Why an Ultralight Backpacking Table?
Cascade Wild was born in the rainy Pacific Northwest where anything you set on the ground is likely to get wet, dirty, muddy, dusty with volcanic ash, or sticky with fir or pine needles. It's rare in the Northwest to find a campsite with a flat rock, and setting your stove or coffee mug on a log is an invitation for disaster. Jim Hamel (Cascade Wild founder) bought several backpacking tables over the years that never made the "final cut" when he packed for a trip and realized his pack was still too heavy. After waiting 20 years for an established gear company to come out with a lightweight table option, Jim tested multiple materials and designs and made almost 20 prototypes before settling on the design you see on these pages. Friends and family encouraged Jim to make the table available to others in the backpacking community, and Cascade Wild was born.
Assembled by hand in Oregon, the USA
Every step in making a Cascade Wild table is completed locally in Western Oregon. We order raw material (corrugated plastic) from a local plastics supplier, then the table blanks are cut out by a local die cutter. From there the table blanks go to a non-profit organization which assembles each table: putting in the folds with a jig supplied by Cascade Wild, installing the side snaps, and attaching the reflective tape and hook-and-loop dots. The completed tables come to Cascade Wild where we put them in the retail packaging. Nothing is mass-produced overseas, and and every dollar of revenue goes to support the local, state, and USA economies. We are proud to work with our non-profit organization (Oregon State Hospital), which provides market-wage jobs to mentally challenged individuals who are learning work and life skills they can apply to become functioning members of society.
Our Team
Jim Hamel
Founder, Customer Service, Order Fulfillment
Jim has been backpacking in the wilderness in the Washington and Oregon Cascades since the late 1970's (thus the name "Cascade Wild") and he retired in 2010 from a career in business. As he has gotten older, reducing pack weight on the trail has grown increasingly important and Cascade Wild reflects a desire to share that passion with the backpacking community.
503-844-2963
Jenny Wadkins
Website Management and Design, Social Media, Marketing
Jenny is an experienced entrepeneur, who brings her past experience with manufacturing and marketing a niche product to a worldwide customer base.
Dave Wadkins
Webmaster
Dave is the last line of technical defense, and keeps the inner workings of the website running smoothly behind the curtain.
Joy Hamel
Fulfillment
Joy is the backbone of the Cascade Wild organization. She works hard to assist in day-to-day operations, and completing and filling orders.