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n8r posted:I had a hilarious conversation w/ a Rainier ranger regarding people from Colorado and their need to do stupid poo poo that results in risking their lives on Rainier. Long running joke I guess.  I somehow sheared off a tip of my trekking poles--like a clean shear, not a stress fracture or anything so I'm looking for a new pair. Does anyone have some first-hand experience with those $30 flicklock poles from Costco? I'm debating either going full-hobo and trying those, or springing for the Locus CP3's. These are to replace some 120cm fixed length carbon fiber poles (RIP you beautiful bastards).
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Jul 30, 2014 01:33
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Do you guys find that poles make a big difference when doing 4 day(3 night) backpacking trips in steeper mountainous terrain? I have a walking stick I carved myself as a fallback but if hiking poles are worth their weight and expense, I'll definitely take a look around for a pair.
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Jul 30, 2014 02:38
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I have bad knees and poles truly help on descents.
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Jul 30, 2014 02:44
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Mederlock posted:Do you guys find that poles make a big difference when doing 4 day(3 night) backpacking trips in steeper mountainous terrain? I have a walking stick I carved myself as a fallback but if hiking poles are worth their weight and expense, I'll definitely take a look around for a pair.
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Jul 30, 2014 03:19
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MMD3 posted:McNeil Pt on Mt Hood, my favorite summer hike That looks awesome, thank you  Does anyone else have any other recommendations? I have a week to fill.
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Jul 30, 2014 06:15
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krispykremessuck posted:The best running joke is trail running. Where is this?
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Jul 30, 2014 07:38
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Officer Sandvich posted:I have bad knees and poles truly help on descents. This. I increased my descent speed dramatically once I got some poles. I was much more stable and not friggin limping in pain off every peak and slope due to my extraordinarily bad knees. It's nice not to have every person I encounter ask if I need help.
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Jul 30, 2014 07:38
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Mederlock posted:Do you guys find that poles make a big difference when doing 4 day(3 night) backpacking trips in steeper mountainous terrain? I have a walking stick I carved myself as a fallback but if hiking poles are worth their weight and expense, I'll definitely take a look around for a pair. Poles certainly help your joints, particularly going down-hill, but I personally wouldn't use them unless I was going off-trail. They're best at preventing injury, in my opinion.
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Jul 30, 2014 08:28
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Poles get more amazing as the grade (up or down) increases, IMO.
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Jul 30, 2014 12:15
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I just use one pole out of stubbornness more than anything...didn't use two in the past, feel just fine and comfortable with one, so eh... I've heard those Costco ones are pretty good but haven't seen much about their durability. Thought about getting them for my upcoming trip but figured taking an unknown pole on a 3 week trip was probably a bad idea. I also feel like poles greatly increase trail erosion...especially on switch backs or trails climbing the side of a hill/mountain, you see pole marks all over the side walls or off the trail and sometimes collapsing the trail wall a bit and that irritates me for some stupid unreasonable reason
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Jul 30, 2014 12:24
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Tsyni posted:That looks awesome, thank you
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Jul 30, 2014 14:39
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A friend has the Costco poles. No problem using them compared to the cheap BDs. They seem fine for shaft durability, tip durability is kind of lovely and the tips are not replaceable. You'll shred them on rock. Looks like you can replace the lower section of the pole for $9/each, though.
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Jul 30, 2014 15:21
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Discomancer posted:"Mt. Rainier, so what if it's a 14er, I do 14ers all the time back home" Can you not just replace the tip with something like this? 
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Jul 30, 2014 15:33
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I love my poles (cheap Black Diamond ones). The only real tip is make sure you get a clipping lock and not those lovely screw locks that strip the 5th time you unlock them (I bought the BD poles after my original lovely pair stripped on like our second trip out...). Other than that it's all personal preference for price/weight ratio, and my cheap rear end poles are pretty light. -- Has anyone here backpacked in Iceland? I've wanted to go there for awhile just for photo opportunities, but it's recently occurred to me that we could also find a backpacking trail there and get pictures of volcanic glaciers that not all 99.99% of tourists also have... and that is very appealing to me.
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Jul 30, 2014 15:40
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There's another fire in Yosemite Guess I better prepare myself for a smoky first few days from the valley to the high country.
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Jul 30, 2014 15:50
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I feel like if I do the JMT again I should go in like June or something and just deal with any snow or cold weather but hopefully avoid fires and poo poo. Then again it's the west, fires aren't unusual
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Jul 30, 2014 15:56
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I'd take smoke over mosquitoes any day (assuming there aren't trail closures!) I'm honestly surprised it took this long before fires started breaking out considering how dry it's been the last 2 years.
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Jul 30, 2014 16:32
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Tigren posted:Can you not just replace the tip with something like this? I wish, I looked into that, but part of the whole bottom part broke off completely, so you can't attach anything, short of gluing them back together. Not really sure what happened there, maybe I closed the car door on them or something.
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Jul 30, 2014 16:39
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lime rind posted:There's the Enchantment Lakes trail if you have a way of dealing with ending up at a different trail head than where you started. and if you have the time to drive 5+ hours outside of Portland, yes... Enchantments is pretty spectacular... it's still lottery season though so you may not be able to get a permit easily. You could always spend 3-4 days and do the Timberline Trail around Mt Hood, it's about 42Mi.
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Jul 31, 2014 01:37
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Levitate posted:e: jesus christ putting together a bunch of food is a bigger pain in the rear end than I thought  R0000826 by spf3million, on Flickr 32 days of food (27 for me, 5 for my wife) ~132,000 calories spf3million fucked around with this message at 11:35 on Jul 31, 2014 |
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Jul 31, 2014 02:39
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 17 days for two people. I probably could have worked out some higher calorie average but it'll probably still be around 120/oz. It somehow took all of last Sunday to get that packaged up and ready to send, though granted there were a few trips to the store for some things Also turns out stuffing mix? Bad idea for bear can trips, that poo poo takes up a lot of space. I had to reorder some of my plans to move that out of my big supply from the Muir Trail Ranch. The funny thing about prepping backpacking food is now I'm incredibly aware of just how many calories nuts and nut related things contain  Not to mention olive oil27 days on the trail sounds awesome though, good luck. I hope you have a great time
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Jul 31, 2014 03:05
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If either of you have time to post your meal plan I would be interested in reading it.
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Jul 31, 2014 04:04
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Ropes4u posted:If either of you have time to post your meal plan I would be interested in reading it. Same, ive only ever done 2 day one night camping trips or car camping but I'm planning a one week hike soon and I have no idea what food to bring
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Jul 31, 2014 10:50
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Levitate posted:
I ended up at 123.5 cal/oz not including all of the packaging and ziploc bags (oh god the number of ziploc bags). I think it'd be tough to go much higher while keeping it palatable. I was also reading something about how the body can only metabolize so many calories from fat per hour while breaking down carbs into usable calories can be done at a much faster rate. I feel you on the bear can issue. I was able to get around 13 days worth at 3200 calories per day in a Bearikade Expedition but it came at the expense of most of my dried fruits and other bulky carbs. I love that ibuprofen is included in your pic. I too include vitamin i in the "food" category. Ropes4u posted:If either of you have time to post your meal plan I would be interested in reading it. Bulging Nipples posted:Same, ive only ever done 2 day one night camping trips or car camping but I'm planning a one week hike soon and I have no idea what food to bring My basic strategy was to break it down into 4 sections where I'd get resupplied. These sections are 3, 4, 11, and 14 days long, the 11 being 5.5 days each for my wife and I. I knew I wanted at least 3,500 calories per day with a little extra in case something just ends up being totally unappetizing. So at 3,500 cal/d I knew how many calories I'd need for each section. Then I just started buying food that sounded good and had a decent cal/oz ratio. I dehydrated a bunch of stuff over the course of a few months just to try to save some money. My plan is to have only one hot meal per day, at dinner, so I planned for about 25% of the calories to come from rehydrating grains and veggies. I bought a variety of options which I'll be able to mix and match as I like on the trail such as couscous, dehydrated quinoa, ramen, oats, dehydrated farro, and dehydrated refried beans. I have two different spice mixes and a little container of salt available as well. I'll add the dehydrated peas, spinach, chicken, oil/ghee to that mixture for additional calories, nutrients, and taste. I certainly didn't want to go full OCD and plan every meal down to the exact weights and calories allotted so I have a little extra margin in there and enough flexibility that I hope not to have any issues with food. The rest of the food is basically junk food that I'll snack on throughout the day. Bars, pop tarts, crushed pringles, m&m's, nuts, yogurt covered pretzels and of course my dehydrated fruit. To top it all off, my brother will be hiking the final 3 weeks with me and we planned out food independently so we're banking on being able to share/trade as we get sick of what we brought. I also broke down and bought 24 packets of Starbucks Via instant coffee and a few caffeine pills when I realized that I'd be stupid to pretend my morning caffeine addiction didn't exist. spf3million fucked around with this message at 13:37 on Jul 31, 2014 |
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Jul 31, 2014 13:34
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Yeah, here's my spreadsheet . Not as detailed but I was trying to make it easy to read and figure out. First time I've planned stuff like this, I think I probably could have done a better job but it'll be fine. I never got around to getting the weights measured out unfortunately but the actual calorie count is probably a bit higher than what I have there as well, plus my wife will probably be eating a bit less and I a bit more so I figure I'll average out around 3200 per day. That might be a bit low, I'm not sure...but for 17 days I don't think it'll be an issue. I also am planning on only 1 hot meal per day, at dinner. Otherwise it just takes up a lot of time and fuel. I found what appears to be the highest calorie granola I could (120-140 calories per quarter cup depending on the flavor so 1 cup of Bear Naked granola gets me almost around 500 or more calories), came up with a mueslix mix for some variety, but generally will probably just eat that stuff out of the bag real quick in the morning along with some coffee (with the Starbucks via's). Really I just tried to keep it fairly simple so I didn't have to worry about putting together a ton of different meal types. 2 types of breakfasts, 3 types of lunches, and 5 types of dinners or so. I meant to get some toasted chickpeas as a second snack to trailmix but never got around to it, so it's trailmix every day! I'd probably tweak my dinners if I did it again but they're alright as is. A few things are a bit lighter on calories so I tried to put those on shorter days. The big things I learned are that, as I mentioned, nuts and nut products are perhaps your easiest and best source of concentrated calories and fat. 1 oz of pecans is 196 calories. 1 oz of almond butter is like 180 (similar for peanut butter as well). Olive oil is the big one at 230 calories per ounce so adding that into dinner recipes is an easy way to get a big shot of calories into it. Beyond that I just kind of tried to make sure it seemed like I was getting something that resembled a balance of carbs, fat, and protein. Dinners were a bit tricky because I wanted them to taste good and not just be more nuts and stuff. Pasta type products are alright for calories but not the best per ounce (100 calories per ounce I think) but they make a good base with a lot of carbs. I got some Mountain House freeze dried chicken and a "backpackers mix" box of dehydrated vegetables from Harmony House since I don't have a dehydrator or room for one...I was able to do some stuff in a toaster oven but it's just not big or fast enough for a lot. Freeze dried chicken rehydrates really well though. So...yeah we'll see how it goes. I also based this a bit off of what my dad would usually plan for his trips since he's got more experience with that stuff than me. quote:These sections are 3, 4, 11, and 14 days long, the 11 being 5.5 days each for my wife and I. Happy Isles to Tuolumne, then Red's Meadow, then MTR and then out? I'm pretty grateful that I could convince my dad to resupply us near the junction of the Kearsarge trail so we didn't have to hike out Onion Valley or try to pack 11 days of food
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Jul 31, 2014 14:18
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Saint Fu posted:I also broke down and bought 24 packets of Starbucks Via instant coffee and a few caffeine pills when I realized that I'd be stupid to pretend my morning caffeine addiction didn't exist. I'm never going without coffee
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Jul 31, 2014 15:01
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It just takes time and practice to get your food right. Do yourself a huge favor and keep an ongoing spreadsheet on google drive or something and update it trip to trip. Keep track of what worked really well and what you could do without. My lists are pretty basic. I list out all the days so that I can visually see how much we'll be eating. Learning to ration it is also difficult and new people tend to bring too much (which is better than not enough). Lots of people see the size of a bear can and decide to fill it. On our first backpacking trip with just 2 of us, we filled a bear keg for 4 days. We maybe ate half the food and we realized that some of those freeze dried meals weren't great. On the next trip, we hit the grocery store a little harder and really enjoyed eating much more on the trip. Three of us packed a Bear Vault to the top, repackaging a lot of the items to save space and we had about a meal or two each by the time we got back which was perfect. The Bear Vault was clear and a regular cylinder shape with a flat lid and weighs about a pound and a half less than the bear keg which is a barrel shape and very limiting due to the top lid. Most of what I see and hear is that people go easy on breakfast, maybe something warm if its cold outside. For lunch, just plan to snack all day and maybe eat something bigger during a break that doesn't require a stove. Dinner is almost always the biggest and most complex meal. Over time you will get it. On a side note, our trip to north central Washington (pasayten) is looking like its going to be really hot. Temps this week were 90-100/80 at night and the forecast for next week calls for slightly cooler temps (80ish day/50ish at night). Then again the weather I've been checking is for Mazama and Methow. I'm sure it will hopefully be slightly cooler up in the mountains. We might actually need to swim this time. Verman fucked around with this message at 16:37 on Jul 31, 2014 |
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Jul 31, 2014 16:35
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Can anyone recommend me a good lightweight daypack that's available on Amazon. I know the REI pack was praised in the OP but there's shipping and I have a prime account (REI doesn't sell on Amazon.) Also can anyone recommend good day hikes around Central NJ? Willing to drive a decent amount.
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Jul 31, 2014 19:05
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Seltzer posted:Can anyone recommend me a good lightweight daypack that's available on Amazon. I know the REI pack was praised in the OP but there's shipping and I have a prime account (REI doesn't sell on Amazon.) Also can anyone recommend good day hikes around Central NJ? Willing to drive a decent amount. I lead hikes around NJ - I like Harriman, Jockey Hollow, Turkey Swamp, Wolf Ridge (great overlook here), South Mountain (easy and tons of waterfalls) - there's a bunch of meetup groups in NJ doing hikes, just steal one of their ideas.
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Jul 31, 2014 20:21
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Seltzer posted:Can anyone recommend me a good lightweight daypack that's available on Amazon. I know the REI pack was praised in the OP but there's shipping and I have a prime account (REI doesn't sell on Amazon.) Also can anyone recommend good day hikes around Central NJ? Willing to drive a decent amount. What is your budget and needs? Do you carry a lot gear such as nice camera, 10 essentials, etc? Or just something to hold a water bladder / water bottles, snacks and a jacket? The problem with buying packs is there is such a wide variety to fill different niche needs. What I consider a lightweight day pack might be too much (or too little) for your needs. Also, of very high importance is fit and comfort. If you are doing any sort of extended hiking trips having a comfortable good fitting pack is critical. Nothing worse than being an hour into a four hour hike and discovering the pack straps are making your arms numb. If you can window shop at any big sporting goods stores near you and then compare / order from Amazon you will end up with something that most closely works for you.
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Jul 31, 2014 22:44
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Mad Wack posted:I lead hikes around NJ - I like Harriman, Jockey Hollow, Turkey Swamp, Wolf Ridge (great overlook here), South Mountain (easy and tons of waterfalls) - there's a bunch of meetup groups in NJ doing hikes, just steal one of their ideas. Thanks for the tips. There's a few basic trails around Central NJ which I'll start checking out first, but I assume most of the good ones are in Northern NJ. HarryPurvis posted:What is your budget and needs? Do you carry a lot gear such as nice camera, 10 essentials, etc? Or just something to hold a water bladder / water bottles, snacks and a jacket? The problem with buying packs is there is such a wide variety to fill different niche needs. What I consider a lightweight day pack might be too much (or too little) for your needs. I've only hiked a handful of times before. I'm looking to get into it on days I'm not running/weekends so I'm gonna start off pretty easy and I'm looking for a cheap bag. I can't see myself carrying more than a wallet, food, water, phone, mp3 player, and some clothes. The REI Flash 18 Pack from the OP looks about the right size. There's no retailers near me though so if anyone can comment on the comfort that would be nice. I originally wanted to see if there were cheaper options on Amazon since I have a prime account, but they all seem to be even more expensive than the REI bag so I might just go with that. I'm just looking for a cheap, light, well built bag. Seltzer fucked around with this message at 23:54 on Jul 31, 2014 |
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Jul 31, 2014 23:43
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Seltzer posted:Thanks for the tips. There's a few basic trails around Central NJ which I'll start checking out first, but I assume most of the good ones are in Northern NJ. I've got an Osprey Daylite that works really nicely. It's got a hydration sleeve, one "big" 10L main pocket, and a smaller 3L or so pocket for keys/phone. I've taken it on an easy overnight before no problem with a hammock, down jacket, change of clothes, and a couple meals. It's basic, but does the job. It even kind of folds up to fit into a bigger bag if you want to take it along with you on longer trips.
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Jul 31, 2014 23:54
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Seltzer posted:Thanks for the tips. There's a few basic trails around Central NJ which I'll start checking out first, but I assume most of the good ones are in Northern NJ. The Daylight that Tigren mention is a good pack. In the same spirit as the REI Flash 18 is the Marmot Kompressor Plus. Also, keep an eye on SteepandCheap. They frequently have really good deals on Kelty, MountainSmith (my favorite brand) and Osprey packs. No Prime shipping through them, but the savings might make up for it. Happy shopping!
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Aug 1, 2014 01:04
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Seltzer posted:Thanks for the tips. There's a few basic trails around Central NJ which I'll start checking out first, but I assume most of the good ones are in Northern NJ. The NY/NJ Trail Conference map set for north-central Jersey is out of date, published before Sandy washed out basically every trail bridge in the region. As soon as they have a new edition in print, I'm buying it. Their website has a list of suggested hikes which you can sort by region: http://nynjtc.org/view/hike?order=field_region_value&sort=asc& I've never tried following the directions without a map before, so I don't know if the list would be helpful on its own except as a starting point for more research.
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Aug 1, 2014 04:11
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Sorry for all the post post post about this stuff, but Saint Fu, I assume you rented your Bearikade, did they send you shipping info when they shipped it out there? I reserved mine so far back I'm partly paranoid they'll mess it up, but realistically I'm sure everyone probably reserves them months and months in advance
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Aug 1, 2014 17:16
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Tsyni posted:That looks awesome, thank you The Columbia gorge has a ton of awesome hikes on either side and for just about any skill level. Google columbia gorge hikes and you'll get a hundred hits. A great beginner hike, and consequently very well travelled, is Eagle Creek on the Oregon side. Crowds thin out a few miles in and the scenery is excellent considering how easy the hike is. There's also Dog Mtn, Table Mtn, etc. There are way more awesome hikes that you have time to do. My favorite gorge hike is Ruckel Ridge, which is the rocky spine overlooking Eagle Creek. The trail can be technical in places and requires decent fitness, but god drat are there spectacular views of both the Eagle Creek valley (ascent) and the Columbia valley (descent). It's a 9 mile loop and you will be sore afterward, but you won't forget it. Hop over to Double Mountain brewery in Hood River afterward for your reward(s). McNeil Point is a good hike on Mt Hood. I forget how long it is from the trailhead since I went up there while hiking the Timberline Trail. You could also hike part of the Timberline Trail from the Timberline Lodge on the south side of the mountain. It's pretty scenic and tame in that area. In the Coast Range on the way to Seaside/Cannon Beach is Saddle Mountain. It's about 5 miles round trip with a lot of vertical. On a clear day you can see the ocean, columbia delta, Mt Rainier, Mt St Helens, Mt Adams, Mt Hood and the Oregon cascades. Depending on how advanced you want to go, you could do a partial or full summit of Mt Adams. It's a 12k mountain (taller than Hood), but the grade is hikeable and only 12mi round trip from the trailhead. I'd recommend crampons since you will be walking on snow and it tends to freeze overnight, then thaw in the morning. I did it last summer without crampons and had to wait at the base of the snow until the sun melted it enough to walk up. Sledding down from the peak was hilariously fun. Again, this is an advanced hike, so not knowing your background, I wouldn't recommend summiting to anyone not truly prepared. Still, you could do a partial climb and love every minute. The views on a clear day are amazing. Edit: I just saw that you're going to be there this week so maybe this is too late. Most of the above are day hikes but some could accommodate camping. The Adams trailhead is located in a camping area. I think you can take Eagle Creek way back to camp in the forests (check with rangers, I've never done it). The Timberline Trail is good for an out and back camping trip. Magicaljesus fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Aug 1, 2014 |
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Aug 1, 2014 17:57
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Levitate posted:Sorry for all the post post post about this stuff, but Saint Fu, I assume you rented your Bearikade, did they send you shipping info when they shipped it out there? I reserved mine so far back I'm partly paranoid they'll mess it up, but realistically I'm sure everyone probably reserves them months and months in advance e: actually I won't know until Monday when I get to the post office. I'm sure it'll be fine ::crosses fingers:: spf3million fucked around with this message at 23:16 on Aug 1, 2014 |
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Aug 1, 2014 18:12
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Coolwhoami posted:Where is this? Mt. Constance, Olympic National Forest. Kinda straddles Olympic National Park and the Buckhorn Wilderness.
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Aug 2, 2014 04:46
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The Ursack passed the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee test recently and is on their bear-resistant list now. Not sure if that changes where it's accepted yet, I imagine individual parks and forests will make that call, but I'll be interested to see if in a year or so it will be a viable alternative to a bear can in places like the Sierra's.
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Aug 2, 2014 14:11
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Does anyone here hike / backpack with a camera? Just bought a E-M5 and am looking for ways to pack it in my soon to be bought ULA Circuit.
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Aug 2, 2014 14:45
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