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Thanks for the water flavoring recc's. Sounds like drops are the way to go, especially since I'm just looking for something to make the water a little more palatable after a couple days on the trail. I'll see what the local store stocks and try out a few before the trip.
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Jun 9, 2015 23:01
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Bones81 posted:Deuter ACT Trail 30 Ahem, I posted a brief review of this very pack at the beginning of the last page. However the front opening feature mentioned might actually be a theft liability if you're planning on spending a lot of time in towns. A friend has the Osprey you mentioned and that's a great daypack too, out of the three it'll probably come down to personal preference so try them all out.
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Jun 9, 2015 23:22
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talktapes posted:Ahem, I posted a brief review of this very pack at the beginning of the last page. However the front opening feature mentioned might actually be a theft liability if you're planning on spending a lot of time in towns. A friend has the Osprey you mentioned and that's a great daypack too, out of the three it'll probably come down to personal preference so try them all out. Thanks, I've heard a lot of positive reviews about the Deuter because of that feature. I'm going to head into REI tomorrow to hopefully check out all 3 plus try on some Lowa Renegades.
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Jun 9, 2015 23:39
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So after a ridiculously amazing trip at Isle Royale last year, I've kind of been obsessed with the Lake Superior area and am thinking of i̶n̶v̶a̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ checking out Canada. Specifically, either Pukaskwa or Lake Superior Provincial Park. Anybody have any experience with either and/or both of these? Which one would you recommend, given a choice?
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Jun 10, 2015 04:53
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You can't talk about Isle Royale in this thread and NOT expect me to ask for pictures. That's been one of my dream destinations for well over a decade.
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Jun 10, 2015 04:59
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 Taggart Lake, Tetons, Wyoming It was pretty dang cold too but I've been in worse 
Sierra Nevadan fucked around with this message at 05:22 on Jun 10, 2015 |
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Jun 10, 2015 05:17
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Anyone successfully use bear spray past its expiration?
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Jun 10, 2015 05:31
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Any PA people have any opinions on a day trip to the Pinnacle? I was thinking of following this route up by starting at Hamburg reservoir and going to the Pinnacle first and then catching the valley rim trail back to see pulpit rock. From pulpit back down I could just cruise back down the 'road' hopefully or stay on the valley rim trail. Would the reverse route be a better choice?
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Jun 10, 2015 06:09
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nominal posted:So after a ridiculously amazing trip at Isle Royale last year, I've kind of been obsessed with the Lake Superior area and am thinking of i̶n̶v̶a̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ checking out Canada. Specifically, either Pukaskwa or Lake Superior Provincial Park. Anybody have any experience with either and/or both of these? Which one would you recommend, given a choice? I hiked Lake Superior Provincial Park and it was glorious. Not as "out there" as Isla Royale' but the hills on the way in and the incredible coastal trail make up for it. I've heard Pukaskwa is just as nice if not nicer, but I can't confirm. There's got to be some Ontario Goon here who's been to both. If my memory serves me correctly I think LSPP offers less in the way of looped trails, so parking a vehicle at one end may be necessary if you're in a group. Otherwise I think Pukaskwa is better for that? I don't remember I'd have to look at my maps. Anyway it's definitely in the same vein as Isle Royale and worth your time. Make sure to plan on checking stuff on the drive in. The land north of Sault Ste Marie is gorgeous too.
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Jun 10, 2015 06:39
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Time Cowboy posted:You can't talk about Isle Royale in this thread and NOT expect me to ask for pictures. That's been one of my dream destinations for well over a decade. No problem, hope it's not too many. Also my photography is not great, I just have an iPhone and a bad eye. Isle Royale is awesome. Ever go camping someplace that you thought was sort of reasonably in the middle of nowhere, only the entire time you hear a highway, or motorcycles, or some rear end in a top hat with a chainsaw, or dogs barking, and that kind of thing? I live in Northeast Indiana, so about anywhere within a few hours driving distance around here I get that BIG TIME. It sucks. Well, there's none of that here. You might hear a boat every so often but really it's nothing but... nothing. And it's loving fantastic. Tobin Harbor. This is pretty much the first thing you'll probably want to see when you start off from Rock Harbor. It's gorgeous and is the first piece of perfect stillness you'll see. It basically follows the same route as the coastal trail off towards Daisy Farm. I think you only tack a mile on maybe by taking the interior trail.  Mosses and lichens just freakin' EVERYWHERE up here. Never seen anything like it. I have no idea what any of these are, we don't really get this type of flora in my area and also I am bad at plants.  Here's where the trail diverges either back towards the coast towards Daisy Farm, back toward Tobin Harbor where we just came from, or up the Greenstone to Mt. Franklin. I was the most experienced hiker in the group and really wanted to get up the Greenstone Ridge that day to check out the view and also because I came all the way out here to see the drat island so that's what I'm going to do. The rest of the group just wanted to get to camp. I didn't post this to demonstrate that I actually had friends, though (I just paid these guys to hang out with me all week), it's because you'll note the heavily forested area in this pic.  This is about 5 minutes after I hiked away from the area in the previous pic:  And this is about 3 minutes after that:  This is basically how the whole northern half of the island seemed to behave for us, it'd just completely change terrain about every few minutes. Kept things interesting but the scrub part you see above was not a whole lot of fun to hike on due to big rocks, heat, and it being occasionally difficult to see the cairns. It basically just alternated these three different types of terrain all the way up the Greenstone. The elusive Mt. Franklin (I think?) fire tower/Imperial Probe Droid  I linked back up with the rest of the group at Daisy Farm. We spent that night and the next laid up doing jack doodly squat, unfortunately. We got hit with a solid 24 hours of rain right after we unpacked at one of the shelters (these shelters were all great, btw). It's just as well it was raining since the guy at the far left in the pic above came down with some sort of horrible Trail AIDS and more or less just slept for 2 days straight. He recovered alright on the second day but he decided he wasn't fit to pull another 20 miles so he opted to head back towards Rock Harbor. It was pretty boring but I'm glad we'd planned with a couple extra days to burn just in case. It came in really handy here. Anyway, when the rain broke, i went down to the Daisy Farm dock to pump water and holy poo poo a double rainbow from one island to the other. I wish I'd had a better camera with me.  Immediately followed by one of the best sunsets ever:  The next day... I discovered something loving amazing, that in retrospect, I almost wish I hadn't. I discovered Thimbleberries.  Here's why they are called Thimbleberries:  These little guys are basically the best loving thing you can possibly eat while backpacking. And they were just ripening when we got there. And also they were EVERYWHERE. I probably ate at least a few lbs of these while we were up there (around August 12th or so, if I remember right). Possibly even more than that. I mean, berries were being harvested CONSTANTLY (except for in those rocky, dry areas where there wasn't much growing). The ripe ones are bright red so you can't even miss them. They pop right off the plant. You kind of get a weird knack for it where you don't even have to stop moving, you kind of grasp the plant while using your thumb to flick them right into your other hand without even slowing down. They're juicy cool and kind of sweet/sour. Really refreshing to eat while you're hauling pack. The taste kind of varied quite a bit depending on ripeness, but my favorite ones almost tasted a lot like honey. Holy gently caress I miss these things and want to just eat a huge basket full. Lake Richie. Probably my favorite spot on the island. So, so, still.  Here's the top of a different stretch of the Greenstone that goes past Chickenbone back towards Mount Franklin. All that green that my geologist friend is hiking through back there? Yeah, that was pretty much all thimbleberries. Chomp chomp chomp chomp. Right after this, we came through a weird stretch were the trail was made of tiny frogs. Seriously, there were thousands of them, just all over the place. I'm not sure how many I stepped on. They went on for a good half mile or so.  Found a nice view of the Sleeping Giant in Canada from atop the Greenstone.  Not ours. But we feel this guy's pain. We saw a couple tracks, but no moose. I did see a gigantic fox at West Chickenbone, though. And the biggest hare in the world.  More Lake Richie. That white speck in the center right is Dick Swan. His name is Dick Swan because he was a huge dick to everything. He would lock in on any mergansers on the lake and slowly zoom in on them until they backed off. If we'd go on shore, he'd get about 20 feet away and just mean mug us the whole time. Dick.  Shelter back at Rock Harbor. The foliage is almost exclusively thimbleberries. Not a lot of ripe ones, because I probably ate them.  The Clifford J. Stoll trail out to Scoville Point. Just a couple of us did this on the last day as kind of an afterthought, it's a short, couple hour hike up out of Rock Harbor but drat if it wasn't one of the more interesting trails we did on the whole trip.  I loved it up there to the point where ever since I've come back to civilization I feel like nothing is ever quiet enough and I feel like I have to get back out to the middle nowhere, ANYWHERE, ASAP. I hope you make it up there and have a great time! e: whoops, tables nominal fucked around with this message at 06:51 on Jun 10, 2015 |
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Jun 10, 2015 06:45
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I backpacked and camped on snow this weekend for the first time at Mount Shasta base camp. It was only an overnight trip, but I was freezing cold despite my fancy 0 degree bag. I know I didn't eat nearly enough that day and I'm wondering if you guys have found that staying well fed makes a huge difference in your warmth, or if it could be attributed to using a super lightweight closed cell foam pad on the cold snow.
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Jun 10, 2015 07:50
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Sierra Nevadan posted:Anyone successfully use bear spray past its expiration? You're probably good for at least a little while. I let some off from a canister that expired over a year ago and it worked fine. However, my dad was in a standoff with a cougar a few years ago and his expired bear spray just came out in a dribble of foam, so that's something to keep in mind too, haha.
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Jun 10, 2015 09:27
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Tacier posted:I backpacked and camped on snow this weekend for the first time at Mount Shasta base camp. It was only an overnight trip, but I was freezing cold despite my fancy 0 degree bag. I know I didn't eat nearly enough that day and I'm wondering if you guys have found that staying well fed makes a huge difference in your warmth, or if it could be attributed to using a super lightweight closed cell foam pad on the cold snow. I'd say both. Eating fatty food helps keep you warm (which is why I've suggested chugging olive oil before bed if you have nothing else) and a good pad prevents heat from being leeched out of you from the ground. Your weight compresses the insulation in your sleeping bag on the bottom so it's not as effective so you need something to provide a bit more insulation. A basic CCF pad doesn't provide much of an r-value
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Jun 10, 2015 12:14
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nominal posted:Isle Royale is awesome. Ever go camping someplace that you thought was sort of reasonably in the middle of nowhere, only the entire time you hear a highway, or motorcycles, or some rear end in a top hat with a chainsaw, or dogs barking, and that kind of thing? I live in Northeast Indiana, so about anywhere within a few hours driving distance around here I get that BIG TIME. It sucks. Well, there's none of that here. You might hear a boat every so often but really it's nothing but... nothing. And it's loving fantastic. Tsyni posted:You're probably good for at least a little while. I let some off from a canister that expired over a year ago and it worked fine. However, my dad was in a standoff with a cougar a few years ago and his expired bear spray just came out in a dribble of foam, so that's something to keep in mind too, haha.
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Jun 10, 2015 13:30
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I've hiked in areas with cougars before I guess, hell they're sometimes spotted in the hills near my parents house, but it's just quite rare to see one and unless you're a small person they're probably not going to mess with you. Wolves also you'll probably never see or hear. Bears just are more problematic because they're mostly omnivore scavengers so they're all interested in your backpacking food while wolves and cougars probably aren't and generally don't want to have much to do with people (and tend to get shot when they display a willingness to get involved with humans) The thing that gets me the most is all the warnings about bears or wildlife or whatever are more nerve wracking than the reality out there. All the signs warning about bears in Yellowstone made me far more nervous than if I just knew they were around and to be careful, instead of being reminded that "oh poo poo bears can kill you" every 15 minutes. On the other hand, people generally need those warnings...
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Jun 10, 2015 14:05
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Tacier posted:it could be attributed to using a super lightweight closed cell foam pad on the cold snow. I'd say this is the most likely explanation.
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Jun 10, 2015 14:19
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The north east side of Isle Royale is amazing paddling. I wish I had pictures of it, I was ready to die in giant waves and instead it was perfectly calm. If you haven't done the Apostles, those are amazing too. There's only three wolves left on Royale and I hope more get brought in once the inbred ones die off in a few years. Whoever brought that dog over in the 80s and destroyed the population was a real rear end in a top hat.
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Jun 10, 2015 14:39
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n8r posted:I'd say this is the most likely explanation. Most of the time when camping directly on snow you want to put a CCF pad under another pad. That or get that crazy expensive inflatable, reflective, internally insulated NeoAir Xtherm.
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Jun 10, 2015 17:34
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Tacier posted:I backpacked and camped on snow this weekend for the first time at Mount Shasta base camp. It was only an overnight trip, but I was freezing cold despite my fancy 0 degree bag. I know I didn't eat nearly enough that day and I'm wondering if you guys have found that staying well fed makes a huge difference in your warmth, or if it could be attributed to using a super lightweight closed cell foam pad on the cold snow.
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Jun 10, 2015 20:35
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evil_bunnY posted:You're compressing your bag with your bodyweight, so the pad has to manage a 35C+ temperature differential. So yeah. It's weird that those are the standard sleeping pads the local climbing shop rents for that route. Everyone else had the same one, but maybe most people are willing to have a cold night in exchange for not having to lug as much weight up the mountain before their summit attempt.
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Jun 10, 2015 21:39
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I use a DownMat UL 7 for snow and it works great. Think it's rated to -27 or something.
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Jun 11, 2015 01:14
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Tacier posted:It's weird that those are the standard sleeping pads the local climbing shop rents for that route. Everyone else had the same one, but maybe most people are willing to have a cold night in exchange for not having to lug as much weight up the mountain before their summit attempt. Were you wearing a hat? Were you totally zipped into the bag?
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Jun 11, 2015 01:16
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n8r posted:Were you wearing a hat? Were you totally zipped into the bag? Was wearing a hat but my bag was a little too short for me. Ended up sleeping with another bag on top of me and still wasn't warm, so I think all my heat was getting leeched out from under me. Definitely buying a Neo-Air XTherm if I ever snow camp again.
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Jun 11, 2015 03:48
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whatupdet posted:Never heard of Isle Royale before but it looks really nice and secluded. How many days did you go for and were you worried about wolves? I only read about the latter on wikipedia when I was looking up Isle Royale. It is kind of exciting and a bit scary and also completely normalized much like any other potential risk. I have yet to see a cougar, but I'm sure they've seen me, especially in the Bow Valley and Kananaskis Valley corridors. There are frequent sightings and a decent number of encounters every year. Most encounters are neutral, but attacks have happened in the past. The parks service is very diligent with wildlife management, though, and there are a lot of big carnivores that are tagged and tracked. If they're in areas where a problem could occur, the area is generally restricted or a public warning is issued with signage at trail heads. Most people abide by the closures, too. So it's actually very safe going out into the backcountry here (relatively speaking).
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Jun 11, 2015 04:56
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Yea, I've yet to see a cougar in the wild, but I always wonder how many have seen me.
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Jun 11, 2015 05:47
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Speaking of the local wildlife, my buddy always jokes that a bear is gonna pluck me from my hammock like a tootsie roll or pre-wrapped sausage. I guess he ain't joking no more 
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Jun 11, 2015 11:45
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OSU_Matthew posted:Speaking of the local wildlife, my buddy always jokes that a bear is gonna pluck me from my hammock like a tootsie roll or pre-wrapped sausage. Yeah that's worrying and supposedly they're investigating whether the same bear might have been the one that caused other problems in the area. Very likely the bear is destroyed.
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Jun 11, 2015 12:02
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Oh man I didn't know these forums had a hiking thread!! I absolutely love the outdoors and I'm very jealous of you Americans and you limitless undefiled nature. Belgium is very very urbanized, I have to take a plane to Scotland or Sweden or some poo poo to enjoy pure nature.  I'm curious about pocket knives. I'd kinda like a fancy once because they look cool (not the absolutely ridiculous ones of course), but I don't know if any of them are actually, you know, useful. Are any of the bigger Swiss army knives, Gerbers, Leathermans, etc actually good and useful or are they mostly just display pieces? Because if so I'll just stick to my trusty Opinel.
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Jun 11, 2015 15:07
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cgfreak posted:I'm curious about pocket knives. I'd kinda like a fancy once because they look cool (not the absolutely ridiculous ones of course), but I don't know if any of them are actually, you know, useful. Are any of the bigger Swiss army knives, Gerbers, Leathermans, etc actually good and useful or are they mostly just display pieces? Because if so I'll just stick to my trusty Opinel. Larger multitools or knives are useless weight
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Jun 11, 2015 15:13
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The classic Swiss Army knife or a small folder can come in very handy. You definitely don't need a small machete. I'm guilty of almost always bringing a full size multi tool. When you need pliers, you need pliers. I'm definitely not in the ultralight crowd though, so ymmv.
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Jun 11, 2015 15:32
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Last trip I brought my little Swiss Army knife from childhood and never used it.
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Jun 11, 2015 15:33
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I regularly bring a hatchet, swiss army knife and saw along because the times I've not had a fire at night are really rare.
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Jun 11, 2015 15:36
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Last trip I brought my whistle and never used it. Still gonna bring it next time.
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Jun 11, 2015 15:38
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I'm a big fan of the victorinox Climber model. Or the Camper of you think the saw is more useful than the scissors. I generally funny ever need more than that. And even then not more than once a season do I use it. Though when I'm caving I always bring a multitool for the pliers.
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Jun 11, 2015 15:46
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Stick to a medium/small opinel.
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Jun 11, 2015 16:42
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Spime Wrangler posted:Last trip I brought my whistle and never used it. Still gonna bring it next time. Agreed. My point was that even though it was a small knife, it was still more than enough for my needs.
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Jun 11, 2015 16:43
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cgfreak posted:Oh man I didn't know these forums had a hiking thread!! I absolutely love the outdoors and I'm very jealous of you Americans and you limitless undefiled nature. Belgium is very very urbanized, I have to take a plane to Scotland or Sweden or some poo poo to enjoy pure nature. The main tools I can see that you would need are scissors and pliers in that order. Other ones that you could possibly use would be maybe a small saw, awl and file. I have only ever used the scissors and never really felt like I needed any of the others. Knives on the other hand I love to take along for the adventure and It's one of the main reasons I go hiking so I take a small fixed blade a folder and maybe a cheaper knife like a Mora. I don't actually need them though. That's just whats fun for me. It also sounds like you would want to know there is a second hiking thread here and a knife thread here Where you might get a more specific answer.
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Jun 11, 2015 16:46
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The Precious posted:It also sounds like you would want to know there is a second hiking thread here and a knife thread here Where you might get a more specific answer. Cool I had no idea about that second hiking thread. I hunt but seem to be the exception and don't really find myself fascinated by guns so I've never ventured into TFR. Thanks for the link! Also if I had to recommend a knife I'd keep it simple and just stick with a basic Leatherman for a multitool and Mora for an outdoor fixed blade. I have friends that have super expensive Dozier knifes and my more is %90 as good as theirs and several hundred dollars cheaper. If you have lots of money to spend go check out Dozier though. He makes good knifes.
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Jun 11, 2015 17:28
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Tacier posted:Was wearing a hat but my bag was a little too short for me. Ended up sleeping with another bag on top of me and still wasn't warm, so I think all my heat was getting leeched out from under me. Definitely buying a Neo-Air XTherm if I ever snow camp again. That sounds... really expensive. The one time I snow camped (I don't feel a need to overnight in the snow). I used a combination of tent/standard air filled thermarest/bag and I was just fine. How often do you plan on sleeping on snow? I mean if you want a $200 air matress go for it.
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Jun 11, 2015 21:35
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cgfreak posted:Oh man I didn't know these forums had a hiking thread!! I absolutely love the outdoors and I'm very jealous of you Americans and you limitless undefiled nature. Belgium is very very urbanized, I have to take a plane to Scotland or Sweden or some poo poo to enjoy pure nature. What up fellow Belgian! Where abouts are you from? I live near Antwerp myself, and I must say I share your grievances about the urbanization of our country. I mean the Ardennes are okay but you can't really get lost there if you know what I mean. I was about to suggest an Opinel as it's excellent bang for your buck, but then you already own one so there you go. I EDC a carbon steel n°8, it's super nice as I can abuse it without worry. I wouldn't dream of opening a beer bottle with my Mini-Griptilian but the n°8 has popped its fair share of caps without as much as a blemish to show for it. Stays sharp for quite long, easy to sharpen otherwise. drat good stuff.
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Jun 11, 2015 21:57
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