Last week I picked up a Berghaus Vulcan on eBay. I have a few daypacks but I wanted a full-size bergen that could swallow a load of gear. The bag arrived on Friday, and by happy coincidence I had several hours free on Sunday to get out and give it a test in a local woodland. I loaded up the bag with about 16kg of gear and water, including a DD tarp, Tenth Wonder camping hammock, JetBoil and some amateur radio gear (more on that later). I'm pretty used to walking a few miles with packs containing 5 - 10kg of camera gear but this was the first time I'd ever tried to go beyond that weight - to be honest I found it pretty punishing and I clearly need to keep getting out with the pack and a decent amount of weight and get into better shape!
My plan was to walk about 2.5 miles including a few hundred feet of ascent, then set up a day camp for a few hours. I got most of the climbing over with on the first part of the walk - here's the view from the highest point:
![bcukforum-1.jpg bcukforum-1.jpg](https://bushcraftuk.com/community/data/attachments/13/13377-1f0667c16c634ed7cfd097e2ae86b835.jpg)
There's a picnic bench on top of the hill and I took a break there for a few minutes. The Maxpedition pouch was meant to be slipped over the padded waistbelt of the rucksack but it slid around far too much - next time I'll attach it properly to the webbing:
![bcukforum-1-2.jpg bcukforum-1-2.jpg](https://bushcraftuk.com/community/data/attachments/13/13380-61d74a7820e2ec93134cb327bd4ce0dd.jpg)
After that it was back down the hill into the woods and onwards towards the spot I was planning to set up camp. Most of the woodland is young deciduous trees but there's a couple of conifer blocks - this one is a mix of Larch, Sitka Spruce and, rather bizarrely, Coast Redwood:
![bcukforum-1-3.jpg bcukforum-1-3.jpg](https://bushcraftuk.com/community/data/attachments/13/13381-6a5a1d6274a0673ae351ea23551bec52.jpg)
Once I reached the spot I'd chosen, it was time to get everything laid out ready to set up the tarp:
![bcukforum-1-4.jpg bcukforum-1-4.jpg](https://bushcraftuk.com/community/data/attachments/13/13382-b410751c5e5143c495f37410811fdecf.jpg)
After about 10 minutes and a few nettle stings I had the tarp all set up - those trees on either side are just a little bit too close!
![bcukforum-1-5.jpg bcukforum-1-5.jpg](https://bushcraftuk.com/community/data/attachments/13/13383-63295bca31a73aafa7005254f5bb24bd.jpg)
Playing radio - not really bushcraft but I know a few people on here are into amateur radio so I thought I'd put this one up. I picked a bad weekend for operating QRP (low power) portable as it was "Lighthouses On The Air" day and the band was completely crammed with special event stations - I did manage a few contacts around the UK though.
![bcukforum-2.jpg bcukforum-2.jpg](https://bushcraftuk.com/community/data/attachments/13/13384-2b9bd4d47623c3eab2025eac924c1ce4.jpg)
My plan was to walk about 2.5 miles including a few hundred feet of ascent, then set up a day camp for a few hours. I got most of the climbing over with on the first part of the walk - here's the view from the highest point:
![bcukforum-1.jpg bcukforum-1.jpg](https://bushcraftuk.com/community/data/attachments/13/13377-1f0667c16c634ed7cfd097e2ae86b835.jpg)
There's a picnic bench on top of the hill and I took a break there for a few minutes. The Maxpedition pouch was meant to be slipped over the padded waistbelt of the rucksack but it slid around far too much - next time I'll attach it properly to the webbing:
![bcukforum-1-2.jpg bcukforum-1-2.jpg](https://bushcraftuk.com/community/data/attachments/13/13380-61d74a7820e2ec93134cb327bd4ce0dd.jpg)
After that it was back down the hill into the woods and onwards towards the spot I was planning to set up camp. Most of the woodland is young deciduous trees but there's a couple of conifer blocks - this one is a mix of Larch, Sitka Spruce and, rather bizarrely, Coast Redwood:
![bcukforum-1-3.jpg bcukforum-1-3.jpg](https://bushcraftuk.com/community/data/attachments/13/13381-6a5a1d6274a0673ae351ea23551bec52.jpg)
Once I reached the spot I'd chosen, it was time to get everything laid out ready to set up the tarp:
![bcukforum-1-4.jpg bcukforum-1-4.jpg](https://bushcraftuk.com/community/data/attachments/13/13382-b410751c5e5143c495f37410811fdecf.jpg)
After about 10 minutes and a few nettle stings I had the tarp all set up - those trees on either side are just a little bit too close!
![bcukforum-1-5.jpg bcukforum-1-5.jpg](https://bushcraftuk.com/community/data/attachments/13/13383-63295bca31a73aafa7005254f5bb24bd.jpg)
Playing radio - not really bushcraft but I know a few people on here are into amateur radio so I thought I'd put this one up. I picked a bad weekend for operating QRP (low power) portable as it was "Lighthouses On The Air" day and the band was completely crammed with special event stations - I did manage a few contacts around the UK though.
![bcukforum-2.jpg bcukforum-2.jpg](https://bushcraftuk.com/community/data/attachments/13/13384-2b9bd4d47623c3eab2025eac924c1ce4.jpg)