Casey Deaton

Growing up, Casey Deaton did some camping and fishing, but not backpacking. On a whim, he and a friend, Ruger, went on their first backpacking trip in March of 2012 to Sipsey, Al. “We were first timers,” he said, taking only the basics, sleeping on the ground with very little shelter and they had to boil their water. The “roughing it” trip is how he refers to it.
“We took way too much food,” he said–Ramen noodles, powdered soups and snacks. By the end of the trip they found themselves eating to get rid of pack weight.
During that trip they met some guys who were “hammock camping” and they gave Casey and Ruger a “crash course.”  Besides hammocks, they told them about MREs (meals ready to eat) and let them use their water filter. After that, Deaton did some research using hammockforums.net and got lots of hints and tips. He suggests the website for anyone interested in hammock camping.
By their second trip, they had hammocks, water filter, and MREs.

“The dehydrated meals are good, but simple, and really quick to fix.” He orders a good many gourmet trail meals from Packit Gourmet. There are certain “go-to” meals he likes and one of his favorites is Texas State Fair Chili, which includes a packet of Texas Pete hot sauce, Frito chips and cheese. People use a lot of tortillas and make wraps, and one company, he said, offers BYOW (bring your own wrap) meals you can fill them with.

While backpacking, he likes to eat a good breakfast and supper, snack in-between and eat a light lunch, like a tuna packet. On the last trip he took frozen store-bought sliced tenderloin wrapped in bacon and stuffed with cream cheese. “The first night I usually cook the good stuff,” he said.
It’s not all MREs for him, though. One meal he likes to prepare is hobo packets. He freezes the hamburger patty ahead of time and his vegetables of choice are sliced baby red potatoes, baby carrots, peppers and onions. Sometimes he adds brown gravy to the mix. “And I can do biscuits in the back country in a tiny bundt pan,” he said.

Sipsey Smores is a recipe he “made up on the fly,” saying you can usually buy single servings of almond butter and Nutella to make them.
He and Ruger now divide the items they will need for their two-three day trips because on that first outing they had two of everything. They like to hike at least 10 miles round-trip, and sometimes they go 20, carrying loaded backpacks that weigh close to 30 lbs.

“After several trips you gain the confidence that you’re gonna make it back and you don’t worry about animals as much. My biggest concern is something like a sprained ankle or slipping on a rock,” he said.
About the weather, he said on his coldest trip, the temperature got down to 19° in January, and the hottest was in the 90s.

In May, he and Bruce First Baptist Church youth director Turner Moore, and Patrick Davis, took a group of six youth with two other chaperones, to Sipsey on a weekend hiking/camping trip, and they are planning another one. For most of the guys who went, it was their first time backpacking.
Deaton loves the solitude of backpacking and having no cell service–no calls, texts or internet–just taking pictures with the phone. The only drawback is not being able to check on his Fantasy Football.

Casey cooks a good bit at home also, usually pretty basic he says, but he stepped out a little recently and made stuffed pork chops. He and wife, Emily, are big sushi with yum yum sauce fans. Daughters Lucy Beth, 4, and Lylah Joy, 2 1/2, like the cheese pudding, an old family recipe. He also loves the corn casserole that his mother, Carolyn Deaton, makes, and she usually fixes him his own 8×8 pan of it for Thanksgiving, Christmas and his birthday.
Sipsey S’mores
1 medium/large apple
(I prefer Golden Delicious/Fuji)
Almond butter
Nutella
(If unable to find individual packets of almond butter and Nutella, simply spoon into corner of ziploc bag and tie off.)
Briefly roast apple slices on open flame, apply almond butter and Nutella generously.

Hobo Meal
1 hamburger patty
Favorite veggies
Heavy duty non-stick aluminum foil
Instant gravy (optional)
Place patty in center of foil, stack veggies on top, add tsp. of water and preferred seasonings. Fold corners of foil and twist at top (try not to make any holes in foil.) Cook on coals for 20-30 minutes.

Spicy Corn on the Cob
2 cobs corn, in husk
1/2 tsp. red chile flakes
(or packet from pizza parlor)
2 Tbsp. salted butter
In camp, peel back husks without taking them off. Remove any silk. Spread butter generously on the cobs and sprinkle with chile. Rewrap each cob in its husk as tightly as possible. Prepare bed of coals and place corn cobs directly on top for about 12 minutes, turning two or three times. (Alternative: Place a metal grate–cake rack works well–about 5-7” above coals. Cook for about 20 minutes.) Let corn cool slightly before unwrapping.

Granny Freeny’s Cheese Pudding
(Emily Freeny Deaton)
3/4-1 lb. cheddar cheese sliced
1 lb. crackers broken into big pieces
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
Salt/pepper to taste
Grease 8” casserole dish. Line bottom of dish with crackers. Layer with sliced cheese. Repeat layers until dish is full with crackers being the top layer. Beat egg with milk, salt and pepper, and pour over top. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until firm. (Casey says pepper each cracker layer to taste.)