Michaux March 2024
December 8, 2024 § 1 Comment
This will not be the post I thought it would be, because this was not the trip into the woods that I thought it would be. It certainly started out like the trip I thought it would be, and for the most part Friday night was almost a repeat of any Friday night spent in the woods with friends. As it so happened the only friends in the woods with me that night were my Brother-in-law Walt, and my friend Dan, as no one else was able to make it out on this weekend. The reason for this early outing was that Walt was being honored as an Outstanding Alumni by the College of Engineering at Penn State, and he proposed that we do a weekend in Michaux prior to his “Big Day”, and since I was planning on going up early anyway, I was automatically a “Yes”. I have rarely observed any camping request in which Dan was an automatic, however that was where it ended. For awhile that is. It seems Walt chose an old email thread that was devoid of a few key members of our clan, and since, like most people probably, no one actually looked at the list of recipients to see who was there and who wasn’t.
« Read the rest of this entry »Zion 2024 – Segment 3
November 17, 2024 § Leave a comment
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This post will over the last 2 days of our Transverse of the Zion Wilderness. If you have been following along, you will know that we are camped on the East side of West Rim mesa/plateau at what is probably one of the best sites in all the National Parks. It is Jed, Paul, Jim and myself, minus Mike who is hanging out in Vegas, we awake early, around 6:30 to get up and see what the sunrise brings us this day. We are in Mountain Time, on the West edge of that timezone, so Sunrise is about 7:21 with first light appearing at least 30 minutes prior. When I emerged from my tent there was the hint of a glow on the Eastern horizon. I grabbed my chair and moved down to the trail junction where we had a clear view. Unfortunately the sky was clear which meant that there would not be any colored clouds, and it would just be a clear sunrise. Anyone who chases Sunrises or Sundowns knows that the best versions involve clouds. We ventured from our viewing site looking for other opportunities I believe Jim got a Raven to pose for him a wee bit down The Grotto trail.
« Read the rest of this entry »Zion 2024 – Segment 2
November 10, 2024 § Leave a comment
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The second segment of our Zion traverse includes what I have called Death March 1, and Death March 2 based on how I felt at the end of each of those two days, which was exhausted. Just to be clear, this is not like a Solzhenitsyn march where you know from the start what kind of day it will be, but rather each day began just like any other day when you backpack and have to move camp pretty far along the trail. Don’t sleep in; Pack your sleeping bag, and deflate and stow your air pad before you exit the tent; Breakfast on oatmeal, and coffee drinks, water up, and pack the rest of the things; Groan while raise the potential energy of the pack, and start walking, a smile on your face, and nothing but happy “What will today bring?” expectations ahead.
We compared “steps” at the end of each day, where Jed and Jim were scoring around 3-4 thousand more steps than me, who marks out a fairly decent stride. More, when I go up hill. The two “Death March” days were 24,951 and 28,985 steps, and I still backpack in fairly traditional leather boots made by Zamberland (“Zambies”) that weigh in around 4 pounds so 2 pounds per foot. Jed and Jim wear something more like trail shoes that are a lot lighter. Mike is also more traditional, and I can’t remember what Paul was wearing. I think you see where I am going here. Each step moves that 2lb boot further along the trail, and as they add up, fatigue starts to set in, so that by the end of the day, you just want to get those damned heavy-assed boots off your feet and let those feetsies recover.
« Read the rest of this entry »Zion 2024 – It isn’t 2011
November 3, 2024 § Leave a comment
The last time I went to Zion National Park was to do the Trans Zion Trek. Not the entire trek, as few people ever do the Eastern portion. It was one year after I joined my Brother-in-law Walt E for a 4 day Grand Canyon adventure that I joined him and his friends in Zion for a truly wonderful 4 days in early May 2011. I didn’t own a digital camera then, and I recall borrowing one from Ed who, for some reason, brought 2. In those days you applied directly with the park staff for permits, and the permit process was pretty simple. You submitted a request with your dates, group size, and preferred campsites as most of Zion had fixed campsites and only 1 at-large area. I think the queue was FCFS, and if the sites were available, then you got your first pick, if they weren’t, then they’d suggest alternatives, and give you a day to respond.
Today it is a wee bit different. First of all, almost everything in Zion requires a permit now, especially the famous Angel’s Landing. A certain number of sites were opened to long term planning back in March, which is when I would have had to apply to get both the back country permits as well as an Angel’s Landing permit, but I didn’t get the date straight (again) and was left with the second option which was to be ready at 2AM Mountain Time on September 5th to see if I could get a permit for up to 12. I was staying in Bend, OR with D2 and her husband Will, and you may recall my adventures in the Three Sisters the previous weekend, so I was an hour behind, and I set an alarm for 12:50 am.
« Read the rest of this entry »Friday Does Me In Again
May 27, 2024 § Leave a comment
I would like to add a new additional definition for the word “Knucklehead”:
knucklehead /ˈnʌkəlˌhɛd/ noun
Any person (usually male) who, without any real knowledge of the actual route, thinks they can bushwhack from Cornell to Friday in the Catskills with a full backpack.
First let me say that I am glad it was just Jed and me. There are actually multiple reasons for this gladness, but the main one, is that at just the two of us, we could agree easily and though there was a lot of “suck” to embrace, the rewards were enough for us to walk away saying, “Though we failed in our plan, we still had a good time!”.
« Read the rest of this entry »The Perfect Weekend
November 7, 2023 § 1 Comment
We returned to an area of West Virginia where I believe the first backpacking trip that I drove down to meet what would later become known as “The Virginia Crew” finished up. Then, it was a point to point that finished just off the Tuscarora Trail near Rt 48 between Strassburg and Wardensville, and now it was an in and out back up into Racer Hollow out of The Wilson Cove Wildlife Management Area. We picked this weekend, basically, because I didn’t give but 2 possible weekends for me to participate, and as it so happened, turned out to be the weekend after Walt’s final day at Iridium, bound for his post-work-life as a retiree.
Anyone reading this that lives in the Northeast knows that it has basically been one fucking shitty assed Autumn that has had weekend after weekend ruined by at least 1 day of solid rainfall. This NYT article spells out the doom in NY self-picking apple orchards that rely heavily on Autumn weekenders getting out there to pick apples, so I think it is safe to say that we all harbored great expectations of a fine weekend for this excursion. As soon as one could pull a long term posit, it was looking good, and unlike all my other long term looks, this forecast actually improved every day it got closer. At some point I realized that temperature wise, it wasn’t going to be any different this weekend than it was my entire week above 10,000′ this past August in Utah. So, with that great news, I put away my 0 degree bag, and packed my 35 bag with a liner and not only committed to my 45 liter Lite AF pack, but I did not even pack rain gear. No Pack cover, no tarp, no rain jacket, and no rain kilt. I, and a few others it turns out, went all in on the forecast.
« Read the rest of this entry »Minnewaska Loop-do-Loop
August 9, 2023 § Leave a comment
As I begin to add some hiking miles to my legs for my upcoming High Uintas Wilderness backpacking trip, my trusty hiking friend Jed proposed a loop in Minnewaska State Park. For those in ignorance this is a beautiful NY State Park just west of New Paltz, and is home to “The Gunks” aka The Shawangunk Mountains. An incredible natural beauty rich in Geology, and fortunately protected many moons in the past by the Mohonk Preserve and the Mohonk Mountain House. What keeps the park going, financially, is that it is very difficult to avoid a paid parking spot as most of the access is paid, and the street parking has been eliminated. There is something for everyone here. If easy is what you want, then the miles of Carriage Trails are for you. In the Summer months they’re also pretty sunny, but in the Winter months they’re groomed for some of the best cross-country skiing on the East Coast. In addition the Carriage Trails are open to cyclists, where a gravel bike works best, and a road bike with at least 28’s would work, and finally is easy for a Mountain Bike, but whatever your choice of transport is, miles and miles of Carriage Trails provide for a great day in the saddle. Scattered around are the various “Footpaths” that allow for and produce a much different hiking experience.
« Read the rest of this entry »Weminuche 2022
August 20, 2022 § 2 Comments
This is going to be a very short post. I promise.
If you follow my writings then you know that I just finished writing up my adventure from 2021 a few weeks ago. These long multi-day trips become a chore to sit down and compose sometimes, and I don’t want it to seem like I drone on and on about the same old drivel. So I got distracted and didn’t finish documenting last years trip, and then time kept marching forward, as it always does (tick tock), and before I knew it, other adventures had come and gone, and been written up as well. It wasn’t until I rode the Rockies again in June, that I came to realize I needed to finish the 2021 write-up before I began 2022!
So, what is going on in 2022? Well, let’s begin with who is going. There were four people who wanted to go last year, two of whom actually had monies invested in the trip when shit happened. The other two, father and son, had family obligations that kept them away, and so on the second day of our trip last year, amidst the beauty of the San Juans, I decided then and there to come back this year. I wasn’t going to do the exact same trip, but I would plan a new trip and anyone who wanted to join was welcome.
For a while, I had the interest of a couple of campers who came last year, but other things got in the way, and they backed out. So, it is five of us. A pretty nice compact little group. We have Larry and his son Drew, myself and my daughter Alyson, and my friend Mike. Everyone has spent time with me in the back country before, though this is the first time that my daughter has been able to join us again since the Grand Canyon in 2012.
That is the base. I have been in contact with some others that could join us, but as of this writing, I am not sure we will have anyone else just yet. You might be thinking “If they were going to join you why wouldn’t you know that, and since you are in Durango, wouldn’t they have had to make arrangements already?” and you would be right for most people, but the extras I refer to all live in Durango. We shall see what we shall see.
What are we doing? Last year we took the Durango Silverton Diesel to Elk Creek and then backpacked an inverted “C” from West to East to South To West and eventually came out at the “other” stop on the train. So train in, train out. This year we are going to start at Pine River Trail Head, further East and South of our adventure last year, and hike North East for a couple of day, then turning North West to intersect the Continental Divide Trail, which we follow to the Vallecito. If you read last years trip details, then the Vallecito will be familiar, and we will basically then follow the route from last year. The only difference from last year will be instead of a two day Columbine effort, we will do it in one day.
Now, again, if you read last years account, it should be obvious by now that decisions are made on the trail, and last year we made more than a few. I am sure the same will happen here as well. It all depends on how people feel, however we have distance that has to be covered, so there isn’t a lot of room to do less in a day while there is a lot of room to do more. So let’s leave it at that.
We depart into the wilderness next Friday. I am going out tomorrow, and people are joining starting Sunday. There are things to do still to prep, and I will be working still as well. I am not sure at this point if I will post anything more until I return, but …
Weminuche Wilderness 2021 – Day 8 Goodbye Weminuche Wilderness
July 30, 2022 § Leave a comment
Let’s see if this can be a short write-up. Ha!
We awoke with maybe a half a mile to walk to get to the train. The ETA for said train was somewhere around 10:30 in the am, so with all that in consideration, we didn’t feel any sense of urgency, and that showed in just how slow we were moving that morning. There wasn’t really all that much to do. Breaking down camp doesn’t take long. I recall we had enough left over wood that we had a morning fire. Just enough of a blaze to take the chill out of the air when you needed it. Our seats were all right where we left them the night before, so why not simply light it up, turn up the seats, and chill around the fire drinking coffee drinks and eating our last bits of oatmeal?
« Read the rest of this entry »Weminuche Wilderness 2021 – Day 6 Wyndom
July 26, 2022 § 1 Comment
When I started planning out this adventure, I allocated two full days in the Chicago Basin for two days of 14er attempts. Even more ambitious was the thought that in those two days, we would bag 4 peaks over 14K! Ha! So naive!
Before going to bed we all agreed that we would NOT be targeting a 4:30am wake-up, but we did agree that we would arise at first light and make a go of it, conceding before we even started, that if we made the summit of 1 14er, then that was accomplishment enough for the day. We also decided that based on the descriptions of all the climbs that were possible, that Wyndom would be our goal.
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Big Bird's Adventures 