The begnning of a 500,000 step journey

[mustang_revival]

Heading up to OK to do the Ouchita trail mid November.

http://www.ouachitamaps.com/OT.html

Going to be a 3 or 4 day hike with caches of water and some food. Looking at doing either 45 miles or 60 miles depending on how things go.

Anyone done this one?

[Sean88gt]

This education thing is really fucking with my ability to do anything outdoors.

This is no shit, I went into my backyard for the first time in a month over the weekend.

Planning on 2014 being the year? 3 day hike isn't anything to sneeze at. I hope to get myself fixed enough to be able to do just a 2 or 3 day some time. You going solo or is Spenser tagging along?

[Strychnine]

Updates?

Doing a three day solo hike at Pedernales Falls in two weeks. Does that count?



No updates other than I'm really slacking on getting back in shape for this lol. It's not quite time to start getting permits and things.

Updates?

[Strychnine]

FYI for anyone interested in backpacking - here's a good source of starter info:

http://www.pcta.org/discover-the-trail/backcountry-basics/

[mustang_revival]

I went on a overnight backpacking trip a couple of weekends ago with my two boys.

Used this pack I got from academy for 90$



I really like the framed packs, got a pack of sorted bungees with it. The top of it I put my bed roll, the bottom I put my packing tent and tarp all bungee'd up. The back i had a pan we cooked eggs in, and chair with built-in "cooler" I kept 4 frozen water bottles and 12 eggs, and my foldy shovel to bury our poop.

My pack weighed in at about 49 lbs, and I carried a gallon jug of water, and used an umbrella as my walking stick. I can honestly say I used everything in my pack, I'm not sure how I could go lighter next time. One thing that got us was we knew it was going to rain and did starting at about 2am. I put the tarp over our tent, and it did great in keeping the rain off us.

My kids(8,6) I brought them youth hiking packs, but on our test hikes, it hurt their backs so they ended up using their school backpacks. (packed their sleeping bags, pack pillows, a change of clothes, flip flops and 3 water bottles.)

We hiked the trail around dinosaur valley and stayed at primitive campsite #6.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/park_maps/pwd_mp_p4503_0094s.pdf

The whole hike was 2.5 miles and we changes altitude of 200 feet. That was a weaksauce hike but damn it wore us all the f-out. We were asleep by 8pm, haha.

[Sean88gt]

I really need to get started on the search for a pack. I've looked, but discretionary funds just haven't been there. Right now I'm more wanting to get something that I can heavy load for training purposes.

[Jose]

Good info. I'll have to keep that in mind about carrying redundant equipment. I'm so used to car camping that I forget about the extra weight. Also reminds me I need to look into a good water purifier. Thanks for the info.

[Strychnine]

I checked out your Caprock Canyons Trailway hike thread. Very nice. Care to go into any detail about your pack load and your other equipment that you carried?

Too much LOL

Pack, tent, bag, stove / fuel / cookware, softshell jacket, 3 liter camelbak bladder + 2 quart nalgenes (no water on the trail except for one refill point), first aid kit, waterproof jacket (forecast called for rain), poles, book, whiskey,

The stove and fuel were really unnecessary for a weekend trip, but it was the first time using that one so I wanted to try it out.
Somehow I ended up with redundant shit (knife + multitool headlamp + surefire )
Too much food - partly overpacking and partly b/c we humped it and finished a full day earlier than planned, so...
Water filter - planned to purify and refill from a tank on trail but the park service had not filled it b/c of the late snow the week before. With that knowledge, and the heat, we carried an extra gallon the first day that wasn't in the original plan.
Poles were totally unnecessary with such little elevation change.


Way too heavy for the conditions, but now I have a point of reference for future loads. I think it came in around 46 (including water) which is probably double necessary for that trip.


Next time for a short trip I will be carrying minimal fuel (or not at all and just do dry food), a lighter 32*-40* bag, less food, possibly just a bivy sack and hammock and go cowboy style depending on weather,

It's a learning process for sure. It's definitely not the same as car camping. A pound here or a couple ounces there add up over mile after mile of walking. I'm going to adopt quite a few ultralight techniques.

[Jose]

All good if you're below the tree line, but it would suck to have to cut your miles short or cover more ground than planned on some days just so you could get back low enough to have fuel to heat your food.
Pressurized gas stove = camp in the high passes if you want and be able stick to your schedule.

In some places there are fire regulations above certain altitudes. Not for prevention but for conservation. Downed wood fuel can be small and scarce and in cases like that you should stick to your "leave no trace" mindset... which means cold dinner.


But for anything / anywhere in TX it would be pretty cool. If you get one make sure to post a review.

I never thought about that as I've never really camped above the treeline, closest I've been is around 8,000 feet. I do most of my camping in Texas so I've never had to worry about that. All good things to keep in mind.

I'll probably pick one up in the next few weeks and play around with it at home since I do not do to much summer camping. I'll be sure to post something up.

I checked out your Caprock Canyons Trailway hike thread. Very nice. Care to go into any detail about your pack load and your other equipment that you carried?

[Strychnine]

Watched a few YouTube video of this over the weekend and thought this might interest you guys. I'm thinking about picking one up to see how it works compared to my single burner propane stove for heating up water for dehydrated meals and some light one or two persona camp cooking. Can't get much lighter and thinner than this wood burning stove and you wouldn't have to worry about carrying fuel along.

All good if you're below the tree line, but it would suck to have to cut your miles short or cover more ground than planned on some days just so you could get back low enough to have fuel to heat your food.
Pressurized gas stove = camp in the high passes if you want and be able stick to your schedule.

In some places there are fire regulations above certain altitudes. Not for prevention but for conservation. Downed wood fuel can be small and scarce and in cases like that you should stick to your "leave no trace" mindset... which means cold dinner.


But for anything / anywhere in TX it would be pretty cool. If you get one make sure to post a review.

[Jose]

Watched a few YouTube video of this over the weekend and thought this might interest you guys. I'm thinking about picking one up to see how it works compared to my single burner propane stove for heating up water for dehydrated meals and some light one or two persona camp cooking. Can't get much lighter and thinner than this wood burning stove and you wouldn't have to worry about carrying fuel along.

http://www.emberlit.com/

And check out the reviews on Amazon.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Emberlit-Camping-Stove-Stainless-Steel/dp/B00ADUYW9M"]Emberlit Camping Stove on Amazon[/ame]

[idrivea4banger]

Damn, you guys don't fuck around. Looks like a badass adventure though, my fatass is getting tired just looking at that map.

[Strychnine]

Updates??

As much as I hate it I've gotten back into some running and I put in some miles on foot today with a weighted pack in the 95*+ heat. Does that count?

After our last hike (thread) I have started to rethink footwear also... not sure which way I'll go yet, but I might be leaning toward trailrunners instead of hiking boots/shoes.



re: date
Ideal time is September. It's the driest on average which means the river and stream fording will be easier and that's the low for mosquito pain-in-the-assery, but logisitcally it will probably be more like mid to late July. Melt water shouldn't be too bad and it's supposed to be the best weather, but there will probably be snow up above 10,000ft on the second half of the trail (nearly the entire trail from mile 100 to 220 is above 10k), but ain't no thang.


I recently watched a film made by a guy who went south to north last year (his goal was to do 7-10 days). Doing it that way starts with a summit of Mt Whitney (the highest peak in the lower 48) so you get no real altitude acclimatization. It messed him up... he was an experience and well trained triathete (Ironman, etc) and it took him a couple days to get over Whitney LOL

It's about time to put together the permitting plan and getting handle on the resupply drops, with permits being top priority. I have a 286 pg guide book that I plan to read on vacation in a few weeks.


And just to keep me motivated:


Banner Peak above Garnet Lake