Isle Royale traverse

A friend of mine here locally, who knows that I'm an avid outdoorsman and hiker, and considers himself someone who's also very interested in picking up the hobby while he still has boys at home who are both old enough to successfully do it and young enough to be at home to do it, has suggested that I might be interested in doing an Isle Royale traverse with him.  Isle Royale is a large island in the northern part of Lake Superior, and the entirety of the island (as well as numerous much smaller islands) make up a National Park.  The island is a long, thin island about 45 miles long, but the trail length is closer to 60 miles from end to end.

I've also got some other "local" hikes scouted out; places I'd like to see, and maybe even take my kids, that aren't far away in the mountain west.  Along with the Isle Royale hike, I'd like to do a traverse of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, I'd like to go back to Hocking Hills and explore some more, I'd like to explore Cuyahoga National Park, and I'd like to hike the Art Loeb Trail and the Roan Highlands section of the AT.  These are actually hikes that I could concievably do--or do portions of, at least--this year, in addition to my existing plans. 

I was going over summer plans with my wife.  Because she's going to be recovering from rotator cuff surgery much of the late summer, and unable to take time off work for the fall, I could be looking at as much as a week of still unplanned vacation later this year.  Rather than fritter it away on days where I stay at home for a day or two at a time, I'm thinking I'd rather do a second smaller, and probably closer, backpacking trip.

Or... I could go back out to southern Utah in the fall and hike Coyote Gulch. 

I dunno.  I'm feeling like I might yet have more options this year for another hike beyond just my High Uintas one.  I don't really want to try and spend so much time on the road; I'd rather spend more time on the trail.  But, given my long furlough from the hobby of backpacking, I've got a major backlog of places I'd like to do, and a lot of pent-up demand.  With additional time to spend on the hobby, I might yet get a second trip in this year.  Candidates include:

• Isle Royale with my friend
• Pictured Rocks
• Hocking Hills
• Roans Highlands
• Coyote Gulch
• Art Loeb Trail

Gear weight

http://www.backpacker.com/december_07_gear_the_skills_ultralight_or_bust/gear/11065

Nice article.  I've said before and I'll go ahead and say again (and will probably do so many times yet), I'm not a fetishist of ultralight backpacking.  Then again, anything you can reasonably do to decrease your pack weight seems only smart.  I disagree with the notions that a $30 tent must be replaced with a $400 tent or tarp-tent in order to save 2-3 lbs. or that not having a tent at all is fine (mostly just because pyschologically I prefer to sleep in a tent when outside) but that doesn't mean that plenty can't be done to reduce your weigt and improve your experience.

I don't actually have a scale with fine enough sensitivity to tell me the weight of small, light-weight items, so what I've done is estimate the gear weight of everything I'm bringing--as often as possible with printed or official weights--and then when I've finished picking up all my details, I'll weigh the total pack (sans food and water, which are both highly variable over the course of a single trip, and therefore not included in base pack weight so that meaningful comparisons can be made) and see how close I am to my estimate.  Exactly what weight range qualifies as "ultralight" seems to vary (and honestly, the cut-off is entirely arbitrary anyway) but I've seen under 10 lbs for base pack weight.  The article linked here suggests 15 lbs.  My base pack weight currently is just under 20 lbs.--19.93 lbs. to be exact.  Again, we'll see how close I get...

The "Big Three™" heavy items tend to be tent/shelter, sleeping bag, and pack.  I've got a fairly light pack--3,000 cubic inches (50L--exactly the size recommended in this article, by sheer coincidence) which is just over 2 lbs., and I've got a fairly small and light sleeping bag (although not one of those several hundred dollar ultralight mummies--mine cost about $30.  The payoff is, as the article says, in sleeping in your base layers, fleece, and warm hat, which you need to bring into the mountains anyway.  Use 'em every night and save yourself weight on the bag!)

Where I'm at least 2 lbs. over my ideal weight is in my tent, but I'm not going to go with a tarp-tent, or really expensive ultralight tent, or anything like that.  At least not yet.  Spending the money to take a few pounds off isn't worth it to me.  If I'm fairly rigorous in removing or lightening items that I can do easily and cheaply, I can suck up a few pounds on items that would be expensive to replace with ultralight versions, and not feel the difference too much.  Again; doing otherwise is, in my opinion, fetishizing base weight to a certain extent.  It might make sense for long trail thru-hikers, like PCT hikers, for instance.  But for your typical backpacking trip which isn't likely to have you hiking more than 50-60 miles or so and spending more than a week or so in the backcountry, it seems overkill to focus on just those last couple of pounds.  The real kicker in lowering pack weight is in cutting all those items that your "Be Prepared" Boy Scout leaders and your mother always thought you couldn't live without, but which you never, ever used ever once in your entire life.

The advice on skipping the stove altogether and taking no-cook food is interesting... although I'll note that even the godfather of ultralight backpacking, Ray Jardine, says that he really missed a backpacking stove when he hiked the AT without one and he'd never have done that again.  But again--for shorter trips?  That's something to think about.  I may have to consider it.  I can save, by my estimate, at least 2 lbs. by eliminating the stove and fuel cannister, which... gets me pretty close to 15 lbs, actually, even without a good, lightweight tent.  And it frees up over $80 on gear budget while I'm at it.

The advice on thrifting your first aid kit to the essentials, instead of bringing a bunch of stuff that is redundant, it also good advice.  But, realistically, it's missing the one essential item that any backcountry first aid kid needs... ibuprofen and/or acetaminophen.  Because, let's face it, what's the most likely to need first aid in the backcountry are splitting headaches as you acclimate to altitude or humidity, and muscle stiffness and soreness from walking all day and sleeping on the ground.  Treat that, and you'll have a much happier trip, and as you adjust, you won't need it as often.

Gear still to pick up (about $200 worth)

Here's the gear on my list that I'm still missing.

• A tarp (Outdoor Products All Purpose Tarp at REI) $8
• River shoes -- I could use some existing ones, but I'd really like closed toe river sandals, and I don't see any benefit in pricey Keen or Merrell ones vs. Ozark Trail river sandals at Wal-Mart for $11
• Fuel cannister $5
• A new lighter from the dollar store.  I could use an existing one, but given the cheap price, I'd like a full one
• Copper coated scrubbing pad.  Again; dollar store.
• JetBoil Zip cooking system.  The smaller one, for about $75.  It's a mite cheaper at Cabelas than anywhere else, for some reason.
• SteriPEN traveler water purifier.  I could punt and get some treatment pills for less, but at $50, this is a "permanent" option that I like a great deal.
• Camera.  I don't have one of my own that I'd like to bring (although I saw an option for $80) so I'll probably just use the one that is nominally my wife's instead.
• I have a headlamp that fits on the brim of a hat, but I'd like to buy a regular one.  Again; there are high-priced brand name ones, and there are low priced Ozark Trail ones at Wal-Mart for about $7.  I see no benefit in having a brand name flashlight.
• Permethrin--my first and best defense against mosquitos.  I need to buy a batch and treat my clothes, pack, tent and sleeping bag.  $10
• Trails Illustrated map.  $10 from Amazon.  Need to pick this up really soon to get the route details nailed down well in advance of the trip.
• Pack Rain cover.  The North Face makes a good one for $11 at REI.
• I budgeted $10 for any items I need to finish out my repair kits, first aid kits or wash kits. 

And, of course, the food.  You'll notice that I have two expensive items still to pick up; the water treatment SteriPEN and the JetBoil backpacker stove.  Other than that, it's just nickel and dime type stuff that bulks out the rest of the budget.

The entire trip has a budget of $1,000, about two thirds of which is gas and hotel cost associated with just getting there.  Next year, with a completed gear list, I'm hoping to lower that budget.  Or, more accurately, I'm hoping to maintain that budget, but have more of it left over to improve some of the items on my list.  I'd like to have a better tent, for instance, but good backpacking tents ain't cheap.  And by next summer, I'll probably need new boots/shoes again too.

Hiking in trail runners

In addition to all that I talked about in my last post, I'm going to be doing a bit of an experiment.  I found some $70 Trail Runner type shoes on sale for less than $30, and I snatched them up to use as everyday tennis shoes type shoes that I'd wear on weekends, or at the gym or wherever.  I don't actually need them quite yet; my former pair aren't dead yet, but they will be within months.

It occured to me as well that many people hike in trail runners, and in fact swear by the experience.  Hiking boots--and I have a big, clunky pair of those as well, are... well, big and clunky.  They're heavy, they're not necessarily comfortable unless they've been thoroughly broken in, and I was, frankly, a bit nervous about my feet.

I like hiking boots, don't get me wrong.  And I'm a little nervous about potential ankle twisting with trail runners.  But the notion of walking in these comfortable, lightweight shoes also feels like a major relief on something that I was frankly dreading.  I think it's going to make my trip much more comfortable.

All in all, I'd probably rather have a pair of high top hikers with a GORE-TEX liner.  Something like the Cabela's XPG hikers I highlighted a few posts ago.  Keen, Merrell, The North Face, Adidas, Vasque and tons of other folks make hikers like that.  However, they all sell for over $100.  Finding the shoes I did at the price I did was quite a steal.

I'll want to eventually upgrade them, but then again, I don't anticipate that they useful life on these shoes, especially considering that I plan to switch in the next few months into making them everyday shoes that I wear everywhere except work and church, won't be much longer than a year or two anyway.  For now, I'm going to just be glad I scored such a great deal, and then look for another replacement--maybe--for the 2015 hiking season.

I freely admit that this is a bit of an experiment for me.  Back in the day, when I was actually backpacking every season, I always wore hiking boots; in fact, I always wore the same pair of hiking boots.  But this time, I'm looking at my all-leather uppers Frankenstein boots and just not feeling the love.

It's decided: High Uintas

Well, I've decided on potential summertime trips--to be taken in very late June, straddling the first week of July, most likely.  Although there's a chance up to two of my sons might be involved, and a very slight chance that some friend or one of my brothers might join, most likely it will just be me by myself and on my own.  I like the Uintas for this trip for a few reasons:

• I've been there before.  Sure, it was 25 years ago, and I admit that I wasn't paying much attention to the details back then (nor would I remember them if I had been) but there's a sense of familiarity that seems nice for my first foray into a big backpacking trip in many years.  It gives me a chance to do something big and yet a bit familiar, which is marginally less intimidating than heading out across the country in a place I've never been before.
• Although the High Uintas wilderness area is big and lonely, it somehow seems a bit tamer than some of my other options; like the Yellowstone area, for instance, which is not tame at all, except in the highly popular tourist zones.  In spite of this, it is pretty lonely--solitude is there for the having in the High Uintas.
• I like Utah.  I have family I can stay with on the ends of the trip, even.  Plus, I really would like to climb to the summit of Timpanogos in the nearby Wasatches, and I could do that as a warm-up to acclimate to the altitude and stuff before heading into the Uintas itself.  Timp is no slouch in terms of summiting, but the summit elevation is still under 12k feet.  Ever since my teenage hike into the Uintas, I've been drawn to the area, though.  I don't even know where we went on that hike, which is curious.
• The place is big.  I'm going to be struggling to narrow my options down to something doable, and yet I'll still have highly desireable destinations left over--with half a dozen trips into the Uintas, I'd still only scratch the surface.

I'm thinking of taking at least ten days off work, but maybe more.  With two days to drive to the area and two days to drive back, even that would only give me six days to be in the mountains.  I'd like to see if it's possible to pump that up to ten days by making it a full two weeks.  Assuming I can arrange my schedule to accomodate that, then I've got two days to drive followed by a day to do Timp, six to seven days to do the Uintas, a day to recover and two more days to drive back home.  I'm looking at possible routes assuming that schedule, or something similar.  I may be disappointed in my ability to take that much time off, though--ten days total, with only five to six in the mountains, may be more doable.  But I'll cross the bridge in the next few weeks of planning.  I'm cognizant of the fact that I'm older than I was last time I really did this, and significantly heavier--as a 160 lbs. (roughly) teenager, my ability to do this was much better than my current state--a 235 lbs. 42 year old.  I imagine I'll come back out of the mountains noticably lighter, but that that will force my hand a bit in terms of taking it a little easy.  I don't want to be too ambitious and plan something that I can't actually pull off, either.  My ability to get serious about training in the time left, and lose a bunch of weight and get really good at climbing stairs or something, is somewhat limited, but I'm going to see what I can do...

OK, with those caveats in mind, what am I thinking?  I'd actually like to, if possible, make two backpacking trips out of it, and see two areas of the Uintas.  I'd like to do a two nights, two and a half to three day trip in the Central Uintas, and summit King's Peak.  I'd come in from the Henry's Fork Trailhead, go over Gunsight Pass and Anderson Pass, bag the peak, and then continue Eastward from Anderson on the Highline Trail to go into the Smiths Fork Basin.  I could pass iconic Red Castle Peak this way.  Continuing north, the trails will take me either to the China Meadows Trailhead, or there appears to be a cut-off trail that will take me back to Henry's Fork.  Blam!  Don't need shuttling or hitchiking to get back to my car.  Perfect.  I'd like to do this during the week, because King's Peak, as the highest point in the state, is a major draw.  Because it's a weekend sized trip, the weekends can get a bit crowded.  A weekday trip should help, and then the detour into Smith's Fork Basin should provide a bit more solitude as well.

With up to four additional days, I've got a lot of options for the rest of the trip, and that's where I'm not sure what, yet, I want to do.  Peter Potterfield's suggestion, in Classic Hikes of North America, is to come into the range from the Highline Trailhead far to the west.  You take the Highline Trail until it turns off to Naturalist Basin, and then explore that for a day or so.  Then hop back on the Highline Trail (which becomes a bit of a hikers' version of an expressway, according to his scheme) over Rocky Sea Pass to explore massive Rock Creek Basin.  He also suggests spending a few days exploring this basin.  The really adventurous could then, of course, continue on over Dead Horse Pass and have a look around West Fork Blacks Fork Basin.  If I were able to get a shuttle, I could hike up north out of this basin to the West Fork Blacks Fork trailhead, even.  More likely, I'd cut my trip short of the Dead Horse Pass and just turn around and head back to my car.  And, of course, I'd love to go even a little further... to Red Knob Pass, and see Mount Lovenia, and others.  But again; let's not get too ambitious the first time out.  If I go this route, I'll almost certainly confine my trip to the Naturalist and Rocky Creek Basins.  I only have, at best, four days to do all this, unless I get rid of my Timp day or cut short my Kings Peak trip, after all.  And, as I said, I'm older, fatter, and out of practice.

But wait!  There are, of course, lots of other attractive options.  Going in via the Christmas Meadows trailhead and exploring the West Basin, Middle Basin and Amythest Basins looks really attractive.  It may be possible to crest a pass off-trail from there into Naturalist Basin, but I need to do some research to confirm that first.  If not, it's still an attractive option on its own.  The East Fork Bear River Trailhead, as well as offering access to the Scout camp in the area, could send me by Lamotte Peak, Yard Peak, Mount Beulah and The Cathedral--all scenic gems of the northwestern Uintas in the Priord and Allsop basins.

Realistically, I could decide almost on the fly at the last minute, but I'd like to not.  I'm leaning a little towards the Naturalist/Rocky Creek route, just because it's so well described and I like the notion of not venturing too far off of well-described routes for my first outlay in so long.  But the other routes are pretty clearly described and "well trailed" as well, by all accounts.

It's nice to have choices...

Cabela's XPG line

I really like Cabela's, and for a variety of reasons, I'd rather shop there for my outdoor stuff than REI, or Dicks, or some other Joe Blow sporting goods store.  However, Cabela's is very focused on hunting and fishing, and where I'm looking for technical backpacking and hiking gear, they haven't always been the best choice.

I just got a new Cabela's catalog in the mail a week or so ago, though, and I can see that they've made an impressive foray into that experience as well with their XPG--Extreme Performance Gear--line.  The catalog I got was men's clothing, and that's where the majority of the new stuff seems to be, but it looks like there's been an XPG camping gear selection out there for some time.

Some of the stuff seems pretty good--$140 Gore-tex, lightweight hikers, for example, is as good as any on the market.  $300+ tents and sleeping bags, on the other hand, don't impress me as a great deal.

Still, there's some great looking things to be mined there.  If I had that corporate sponsor I mentioned a few posts ago, I'd go spend some $4000 overnight on stuff, and I'd basically wear Cabela's outdoor clothing as my everyday uniform.

This summer's backpacking trip...

My plans for the year continue to be in a bit of flux.  I have a fair bit of my vacation already "spoken for," including a cruise with the family.  I might go on a nearly two-week spread of day-hikes in the West with my family, if things work out.  If not, I'll go on at least a week or so backpacking trip by myself.  I've posted in the past about my day-hiking options.  My backpacking options are, I believe, as follows:

• The Teton Crest Trail.  With maybe a Shoal Falls loop as a warm-up in the nearby Gros Ventre wilderness.  This would give me a change to acclimate to the altitude before tackling the Tetons.  My biggest concern here is with bear canisters, and permits.
• The High Uintas.  I'd like to hit up King's Peak, and maybe Naturalist Basin further west.  Not sure yet how I'd link them, but I'd probably do them as two short trips, interrupted by a car ride to a new trailhead.  If I do this, I'd likely warm-up with the summit of Timpanogos first.
• If permits for the Teton Crest trail are scarce, I could do something similar in the nearby Wind Rivers.  Warm-up with a 3 day Gros Ventre appetizer, and then do two smaller trips into the Winds--one to famous Titcomb Basin and one to equally famous Cirque of the Towers.  I'd love to actually link the two, but realistically I probably won't this time out.  I'm still a bit rusty to take on something quite that ambitious.
• Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness loop hike.  Just to give Colorado a shout-out, and it is one of my short-list wanna hikes.  Permits and crowds, again, might be an issue.
• There's also the possibility of some autumn backpacking.  If I do this, I'd look at the Art Loeb Trail in North Carolina in October.  Or possibly a late October or early November Grand Canyon backpacking trip.