Three Lake Trail in Morgan Monroe State Forest

Today I hiked Three Lakes Trail in Morgan Monroe State Forest, which is halfway between Bloomington and Martinsville in south central Indiana. I haven't done any serious hiking in about twenty years. I decided I don't care much for going to the gym, so I decided to get back into backpacking for my exercise. As I sit here with my sore feet, I realize I probably should have started with a shorter trail. Three Lakes is marked as 10.4 miles and rugged. I din't really feel it was rugged, but it was good exercise, lots of up and downs in ravines and creek beds. But I lived, and had a good time, so thats all that matters.

I got a chance to try out some of my new gear, no complaints on any of it so far. I didn't carry a full pack, but instead a belt with some accessories as well as a messenger bag.

    

Both are comfortable and both seem well made.

Backpacking Stove

I plan to start doing some backpacking this summer. I plan to go fairly short distances, maybe 20 miles on the high side, maybe sleep over 1 night. I've used alcohol stoves in the past, and may decide to do so again, but I've been researching small fuel stoves that would be easy to carry. I think I'm going to buy the Coleman 1-Burner Dual Fuel Sporter II Liquid Fuel Stove, it seems to offer the best value as far as weight, price and versatility. Here is a picture of it.



The other two similar stoves are also offered by Coleman. One is lighter(the Coleman Exponent Feather 442 Dual Fuel Stove), the other(the Coleman Exponent Multi-Fuel Stove) burns kerosene as well as the white gas and unleaded the other two burn. I will probably burn mostly white gas anyway, but it is nice to have options. Both cost about $30 more than sporter two does. Here they are:

    

My final idea is the MSR Whisperlite International Liquid-Fuel Stove, It is most expensive, and I just don't like the design as much, just my personal preference.

If anyone has some advice I'd love to hear it.