup complete with serving bowls and ladle. The Trangia Mini is great for grilled cheese and since the skillet is non-stick, well, again Stanley comes through with the cook-set’s included spatula! All this wonderful gear, good foods, some sightseeing along the way makes Travel Days a pure pleasure!
So there ya have it, dear Ted — Stanley Rules — before and after a great hiking adventure.
Safe travels and times to you always.