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Mercury Ballistic posted:A few weeks back made it to Grayson Highlands area in SW Virginia. Our own local taste of Colorado. Woah, what the hell! Is that a wild equine of some sort
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Jul 6, 2016 20:53
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Grayson Highlands has a few herds of feral ponies. They serve to keep the balds clear of vegetation.
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Jul 6, 2016 21:11
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Has anyone ever come across a decent lightweight camping fan? It's peak humidity season here in the midwest and I just cant take high heat and high humidity at the same time at night trying to fall asleep. If there's no breeze on a night like that I just die. Typically I just sleep with the fly off and that helps but I wanted to look into camp fans to see if there was anything decent out there.
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Jul 6, 2016 22:29
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Mercury Ballistic posted:
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Jul 7, 2016 09:11
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Mercury Ballistic posted:A few weeks back made it to Grayson Highlands area in SW Virginia. Our own local taste of Colorado. When I lived in Johnson City I did some hiking and camping in that area. I am not sure where you are located, but have you done any hiking on the AT in the Roan Mountain area? Some of the best bald hiking where you can find rock up to 800 million years old. Crazy to think those mountains at one time were taller than Everest. Despite a few issues I have with the south, I love SW Virginia, East Tennessee, and West North Carolina area. I can get my mountain time without the bad winters.
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Jul 7, 2016 12:45
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Yes, I did a thru hike of the AT in 2011. Roan was spectacular. Over mountain Shelter was a great place to hide out for a storm too. That area is so much nicer IMO compared to the mid Atlantic parts of the AT.
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Jul 7, 2016 19:21
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Smashurbanipal posted:Excellent! Don't get discouraged if you find yourself gassing out on more rigorous trails. As long as you're properly equipped and making safety a priority, you're not a NFW. Nah I am not worried about my physical fitness, or lack there of. My lack of being in shape is what always kept me away, but now that I know I can do some of the easier trails at this moment in time I am no longer worried, and as I continue to improve my fitness I look forward to being able to go on longer and more difficult hikes. Walking out to see those waterfalls really re-awoke the photography bug in me. I have always loved photography but I just never knew what to take pictures of, but I think now after being out in nature, landscapes are something I am really interested in. Also, I have to admit, I have no clue what NFW means, haha
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Jul 8, 2016 03:06
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Bagged Glacier Peak, 4th highest volcano in Washington State last weekend. Three of us started out from the North Fork Sauk River trailhead on Friday July 1st for a 3 day trip with aspirations to summit Glacier Peak and knock it off our respective bucket lists. 2 of us made it. Highlights: - hitting the perfect weather window and having a sunny summit day - getting the summit all to ourselves - black bear sighting on the way to the TH - hit by a hummingbird - attacked by a confused marmot Lowlights: - Lost a compadre on the way in - 13 hour summit day (don't camp at pt 6400 on the Foam Creek trail and assume the 6 miles and 4100 feet to the summit will be easy) - Rain on the way out - Missing husky (some couple let their dog off the leash near the junction with the PCT. Last I saw, she was blasting up the hill having the time of her life. While we took a break at Mackinaw on the way out, the couple caught up to us, sans pooch. I hope she made it off the mountain!) Full trip report and LOTS of pics here: Glacier Peak Trip Report on MyCrookedPath.com Some teaser pics:  Near White Pass  Sunrise from the tent on summit day  I AM VICTORIOUS!  My favorite beer, even better at 10,541 feet!    Near White Pass, on the way out. Quite a change in weather.
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Jul 8, 2016 07:30
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Braincloud posted:
I love beers at altitude
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Jul 8, 2016 12:52
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I flew Spokane - Seattle on Friday in a little puddle jumper and we passed right by glacier peak! It was very impressive from the air, it felt like we were only a couple hundred feet above it. Congratulations on getting to the top.
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Jul 9, 2016 04:06
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The next two weeks are going to be fun/rough as I have two backpacking trips in two weeks. One of my friends is flying in for both, another friend for the second which will be his first backpacking experience. We're doing the enchantments next Thursday through Sunday. The permits are for the Stuart zone which isn't ideal but it's all we got. We'll rest up and explore the lake for a day then push real hard the next to see the core zone. We might try to scramble around Stuart lake before heading out. I'll be home for three days before my other friend comes in and we head out on our second trip. We'll probably head to pasayten/north Central cascades where we don't need reservations.
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Jul 9, 2016 04:30
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I was talking with my wife and it looks like we decided on our next hiking spot, next weekend we are going to Taft Point in Yosemite. I would have loved to have gone this weekend because I am already getting kinda hooked on this, but we have previous engagements in the bay area so welp, there is that. The views from Taft Point look pretty loving amazing, if we have time we may or may not do Sentinel Dome as well, seeing as they start at the same trailhead.
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Jul 9, 2016 04:46
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Has anyone hiked the Gila Wilderness much and in particular gone fishing while there? I am planning an August or September trip to swing through there since I miss New Mexico and West Texas since I had to move. I want to do some fly fishing in the Gila while I hike and figure I can plan some easy routes based on fishing and camping. Nothing overly strenuous so I would have time to relax and not worry about making my mileage every day. I will do the mileage when I overnight Guadalupe peak and down in Big Bend since I am familiar with them.
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Jul 9, 2016 05:46
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Atticus_1354 posted:Has anyone hiked the Gila Wilderness much and in particular gone fishing while there? I am planning an August or September trip to swing through there since I miss New Mexico and West Texas since I had to move. I want to do some fly fishing in the Gila while I hike and figure I can plan some easy routes based on fishing and camping. Nothing overly strenuous so I would have time to relax and not worry about making my mileage every day. I will do the mileage when I overnight Guadalupe peak and down in Big Bend since I am familiar with them. Are you overnighting at the Guadalupe Peak campsite? I just cannot be bothered to carry a heavy pack up that trail. The peak is a must-do for anyone, but I've done it twice now and I'm done with it. The Hunter's Peak trail by way of Pine Top and then back down through Bear Canyon is a much more scenic and interesting hike in my opinion. Almost exactly a 10 mile loop out of the Pine Springs parking lot. About 3000' of gain. Tell me about the trip you have planned. I'm always interested to hear what people are doing at Guadalupe and Big Bend.
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Jul 9, 2016 14:31
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Missing West Texas is something I never thought I'd hear said
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Jul 9, 2016 14:35
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Hungryjack posted:Tell me about the trip you have planned. I'm always interested to hear what people are doing at Guadalupe and Big Bend. I am just starting to plan the trip, but I lived in Alpine and Ft Davis for a while and am going to swing back through there to see old friends. I would like to overnight Guadalupe, but I would have to do something with my dog. I have hiked a lot of the other day hikes there when I would pass through, but never got around to the peak since weather and my schedule never let it happen. Big Bend I have spent a lot of time in since I would go down on weekends when I was in school. That trip may just end up being a nostalgia trip driving down the river road and old ore road or I may hike in the Chisos. Levitate posted:Missing West Texas is something I never thought I'd hear said Depends on what part. Midland Odessa or really anything north of I-10 I am fine never visiting again. Have you been in the Davis Mountains much? I lived there and I loved it. The mountains are not amazing compared to a lot of others, but they are beautiful and I have a lot of happy memories working there. Realistically I should say missing the Big Bend region and The Davis Mountains. Not all hiking pictures, but this was my life for a while and I did plenty of hiking and riding all over that property. My view every morning.   My last dog up the mountain.  My new dog learning to hike. 
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Jul 9, 2016 17:09
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My mom grew up in Odessa which is what I associate West Texas with, so yeah... Area you're talking about looks much nicer 
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Jul 9, 2016 21:19
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A Horse Named Mandy posted:
LOL, I expected Half Dome to be awful but about 1/10th this awful. A cable? Really? I'm pretty big into hiking at this point and even as a northern California resident I actively avoid Yosemite, the main part of the park at least, because I don't want my short breaks to be spent dealing with crowds or anything with "that" kind of experience, you know, the Disneyification of the wild. I spent some time in Hetch Hetchy which was nice (even had a close encounter with a bear) but all other "Yosemite" trips have been spent in Hoover Wilderness just outside the park. I know I sound like a pretentious, contrarian jerkoff to some people but I stand by this mentality about Yosemite.
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Jul 9, 2016 21:34
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As people mentioned, that was before the permit system for Half Dome. Have you looked at the Tuolumne Meadows area? It is usually a lot more quiet than the Valley. Yosemite is an awesome place, avoiding it just because it has crowded or touristy places seems silly.
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Jul 9, 2016 22:05
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I still maintain it peaks uniformly seem to be dull, barren looking places where one's only pleasure is looking down into some badass little valley with all sorts of poo poo going on in it.
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Jul 9, 2016 22:59
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What's the angle on those slabs with the cable? It's so hard to judge from photos.
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Jul 9, 2016 23:09
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Mokelumne Trekka posted:I know I sound like a pretentious, contrarian jerkoff to some people but I stand by this mentality about Yosemite. I know I sound like a pretentious, contrarian jerkoff to some people but I stand by this mentality about everything outside. I know the revenue is good for the parks but With the exception of cycling or running events I go outside to get away from people. On topic I sealed the seams on my new lunar duo explorer today. Headed to Colorado and then Nevada for some hiking.
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Jul 9, 2016 23:28
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Internet Explorer posted:As people mentioned, that was before the permit system for Half Dome. Have you looked at the Tuolumne Meadows area? It is usually a lot more quiet than the Valley. Yosemite is an awesome place, avoiding it just because it has crowded or touristy places seems silly. This. Yosemite is a huge park, only the Valley floor is crowded. Tuolumne is awesome. Picnic Princess posted:What's the angle on those slabs with the cable? It's so hard to judge from photos. It varies, but it's very steep. You can't walk up it without the cables. I'm standing upright, my dad is below on the next 'step' taking the picture. Hopefully this helps give you an idea. 
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Jul 10, 2016 00:59
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I'm the posts fabricobbled out of plumbing fittings.
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Jul 10, 2016 02:01
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So I actually have been up to stuff this year, and haven't posted here about it all that much, mostly due to laziness. I wish I could say I've been bagging summits but between some chronic pain issues and needed to work my rear end off to live in a different country for two months, I've been doing only easy things. Ah well, still getting out is good. I posted about Quaite Valley and Biffy Peak, so I'll just post a bunch of stuff from everywhere else I went so far. Ptarmigan Cirque, which starts at the highest paved road in Canada, which travels through Highwood Pass. The sign in the photo marks the highpoint of the road, which is 7239'. Pretty short compared to the American Rockies, but our mountains are way generally way more rugged and the alpine zone starts much closer to sea level too.     The cirque is located in the Misty range, which is all vertically tilted limestone, sandstone, and chert slabs which are seriously badass.    There are really great coral fossils up here.  We found some snow.  Mt. Rae is the highest peak visible from Calgary at 10,558'. It is a scramble but we weren't prepared for it that day.  I also went to Mt. Black Prince Cirque and Warspite Lake for a lazy day, it's only a couple hours if your admiring everything there is to see.     And then I did a photo expedition to famous lakes, so this was just a roadtrip but I got some decent photos so here you go.    I was supposed to go again today, but there was an ongoing heavy rainfall warning exactly where we wanted to be. Last time that happened a bunch of bridges got washed out, so we decided not to chance our 10 creek crossings today. 
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Jul 17, 2016 00:46
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Canada seems pretty nice. VVV Charcoal starter. What, not worried about staying warm during those frosty Texas summers? Hungryjack fucked around with this message at 03:33 on Jul 17, 2016 |
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Jul 17, 2016 01:51
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Random fire question. Is there a good fire build for a bright, kinda inefficient fire you'd only use for light instead of heat and cooking? Pretty much that hanging around the campfire just to bullshit instead of warmth.
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Jul 17, 2016 03:26
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I don't know, but I found this site which is pretty interesting. https://www.chainsawjournal.com/whats-the-best-firewood/Hungryjack posted:Canada seems pretty nice. I quite enjoy being here.
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Jul 17, 2016 04:36
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SaltLick posted:Random fire question. Is there a good fire build for a bright, kinda inefficient fire you'd only use for light instead of heat and cooking? Pretty much that hanging around the campfire just to bullshit instead of warmth. Dry softwoods is your best bet. Pines. Cedars. Tamarack. Spruce. Thin, small pieces instead of large ones. But it's gonna burn fast, and light = heat so it's going to be warm too. Personally I prefer to let a hardwood fire roll into coals and let my eyes adjust to that light level.
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Jul 17, 2016 12:50
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For a bright fire, gather a ton of small, dry sticks in the 1/4-1" range, like just a huge pile. Then find whatever your local invasive/fast growing softwood is, and cut two maybe 2-3" wide chunks to like 2' long. Drive them into the ground as well as you can forming an X. Build a small fire under it, using the crotch of the X to support the larger pieces. Once you have some coals, keep slowly adding sticks by leaning them into the X so there there is always new wood igniting throughout the night. It does take a huge pile of dry material though as you are more or less making a teepee fire that doesn't collapse on it's self.
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Jul 17, 2016 13:46
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Since we're talking about building fires, what's everyone's thoughts on the Firebox Nano?
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Jul 17, 2016 14:15
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Internet Explorer posted:Since we're talking about building fires, what's everyone's thoughts on the Firebox Nano? haha holy poo poo that thing is a lot smaller than I thought it was going to be
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Jul 17, 2016 14:43
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Thinking about retiring the whisper lite international for a canister stove. Does anyone use the windburner or reactor for two? We will be eating freezer bag meals and coffee so simmering isn't something we need.
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Jul 17, 2016 16:09
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Just finished a weekend trip to Garnet Lake. At Red's Meadow now waiting for a shuttle bus...tons of JMT hikers, makes me kind of nostalgic but also goddamn a lot of people here a bit overwhelming
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Jul 17, 2016 21:14
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I still want to do the JMT again really bad, maybe with the additional PCT section up to Tahoe.
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Jul 17, 2016 21:39
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I'm looking to pick up a pair of trail runners for the purpose of hiking and backpacking. I tried on a bunch and really liked the Saucony Peregrines. The only thing that kept me from pulling the trigger is the tread didn't seem as burly as a lot of the other options (both from a durability and lug depth perspective). Will something like the Peregrine be sufficient for backpacking primarily in the Sierras, or should I go for something a bit more rugged (like for instance the Brooks Cascadia or the Saucony Xodus)?
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Jul 18, 2016 00:48
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Splinter posted:I'm looking to pick up a pair of trail runners for the purpose of hiking and backpacking. I tried on a bunch and really liked the Saucony Peregrines. The only thing that kept me from pulling the trigger is the tread didn't seem as burly as a lot of the other options (both from a durability and lug depth perspective). Will something like the Peregrine be sufficient for backpacking primarily in the Sierras, or should I go for something a bit more rugged (like for instance the Brooks Cascadia or the Saucony Xodus)?
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Jul 18, 2016 03:29
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I just got back from the enchantments. Holy poo poo. I will post a writeup and beautiful photos at some point but I feel broken and I'm loving exhausted. I spent 45 minutes in the shower aggressively scrubbing all the deet, sunscreen and grime off my body leaving a brown trail of earthy matter in the bottom of my shower. But for now  Ropes4u posted:Thinking about retiring the whisper lite international for a canister stove. I switched from my whisper lite to a micro rocket. Much smaller, quicker, lighter and has the ability to simmer. I use it for 2-4 people depending on what we eat. Also, I switched from a stainless msr alpine pot to their 2 liter ceramic nonstick pot was huge. I'm finally able to make stuff in the pot without worrying about messy cleanup or toxic chemicals when the coating wears out.
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Jul 18, 2016 07:07
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cheese posted:I wore the living crap out of my Peregrine 4's and just recently upgraded this summer to a pair of 6's. I do most of my backpacking in the Sierras and while this was my first pair of real trail runners for that purpose, I don't feel like the tread worse especially fast. Putting in miles on Sierra granite is gonna slice through most shoes no matter what and for me, the combination of weight, comfort, traction (amazing traction with really aggressive lugs that ditch mud quite well) and breathability make them my favorite shoes. I just got back from 2 weeks in the new pair (summer camp with day hikes and 4 full days in Yosemite) and they handled everything from soaking wet grass to granite ledges with ease. Just what I wanted to hear. Thanks!
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Jul 18, 2016 07:09
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Verman posted:I just got back from the enchantments. Thank you. I'm going to borrow one and see how I like it. Do you use a windscreen?
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Jul 18, 2016 12:44
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