About Cascade Wild
Jim Hamel 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. Jenny Wadkins is Jim's daughter and an experienced entrepeneur who manufactures her own niche market of products for a worldwide customer base. Jenny uses that experience to maintain Cascade Wild's website and online storefront.
Why the Ultralight Backpacking Table by Cascade Wild?
Regardless where you backpack, anything you set on the ground in your campsite is likely to get wet, dirty, muddy, dusty, or sticky with pine needles. It's particularly rare in the Pacific Northwest to find a campsite with a flat rock, and setting your stove or coffee mug on a log is an invitation for disaster. Other backpacking tables on the market weigh a minimum of 12 ounces, too heavy for most people to justify carrying in their pack. Jim bought one of those tables but it never made the "final cut" when other comfort items like a book and camp chair made reducing pack weight a priority. After waiting 20 years for a lightweight table option, Jim tested multiple materials and designs and made 20+ prototypes before finally being satisfied with the backpacking table 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.