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Considering a late October road trip from Las Vegas to Santa Cruz - the route more or less through Death Valley, up the eastern Sierras, past Mt. Whitney, and making a stop in Yosemite. Is is too late for that time of year? I figure it's always pretty dry on the eastern sierras anyway, maybe Yosemite would be a bit of a coinflip. But winter gets later every year...also, I don't expect I'll be getting up Mt. Whitney, but are there some decent day hikes around there?
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Aug 27, 2023 16:09
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| # ? May 14, 2024 00:57 |
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Ramrod Hotshot posted:Considering a late October road trip from Las Vegas to Santa Cruz - the route more or less through Death Valley, up the eastern Sierras, past Mt. Whitney, and making a stop in Yosemite. It'll depend on the year, but if the passes are open, going up 395 is my absolute favorite. Even if 108 and 120 are closed, you can go up to Tahoe and cut over on 50. The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in Inyo National Forest is like nowhere else. You can drive up to the visitor center at 10,000 ft and see millennia-old trees, and go on some hikes. The Manzanar National Historic Site is poignant and very worth seeing -- one of the Japanese internment camps. As for Mt Whitney itself, you can hike up a bit of the way to some of the lakes before entering the permit-controlled zone.
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Aug 27, 2023 17:12
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Muir posted:Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in Inyo National Forest is like nowhere else. I lived in Bishop and Mammoth and these are two of the places i always recommend. The bristlecone Pines are unlike anything else on the planet, bring water and take a hike there. If you like to boulder the buttermilks are fun. Death Valley is also interesting.
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Aug 27, 2023 20:56
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I decided to make the drive up north to the South Dakota state high point. It's pretty much right next to Mt Rushmore and there were people everywhere once the day got going. I elected to take an approach from Willow Creek which meant I dealt with all of five people on the way to and from the main trail. Once at the top there were many people out enjoying the great weather.     From inside the fire lookout at the top  A beach with a view  It was a bit hazy, overall a very nice area    Then there was the drive back. I don't know what it was about eastern Wyoming but I literally could not tell the difference between the first part of when I got on highway 85 and as I approached Cheyenne, a whopping 186 miles. There were some towns along the way that I would pass but for the most part I kept wondering if I was actually making any progress and not just stuck in some loop. It was surprisingly hilly which was nice since going down I-80 in Wyoming is an experience I'm okay with not repeating too often.
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Aug 27, 2023 23:53
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Has anyone here done the Kalalau trail on Kauai? I'm looking at doing it sometime in the next year and while I have a lot of backpacking experience, I have none in Hawaii. Can I use a filter and drink stream water? Hammock or tent? Umbrella or rain jacket?
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Aug 28, 2023 00:54
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Ramrod Hotshot posted:Considering a late October road trip from Las Vegas to Santa Cruz - the route more or less through Death Valley, up the eastern Sierras, past Mt. Whitney, and making a stop in Yosemite. Can you hit me up at my username at gmail dot com, por favor? You don't have pm but i have a question for you.
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Aug 28, 2023 03:47
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Mercury Ballistic posted:Has anyone here done the Kalalau trail on Kauai? I have, on recommendation of this thread in fact, and it's amazing. This was uhh 11 years ago now? (  ) And i have heard the permit system changed drastically. So you're on your own on that front. But it's incredible, definitely a top 5 all timer for me. It's a pretty intense 11 miles with a lot of up and down. Poles are a must imo, there are a few sketchy could-die hillsides where poles to stabilize yourself are really good*, plus the more general thing about them being good for up and down.Also we brought too much food because there was endless guava, lilikoi, and even some mango along the way, plus a ton of people kind heartedly giving away excess food at kalalau beach before they hiked home. But again that could have changed, the fruit could be seasonal, and the sharing could have been lucky or the culture there could have changed. To answer your questions: Plenty of streams to filter (this was in October, idk if they ever run dry) I did tent, plenty of good space for a tent, but plenty of trees for hammocks too if you prefer Rain jacket *we apparently hiked it in its worst state as they were literally helicoptering people out to do trail widening. The part where we really thought we might die on the way in, was widened by the time we were on our way out, such that we kept wondering when we were going to get to the scary part.
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Aug 28, 2023 03:57
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Oh also depending on what else you're doing on that trip, do not discount the idea of hitchhiking there - at least 11 years ago it was very common and easy to hitchhike on that island, my gf at the time and I had some very nice experiences doing so. I will never forget walking to the road with our packs on and a pickup truck pulling over before we could even put our thumbs out, and an 8 year old local leaning out and shouting "get in the back, it's fun!" (as if I needed any encouragement to ride in a pickup bed) Plus cars left at the trailhead overnight apparently get broken into like crazy.
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Aug 28, 2023 05:39
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We did the hanakapi’ai falls portion last year. I don’t know how the backcountry / overnight part works but the permits weren’t bad for day use. Private vehicle permits were totally impossible, but the shuttle was just fine. As I recall the shuttle stop would be reasonable to walk to from hanalei, but it also had loads of parking available. We did the falls without poles and by god do I wish I’d brought them
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Aug 28, 2023 05:51
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Appreciate the info. I'm a Hawaii resident so I can park at the trailhead for free and it would probably be a rental car.
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Aug 28, 2023 21:39
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Mercury Ballistic posted:Appreciate the info. I'm a Hawaii resident so I can park at the trailhead for free and it would probably be a rental car. You might still need a permit, since the parking lot fills up fast. The shuttle is easy, too. Can be very muddy, very hot, very buggy depending on conditions (mostly it’s all 3 at once). Extremely beautiful and an amazing hike. Poles and good shoes are a must.
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Aug 29, 2023 23:46
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I know I need a trail permit, but parking is free for residents as of this march when I was there briefly and learned about the trail. Noted on the bugs and mud. I live in a rainforest on windward Oahu so mud is normal for me. I also use poles and micro spikes as needed.
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Aug 30, 2023 03:25
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I just meant you might need a reservation for parking.
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Aug 30, 2023 04:09
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Ramrod Hotshot posted:Considering a late October road trip from Las Vegas to Santa Cruz - the route more or less through Death Valley, up the eastern Sierras, past Mt. Whitney, and making a stop in Yosemite. I spend a lot of time in the eastern sierra and October, in general, is my favorite time overall. Cool weather, no mosquitos, wildfires usually not a problem. The eastern side of the sierra along 395 probably has the highest density of "decent day hikes" in the state. The only thing is, once the snow starts to accumulate, many trailheads and passes will close or be otherwise inaccessible, so depending on your luck and how late in october we are talking, there is a small chance of that. Even in 2021, though, where we had a significant snow and relatively early closure of SR-120 around Oct. 20, I still went backpacking in the Desolation wilderness by Tahoe in late November. So there will be options. This summitpost page has a list of all the major eastern sierra trailheads along 395. https://www.summitpost.org/eastern-sierra/154084 A few of my favorite shorter-to-medium length dayhikes and their associated trailhead(s) (from north to south): The *'s are the ones I think are the most reward for least effort & time *Excelsior Peak out of Virginia Lakes *North Peak out of Saddlebag Lake, or just that entire area in general *Gaylor Peak & Gaylor Lakes area, inside Yosemite immediately after the Tioga pass entrance The area between, and perhaps including Cathedral Peak and Echo Peaks, also on Tioga Mt Hoffman, *Mt Watkins, & Cloud's Rest further inside Yosemite on Tioga pass Thousand Island / Garnet lakes, either from Rush Creek or Agnew Meadows (longer) Ediza Lake from Agnew Meadows Minaret Lake / Volcanic Ridge out of Devil's Postpile Duck Lake & Duck Lake peak from the Mary Lake area in Mammoth *Mono Pass Peak out of Mosquito Flat / Little Lakes Valley, or just the whole area in general Hungry Packer Lake out of Sabrina Lake *Chocolate Peak / Bishop Pass out of South Lake The lake loop / Palisade glacier out of Big Pine Creek Kearsarge Pass/Lakes out of Onion Valley Cottonwood Lakes & optionally Mt. Langley out of Horseshoe Meadows For stuff along 395 that isn't actually up in the mountains, bristlecone pine forest was already mentioned. Mono Lake is cool. So is Bodie if you are even remotely into that kind of thing Further north, there are plenty of dayhikes in the emigrant and desolation wilderness areas. They maybe aren't quite(?) as scenic as the stuff along the main sierra crest but they are more likely to be accessible after high passes close. In the desolation wilderness, Aloha Lake and Echo Peak are popular for a reason Death Valley is one of my favorite places and I've been there more than any other national park. But I usually go between November-Feb. October can be OK, or it can be insanely hot, just depends. Late October might be OK. Anyway, the park just got completely obliterated by flooding. I think it's fair to good odds that not much will be open by late October, but we'll see. If you want some good desert hikes that aren't in Death Valley (and which might be cooler that time of year), there are some really good ones in the Gold Butte / Lake Mead / Valley of Fire area in Nevada, but that's all technically (just) east of Las Vegas.
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Aug 30, 2023 04:51
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I joined a facebook group for hiking and am doing my first meetup this weekend, any etiquette tips?
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Aug 31, 2023 02:53
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Instead of going to work I hiked up Grays and Torreys Peaks in the front range. I want to say there were at least 40 other people out there with me so maybe I wasn't the only one with that idea Lots of mountain-y stuff     little munchkin posted:I joined a facebook group for hiking and am doing my first meetup this weekend, any etiquette tips? I dunno I would think most of the usual hiking etiquette things still apply. Pack out your trash, don't play music on your boombox, don't dominate conversations, don't poop on the trail, bring enough food and water so you aren't asking people for theirs, don't run off way ahead, don't leave someone behind, if you bring booze, bring enough for everyone. Have fun out there? I'm probably missing something but that's all fairly generic stuff for hiking
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Aug 31, 2023 03:11
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Maybe not etiquette per se but I would suggest familiarizing yourself with the hike at least a little bit. Random meetup leaders are not infallible and some knowledge about expected route and conditions could go a long way towards keeping yourself safe. Probably unnecessary in 90+% of group hikes but good practice for hiking by yourself anyway.
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Aug 31, 2023 03:49
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The Fool posted:I did the ridge line above april bowl in clouds like that last month, it's always a really cool effect Are you familiar with any other hikes up in Hatcher pass? April bowl looks cool but I’d like to make a day of it if I drive up there
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Aug 31, 2023 18:22
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There ain't no wrong way to go up at Hatcher Pass, it might be my favorite place on the planet. Park at the mine and follow one of the tracks that head off, it'll be gorgeous. Or do the same thing at april bowl. Did a group camp at upper reed lake when I was a teenager, and that was great too. If you want a really big hike there's a loop you can do, up gold mint and down the reed lake trail. Involves navigating a glacier though so know your capabilities. Granted, my info is a bit out of date. I was last there about 8 years ago but didn't do any serious hikes. My backcountry adventures in the area was in the mid 90's. But still, just go and explore. Even if you don't do a hike it's worth it.  
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Aug 31, 2023 19:08
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Got stuck on the trail behind some wooks blasting hits from the likes of Linkin Park and Hootie & the Blowfish at full volume. We finally lost them when they ignored the "vegetation restoration area" signs and blew straight down the hill instead of taking the switchbacks. Lovely day though. Hope they had a good time.
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Sep 2, 2023 23:38
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Fitzy Fitz posted:Got stuck on the trail behind some wooks blasting hits from the likes of Linkin Park and Hootie & the Blowfish at full volume. We finally lost them when they ignored the "vegetation restoration area" signs and blew straight down the hill instead of taking the switchbacks. Lovely day though. Hope they had a good time. i hope they suffered
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Sep 3, 2023 04:22
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A few years back we did a Utah road trip in a rented camper van during winter (early February). It ended up being one of my favorite trips ever, in large part due to how amazing the desert is when it's completely empty (ie off season). Grand Canyon and Arches were neat, but the empty Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Bears Ears/Grand Staircase are what truly stuck in my head. Especially hiking the Needles and seeing not a single other soul all day. It just felt vast and so far from anything. That really captured that feeling of the desert wilderness and I kind of got addicted to it. What areas should I look at if I wanted to get that feeling of hiking beautiful, empty desert wilderness again on a winter trip? We'd have a young kid in tow this time, so likely campervan or maybe winter tent camping, not true backpacking backcountry stuff (we're comfortable with very cold weather car/tent camping, though). I really don't know the desert states all that well. Any area in Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, etc capture that? I'm worried that something like Death Valley may be a little too flat and empty to capture that Needles/Capitol Reef wilderness feeling, but I've never been so I could be wrong about that. I certainly don't mind doing Utah again, but I figured maybe we should try other places, too.
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Sep 3, 2023 05:27
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padijun posted:Are you familiar with any other hikes up in Hatcher pass? April bowl looks cool but I’d like to make a day of it if I drive up there I'm a huge fan of archangel valley. Reed lakes, skyscraper are both good. You can also do a traverse from hatch peak to government peak. Bomber is cool there's just so much out there
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Sep 3, 2023 05:43
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Did Montbovon in the Fribourg prealps today. Was very pretty, and only 11k round trip, but 750m vertical gain in under 6k is a steep start. 
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Sep 3, 2023 15:31
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Took two trips but I was able to hit Mt Antero, Colorado's 13th tallest peak. It is possible to drive up to 13700 feet and only have to do the last 500 feet but I generally opt to start at the bottom so it was 8 miles and 5300 of climbing. I took a trail this time, instead of following the road like last time and dealing with bunches of vehicles.     It's a pretty active mining area too. There were a couple guys at the end of the road shoveling into the mountain and another guy elsewhere with a small excavator digging away. I wanted to ask them how much reward there was versus how much effort they put in, one would think they'd make something off of it.
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Sep 3, 2023 20:54
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Hotel Kpro posted:Took two trips but I was able to hit Mt Antero, Colorado's 13th tallest peak. It is possible to drive up to 13700 feet and only have to do the last 500 feet but I generally opt to start at the bottom so it was 8 miles and 5300 of climbing. I took a trail this time, instead of following the road like last time and dealing with bunches of vehicles. Checkin ’em off, eh? Nice job! And yeah, it’s funny how many 14’ers you can drive (almost) up if you have the vehicle for it. When I did Antero we accidentally drove much higher up than we intended to and had to drive back down to make sure we got 3,000’.
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Sep 3, 2023 22:00
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I hiked a different part of Colorado and noticed that PRETTY STUFF is showing its signs. Well, kind of. I think these trees are just super stressed because they look like crap and probably spent the last two months baking in insane heat. This was down near Guffy, I was on a mission to visit the oldest trees in the state and they live on Black Mountain.. I parked my car at about 9800 feet and the destination was around another thousand feet in one mile. For me that was a pretty tall order. But I did get to see the second oldest tree in the state! It's official birthdate is 304BC, but the core samples on it are difficult due to its placement on the slope so estimated age is 2480-2530 years old. The oldest tree in Colorado is on this same slope but there are no pictures of it and people guard the location pretty carefully. I'd like to go back up there again someday and find it but I'm gonna need some hints.   There it is, a tree that's witnessed pretty much all of the bullshit in recorded human history. That limb on the right is the only part still alive. Also I got to test out my new tent. 
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Sep 4, 2023 02:26
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waffle enthusiast posted:Checkin ’em off, eh? Nice job! I think this is number 10 on the year, 11 if you count Cameron but the prominence just isn’t there. I’m still baffled by the hiking culture difference between here and Utah. Seemingly thousands of people have taken the time to do all 50+ of the tallest mountains in Colorado. Being alone on a mountain would be very rare. There’s twenty something 13000 foot mountains in Utah and I saw people on one of them. Climbing tall mountains just isn’t a thing there
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Sep 4, 2023 04:12
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xzzy posted:I hiked a different part of Colorado and noticed that PRETTY STUFF is showing its signs. my idea of a pretty much perfect camping spot, too
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Sep 4, 2023 20:47
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It's the durston x-mid. No tent is perfect and this one is the same but it's easy to set up and the weird geometry maximizes the space you get inside. For the price it's insanely good, if they cranked up the price to make it lighter (make it out of DCF or something) it'd be a contender for best available. My only real complaint is the polyester is slippery as hell, it makes impossible to fold up neatly. So I ended up half-folding-half-wadding it back into the bag. I also elbowed one of the poles out of the way in the middle of the night but that's on me, I toss and turn a lot.
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Sep 4, 2023 21:10
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How do people feel about folding vs wadding when it comes to tents etc? I've heard repeated creasing of waterproof fabrics in the same way can cause leaks in those creases vs randomly wadding it up and stuffing it. For something like waxed cotton it totally makes sense, maybe older technology dwr tents ... I go back and forth on it and usually try to roll my tent up instead.
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Sep 4, 2023 21:56
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I have the DCF version (the xmid pro 1) and it's real nice, pretty much a perfect 3 season backpacking tent. You do have to fold/roll up DCF or else it'll start to shrink, one of the main reasons I like silpoly tarps is that you can just stuff them away in 5 seconds and be done with it at camp. But the DCF one is like 12oz lighter for $350 more. I've been using a different setup more often this summer, but I'll be taking it on a longer trip to the Sierra because of the weight savings. e; Verman posted:How do people feel about folding vs wadding when it comes to tents etc? I've heard repeated creasing of waterproof fabrics in the same way can cause leaks in those creases vs randomly wadding it up and stuffing it. For something like waxed cotton it totally makes sense, maybe older technology dwr tents ... DCF can shrink if you stuff it, the creasing is mainly cosmetic. I'd say the main reason to fold it up is because it's so stupidly bulky. I like silpoly/silnylons a lot even though they weigh more because they are stuffable. I don't think there's a need to do any rolling/folding with those if you're backpacking, I'd only do it for long term storage if you want to keep things tidy. cerious fucked around with this message at 22:04 on Sep 4, 2023 |
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Sep 4, 2023 22:02
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the x-mids look nice. all the tent tech in the last ten years is lost on me. i just haven't kept up. i have an old big agnes copper spur ul1 that is great and has been through hell and back. As for packing it, i just cram it in a bag; there's no way i could ever fold it up the same way every time. i do wish it were lighter though (hence the exploration with the SMD tent a few years ago...) over the winter i'll probably look into it all more and might pick up a new tent and sleeping pad. sleeping pads are another thing i haven't kept up on. anyone know the expected life of a sleeping bag? mine is a marmot 15F down bag from about 11 years ago. i've washed it... maybe four times? it was great recently in ~35F temps. I'm curious how it would do at the lower range these days, but i haven't been out in those temps in a while. I bought it when i spent more time in montana and wyoming, where i'm going to visit next year for the first time since 2019. i generally expect chaos when i'm in wyoming.
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Sep 4, 2023 22:32
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I passed on the Durston 1p when it came out because it wasn't freestanding and i wasn't a regular pole user so I became one of the six people that bought a Tarptent Bowfin. Now i use poles on the reg and am eyeing the durston for the weight savings but it costs 240 instead of 160 
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Sep 4, 2023 23:08
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We use an x-mid 2p now and love basically everything about it. Mildly regret not springing for the dcf one but the stuffability of the silpoly is nice and even at 2 pounds it’s still four pounds lighter than our old tent. Pitches easily and robustly, breaks down easily. I haven’t bothered unhooking the inner tent from the tarp so it’s just that much faster
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Sep 4, 2023 23:47
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I try to neatly fold up everything because that's how my dad did it and now it's programmed into my personality. After a trip I'll unpack everything when I get home and spend way too much time getting things neatly folded up as a present to future me (and making sure I don't store it damp, but the folding is the main motivation). Even the big car camping sleeping bags get tightly coiled up and slipped into their original (and too small) stuff sacks.
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Sep 5, 2023 02:47
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Bloody posted:We use an x-mid 2p now and love basically everything about it. Mildly regret not springing for the dcf one but the stuffability of the silpoly is nice and even at 2 pounds it’s still four pounds lighter than our old tent. Pitches easily and robustly, breaks down easily. I haven’t bothered unhooking the inner tent from the tarp so it’s just that much faster If you have 25” pads the dcf one can’t fit 2 in there. So original Xmid is far superior imo
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Sep 5, 2023 06:10
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Good to know! I saw some inconsistent measurements given on his site and wasn’t sure. Our 25” pads fit quite snugly in the nonpro
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Sep 5, 2023 06:33
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did a solo overnight in the catskills over the weekend. i hiked five miles before i found a patch of soft, flat ground that wasn’t rife with bear poo poo. we gotta do something about mosquitos. maybe an all-consuming gas?
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Sep 5, 2023 15:37
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We could try creating more habitat for animals that prey on mosquitoes. Turns out the bird population dropping 50% in 30 years is really bad! Dragonfly populations are way down too and guess what.. they like mosquitoes. We could also try cooling the planet down a bit.
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Sep 5, 2023 16:08
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