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Good camp coffee: how do you do it?
Okay, picture it. Backcountry adventure for three days: dirt roads far from the luxuries of civilization. Like strip malls, speed bumps, and Starbucks. Can you handle it?
At the 2007 Expedition Trophy, my friends Graham and Connie couldn’t. On the second morning, I spied them rolling into camp with a pair of those unmistakable white cups with the green lettering (I believe they were Venti sized, too). Those sneaky kids got up early, broke camp, and drove out to the highway, which took them to the nearest (gasp!) Starbucks.
And they’ve spent 9 months driving the length of Africa in a Land Rover. Even the most rugged of us all have been swindled and brainwashed by $4.00 metropolitan foo-foo coffee drinks.
Good news. I’ve got your fix for good coffee while you’re adventuring far from your coffee shop of choice. And like they say, the first one is always free – I’m not charging. I’m talking about quality java here, not a little packet of dog food to which they’ve added black dye and called “instant coffee!” Seriously, instant coffee: you don’t know where it’s been.
From a simple mug of black joy to an elaborate latte with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles, it all can be handled at a quiet campsite with rudimentary cookware.
The basics of camp coffee
Let’s start with regular black coffee: ground roasted beans and hot water. Yes, I know what you’re thinking: “Use a French press!” or “Use a percolator!” Both have their merits, but I’m not suggesting either one in this instance.
How does drip style sound, yet with no pot to clean up? Ortlieb (www.ortlieb.com) has the answer with their coffee filter holder. It’s a simple synthetic PVC (or something) thing, so it’ll fold flat. See that crazy yellow thing in the picture to the right? There she is.
“What’s up with the tent pegs,” you ask?
This is the beauty of it. You take your Ortlieb filter holder with those tent pegs (or sticks, or forks, or whatever will fit) and place it on top of your mug or kettle. The pegs stabilize the filter holder.
Ortlieb coffee filter working its magic
Then use a #2 conical coffee filter inside the Ortlieb holder (naturally . . .) and scoop in your ground coffee beans. We’ll get to the beans in a moment. Heat up your water and simply pour it into your grounds and and let the Ortlieb coffee filter do it’s job.
In a few minutes you’ll have a fresh mug of tasty coffee with all the luscious oils and dissolved solids that come with a quality cup. And best of all, you don’t have a pot to clean; the grounds are contained in the filter, which you toss into your garbage, and then you just rinse the Ortlieb holder.
The rules of coffee making still apply, and you may or may not know about this one: don’t over heat your water. The proper temperature for coffee actually depends on your altitude. As a general guide, 200º at sea level and 180º at 10,000 feet. Any hotter and you could over extract the beans, which can make the coffee taste . . . burned. You may have experienced this with a percolator or press before. With this drip method, the likelihood of over extraction is quite remote since the water is no longer on heat as it passes through the beans.
Enjoying camp coffee
To sum up, all you need to add to your kit for making camp coffee is:
- Ortlieb coffee filter holder
- #2 conical filters (which you can get at your nearest grocery store)
- Coffee mug (the Snow Peak titanium mug is what I used here)
If you’re camping, you’ve already packed in your
- cook pot
- stove
- spoons
There you go. Keep your clicker nearby because in my next posting we’re going to go to the next level with cappuccino and café mocha.
Hurricane Ike recently decimated the Texas coastline and left much along the Galveston coast and in land unrecognizable. Days before landfall Ike’s path was predicted to punish a different part of the Texas coastline and devastate an area that I have grown to love over the last decade. The devastation in Galveston and the near miss in Port Aransas and Corpus Christi has made me appreciate our “3rd Coast” so much more. I am looking forward to an opportunity to get back to Port A but also feel a calling to visit Galveston and support the businesses that are going to be trying to restart and rewrite their history along their part of the coast.
On a recent trip to the beaches of Port Aransas we arrived on the island along our normal route, the ferry boats that come across from Aransas Pass. As my wife and daughter anxiously scanned the channel waters for breaching dolphins, something caught my eye on the horizon of the approaching island. For the deck of the ferry boat I could see an unfamiliar building amongst the roof tops of the residents and businesses of Port A. It was a big red barn. Our road from the ferry landing to the beach took us right past this oddity and it was as if it were fate. Here I was with my family, in one of my favorite places, and there in the form of a big red metal barn was two of more of my favorite things wrapped up in a mouthwatering needless-to-say unique package. A Big Red Barn + A 12ft Brick Pit BBQ + a Rusty Old Jeep. I don’t have a weakness for red barns…good BBQ and Jeeps…yes commit me…sign me up for a help group…I’m weak.
T
he Rusty Jeep Pit BBQ houses a 12foot old fashioned pit BBQ in a BIG RED barn. Pit BBQ is barbecue at its best, slowly smoked over hickory wood. I used to run a small pit BBQ and smoke the briskets and pork butts overnight over hickory wood…Oh man, nothing comes close. The menu at the Rusty Jeep is what you’d expect to see at a BBQ joint, the regular BBQ fare and the fixins, serving up plates, sandwiches, and lbs. The owners Bill and Debbie Cook will greet you from behind a spread of their offerings with a smile, a family style atmosphere, and a story or two about the rusty Jeep that sits outside the big red barn that the restaurant is named after. That Jeep has got some history to say the least, just check out the VIN number, it is No. 401. That’s the four-hundred and first Jeep Willys ever made.
Mmmmmmm. Pit smoked BBQ and Jeep history. My trips to the beach can’t be beat. I love our 3rd coast. Come and visit. Support the local businesses that make our beaches unique, and stop for a chat and a chopped BBQ sandwich at the Rusty Jeep BBQ. Then…pick up a small feast of everything they offer, head to the beautiful Port A beaches, park your Jeep next to surf, set up the folding tables and dining fly, a nice campfire, and enjoy a pit smoked BBQ dinner and watch the sunset on the Gulf of Mexico.
The Rusty Jeep Hickory Pit BBQ
118 South Cut Off Rd
Port Aransas, Texas 78373
749-2276 (BARN)
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- The “Rusty Jeep”
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- Simple…maybe…Perfect…Fo’ Sho’
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- Not a bonified historical landmark, but any Jeep with a VIN that proves it was one of the first 500 ever made is certainly historical.
I’m planning on taking a trip to Ozona, TX next month to attend a TMTC work day to a section of proporty they are developing. I may have to do a little trail cooking for them… It’s about time we give other folks a taste of what the Seven Bar Grill is all about. For more info on the area they are developing visit their forum at http://tmtc.net/forums/index.php. I will keep you posted as plans develop.
“MissionOuray” An experienced first timers Jeep Jamboree ride along!
Mark M. DeNittis September 12th- 14th, 2008
The phone call came last minute on Wednesday night (9.10.08) from editor, Frank (n’beans) Ledwell, “can you be in Ouray, Colorado this Friday to ride along with the folks of Jeep Jamboree USA?” “Sure, I can leave after my class finishes at 7:30pm, drive through the night and get there sometime Saturday morning. At this time Frank was dealing with hurricane Ike that was targeting the Texas coast and Houston, his hometown, and my old chefing grounds. Communication was quick and mostly I spoke with Corporate Jeep Jamboree HQ to figure out just who I was to connect with once I arrived. Kudos to the JJUSA Team for the great communications on such quick notice.
Note: Ouray is pronounced “YOU-ray” not “Oooooh-ray” or “Hooo-ray” it’s “YOU-ray” as my good friend, Colorado native, Josh so kindly reminded me. He wanted to bonk my noggin, for improperly pronouncing it, when I first told him I was headed to “Ooooohray”. I tried to talk him into letting me borrow the Crane-Hi-Clearance rig for the run as my Jeep is currently under surgery receiving something to the effect of a well known tomato vegetable juice implant.
9.12.08 8:30pm – 9.13.08 7:30am
This was my first trip to Ouray (YOU-ray) and certainly won’t be my last. I still had no clue where I was supposed to meet or what I was even supposed to do. I just know I was supposed to get connected with Kathy of JJUSA. I love these types of renegade road trips, I thrive on them. They remind me of my earlier days, and according to my wife and family, those days really never ended for me in the first place. The trip down was awesome. I had never been through that area of Colorado. A full moon, clear skies and nobody else on the road, what more could I ask for? Getting to the Blue Mesa Reservoir around midnight I was in awe. The scenery was spectacular! The actual driving time took me about five hours from Denver to Ouray (YOU-Ray). I stopped a few times to along the way to take in the view, stretch and catch 30 minutes of sleep here and there so I wouldn’t careen off the road at 65-75 miles per hour.
Ouray, (YOU-Ray) Colorado is absolutely magnificent. I stayed just above Main Street on the second switch-back at the Chalet-Expi (back of my Ford Expedition) in a room with a view, nearly 360⁰ degrees of view mind you.
Having been on a total of two hours of sleep since Friday morning I needed some coffee. I recalled that a young couple, former students of mine had a bakery in town on Main Street, and it just so happened the first one I pulled into was theirs, the Beaumont Artisan Bakery and Café owned by Erin and Trevor. I walked in and with a hearty “I hope there’s no garnish on the floor” a saying they would surely recall from the days of classroom kitchen cleanup time. Erin had their bright eyed 16-month old snug as a bug in a backpack style sling while she worked the counter, tended to customers and slung dough around. They are well known for their artisanal breads and killer pastries. Stop in if you get a chance as it is the perfect spot for coffee, breakfast, lunch or planning a luncheon picnic for the trail.
· Beaumont Artisan Bakery and Café 460 Main Ouray, CO 81427 970-325-4677
9.13.08 – 7:30am – 9:00am
A phone call from the new Jeep Jamboree event manager Kathy came around 7:30am and gave more insight into where I had to be. The Jeep Jamboree breakfast meeting was above the fire station in the community center. The breakfast was big, filling and just what I needed after a long night of traveling. The coffee and Doritos at 3:00am just didn’t cut it. All the food for the event was put on by Lamplight Restaurant & Catering by a husband and wife team. The Jeep Jamboree coordinators brought them all the way in from Monticello, Utah.
I met some of the head honcho JJUSA folks, introduced myself and expressed I would greatly appreciate riding shotgun with someone as my Jeep was still awaiting the 8 hamster replacement. They teamed me up with ‘Than Larsen a.k.a. Leather Head, a retired aviator from the Salt Lake City area. He had his leather aviator’s cap and goggles on just for the ride. I mean we would be traveling at more than 12,000 feet above sea level so why not wear them. I had flashbacks of Snoopy in his Red Baron doghouse. The JJUSA folks warned me that Leatherhead was a wild one, I expressed that I wouldn’t get him into too much trouble then. They didn’t know I had a reputation of my own that actually made the pairing quite perfect. As we exchanged general formalities it came to light we both had much more in common than just our wild reputations. He had been an integral part of the writing of “Lovin’ Dutch Ovens” cookbook by Joan S. Larsen (his former spouse). Leatherhead was the tailgunner for the group we were in, his 2004 mostly stock Rubicon TJ could easily traverse the trails ahead.
9.13.08 – 9:00am – 5:15pm
Meeting at the trailhead just south of town I took in the first of many magnificent views. The importance on attendee safety, comfort level and Stay the Trail couldn’t have been stressed more. I thought this was a very respectable approach considering the nature of the wide array of experience levels of the all the attendees. We headed out to trek across a multitude of trails that were very scenic and mildly challenging. For flatlanders visiting the Rockies the challenge factor may have been considered more moderate. For me personally it was certainly much different than the open throttle, boulder strewn hardcore trails I am used to maneuvering. Even stranger for me was riding shotgun in another Jeep, I felt so cheap, dirty and guilty, like I was cheating with a mistress while my darling TJ sat silent in Denver.
Animas Forks, Ghost Town, Picayne Gulch, and Corkscrew Gulch were some of the trails that were on today’s agenda. Basically it was meant to be a large loop that would lead us back into Ouray (remember it’s pronounced YOU-RAY) Scenic views were bountiful and around every turn. Leatherhead and I had a wonderful time speaking about our various life experiences, children, grandchildren and the like. It made for one of the most memorable days of wheeling for me. Isn’t that, in part, what the “Jeep Lifestyle” is about, camaraderie the outdoors and creating lasting memories?! We had a diverse group of folks from all over the U.S. and one woman from British Columbia. Some first timers and some seasoned veterans of longstanding Jeep Jamborees. A lunch stop at the Animas Fork Ghost Town gave me an opportunity for two things, No. 1. Get some magnificent photos and No. 2. SLEEP. Being noon now and having only two and a half hours of sleep over the past thirty-one hours I kicked the seat back and “zonked out” for a solid 45 minutes. The Animas Fork Ghost town made for some great photos as well.
The next portion of trail brought us up through an interesting valley. Over 90 years ago they built a cable tram. Laying one solid cable the length of the valley is mind boggling even by today’s technological standards. Traversing mild switchbacks we meandered our way to 12,693 feet above sea level. GPS is a wonderful invention and Leatherhead was well versed in GPS navigations. He had this whole trip already dialed into his unit. Large, a mild word to use really, snow capped mountains and rolling high country meadows made for such scenic views. Finishing this section we made our way down into Silverton, Colorado to get to the next section of trail known as Corkscrew Gulch which would bring us back to Highway 550 approximately where we started our day.
While climbing the first steep incline at the start of the Corkscrew Gulch trail, one of the more modified CJ’s of the group had vapor locked. Within minutes the experienced team of Jeep Jamboree folks, one whom was a Mopar expert riding along in his Cherokee, they had that gremlin squashed in no time. The next issue was a little more difficult, another 4×4 coming up the section of trail we were coming down. Not such a big deal really however there was really not much room at all for passing on this section of trail. The nice thing about this stop was certainly the scenery, snowcapped peaks, green mountains, red dirt mountains and Colorado blue sky made it all worthwhile. I actually dozed off yet once again for a few minutes to catch up on some more sleep. After figuring the passing by thing out, it was another twenty minutes back down to pavement. Corkscrew is a stretch of trail that gets into the trees with lots of whoop-dee-doos. The Ouray (YOU-ray) General Store can be seen sitting high on a cliff west of the highway, Leatherhead informed me of the longstanding Ouray (YOU-ray) town joke of this neat little cliff side dwelling, not really a store at all! When out-of-towners ask about where to get anything the locals suggest that they attempt going to the General Store on the cliff.
Hitting town by 5:15pm our Trail Leader Larry (no not the cable guy) was surprised that we did the whole trail in such a quick manner, getting back to town well before the anticipated time of 6:00pm.
5:30pm – ???
Needing a place to stay, more so shower and clean up I decided not to stay another night in the Expi-Chalet. Leatherhead suggested that the Matterhorn Hotel may have some vacancy. The Matterhorn is centrally located on 3rd street, what really isn’t centrally located in a small town like this?
The Jeep Jamboree dinner and raffle was from 6:00pm – 8:30, the JeepTales.com team Alan and Jackie were there to download attendee’s photos to be put up on the www.JeepTales.com website for future viewing. The food was plentiful and filling. Lamplight’s well known Bow Tie Pasta Salad, Iceberg Salad with Fixin’s, Big Honkin’ Beef Steaks, sautéed veggies all served with a classic Baked Potato were enjoyed by all. The meal was topped off with Chocolate Brownie Cake for dessert. Dinner is always a great time for meeting new folks, I sat with a couple and their daughter from near Denver and a gentleman from Baton Rouge, LA. He was concerned about family down on the coast that had just weathered hurricane Ike. The folks winning the “I traveled the farthest to attend the Ouray (YOU-ray) event” clearly went to the two women from Costa Rica.
After the dinner Jeep Jamboree did the all awaited raffle of prizes from event sponsors. From the TeraFlex toolbags all the way to the full set of free tires, to the future Jeep Jamboree Event Tickets for two. The neat thing about the person who won the Jeep Jamboree for two was, this was his wife’s first JJ and obviously she was now posed for a second JJ in the near future. As Paul Harvy would close “and the rest of the story” from that evening was interesting to say the least and better explained or more appropriately told in a Trail Bytes feature at the http://jeepgrilleadventures.com/trailbytes.aspx setting.
To sum up, Jeep Jamborees are everything they claim to be and more. The focus on camaraderie and safe trail practices was amazing. The trail leaders and trail gunners deserve and extremely big thank you. They are complete volunteers and expenses for these trips are completely out of their own pocket. They just love doing it, are well experienced 4 wheelers, great at it and truly enjoy meeting folks. Way to go JJUSA I am sure with www.JpFreek.com being the official publication of Jeep Jamboree USA there will be future events myself and/or the other JpFreek team members will attend. To plan your next Jeep Jamboree go to http://www.jeepjamboreeusa.com/ for more information.
Additional Note: A friendly shout out to Josh, I hope I covered the pronunciation of YOURAY enough to your satisfaction. Hopefully future visitors to our great state won’t be as so inclined to improperly pronouce it by sounding it out by how it is actually spelled “Ouray” mistakenly calling it OOOOOOOH-ray! LOL 
The dazzling adventures of the dudes of 7 Bar Grille shall begin. Since we’re talking about beginnings, we need an appetizer. Hang on to your pants ….
