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Can't believe I haven't found this thread until now! We moved near the Adirondacks (south of Plattsburgh) at the end of October, and we have been thoroughly enjoying the hiking here. I'll post some of our better photos in a bit. My main pack is a heavy canyoneering bag, which worked great for winter hiking; it was durable enough take abuse from crampons / snowshoes without tearing. But for summer day hikes, it has been way too large and heavy. So for fun, I sewed myself an ultralight bag. It's definitely an ugly duckling, but works pretty well and is (remarkably) rather comfortable. It weighs in at 7.5oz empty, and can hold ~45 liters and probably 15-20lbs. The black material is 200d polyurethane coated Oxford Cordura, the blue is 70d silnylon. Shoulder straps are cordura + foam mesh. Theoretically it should have been waterproof, but I got lazy and made a drawstring closure, so there is a giant gaping hole in the top preventing any semblance of waterproofing        Definitely some problems that I'll need to fix on the next model: I simply made it too large for a daypack and poor placed compression straps makes it awkward when not fully filled (doesn't cinch down tightly enough). It could use an external pocket for keys/phone/etc, and the mesh pock opening is too large. And the shoulder straps are a bit too long, there isn't much adjustment possible. All in all though, I'm fairly pleased with my first major sewing project. It even survived it's first hike with only minimal problems (one seam needs to be re-sewn, I can see it starting to unravel)
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Aug 4, 2015 16:48
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Canadian Rockies are so pretty and so wet and lush...I love the time I've spent in the Sierra but they're definitely a much dryer climate in many ways. On the other hand it can be a bit funny to think of it as a dry climate when you're at a place like Ottoway Lakes like i posted earlier cuz there are a bunch of streams and drainages from the lakes as you hike up there so you're crossing them a lot and the terrain has kind of created multiple stream flows as well. But if you're not next to a stream or lake then it's pretty much dry as gently caress. They might also be higher than the Banff area? Once you start getting over 9k feet into the Alpine zone then it's pretty tough to have a lush environment and there's a lot of the Sierra over that altitude. Annd yeah, highest peak in Banff is supposedly 11,580 feet, which you can easily find below passes in the Sierra
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Aug 4, 2015 17:41
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Hi Friends, My name is Drew and next week I will be taking my first proper backpacking trip. One of my friends just got out of the Marines, and thought it would be a good idea to get the high school gang back together for a trip. We graduated in '09 and usually do one or two things a year, so this is this summer's Hoo-Rah. I'm wondering if anyone has hiked through "The Bob" or the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area. That is where we are going and planning to do ~80 miles in 5 days. We are leaving on Sunday and I am a big unsure about where to start with my packing efforts. First thing's first I need a pack, so I'll probably head to REI or Midwest Mountaineering for that. He says 75 liter should be good for our uses. I also need a compression sack. And food. No questions, just wanted to share that with you all. Going to read through this read to pick up some tips from the experts. I will post pack with pictures!
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Aug 4, 2015 19:30
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Take lots of photos and show us when you get back 
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Aug 4, 2015 20:11
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80 miles in 5 days through the Bobs as a first trip huh? Yeah, please tell us all about that when you're done
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Aug 4, 2015 20:18
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db franco posted:Hi Friends, here's a basic list you will need a pack, shelter and sleeping system (tent, pad, and bag or hammock and quilts), food, water treatment, clothes, and rain gear, camera. if you're using your phone a battery to charge it off of for the group: first aid kit, stove (may want multiple if its a big group), fuel, i'm probably forgetting somethings
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Aug 4, 2015 20:46
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That pace sounds miserable to me personally, but good luck and have fun.
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Aug 4, 2015 20:49
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Has anybody used a pad and an army blanket for their sleep set up? If so, how cold can it get before that's not a good idea.
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Aug 4, 2015 20:57
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I want to replace my hammock suspension with 7/64 whoopie slings to save weight and speed up setup. I was going to buy them but decided to make my own. Bought some Amsteel, watched some videos, and was delighted to discover how simple it was. It pains me to think of all the years working as a rigger I spend without this wonderful lightweight line. So, I have burned through about 100' in the last few days trying different splices and what not, and today I went out to buy some more. While at the store I bought a spool of 1.75mm Lash-It with the intention of making a tarp suspension kit from that.  Yeah, I'm going to need a smaller needle and maybe a magnifying visor to to work with this stuff. polyfractal posted:So for fun, I sewed myself an ultralight bag. That rules! I am very much getting into making my own gear. My place is now littered with can stoves and bits of line. I got my girlfriend to bring her old sewing machine to the house, now I just need to figure out how to run it. I really want to make myself a little mini gear hammock/pack cover/ground cloth:  And a pair of UL doors for my tarp  I have no idea what her machine can handle but I am itching to get sewing!
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Aug 4, 2015 21:17
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JAY ZERO SUM GAME posted:80 miles in 5 days through the Bobs as a first trip huh? 20 mi/day is an easy pace for a young athlete with 30 lbs of gear or less. It just means walking briskly for 10-12 hours, and hiking at night if you get delayed. Use music with headphones and enjoy the views. With 5 days you have about 8 extra hours to fix gear, deal with unexpected problems and maybe take an afternoon off to go fishing on the 3rd or 4th day.
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Aug 4, 2015 22:07
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That sounds loving horrible
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Aug 4, 2015 22:58
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20 miles per day is a great way to make it not fun, IMO. 10-12/day is much easier to keep up after day 2.
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Aug 4, 2015 23:02
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Some people love putting in mileage and some don't. I know lots of people say they get to see more stuff with a fast pace. That saidKeldoclock posted:20 mi/day is an easy pace for a young athlete with 30 lbs of gear or less. It just means walking briskly for 10-12 hours, and hiking at night if you get delayed. Use music with headphones and enjoy the views. With 5 days you have about 8 extra hours to fix gear, deal with unexpected problems and maybe take an afternoon off to go fishing on the 3rd or 4th day. 20 mi/day is not an easy pace if you're not an experienced backpacker who is comfortable with that pace. Carrying even 30 lbs of stuff for 20 miles for 5 days is pretty hard on your body and if you're not prepared for it you can feel pretty exhausted and miserable pretty quickly, and thta's assuming you've got your gear all in order so you don't have to worry about foot and knee/leg problems. And that's also not considering altitude and its effects. If you're coming from sea level and are starting out at 4k feet or so, maybe going up to 9k feet and back over a couple of days, it can be rough and make you feel much more fatigued than you normally would. That all said, it's not impossible either and for an adequately prepared person it could be a fun challenge if they're up for it. To db franco I'd just say, make sure you have a bailout plan if you have trouble with the mileage or other issues like injuries. Also if you make fires, first make sure they're allowed where you are, second dont make new fire rings, and third and most importantly, don't let it get out of control and make sure it's 100% completely and totally out when you're done. It's even possible for fires to spread underground with the right conditions so dump a poo poo ton of water on it and stir the ashes and make sure it's completely cold.
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Aug 4, 2015 23:15
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Keldoclock posted:20 mi/day is an easy pace for a young athlete with 30 lbs of gear or less. It just means walking briskly for 10-12 hours, and hiking at night if you get delayed. Use music with headphones and enjoy the views. With 5 days you have about 8 extra hours to fix gear, deal with unexpected problems and maybe take an afternoon off to go fishing on the 3rd or 4th day. lol
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Aug 4, 2015 23:21
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Levitate posted:To db franco I'd just say, make sure you have a bailout plan if you have trouble with the mileage or other issues like injuries. Especially this, the Bob is pretty remote. I'd really suggest reconsidering the length of your trip or the number of days, hiking in the Montana Rockies can be **special**.
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Aug 4, 2015 23:37
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It could be worse. He could be trying to hike across America while pushing a stroller or something, then trying to survive off raisins before collapsing 30 miles in. 80 miles in 5 days with a heavy pack will be rough, but certainly doable.
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Aug 5, 2015 00:17
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bunnielab posted:So, I have burned through about 100' in the last few days trying different splices and what not, and today I went out to buy some more. While at the store I bought a spool of 1.75mm Lash-It with the intention of making a tarp suspension kit from that. Splicing is a lot of fun - once you get used to working with zing-it/lash-it (or braided mason line) size, going back to Amsteel is like driving a train through a tunnel. For a splicing tool, I've had pretty good luck stripping some small-ish gague copper wire (leave some un-stripped at the end), folding it in half, and wrapping the ends together in a little loop to use as a sort of handle to pull it back out of your splice/bury. You don't need nearly as much bury length either with the thinner line, so it's a little easier that way too. Eventually your working end will just break from over-bending, but it'll last a good while.
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Aug 5, 2015 00:35
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A Kpro posted:It could be worse. He could be trying to hike across America while pushing a stroller or something, then trying to survive off raisins before collapsing 30 miles in. Does anyone have a link to that
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Aug 5, 2015 00:50
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db franco posted:Hi Friends, I dunno man, I'd personally do like half distance for your first real backpacking trip. At the very least take a rescue beacon in case you roll your foot 40 or so miles away from civilization.
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Aug 5, 2015 01:28
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Nitrousoxide posted:I dunno man, I'd personally do like half distance for your first real backpacking trip. yeah if you can swing it buy a PLB (personal location beacon) and register it before your trip. Then if you get into some poo poo and can't see a way to safely get back out of the back country, set that off and sit tight on that place for search and rescue. At least with two people there's always the possibility of one person going for help, but again it helps to have a bailout plan and know if you can exit out a different, closer trailhead that might have a ranger station then you can get help rather than backtrack the whole way
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Aug 5, 2015 01:37
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Levitate posted:Does anyone have a link to that http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3714480&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1 Instant classic. Thanks everyone for the recommendations on keeping desserts fresh, I'll keep them in mind.
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Aug 5, 2015 01:45
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bunnielab posted:That rules! I am very much getting into making my own gear. My place is now littered with can stoves and bits of line. I got my girlfriend to bring her old sewing machine to the house, now I just need to figure out how to run it. Thanks! I bet those would be great first projects...definitely what I should have started with in retrospect. A single-person tarp tent is next on my to-do list, which should (hopefully!) be a lot easier.I used my fiancee's little, beginner sewing machine and it worked like a champ. All I really needed was straight stitches and zigzag of various sizes (narrow for bartacks, wider for protecting edges or for stretchy bits), and the cloth was light, so the little cheapo machine worked great. I think you only need "good" machines if you are working with heavy material like denim or canvas, or need fancy stitches.
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Aug 5, 2015 01:49
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dedian posted:Splicing is a lot of fun - once you get used to working with zing-it/lash-it (or braided mason line) size, going back to Amsteel is like driving a train through a tunnel. For a splicing tool, I've had pretty good luck stripping some small-ish gague copper wire (leave some un-stripped at the end), folding it in half, and wrapping the ends together in a little loop to use as a sort of handle to pull it back out of your splice/bury. You don't need nearly as much bury length either with the thinner line, so it's a little easier that way too. Eventually your working end will just break from over-bending, but it'll last a good while. Mason line huh?  Not too bad, but I wasn't able to properly taper it, I just sliced until I could pull strands out and nothing is very tight and centered. I found some floral wire and that worked great to do the burys and I found a splicing needle in my old "weed junk" box. Had to clean some resin off of it, but it works like a champ. In any case, I wonder if the mason line will make a good prussic to grab the Lash-It tarp line? I don't know how strong it will be but it might grab better then Lash-it on Lash-It. polyfractal posted:Thanks! I bet those would be great first projects...definitely what I should have started with in retrospect. That's good to hear, I don't need anything really heavy but want to reinforce the corners of the mini hammock with some webbing. Smoove J posted:http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3714480&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1 I actually like that idea for some of the canal hikes I do. Fishing with a pack on sucks, constantly having to move the pack while working the bank sucks, and hand carrying more than one rod sucks. A jogging stroller with some rod holders added would be perfect. EDIT: Oh god I can't stop splicing. 
bongwizzard fucked around with this message at 02:53 on Aug 5, 2015 |
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Aug 5, 2015 02:20
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Levitate posted:Canadian Rockies are so pretty and so wet and lush...I love the time I've spent in the Sierra but they're definitely a much dryer climate in many ways. On the other hand it can be a bit funny to think of it as a dry climate when you're at a place like Ottoway Lakes like i posted earlier cuz there are a bunch of streams and drainages from the lakes as you hike up there so you're crossing them a lot and the terrain has kind of created multiple stream flows as well. But if you're not next to a stream or lake then it's pretty much dry as gently caress. They might also be higher than the Banff area? Once you start getting over 9k feet into the Alpine zone then it's pretty tough to have a lush environment and there's a lot of the Sierra over that altitude. It kind of depends where in the Rockies you go. Around the really tall peaks you get orographic weather formation, and on their western slopes you can find patches of inland isolated rainforest. On the eastern slopes it's quite dry, mostly barren lodgepole pine forest. Not arid or semi-arid by any means, although up in parts of Jasper there are sand dunes! Banff's treeline also starts at 7500' because of our latitude so there is a lot of above treeline hiking easily accessible, although most of the popular areas stick to the bottoms of valleys where it's safe and easy to maintain. Our geography is actually really cool, varied, and awesome, and I love it all. Here's an example of an eastern slope peak, Mt. Alderson. The summit is only 8800'.  And this is in Banff National Park, actually. Dolomite Pass. One of my favourite places to visit. The stripey ground below is only 8200'.  And then, I took this picture 17 miles southwest of that spot (as the crow flies) and it's only 5000' in elevation, underneath some massive glaciated peaks that end up dumping large amounts of rain. So it grows what's called inland Columbain rainforest.  I guess I just felt like nerding out about geography, because I love this poo poo a lot and it's why I got that for my minor. 
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Aug 5, 2015 03:37
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Levitate posted:Does anyone have a link to that  (j/k he meant the silly goon)
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Aug 5, 2015 04:07
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bunnielab posted:Oh god I can't stop splicing. Honestly I wouldn't bother with mason line. I have two prussics as drip lines (it's pretty absorbent it does a good job for that) but it's really fiddly to work with. It's not too much smaller than lash-it/zing-it, but isn't as nice to work with. I practiced with it while I was waiting for my zing-it to show up. It'd hold better in a prussic on lash-it (smaller diameter on to larger), but has much less strength, stretches, and is absorbent. Just allow more room on your prussic loop of lash-it for an extra wind and you'll be fine Having perfect tapers aren't as important in thinner line either, as long as you're treating them as "non-load bearing" (don't make lash-it whoopie slings, it's just not worth the weight  )
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Aug 5, 2015 04:38
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dedian posted:Honestly I wouldn't bother with mason line. I have two prussics as drip lines (it's pretty absorbent it does a good job for that) but it's really fiddly to work with. It's not too much smaller than lash-it/zing-it, but isn't as nice to work with. I practiced with it while I was waiting for my zing-it to show up. It'd hold better in a prussic on lash-it (smaller diameter on to larger), but has much less strength, stretches, and is absorbent. Just allow more room on your prussic loop of lash-it for an extra wind and you'll be fine Yea, I did the first loop as a joke because you mentioned it and I have a roll of mason line in my big box of cordage. Then I attached it to the leatherman to see how well it would hold with just a bury. It holds about as hard as I can pull with the loop around my foot. I bought a small length of red Zing-It to use for the tarp prussics, the internet seems to think it will hold better then Lash-It on Lash-It. I am excited to see how much weight I can shave off. The whoopies weigh about 2.4oz, I think the stock Hennessy cords must be about twice that if not more. The Lash-It tarp ridgeline will weigh almost nothing, the 180' spool only weighs 3.6oz and that is with the cardboard core. The stock tarp weighs 10oz and while it seems to protect the hammock pretty well, it doesn't afford any room to move, dress, or cook under. I have it set up in the yard to wait for a decent thunderstorm to get a real sense but even the quick storm tonight showed me that it is more or less impossible to get under the tarp, get a rain coat and shoes off, and get into the hammock without getting my rear end soaked out in the rain.
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Aug 5, 2015 05:42
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T. J. Eckleburg posted:So I just moved to Seattle and I want to go backpacking. Where should I go? For weekend loops, you have a lot of choices from FR 49 off the Mountain Loop Highway or FR 63 off HIghway 2. There are a lot of connecting trails in the Henry M Jackson/Glacier Peak Wilderness area so you can hike as much or as little as you'd like. If you're OK with a longer drive, the Pasayten Wilderness or the Teanaway area are good bets. If you're OK with a really long drive, go to Goat Rocks or the eastern side of Mt. St. Helens. Some of these areas require permits but they should be far easier to obtain than the Enchantments or the Wonderland trail.
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Aug 5, 2015 07:31
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Smoove J posted:http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3714480&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1
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Aug 5, 2015 16:04
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Smoove J posted:http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3714480&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1 My wife asked me to leave the bed last night I was cry laugh cackling so hard that she thought I was going insane.
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Aug 5, 2015 16:08
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That to me was the best thread of the year.
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Aug 5, 2015 17:14
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I stopped reading back when the OP stopped responding. Did anyone keep following it? What was the tldr?
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Aug 5, 2015 17:24
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Saint Fu posted:I stopped reading back when the OP stopped responding. Did anyone keep following it? What was the tldr? His cart broke on the first day, he hiked another day and a half after that, spent a "rest day" at a ranger station and then a passerby called him an Uber home. He didn't make it out of the park he started in.
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Aug 5, 2015 17:31
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he was going to push a cart used to pull children behind bicycles down a trail across the United States, carrying ~60 pounds of water, and pining for Denny's the entire way
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Aug 5, 2015 17:36
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good lord I'm cringing at that entire thing and I haven't even gotten to the part where he starts hiking
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Aug 5, 2015 18:59
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Saint Fu posted:I stopped reading back when the OP stopped responding. Did anyone keep following it? What was the tldr? http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3714480&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=24 This page onwards gives a reader his journal entries, some cart photos (before/after the 6 mile mark), facebook updates. It's just a great thread, all around.
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Aug 5, 2015 20:07
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Enhydra lutris posted:His Corpse will be an Unexpected Boon to the Desert Animals; the Desert is inhospitable in the Summer Time; Food is hard to come by; the Flesh will nourish a Coyote or other Scavenger of Carrion; this is a good thing; it is the Natural Cycle.
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Aug 5, 2015 20:16
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Wanna get this embroidered on my pack.
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Aug 5, 2015 21:29
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Levitate posted:yeah if you can swing it buy a PLB (personal location beacon) and register it before your trip. Then if you get into some poo poo and can't see a way to safely get back out of the back country, set that off and sit tight on that place for search and rescue. At least with two people there's always the possibility of one person going for help, but again it helps to have a bailout plan and know if you can exit out a different, closer trailhead that might have a ranger station then you can get help rather than backtrack the whole way The brand I use is called 'SPOT'. Easy to use, just push a button. Set it up first before you leave. You can have it inform your family if its a true emergency (fell and have a stick in your ribs) or non-emergency (flat tire, send help). It has a yearly membership fee.....think its $100 or so....maybe less.
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Aug 5, 2015 23:16
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RazNation posted:The brand I use is called 'SPOT'. Easy to use, just push a button. Some folks on here don't like SPOT. I love mine. Then again, I like using it for more than just "Push a button, come save my life" functionality.
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Aug 5, 2015 23:35
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