Busy week

This was a busy week. We only have a couple weeks left to finalize our plans then we are hitting the trail. We are going to hike the AT and this time I'm going much lighter than the last time. I have been trying to finalize gear, and make sure we have what we need. I think I have all the gear I need. I'm looking into getting a quilt which will lighten up my sleeping system and hopefully will work well for me considering I am a cold sleeper and when I sleep it is on my stomach.

We have our new data book which I scanned so I have a digital copy on my nook. I am not sure the nook will go along for the entire trail but it will be nice to read at the beginning. Reading was the one thing I noticed I missed most on the first trip, so I started carrying books when I found them. This time I can take about 16 Gb worth book for the low low price of 14 oz. Hopefully we will have the time and energy to hike the Long Trail too, but we will figure that out when we get there. The Long Trail, just like the Appalachian Trail is part of a three trail network. The Long Trail is part of the Triple gem which also includes the John Muir and Colorado Trail. The Appalachian Trail is part of the Triple Crown which also includes the Pacific Crest and Continental Divide Trails. Maybe one day we will complete the Triple Crown and by doing the Long Trail we will also have completed the Triple Gem.

Preparing for Baja

We are leaving soon for a kayaking trip to Baja. The spare bed has been piled high with gear and we only just packed is away the other day. I get the feeling though that tonight we will be going through everything for that one last pass through and to make sure important things are taken care of, like charged camera batteries and spares. I also need to make sure I have the charging cables for my Nook and Peek. I don't know if I will have time to use them (they said bring a book), but I am hoping I do get to use them as I want to know how much battery time I get out of each device. I want to know how long they will last on a hiking trip. During my AT thru-hike, the one thing I found I didn't like to go without was books. So having a Nook with tons of books on it should satisfy the bookworm in me happily.

Having the Peek along is again more for testing how it works for email access and to try to keep maintaining the blog. I hope to be able to electronically do some of my journal entries so my family can follow along. This will be a great test, assuming I can pick up signal down in Baja for the thing. I also have to figure out how to email posts to Blogger to actually give on the go posts. This could be lots of fun assuming the battery gives me a long run.

Outdoor Retailer Show

This week was the Outdoor Retailer Show. This is a show that allows companies to showcase their new gear for the upcoming winter season. So much of the stuff show at this event will be for the Fall/Winter 2010 season. Some companies were also showcasing things available soon or already available. This is my second time going to this show and while I can't say I am psyched up to go, I'm not yet bored with the show either. I don't really care for going to some appointments but others are quite fun. I love seeing the new Smartwool products as well as Ibex products. I do like getting the swag that companies give out as well as trying new things. At this show, we were also looking for replacement gear for our upcoming backpacking trip. I am trying to lighten up my load for this trip as I would rather carry more food then gear weight. We have bags lined up as well as some outwear. I am going to be wearing mostly wool on this trip but I do need to find replacement hiking pants, as well as a lighter cookset.

This show was rather productive as we managed to get eVEnt rain jackets for cheap. Some companies sell off items or have special sells of items, we got lucky that a rain jacket we were interested in was being sold off for a great price. So rain jacket is out of the way, but I need rain pants. We managed to dial in outer gloves (actually mitts), and found some food that is good that we will look into for the trip. I also got a replacement spork and a long handled spoon. I also bought some ultralight stuff sacks and a headlamp. I think we are pretty close, just a few things left to dial in. I need to figure out if I need to upgrade my pack or not once all the gear is laid out. I want to but if I need a pack the same size there is no point. If I can go down to a smaller pack and save more weight, then I might just do it. More later on the gear list and the planning of our first long distance hike together.

HIking Red Butte

We went for a hike today, not only the last hike of the year for us, but also the first hike in about a month. I think we went to Red Butte, but I am still not sure of names in the area. I know it was near Red Butte Creek. This is an easy trail, unless you are from the east coast, wearing boots with slippery treads and not using traction aids because they were not needed. Because I am still not fully adjusted to the altitude and we are both out of shape, we didn't make it all the way to the top on this hike. We did at least make it to the "living room", which is a pile of rocks set up to look like a sofa and chair. This is about what we managed to do last year about this same time. I was wearing better boots last time though. I am not sure what was up with my Asolo's but the traction which looked aggressive enough, didn't give me any purchase on the snowy trail. I found I would slip down and lose momentum. On the way down, I was sliding like crazy on some parts of the trail. I'm glad I opted to go back down the easier way rather then the steeper section. I feel bad we just did an out and back hike though. I would have preferred a loop hike. Oh well. I will try a different pair of boots next time and bring along some traction aids just in case.

Zion National Park

We decided to go down to Zion and check out the park. I had never been and my fiance was telling me it was worth checking out. It was also one of the few places in the state that was not going to get hit with bad snow or other bad weather. So off we went. We were initially going to take the truck, in case we hit bad weather, but we ended up filling the truck up with empty boxes and stuff to clear out the apartment. So the car was filled with camping stuff and off we went.

The drive down was mostly uneventful due to it being dark all of the trip down. We arrived really late that night and basically set up the tent and crashed. The next morning I finally got to see some of the park. It was pretty cool to wake up to a full moon and canyon walls nearby. We ended up doing Angel's Landing which was a pretty scary hike. I wasn't a fan of the drop offs, 1000 ft on each side but after I got up there and started heading back, I thought it was nice. The views were simply amazing. We enjoyed the hike up and back then had a nice lunch on a sunny rock. I am not in shape for either the elevation or the hiking right now. I haven't had a chance to do serious hiking in quite a while so I was struggling a little. Plus wearing knee-braces doesn't do me well either with my balance or with my energy. But I did it.

We didn't have much time left of the day to do another big hike so we went back to have a much needed nap. After that was a nice night hike. Too bad the moon wasn't up at that point. The next day we did a couple of small hikes and then left. It was really nice out there and then we came back to snowy winter.

Bryce Canyon and Calf Creek falls

We managed to get out of the OR show fairly early and we packed up and hit the road. We ended up going down to the dessert in an effort to see if I could be warmed up. I haven't been really cold but I do find I am cool enough that I carry long sleeves with me just in case. Zip apart pants are my best friend right now. We made it down to Bryce a little late but we found a nice site, set up then walked out to the rim to watch the sunset. Too bad it was cloudy and there was smoke from a forest fire, but it was still beautiful. We prepared and ate supper on the rim enjoying the cooling evening. We again planned really well by leaving the headlamps back at the camp site.

The next day we hiked down into the canyon among the hoodoos. It was really surreal. I have never seen anything like them before. It was also pretty warm out. I was finally warm for a change. We had an afternoon sprinkle of rain but nothing too big. We had to change campsites twice because the camp ranger didn't tell us that loop C was reservation only. We got lucky and found an open spot on C the first night but didn't know we couldn't just move to another site. We found a site later in the day on D. Imagine how upset we were when we left the next morning to find no one had stayed on the site they had kicked us out of. Oh well.

We drove over to hike in to see Calf Creek Falls. It was amazing and although a very hot and dry hike in, well worth it. There were few people because of the heat. The sun beats down into the canyon and there is very little shade. We made it to the falls and have time to enjoy it alone before a few others joined us. We hiked back in a gentle rain which cooled the area down and made the hike out more pleasant. I am not looking forward to going back to DC tomorrow. I really don't want to go back to work either.

Over 10,000 ft

We did the Brighton Lakes loop hike this weekend. We didn't have a ton of time left on Saturday after driving back up from Eureka and getting everything packed up for backpacking. We did make about 5 miles up to the last lake and found a nice place to camp. It was really nice except for the droves of mosquitos. I thought I was going to go crazy with the humming and the biting. Of course we planned really well by leaving the DEET in the truck. I only had Badger Balm bug off and it didn't work so well against the droves. We pitched the tent and got water in a hurry then rested behind the netting until dusk slowed them down.

We have been playing around with different meals on our trips as I am not a huge fan of Mountain House meals. I had a bad experience with them at the beginning of my thru-hike and have avoided them almost ever since. I was eating a lasagna and the vegetables tasted moldy, what a turn off. I have tasted some since and haven't had this issue come up so it might have just been a bad batch. My boyfriend doesn't care for the Lipton Noodle or Rice sides that I eat so we are trying to find common ground. It might just be that we each eat what we can and enjoy each other's company instead. We ate asian noodles this trip and while we both thought they were okay, they weren't okay enough for us to keep going back to them. We will have to keep looking, but I am starting to think that dehydrating our own meals might be the way to go.

The first day we had a fair amount of elevation gain and I was really feeling it towards the end, but we pushed on to the top lake and had a great evening with great views as seen through bug netting. The following morning left the option of making a run for one summit then heading back down the way we had come or pushing for the summit and finishing the loop. I decided I was up for the loop so onward and upward we went. It was my first time hiking up over 6,000 ft. Mt. Washington was the highest I had ever hiked. Sad but true.

It was absolutely breath taking, and the views were stunning too. I wasn't so bad off, but we did have to take frequent breaks. There were still some patches of snow and we ended up having a snow ball fight started by me. I was surprised it was perfect snow ball snow, sticky enough to hold together. I ended up on the lower ground and got some snow kicked at me. But it was fun none the less. I'm glad I decided to push for the summit. It was a hard climb up but well worth it.

Seeing Eureka

I really didn't do anything yesterday other then try to get all the little computer things done. They have been slowly piling up until I had time to work on it. Yesterday was my first real chance to get it done. I fixed up the website and worked on some of the little tweaks I wanted to do. I think everything is set for that for now. I even had an afternoon nap to try to get over the jet lag. I have been drinking tons of water to stay hydrated but I feel like I have to clear my throat much more then my usual annoying amount.

After supper, we had time to go out and hike to the top of the mountain overlooking Eureka. It isn't very high and the road was graded, but again the elevation is higher then I am used to so it took a while to get up to the top. The views were great, although there wasn't much town to see. It is a small town. But it was cool to see it from above. I think the one day of rest helped me to acclimate a little as I didn't get a big headache, just the hints of one.

I notice the area has an austere beauty. It is different from the east coast. Not as many trees covering the mountains down here. There is a lot of shrubbery though. Sage brush and stuff. I can't wait to see more of the area.

Eureka

I arrived safely in Utah. The taxi driver had my cell number wrong but luckily I saw him waiting. I can't believe there is now a surcharge for putting bags in the trunk, that is ridiculous. Oh well. I arrived at lunch time so it was off to lunch for us. It was so nice to finally see my boyfriend in person and get a real hug. Skype is nice but it can only go so far.

We ate some Mexican for lunch then decided to hit the hills. I am not used to the higher elevation and so I was soon huffing and puffing like crazy. We were trying to get up to Cecret Lake, but I wasn't able to make it. I had no problems going downhill it was the uphill that was killing me. It wasn't so bad until I started to get the accompanying headache. I am trying to drink water like crazy too as I am not used to the dry heat. I actually found that while the temperatures are about comparable, the lack of humidity makes me feel cooler. We met family for supper then it was packing, a food run then down to Eureka for a few days.

I woke up as we arrived. Not much to see late at night. Boy is it dark here. The bed and breakfast is nice, what little I saw of it. I am very tired from the very long day.

Back in the White Mountains

It was really nice to be back in the White Mountains even if it was only for a long weekend backpacking and snowshoeing trip. This trip was the last trip of the winter season in our search for snow. We finally found some, which was great if a little on the wet side, but at least I was able to play with the snowshoes I was testing. A small group of us left out of Lafayette campgrounds and hiked up to the hut at Lonesome Lake. The views were amazing and we had a great time. Once we arrived, we had more fun running and making tracks around the lake, and soaking up some sun with the great views. We were scheduled to stay that night in the hut before moving on to another shelter for the following night. The hut was great and we had fun playing some games and relaxing. The next day we hiked out to Kinsman Pond shelter and soaked up a lot more sun as well as played on the frozen pond, took some macro shots of lichen and mosses. We eventually all made it up to the top of North Kinsman mountain and the views were even more amazing. I had a chance to do some glissade back down to the campsite and had a great time doing it. The last day saw an overcast day with the threat of rain. We actually got the rain just before we hit the hut again. We ducked in for some warmth and to eat a quick snack. The stop over turned into about a 2 hours stop with us helping to eat some of the deer with bacon wraps that were left over from the party that had occurred the night before. Too bad we couldn't have joined in the party as it sounded like it was a blast. The hut was too full for us to spend another night as they had booked well in advance of us and filled the bunks.

Hiking attempt two

A few weeks ago I tried to set up a hike at Difficult Run. Unfortunately the weather was so nice that the parking area was packed to overflowing. So instead we went down the road to enjoy Scott's Run instead. Today I reran Difficult run and the parking situation was much better due to the cooler weather. This is a great local hike that overlooks the Potomac. Since it is so close, I can run it as a half day hike and still have the rest of the day to get other things done, or go to pool session. I have been running this hike as often as possible over the winter to help keep the group active and meet more of my members. I think it has been working well as I do have a small core group but each time I get to meet new members. My guest is still in town and enjoyed the hike. We made it all the way to Great Falls overlook and watched some kayakers playing in the waves at the bottom. I always look forward to running this hike.

Failed hiking plans

The weather was absolutely gorgeous the last few days, meaning snow is in the forecast soon. But back to the nice weather. I planned a group hiking event to Difficult Run in Virginia. This is one of my favourite local hikes and I love going back there whenever I can. As this was the first nice day of the year, apparently everyone else decided they too were going to go hiking. And that meant the parking area was really full. So instead we went back down the road to Scott's Run where there was more parking and did that hike instead. It is a nice hike but not nearly as nice as the originally planned hike. The weather was perfect but the trails were quite muddy. A few people slipped in the mud. Good thing I had the poles with me or I would have taken a spill or three. After hiking along the river section the bottom o my shoes were coated in a thick layer of mud. Good thing there was a small stream we cross over so we could wash the mud off our shoes. Overall though it was a great day and a great hike. I love running hiking events, I just wish I could get paid enough to do this as a full time job.

WV high point hiking

A friend set up a car camping event that I and a few people I knew decided to go on. The goal was to drive up as close to the peak as possible then hike the rest. Given the wintery conditions the hike could have been anywhere from 14 miles down to 1 mile. Although there is a road that does go right to the summit, we were expecting the roads to be in bad shape due to all the snow. We did have two AWD vehicles just in case the roads were that bad. In the end, although there were some drifts across the road, the road was actually passable all the way to the summit. So our difficult hike turned into a quick stroll to the summit. That was about the only easy part of the whole trip.

We arrived to the campsite late Friday night and had to scrap back snow to set up the tents. Once set up we were still a little hyped up from the drive and snow removal that we stood around for a while talking and freezing out butts off. The temperature was already reading well below 0 F. Deciding it was late enough, we all went to bed around 1:00 am. The following morning was a late morning and due to the cold temperatures, we had 2 people decide to leave the next morning. The remaining 6 decided to stick it out. We drove up to Spruce Know and 'bagged' our high point. The temperature had been quite cold in the morning but climbed steadily all day long to a high of about the freezing point. We then did another hike in the area and I had a chance to finally play with my new snowshoes. Yeah! Not quite enough snow but it was still fun. We got back to camp while it was still light, meaning 4:00 and got a fire going and split some of the wood we had. Saturday night was much warmer then Friday night and most people slept warmly that night. Hot water bottles in each sleeping bag also helped. Sunday dawned clear and bright. We left camp to go on a secret hike which turned into a caving exploration, totally awesome. We will have to go back better prepared. Due to the stream running through the cave, we couldn't hike in too far without getting cold and wet. We found out that day that the low for Friday night had been -24 F. I have never camped out at that temperature before, but at least I now know I can do it in a car camping situation. Question is, could I do it while backpacking. We ended up having a 50 F degree temperature difference over the weekend. No wonder Saturday night felt so warm.

Snowshoeing attempt #1

I attempted to run a snowshoeing trip this weekend but alas there was just no snow in the DC, Virginia, or even West VIrginia area. I even called a few places in Pennsylvania, but alas it just wasn't meant to be. So we went hiking instead. This turned out to be a lot of fun and I am glad most of the people who signed up for the snowshoeing stayed on for the hiking. I did get one last minute person join in on the event. It is a little odd that this guy seems to wait in the parking area and checks out what groups are leaving then asks to join them. The first time was fine but the second time was just too weird. I think I will either have to tell him no next time or chose another meeting spot.

I like taking groups out to explore the various trails, but every once in a while someone decides they don't like the hike and tries to get me to change it. I had to tell this one guy to stop trying to talk everyone into doing the Little Devil's Stairs trail as it was not appropriate for the group, we were not prepared, and we didn't have enough time to do it. But he insisted on talking about it until I finally told him to stop. He kept talking to this one girl and they missed the trail to turn onto. I thought I was pulling up the rear and then they showed up behind us. I will have to keep a better eye on him in the future.

Christmas Break

Work decided to be nice and gave up the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off. I decided to stay in town this year as I just didn't feel I had the money to go back. Plus my brother was out of town so I didn't think Christmas was going to be the same with just the three of us. So instead, I ignored the day and did a few day hikes with some other people. I also got some Christmas coffee with the guy from the backpacking trip from last weekend. It was nice of him to keep me company. All in all, a nice five days spent just hiking and relaxing. Best of all is that I get to do it all over again next week too.

St. Mary's Rock Hike

Off again today, this time for a day hike. I was expecting it to be about 6.5 miles, but since the park was closed, we started at an alternate location and hiked the route backwards making it closer to 7 miles. It was still a great hike. A couple of us had issues with the water freezing in our drinking hoses, and the winds were quite fierce on the summits, but the views were great. I think there was a constant wind of about 30 mph, with gusts of up to 50 mph. One gust was strong enough to push me back, good thing it was away from the edge, not that I was that close. This was a relatively small group but we had a good time. There was a small shelter around the halfway point so we stopped and enjoyed a sheltered lunch and privy break. Always a good thing. There was still some ice and snow on the trail that made for nice views. The road into the park was closed due to the ice. The don't seem to salt in the park so no entry when ice is present.

Meetup Organizer

One of the hiking and backpacking meetups I am a member of just recently had the organizer step down. This was a new organizer that just stepped up in June as I was unable to take over the group at that time. I should have but I was just too busy with gear testing and kayaking. So when the group became available again, I jumped on it. So I find myself the organizer for a group that has been sitting basically dormant for about 4 months as the last organizer didn't do anything. The organizer before him wasn't doing much either and I was almost the only person running events. I am slowly bringing the meetup back to life but I still get few people joining in on hikes. I will have to nurse the group a while longer before I think I can get away with large events.

I have been trying to get in touch with some of the old assistant organizers but have heard back from very few of them. I think I will have to thin them down and start finding new people to act as assistants. I would like to get someone to help organize a regular weekend day hike so I can run bigger events like backpacking trips or large day hikes. I would also like someone to help run bigger events. And I think it is time to start doing moon hikes again. As they are about once a month (twice if I do new moon hikes too), I can probably start those up soon. They were a big hit in the spring when I started doing them as many of the other meetup groups also were running moon hikes.

I ran my first event this weekend and the turn out was good. I hope people will eventually come back to the group. I do find it a little annoying that some members have been leaving the group. Some of them are older member and likely have moved, but some are new members that just joined this summer. It is sad to see them leave because I don't know why they are leaving. Oh well.

I'm published again!!

I have been trying to write articles on backpacking and how to chose gear that is trip appropriate. I now have 4 articles up at Associated Content and hope to have more up as soon as I can find more time to write. I thought I would have some time on my business trip up to NY but this has been a much busier trip then the last ones were. My face page can be found here, and that page links to all the articles I have written. It is also possible to get an rss feed or subscribe for updates. This site is pretty cool and while I haven't made a ton of money it is nice to start working on something that I can grow.

Three Ridges Backpacking

A friend organized a big backpacking trip that started on Thursday and ended Tuesday. We joined up with the group Friday late afternoon. It was about a 3 hour drive from DC and we thankfully left early enough to avoid most of the traffic. Apparently everyone gets the same idea to leave town at the same time. Although this was Memorial Day weekend so it is understandable for this weekend. It is a traffic nightmare. We also took an alternate route which helped us avoid much of the traffic. The trip called for us to set up a base camp then do day hikes from that location. This worked out very nicely and meant we could carry up all kinds of luxury items for use at the base camp but not worry about lugging the extra weight around during the day hikes. I brought in a camp chair to help save my knees.

On Saturday we hiked up to look out peak then around and down a side trail with a waterfall. I took some pictures with my film camera. I hope the pics turn out. Not sure if I will be scanning any in to post but I will try to get one in if there is one worth posting. Saturday turned out to be a really long day. We had to hike out 1.6 miles to get to the cars then shuttle over to the trail head and drop a car at the trail end. Then we hiked 7 miles over ups and downs, then a further 1.6 to get back in to camp. We were exhausted. I don't remember cooking much for supper. We did eat but it was pretty light fare.

Sunday was a much flatter hike and was another waterfall. We had about 7 stream crossings to get to the waterfall. It was kind of fun but after the first 3 crossings, it started to wear thin. The water was cold. I ended up pulling wool socks on halfway through to help keep my feet warm on the crossings. I had on some capris pants that I am testing and they were just short enough to stay mostly dry which was nice. I also noticed on this trip that even though I mostly wore braces, I didn't experience any knee pain. Mostly I was tired from the long miles but no knee pain. This is a good sign. I am not sure if this is from the almost two years of trying to not use them or if this is from taking glucosamine/chondroitin. I just hope this is an improvement that keeps up and doesn't backslide.

We left Sunday after the waterfall hike. Even though I wanted to stay an extra night, I didn't really want to hike back up to the base camp. The next morning we were both glad that we left a bit earlier.

Star hiking

Had a chance to bring out the telescope last night to go star gazing. There was a small group of people, a dog and a couple of kids. Very different from the first group I took out, but everyone was lots of fun. It was a new moon and not many clouds in the sky so it was a perfect opportunity to get out and look at stars with the telescope. It was really cool but I think the telescope is better suited for moon gazing rather then star gazing. We did manage to find Jupiter but it was really hard to see the rings. I think we will be able to get great resolution for the moon but stars are just too far away for it too handle. Next time I hope we can bring the big one. But it was really cool to be able to find a star and look at it up close. Can't wait to get out on a moon hike some time soon. I have heard that a few days before a full moon is the best time as that is when you get good relief on the surface detail. Guess we will find out.