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Kalit posted:I'm going to the porkies for the first time later this week! Quick question, if you (or anyone else) happen to know, do I need to worry about rodents up there getting into the trunk of a car? Upon returning to my friend's car last year in Glacier, we realized that mice had gotten into the trunk and ate most of our snacks we left for the drive home I have never had issues with mice trying to get into my vehicle while camping anywhere in the UP.
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Sep 20, 2022 01:25
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Yooper posted:I have never had issues with mice trying to get into my vehicle while camping anywhere in the UP. Same. I've been to the UP a lot and never really did anything special for food protection growing up. If you really want to take an extra step, keep food in your car in some kind of storage bin but it really shouldn't be a big deal. I mean, we used to literally keep food on the picnic table and never had anything wander off or get rummaged through. After I got into backpacking I was sort of shocked at how lazy they were about food storage. Verman fucked around with this message at 02:01 on Sep 20, 2022 |
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Sep 20, 2022 01:31
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we left half our food in the car and restocked at the lot for the lake of the clouds overlook. no mice. the squirrels on isle royale are the true menace
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Sep 20, 2022 01:33
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A friend of mine left some food in the pocket of her jacket in upstate NY and mice got into the vehicle and chewed through her coat to eat it.
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Sep 20, 2022 01:51
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Mice got into my car once when I left it two nights at a trailhead. They ruined a ton of food. I've kept my food in a thick plastic cooler ever since and never had another problem.
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Sep 20, 2022 02:49
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The trick is to keep a cat locked in your car at the trailhead.
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Sep 20, 2022 03:21
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withak posted:The trick is to keep a cat locked in your car at the trailhead. Dang, so obvious. I'm sensing a lucrative business opportunity.... And thanks all for your responses, glad I won't have to worry too much about leaving food in the car out there!
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Sep 20, 2022 04:31
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Verman posted:What was your trip? Area, total mileage, mileage per day etc. I/we might be able to help create an alternate itinerary for you to make some use of your time. Thank you for this offer! I was part of a group trip and our guides definitely had to switch up plans… Still camped at Mt Rainier but had to check in with the ranger station daily because the air quality was BAD Sunday. Hovering around 150 or so most of the day, so probably not the best day to be hiking but at least they steered us toward the safer part of the park. Monday/Tuesday were much better and got some beautiful surprise views of Rainier popping out of the clouds on the way to Pinnacle peak. My fav hiking weather actually - 50’s foggy with a good wind to move the clouds around and get some breakthrough views. I really do not enjoy hiking in full sun and honestly the views are pretty boring with a clear blue sky. I like some cloud drama! All in all a good trip despite the unknown in the beginning… I half expected it to be cancelled. Didn’t get to do Burroughs like we were supposed to due to road closures but I’ll be tackling that next time because it looked awesome! Spent a few days in Oregon as well, hiked the PCT around Mt Hood and now I’m ready to ditch my corporate job and leave society 
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Sep 21, 2022 03:13
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Verman posted:Whew. Just got back from a trip. This looks awesome! Glad you were able to put together an alternate plan that worked out. September is my fav hiking month despite the huge risk for fires, I guess I learned that the hard way this year…
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Sep 21, 2022 04:10
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That's awesome your trip still worked out. Here's my Olympic write-up. Had core enchantment permits but didn't want to gamble on getting stuck in smoky air all week so we pivoted to the hoh river trail to blue glacier hike. ~38+ miles round trip. About 6k elevation gain, all of which is in the last few miles.  Day 1 Along the river is nothing but beautiful Olympic rain forest. Massive trees that are 6-12' thick. Moss and prehistoric ferns everywhere. The river looks like the kind of place you expect to see bears plucking salmon out of. I saw a huge 2'+ salmon coming up the river and scared it back down. Also saw 5 ruffed grouse right on the trail and they didn't even fly away. They just wobbled a foot or two away while we walked by. We drove in this day and took it easy only doing 5 miles. https://i.imgur.com/mQxucRU.mp4   Day 2 This and day 4 would be longer days (10 miles). We hiked up to elk camp. Most of the way was still flat so we were crushing miles around 2.5-3/hr. The weather was perfect and stayed that way the whole trip. 60-65 and partially cloudy with a breeze. Nights were 40s-50s. Dry. No bugs aside from getting stung by a bee on the back of my calf right as I stepped. Still a lot of rainforest and river bank.   My new pack (osprey Atmos 65) was rubbing my hips really bad. I wore an extra shirt around my waist and fixed it. Didn't have that issue at all later. My new air pad was glorious as we're both my shoes and tent. The thing I really like about the pack is the hip pockets, nalgene pockets etc. Also the compression ability was great when we did a day trip to the glacier. Anyway, the trail really starts to go up when you cross the river. We got into camp and made dinner going straight to bed around 8. The sun set around 8 and without any fires we just had early nights. Day 3 We left elk camp and went to the glacier with light packs.  There's a really sketchy landslide with a cable ladder. It's about 100-150' long and probably a 45-50° slope that's bare and slick full of loose rocks. It was fine and easy but don't loving slip. It's big rocks and boulders at the bottom.    After that you start losing tree coverage and get into Meadows and rocky talus.  There's about three false summits before you get to the glacier and we all had the same reaction. "holy gently caress!" When seeing the glacier. We sat there for 2 hours just looking around. We heard it break a lot and saw a small avalanche coming down from one section. It's hard to describe the insanity of the view and photos of course don't do it justice.     We had the place to ourselves for a while and eventually decided to head back to camp. It was crazy beautiful and I didn't expect that ruggedness from the Olympic chain. Saw two guys attempting a summit push. Day 4 We headed down from elk camp to happy 4 camp site. It was a long day but really enjoyable. The camp site was fantastic. Right on the river and nobody around. Huge rock bed to walk on. We were treated to a slight sunset. It was magical.      Day 5 Walked out. Got a text that my boss got fired and worried about my job on the way back but also kind of didn't care because the trip was amazing. That's about it. Verman fucked around with this message at 20:39 on Sep 21, 2022 |
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Sep 21, 2022 04:17
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Fitzy Fitz posted:Mice got into my car once when I left it two nights at a trailhead. They ruined a ton of food. I've kept my food in a thick plastic cooler ever since and never had another problem. This happened to me on my last backpacking trick. Made a mess of the car, too. Lesson learned.
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Sep 21, 2022 22:15
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Beezus posted:This happened to me on my last backpacking trick. Made a mess of the car, too. Lesson learned. Yeah they leave droppings and piss everywhere, and it's basically impossible to know if they're still in the car. I wouldn't normally leave food in the car like that, but we were on a road trip. I really recommend something thick and solid like a cooler, and even some smell-proof bags if you have them. They can smell food through plastic packaging and chew through nearly anything.
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Sep 21, 2022 22:52
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Total shot in the dark here, but are any hiking goons interested in organizing an Enchantments thru-hike (20 miles in one day!) before the season is over? edit: oh I guess not so random. I too cancelled two weeks ago because of smoke Verman posted:That's awesome your trip still worked out. Ramrod Hotshot fucked around with this message at 01:37 on Sep 24, 2022 |
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Sep 24, 2022 01:35
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Depending on the date I would be in
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Sep 24, 2022 02:13
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Went to Paradise on the west side of Mt Rainier not too long ago and finally went through the pictures. You could see the goat rock fire once you got up in elevation  The smoke from the all the fires has been pretty thick    Didn't think I'd see any, but came across some marmots    Full album: https://imgur.com/gallery/rMC4mH6 E: An enchantments thru-hike sounds great. Sucks my weekends are booked through November.
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Sep 24, 2022 13:13
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Nice marmot
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Sep 24, 2022 14:19
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Hey there! I've been (very) casually hiking wearing Tevas and I've loved it, but the weather is turning here in Western NY and I want to keep going out when it's wet and, eventually, snowy. I like the sounds of trail runners, but I don't think they'd be warm enough for chilly weather so hiking boots seem the way to go. What do you guys recommend as far as brand/model? (I'm a lady goon with strong, wide feet  if it matters)
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Sep 25, 2022 18:33
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KlavierVogel posted:Hey there! I've been (very) casually hiking wearing Tevas and I've loved it, but the weather is turning here in Western NY and I want to keep going out when it's wet and, eventually, snowy. I like the sounds of trail runners, but I don't think they'd be warm enough for chilly weather so hiking boots seem the way to go. Waterproof Merrell Moab 2 Mids are currently on sale (marked down to $100 from $145 due to new model coming next year) and are extremely solid. They're a good rec for you as they come in both normal and wide sizing. The waterproof aspect might make them a bit swampy for warm weather, but they'll do well when it's too cold for sandals. My wife just got a pair and loves them. https://www.rei.com/product/113731/merrell-moab-2-mid-waterproof-hiking-boots-womens I personally still prefer trail runners year round and never have issues with cold feet, though I will wear goretex gaiters if it's particularly wet or cold.
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Sep 25, 2022 20:44
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aparmenideanmonad posted:Waterproof Merrell Moab 2 Mids are currently on sale (marked down to $100 from $145 due to new model coming next year) and are extremely solid. They're a good rec for you as they come in both normal and wide sizing. The waterproof aspect might make them a bit swampy for warm weather, but they'll do well when it's too cold for sandals. My wife just got a pair and loves them. Thank you so much!! I'm grabbing a pair now 
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Sep 25, 2022 21:08
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Yesterday I hiked up to colchuk lake, which is the first leg of the enchantments. The second leg? Asgard pass. Holy poo poo. How does anyone get up that?
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Sep 26, 2022 00:16
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Slowly.
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Sep 26, 2022 01:26
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It's fun. Just go slow and take your time.
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Sep 26, 2022 01:45
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Like most climbs that seem impossibly steep from a distance, once you get up close they aren't so bad.
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Sep 26, 2022 04:44
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           Took a buddy on his first backpacking trip. We did the AT Approach Trail from Amicalola Falls and back. Originally we were going to do the whole thing over 3 days, but a mix of schedule mishaps making us start late Fri and the looming hurricane forcing me to return to Florida faster, we did most of the loop on Saturday. Started Fri at 5 and did about 4 miles, then did about 20 on Saturday to Springer and back to Amicalola with a few detours for sights. Finished early this morning with a final few rainy miles back to the car. Definitely pushed his limits but he cycles a lot so his legs were ok, even if his feet were rough this morning. Saw some animals, carried a lot of extra weight to make sure he was comfortable and we had good food, and had a generally great time. Definitely hooked him and he's ready to plan the next trip. My xero sandals were the MVP, no blisters at all. Ready for r2r2r at the GC next month.
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Sep 26, 2022 05:02
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Hotel Kpro posted:Like most climbs that seem impossibly steep from a distance, once you get up close they aren't so bad. On the other hand, there are some that once you get there actually are real obnoxious motherfuckers.  (Alta Peak in Sequoia National Park, it's a 7 mile trail with 4k feet of elevation gain but over half of it is in the last two miles. Awesome hike and awesome view at the top regardless) Acebuckeye13 fucked around with this message at 05:35 on Sep 26, 2022 |
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Sep 26, 2022 05:29
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Did a 4 day hike in the Alpstein Area of the Swiss Alps. Day 1 We started with a bit of a fuckup, as we didn't research enough of the amount of snow it had from the weekend before. As we live near the Bernese Alps we expected similar heights of the snow lines around 2500m elevation. But we were very wrong, it was more around 2000m. We rode the gondola up to the Säntis peak from where we would have hiked along the ridge to our first hut. As you can see, the start of the ridge trail is where the nice line of snow is going through  We needed to quickly replan our approach and decided to ride back down and take the public transit to the village below the hut and walk up. So instead of a nice start along the ridge with only 300m elevation gain it was over 900m. While not something we haven't done before (a few weeks previous we did a trail with 2000m total gain in one day) we weren't really giddy for it. It also meant we would arrive way later than planned. The alternative trail was ok, but nothing spectacular.  We arrived right when dinner was served in the hut at 7PM and it took us 2hours. It was also getting quite cool with the sun gone, so I was super happy for the soup we got. Day 2 The next morning we got up at sunrise and were able to go along the route we had planned from here on out. It still had snow where we went through but it wasn't too hard to get through and was actually a bit more fun, as long as it wasn't in area with sheer cliff paths.   The first peak we climbed, surprised me a bit as you zigzag up on the side and then on the top it just goes way down on the other side into the valley.    Day 3 Traversed from one valley to the next and got very nice lakes as a reward  Then back up to our hut where we got a great sunset and sunrise.  Day 4 Early rise as we had a long day before us, as we planned on getting back home in the evening.     Link to the album with a few more pics https://imgur.com/a/XNne67H It was great fun overall and for it to be such a "small" section of mountains there is so much to do. We'll probably repeat it again next year in August over less days just so we can do the routes we weren't able to do due to the snow.
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Sep 26, 2022 12:59
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Bottom Liner posted:AT Approach Trail from Amicalola Falls and back Helios Grime posted:Did a 4 day hike in the Alpstein Area of the Swiss Alps. Very cool - what kind of temps were you dealing with here, day and night? What's the hut reservation process like?
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Sep 26, 2022 17:28
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At 2000m it was below 0°C during the nights and during the day probably around 12-15°. It really depended also if you were in the shadow or sun. When we were hiking up the mountain in the sun I could only wear my t-shirt. But as soon as we got into shadowy areas out came the long arm fleece, wool hat, scarf and gloves. The hut reservation process is pretty straightforward https://www.sac-cas.ch/en/huts-and-tours/sac-route-portal/ , most of the swiss mountain huts are run by the swiss alpine club (SAC) they have a website where you can see how much space is available in their bunk bed accomodations. Weekends are often all gone by start of the year. But if you go during the week you'll always find a space. Also depends on which huts you want to go, the ones close to famous mountains are often harder to book than others obviously. Also the Alpstein is kinda nice in that there are a ton of privately run mountain hotels, so if you can't find an SAC hut you'll definitely are able to stay in the Hotel. Google Maps is the best help to find a place in most cases for those.
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Sep 26, 2022 18:53
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My first solo trip is 3 days out and the forecast just gets better every time I look. Might even be warm enough for an October swim, and the crown jewel.. Two days with 0% chance of precipitation. It's been years since I have been able to go a night fly free.
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Sep 26, 2022 20:31
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Helios Grime posted:Did a 4 day hike in the Alpstein Area of the Swiss Alps. This is awesome. Not sure how I missed it in the thread. I decided very last minute to go on a hike yesterday which has been a trend of mine this year. I left the house around noon but had to stop and get a new america the beautiful pass, gas up and grabbed food. I hit the trail around 330 and decided to do another relatively easy but ultra scenic hike in Mount Rainier NP. A few miles before I got to the trailhead I pulled over to take a wiz. As I'm taking a leak I didn't hear or see any cars but I look up the road and about 100 feet away a massive black bear just crosses the road and disappears into the woods. To this point I've seen 4 black bears in my life. All from vehicles (3 from inside a car, 1 from my dirt bike) and they all looked like large dogs/raccoons. This thing was massive. I would easily guess 400-500 lbs. It was really tall at the shoulders and THICCC. I thought it was super cool and got back in the car on my way. I hit the trail and headed towards burroghs mtn. There are three "burroughs mtns" so I could turn around whenever I hit my turnaround time. I've hiked out of here in the dark before (with a headlamps) so I'm not too worried about it but I didn't want to get home super late this particular evening. The sun sets around 640pm so I made my turnaround time around 5:15. Maybe 30 minutes into my hike I get to sourdogh gap, and see a group of people staring uphill at a large brown fuzz ball. I named it mudflaps because it had a big ole behind.  https://i.imgur.com/cVdM94M.mp4    Then I spotted some mountain goats. There are 3 adults and one kidd in this photo below. On the shadow line to the left of where the two trails merge. I take pride in being able to spot wildlife but goats are easy to see, even from a literal mile away.   I got back to my car around 7 and finished off some chicken nuggets and fries. I saw an elk and a few deer on the drive out. This october weather we're having in the pacific northwest is wild. We had a really lovely winter/spring and super late start to our summer this year so the fact that its mid 70s and sunny in october is nice. I was wearing a tee shirt all day and felt some sun on my face. I drove home with the radio off and windows down. It was a great day. Verman fucked around with this message at 20:48 on Oct 10, 2022 |
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Oct 10, 2022 20:36
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Verman posted:Maybe 30 minutes into my hike I get to sourdogh gap, and see a group of people staring uphill at a large brown fuzz ball. I named it mudflaps because it had a big ole behind. It is the season for bears to get chonky. Katmai National Park is having their annual Fat Bear Week competition right now.
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Oct 11, 2022 01:12
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Second R2R2R done in 32 hours, with a good 9 hour sleep at Cottonwood. Didn’t get to tag the last 2 miles of the North Rim because of snow and ice but otherwise an amazing trip. Finished much stronger this time despite carrying about 20lbs of food and gear in my pack. South Kaibab start and Bright Angel finish is much, much better than a North start/finish. I’ll do a full write up later when my my film gets developed. First long hike in Xero sandals too and no cramps and only a minor blister from double layering socks this morning. A+ will repeat this trip.
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Oct 28, 2022 01:53
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Looks like I’m heading to Santa Barbara for work next week. Any must-hike trails? Preferably something moderate to strenuous so I’m away from  people, nature views highly appreciated.
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Oct 28, 2022 03:32
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UK hiking: I went to do Snowdon last week with a group of friends. There were 10 of us, variety of experience, fitness and ages (24-63). We took the Miner's track that was pretty easy for the first 2-3k and about 250m elevation. It then hit a sudden sharp point that was stair case steep rocks, which was the next 2k or so of distance and about 750m of elevation. The hike itself wasn't that bad and the route was still pretty busy. We hit some issues though as, despite the forecast being light showers and raining late afternoon, the weather was pretty horrible. It started raining pretty heavily about 12pm and didn't let up for a few hours along with some really strong, gusting wind and low clouds. Kit wise I was better prepared than most of my group but really not prepared. I had a decent hardshell on and had couple of good midlayers in dry bags but I also had a relatively light pair of hiking pants with a nice pair of water-proof light boots. The trouser wet through pretty swiftly and proceeded to soak into my socks so after 40 minutes or so my feet were soaking wet (on the way down I took my socks off and squeezed them out, which helped a lot in terms of letting my feet warm up). It wasn't too cold and I had plenty of warm stuff so it wasn't as miserable as it might have been but I'd have really benefited from some waterproof trousers. We came down on the Llanberis path, that was longer but much easier than tackling the walk down with the rain and wind. I was pretty amazed at the lack of preparation from many of the random people heading up, lots of people just in jogging trousers and trainers or bringing young kids up with them. Which would have been fine in nice weather but I can only imagine it's going to leave some kids with very negative memories of going hiking and greatly increased the chances of someone slipping and injuring themselves. Speaking of - about half way up the steep section there was someone in a survival bivvy that had clearly been injured. Apparently a few mountain rescue guys were coming up an hour or so after we saw that and there was a helicopter coming in while we were descending. Scenery wise it was a bit of a pity as visibility was down to about 500-1,000m and so the whole thing felt a bit like being on the zone edge just staring into nothingness.
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Oct 30, 2022 16:43
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MrNemo posted:I was pretty amazed at the lack of preparation from many of the random people heading up, lots of people just in jogging trousers and trainers or bringing young kids up with them. Which would have been fine in nice weather but I can only imagine it's going to leave some kids with very negative memories of going hiking and greatly increased the chances of someone slipping and injuring themselves. Speaking of - about half way up the steep section there was someone in a survival bivvy that had clearly been injured. Apparently a few mountain rescue guys were coming up an hour or so after we saw that and there was a helicopter coming in while we were descending. everytime I go backpacking I always see at least 1-2 people/groups that give me pause. Either wildly unprepared, or hiking with just a water bottle when its 30 min to dusk and 6 miles to the nearest trailhead. Ive never actually said anything yet because i dont want to be that guy, but man i assume a few of them had very lovely evenings
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Oct 30, 2022 18:32
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I saw a guy at Phantom Ranch coming from South Kaibab going up Bright Angel in jeans, a white T, and Converse All Stars. The only things he was carrying was his phone and a 16oz Aquafina bottle. loving insane.
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Oct 30, 2022 18:44
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Someone post that Halloween costume meme of the unprepared hiker.
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Oct 30, 2022 19:03
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I moved to Colorado recently and felt unprepared doing Long's Peak last weekend. It was really just my hands and feet getting cold despite gloves and multiple hand warmers and toe warmers, turned around about a half mile from the summit.
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Oct 30, 2022 21:26
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Congrats on knowing your own limits and deciding not to become a SAR statistic.
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Oct 30, 2022 21:42
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I saw a guy at Whiteface a couple weeks ago with no poles or crampons who was planning to hike through the snow cap to get to his ride. He also didn't have a bag so presumably no headlamp, jacket, or phone, and it was an hour to sunset.
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Oct 31, 2022 03:54
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