Last Thursday, Craig & I set off to hike the Foothills Trail. We had a small window of time to complete the hike, and as daunting as hiking 77 miles in about 2.5 days is, we decided to give it a go anyway. In the end, we only ended up hiking about 48 miles of the actual Foothills Trail, plus the 5 mile Cane Brake trail which lead to the Frozen Lake parking area. From here, we caught a ride back to our car…

First off, I want to give a huge thanks to Jeremy, AKA: Fire In My Bones. He was kind enough to give us a place to stay for the night, as well as help us stage our car, give us a ride to the opposite end of the trail, equip us with tons of useful trail info, and even hike with us for about an hour in. It was great getting to meet a new trail buddy, not to mention, helping us out like he did. Thank you Jeremy!

So, once it was all said and done, we started hiking from the Oconee side on Thursday morning around 10 am. It was a bright, sun-shiny day, despite the weather channels forecast of “overcast.” Although, they did get it pretty close with the temps, which was the mid 80′s… it was a bit warm, even at 10 in the morning.

Anyway, the first day we had planned to do ~ 26.5 miles, finishing up in the Round Mountain area. We hiked during the day, and actually made good time, however, once we came to the Chattooga River, I will admit, my pace slowed a little. The trail along the river was beautiful, and unlike any hiking I had done before. The Chattooga was a large river which the trail followed for a few miles, and of course, there were random campsites along the trail that just looked perfect… especially under the bright, sunny skies… The day was hot, and the river looked like the perfect place to cool down… did I mention the camp sites along the way?  :)

I took the lead once Jeremy turned back, and as the day spanned out, Craig and I had been hiking a bit apart (as we usually do). As I was hiking along, I fell into my typical dilemma… I began thinking about the family, and started missing them. Then on top of that, I got to thinking about all the miles we still had in front of us. It was a bit overwhelming, which also made those already overly attractive campsites look better. To be honest, I started thinking “Why didn’t I say, let’s do a shorter hike? This is a beautiful area, and I would probably be happier enjoying this area, rather than pushing so hard just to make miles…”

After a bit of thought, I made mention to Craig that I may not have it in me to do so many miles, however, after some discussion, we decided to press on and try to stick with our plan. Of course, with our car already staged at the other end of the trail, and no other ride planned, it made the decision easier.

As the last bit of light was fading from the sky, we came to Sloan Bridge, which was about 5 miles from where we needed to be for the night. Considering the picnic tables, and the water source, we decided to go ahead and cook or dinner there, then to push on night hiking the rest of the way.

After dinner, we hiked on for about another 1.5 hours. At 10:45 pm we came to the top of a mountain, which I assumed was the Round Mountain area, and found a campsite. We walked around the site for a bit, but I couldn’t find a spot that I liked well enough to sleep on, so we decided to go on a bit father. However, the trail quickly started going down hill, so I decided I would make do with the campsite rather than go on for who know’s how much farther…

I set up my tarp and bivy while Craig hung his hammock in the trees. After throwing a bear line, we climbed in our quarters and quickly dozed off.

The next morning, we started hiking at 6:40. It was a little later than planned, but not too bad, although, with a 32 mile day in front of us, we needed every bit of light we could get. Then, about 15 minutes down the trail, we found the area that we thought we were in the night before… haha… good stuff…

As we hiked along, we were both able to tell that we had hiked almost 26 miles the day before. Craig had a huge blister on the back of one of his feet and a swollen knee to go along with it. I had a small blister on the ball of my right foot, thankfully though, it was not hurting that bad. We both had some bit of chaff going on, and as the day progressed, Craig started feeling bad. His stomach was feeling tore up, and he had not had much sleep the few nights before, which made him just feel worse.

We made decent miles at the beginning of the day, but as the day progressed, Craig’s pace slowed down considerably. By the time I reached Thompson River, I did the math and realized that we were well behind schedule. I filled my water bottles back up and waited on Craig to arrive. Once he arrived, we talked about our progress so far, and decided that we needed a new plan.

We decided that we would hike to Toxoway for the night, and then take the spur trail (Cane Brake trail) to the Frozen Lake parking area the next morning. From there we would call one of the listed shuttle’s (on the Foothills Trail site) for a ride back to our car at Table Rock SP.

So, we pushed on the rest of the day. Along the way we followed the Whitewater River for a while, which was also a beautiful stretch of trail. (Although, I will admit, I liked the Chattooga River area better.) We crossed over a number of bridges that carried us over small streams, and some of those even had some very nice, tall, waterfalls above them. We crossed over the large bridge at Horsepasture River, but not before first resting on a huge rock that jutted out into the river. The day was beautiful, again, despite the weather forecast of 30% chance of isolated thunder storms…

As the daylight was again fading from the sky, we found ourself not quite to camp yet. We were about 2.5 miles above Cane Brake access point when we realized that Craig had signal on his phone. It was at this point that we called a lady named Nancy about getting a lift from the parking area back to our car. Thankfully, she was able to give us a ride, so we agreed to meet around 11:30 the next afternoon.

From this point, Craig and I both hobbled our way down the steep descent towards Cane Brake, and then the remaining 0.7 miles to Toxoway. It is here that the largest suspension bridge on the trail is, and it truly was an exciting experience. The bridge swayed this way and that with each step… it was exciting… however, knowing that our destination for the day was on the other side of the bridge probably made it seem just a bit more exciting!

There are 6 “designated” camping area’s at Toxaway. We came to the first one and pulled our packs off. While cooking I again looked for a good spot to set up my home for the night. And again, I didn’t really find anything that was pleasing. However, with our gear already all laid out, our food going, and the clear sky, I decided to take the one spot I knew I shouldn’t…

It’s that area that anyone using a tarp should know better than to take. That super flat, dirt spot that looks perfect… At first I didn’t want it because of all the sand and dirt… in the end I didn’t want it because it will hold approximately 1 inch of water!

Around 3 am, the rain came… by 3:30 am, I was trying my best to stoop on 1 leg to change out of my sleeping clothes and back into my hiking clothes, without falling over into the puddle my gear was no laid out in. Thankfully, my bivy did a good enough job at keeping most of the water out in order for me to quickly, and very ungracefully like, throw my now wet gear inside my pack. I finally got it all packed up and set my pack on the picnic table with my cloudkilt laying over it to protect it some. I then set a large rock in the puddle under my tarp so I could sit on it rather than in the water to wait out the rain.

Soaked and sleepy, I was now ready for the hike to be done. Around 4 am I walked to Craig’s tarp and set under it for a bit. He soon woke up and we talked about how my sleeping area turned into a swimming hole… Did I mention he was hanging dry and warm? I must say, Craig’s hammock and tarp looked like one of the best things I had ever seen at 4 am that morning…

We hiked out of Toxaway around 6:10 am. Then, just 5 miles “down” Cane Brake trail we would catch our ride. We weren’t sure how the trail conditions would be since it didn’t really say much about it in the guide-book. However, the sign at the trail head notified us that it was 5 miles of “strenuous” hiking.

I can’t say I agree with that description of the trail, however, since a majority of it was uphill, I figure they had to give that description. However, it was along an old logging road the entire way, which really did seem to make it that much easier. But, for us, the rain continued on… It took us about 2 hours and 45 minutes to hike to the parking area, and it rained on us for at least 2 hours and 30 minutes of the hike out…

So, this hike did not go as we planned when we started, and I even had what I would now say was my “worst” night out. However, I gotta admit, I still enjoyed the entire hike. And yeah, now looking back, even when I was trying to balance over the standing water under my tarp at 3:30 am, while changing clothes and batting away flying insects from my headlamp while my gear floated away all at the same time… it was still great. Fact is, my gear, clothes, and even myself, dried out in due time. And I have learned something from all of this (even though I knew better to begin with). The blister is healing, and my knee is just fine now. Not to mention, I got to hang out with one of my buddies, meet a new buddy, see some beautiful trail, and still log 53 miles in just under 2 days!

Thanks for stopping by everyone!

~Stick~

Next week, my buddy Craig & I will be attempting to hike the 77 mile long Foothills Trail from one end to the other, in 2 nights & 3 days.

“The Foothills Trail is located along the Blue Ridge Escarpment in Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina. The landscape is diverse, ranging from high rocky outcrops with views to the distant horizon, to quiet forests in deep valleys carved by bold mountain streams. Elevations along the trail range from 1,120 feet at Table Rock State Park to 3,560 feet atop Sassafras Mountain.“

This will be the first time that I have stepped foot on this trail, however, Craig has hiked some small sections of it in the past. Looking at the weather forecast for Table Rock State Park, it looks like we will have cloudy, overcast days, with a possibility of rain, and temperatures between mid 60′s to mid 80′s. We have a couple of different itineraries planned (which will be decided as we are hiking along), however, none of them have us at high elevations for the night, so I am assuming temperatures near this, but have planned to be able to go a little lower if need be. And of course, we will continue to check the weather forecast until our departure gets a bit closer (since we all know that weather forecasts can change drastically from one day to the next)…

Being that this hike will primarily consist of more hours hiking (after all, it is 77 miles in 3 days) than time spent (awake) in camp, I have decided to forfeit some of my luxury items (such as my Kindle) and instead opted for a lighter (“ultralight” to be correct) pack weight, filled only with items I need. However, I did not skimp on items that will keep me comfortable, or safe. For those interested, HERE is my entire gear list on a Google Doc spreadsheet. For those that would just rather see some basic numbers, this is what those looks like:

• BPW: 6.68 lbs (106.8 oz)
• Big 3 Consumables: 7.93 lbs (126.81 oz)
• Multipack: 0.79 lbs (12.6 oz)
• Carried Items: 0.71 lbs (11.3 oz)
• Worn Items: 3.24 lbs (51.8 oz)

This gives me a total skin-out weight of 19.33 lbs, or 309.31 oz. Also worth noting is the way the weights listed above will be split up in different areas once I actually pack it all up. (Mainly, my food will be split up.) I have opted to carry the food I plan to eat each day while hiking inside my Multipack, rather than inside my pack with the rest of my food. This means the total weight of my pack cannot be figured simply by adding my BPW + the big 3 consumables. As well, my Multipack weight will be a bit more than what is listed above since some of my food will also be inside the Multipack. This is what the actual total weights (measured on my scale) look like at the beginning of my hike, with the food divided up…

• Total Pack Weight: 13.89 lbs (222.3 oz)
• Multipack Weight: 1.66 lbs (26.5 oz)

Of course, my carried weight (which consists of items such as my wallet, trekking poles, whistle & light) will remain the same (0.71 lbs/11.3 oz). As well, my worn items weight will also remain the same (3.24 lbs/51.8 oz).

Other than sorting through my gear, I have also been studying up on the trail and its conditions by visiting different internet sites, as well as watching other’s YouTube videos. Also, both Craig and I have spoken with others that have already hiked the trail. As well, I have both the map and the guide-book that I purchased from the FTC site (linked above), and have been looking them over. (On the trip though, I will be carrying the map, and Craig will be carrying the guide-book.)

As far as physical shape, I have been walking at my local park both on a paved trail, as well as a “cross-country” trail, just trying to get my knees (and my lungs) ready for the hike.

So, at this point, I feel like I am well prepared for the hike, and I’m looking forward to getting some trail time! Until then… thanks for stopping by!

~Stick~

I actually like this cook pot for a number of reasons. Being that it is short and squat (larger diameter), this cook pot does a great job at maximizing fuel efficiency. And of course being made from titanium, it is a rather durable cook pot. Last, but definitely not least, it has a large enough capacity so that I can boil all the water I need for both a meal and a hot drink at the same time! Some other nice features about this pot is that it does have handles which are capable of supporting the weight of a full pot, and it has graduated markings stamped into the side that does well to serve as a point-of-reference. As a bonus (for me), there is no lining inside the cook pot to scrape off over time or to add extra weight… it’s just plain old titanium baby! As far as weight is concerned, considering the feature-set of this pot, it is a respectable weight, although, I was still able to cut a nice chunk of weight from the cook pot…

So, the first thing I decided to do with this cook pot was to drop the heavy lid, which accounted for a whopping 1.1 oz of the total weight. (For those mathematicians, that is just over 25% of the total weight!) To replace it, I pulled out a scrap piece of titanium foil which I had purchased a while back and simply traced around the stock lid right onto the titanium foil. Then I simply cut it out (slowly) with a pair of household scissors, trying my best to keep a circle… Once I cut the lid out, I grabbed a hole punch and punched a single hole (for pressure relief) and then used a short strip of aluminum tape to make a pull tab on top.

Believe it or not, I managed to drop 0.8 oz from the weight of the lid simply by doing this! The newer (granted, less durable) lid comes in at only 0.3 oz, as compared to 1.1 oz for the stock lid. Now, the cook pot (still w/ handles) and the new lid comes in at a total weight of 3.2 oz as compared to 4 oz (still sans stuff sack). However, as I mentioned, this did come at a price. The new lid is less durable than the stock lid, and while I think that the new lid fits quite nicely (due to my fine scissor-cutting skills) the stock lid does have a more secure fit. To be fair though, I feel that this is because the stock lid does not flex like the ti foil lid. But, don’t count the ti foil lid as being weak. This lid is made from 0.005″ thick titanium foil, which is a thin piece of metal, but is surprisingly strong for its size. It does a great job at holding it’s shape, and doesn’t get all bent out of shape like aluminum foil does at the slightest touch. While this foil can suffer from bends, it will take a considerately larger amount of effort to do so.

The next thing I did to drop some weight was to change out the stuff sack that was supplied with the cook pot. To be fair, I cannot remember the exact weight of the stuff sack, but it was at least 0.7 oz, or maybe more. So, I decided to use my ZPacks cuben fiber stuff sack that is made specifically for the 0.9L Evernew cook pot. Luckily, I already had this on hand since I also have the same cook pot, but the lined version. I purchased the stuff sack for it a while back, but since the pots are the same size, it will work with either. The weight of the stuff sack is 0.1 oz, which is much lighter than the stock stuff sack, and brings the weight of the cook pot, lid and stuff sack to a total of 3.3 oz. Not to shabby in my opinion…

Once I had made these simple, easy changes, I decided to worry about the rest of the cook kit. I also happened to have a roll of hardware cloth, as well as some more of the tooling (aluminum) foil on hand, so I made a pot stand from the hardware cloth and a windscreen from the foil. The combined weight of both items (including a tyvek sleeve which I wrap the pot stand in) came to a total of 1.2 oz. And of course, I was sure to make these items so that they could all pack inside the cook pot. Easy, and done.

Next I dug through the overflowing box of stoves in my gear closet and tried a few of them. Of course they all worked, but to be honest, I had grown interested in the Starlyte alcohol stove which Zelph sells, and so I ordered one. (At only $14, it was an easy decision.) What drew me to this stove the most was that it did not need to be primed, unlike so many of my other alcohol stoves. However, this stove also offered a few other interesting features, namely that it came with a lid which can help contain any unused fuel (although, I am still leery about that) and that it is so compact.

Once the Starlyte stove arrived, I gave it a try, and was impressed. So, I started playing around with different amounts of water, as well as with different amounts of fuel. This of course made me start thinking about another piece of gear that I found interesting… the Sidewinder Caldera Cone for this cook pot… Needless to say, it didn’t take me long and I had also ordered the Sidewinder cone…

Once the cone arrived, I was like kid at Christmas. I filled up my Nalgene, grabbed the cook kit and my new cone, some fuel and took off outside! To be honest, I even forgot about weighing it before heading out to use it…

Since then, I have used it about 6 times (in the yard obviously), and each time it has worked beautifully. I am very happy with this set-up, and it will definitely be going with me later this month on my Foothills Trail thru hike.

Anyway, here is a video of me using the set-up this morning to boil water for coffee:

Also, here are the weights of the entire system:

• 0.9L Evernew “UL” Ti Cook Pot w/ DIY Ti Foil Lid: 3.2 oz
• ZPacks Cuben Fiber Stuff Sack: 0.1 oz
• Trail Designs Sidewinder Caldera Cone & Foil Ground Protector: 1.3 oz
• Zelph’s Starlyte Alcohol Stove w/ Lid: 0.6 oz
• Lightload Towel, Measuring Cup & Mini Bic: 0.6 oz

This is a total weight of 5.8 oz (although, when everything is set on my scale it will rock back and forth between 5.8 & 5.9 oz). As I said before, this is pretty lightweight, however, it is not the lightest. For example, I have an entire cook kit (counting spoon and cup) that comes in at only 2.9 oz, however, when comparing them, this cook kit is much more durable. Is it worth double the weight? Well…

As far as the Caldera Cones, I love them. As can be seen in the photo above (and below) these are beautiful pieces of kit. But, it doesn’t stop with just looking good, they also perform just as beautifully. They block wind better than any other windscreen I have made, functions as both the windscreen and the pot stand, and are simple to use. No real parts to break on these things, just slide the 2 ends together and done. Of course, depending on what sort of fuel is being used, a pair of stakes may have to be inserted through the cone, but this is simple as well. And oh yeah… being that it is made from titanium, it can withstand the heat from even a wood fire (which aluminum cannot). Also, being made from titanium, it will keep its shape, rather than fold up and crease like aluminum. And as a bonus, this entire cone will simply roll up and fit inside my cook pot, and still allow me to have room for everything else I have listed, and more if need be… Need I say more?

This is my second cone, my first one is for the 1.3L Evernew “UL” cook pot, and I love it just as much. And I gotta say, I also have the 600 ml “UL” Evernew cook pot, and can you guess what will very, very likely be in its future???

So, this is my newest cook kit, and as you may can tell, I am pretty excited about it. I know that I will be using this thing more and more in the next few weeks, and then as I said, on my next hike. Also, considering the entire feature-set, it has a lot of potential to becoming one of my go-to cooking kits…

Thanks for reading everyone!

~Stick~

Disclaimer: Other than the 0.9L Evernew “UL” cook pot, I paid for all items in this write-up with my own money. The cook pot was won in a drawing last year. I am not affiliated with any of the companies represented in this write-up, and am under no obligation to write about any of their products. I just like them enough to do so.

Photo courtesy of Keith Foskett

A couple of months ago I picked up the book “The Last Englishman” by Keith Foskett (Trail name: Fozzie). I actually downloaded it to my Kindle rather than buying the actual book. Then, after finishing up the book I was currently reading, I got started on “The Last Englishman” and having now finished it, have got to say that it was a very fun read for me. I fully enjoyed it from “cover-to-cover.”

I was attracted to the book for a few reasons. First off, over the last couple of months, I had come across Keith’s blog a couple of times. (I remember at one point he was giving away one of the famed Trail Designs Caldera Cones.) Another reason is because I had been reading a few other PCT thru hiking books, and had been growing more and more interested in the PCT… and it just so happens that this book is Fozzie’s PCT thru hike account. So why not?

Now I will admit, my reading style is not quite what it used to be. It used to be nothing for me to easily read a book like this in a day or 2, however, I have more things going now, so I usually read either a few pages, or a few chapters (depending on how sleepy I am) on occasional nights before laying down for bed. It took me about a month and a half to read this book, but each night as I was laying there reading it, I loved it. It was great and I found myself eager to press the “next page” button on my Kindle, wondering what was to come next! However, laying there in the dark, late and tired, sleep eventually won out… so I would eventually turn my headlamp off and lay my Kindle aside… until the next night.

I will also admit, on one occasion, I actually found myself dreaming about the stories that Fozzie had told about in his book. On a recent hike, laying in my tent, listening to the rain hit the canopy I was having a hard time falling asleep. This was a good thing since I was able to read more, but I knew that I needed to get some sleep. So, I decided to take a Tylenol PM… about 45 minutes later I was out, but in my dream, I was in 2 of the stories from Fozzie’s book… at one point, there was a bear involved, and at another point, I was in a torn to pieces tent in the middle of a rain storm… Let me just say that when I woke up… well, I wasn’t sure what the hell was going on! Haha…

Anyway, as I said, I really enjoyed reading about Fozzie’s adventure along the Pacific Crest Trail. In my opinion, he did a wonderful job at telling his story. The way he describes his hike allowed me to vividly imagine what was going on, and his surroundings… and once you read the book, you will see that a number of those scenes are a bit lively! As well, I really enjoyed the more typical “thru-hiking” aspect of the book. I quite enjoy reading books on peoples’ thru hikes, but I will also admit, some are much better than others. In my honest opinion, I thought Fozzie’s telling was one of the better ones that I have read.

So, I definitely recommend others to go and pick up his book and give it a read. Right now you can get it as a Kindle download for only $4.99 (which is what I paid for it). It looks like the actual books are out of stock for the moment, and I’m not sure if, or when, those will be back in stock. For those of you that prefer to have an actual book, you can pick that up here for $16. (I need to place an order for the book; despite the Kindle, I still love having an actual copy in hand…)

Although, this weekend (May 4th & 5th), Fozzie has agreed to make his book “The Last Englishman” available for free as a Kindle download! (Also, keep in mind, even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can still download the Kindle app on your PC, Mac or smart phone and still have access to all the same features as someone with an actual Kindle.) Here is the link to his recent write-up on his blog with all the details:

“The Last Englishman” Free Kindle Download

Be sure to check out the link directly above for the times that the book will be available for free download on those days, keeping the time zones in mind. As well, the download will be made available on Amazon.

Also, in closing, I would like to say that after reading “The Last Englishman” I then decided to pick up Keith’s first book, “The Journey in Between” which covers his El Camino de Santiago hike. I have not started on it yet as I am reading another book (about an AT thru hiker), but it is most definitely next in line. As well, I am anxiously awaiting his newest book, “Balancing on Blue” (due out next year) which obviously covers his most recent AT thru hike! More information on these books can be found HERE, on Fozzie’s blog. And last but not least, videos from both his AT and his PCT thru hike can be found on his YouTube page, HERE.

So, what are you still doing here… reading this entry? Head over to Fozzie’s site and pick up his stuff…

Thanks for reading everyone!

~Stick~

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Keith Foskett, his books, his blog, or his YouTube channel. As I said above, I paid for both the books I have by him, and with my own money. I am not obligated to write about this, or any other books or share any information about Keith Foskett. I am doing so because I have enjoyed reading his book, and watching his video and wanted to share. Plus, he is giving away electronic copies of his book and I felt that was worth sharing!

Then, one morning I was browsing through the BPL Gear Swap, and noticed someone selling a pair of brand new Fizan trekking poles for $65. I had read about these particular poles before on BPL, and remember that 2 attractive points about these poles were that they were pretty dang light, as well as pretty easy on the pocket-book. However, I never had a reason to get them though, until now…

So, I messaged the BPL user and said I’d take them. Then about a week later, they were on my doorstep!

The poles were brand new, still with tags. The first thing I did was remove the small basket from each pole, and then the straps. Once I had stripped the poles of all the unneeded accessories, I then threw them on my scale…

5.6 oz, or 160 grams (per pole).

To be honest, I had hoped that the listed 158 grams was a fully featured weight, so while I was a little bummed that the bare bones weight was a bit over this at 160 grams, I will admit, I am still happy with them. Not many trekking poles out there come in at a mere 11.2 oz per pair, and especially aluminum ones at that. And in comparison, one of my LT4 poles weigh in at 4 oz, so the Fizan poles are only 1.6 oz heavier per pole. Besides this though, the Fizan poles will work with the Yama tent, so no need to carry a dedicated tent pole, which in fact does bring the weights a bit closer in comparison.

So, as I said, these poles will work with my Yama tent, and what I mean by that is that they will collapse short enough to work at the foot end. The Yama tent suggest using a pole set at 26 inches for the foot end. The Fizan poles will do this easily… in fact, I actually have to extend the Fizan poles out a little to get up to the 26 inches!

The Fizan poles will collapse down to a mere 23.25 inches. (By pulling the poles apart into 3 separate sections, the length is closer to about 19.5 inches, however, then there is more bulk.) On the opposite end, the Fizan poles come up a bit short when compared to some other poles I have. When fully extended (each section is pulled out to the spot marked “STOP”) the full length is only 52.5 inches. However, this is still enough length for all of my shelters, as well as for setting my preferred trekking pole length for when I am hiking. (In comparison, my LT4′s will collapse down to around 33 inches, and extend up to around 59 inches, although, according to the Gossamer Gear site, the useable length is only 55 inches.)

So, the last thing, and possibly the most important thing worth mentioning about these poles is the locking mechanism. This is one thing that I wasn’t too sure about when purchasing them. To be completely honest, I was really wanting a pair of poles with the flick locks on them for the simple fact that they are super easy to adjust, and especially when holding up a tent, but for the price and expected weight, I had to try these out.

It turns out that the locking mechanism on the Fizan poles are very similar to the locking mechanism on the LT4′s, with some minor differences. As can be seen in the photo above, these are twist locks. The way that these work is that the plastic lock (the red and blue piece on each pole) will grip the inside shaft of the outer pole. When either pole is turned, it will turn the plastic lock with it. When the plastic lock is turned to the right (clockwise) it will thread downwards. As the plastic lock spins down, it will expand and finally wedge itself between the 2 poles, firmly locking the 2 sections together. This is similar to the LT4′s locking mechanism, except that the LT4′s use a rubber lock, and it will expand once it is twisted all the way down to the bottom of the threads.

I have found that assembling the poles are quite easy, and the lock has worked like a champ each time, whether tightening or loosening. I will admit, I have only used these poles on one hike, which happened to be 20 miles, but I have also used them a number of times setting up different tents/tarps around my home. So far, I have no concerns about the locking mechanisms in them, and am actually quite confident in them.

Here is a video I did earlier, which may help to explain them a bit better…

So far, I am pretty happy about these poles and look forward to using them quite a bit more. As I said, they are reasonably light weight, they will collapse quite short, yet still extend long enough to use with my shelters. The locking mechanisms are rather impressive so far, and I feel like they will work well, although, due to past experiences, this will really be told over time.

If I had to say one negative thing about them, I would be hard pressed. Saying this, I am not super excited about the grips on them. Sure, they work fine, but I will admit, I have become quite spoiled with the grips on my LT4′s. By far, they are my favorite, and now all other grips will likely have a hard time comparing. I am debating purchasing some of the grips from Gossamer Gear and trying to change them out… but I haven’t committed to it yet for fear of ruining the poles… Maybe one day I will though…

So, that’s it for now… Thanks everyone for stopping by!

~Stick~

There was a grand total of 74 people that have entered the drawing I recently posted for the “Tell It On The Mountain” movie! That is awesome. Thanks so much to everyone that entered, however, there can only be 3 winners…

To pick the winners, I went old skool and printed the names out, cut them all out in tiny little strips, double folded them over, and then threw them into my LiteTrail 550 ml ti cook pot (w/o handles). I threw my Ruta Locura carbon fiber lid over the top to keep them from jumping out when my children vigorously shook the cook pot to mix the names up…

So, to get right to it, the winners are:

1. DVD copy: Pat C
2. Digital Download #1: Eric Nelson
3. Digital Download #2: dpritz

Congrats to the winners, and again, thanks to everyone for entering and for your support!

As I said, the winners have 24 hours to claim the prize. To claim your prizes, Pat C, please email me your physical mailing address. Once I get it, I will get your DVD out asap via USPS standard mail. Eric & dpritz, simply email me your email address. Once I get them, I will send your email address’ to Shaun and he will get you the link for the download. Please send me this information to:  stick1377 (AT) gmail (DOT) com.

Again, I would like to give a huge thanks to Shaun for sending me the surprise 2nd DVD to begin with, and then on top of that, for throwing in the 2 extra digital downloads of the movie for the giveaway. I finally got to watch the movie this morning, and I’ll tell ya, it was definitely worth both, my money, and my time! (Although, I still haven’t watched the extra’s…) I enjoyed every bit of it though, and will be watching it again… and probably again… until one day I can get my own slice pf PCT…

Thanks again to everyone who entered, and congrats to the winners.

~Stick~

Disclaimer: I paid the full price for my copy of “Tell It On The Mountain.” The 2nd DVD was sent as an unexpected bonus. Shaun then threw in the extra digital downloads as give away’s at no cost to me, and out of his own good-hearted kindness. I have no affiliation with Shaun or the movie. I gave away the 2nd DVD simply to pass on the kindness that was shown to me.

Surprisingly enough, I have been reading books on the PCT lately (as opposed to books on the AT). I started out with the book “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed, but to be honest, I never finished reading it. I then started reading a book my wife got me for Christmas: “A Blistered Kind of Love“ by Angela & Duffy Ballard, which IMO, was a great book. At the moment, I am about to finish up the book “The Last Englishman” by Keith Foskett (AKA: “Fozzie”) which also, IMO, has been a great book. (I am actually looking forward to his new book coming out…. “Balancing on Blue” which is a book on the AT!)

Anyway, this post is not necessarily about those books, but more so to tell you that I have been quite interested in reading about the PCT lately.  So, a little while back, I found myself back at the Tell It On The Mountain website, and ordering Shaun’s new DVD of the same title.  Then today, it showed up in my mailbox! But, the coolest part is that not just one copy showed up, but 2! As soon as I pulled them out of the shipping sleeve, I knew that I was going to have to give the 2nd copy away here on my blog… and that is what this post is all about!

Now, before I get to the details on how to win the 2nd copy, I have got to say, I have not yet seen this movie (although, I plan to do so soon!). However, after listening to the latest Trail Show podcast (Episode # 10) while driving to my last hike, they did review it on the show, and they had some really great things to say about it, so I feel pretty confident in this movie…

So, on with it…

If you would like to win this brand new, still in the shrink-wrap “Tell It On The Mountain DVD” then you have got to have a Facebook page. Sorry, but that is how this one is rolling. In order to win:

1. Like the Tell It On The Mountain Facebook page.
2. Like my blogs Facebook page.
3. Then post here on this blog post “I wanna win it!” 

# 3 is very important. Feel free to post comments on either the Tell It On The Mountain Facebook page, or my blog’s Facebook page, however, the only names going into the pot to win this movie will be the ones that are found in the comments section below this original post on my blog. (This will make it easier for me to keep up with everyone.)

UPDATE: Shaun has decided to up the ante! He has offered to throw in 2 digital downloads of the movie, plus extras! So, that now means that there will be a total of 3 winners! 

Also, I am making this contest quick, so this Sunday (4/21) is the last day to enter. I will collect all the names (under this post only) at 5 pm (CST), drop them in a pot and let my beautiful daughter draw out a name on camera. The first name she draws out will win the DVD that was sent to me as an extra, the next 2 names that she draws from the pot will each win the digital downloads.

So, how about the fine print:

• The DVD will only be prized to those in the lower 48 (due to shipping cost), however, the digital download prizes are open to anyone, anywhere. If the first name drawn is out of the lower 48, then they will receive the digital download and the DVD will go to the second place and so on.
• The winner will have 24 hours to claim the prize. After that, we will redraw.
• I will ship the DVD via USPS standard mail as soon as I receive the winners shipping address.

As far as the DVD, I would like to say thanks to Shaun for surprising me and sending a 2nd DVD, I appreciate it. As well, thanks for up’ing the ante and throwing in the digital downloads too!

Thanks everyone and good luck!

~Stick~

Disclaimer: I purchased a single copy of the “Tell It On The Mountain” DVD with my own money. The 2nd copy was sent free (without my knowledge). I am not affiliated with anyone from the Tell It On The Mountain cast or crew and have no obligation to promote this DVD. I am simply passing on the kindness that was passed on to me.

A while back I had the privilege of hiking with Ben from GooseFeet Gear and got to check out his pillow set-up, which I found to be quite interesting. What drew me to it the most I think is that the pillow was so big. One of the problems I had with other pillow set-ups was that they were a little narrow, and at times I found that my head would tend to slip off of one of the sides. The pillow that Ben was using was wider though, so I knew that I would have to check it out.

Ben’s pillow was actually made up of 2 parts: the inside was the Exped “UL” Air Pillow (in a size large) and the outside was his own Stuff Sack Down Pillow Case.

The Exped pillow I ordered from REI came in before the pillow case I had ordered from Ben. After getting the Exped pillow in, my mind started turning. The one thing that I knew I needed was a way to secure the pillow to the air pad in order to keep it in place (similar to the Monkey Pillow Case from Wallace Hunter). I noticed that the Exped pillow actually has a loop on each side of the pillow that I could easily attach a piece of shock cord to, which could be used to hold the pillow in place. So I messaged Ben and asked him if he could install a grommet in the closed end of the pillow case. He informed me that he didn’t have any grommets on hand so instead he put a single, small loop on the closed end.

As I mentioned in my down pants post, I love ordering items from GooseFeet Gear for the simple fact that I can choose exactly what I want the product to be. For the pillow case, I was able to choose what sort of material I wanted (gray 10D), the size (which was custom to fit the Exped pillow) and the amount of down inside the pillow top (1 oz).

When the pillow case from Ben arrived I found that the loop actually works quite well (better than the grommet would have worked I believe). I simply tied off a piece of 1/16″ shock cord to one of the loops on the Exped pillow, then attached a mitten hook to the other end of the shock cord. Now I can just slide the pillow into the stuff sack pillow case with the end that has the shock cord attached facing out. I cinch up the pillow case, which holds the pillow inside the pillow case, and then hook the mitten hook to the loop on the closed end of the pillow case. Then I just slip the pillow over my air pad, with the shock cord under the air pad. So far, this has worked out quite well.

So, what are my thoughts on it so far?

The Exped pillow is more comfortable than other air pillows I have used simply due to its size. The larger width does indeed increase the amount of comfort for me. As well, the pillow provides enough support (thickness) to properly support my head and neck.

The GooseFeet Gear pillow case has also been a great choice. The 10D material has a nice hand to it, so it is comfortable to me next-to-skin. And the down does a great job at dampening the feel of laying my head on an air pillow by lofting up around my head and neck and actually replicating the feel of a real pillow. As a bonus, the down will also help keep my neck and face warm in the colder seasons. I am not sure if this will be a downfall during the warmer months though…

And of course I have to talk about the weights. After all, I am a bit of a gram counter, and despite the fact that I am willing to take the hit of a weight penalty on a specialized item such as a pillow, it does need to be as light as possible. In my opinion though, this set-up offers a great weight/comfort ratio, and I deem it worthy to be placed in my pack… So, how about the weights then:

• GooseFeet Gear Stuff Sack Down Pillow: 1.6 oz
• Large Exped “UL” Air Pillow (No stuff sack): 2 oz
• Shock Cord w/ Mitten Hook: 0.1 oz

When I put all the components of this pillow set-up on my scale, it fluctuates between 3.6 & 3.7 oz. For a more definite number, it sits pretty firmly at 104 grams.

So, do you use a pillow, and if so, what do you use?

~Stick~

Disclaimer: I paid the full price for both, the Exped pillow ($55) and the GooseFeet Gear pillow case ($41). I am not affiliated with any of the companies listed in this post. This post reflects my own thoughts and expectations of this particular pillow set-up. I am not getting anything in return for writing this post, other than the fact that I can share this information with my readers… so thank you for reading!

What started out as an adventure, ended in retreat…

Last Tuesday I left work with a smile. I had big plans for the weekend, however, those plans actually kicked off on the following day. Before the real plans could take way though, I had a long drive ahead of me, so I had requested to leave work early on Wednesday in order to get on the road at a reasonable hour. As I walked out of work that day though, things looked even better than expected! It looked like instead of just getting off of work early the next day, I would be off for the entire day! This was music to my ears as it meant that I could get on the road much earlier than anticipated…

I eagerly drove home and went through all of my gear one more time (as if I hadn’t done it a number of times already), although I still managed to find some little things to change anyway. I moved some things around on my pack, and then after re-checking the weather forecast, I decided to add in my umbrella for a bit more rain protection. I also threw in an extra breakfast since it looked like I would actually be there earlier than I had anticipated. After going through my gear list (again), I then began to check and make sure I had locations loaded into my GPS, as well as any other miscellaneous items I would need en route…. Then I waited some more…

Sure enough, by 9 am on Wednesday morning, I had finished loading everything into my car and was setting my destination on the GPS. I had already filled my belly with breakfast, dropped the kids off at school and exchanged hugs and kisses with my wife. Now it was time to get going…

I had approximately 360 miles to cover along the winding, paved roads before reaching my end destination. I listened to a couple of CD’s and then realized that I had not downloaded the most recent podcast from The Trail Show (which is what I usually listen to while making these long drives). So, I pulled up the site on my phone and thanks to a series of mobile network services, I was able to download it while cruising down the road. About 20 minutes later, I began listening to Episode 10 of The Trail Show.

The next few hours were pretty much just a blur. I drove, listened to music and the latest Trail Show podcast, and then realized I still had quite a way to go… so I drove some more. Of course, I also stopped a couple of times to grab a quick lunch, and to fill up on gas. Finally, around 3:30 pm I was getting pretty close, so I stopped by an Arby’s in the last little town I was driving through to pick up a sandwich for dinner that night.

At 4:30 I was driving over Wayah Gap and looking for the parking area! Once I figured out where it was, I quickly parked my car next to only other car in the lot, located just below a small picnic area. Once parked, I jumped out of my car, glad to be done driving and full of excitement… I was finally here!

My plan at this point was to start hiking that afternoon, just to get a bit of a head start on the hike (for no other reason that to just be on the trail). But first, I planned to eat my Arby’s sandwich, and needed to change into my hiking clothes. So, I decided to take advantage of the picnic tables I saw just up the hill from the parking area. After all, it was a nice day and I didn’t feel like being crammed in the car any longer… I wanted to be outdoors, and to be free! So, I grabbed my Arby’s bag and headed up towards the picnic tables.

As I began climbing the little hill, I noticed the top of a tent, then as I got farther up the hill I also noticed a young guy and a girl sitting at one of the other picnic tables. At first I thought that these were the owners of the car I parked next too, but then I saw their packs sitting next to them and I thought not. I waved to them and they returned the wave. I asked them if the were thru-hiking, and they replied “Yep.”

We briefly spoke a bit more, and then I sat at one of the tables to eat my sandwich. At this point the young guy asked me how far down the road Arby’s was. I told him it was about 30 miles or a little more, at which he sighed at… While finishing my sandwich I noticed that there was another person inside the tent I first saw when walking towards the picnic tables. Another thru hiker!

After I finished eating I talked with the hikers a little more and had decided that instead of starting my hike that night, I would just pitch my tent here and stay the night. I didn’t need to start hiking early since the first day was short at only 10 miles. Plus my belly was full again, and I liked being here with the other hikers. So, I pulled my pack from the car, found a spot of somewhat level ground and pitched my tent.

Once I got everything all situated in my “home” for the night, I headed up the side trail which led from the Appalachian Trail (AT) down towards the picnic area. I was finally back on the trail… I breathed in… and it was good!

I turned left on the AT and walked north the short distance back towards the road. The next morning I would be heading south, so I needed to make sure that my feet also touched the trail on this small section. It was a short walk, but it was nice. Once I got to the road I pulled out my camera and began to shoot the first part of my video.

After shooting some video, I returned to my camp. I spoke with the young guy and the girl for another few minutes. As we were talking, about 4 or 5 other hikers hike past used along the AT, heading north to the next shelter up for the night. After a bit I retreated into my tent for a little bit of a nap. After driving into the sun all morning I had a bit of a headache, so I decided to pop 2 Vitamin I’s, and lie down for a while.

An hour later I was feeling a little relief so I got back up. I had already ate my dinner for the night, but I also packed up stuff for an extra hot tea that night. So, I grabbed my Jetboil Sol Ti, my MLD mug (complete with a set of Hot Lips and a DY reflectix cozy) some water and my tea bag, then began to (quickly) boil water for a nice, relaxing, cup of hot tea.

After I finished my tea I cleaned everything up and then packed away all of my food inside my car. I could have thrown my bear line, but with my car only a couple hundred feet away, I figured why not take advantage of it. Also, the rain was supposed to start sometime in the early morning, so it would be one less wet thing to start my hike with.

After I got everything all squared away, I walked around the area a little more, waiting on the sun to fall out of the sky completely before crawling into my own bed. I noticed that the young couple that I was talking with earlier had set up their tent inside a little cove, somewhat protected from the rain that we expected that night, and that they had already retreated into their own tent for the night. As I walked around and waited for my own time to take shelter, I was entertained by the sound of a song bird, which made the night that much better. The sky was still barely lit, the trees were more of a silhouette against the fading sky, and this bird sang beautifully!

The sun did eventually fade and gave way to the night. As the hour grew later, the night grew darker due to the clouds rolling in. There were no stars to lay back and gaze at tonight. The temperature slowly dropped, and I snuggled deeper under my quilt. I pulled out my Kindle and picked up where I left off in the book “The Last Englishman” by Keith Foskett (AKA” Fozzie) and began reading. And of course, it just so happened that the chapter I started out with was entitled “Chapter 10: Ghosts on the trail.”

After my little nap earlier, I was actually quite refreshed. I laid there and read for about an hour, and then after realizing that it was getting late but I wasn’t getting sleepy, I decided to pop a couple of Tylenol PM’s. After this, I read for about another 30 minutes and then turned out the lights…

Around 1 am I woke up from a series of strange dreams and the sound of rain on my tent. Thanks to Fozzie’s book and the pills, I had dreamed that a bear was sniffing around my tent, and then another dream in which some cats had torn holes in my tent with their little, tiny, razor-sharp claws, which left me somewhat exposed to the rain that happened to be falling. After realizing it was all just dreams, I quickly crawled out of my tent and took off to relieve myself.

After crawling back into my tent, I then decided to change into my down clothes. The temps had continued to drop and now the rain was really driving it down. After changing, I snuggled up deep under my quilt again and made myself comfortable. It wasn’t long before I was out again… however, this time, I didn’t have any strange dreams…

I woke up again around 7:30 am the next morning. The darkness had started to lift and a little bit of gray light was coming into the tent. However, the rain was still falling, and it was cold. My watch told me it was 36 F inside my tent. I laid there for a while, just listening to the rain fall, wondering if it would break so that I could break camp and get started hiking.

30 minutes later, I realized that I was just going to have to make a run for it in the rain, or at least a short run. Since my food and stove was in the car, I again decided to make the most out of it by deciding to boil my water for my coffee and to eat my breakfast muffins in the car. So, I changed out of my warm down layers, put on my cold (but clean at this point) hiking clothes, slipped on my Inov-8′s, grabbed my water and my umbrella and made a dash for the car.

Once I was in my car, I took full advantage of it by cranking it up and kicking the heater to high. Next, I pulled out the Jetboil, screwed the fuel canister to the stove, poured a little water into the pot and fired it up.** Then just a couple of minutes later I had a nice, warm cup of coffee in one hand, and some blueberry muffins in the other! I consumed my breakfast inside a warm car, watching the rain hitting the windshield. (Yeah, I cheated, but it was my hike…)

By the time I finished eating and cleaning up inside the car, the rain had slowed some. I grabbed my umbrella and my water bottle and walked a little ways past where I had parked my car to a water source I had found the night before. I refilled my water bottle and then headed back towards camp. I stopped back by at my car and grabbed my food bag and my stove and mug, then made my way back to my tent.

Back inside the tent, I started packing everything up and then loading it all back into my pack. But, by the time I had it all just about packed away, the rain picked back up! So, I finished up and then decided to sit there and wait it out some more… Finally, around 9 am I decided it just wasn’t going to let up so I again slipped my shoes on, grabbed my pack and my umbrella and made a dash for the car. I slung my pack inside the car and then went back up the hill to take my tent down.

After I got the tent down I went back to the car for the last time (or so I thought). I jumped inside and packed away my wet tent inside my pack. Made final adjustments on everything, then threw my pack cover over my pack. I finally stepped outside my car, strapped my multipack (with my camera gear inside) around my waist, threw my pack on, flipped open my umbrella, locked the doors on my car (first making sure that the car key was inside my pocket), grabbed my poles and began hiking!

I hiked back up the hill toward the picnic area and then up the little side trail until I reached the AT. When I came to the cairn that marked the trail, I made a right and started my hike heading south…

So, the big picture was for me to begin my hike at Wayah Gap and finish a few days later at Deep Gap. This is a 30 mile stretch which, for me, was meant to connect 2 longer pieces of the Appalachian Trail that I had already hiked. I would begin my hike on Thursday morning headed south. One of my buddies had talked about possibly meeting me on Thursday night at Rock Gap Shelter and then hiking with me the rest of the way, although he was not sure he would be able to make it. Then, another buddy was going to meet us both at Deep Gap, where we would stay Saturday night, and then he would shuttle us to our cars the next morning.

It did not go this way…

When I began hiking Thursday morning, it was cold, and it was still raining. The trail had already turned into a mess. The flat spots were either standing pools of water, or mushy muddy messes that were slippery. When heading either up or down the mountain, the trails were running streams of water and mud. I also noticed that all the branches on the trees were actually covered in ice, which weighted them down into the trail.

The hike out of Wayah Gap and up to Siler’s Bald was a pretty easy hike though. The incline was pretty gradual, which made it an easy hike. However, I noticed that as my elevation increased, so did the wind. As a result, I was walking though a lot of falling ice, however, I started my hike with my umbrella deployed, which made me realize that it didn’t just protect me from rain, but also from the falling clumps of ice. As well, as I gained elevation and the winds picked up, I could also turn the umbrella into the wind a bit to help block some of it, although, at times the wind actually contorted my umbrella a good bit and I found myself wondering if the little umbrella was going to hold up.

I met a number of other thru hikers headed north that morning, most of which decided that it was too cold, wet and windy to stand around and chat, so we passed with a quick hello or a word of encouragement. However, a few did compliment me on the umbrella for the simple fact that they were tired of getting hit in the head with the ice falling from the trees… This actually made me appreciate the umbrella even more…

As a side note, before I left home, I had strapped my pack on and tinkered around with a hands free set-up for the umbrella, and of course it all worked quite well. I was quite sure it would work on the trail. However, I quickly found that it just didn’t feel like working out quite like it had at home, on the trail. So, I ended up having to hold the umbrella with one hand, which only left me one other hand to use a trekking pole. I hiked the rest of the day with one hand on the umbrella and one on a trekking pole. As for the second pole, I collapsed it as short as it would go and slipped the handle under my sternum strap. Since the poles collapsed rather short, this worked out fine.

I began hiking quite slowly for the simple fact that I didn’t have far to hike that day, and that the elevation change was actually in my favor, not to mention the foul weather. I took the time to take care to place my feet in the driest, least muddy spot I could along-side the trail. Then of course I had to duck and dodge, or just push my way through all the drooping ice branches with my umbrella as my shield.

I soon came out to the large bald which marked the end of the only real climb I had for the day. However, on this open, exposed bald, the wind was blowing more and due to all the fog I couldn’t see much. So, I quickly walked across it and to the wooded area on the opposite side. Once I got there, I noticed a sign for the Siler’s Bald Shelter. The sign was actually leaning against a post (likely the one it was at one point attached to). The arrow pointing the way was pointed in the direction of an old road that led off from the AT. Despite that it was listed at being 0.5 miles off the AT, I had planned to stop here for a quick bite since it would actually give me some shelter from the rain and wind.

I started hiking down the side trail/road. It quickly started heading down… and continued heading down. I started thinking if it was worth it to hike so far down for half a mile, but I wanted to shoot some more video, and of course to eat some food without having to stand in the rain to do so. So, I hiked on… and on… about 10 minutes later I started having second thoughts. I slowed my hike and then decided to just turn back around.

Once I made it back up to the bald, I turned back south along the AT and told myself that once I came to a spot that was either somewhat sheltered, or the rain stopped, I would then stop and have a snack.

The trail began heading down for the next 4 miles (didn’t I say that the elevation change was in my favor?). After hiking about 15 minutes down hill, I came to an intersection. The AT went to the right, and straight ahead was a blue-blazed trail. The sign at the trail head stated that the blue-blazed trail led to Siler’s Bald Shelter! Wait, what?! I stood there for a bit and processed this. I wasn’t sure if I should slap myself on the head for taking the trail earlier, or if I should have patted myself on the back for deciding to turn around when on the side trail. I then wondered if it was just a big loop… The only way for me to figure it out was for me to head to the shelter…

However, I decided against it. I knew that all the downhill hiking I had to do would be rather easy, and I could just find a spot to stop somewhere farther down the trail for a bite to eat. Nevermind the fact that the weather had not gotten any better than earlier, and in fact, maybe a little worse, although, this could have also been due to the higher elevation I was currently at.

As I began hiking down again, I started meeting a number of other hikers, both weekend hikers (like myself) as well as thru hikers. Some stopped and talked with me for a bit while others were simply trudging on (rightfully so considering the weather). Despite the fact that I never got any views, and the fact that the trail and the weather was nasty, there was also a  magical feel. The ice in the trees and the fog actually made things look like something that I would see in the movies. As well, I came across a number of small streams and briefly watched the water rolling around and over all the moss-covered rocks. I really wanted to stop and take out my camera and shoot some pictures, however, the blowing rain kept me from it.

The temperature also felt like it was still dropping, which was evidenced by all the ice build-up on my umbrella and my multipack. The edges of my umbrella were iced over, as well as the top of the umbrella, however, as I barged through low-hanging branches, this ice would recycle. Even the straps that hung from my backpack were turning into frozen, dangling popsicle’s! Between the added weight of my wet tent from the night before, and all the ice hanging off of my gear, I am sure my total pack weight went up by a few pounds! Heck, one hiker even told me I had something under my nose, and then I realized it was frozen snot!

The hike down from Siler’s Bald to Winding Stair Gap was all pretty much the same. Cold, wet, muddy, and windy with falling rain and ice. I came across about 20 hikers headed north, and even a couple of tents still pitched at Panther Gap. Then, about an hour and a half later I crossed over a wooden bridge next to a beautiful waterfall that begged for me to take a photo, and regretfully, I did not. The weather was still bad, and at this spot, the mist from the falls only added to the water in the air. So I trudged on…

Shortly after, I was standing at the stairs leading up to US64 at Winding Stair Gap. Before crossing over the road though, I stayed under the trees and pulled out my phone. I did not get to call my wife the night before, and was still unsure if my buddy was going to be meeting me that night at Rock Gap Shelter. So, I turned my phone off of airplane mode and luckily picked up a piece of a signal! I then called my wife and left her a message to let her know that everything was going well and where I planned to be that night. As I was making the call to my wife, a text message came in that my buddy had sent earlier that sounded encouraging. I tried to call him, but after no answer I replied via text and told him I would for sure be at Rock Gap Shelter and that I hoped he would make it.

Now, I should add here that this was going to possibly be my second solo hike (attempt), and that my first one did not turn out too well. After my first solo attempt, I realized that I did not like sleeping in the woods by myself, and that once faced with this I also found myself quite a bit homesick, missing my wife and kids and longing to be back with them. However, I have also found that as long as I have a buddy along with me on a hike, I am ok. I still find myself missing my family, and it seems to worsen at night for some reason, but at least I have a friend to share my experience with. When I planned this hike, I did so with the understanding that there was a good chance my buddy may not be able to meet me on that second night, which would mean that nights 2 & 3 would definitely be on my own. However, I crossed my fingers, hoping that he would be able to make it, and if not, then I could give solo camping a try again…

After successfully sending the text to my buddy, I powered my phone back down and out it safely away. Then I crossed over US64… and then wasn’t sure which way to go!

I looked left and didn’t see anything that looked promising. I looked right and finally made out what looked like a parking area (remember, it was a bit foggy…) So, I started walking towards what I thought was the parking area, and it turned out to be just that. As I was walking into the parking area, a semi also pulled in, letting the cars behind him go around. I walked along side the truck (and the driver made sure to keep his head down as if studying something until I passed). As the truck pulled away, I saw the trail!

Before hiking up the trail, I noticed an old iron pipe sticking out of the side of the mountain which had water coming out of it. It is actually a great spot for a refill, and had it not been raining quite so hard, I would have happily went back over and refilled. However, I was still able to draw water from my bladder when drinking from the tube, and I knew that despite the next section was a little bit of a climb, it was a short climb and then it was downhill to Rock Gap Shelter! So, I climbed out of Winding Stair Gap.

Shortly after I realized that I was out of water… or at least I thought I was.

The last 3.8 miles was relatively easy, although the weather was still the same. As well, I only met 2 other hikers along this stretch, one on the trail and another at the shelter. The hiker on the trail told me that he was heading to Franklin for the night to get out of the weather and get a good meal and a warm, dry bed for the night. Shortly after meeting him, I came out at Wallace Gap, the last road crossing for the day, Old US64 at the entrance to Standing Indian Campgrounds. It was only 0.7 more miles to the shelter.

Once I got to the shelter, I found another hiker standing at the shelter. He was still wearing his pack and appeared to just be checking the shelter out. I asked him if he was staying there for the night, and he confirmed that he was just checking it out. He said that there was a group of people still up on the trail, but they were all heading to Franklin for the night. I asked him if there were others behind them and he told me that as far as he knew, everyone was going to Franklin. To be honest, this made me nervous…

After he left, I shrugged off my pack and began unpacking. It was just after 3 pm, and I knew that I had a long time to sit around before it was dark, and even longer before I would fall asleep. I hung my umbrella and my pack cover from nails in the shelter, and began setting up my spot inside the shelter. I decided that I wasn’t going to pitch my tent in the rain again, not to mention all of the huge branches that have been falling out of trees due to the weight of all the ice attached to them. I wasn’t interested in waking up to one of those laying on top of me in the middle of the night. So, I picked a spot in the tiny little shelter and made my nest…

After I got everything sorted out, I grabbed my food bag and took it to the side of the shelter and sat at the picnic table. At this point, all I had eaten that day was the 2 packages of blueberry muffins and coffee I had for breakfast, and a Fuel ProBar that I had quickly dug out of my pack on the trail just below Panther Gap. So, I ripped it open and grabbed a bag of dried apples with cinnamon sprinkled over them. They were good…

After eating them, I walked around the shelter. I checked out the bear cables, the privy (which was very nasty) and found the water source. After walking around a bit I decided to shoot some more video. I did not get to shoot much video at all while on the trail, or even take pictures, so I wanted to be sure I got some done here. As well, talking to the camera made me feel like I wasn’t so alone…

After finishing the video, I walked around a little more, and then decided to try my phone again. I walked back up to the AT and then north a little ways and finally got a piece of signal again. I checked my phone for messages from either my wife or my buddy, but didn’t see one from either. So, I called my wife again and this time she answered. I spoke with here for a few minutes and then told her I had better let her go and try to get in touch with my buddy while I still had signal. After hanging up with her, I tried calling him, but again got no answer, so I text that I was there and would be there and hoped he could make it. I then walked back to the shelter for a bit.

About 20 minutes later, I went back to the spot with reception and tried to get in touch with my buddy again. By this time, the loneliness had started to creep in and I suddenly decided that I didn’t want to spend the night out by myself. The words of the last hiker I met resounded through my head… “As far as I know, everyone is going into Franklin.” and to be honest, I got a little afraid. Then, as usual, I started thinking about my wife and kids…

I finally got a text from my buddy saying that he was not going to make it. This decided it for me. I went back to the shelter, repacked my gear and headed back down the trail, this time in the northward direction.

I was trying to decide if I wanted to follow the lead of the other hikers and try to hitch a ride into Franklin from Winding Stair Gap, or just trudge the entire way back to where my car was parked, at Wayah Gap. Either way, it was just after 4 pm, the weather was still wet and windy,ice and rain still fell from the skies, the trail seemed to be even messier than before, and the temperature was now at 33 F. I had to decide something, and do it soon. And to be honest, toughing it out and staying at the shelter (very likely by myself) was no longer an option.

I decided to let me feet make the decision. I told myself that if I could make it to Winding Stair Gap by 5 then I would push on, all the way back to Wayah Gap, however, if it was later than that, I would try to hitch a ride to Franklin. At this point, I was not terribly tired or sore so I knew I could still crank out the miles. As I said, I took it easy hiking in, however, my body was a bit lacking in both water and food. In retrospect, I should have refilled my water before leaving the shelter, and I should have eaten more, but at that point, my mind was filled with thoughts of hiking another 10 miles back to my car, in crappy weather and possibly in the night. As well, as easy as the hike to the shelter was, it was that much harder hiking back in that direction… I had my work cut out for me.

I flew. That morning, I took care to place my footsteps in areas so that my feet stayed dry, but now I stormed right through the middle of it all. The puddles splashed up and the mud caked up the sides of my pants. I still used the umbrella though to keep the top portion of my body dry, although, considering that I needed to make trail now, I found myself wishing that I could use both of my poles. This would have allowed me to travel faster, safer and with less impact on my body. As much as I enjoyed having my umbrella, I missed not having both hands for my poles.

As I said, I decided that I would let my feet decided my end goal for the night, and they decided to go all the way. I strolled back into Winding Stair Gap right at 5 pm, which meant I covered those 3.8 miles in just under an hour. However, this was also the easiest part of the hike back. The next 4 miles were pretty much all uphill and my body was now starting to get tired. I decided that I would now fill up my water bottle since I thought I was still out, however, when I pulled the water bottle out, I found that it was still a third full! For some reason though, I could not draw any water through the tube. My first thought was that the tube was kinked, it wasn’t. Then I started wondering about my filter… did it freeze? So, I refilled my water bladder, hooked everything back up and took a drew hard from the tube… it worked.

So, I slung my pack back on and crossed back over US64 for the real test of the day…

At this point, I had only hiked 14 miles, still had 6 to go (4 of which would be the hardest of the day in both, actual elevation, as well as considering my body’s tiring condition), the day was starting to darken a little and it was still cold and wet. I have hiked other 20+ mile days before, and was fine afterwards, but this one was different…

I did ok for the first mile up, but then my body said hang on. It needed fuel, so I stopped and pulled off my pack and dug through to find some more food. I pulled out a pack of Honey Stinger Fruit Chews and a pack of Ritz crackers. I ate the Fruit Chews and stuffed the crackers inside my multipack. I simply did not want to stand around eating but rather to be hiking. I did not particularly want to be hiking in these conditions and at night.

The fruit chews helped a little. But I soon needed more, so I stopped near Panther Gap again and began to eat the crackers. Being dry, I needed to wash them down with water, however, I quickly came to the same point as I was at before when I thought I was out. I drew on the hose but got very little out. I felt the bladder and found that it was again about a third of the way full… So, I put the crackers away and continued on.

I only had 1.7 more miles to get to blue-blazed trail that led off towards Siler’s Bald Shelter, and then only about another 0.5 miles to go to the top of the bald. Once I made it here, I knew that the hard part of my hike would be done, and that the last 1.8 miles would all be pretty easy downhill hiking. However, I found myself struggling quite a bit over these next 2.2 miles. My legs began cramping, especially when I stepped up. If I stopped I had to be careful with my legs otherwise they would cramp up. I was pushing myself hard and my body was pushing back…

By the time I came to the blue-blazed trail leading towards the shelter, my spirits lifted. I knew I was closer to the top, and I decided to finish my crackers. I even managed to get a little more water to flow through the tube connected to my bladder, but not much. That was ok though, I only needed enough to get me to the top.

As I was making my way back I was surprised at the trail. The trail of course looks different when headed in the opposite direction, however, the trail also looked different due to all the blow downs that I came across which were not there when I came through earlier that day. I had to climb up, over, and around 4 or 5 large blow downs on the way back, and the small trees that were hanging low earlier in the day now seemed to be hanging even lower. The trail in places looked like a huge ice chest had been dumped due to all the ice that had fallen (and still were) from the trees.

I finally made it to the top of the bald! It was my moment of victory, however, I dared not to stand around and celebrate for long, but just long enough to catch my breath and to massage my legs for a moment. I again drew hard from my drinking tube, but with little results. That was ok though, my hike was almost done!

As I hiked down the last stretch, I realized that I was going to make it back before the moon would push the sun from the sky, and this gave me some relief. My legs ached and my feet hurt with each step, but I kept going.

At this point, I also decided to shoot one more bit of video, however, it was cut short due to another blow down that I had to have both hands free to maneuver around…

I made it back to my car by 7:10 pm that night. It took me almost 6 hours to hike the trail southbound, in which the elevation was more of a loss than a gain, but it only took me 3 hours to hike it north. And my body knew it… I knew it…

When I got to the car, I took off my hiking clothes and put my clean clothes back on. Then I put everything away in the car, pulled out my GPS and set my new destination, home.

This hike was tough for me. I wanted to complete this section pretty bad, and despite me bailing, I really enjoy hiking, and love the backpacking part of it. However, this is the second trip I have now bailed on for the simple fact that I don’t want to be alone in the woods for more than one reason. With this in mind, I won’t be scheduling any more solo hikes, or even possible solo hikes in the future. This very well may limit my ability to get out and hike, but considering that this is only the second hike in over 3 years of hiking that this has happened, I don’t feel like it will limit my hikes that drastically. As well, thanks to my blog, along with my other social networking sites, I have made a few friends that I can hike with, while others have also extended their invitations.

So, this is my hike, and this is how I have to do it… This hike was actually a very fulfilling hike, just not in the ways that I had hoped for when I set out last Wednesday morning. I still got out there, I pushed myself, I saw new trail, and with a different backdrop. I used new gear, I met a number of people (27 I think) have ultimately broadened my hiking experience. Of course I did not complete the section as I had intended, but the trail will (hopefully) be there for a long time to come, and I have all intentions to getting back out…

Thanks for stopping by everyone!

~Stick~

P.S: I apologize for any grammatical errors that may be in this write-up. I have spell checked it, but to be honest, I have not proofread it all due to the length. (At almost 7,000 words, this is my longest entry so far.) I will go through it more, but am comfortable enough with it at this point to share it. If I catch things at a later time, I will be sure to correct it. If you have any questions though, feel free to ask. Thanks again!

Disclaimer: The title of this post is a line from the song Hopeless Wanderer by Mumford & Sons. No affiliation (obviously), just wanted to throw that out there though…

**I do not recommend using a stove system inside a car for more reasons than one, however, it is what I did. I accept no responsibility should you decide to do the same and end up with any sort of injuries, to yourself, or your vehicle.

Later this week I will be heading out to complete another section of the Appalachian Trail that I don’t quite have yet. I will be doing the 30 mile section between Deep Gap and Wayah Gap in North Carolina. Once I finish this section though, I will have completed the (approximately) 215 miles of Appalachian Trail between Amicalola Falls State Park Visitor Center (yes, I did the approach trail too) up to just past Icewater Springs Shelter in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park (save for about a 2 mile stretch between Sassafras Gap Shelter (above the NOC) and Cheoah Bald).

Besides having completed this section of the trail, there are also another scattered 40 miles of AT that I have already hiked between Icewater Springs Shelter and US19 (just past Roan Mountain). Filling in these areas, along with the 2 mile stretch near the NOC, will be my next project…

This trip will see me hiking solo for the first 2 days, and then meeting up with a buddy towards the end of the second day. Then, on the third night another friend of mine will meet us and we plan to have a good old camp out on the last night. It is still a bit too far out to really know what kind of weather conditions I can expect, but at the moment, I am planning for temps to be as low as the mid 20′s during the first night, and then slightly warmer each consecutive night. As well, I am also planning on rain the first day and night I am out…

For this trip, I will be be carrying a few new items, as well as some old items that I have not used in quite a while. Of course I strive to have a lightweight pack, however, on this trip, there are some heavier than normal items that I will be carrying. But, despite these items, at the moment, my base pack weight is still only 10.02 lbs and my total pack weight is 17.57 lbs. As well, I have converted my ZPacks Multipack into my camera bag, and including all contents, comes to a total of 1.49 lbs. However, I do not consider this as “pack” weight since it will be worn as a fanny pack around my waist. (Although, feel free to count it as you may.)

Some items worth noting that I will be using on this trip are:

• My new Yama Mountain Gear Cirriform SW tent.
• My new GooseFeet Gear Stuff Sack Pillow w/ large “UL” Exped Air Pillow.
• My old Jetboil Sol Ti w/ Ruta Locura Carbon Fiber Lid.
• My new Fizan compact trekking poles.
• My Sawyer Squeeze water filter, set-up inline.
• A few new meals from Packit Gourmet, including one I have already tried…
• And of course my new Panasonic Lumix GF2 camera w/ polarizing filter!

One other item that I am contemplating carrying is my new GoLite Chrome Dome Umbrella, however, I am waiting till closer to the time to leave to see if rain is still in the forecast. If I add this in, then my pack weight will increase by another 8 oz, or 1/2 lb.

This trip will be relatively short miles each day, and the days have gotten to be a little bit longer, so I consider this an easy hike, which is why I am bringing lots of new gear, as well as did not strive to go as light as I possibly can. This trip is a perfect opportunity for me to try out some new gear, all while getting out and living on the trail, if even for only a weekend… and maybe even with an upper limit “UL” pack weight…

Anyway, for those of you that enjoy spreadsheets, feel free to take a gander at my highly detailed, entire gear list HERE.

And for those of you that are more visually inclined, feel free to take a look at both of my, somewhat long, yet detailed, videos… I have made one video that goes over the gear I will be carrying arranged by categories, as well as a video in which I go over my food that I will be carrying…

Thanks for stopping by…

~Stick~

]]> http://sticksblog.com/2013/03/31/getting-ready-for-a-3-day-at-section-hike/feed/ 23 stick13 P1000263-001 http://sticksblog.com/2013/03/30/1-g-silica-dry-packs/ http://sticksblog.com/2013/03/30/1-g-silica-dry-packs/#comments Sun, 31 Mar 2013 01:10:03 +0000 Stick http://sticksblog.com/?p=5255 Continue reading →]]> In my recent post about my new camera, I briefly mentioned that I am using some Silica Dry Packs to help keep my camera dry. I am sure that this is nothing new, but when I really started thinking about keeping my camera (along with some of my other stuff in my pack) dry, then these just kind of made sense. So, I searched around on Amazon and found some 1 gram Silica Dry Packs (of course, keeping in tune with the “Ultralight” backpacking philosophy…)

Once they came in I was a little shocked at how small they really are… despite the fact that only being 1 gram each should have given me some clue. As well, I was also a bit confused since the little silica beads are actually contained inside a plastic pouch, rather than the little cotton, or paper pouches that I am used to seeing. I searched the package for any sort of user instructions and found this: “Insert packet into any container that includes your valuables.” So I have just been throwing the little plastic pouch with tiny beads in different bags which have contents I would like to keep dry…

Inside my repair kit

Inside my FAK

Inside Loksak for my camera

As I said, the dry sacks are filled with little tiny beads, most of which are clear, but also some that are orange. According to the package, once the orange beads turn dark green, it is time to replace the package since the package is now “fully absorbed.”

I would also just like to say that I do not intend for these dry packs to protect my “valuable” items from rain, or excessive moisture (solid water). Instead, it is that tiny bit of moisture that gets caught inside stuff (such as electronics) which will actually condense on the inside of a plastic bag (such as a Loksak or Ziploc bag) once the temperatures change.

As seen in the pictures above, I have been throwing these little packages inside a few different places, and that is cool since they are only 1 gram each! Of course though, that doesn’t mean I can get carried away since everything weighs something, and it all adds up…

So, what do you think about using these dry packs? Do you, or have you in the past, used these, or anything else similar? For those of you that have used them, are there certain ones that you found works better than others?

Thanks for reading!

~Stick~

Disclaimer: I purchased the Silica Dry Packs with my own money.

So, I “needed” to spend $26 on something… but what? There are a few things that I will buy from REI such as Platypus bottles, Esbit tablets or trail snacks, however, for the moment, I am stocked up on those things… So, I looked… and I looked… and I looked some more for something that I could drop about $26 on. What I ended up with is a set (4) of the MSR Carbon Core tent stakes.

I have actually been interested in these stakes for quite a while, however, $30 for 4 is a bit much. I mean, that’s $7.50 PER stake! That is asking a lot, so I never actually gave my money over for them. However, with the 20% off coupon and the $26 that I “needed” to spend at REI, then these fit the bill. Beside’s, I wanted to compare them to some other carbon fiber tent stakes I already had…

Going back a few months ago, I bought a set (4) of the 6″ Sorex stakes from Ruta Locura. These stakes are made up of carbon fiber shafts with aluminum heads and tips on them, much like the MSR Carbon Core tent stakes.  Over the last few months, I have carried 2 of the Sorex stakes on each of my trips and have used them each night I was out. I used these for my ridgeline stake out points while using some smaller titanium shepherd hook stakes from Lawson Kline for the rest of the stake out points. So far though, the carbon fiber stakes have worked out quite well and I am happy with them.

So, as I said, when I got these I wanted to do a little comparison between the 2 tent stakes. So, here are the specs of each stake and my opinions on them:

MSR Carbon Core Tent Stakes

Features a carbon fiber core with a 7000 series aluminum tip and sheath.

• Average weight: 5.5 g (22 g for all 4)
• Length: 6″
• Diameter: 1/4″
• Circumference: 7/8″
• MSRP: $29.95 for 4 ($7.49 each)
• Made in the USA

Ruta Locura Sorex Tent Stakes

Features a carbon fiber shaft with an aluminum tip and head.

• Average weight: 6.25 g (25 g for all 4)
• Length: 6″ (Also offers a 9″ length stake)
• Diameter: 5/16″
• Circumference: 1 & 1/16″
• MSRP: $10.50 for 4 ($2.62 each)
• Made in the USA

Between the 2, the Ruta Locura stakes are definitely a little larger than the MSR stakes, both in length and thickness, which means the Ruta Locura stakes have more surface area which translates into more holding power. On the other hand, since the MSR stakes are a little smaller in diameter, they may be easier to get into harder ground, or in ground that is infested with lots of rocks and roots, but still have more holding power than the smaller ti skewer hook stakes. However, the difference is not huge, so I think that both of these stakes would perform about the same in the same conditions. Just my opinion.

As well, the heads on the stakes are quite different. The head on the Ruta Locura stakes are smaller and flatter, whereas the heads on the MSR stakes are larger around (about the size of a dime) and is somewhat bell-shaped. As a bonus, the MSR stakes feature a small hole through the top of the stake in which a small diameter cord could be fed through it to help remove the stake from hard or frozen ground. The Ruta Locura stakes do not have this feature, but they can be pulled from the ground by looping a piece of cord (guy-line) around the head and pulling up. (Although, sometimes it takes a couple of tries if the guy-line slips off.)

Considering I just got the MSR stakes in today, I have not yet used them, however, upon initial inspection, they seem to be of good quality. None of the heads or tips on the stakes are loose. As I said above, I typically take 2 of the Ruta Locura stakes to guy out my ridge line, but my next trip I will carry 2 of the MSR stakes and see how I like them.

Either way, I feel like they are both good stakes, however, I would still have a hard time opening my wallet and laying down $30 for the MSR stakes (although, that is basically what I did…) By the time shipping is figured in, I could buy 3 sets (12 stakes) from Ruta Locura for the same price as 4 of the MSR stakes! (Not to mention, buying from Ruta Locura helps out the “little guy.”) Because of this, to be honest, I will likely find myself recommending the Ruta Locura stakes over the MSR’s (however, I may mention the MSR’s too…)

Anyway, here is a short little video I did this afternoon showing them both off a little…

Thanks for stopping by!

~Stick~

Disclaimer: I paid for both sets of the stakes mentioned in this post with my own money… or dividend… The opinions within this article are my own.

Some time ago I posted about getting a new camera. The ones I had in mind were somewhat expensive cameras (at least to me), so I knew that if the day came that I could finally get one, I would need to start taking better care of my camera gear when on the trail. Up to this point in time I have always carried my (P&S) camera’s in my front pants pocket. They fit well, weren’t really heavy enough to weigh my pants pockets down and was easy access for when I needed to get my camera out, or put it back up. However, carrying it in my pocket also came at a cost… My pocket did nothing to protect my camera from banging around or from exposure to moisture. Somewhat due to this, in the past I have managed to severely scratch the lens on one camera, and to completely soak another due to poor handling.

Finally, about a week or so ago now, I was finally able to score the camera I wanted, the Panasonic Lumix GF2 with the 14 mm f/2.5 pancake lens! As far as why I wanted this camera, it was due to my already current familiarity with the Lumix line-up, cost, size, weight, and felt that it is a quality camera. It is definitely a step up from my other P&S camera’s, and I feel that it is a good, entry-level camera into more advanced photography. Also, since getting this camera, I have also ordered back-up batteries, a 32 GB SD card and a linear polarizer MRC filter. The total weight of the camera, battery, SD card and a wrist strap is 12.9 oz. (The filter has not come in just yet, but I will update this once it arrives.)

EDIT: The filter arrived yesterday. It is the B+W 46mm Kaesemann Linera Polarizer MRC Filter (linked above), and it weighs exactly 1 oz. The weights are figured in below.

So, after dropping the money for this camera, I have decided that I will make an effort (despite weight) to take better care of it while on the trail. So, I have actually converted my ZPack’s Multipack into a camera bag. To begin with, I used some of the single sided cuben fiber tape to tape all of the seams inside my Multipack to render the Multipack as waterproof as possible. I plan to actually wear the Multipack as a fanny pack, so with a 50″ belt, the Multipack weighs 2.2 oz.

Next, I cut some pieces of 1/4″ CCF pad and then taped them together to form a single compartment that is open on the top. The compartment is large enough for the camera to slide easily in and out and fills most of the Multipack’s interior space. (There is room beside the CCF compartment for my new Ultrapod camera tripod to stand up next to it inside the multipack too.) This CCF compartment weighs 0.7 oz and should provide a good layer of bump protection to the camera when stored inside.

Now, just because I have taped the Multipack and (hopefully) rendered it waterproof, this does not mean I am relying on it to keep my nice, new camera dry. Instead, I have also picked up some of the 6.7″ x 6″ Loksak’s that I plan to keep the camera in should it be raining while hiking. This should provide me with 2 pretty watertight layers and I expect it will keep the camera dry. But that’s not all! I have also picked up a package of 1 g Silica Dry Packs and will also keep 1 of these inside the Loksak, just to help absorb any moisture that happens to be inside the bag as well… The Loksak and the Silica pack weighs 0.3 oz.

In past use, I found the Multipack very easy to access when worn as a fanny pack. Once I made the CCF compartment, I slid it inside the Multipack, and due to the single, large opening on the CCF compartment, I found it easy to slide the camera in and out, even if the camera is inside the Loksak. In short, I feel like (hope) this system will help keep my camera safe and dry, yet still easily accessible. Here is a photo of the camera inside the Loksak, then inside the CCF compartment inside the Multipack. (Also, note the Ultrapod standing up beside it.)

So, I am happy with my new camera, and I feel confident in my new carrying system! However, this is coming at a cost, and I don’t mean money (well, I do, but I have already covered that…) I mean weight. My previous camera weighed in at a whopping 4.7 oz with the battery & SD card. I was using the Joby Gorillapod, which also added another 1.5 oz. Then, account for the back-up battery that I will always carry, that was an additional 0.7 oz. This meant I was carrying a total of 6.9 oz of camera gear. Now that has changed… In case you haven’t added it all up yet, here is the breakdown of the new camera gear:

• Camera with battery, SD card, filter & wrist strap: 13.9 oz
• Multipack with 50″ belt: 2.2 oz
• DIY CCF compartment: 0.7 oz
• Loksak with Silica pack: 0.3 oz
• Ultrapod camera tripod: 1.8 oz
• Extra battery: 1.6 oz

This is a total weight of 20.5 oz, so, I have taken a huge jump in camera gear… now let’s just hope I can improve my skills!

As well, in the future, I do plan on upgrading the 14 mm lens to the 20 mm f/1.7 Pancake lens… but I gotta save the money up for that one!

Thanks for reading everyone!

~Stick~

Disclaimer: I paid for all of these items with my own money that I worked durn hard for!

The Wonderland Trail will be my first hike out west, so this in itself has got me pretty excited about this hike. Of course too, after reading other people’s comments, scrolling through other’s photo’s and watching other’s video’s on the Wonderland Trail has also stoked the fire within me a bit too! Of course though, the trail is also notorious for being slightly challenging, however, I am looking forward to the challenge, as well as the scenery…

Here is a very brief summary of the Wonderland Trail from the National Park Service:

The Wonderland Trail (WT) is 93 miles (150kms) long and encircles Mount Rainier. It is a strenuous hike with lots of elevation gain and loss, through lowland forests and valleys and into high alpine and sub-alpine areas.

So, as I said, now I am just waiting to see what kind of itinerary we can get, and then will take it from there. In the meantime though, I am of course working on reading up as much as I can on the trail and the conditions, as well as studying maps and preparing for the hike as much as I can at this point. Saying this, there have been a few really great Wonderland Trail resources that I have been able to get my hands on that has been very helpful to begin preparing for the trail.

The first resource is the book that I posted about in late 2010, “Discovering the Wonders of the Wonderland Trail: Encircling Mount Rainier“ by Bette Filley. This is a great book that describes the area itself and what one can expect to see and find there, as well as a quite detailed hiking log which includes mileage, elevation changes, information on campsites, water sources and lots of other useful information.

As well, Steve (from Willis Wall Multimedia) is a bit of an expert on the trail. He has thru-hiked the Wonderland Trail over 25 times and has a true passion for the trail. And in the process of spending so much of his time on the trail, he has documented (on video) probably every step of the trail! Really, he has… You can head over to his site and pick up his Complete Wonderland Trail Series and watch every inch of the trail. He has videos broken down by camp site to camp site, (as well as video of each individual campsite within each campsite), a video that shows all of the water sources, as well as a video of the entire 93 mile trail (sped up of course)! You can get them all, or just get the ones that you need… And don’t worry, these videos are high quality videos and really does a great job at showing everything. So far, these videos have made planning my trip a good deal easier… heck, I can even figure out which number campsite at each of the campsites I will be at that I would like to get!

Here is an introductory film that goes over some of what you can expect to find in his videos:

(Might I add that this really is a very comprehensive video set, and for those that would like the most info they can get to plan a hike along the Wonderland Trail, this is very likely it. It is nice that it comes on a thumb drive too as this allows you to easily carry it anywhere to access it.)

Another particular resource that I found to be helpful in planning my trip is the site wonderlandtrailguide.com. This site also breaks down a lot of information about the trail, but I think my favorite part of the site is the Interactive Trail Planner found on the site. For me, this has allowed me to move my sites around and easily get a (basic) look at the distance and to plan the trip. This was nice as there were certain sites that I wanted to try to get, so it made moving things around fun and helpful.

So, other than this I am also starting a C25K series again, and then working up from there. I will admit, I don’t go to the gym, and with my work and family schedule, it is hard for me to get much exercise done. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying it can’t be done, I am just saying that I have been quite lax in making myself do anything after long days at work… However, in order for me to enjoy this hike, I need to be in better shape (after all, there is 22,000+ feet of elevation gain within this short, 93 mile stretch). So, I will be starting with the C25K series and then taking it from there. Of course too, there are a couple more hikes that I have between then and now… One in which we will be hiking 77+ miles in 3 days!

And let’s not forget gear! I do have a gear list that I am working on, however, to be quite honest, it is not complete, and will likely not be complete for a while… who knows what I will have in my closet to choose from by the time that I head out on this hike! Whatever it is though, you can bet it will be at least a “UL” set-up…  

So, for now we wait. Once we get a confirmation on the itinerary, we will begin to start planning all of the logistics involved with getting ready for the hike… So, I am definitely looking forward to this! I am sure that I will do an update to this though before I actually head out on the hike…

Thanks for reading!

~Stick~

Disclaimer: Steve Burgess from Willis Wall Multimedia provided me with the complete set of the Wonderland Trail Series videos in order to help me prepare for my hike. I have no affiliation with Steve and was not required to mention his site, or his items in this, or any other post. However, after watching his videos, it is my personal opinion that this is a very good source of information on the Wonderland Trail, and I personally recommend his site and his videos for others that are looking to do the Wonderland Trail in the future.

I recently posted about a few items that David Gardner from GOLD Gear Lite sent me to use on my most recent hike. Those items were a solo tarp made from polycro, a pair of fixed-length carbon fiber trekking poles and a Fanatic Solo Cook Kit. And as promised, I carried each of these items with me on the hike, although it was a short hike. I used the trekking poles all 20 miles of the hike, as well as to set up the tarp with for 1 night. I also used the cook kit to prepare my dinner the first night, and then breakfast the second night. Despite that this is a very short period of time/use for these items, I did learn a little about each item that I wasn’t aware of before hand, and have decided to do my usual post hike gear talk on these items in specific.

The trekking poles saw the most use/time. These were used for the entire hike, as well as for setting up my shelter the first night.

First and foremost, these poles left me with the impression of being quite strong. They are carbon fiber, and they do get quite narrow in diameter towards the bottom of the poles, but despite this, I felt just as secure about using these pole as I have any other poles. I can only assume that since these are one solid piece, that this is where the strength derives from. They simply felt solid during the hike, and I had no problems with trusting them to hold up my entire body weight (~200 lbs) as I hopped across some of the streams along the Kimsey Creek Trail.

The simple, smooth, rounded, EVA foam grip handles were also a bit more comfortable than I had anticipated. I will admit, I have become spoiled with the contoured grips on my LT4′s, however, after using the GOLD Gear lite poles for this short, 20 mile section, I didn’t find the foam grips to be uncomfortable at all. Although, on a lesser note, I did find that my hands were black from using the grips. I imagine that this is from the dye in the handles, and hope that it will go away with more use. The top of the handles have a small, hard plastic cap that covers the end of the pole which is flush against the handle. When palming the ends of the poles, I found these caps to be comfortable enough.

The tips on the poles seem to be pretty solid and I experienced no issues with them. As well, the baskets stayed in place as expected, however, I wish I would have removed them before going. I generally keep a loose grip on the handles of my poles so that I can let go of them if need be. When hiking, the baskets kept getting caught in rocks, roots or random things, so I was constantly stopping, turning around and picking up my pole. (Craig said he was going to start calling me “Drop” because of this…)

As far as the tarp, this trip was originally planned to be a 2 night trip, however, due to the amount of people we saw on the trail, as well as the slopes at the camp site we were due to stay at the second night, we hiked out at the end of the second day. So, I only used the tarp one night.

For me, I found that what I absolutely like the best about this tarp is the fact that it is completely see-through. Some have commented that this will not allow any privacy, and I agree, that is completely true. However, I don’t rely on my tarp as a privacy screen, but rather as a shield from the elements. I don’t usually find myself hanging out inside the tarp during the day, but instead when I am ready to lay down. At this point, it is dark, and that is enough privacy for me.

But, being able to lay there that night, on my back with my hands propped up behind my head and gazing up into the sky and being able to see all the stars glittering and twinkling in the night was just awesome. Especially when I consider that I was indeed inside a shelter, which happened to be blocking most of the breezes that blew through trying to steal away my warmth, and that if a sudden late night shower did come on, I was safe from it. The bottom line, this tarp allows me all the benefits of cowboy camping along with the benefits of having a full size tarp over me.

As far as room is concerned, I also found plenty of that, even with the tarp pitched all the way to the ground, although, the vertical room was just enough. When sitting on my pad, my head was all up in the top of the tarp. But, ground-wise, there was plenty of room at the head, foot, and both sides of the tarp, even with my MLD Bug Bivy pitched underneath. (There is also a ridge line inside the tarp which not only made it easy for me to pitch the bug bivy underneath it, but it also takes some of the stress from pitching the tarp tight off of the tarp itself.) Between the room under the tarp, along with the fact that it is see-through, this tarp really felt opened up and spacious.

I did guy out the beaks on both ends of the tarp that night. I was wanting to see if I would get much condensation when using the tarp with both ends closed off. The next morning when I woke up, the inside was as dry as it was when I set it up the night before. However, we were set up on the top of a mountain, and around 11 pm that night we did get a pretty constant wind. And despite that both beaks were closed, and that both long edges were pitched to the ground, there was still a fair amount of air circulating through the tarp, which is likely why I did not wake up with any condensation under the tarp.

As far as the beaks, I found that I had a little bit of an issue trying to get them tight. When I laid down that night for bed, the wind was not really blowing, however, when it started up later that night, I knew it. I woke up because of the beaks flapping in the wind, particularly the one at the head end. At first I laid there for a bit thinking I would get over it, but it was too annoying, so I decided to get up, relieve myself and then tinker around with the beaks. I tried moving it to get it tighter and almost pulled the grommet out of the end tie-out for the beak. In the end, I just wedged my shoe and my Gatorade bottles against it to tension it up and reduce the noise. It worked fine until around 3 am when I had to get up to readjust it all. So, it looks like it will take some more tinkering with for me to get the beaks tightened up so they don’t flap in the wind.

Also, when setting up camp, I decided I would store my pack at the foot end of my bug bivy (under the tarp). So, instead of opening one side of the beak, I just lifted the bottom edge of the beak up a little and slid my pack under. In the process of doing this, I ended up pulling a bit of tape that secured one of the beaks to the tarp loose. It was not much, and it did not affect things, but this makes me wonder how the tarp will hold up in day in and day out use. As far as the tarp itself, I feel pretty good about it in most conditions, however, it is the constant setting up, tearing down, and just overall use that makes me wonder…

Overall though, I am pretty happy with the tarp. Like I said, there is something to be said about being able to see everything while being protected from everything at the same time. This in itself makes this tarp a really sweet option.

Then we have the cook kit.

I really enjoy messing with different cook kits, and the Fanatic Solo Cook Kit was no exception. David has put together a compact, lightweight, multifuel cook system that is really interesting.

For this trip, I decided to go with the alcohol set-up rather than wood or Esbit (which this cook kit is capable of). The biggest reason for this is because of the way the cook kit packs up. When packed up, the bottom of the cook pot is exposed, which means that if the bottom of the cook pot is covered in soot or residue, it will get all over anything it comes into contact with. Of course, I could put the entire cook system inside a Ziploc bag, or just make another, smaller reflectix cover to fit over the bottom, but at the time, I was not interested in doing this.

Packing was something that I did change-up just a little with this kit. Originally, the ground sheet and the windscreen was stored loose inside the cook pot. I found that it was a little difficult to remove the windscreen from the inside of the cook pot, so I simply put a rubber band around the windscreen. I made sure that it was wide enough to fit over the stove, but loose enough to not get stuck in the cook pot. Also, considering the ground sheet can get a bit dirty when using, I decided to store the ground sheet outside the cook pot when stored up. (All of this can be seen in the video at the beginning of this post.)

Before I left out on the hike, I made sure to use the cook kit at least once, just to figure out how much fuel I would need to carry. After using it at home, and now on the trail, I will plan to carry 1 oz of fuel per 2 cups of water that I plan to boil, which is pretty average considering I like to have just a little extra fuel, just in case.

When on the trail, I used the cook kit to boil water for my dinner and some hot tea the first night, and then again to boil water for my oatmeal and some coffee the next morning. For dinner, the cook kit did just fine at bringing 2 cups of water to a full, rolling boil, with only 1 oz of fuel (measured out with the supplied measuring cup), and this was with a pretty light, but constant wind blowing. (Of course, I did use my body as a wind block too.) However, the next morning I had to add a bit more fuel to the stove when the stove went out before bringing 2 cups of water to a boil. Maybe the water was colder? I set the kit up behind the famous Bly Gap tree to use as a wind block, and still used the windscreen, but it just didn’t work. I am not really sure what happened here…

Also, David paints the bottom of the cans with some sort of black paint, which is supposed to slightly increase the boil times and/or efficiency. After the first time I used the set-up, I noticed that the paint started to come off in a circle, right where the pot set on top of the stove. After a few more uses, it is still continuing to come off. This is not a problem to me, but, twice now, when picking up the cook pot with boiling water, the stove has stuck to the bottom of the cook pot. This was a bit of a shocker when I realized I not only picked up a pot of boiling water, but also the burning stove at the same time! I am hoping that with a little more use though, that this will not happen anymore.

So, all-in-all, I like these items that David has sent me. Like I said, I only have limited use with them so far, but I do plan to use them more over time. They are not all perfect by any means… the tarp is a true “UL” item in that one does need to be quite careful when using it; also, the cook pot is the same way in that it is simply a beer can with no reinforced side walls, so it is also quite fragile. However, this is the nature of these materials, and in my opinion, is not necessarily a fault. After using the items, I can tell that David has put a lot of time and thought into creating his items, and feel like the craftsmanship is very good. So, will they work for everyone? Nope. But I do feel like there are crowds out there that this stuff will fit right in with. But, it’s all up to the user… My only advice for those interested in some of David’s items is to be a bit experienced with lightweight gear in the first place.

So, I would like to thank David for sending these items to me to be able to use. I enjoyed using them on my last hike, and do plan to use them more in the future…

Thanks for reading everyone!

~Stick~

Disclaimer: David Gardner from GOLD Gear Lite provided me with the items mentioned above, however, the comments and statements within this post are of my own opinion, formed after using the items myself.

We stopped in Hiawasse, grabbed a quick breakfast at McDonald’s, then headed towards Indian Springs campground (USFS71 is closed until April1st). From there, we slung our packs on, grabbed our trekking poles and began our hike along the Kimsey Creek Trail.

The Kimsey Creek Trail is a 4 mile trail that stretches from the Standing Indian Campgrounds to the Appalachian Trail at Deep Gap/USFS71. The beginning of the Kimsey Creek Trail has been said to be a little confusing, so before leaving, I had printed off a hand-drawn map that Ron Haven has made available. Despite the map, we still found ourselves wondering around a bit, but in the end, we got back on track and all was well.

The Kimsey Creek trail is a really pretty trail. As suggested, it follows Kimsey Creek for the most part of it, so water is in abundance. There were a number of small falls along the hike, including a very pretty side-by-side fall (see the video below). There were sections of the trail that seemed to actually go through a stream, as well as a few stream crossings. We also came across occasional patches of snow along the trail, which I thought was awesome! Of course though, it was not enough snow to make hiking difficult, but enough to make everything look pretty.

A couple of hours later we arrived at Deep Gap. Before heading south along the AT we decided to stop and have some lunch. (As a side note, there are dumpsters there, so this is a great place to empty some trash that hikers have been carrying.)

After we finished eating our lunch, we began our hike up the AT. As was expected, we began meeting a number of thru-hikers once on the AT, as well as a few section, weekend and day hikers. Our plans were to stay at Muskrat Creek Shelter that night, however, JJ had mentioned that she would like to head up to Bly Gap for the night. Once we made it the short, 4 miles along the AT we arrived at the shelter, where we found an already full shelter. Those there were also talking about a number of other hikers that were expected to be there for the night, so it wasn’t a hard decision for us to decide to simply refill our water, then head another 3 miles down the trail to Bly Gap.

Bly Gap is just north of the GA/NC border, and is famous for the twisted, gnarled tree (as seen in the first photo as well as the photo directly below). There are a number of sites to set-up camp here at the gap, which had already began filling up by other hikers. So, we quickly picked our own slab of ground (or air-space in Craig’s case) and began setting up our homes for the night.

JJ’s MLD Duomid set up under the tree at Bly Gap

Once we had gotten settled in a bit, we all began cooking our meals, watching the other hikers, and just talking amongst ourselves about all things backpacking/hiking… I used the Fanatic Solo cook kit (which was supplied to me by David Gardner of GOLD Gear Lite) to boil water for a hot tea and my dinner. Soon after, night began to creep in, which resulted in a sky filled with stars…beautiful. I sat there under the stars and finished up my meal (the All American Burger Wrap from Packit Gourmet)… Once finished, I cleaned everything up, then Craig and I threw a bear line, and hung our food. After this, we stayed up for a while longer, planning other hikes!

The next morning was just as beautiful as the night, maybe just a little cooler, but this was ok because the sun was shining and would soon warm it up a bit more than I wanted. I laid inside my bag for a while, just enjoying being where I was, snuggled up in my sleeping bag and warm. And of course, being under a polycro tarp (also supplied to me from David Gardner from GOLD Gear) I was able to see everything going on around me, which made staying in my warm, cozy bed while interacting with everyone even easier.

However, I couldn’t stay snuggled up forever, so after a bit I got up, got dressed and started heating more water for my breakfast. After breakfast we all began tearing down our shelters and packing back up. While doing so, JJ spotted a gnome that one of the thru hikers in the camp was carrying, so we went and checked it out…

After signing the gnome, we finished packing up and took a few more pictures before heading out.

Just around a few turns after leaving Bly Gap, we came to the official GA/NC border. I had been after this spot since me and my wife’s first hike. It was our plans to hike to the border then, however, we weren’t able to make it due to my wife getting quite sick. Since then, I have done other small sections trying to finish the state up (as well as doing a few sections over…and over). But on this day, I met it… however, it was not yet quite fulfilled. I had to finish hiking the few miles into Dick’s Creek Gap to actually finish the state of GA up…

After hiking past the state line, we started heading up again, and into a bit more snow. For the most part, much of the snow had melted, but in some of the higher areas we came across some deep drifts that were still lingering. However, I enjoyed it all. It wasn’t enough to soak my feet, or to really make hiking difficult, although, there were a few areas that were slick considering the ascent. As well, we came across a very large snow ball in the middle of the trail…

Craig and his giant snowball

Again, Craig and I had planned to stop in at Plumorchard Gap Shelter for our second night, however, while hiking, we decided to hike on past it to a random campsite, hoping to avoid a crowded shelter.  But, once we got to the blue blaze trail that led to the shelter, we decided to stop and have some lunch. As well, Craig and I headed down towards the shelter and refilled our water bottles. After doing so, we all sat under a large tree at the trail head and ate our lunch, and again, met a number of people…

After eating, Craig and I headed on up the trail and was planning to meet up with JJ at the camp site that Craig and I would stay at that night. After a few more miles we arrived at the camp site. Once walking into the camp site, I wasn’t to thrilled with the sites as they were sloped, and the ground was really rocky. So, after some discussion, we decided that we would wait on JJ to arrive, and then we would all just hike the last mile out and call it a hike. Shortly after, JJ arrived, and we finished our hike…

Once I arrived back at Dick’s Creek Gap, I had officially completed the GA section of the AT! So, now I am looking at chipping away at NC…although, I already have a large section of it completed too!  :)

So, all-in-all, it was a really great trip. No one got hurt, except for one of Craig’s LT4 poles… But the weather was excellent the whole time, although, I would have been ok if it had been a little cooler still. I finally got to meet up with JJ for a hike (which is always cool meeting the other bloggers), not to mention all the other hikers out on the trail, whether it was for the day, the weekend, the month or an entire thru hike. I finished up a state, and made some plans for more hikes with Craig… So, I am writing this hike off as a success!

Anyway, here is the videos that I shot from the hike:

As well, here is a link to all the photos I took while on the hike:

March AT Section Hike: Standing Indian Campground to Dick’s Creek Gap

And be sure to check out this trip from JJ’s perspective here:

Weekend Hike with New Friends

So, thanks for stopping by everyone!

~Stick~

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It’s finally here! (Not that I really had to wait too long…)

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I place a preorder for the new Yama Mountain Gear Cirriform SW Tent, and today it showed up on my doorstep! Now, I was actually supposed to be packing for a hike this weekend, but when the mail lady knocked on my door, I knew that I was going to have to take a minute, open it, set it up and check it out… Plus, I figured if I was going through all of that trouble, I may as well go ahead and do some video to show it to the rest of you!

So, this is Gen’s newest addition to the Yama Mountain Gear’s site. This is a fully enclosed shelter, which uses a 0.8 oz/sqyd cuben fiber on the canopy, and 30D silnylon on the floor. I liked this idea since as I understand it, cuben fiber has a low tolerance to abrasion, however, I have never had any issues with any of my cuben fiber. Either way though, I liked the idea of using silnylon as the floor.  Also, this tent is based on the A-Frame set-up, which I am also just fine with. I don’t mind crawling in and out of the front of the tent, and find that they have plenty of interior room for my needs. Not to mention, it is easy enough to set up.

Anyway, I don’t have time to get into a lot of details right now, and this post and video is not about that, but instead, just simply showing off my new, awesome tent! I did climb inside the tent and there is plenty of room. Even with my large size NeoAir XLite, there is plenty of room, but I will say, I forgot how slippery silnylon floors can be…

Anyway, I gotta go and finish packing for my trip this weekend, so I hope that you enjoy the video.

Thanks for stopping by,

~Stick~

Disclaimer: I paid the full price for this tent with my own money, and have no affiliation with Yama Mountain Gear (other than I just bought this tent). 

David Gardner is a long time backpacker who has recently started his own, small, cottage company called GOLD Gear (Gardner Outdoor Lightweight Design’s), in which he focuses on making ultralight weight backpacking gear. Some of the items that he is focusing on are tarps (of various sizes) made from Polycro, carbon fiber trekking poles and a number of different multi-fuel cook kits. Other items he has listed on his site are a bug bivy bivy sack and an attachment for a 10′ Tenkara Japanese fly fishing poles, which fits onto his trekking poles.

(For a more in-depth interview with David, check out a recent interview that Section Hiker did with David HERE.)

So, a little while back, David contacted me via email and asked me if I would be interested in reviewing any of his items, so I said sure. Then today, I got home and found a large box beside my door… just itching to be torn into…

The first items that I pulled out of the box were a pair of his FL (Fixed-Length) carbon fiber trekking poles. When talking to me about the poles, I asked him to make these 43″ long from the bottom of the tip to the top of the handle (which they are, exactly). As far as options, I decided to just go with the regular handles (considering 43″ is a little short and I have never found myself needing to reach lower than the grips themselves) and the tips which will accept baskets. The total weight for my set of poles, with baskets, are 6.8 oz.

Other options that he offers for his trekking poles are the “MHP” (Multi-Hand Position) poles which allow a user to choke down on the poles as much as 13″ due to the longer EVA Foam grip, which simulates either lengthening or shortening the poles. He also offers straps for the poles, as well as a carbide tip which does, or does not, accept baskets. (If the basket compatible tips are chosen, a pair of baskets are included with the poles, but add 0.4 oz per basket.)

As far as first impressions, I have got to say that I am pretty excited about these trekking poles. They appear to be well constructed with no loose parts or issue for concern. The tips are straight and tight, as well as the EVA Foam grip handles. The only real concern I have with these is the fact that they are fixed length, which does not really count against the poles themselves. In the past I have went from using 3 piece poles, to 2 piece poles, and now these 1 piece poles… My concern will mostly be with traveling with them, which I will find out about this weekend!

The next item I pulled out of the huge box, filled to the brim with packaging peanuts, was the Fanatic Solo Cook Kit. The set that I received came with:

• Reflectix Cozy: 0.7 oz
• 750 ml Pot w/Lid: 1 oz
• Base Sheet Heat Reflector: 0.3 oz
• Titanium Esbit Burner: 1.2 g (weight not read on my scale, this is the listed weight)
• 2 Titanium Stakes: 0.3 oz
• Ramjet ECO Alcohol Stove: 1.1 oz
• Titanium Windscreen: 0.9 oz

When everything is packed up together and placed on my scale, the total weight is 4.3 oz. My kit also came with an 8 oz fuel bottle, and a measuring cup (these weights are not included in the total weight above.) Another option to help lighten this kit up is the Ramjet UL alcohols stove, which is listed at 10 g lighter than the Ramjet ECO alcohol stove. As well, David also offers these cook kits set-up for 2 and 3 people too.

This system is actually a multi-fuel stove. Of course, this system can be used as either an alcohol set-up or as an Esbit set-up, but since the windscreen and the base sheet heat reflector are made from Titanium, then these items will also stand up to the heat of a wood fire. Depending on which fuel source one chooses to use, will depend on how the set-up is set up. For alcohol set-ups, the cook pot will sit directly on the Ramjet alcohol stove. If Esbit is preferred, one simply inserts the 2 titanium stakes through the holes punched in the sides of the windscreen, which creates a pot stand. For wood fires, there are half circles punched in the very top lip of the windscreen, which allows the stakes to lay down into the grooves, and again, creating the pot stand.

I have went out and used the set-up in the alcohol set-up (I couldn’t resist). It was quite windy outside, however, I got behind a small wall and used my body to block most of the wind coming from the opposite direction, which is how I would also do in the field. Next, I filled the Ramjet ECO alcohol stove with 25 ml of SLX Denatured alcohol and filled the cook pot with 16 oz of cold, tap water. It took the stove right around 6 minutes and 15 seconds to bring the water to a full, rolling boil and then burned out around 6 minutes and 50 seconds.  Considering this, I am planning at least 1 oz of fuel per expected 2 cups of water I need in the field for my trip this weekend. I have not yet tried the cook pot in either Esbit or wood burning mode. For this trip, I am going to stick with the alcohol, and know that I can rely on wood for a backup, however, once I get back I will try out the Esbit mode for sure.

The kit packs up nicely, however, a bit backwards from how I am used to doing so. The pot lid is the first item to go inside the reflectix cozy, followed by the stove. The stove is the same diameter as the cozy which means it fits snuggly inside the cozy, however, this also means it is a bit tight and takes a bit of work to get it out of the cozy. Then, the Esbit stove can drop down inside the alcohol stove, and the ti stakes can stand up inside the alcohol stove too. The windscreen is rolled up inside the cook pot, along with the heat reflector. I found out quickly that getting the windscreen out of the cook pot can be a bit of a hassle as well since it springs open and rolls around the inside of the cook pot, which has a lip at the top. As well, once I use the ground sheet, I am not too keen about putting it back inside my cook pot as they typically get dirty and I try to avoid putting dirty stuff inside my cook pots. Last, the cook pot is flipped upside down and drops over the stove, inside the cozy. The outer wall of the stove actually fits just over the top of the cook pot, which helps to strengthen the cook pots most vulnerable area. However, here again, this is backwards from what I am used to, and this leaves the bottom of the cook pot exposed. If using wood or Esbit, this would be an easy way to get everything inside my pack nasty since the bottom of the cook pot would be caked with soot and Esbit residue. Of course I can make a cover out of some more reflectix, but at a weight penalty.

The last item that I pulled out of the box was his solo tarp made from Polycro. The tarp comes fully taped around all the edges (in order to deter the Polycro material from tearing), as well as with both, a front, and back beak, that can be guyed out, or opened up and Velcro-ed out-of-the-way. The tie outs actually have washers inside them to keep the guy lines (or shock cords) from tearing out of the tape when guyed out. There is also a single ridgeline inside the tarp, which comes in handy for attaching my bug bivy too. Then, the entire tarp is stuffed inside a bag, which to me looks like a turkey bag (although, this is not verified).

After I added 2 pieces of GloWire (about 9.5′ long, each) to each ridgeline, the total weight of everything came in at exactly 10 oz. Then, once I add in 12 stakes (two 6″ Sorex stakes and 10 ti hook stakes) the total shelter weight is 12.9 oz. Of course, this does not include a ground sheet, or a bug bivy, or anything else. For my trip this weekend, I plan on bringing my MLD Bug Bivy, just to kind of help hold everything together (I am hoping for some snow!)

Anyway, as far as the tarp, David has stated that he has had one of his tarps set up in his back yard since October of last year, and that so far, it has stood up to everything that mother nature has thrown at it. This is definitely good to know, but I will admit, I am still a bit curious to see how I will do with a shelter made from Polycro when on the trail this weekend. Going outside today and setting it up was pretty easy in itself, and it seemed to be pretty secure, but only time will tell. So, I will be using it for at least 2 nights this weekend, and possibly 3…

Anyway, I am looking forward to carrying this gear with me this weekend to see how it does, and I would like to thank David for giving me the opportunity to do so. So, be sure to check out my videos once I get back as I am quite sure that I will show off these items a little more, and talk about them too while on the hike…

Til then…

~Stick~

Disclaimer: David Gardner (from GOLD Gear) has supplied me with the items mentioned above at no cost, and for the purpose of this review, as well as personal feedback. The comments and statements within this write-up, as well as the video, are of my own opinion which I formed after actually handling these items.

I have been getting a few messages and comments lately asking me about the knot that I keep referring to in random posts, blog entries and YouTube videos. So, I figured I would take a few minutes today to do a video and show everyone the knot. However, I would like to say that I actually came across this knot on another YouTube video entitled “Small selection of knots used in bushcraft” by the user “maveraver,” and have been using it since. (I suggest checking out his video for a few other knot selections as well…)

So, to begin with, why do I use this knot as opposed to say, lineloc’s? Well, here are a few reasons:

1. This knot is very easy to tie.
2. This knot is even easier to untie.
3. This knot just works.
4. This knot is lighter than lineloc’s.
5. A knot cannot “break” (unless, maybe, it is tied wrong…)

The real benefits of using this knot for me is that I can easily, and quickly, adjust the tension on my lines when using this knot, which comes in handy when setting up my shelters (especially silnylon shelters). As well, I have found that this knot works well with a wide range of different diameter cords, although, when using cords with smaller diameters (such as the LiteTrail GLine) in windy situations, or cords with slick coatings, it is helpful to throw a half-hitch or 2 after setting the tension on the cord.

Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy the LineLoc 3′s and am looking forward to getting my new Yama Mountain Gear Cirriform SW tent, which comes with these loaded, but when I am looking to cut weight, well, LineLoc’s are redundant, and therefore, useless weight. I will admit though, I have never been much of a fan of the smaller cord locks.

Anyway, I am sure that there are situations in which this “adjustable knot” may not be the best option, however, for everything I have been using knots for, it has been just fine. As well, I am sure that this knot has a different name, but I am not aware of what it is… so if anyone else maybe knows a more “technical” name, feel free to share…

Thanks for watching everyone, and hope this helps some!

~Stick~

Over the last couple of years I have made great efforts to lighten my pack weight, and for good reason. When I first started backpacking a few years ago my pack weight started right at 60 lbs, and for a September hike at that! But hey, I was green as green could be. None of my friends were backpackers and there is nothing around the area where I live that has anything to do with backpacking. So, I did like many do, picked up items that I thought were necessary, threw them into a huge 90 liter backpack, and then set off down the trail…

Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed our very first hike, although, it also made me wonder if it would be more enjoyable if I had a lighter backpack… So, over time I became active on a few backpacking forums, as well as started doing more research to find ways to lighten my pack, which I have since accomplished. I am now averaging around a 9 – 11 lb base weight in (Southeast) cold conditions, and anywhere from 6-8 lbs in cooler and warmer weather. However, I have managed to push my pack weight down to a mere 3.9 lbs on a previous hike last year! (Of course, these are base pack weights, meaning the weights before I add in food, water or fuel.)

So, now my pack is lighter, and in the process of getting there I have experimented with a somewhat wide range of gear in order to get my pack weight down, while remaining comfortable, and more importantly safe. (Although, this does not mean I am done “experimenting” with new gear.) However, now I have been toying with adding a “luxury” item back into my pack on particular trips. I mean let’s face it, my pack weight is light enough now, so by adding in a half a pound or so of “luxury” still won’t hurt me, so why not if the trip allows it? And as the title of this post hints at, the luxury item I have been adding back in is a Kindle.

I enjoy reading books, but have decided not to carry them on backpacking trips because some books can easily weigh up to a full pound! So, this past Christmas I hinted at wanting a Kindle so that I could then carry my books on the trail, but at a lighter weight. And wouldn’t you know it… my wife got me a Kindle!

Now, I didn’t ask for the newest, most fully featured, bell’s & whistle’s version of the Kindle either, instead, I asked for the most basic one, and for a few reasons. Number one, it is lighter (6 oz) than any of the other Kindles (or other “eReader’s for that matter). Number two, I did not want a touch screen so that I could still operate my Kindle with gloves on if need be. And number three, well, in case I break it… I will admit though, the one thing that I do wish this Kindle had is a back light. When using my plain-Jane Kindle at night, I still have to rely on my headlamp to light the “book” up.

So now I’m able to bring as many books on the trail as I want, and all at one, low weight! However, the Kindle can also be a useful tool while on the trail considering I have been able to download the Appalachian Trail Companion Guide, as well as some elevation profile maps as PDF files to my Kindle. I will admit though, pulling a Kindle out during the middle of a thunder-storm and trying to find information about the trail is less than ideal, however, it is an option (given appropriate cover is made to shelter the Kindle from the rain).

As far as carrying the Kindle on the trail, I just used a quart sized Ziploc bag to slip it into to protect it from moisture. This has worked well, however, I have only carried it on one trip so far (which just so happens to be the one trip that my camera got soaked on…) I have also been thinking about picking up some of the small, moisture absorbing silica packs just to drop one in the bag with the Kindle, just in case some moisture does sneak in. Of course, once I seal the Ziploc at home, as long as I don’t open it on the trail, moisture should not be an issue so much then either.

So, I’ve got to admit, I’m pretty excited about being able to take my Kindle with me on the trail. I typically take a while to fall asleep once laying down at night, so the Kindle gives me something to do, and sometimes helps to put me to sleep. Of course though, the Kindle will only make it on some trips, mainly the ones where we are doing short miles each day and weight is not so much a concern. But for my trips in which I plan to hike longer periods of time, and when weight will be more of an issue, it will simply stay at home. Either way, at only 6 oz, I am still comfortable adding it back into my (ultra)light pack.

Shameless Plug:

For those of you that do have Kindles, I would like to let you know that I have recently added my blog to the Kindle Store list. So, if you would like, you can subscribe to my blog for $0.99/month by simply typing in “Stick’s Blog” in the search bar on the Amazon site, or by going HERE (also, note that the first 14 days are free, so feel free to give it a try). The subscription will work on even the simplest of Kindles such as mine (see the video above for an example). Each time I make an entry on my blog, that entry will automatically be zipped away and updated right on your Kindle (assuming it is connected to the web). As well, once the entry is loaded onto your Kindle, an internet connection is not required to read the entry.

Thanks for reading everyone!

~Stick~

Disclaimer: If you do sub to my blog via the Kindle Store site, I will be eligible to make a few cents off of the subscription.

Today I took my ZPacks 6.5 x 10 cuben fiber flat tarp outside to play with some more pitches. I had recently pitched it in a Half-Pyramid pitch and was quite pleased with the amount of room as well as protection it offered. At 6.5 feet wide by 10 feet long, you can imagine that this pitch opened up a lot of room underneath it. In fact, I can lay two 20 inch wide pads underneath it and still have a little play room, however, this does position one of the pads pretty close to the front opening…

Once I got the tarp set up in the Half-Pyramid, I started thinking about storm mode and trying to figure out how I could make it work. So, first thing, I buttoned down all 3 of the sides all the way to the ground. Surprisingly, this still allowed enough room for me to lay down and still not hit the walls. Although, there is a possibility that with a thick, fluffy bag, it may brush the wall, but not by much, and not enough to cause me concern. What did cause me concern though was the tall, front opening. At 6.5 feet wide, I had to extend my GG LT4 pole out pretty far to get the pitch right, which would allow lots of room for rain to blow in.

So, I grabbed my good ole’ Cloudkilt and got to work on attaching it to the front to form a beak. Some may recall that when I pitch the tarp in the A-Frame, I can also attach the Cloudkilt to one end of the tarp and close it off, then with a little thought, I realized that I could also attach it as a beak in the Half-Pyramid pitch. To do this, I simply used 2 of my longer guy lines on the back corners, which allowed me to pull them up and tie off the top corners of the Cloudkilt. Then I attached 2 of the shorter guy lines to the front corners, and these tied off the bottom corners of my Cloudkilt. Then I looped the pull cord in the Cloudkilt over the tip of the trekking pole. This actually made a pretty nice little beak, and one that I think would work if need be.

But, it didn’t end there…

I pulled out my new GoLite Chrome Dome umbrella that I recently got, opened it up and set it on the ground to fill in the gap at the bottom of the front entrance.  Of course this will take some tinkering with in order to keep the umbrella in place… but I think that it could be done pretty well.

So, I am pretty excited about the set-up, not to mention piecing all of the items together (multi-use). Of course I have not put it to the test, but I think that it would definitely be promising. Only time will tell…

Thanks for stopping by!

~Stick~

But, as any other piece of gear, an umbrella is not “magic.” If the trail that one happens to be walking down is grown over, then trying to drag an umbrella through all the growth could be considerably more trouble than it is worth! As well, if the wind is really kicking up, and in multiple directions, there is a good chance that the umbrella will end up inside-out, and possibly broken. And if there is lots of wind, it will be likely that there will also be side-driven rain, which means an umbrella may not be the right tool for the job in this situation…

I have used umbrella’s around town, or when unlucky enough to get a close parking spot at work, however, this is not really “testing” grounds for using one while backpacking, but it is hands on. Then after reading about other’s experiences with umbrella’s, and my limited experiences (as noted above), I decided that I would like to try one out. Now, this has been a while back that I decided on this, but it has taken me a while to actually get one…

The umbrella that I seemed to read about the most was the Chrome Dome umbrella by GoLite. So, I headed over to the GoLite site, and added one to my cart. As most probably know by now, GoLite made the decision a while back to cut out the middle man, and sell direct to the public. According to GoLite, this would allow them to cut out some of the cost and allow them to sell their items for less than they had been. So, I wasn’t surprised when I saw that the price of the Chrome Dome was “marked down” from $40, to $19, but hey, I wasn’t complaining either! But, once I went to complete the check out, I decided against it… the shipping was almost the same amount as the “discounted” umbrella, $14! So, at that time, I emptied my cart with the delete button, and left it at that for a while…

Over time, I would eventually go back and toy with the idea of just paying the monies for the umbrella and go ahead with the purchase (besides, it wasn’t like I haven’t dropped way more than this on a single piece of gear!) But I never did…

Then, on my last hike I got to actually witness a (well-used) Chrome Dome, in real life… and not just rolled up in the side of someone’s pack, but in actual use! Of course it just so happened that the weather conditions were the perfect conditions for using one too… so that really made the umbrella shine (again, not just because it’s shiny). It was interesting to watch him use it, which he did by simply tucking the shaft of the pole under his sternum strap, and maybe even his shoulder strap a little. Either way, he made it look easy, and effective. As well, I never really saw him fidgeting with it trying to make it work, it just did. I was impressed, and it definitely got my wheels to spinning again about the umbrella…

So, last week, I had a little extra money on me that I could use for gear, so I headed back over to the GoLite site and added the Chrome Dome back into my cart. Of course, I will also admit, I browsed around the rest of the site for a minute, but didn’t really see anything else that I “needed.” However, I was still a bit cautious when I went through the check out process… that $14 shipping fee still seemed a bit over the top. Then, it just so happened that while checking out, one of the live chat boxes appeared on the screen. So, I decided to chat with someone and ask them about a less expensive (and IMO, a more reasonable) shipping rate. In the end, they said they could ship to a PO box via USPS, but didn’t quote a price, although that didn’t matter though since I don’t have a PO box. So, after this, they told me that if I would buy over $100 of merchandise, then I would get free shipping… I didn’t go for that, but a little after ending our conversation, I gave in and hit the “Submit” button…

Then, here on Valentine’s Day, it arrived (for a point of reference, I ordered it this past Sunday afternoon, it shipped Monday via UPS and arrived today, on Thursday). The first thing I noticed was how large, excessive, and wasteful the shipping box was! I certainly think that there could be less wasteful, and less expensive methods of shipping some items… Anyway, I decided that I would go ahead and do an unboxing video of the Chrome Dome, so here it is…

So, the umbrella does indeed weigh 8 oz, on the money. It does sound a bit heavy to me, but, I am game to see how it does. If I like it, then it is 8 oz… if I don’t then it is 0 oz. As far as my plans to use it, I will still carry, and use, my Luke’s UltraLite silnylon rain shell along with this, especially in the colder months. However, in the warmer months, there is a good possibility that I will leave the rain shell behind and just rely on the umbrella. As well, I can also use my Patagonia Houdini wind jacket along with the umbrella too, of course, that is, given the right circumstances…

I am also curious about using this umbrella when it is just sunny and hot, which is why I choose to go with the UV reflective coated Chrome Dome. Some say that using this in the sun will make it feel a little cooler under it, which is a plus in hot weather. Also, an umbrella does seem to catch a little breeze and seems to amplify it a bit, so that is another plus…

So, I have got to admit, overall, I am pretty excited to get to try out the Chrome Dome umbrella. (Although, I will admit, I am still not happy about paying so dang much for shipping, and more so now that I see the box it was shipped in. IMO, GoLite needs to address this issue, and in more way’s than one.) Anyway, I can definitely see the potential of this umbrella, but I also can’t ignore an(y) umbrella’s limitations. So, again, the same as with any other piece of gear, I have got to see if this is something that will work for me, and this is what I am happily looking forward to!

Thanks for reading!

~Stick~

Disclaimer: I paid for the GoLite Chrome Dome umbrella with my own money. The statements in this post are of my own opinion.

In 2011 Wallace Hunter (AKA: SupaChef) and his wife hiked around 1,500 miles of the Appalachian Trail, which needless to say, allowed them to really put their gear to the test. Some of their gear was commercially bought gear, however, they also incorporated a few pieces of DIY gear into their kits. As many hikers are aware, there are a number of times in which a commercially available piece of gear may not exactly work for everyone, so the next option is to personally build that item so that it does indeed suit one’s own personal needs. One of the items that Wallace created for his upcoming long distance hike was a pillowcase…

Wallace desired a comfortable place to lay his head after a long day of hiking, like many of us do. And, like many of us, he was obviously not happy with the options that were commercially available. As most of us backpackers can probably attest to, backpacking pillows are generally either to hard (air pillows) or to soft (filled pillows), does not provide adequate neck support and will even make some of our ears go to sleep from constant pressure. And let’s not forget the way that they tend to squirt out from under our heads, just as we get good and comfy, or begin to drift off to sleep…

So, before setting out on his hike, Wallace decided to design his own pillow. He went out and picked up the needed materials, then came home and set out to build his own “perfect” place to rest his head. There were 3 basic needs that Wallace set out to fulfill when creating a place to rest his weary head each night; comfort, support and the ability to keep the pillow where it should be, that is, under his head.

Back in January of 2011, Wallace published a YouTube video in which he first showed the world his “Monkey Pillow.” At that time, Wallace simply sewed a pillowcase from fleece and attached two elastic cords which ran the length of the pillow case. Next, he included a cut-to-size piece of 1 inch foam inside the pillow case. The idea was simple, yet effective. Wallace simply inserted his air pillow inside the pillow case, but under the piece of foam, then blew the pillow up. Next, he looped the elastic cords over his air pad, which actually accomplished 2 things at one time. First, due to the way he sewed the elastic cords to the pillowcase, they closed the opening of the pillowcase so that the pillow would not squirt out of the pillowcase. Second, it held the entire set-up in place. No more chasing a pillow around a tent in the middle of the night for Wallace and his lady…

Wallace then carried this pillowcase over 1,500 miles of Appalachian Trail, the perfect testing field. Once he returned from his hike, he began going through a process of improving upon his original design, and now today, he feels comfortable enough to actually produce these and offer them to the masses! However, as any good innovator, Wallace understands that there is always room for improvements… always something that may be able to be tweaked, or changed, to make it better. At the moment, I believe that he is still tinkering around with actual sizes of the pillowcase as well as materials used to build them.

As far as the pillowcase that he sent me, here are the specs on it:

• 11 inches wide
• 16.5 inches long
• 1.7 oz

Wallace has informed me that the “Monkey Pillow” that he sent me was actually a prototype version, and that (as mentioned above) he is still debating on sizes for the pillowcase. As a bit of feedback, I suggested that he use some of the Nobul 1 material on the back side of the pillow case, which would likely drop a fraction of an oz more, as well as provide a more comfortable feel. As far as the fleece that he is using on the top side, I have got to say, it is very comfortable next-to-skin. It actually reminds me of the soft fleece baby blankets…

So, if you are interested in picking up your own, authentic, hand-made right here in the USA Monkey Pillows, be sure to head over to Wallace’s blog, Hike, Bike, Dale! for more info. Or, simply click HERE to head straight to his Etsy store to place an order. As well, if you have any suggestions, or requests, I would suggest to get in contact with Wallace to discuss any questions you may have. Until then though, check out the short video that I made showing the pillow off a little more:

Thanks for stopping by!

~Stick~

Disclaimer: Wallace provided this prototype “Monkey Pillow” to me for the purpose of this review, as well as personal feedback. However, the statements within both, this post as well as the video, are of my own opinions.

The first thing that I noticed was that the stove came in a nice, secure, and informative package. Upon opening the box I found the stove wrapped in a black stuff sack with a cinch cord (but no cord lock) at the top. There were no extra materials inside the box since the outside of the box included a set of brief instructions on how to use the stove. (However, if more information is required, there are lots more info that can be found on the Solo Stove website.) Inside the black stuff sack was the stove itself, which comes in 2 pieces. The first is the body of the stove, or the fire chamber/box, and the second is the pot stand. The pot stand was flipped upside down and stored inside the body of the stove.

I must admit, from the packaging to the actual stove itself, it is a very attractive set-up. The stove body is made from stainless steel, and is all one piece (which is said to “increase the overall strength and lifespan of your stove”). Then, the words “Solo Stove” are pressed into the outer body of the stove, making the name stand out with nothing more than the body of the stove itself. Inside the stove body is a grate made from Nichrome wire (which has a melting point of 2,552 F!) Beneath the grate is a “floating ashpan” which contains the “mess” by catching all the coals and ashes from the fire. Last is the pot stand. As far as I can tell, it looks to be made of the same stainless steel. It’s design allows it to be flipped upside down and to nest inside the firebox of the stove, making it compact for storing or carrying. Then, when in use, the design is said to also direct the heat towards the cookpot, as well as act as a bit of a windscreen. The pot stand features 3 prongs at the top which makes balancing a cookpot almost fool-proof, as well as a wide opening to allow one to continue to feed sticks into the stove when a cook pot is placed on top of the stove.

After fondling the stove for a bit, I did what any “lightweight” backpacker would do… and pulled out my scales. The Solo Stove is listed at 9 oz on the website, and to be very honest, this is a bit of a turn-off for me, despite the fact that this stove allows me to save weight by leaving my fuel behind and using “found-fuels.” The fact is, 9 oz sounds heavy to someone (me) that has carried a sub 3 oz entire kitchen set-up that only requires 0.5 oz of fuel per meal. Not to mention, (especially for wood stove newbies, such as myself) the time it takes to use a wood stove. One has to spend time collecting wood for the fire, then building and tending the fire, and then waiting on the fire to burn out so it will be safe to discard the ashes. And lets not even talk about the soot that a wood fire creates…

So, as I mentioned above, a wood stove is not necessarily my stove of choice, however, I do see some benefits of using one. As well, lets face it, playing with fire (responsibly) is fun, and I do like to tinker with different stoves… I will admit, about 80% (or maybe slightly more) of my trips will not allow me (due to personal choices) to carry and use a wood burning stoves, but there are occasions that I wouldn’t mind trying them out. In fact, I did spend some time on a few trips last year using wood fires in my Sidewinder cone to cook (boil water) over.

Anyway, as I was saying… I pulled out my scales an plopped the stainless steel beauty, complete with stuff sack, down on top of it. What I got was 8.9 oz. Next, I removed the stuff sack and weighed just the stove… 8.6 oz, so the stuff sack is 0.3 oz (not 0.2 oz like I state in the video below…) Lighter than advertised! Now, don’t get me wrong, even at 8.6 oz, I still wouldn’t describe this as an “ultralight” stove, especially since I still have to carry the stuff sack, my cook pot, a spoon, lighter, some fire starter and a cup. By the time I add in these items, I am starting to creep up to a full pound in my kitchen gear. However, I will say that this is an acceptable weight whenever you compare it to some of the other commercially available cooking systems. In my opinion, this is where one has to make a personal decision. For me, this stove will not be on a majority of my hikes, but, as I said, there will be some trips that will allow it, and after using the stove a bit, I will say that this stove will still make it into my pack for some of those trips.

So, enough about the weight… how about the stove itself…

Since receiving the stove, due to holidays, birthdays, work and even a backpacking trip (that this stove did not make it on) I have only been able to use the stove about 8 or 9 times. Most of those times were around the house, just tinkering with it, and 2 of those times were on some day hikes. After using the stove just these few times, I have got to say that it is pretty straight-forward.

1. Remove the stove from the stuff sack.
2. Remove the pot stand from the stove body.
3. Start a fire in the firebox.
4. Place pot stand on top of stove.
5. Place cook pot on pot stand.
6. Boil water, or cook…

There are 2 different methods of starting a fire in the Solo Stove (or really most any other wood stoves). The first, that I am more familiar with, is the bottom-up fire. This is done by placing some sort of tinder directly on the grates, lighting it, and then begin to lay small sticks over the fire, working my way up to slightly larger sticks until the fire is self-sustained. Then, there is the top-down method, which is the recommended way on the Solo Stove site. This method calls for one to fill the stove with larger (finger size) sticks along the grate, and then once the firebox is filled up, build a small fire on top. As the fire catches, it will begin to work its way down into the larger sticks. This method should not require one to continue to need to feed the fire once going like when building the fire from the bottom-up. I will admit, I still prefer the bottom-up method since it is easier for me to accomplish. (But who knows, once I get better at it, I may prefer the top-down method???)

Anyway, once the fire is going, the stove seems to work fine. The stove is designed to create a secondary combustion, which takes place at the holes inside the firebox, near the top of the stove body. Air will enter the stove through the holes around the outside of the stove body near the bottom. The air will travel up, between the walls, and feed the fire from beneath the grate, as well as through the holes at the top, on the inside. The air coming out of these top, inner holes will already be heated, and once it makes contact with the fire, it will produce a hotter, cleaner flame. I have found that the better/bigger the fire inside the firebox is, the more this secondary combustion takes place, however, as the fire inside the firebox dies down, the secondary combustion will also stop.

So far, all I have done is boil water on the stove, which is all I need for about 96% of my meals. As far as this is concerned, I have not timed any of the boils since I don’t find it necessary since a wood fire burns super hot and will easily bring even cold water to a boil quite fast (not to mention that fuel is not necessarily a concern with wood stoves). The fact is, the bigger the fire, the faster it will heat water, and even in small stoves such as the Solo Stove, it can happen fast, as long as the fire is going.

So, once the desired amount of water comes to a boil, I do not add any more sticks to the stove so that the fire will begin to burn down, and finally out. Unfortunately, this requires a certain amount of time to make sure the “fuel” has burned out so that I can safely dispose of the remains. (This happens to be one of the negative aspects of any wood fire stove for me.) Again, I have not timed how long it takes for this to happen, but for me, a burn out time is more important that a time for the water to reach a boil. Anyway, I can say that once the water has come to a boil, it has not taken more than about 15 minutes for the remains to finish burning out to the point in which I can actually grab the stove with my bare hands. At this point I will go ahead and work on dumping the ashes, and making sure everything is out… The pictures below show the progression of the “fuel” burning down to the point that they are ashes and I can safely dispose of them.

Another important aspect of wood burning stoves for me, is soot. No matter what sort of wood stove one uses, rest assured, there will be soot produced. With the Solo Stove, so far all of the soot has been kept inside the fire-box, and for the most part, on the inside of the pot stand. As far as the ashes from the wood, they are all caught and contained inside the ash pan beneath the grates inside the stove. All-in-all, so far I have not had any issues with soot, or ashes on the outside of the stove, which is definitely a plus.

As far as the soot created and deposited on the cook pots, well, that is another thing. I have used my 1.3L Evernew cook pot when firing up this stove every time, except for the last time. Today, when I took the stove out with me I decided to use a narrower IMUSA grease pot, just to see how it would do on the Solo Stove. As can be seen in the video below, the grease pot was very soot free before using it over the stove, however, afterwards, there was plenty of soot on the bottom and most of the sides of the pot. However, here again, this is to be expected when using wood fires, so I can’t really knock the Solo Stove for this. However, I do feel like as I use the stove more, and get a better “feel” for the way it burns, I may be able to reduce the amount of soot that ends up on my pot. But, for the time being, I can either deal with it until I get home and can scrub the pot, or apply some of the tricks other wood stove users implement, such as smearing a thin layer of dish soap over the outside of the pot before using, or better yet, layering a sheet of aluminum foil over the bottom and sides of the cook pot. Either way, even a sooty cook pot can be stored inside a container, such as the one in my video. (However, this is also additional weight…) Here is a photo of the cook pot after using it a single time over the Solo Stove this afternoon:

So, at this point, I feel like there are some good things about the Solo Stove, as well as one thing in particular that I personally would like to see improved upon. First, I will start with what I like about the stove:

1. It uses found fuels.
2. It is easy to use/operate.
3. It appears to be built very well/professionally.
4. Being made from stainless steel, it is very durable.
5. It packs down rather compact (for what it is).
6. The soot and ashes from the fire is well contained.
7. It is stable.
8. It is easy to feed sticks through the port at the top to maintain the fire.
9. It is attractive. (Hey, it is, so I may as well acknowledge it.)

Now, here are some things that I personally would like to see changed/improved about the stove:

1. It is heavy. Maybe not to everyone, but to me, it is.
2. I can’t really think of anything else…

In my opinion, there is a bit of a learning curve with a wood stove, and not just the Solo Stove, but any wood stove. But, I would say that the biggest learning curve would be in building and maintaining the fire in the stoves rather than figuring out the stoves themselves. Although, I would say that the Solo Stove may be one of the easiest wood burning stoves to use being that it is simply 2 pieces. I found it very easy to figure out, right out of the box, even if I wouldn’t have read the instructions. There are no extra pieces to tinker with, or to set just-so. With the Solo Stove, just flip the pot stand over and set it on the top, and done.

But, despite all the good things about this stove, when it comes down to it, for me, if this stove is going to see more trail time, it is going to have to go on a diet. I am not an expert at building stoves by any means, however, I would like to see this stove in a lighter weight material (say, titanium?). I understand though that cost would likely go up (which is not always so popular with the vast majority) and maybe even some production changes would be necessary (which may be more costly for the maker). So, maybe a lighter weight Solo Stove will come one day… maybe not… For the time being though, I feel like for those that enjoy wood stoves (and maybe don’t mind a little extra weight) that the Solo Stove would be a great addition to one’s stove collection.

One more time though, as I mentioned above, it is not just the weight of the stove that has a negative impact on me, but the entire process of using a wood fire combined with the weight. Cooking over wood is still relatively new to me and clearly not one that I have mastered. Maybe in time I will though…

Anyway, for those that like video, here is a video I did today when I took it out:

Thanks for reading/watching everyone!

~Stick~

Disclaimer: The Solo Stove was provided to me free of charge, and for the purpose of this review. However, the statements above are my own and were formed after spending the last few months with the stove.

I would like to also add that this has been my personal preference for carrying my water, and for my own particular reasons. Before this, I used a (heavy) Camelbak water bladder, but for me it was a pain to refill while on the trail, and well, it was just heavy. Once I got my Circuit though, I was given a reason, and a way, to leave my heavy bladder behind.

Using the water bottle holders that came stock on my ULA Circuit was my first dealing’s with storing my water on my shoulder straps. The system worked fine, although, in hindsight, I think I was using the top water bottle holder different than intended, which resulted in a few dropped water bottles while hiking. All-in-all though, I really came to like the way everything seemed to work out with my water bottle on my shoulder straps.

When I first changed over, I carried a single 32 oz Gatorade bottle on one shoulder strap, however, as my pack weight decreased, the weight of the single bottle really offset my packs balance. It was at this time that I noticed that Gizmo Joe was carrying 2 smaller bottles, one on each strap. Sometimes the simple things escape me, and when I saw this, I slapped my head, threw away my 32 oz Gatorade bottle and picked up two 20 oz Gatorade bottles.

Using 2 bottles did in fact balance the weight back out on my backpack when on lightweight trips, and again, I was a happy camper…er… hiker. As a bonus, this also allowed me to have a 40 oz water capacity on hand instead of 32 oz. The downside is that now I was carrying the weight of 2 empty bottles as opposed to just 1 (and for the record, if I remember correctly, one empty 20 oz Gatorade bottle weigh the same as one empty 32 oz Gatorade bottle).

Due to my happiness with this system, once I got my ZPacks Blast 30 backpack, I knew that I wanted to carry the same water carrying capabilities over to it, so I decided to make my own. But, in the spirit of lightweight backpacking, I did not want to use thick shock cord and beefy cord locks like the ULA Circuit used. Instead, I decided to replicate the Circuit’s top water bottle holder using thinner, lighter cord and a smaller cord lock, and on the bottom I used smaller diameter shock cord and a cord lock, which proved to work quite well.

Then, just a couple of months later, I also got my ZPack’s Zero backpack, and again, I wanted to transfer this same water carrying capabilities over to it. It was around this time that I came across the above mentioned YouTube video, and at this point I made the top water bottle holder as it is in the above picture. At the same time, I also decided to leave off the cord lock on the bottom water bottle holder and just thread the shock cord through the daisy chain on the shoulder strap, and then tie the ends together.

After a good deal of use, I found that this last change proved to not only work well, but also weighs almost nothing. When I put the 2 top water bottle holders (as seen in the above picture) and 2 short pieces of shock cord on my scales, the grand total is a whopping 0.1 oz! After realizing this, I decided to change out the water bottle holders on my Blast pack as well, which was quite simple. All I did was tie the shock cord for the bottom water bottle holders on each shoulder strap, and then I use the top water bottle holders with whichever pack I am using at the moment. Light, easy, inexpensive, durable & effective. What more do I need?

Making these are quite easy. All one needs is a short length of shock cord, a short length of some sort of light weight, small diameter cord and 2 mitten hooks. Simply tie the shock cord through a daisy chain, loop, d-ring, or something similar towards the bottom of the shoulder strap. Then tie a loop in one end of each piece of regular cord, and tie the mitten hook to the other end. Just be sure that the loop is big enough for the mitten hook to thread through. If making 2 set’s (one for each shoulder strap) I would suggest to be sure and make the overall length of the top water bottle holders to be as close to the same length as possible. This will allow each of the bottles to hang in the same spot on each shoulder strap.

Here is a short (for me) video that I did that may explain all of this better:

Also, just to note, here are a few reasons that I like carrying my water on my shoulder straps:

• Easy access. With this system, I can remove, drink and replace the water bottle while on the go.
• With the water on my straps, I can always be aware of how much water I have on hand.
• The Gatorade bottles are lightweight, durable and inexpensive. Plus they come prefilled!
• The wider mouth on the Gatorade bottles make it easy to filter water into, or treat with chemicals (depends on trip), as well as makes it easy to pour drink mixture into the bottle for a flavored drink. It also makes dipping water easier from poor water sources.
• The 20 oz bottles fit comfortably in my hands and feels more natural, rather than a compromise.

So, for me, this system has worked, and I am happy with it. Does that mean that I will use it forever? I don’t know. I will admit, after my last hike, I am tempted to try using the hose for my Platy with my Platy soft bottles. This seems like a good idea, but I am not sure if it is for me. Who knows…

Anyway, thanks for reading and watching!

~Stick~

Disclaimer: As mentioned in the writing, this idea is not my own, however, it is one that I have used for over the past year, and it works for me. I wrote this blog post to share this information with others that are interested in the same method.

Last weekend, me and a few friends did a nice, easy, slow hike along the Appalachian Trail from Unicoi Gap to Dick’s Creek Gap. This trip was really strange as far as weather was concerned… With it being January, I was expecting (hoping) for some cold weather, a little snow, some ice… you know, January weather. But, it was quite the opposite. We had rather warm weather, lots of rain, and some fog… Of course though, this changed some of the items that I had planned to bring with me for the trip…

For the most part, my gear list stayed the same, but there were a few minor changes, the biggest of which was my decision to leave my 15 F Marmot Helium sleeping bag behind, and instead carry my 35 F Enlightened Equipment Prodigy quilt. Then there were also some clothing changes I made (particularly my base layer), and afterwards, some changes I wish I had made (leaving my boots behind and wearing my trail runners…) Anyway, there were also a number of new items that I carried with me, as well as some items that I had used on previous trips.

As I mentioned, the trip offered a somewhat wide range of weather conditions. We had plenty of rain and some sun. We had temps around 50 F and as high as almost 70 F. And we even had some good wind’s blow through camp… In the end, these conditions allowed me to try out some of my gear (new & old) in these less than ideal conditions, which is always fun. So, now that I am back, and my camera has dried out about 90%, I figured I would do a video to talk about a few of those pieces of gear that I carried with me on the trip.  And, instead of typing it all out, I made a nice, long, 30 minute video in which I talk about these items. So, if you are interested in listening to me blab about some good ole’ gear talk, check out the video below, and as usual, feel free to comment below!

Thanks for watching, and see ya next time!

~Stick~

L to R: Craig “Free Home” Smith, Charles “Hiking Shoes” Nichols, “Chicken Feathers,” Ben (From GooseFeet Gear) Smith, “Gizmo Joe,” & me, Stick

Last Friday morning, Joe and I met up with Craig, Charles and Ben at Hofers (in Helen, GA) for a quick meet & greet and then some breakfast. After stuffing our bellies we drove through the rain and fog to stage our cars at the beginning (Unicoi Gap) and end (Dicks Creek Gap) of the section of AT that we intended to hike over the next 2.5 days. After dropping 2 cars off at Dick’s Creek Gap and returning back to Unicoi Gap, we met up with “Chicken Feathers” (who just completed his last big section of the AT!), our last hiking partner for this trip.

Of course it was still raining (just as it would for pretty much the rest of the entire day, and on throughout the night, and even well into the early morning) so we quickly got suited up and ready to begin the hike. As we began the immediate 1,000+ ft climb heading up to Rocky Mountain, I quickly did my usual beginning of the hike introduction video with my camera and then stuffed it in the ZPacks cuben fiber hip belt pocket that I borrowed from Gizmo Joe before heading out. Due to the constant rain throughout the rest of the day, I did not even pull the camera back out until I got to camp that afternoon.

The first day we only hiked 5.6 miles, starting at Unicoi Gap and finishing up at Tray Mountain shelter, which was not a hard hike, but it was all up and down. We started out with just over 1,000 ft of elevation in the first 1.3 miles, and then down 900 ft in the next 1.3 miles. Then we immediately headed back up 1,300+ ft in the next 2.6 miles, and then a measly 0.3 miles farther and 130 ft lower was our destination for the night.

We hiked throughout the day mostly as a group, all talking amongst ourselves, kind of getting to know each other. A few of us have hiked together in the past, however, not all of us had hiked with one another at the same time, not to mention, this was the first time that I had met both “Chicken Feathers” as well as Ben (from GooseFeet Gear). So, I have got to admit, it was definitely a fun and interesting group of people to hike with, and despite the pretty much constant rain, I enjoyed every bit of it!

It didn’t take us long to reach the top of Tray Mountain, which is where I experienced my first mishap… the dreaded broken trekking pole! And not just any trekking pole, my beloved LT4′s! It happened in slow motion… Ben got to the top first and I was just behind him (picking his brain about all the different, lightweight materials and what-nots). I noticed a marker set in stone. As I moved a little farther up the stoney ground, I noticed another marker. As I tried to get just a little closer to read the marker, I slipped on the wet rocks (have I mentioned it had been raining, a lot?). It just so happened that the tip of one of my poles set against the side of my planted foot. As I slowly fell towards the ground, I couldn’t get the pole out of my hand before catching myself, so the handle end of the pole went to the ground with me. What made it bad is that the bottom shaft hit a slightly elevated bit of rock, and when the tip wouldn’t budge, or the handle, then the shaft decided to snap…

This bummed me out pretty good, however, the break did happen where the pole is wrapped at the bottom, which turned out to be a good thing since the wrap actually held it together somewhat. I was able to loosen the bottom shaft, and then push it farther up inside the top shaft so that the break was actually inside the top shaft, and then tightened it back down. This actually held together for the next half a mile or so while making our way to the shelter. Once we got to the shelter I did need to use the poles to set up my sweet new cuben fiber tarp, so I put a small wrap of duct tape at the junction of the top and bottom shaft. This managed to make do for the rest of the trip, even allowing me to still put my full weight on the poles when hopping over puddles or rocks.

Once we were all at the shelter, we started doing our normal “at camp” routines, despite the slight rain. “Gizmo Joe” and “Hiking Shoes” decided that they would spend the night inside the Tray Mtn. Shelter, while the rest of us set up our shelters. “Chicken Feathers” set up his trusty Rainbow TarpTent that he had used throughout his section hike, Ben set up his custom cuben fiber tarp (which was pretty dang sweet!) and his DIY bivy, Craig set up his hammock set-up which consisted of a bridge hammock and a pretty large tarp, and I set up my new ZPacks tarp and my polycro ground sheet. (Also, I must add here that I had a pretty terrible pitch with my tarp. I went with the A-Frame and attached my kilt to the back, which was also the end from which the wind would terrorize me from later that night. I used one of “Hiking Shoes” trekking poles to pull out one of the side pull outs on the tarp, which was also the side that I (correctly) anticipated the wind coming from.)

After setting everything up for the night, we all retreated back into the shelter, finished unpacking our packs and getting ready to cook our dinners. This is also when I happened upon the second “tragic” occurrence of the trip. As I was unpacking the rest of my pack, I pulled my camera from the hip belt pocket I had stowed it in at the beginning of the hike. I then realized that I should have stored it inside a Ziploc inside the pocket since when I pulled it out, water was pouring from the camera… hence, the lack of photos and no video from this hike in this report… sorry everyone…

Later, as we were all hanging out inside the shelter, eating and enjoying the rainy weather, a few other hikers showed up and then set up their tent in a site behind the shelter. Then, even later in the night, another hiker showed up with 2 large huskies (which I might add were not on leashes, and I watched in horror as the first one that ran up happened to run right into one of my guylines from my tarp… not cool, although nothing was damaged.) Anyway, not long after this we all started retreating to our “beds” to begin making it through the rainy, foggy and quite windy night…

As I crawled under my little tarp, I noticed that the entire top of my Prodigy quilt was covered in a fine mist, which was due more in part to the heavy fog that was blowing through rather than the rain that was still falling. Once I got settled (centered) under my tarp and made sure that my quilt was not hanging over my ground sheet and onto the wet ground, I began trying to dry out/off. It seemed like my hands stayed wet for quite a while, and it didn’t make it any better that every time I began to dry out, I had to get up to go and pee again…

Once I finally began to dry out somewhat, I decided to make use of my Kindle that I carried with me on the trip (inside a Ziploc). The rain was still falling, making random pattering noises on my cuben tarp, and the wind was blowing, swaying my poorly pitched walls in and out, creating a rustling noise. So, I drowned it out by becoming lost in a good book. Finally, I shut the Kindle down, got up and pee’d again, then crawled back in and rolled over in the fetal position to try to get some sleep.

Throughout the night, I awoke a number of times. Some of them to pee again, but others due to the wind that had picked up considerably throughout the night. There were a few times that the wind made me really wonder if the side panel on my tarp was going to pull out. The wind was pretty constant for the most part, however, there were a number of times that a sudden, strong gust would come over the mountain and really hammer on my tarp, but when it’s all said and done, the tarp held up like a champ (despite the poor pitch).

By the time we all got up the next morning, the rain had finally stopped and the fog had begun to move out. There was still the occasional drippings from the trees, but due to the heavy winds the night before, much of the water was already blown down. We all cooked our breakfast and then slowly started to pack up, hoping that our shelters would dry off before packing them up. Thankfully everything of mine had dried out except for my tarp, and of course my camera…

If I remember correctly, we hit the trail around 9 am that morning for another easy day with only 7.5 miles to go, ending at Deep Gap Shelter. The only climb worth mentioning this day was the near 1,000 ft climb in 1 mile up Kelly Knob (which was pretty much straight up, with no switch-backs).

The day went much like the one before, minus the rain, which was a blessing (it was nice to see a little bit of daylight!) Throughout the day the fog continued to clear away, finally opening up a few views so that we were finally able to see a few of the mountains which surrounded us along our hike!

Once we got to Addis Gap we decided to stop and have some lunch. It was at this point that some of us had to split up. Gizmo Joe was only able to say out one night on the trail, so he had made prior arrangements to meet up with a ride at Dicks Creek Gap later on this day rather than stay at Deep Gap Shelter with the rest of us. As well, Craig had decided to hike on out as well since his insulation had gotten so wet from all the fog the night before. So, at this point, we said our goodbyes as Craig and Gizmo Joe hiked on. “Chicken Feathers,” “Hiking Shoes,” Ben and I sat a while at Addis Gap and had some lunch before heading up our last climb of the day, Kelly Knob.

Once we finished lunch, we marched up and over Kelly Knob and into the shelter at Deep Gap. Once there, we immediately began unpacking our gear and setting up our shelters to let it all dry out some more, and then kicked back and relaxed. The day had turned out to be pretty nice, and actually a little warm. The Deep Gap shelter was a nice place, with a huge picnic table to unpack and relax on, plenty of flat spots to set up our shelters, and dry ground to lay out all our down & synthetic items.

Here are a few pics of our shelters at Deep Gap Shelter that I did manage to click off with my phone:

Just chillin’

The Camp

“Hiking Shoes” TarpTent Contrail

“Chicken Feathers” TarpTent Rainbow

Ben’s Custom Cuben Tarp

My set-up

As the day was coming to an end, we finished up cooking and eating, and making final arrangements with our gear. Then, 3 other hikers showed up, 2 of which were just stopping in for a snack and then heading out to Dicks Creek Gap, the other of which was staying behind to spend the night in the shelter. As night came we finally got “Hiking Shoes” to start a fire, however, Ben and I soon took it over and got it really going, at least for a while. After about 45 minutes, the fire had burned down and soon after everyone started retreating to their tents. Ben and I stayed up a while longer talking about gear, hikes, and just life in general. A while later we also retreated to our own tarps.

The wind did pick up a good bit that night too, however, not quite as hard as the night before, but better yet, without all the rain and fog! Again, I laid there and read some more on my Kindle until sleep started to seep in. Once this happened, I laid my Kindle aside, got up to pee one more time, and then crawled back into my dry bed. I curled up and was soon asleep.

I woke up a couple of times throughout the night, but nothing like the night before. Finally when I woke up around 7 am, I did notice some water on the outside of my tarp, which I later learned that it did indeed rain on us slightly around 5:30 that morning. Needless to say though, I stayed quite dry (both nights).

Once we all got up the next morning and got our stuff packed up, we headed out. The hike was almost over. We knew that some real food, as well as a warm shower was waiting for us later that day, so we made pretty quick work of the last 3.5 miles that day. All of which was pretty much all down hill and relatively easy.

Once we got to Dicks Creek Gap, we piled into our cars and headed back to Unicoi to pick up the other cars. Then we headed back on into Helen to have some lunch together before we all went our separate ways. After realizing that not much is open this time of year on a Sunday morning around 11 am, we ended up back at Hofer’s, right where we all started.

And that was it…

Since returning, I got all of my gear cleaned back up, am looking to get another bottom shaft for my trekking pole, and even dried out my camera for the most part. The back display still has some water in it, but I think that it will still take photos/videos. I haven’t messed with it too much, but I plan on messing with it some more in a few days. If it still works out I plan to do a post hike gear review video… so be on the look out for that… maybe…

Until then, thanks for reading!

~Stick~

I’m getting ready for my first hike of the year, and I’ll tell ya…it just can’t get here fast enough! Next Friday morning, I will meet up with a few old friends (don’t take that the wrong way Hiking Shoes), as well as some new friends, in a quaint little mountain town. After we all meet one another, then fill our bellies with some breakfast, we will head out and begin making the necessary arrangements to begin our hike! 

As I said, the hike is not until next weekend, but due to normal everyday life between then and now, now is the time I have to go ahead and start getting all of my gear together.

As usual, I started by putting together a gear list using Google Docs, then pulled everything from the list (from all corners of my house) and put it all in a big little pile (I love “UL” gear). As I pulled everything, I ticked it off on my checklist. Once the checklist was all checked off, and the pile was created, I then sat down and started figuring out how my pack needed to be packed. (Hence the video above.)

So, without listing everything here in this post, if you are interested in checking out my highly-detailed, super-awesome, gear list, then feel free to do so by clicking:

**HERE**

So, real quick… I am expecting temps anywhere from the mid teens on up (at this point, it is hard to say because I don’t trust most of the extended weather forecast…), so I am bringing my cold weather gear and clothing. However, there are a few new items in my pack (as usual), so this will be a learning experience (shouldn’t they all be?). To highlight, a few new gear items I will be carrying on this trip are my ZPacks tarp, my LiteTrail Cook Kit, and a totally luxury item, my  Kindle (but, to justify it, it does have the companion guides and elevation profiles on it…)

As well, at this point, I believe that I will be wearing an IceBreaker GT200 Chase 1/4 Zip long sleeve shirt as my base layer, instead of my tried-and-true, Patagonia Capilene 2 long sleeve crew. On top of this, I will be sporting the new Patagonia Capilene 4 Expedition Weight 1/4 Zip Hoody, as opposed to my much-loved Patagonia R1 Flash Pullover… Then, last but not least, I will be checking out for myself, just how breathable the Patagonia Houdini windshirt is, as opposed to my North Face Verto… And ok, one more… my sweet new Luke’s Ultralite Silnylon rain shell!

So, this is going to be a short hike (only ~ 16 miles), but that will be cool since there will be a few of us, so we can all kind of hang out, have a little gear talk, probably compare some gear, and of course enjoy the views! I am definitely looking forward to the hike… But, until then…

Thanks for reading!

~Stick~

Disclaimer: Blah, blah, blah… I enjoy this stuff and no one is paying me to talk about it…

As far as size, for a while, I knew that I wanted a 6×9 tarp, however, as time got closer for me to actually order the tarp, I second-guessed this size. I plan to use this tarp mostly on the ground but would also like to (try to) use this tarp over a hammock (in warmer weather), so I decided that maybe 10 foot would be better for the length. As far as the width, I started debating a 7 foot wide tarp, but in the end couldn’t decide if I wanted 6 or 7 foot, so when it came time to place the order, I split the difference and went with a 6.5.

When I ordered this tarp from ZPacks I asked for the white (I have a thing for white cuben fiber), 0.51 oz/sqyd cuben fiber and with the 8 standard tie-outs (1 @ each corner, 1 @ each end of the ridgeline, and 1 in the center of each long side). In addition to these tie-outs, I also requested a single panel pull out located in the center of each side panel. As well, due to the way I planned on using this tarp with some other items, I also added 4 of the adhesive tie-outs to the cart so I could personally place them where I needed them.

So, when the weather is bad, I will use this tarp in the A-Frame pitch, and as a little (or a lot of) extra protection, I am planning to use my CloudKilt as a back wall.

This will give me 3 full walls of protection, as well as allow me to shimmy on down all the way towards the foot end of the tarp. Considering this, and the fact that this tarp is 10 feet long, I will be able to distance myself from the front of the tarp, and the weather, pretty easily. Another bonus is that with the Cloudkilt as a back wall, I don’t have to pitch either end of the tarp down to the ground and can pitch it high enough to still be able to sit up in (for the most part). This is also where the thought of a 7 foot wide tarp was lingering on my mind, of course the wider the tarp is, the taller it can be pitched. But now that I have it, I think I am ok with the amount of vertical room the 6.5 feet of width gives me when I pitch the tarp low, and in the A-Frame.  (Also, in my opinion, the white cuben fiber makes the whole thing “feel” much more opened up…)

So, I had to figure out how to attach the CloudKilt to the tarp, which wasn’t too hard. The CloudKilt has loops on the bottom corners already, and I simply added a loop to both of the top corners. Once this was done, I attached the 2 bottom corners of the CloudKilt to the corner tie-outs on the tarp using some mini biners, and looped the cinch cord in the CloudKilt over the tip of the trekking pole. This held the Cloudkilt in place, but I still had to contend with the top, flapping corners of the CloudKilt. In order to fix this, I folded the corners of the CloudKilt over the top of the tarp, then marked this spot. Next, I attached 2 of the adhesive tie-outs (to the outside of the tarp) a few inches past those marks. After doing this, I looped a small piece of 3/32 inch shock cord with a mitten hook through the tie-outs. Now, when I fold the corners of the CloudKilt over, these mitten hooks will hook to the loops on the CloudKilt, and hold it in place. (I chose to use shock cord in case wind blew along the tarp and got caught in the CloudKilt. The shock cord will allow the wall to absorb some of the wind, and decrease the amount of stress put on the adhesive tie-outs.)

I also plan to use my new (to me) MLD bug bivy under the tarp, especially when the bugs are out and about.

I also wanted to be able to clip the bug net under the tarp rather than to the trekking poles at each end. This will keep water from running down the lines if it is raining, as well, it makes it easier for me to attach (or unattach) the bivy to the tarp when actually in the bivy. So, I attached the last 2 adhesive tie-outs along the ridgeline under the tarp. These tie-outs are positioned so that in bad weather I can lay the bivy closer to the foot end of the tarp (with the CloudKilt wall), or, in better weather, I can position the bivy the opposite direction and it will attach more centered under the tarp. (If that makes sense?)

And like I mentioned, I also plan to use this tarp in the Half Pyramid pitch when the weather is not so bad. There is not much to talk about on this pitch though since I have not mod’ed anything for this set-up, so it will be a regular half pyramid pitch. I have pitched it once this way since I got it (quickly), and I realize that I need to practice with it some more. So far, in my opinion, even at 6.5 feet wide, it may make the half pyramid pitch a bit awkward, but I can’t say for sure. In my experience though, the half pyramid seems to pitch better with narrower tarps…but I love the pitch.

Anyway, here is a video I did quickly today to show the tarp off a little in the A-Frame, with both the CloudKilt wall and the MLD bug bivy attached inside it:

So, that is a little about how I plan to use the tarp, so how about some real numbers? After all, going with cuben fiber means I am trying to go light…

• Measured width: 6.5 feet
• Measured length: 10 feet
• Measured weight (with stuff sack) before adding tie-outs: 5.5 oz
• Measured weight (with stuff sack) after adding tie-outs: 5.8 oz

The guylines that I plan to carry with this tarp is the LiteTrail GLine (in orange). The 50′ hank that I chopped up weighed 0.5 oz on my scale. I cut it into four 8 feet sections and four 4 feet sections. The total weight of the tarp (with additional tie-outs), stuff sack and the guylines comes to 6.3 oz.

I will be using an assortment of stakes, however, the stakes I plan to carry now is 2 of the MSR Mini Groundhogs, 2 of the Sorex stakes and 4 of Lawson’s Ti stakes (2 shepherd hook and 2 Ti-Eyes). The total weight of these 8 stakes and a Spinnaker stake bag is 2.2 oz. This brings the total weight of the tarp to 8.5 oz. (I will say though, I am debating carrying along 2 extra ti stakes. As I found out today, it may be worth it. If I do, this will add an additional 0.4 oz to the weight.)

The MLD bug bivy weighs 6.8 oz with a cuben stuff sack and the added shock cord lines, mitten hooks and the glow-in-the-dark linelocs. With the bug bivy, the total weight is 15.3 oz, however, I may not always carry the bug bivy with me. Sometimes, I will choose to simply carry a cut down piece of Polycro which measures about 96 x 36 inches and weighs 1 oz. Of course, if I carry this, the total weight of the shelter will then, only be 9.5 oz!

So, it all depends on the situation…

Last but not least, I would like to say again that I am very happy with both the customer service at ZPacks, as well as the items I have received. As I will mention in the disclaimer below, I am not affiliated with ZPacks, but I have purchased a fair share of items from the site and have had numerous interactions with both Joe, and now that Joe is out hiking, Matt. I have been quite pleased with the quick responses to my numerous emails, as well as their willingness to meet my needs, and all in a very timely manner, every time. For these reasons, I will continue to shop at ZPacks if they have what I am looking for, I will continue to use their gear when on the trail, and I will highly recommend them to others.

However, that is not to say that everything has been perfect from ZPacks that I have had. In the past, I have had one of their roll-top bags come apart at the seams, mitts that were a bit too small (can’t really fault them for this though since they are “one-size fits most”), the recent Blast Food bag I received is a different shape than I expected, and now with my tarp, there is one small detail that I am not overly worried about, but feel that it is worth mentioning.

When I set the tarp up, I noticed that in the middle of one of the panels, there appears to be a piece of paper stuck to the tarp (see picture above). I have tried to peel the paper off from both sides of the tarp, and well, nothing. It seems to me like the paper is actually inside the piece of cuben fiber, between the 2 mylar layers. At first I thought that it was maybe a piece of the one-sided tape that they sell which got stuck to it, but I cannot feel any edges anywhere around it, and it is not in the middle of a seam either. So, I am going to email Matt and ask him about this. Hopefully it will not be a problem though. I will be sure to update this post with what this may actually be once I hear back from Matt.

So, this is my new tarp! I am pretty stoked about it and look forward to using it, as well as how it works out with my added mod’s!

UPDATE: 1-1-13

I just wanted to let everyone know that I did email Matt at ZPacks a little later in the day after I posted this article. He responded the next day and told me that the paper in the cuben is not a problem, and that it will not decrease the strength of the material, or affect it in any way. He said that on occasion, they will find a piece of paper like this in the material and will simply remove that material, however, being that this cuben was white it was not as evident and was looked over (probably also due to the holiday rush as well). Either way, I am completely fine with it and look forward to using this tarp!

Thanks for stopping by and reading!

~Stick~

Disclaimer: I paid for this tarp with my own money, although, I did have a 10% off coupon code that I won in a previous raffle,which I used when purchasing this tarp. I am not obligated to write about this item and the above statements are my own, and were formed after receiving the tarp.

So, not too long ago I placed another order at ZPacks for a few new items, as well as a few replacement items, and yet again, I have to give props to ZPacks. At the moment, Joe and Sheryl are out hiking Te Araroa (the New Zealand Trail), but luckily for me, the business is still up and running. Matt Favero is running things while they are away, and I have got to say that all of my emails (by all, I mean a lot) were answered within a days time, or sometime within only a few hours. As well, all of the custom work I requested was also answered with a “yes”… Then on top of all of this, Matt managed to get my order shipped out in less than a week from the time I ordered it!

This is why I continue to love and recommend ZPacks gear, their customer service is top-notch, and on top of that, their gear is the same! Oh, and of course, it is super lightweight…

So, what did I get? Starting with the biggest, baddest, most awesomest item first:

• 6.5 x 10 foot, white, 0.51 oz/sqyd cuben fiber flat tarp. I wanted a solo-sized, lightweight tarp that’s big enough to provide complete protection and can be pitched in more than one way. I plan to pitch this in the Half-Pyramid configuration in most weather conditions, and revert to the A-Frame pitch in chancy looking weather. Also, in bad weather, I plan to use my CloudKilt as a back wall (when set up in an A-Frame), which should allow me to scoot all the way inside the tarp and have plenty of coverage. I also plan to use my new (to me) MLD bug bivy under this tarp too.
• Waterproof/Breathable Cuben Fiber Rain Mitts. These are replacements to my other pair of WP/B CF mitts I got from ZPacks when they first started selling them. I asked Matt to make these 3/4 inch longer in the thumb and finger area so that they will fit me better than my first pair.
• Roll-Top Blast Food Bag in white 1.43 oz/sqyd cuben fiber. This is another replacement item. About a year and a half ago, I picked up one of Joe’s Blast Food Bags, which at that time were being sold with a cinch top only. Now he offers them with a rolled top, which I prefer. (Of course, if I had thought about it at the time, I’m sure that Joe would have added a roll-top on the first one I ordered had I simply asked…)
• Aqua Mira Drops. Being that I have been using my Sawyer Squeeze water filter, I have not needed to order anymore of these drops, however, now that it is cold(ish) I plan to carry AM drops. This way I don’t have to wonder if my filter froze up and I just didn’t know it… (personal preference).
• UltraLight Travel Toothbrush Kit. It was time to replace my toothbrush anyway…

So, I just wanted to share these items with everyone real quick. I am pretty excited about the entire order, but especially the tarp. I like a flat tarp simply because they are quite versatile, and as I said above, I have been wanting a cuben, solo-sized one for a while now…

Anyway, now it is time to take them out on the trail! Thanks for stopping by!

~Stick~

Disclaimer: I paid for these items with my own money, although, I did have a 10% off coupon that I won in a past raffle on the Water Monkey’s site. I am under no obligation to “review” any of the above mentioned items, I just like to talk about it.