Highlight video here.
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Monday, May 12, 2014
All the Things!
Well, trail conditions aren't ideal, and I'm probably going to be dealing with a whole lot of mud and some chilly nights, but I'm getting everything packed for the trail!
Jeff loaded up my little mp3 with some music for the trail. I rarely listen to anything, but this player has a radio I can use to get weather updates when I'm out of cell range, so I figured I might as well use it for tunes/podcasts, too.
Otherwise, I've been weighing and packing my gear. It's going to be cold and wet up in Minnesota, so I ended up adding back some clothing that I was originally going to go without. Plus, I like some of my comfort items (pillow!), so my base weight is around 16.5 pounds--more than I'd planned originally, but I'm happy with that for the start. Base weight doesn't include water, fuel, food, or other consumables, so when I add those things in, I'll never have to carry more than 30 pounds. Most of the time, I'll be between 20 and 25 pounds.
Here's my sleep system: I get cold at night, but this is a good set-up for me down to freezing. If it's colder than that, then I add my down coat and other outerwear to stay warm.
Pack + Repair Kit: At a bit over 3 pounds, this pack is on the heavy side, but it was more comfortable than any of the others I tried. I added two hip pockets to the belt and two shoulder strap pockets. The pack is lined with a clear plastic bag for waterproofing, and I use a Z-lite sit pad on top to help keep water out and to keep the sit-pad handy for breaks. The pack has a few safety pins for pinning wet socks to the outside of the pack so they dry in the sun (assuming there is sun).
My small repair kit is a ziploc bag with a bit of velcro, zip ties, cordage, super glue, emergency water treatment tablets (in case my filter fails), and a couple other tiny things in case the pack or any of my other gear decides to break. After watching MacGyver growing up, I'm pretty resourceful about fixing things, so this little kit should be enough.
Safety, Electronics, etc.: This pile is bigger than I thought it might be, but I'm ok with that for now.
I like my new wallet :)
Outerwear:
Clothes:
On the left is the outfit I'll wear basically everyday: pants, t-shirt, long-sleeved shirt, underwear, socks, sports bra, gaiters (keep crap and ticks out of my shoes)
In the middle is one outfit for sleeping: wool shirt, wool tights, fuzzy socks
Under that is my extra clothes: 1 change of underwear, 1 change of socks, camp shoes
On the right is my mosquito net, fleece hat, mittens, baseball cap, and bandana
Little stuff:
Top row: passport (in case of a cool Canadian trip opportunity), journal, maps
Upper middle: stuff I hope I don't need often: bug dope, salve, anti-chaff gel/powder, earplugs
Lower left quadrant: TP, hand sanitizer, menstrual cup/tampons, pStyle (possibly my favorite piece of gear), pee rag
Lower right quadrant: daily hygiene items (soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, sunscreen, Aleve), first aid kit
Far right row: compass/thermometer, survey tape (in case I go off trail), mini bic, mini leatherman, safety whistle, headlamp
Food: Food for 5 full days + Bear Bag + Bear Bag Kit (rope and rock bag) + spoon + extra ziplocs
Jeff loaded up my little mp3 with some music for the trail. I rarely listen to anything, but this player has a radio I can use to get weather updates when I'm out of cell range, so I figured I might as well use it for tunes/podcasts, too.
Otherwise, I've been weighing and packing my gear. It's going to be cold and wet up in Minnesota, so I ended up adding back some clothing that I was originally going to go without. Plus, I like some of my comfort items (pillow!), so my base weight is around 16.5 pounds--more than I'd planned originally, but I'm happy with that for the start. Base weight doesn't include water, fuel, food, or other consumables, so when I add those things in, I'll never have to carry more than 30 pounds. Most of the time, I'll be between 20 and 25 pounds.
Here's my sleep system: I get cold at night, but this is a good set-up for me down to freezing. If it's colder than that, then I add my down coat and other outerwear to stay warm.
- hiking poles that double as tent poles (Black Diamond)
- the tent (ZPacks)
- a sleeping pad (Exped UL 7)
- pillow (also Exped)
- sleeping bag (15 degree Montbell)
- a waterproof stuff sack that doubles as bellows to blow up the sleeping pad.
Food and water: I'm going to have more than enough water on this trail. There's so much snow melting right now that I'm going to have very wet feet part of the time. I'll probably never need to carry more than a liter of water on this trip, but I will need to filter and/or treat the water I find.
- small gatorade bottle (goes in pocket on shoulder strap for easy access)
- 1 liter Smartwater bottle for dirty (unfiltered/untreated) water
- 32 oz gatorade bottle for clean (filtered/treated) water
- Sawyer mini filter (screws onto Smartwater bottle)
- Sawyer backwash syringe to clean out filter
- Duct tape for repairs wrapped around syringe
- Jetboil cooking system (pot, stove, fuel, dish rag)
- Extra ziplocks for food storage
Pack + Repair Kit: At a bit over 3 pounds, this pack is on the heavy side, but it was more comfortable than any of the others I tried. I added two hip pockets to the belt and two shoulder strap pockets. The pack is lined with a clear plastic bag for waterproofing, and I use a Z-lite sit pad on top to help keep water out and to keep the sit-pad handy for breaks. The pack has a few safety pins for pinning wet socks to the outside of the pack so they dry in the sun (assuming there is sun).
My small repair kit is a ziploc bag with a bit of velcro, zip ties, cordage, super glue, emergency water treatment tablets (in case my filter fails), and a couple other tiny things in case the pack or any of my other gear decides to break. After watching MacGyver growing up, I'm pretty resourceful about fixing things, so this little kit should be enough.
Safety, Electronics, etc.: This pile is bigger than I thought it might be, but I'm ok with that for now.
- InReach satellite tracker
- Pepper spray
- Road ID bracelet (has medical and emergency contact info)
- Lip Balm w/ sunscreen
- Watch (I count this as a safety device. I rarely need to know what time it is, but I use the watch to monitor my pace so I can keep track of where I am on the map and where I can get to before dark)
- Phone + waterproof pouch
- Emergency $$
- Camera pouch (camera not pictured--some people just use the phone as a camera, but I want more pics, and the phone battery drains too fast if I use it all the time)
- Camera battery recharger
- Phone recharger
- External battery (charges any of my devices)
- Headphones (mp3 not pictured here)
- Wallet
- Ziploc bags for waterproofing electronics
I like my new wallet :)
Outerwear:
- Plastic bags for feet if it's really wet for too many days in a row
- Rain kilt (we'll see how I like this...I have my rain pants in reserve in case I want to switch back)
- Rain jacket (heavy, but it works)
- Wind jacket (I love this thing)
- Down jacket (love this thing, too)
Clothes:
On the left is the outfit I'll wear basically everyday: pants, t-shirt, long-sleeved shirt, underwear, socks, sports bra, gaiters (keep crap and ticks out of my shoes)
In the middle is one outfit for sleeping: wool shirt, wool tights, fuzzy socks
Under that is my extra clothes: 1 change of underwear, 1 change of socks, camp shoes
On the right is my mosquito net, fleece hat, mittens, baseball cap, and bandana
Little stuff:
Top row: passport (in case of a cool Canadian trip opportunity), journal, maps
Upper middle: stuff I hope I don't need often: bug dope, salve, anti-chaff gel/powder, earplugs
Lower left quadrant: TP, hand sanitizer, menstrual cup/tampons, pStyle (possibly my favorite piece of gear), pee rag
Lower right quadrant: daily hygiene items (soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, sunscreen, Aleve), first aid kit
Far right row: compass/thermometer, survey tape (in case I go off trail), mini bic, mini leatherman, safety whistle, headlamp
Food: Food for 5 full days + Bear Bag + Bear Bag Kit (rope and rock bag) + spoon + extra ziplocs
That's it!
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Monday, April 21, 2014
28 miles on the Ozark Trail: Johnson's Shut Ins to Taum Sauk and Back
With the long Easter weekend, it was time to test myself on a rigorous overnighter (maybe two nights if I couldn't do the miles!). I chose the Johnson's Shut-Ins to Taum Sauk section of the Ozark Trail. I'd been to JSI in 2006 on a cross-country bike trip just months after a reservoir above the park had broken, creating this path of destruction.
On a different day, I might have explored the Scour region more, but I'd already driven 2.5 hours to get here and wanted to get started on my miles for the day.
A sign at the trailhead warned of a controlled burn at Taum Sauk, so I dithered at this intersection for a while, checking maps and wondering if I should head toward Bell Mountain instead, but banking on the fact that they would have finished the burn before the long weekend and the resulting increased number of visitors, I headed toward Taum Sauk. The main drawback, though, was that this was supposed to be a really dry section of trail. If I couldn't get to the first water source because of the burn, I'd have to retrace my steps, so I went pretty conservative on my water and decided that I'd turn around if I got below 1 liter before getting within sight of a water source.
The trail was well marked but much rockier than I expected. My feet feel stronger after the 100 miles I put in during March, but I was still pretty cautious and grateful for the assistance of my poles on a number of occasions.
Spring wildflowers were out, and I saw a couple of snakes and a bunch of little lizards. Parts of the trail were wet with runoff from recent rains, but the rocks were the main feature.
There were a lot of rocks.
At about 6.5 miles, I found a little rivulet big enough to dip water from, so I put some in my dirty water bag to filter just in case I needed it before the real water source appeared. Just 50 yards after that, I came up on a group of 4 women about my age out for a two-night trip headed the opposite direction. They assured me that they'd gotten through the burned section and that there was plenty of water ahead. I was much less anxious after meeting them, but they weren't as happy to learn that there weren't any real water sources until they got to the state park. They were all training for longer trips and had more backpacking experience than I did, so it was nice to chat with them for a bit.
Even though I was getting tired, this little pine grove was great. It's amazing how nice pine needles feel under your feet after miles of pointy, pokey rocks. The soft tread didn't last long, just a few hundred yards, probably, but the trail was more gentle and shaded from here forward, so it wasn't too bad.
At the top of the falls, I saw a couple of possible campsites, but they were near where some day-hikers had been hanging out, and I wasn't sure I was allowed to camp there. I hadn't met my mileage goal for the day, but I was tired and wasn't sure I could find a better site. Plus, how often do you get to camp just feet from the top of a great waterfall? I sent Jeff a message from my satellite messenger telling him I was done for the day, but I didn't set up the tent. I was still hungry, so dinner was the first priority.
I love my little JetBoil. It took less than 2 min. to boil water for my Beef Stroganoff, and while my meal rehydrated and cooked, I peeled off my wet shoes and socks (wet from a big stream crossing a couple miles back), put on my camp shoes, and sat near the top of the falls, finally seeing an official trail marker on the other side of the river and confirming that I hadn't been on the right trail during my ascent to the top of the falls.
After my dinner, I felt better but the bugs were coming out and being annoying. Not really wanting to sit there for another couple of hours until dark, I decided to head around part of the Mina Sauk Loop at the top of the falls and find a quieter spot to camp near the top of Taum Sauk mountain, the high point of Missouri.
However, I started getting kind of worried when, as I kept hiking, the amount of land burned in the controlled burn earlier that week kept getting larger and larger. It was still smoking in a few spots, and I thought I might have a bit of trouble finding a spot for the tent that wasn't directly on the trail, which, because it was mostly rocks, was about the only unburned area in sight.
I made it to the high point of Missouri just before 7 p.m. and saw a grassy clearing nearby where I could come back to camp if I needed to, but I decided to go forward for another 15 minutes to see if I could find something better. That would give me just enough time to get back to the clearing and set up before dark if I needed to.
Eventually, I came on this small unburned area on some rocks with a great view of the sunset. Everything smelled like smoke, but I didn't have enough time to make it all the way around the loop back to the top of the falls where it wasn't burned, so this became my campsite for the night. If I'd had my new non-free-standing tent, I would have stayed back in the larger clearing where I could stake it more easily, but I had our old 5-pound biking tent that doesn't need to be staked, so I quickly pitched it on the rocks, washed up a bit with a baby wipe, made a quick call to Jeff, and was sound asleep soon after 8:30 with about 14.5 miles done for the day.
It had been in the 40s overnight, I think, and I was perfectly comfortable, even a bit too warm, overnight. I got up at 6 and had finished breakfast, packing, and all my morning chores before 7. I'm usually out of camp faster than that, but I'm out of practice. As I headed out, the trail was still about the only unburned part of the area until I got back to the top of the falls.
There, I found the trail I should have come up the previous day. It was pretty rugged, so I wasn't sad about my little shortcut yesterday, but I followed it as it dropped down right to the bottom of the falls. The falls only run in wet weather, so I was glad to see them. Pretty impressive! I managed to keep my feet dry on this stream crossing, but I knew I'd soon get wet on the larger creek crossing, so I didn't worry too much about the muddy sections of trail.
From the bottom of the falls, I'd retrace my steps back to my car at Johnson's Shut-Ins. This time, though, I had the advantage of knowing where my last water source was, so I drank almost a full liter before I left camp and carried minimal water during the morning to lighten my load.
When I hit the last stream crossing, I filtered a ton of water and stayed there for about a half an hour drinking 50 oz., eating a bag of chips, and having a small pile of M&Ms to fuel up for the harder miles ahead. I was reluctant to leave my little spot but confident that I had enough water this time. I could feel the temps rising. With a forecast of 80 degrees, I knew I had to stay well hydrated to keep headaches at bay. I don't do super well in the heat and sun once it gets that warm, but I was paying better attention to the map and being sure to drink at least 10 oz. every mile. I was peeing about every hour, so I was more than adequately hydrated!
I didn't take many pictures on the way back since most everything looked the same as yesterday, but this little guy stood still long enough for me to take its picture.
And this one wouldn't leave me alone during one of my breaks. Shooing it away was unproductive. Shade was in limited supply on most parts of the last 8 or so miles, so where there was shade, the bugs and I shared it. I sent Jeff a few texts from this spot, letting him know that I had 4 miles left and was really starting to drag.
As I rested, another group of boy scouts came by at what seemed like a really fast pace. I could tell some of the boys were hurting, and it sounded like they were getting low on water. I asked if anyone wanted a Duck Dynasty Nalgene bottle I'd picked up off the trail earlier (probably from one of the scouts I met yesterday since I was pretty sure it wasn't from that group of women I'd met), and one of the kids relieved me of carrying it and trying to find it a new home.
Before I left the shady spot, I ate a bunch of M&Ms and some other snacks, drank some Gatorade, and finally decided to power on, hopeful that the worst of the rocky sections were over, but I couldn't remember for sure.
I stopped again with a little over 2 miles to go and drank a bunch more. My feet and one knee were getting sore, my shoulders were aching, and I was ready to be done for the day. The final major descent was a challenge. Descending is usually more painful for me, especially late in the day, and this one was especially so. I had the beginnings of a blister on the bottom of one foot because of earlier descents with wet socks, but I'd changed into a dry pair almost as soon as I felt it, so it never got worse, but I was still babying it.
Just as I crossed into Johnson's Shut Ins, I saw this collard lizard on a downed tree. When I got home, I learned that the fire management in this area is partly designed to help their populations: http://www.nps.gov/ozar/naturescience/lizards.htm
I still had a ways to go to get back to the trailhead, but once I hit the park boundary, I knew I was going to make it.
This trip was the most miles I'd ever done in two days with the most weight in the pack on the most rugged trails, and I didn't feel totally incapacitated by the trip. I didn't feel awesome at the end, of course, but I felt ok. My feet were really sore as I limped into a Mexican restaurant in Farmington for dinner before finishing the drive home, but by the next morning, I was just sore and not in (much) pain, so I feel more ready for my trip than ever.
The breach happened in December 2005. Had it happened in the summer, there probably would have been fatalities as the state park campground was right in the path of the billion gallons that came through here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taum_Sauk_Hydroelectric_Power_Station#Upper_reservoir_breached
On a different day, I might have explored the Scour region more, but I'd already driven 2.5 hours to get here and wanted to get started on my miles for the day.
A sign at the trailhead warned of a controlled burn at Taum Sauk, so I dithered at this intersection for a while, checking maps and wondering if I should head toward Bell Mountain instead, but banking on the fact that they would have finished the burn before the long weekend and the resulting increased number of visitors, I headed toward Taum Sauk. The main drawback, though, was that this was supposed to be a really dry section of trail. If I couldn't get to the first water source because of the burn, I'd have to retrace my steps, so I went pretty conservative on my water and decided that I'd turn around if I got below 1 liter before getting within sight of a water source.
The trail was well marked but much rockier than I expected. My feet feel stronger after the 100 miles I put in during March, but I was still pretty cautious and grateful for the assistance of my poles on a number of occasions.
As always, I took it pretty slow on the uphills, my 30-pound pack weighing me down. I hope my pack never reaches that weight on the Superior Hiking Trail, but I was carrying a lot of water/gatorade, a heavy tent (my new ultralight tent hasn't arrived yet), all my cold-weather Minnesota gear, and extra food in case I couldn't finish the hike in two days, so the pack was heavy. Oh well...carrying the weight was good training, but I could definitely feel it.
Spring wildflowers were out, and I saw a couple of snakes and a bunch of little lizards. Parts of the trail were wet with runoff from recent rains, but the rocks were the main feature.
There were a lot of rocks.
At about 6.5 miles, I found a little rivulet big enough to dip water from, so I put some in my dirty water bag to filter just in case I needed it before the real water source appeared. Just 50 yards after that, I came up on a group of 4 women about my age out for a two-night trip headed the opposite direction. They assured me that they'd gotten through the burned section and that there was plenty of water ahead. I was much less anxious after meeting them, but they weren't as happy to learn that there weren't any real water sources until they got to the state park. They were all training for longer trips and had more backpacking experience than I did, so it was nice to chat with them for a bit.
After a while, I started a major descent and happily moved into some more shaded and more gently graded areas. Soon I was within sight of a creek, where I happily gulped a couple of bottles of water after filtering it. I also had a small snack, but I wasn't really hungry. I should have eaten more anyway, but I was more thirsty than anything else. After crossing the creek and leaving the little oasis with its shaded rock, I almost immediately came up on a group of Boy Scouts. They'd just filtered water, too, and asked about other water sources ahead (none before their proposed campsite). The leader kept insisting that he could get out his filter if I needed to get more water even though I assured him I'd just done my own filtering just 100 yards back. Maybe he just didn't want to leave the nice shady spot where they were resting! I wouldn't blame him. It was cooler down in the trees than it would be for them once they ascended out of the valley. One of the boys told me not to worry about water now since there were at least three sources in the next few miles, but they must have been loaded down with water since they needed enough to do the miles I'd already done that day plus camp somewhere in the middle of those miles, make dinner with no nearby source, and hike out to the state park the next day. They looked burdened enough with all their stuff, so I thanked them for the information, relieved I'd chosen the direction I'd come so I could get the harder section out of the way in the morning (never mind that I'd retrace that harder section later the next day in the heat myself!)
I hadn't been paying very close attention to the map since the trail had been so well marked, and there was supposed to be a massive, distinctive geologic feature just over a mile past the water source, but it soon became clear to me that the small creek where I'd gotten water was not the same as the water source marked on my map, so I wasn't as far along on the trail as I thought I was. This was no big deal, really, but I resolved to pay more attention to my location in the future, if only for the psychological benefit of knowing where I was.
Even though I was getting tired, this little pine grove was great. It's amazing how nice pine needles feel under your feet after miles of pointy, pokey rocks. The soft tread didn't last long, just a few hundred yards, probably, but the trail was more gentle and shaded from here forward, so it wasn't too bad.
I was feeling ok at mile 10, rejuvenated by access to more cool stream water and the softer tread. There were still rocks in sections, but part of the trail was just dirt, too.
By mile 12, though, I was hurting. I hobbled to within sight of the Mina Sauk Falls, the highest falls in Missouri, and quickly forced down some calories, suddenly certain that I hadn't eaten enough during the day. I also drank a bunch more water since I suspected I was a bit dehydrated from being too conservative with my water on the first half of the day. At this point, after my break, I lost the trail for the first time. It looked like the trail went straight up beside the waterfall, and though I didn't see any markers on the trees, I knew I somehow had to get to the top of the falls. I could see other hikers up there. The next morning, I'd figure out that I'd guessed wrong and took a much steeper (but more direct) way up the falls. Oh well.
At the top of the falls, I saw a couple of possible campsites, but they were near where some day-hikers had been hanging out, and I wasn't sure I was allowed to camp there. I hadn't met my mileage goal for the day, but I was tired and wasn't sure I could find a better site. Plus, how often do you get to camp just feet from the top of a great waterfall? I sent Jeff a message from my satellite messenger telling him I was done for the day, but I didn't set up the tent. I was still hungry, so dinner was the first priority.
I love my little JetBoil. It took less than 2 min. to boil water for my Beef Stroganoff, and while my meal rehydrated and cooked, I peeled off my wet shoes and socks (wet from a big stream crossing a couple miles back), put on my camp shoes, and sat near the top of the falls, finally seeing an official trail marker on the other side of the river and confirming that I hadn't been on the right trail during my ascent to the top of the falls.
After my dinner, I felt better but the bugs were coming out and being annoying. Not really wanting to sit there for another couple of hours until dark, I decided to head around part of the Mina Sauk Loop at the top of the falls and find a quieter spot to camp near the top of Taum Sauk mountain, the high point of Missouri.
However, I started getting kind of worried when, as I kept hiking, the amount of land burned in the controlled burn earlier that week kept getting larger and larger. It was still smoking in a few spots, and I thought I might have a bit of trouble finding a spot for the tent that wasn't directly on the trail, which, because it was mostly rocks, was about the only unburned area in sight.
I made it to the high point of Missouri just before 7 p.m. and saw a grassy clearing nearby where I could come back to camp if I needed to, but I decided to go forward for another 15 minutes to see if I could find something better. That would give me just enough time to get back to the clearing and set up before dark if I needed to.
Eventually, I came on this small unburned area on some rocks with a great view of the sunset. Everything smelled like smoke, but I didn't have enough time to make it all the way around the loop back to the top of the falls where it wasn't burned, so this became my campsite for the night. If I'd had my new non-free-standing tent, I would have stayed back in the larger clearing where I could stake it more easily, but I had our old 5-pound biking tent that doesn't need to be staked, so I quickly pitched it on the rocks, washed up a bit with a baby wipe, made a quick call to Jeff, and was sound asleep soon after 8:30 with about 14.5 miles done for the day.
It had been in the 40s overnight, I think, and I was perfectly comfortable, even a bit too warm, overnight. I got up at 6 and had finished breakfast, packing, and all my morning chores before 7. I'm usually out of camp faster than that, but I'm out of practice. As I headed out, the trail was still about the only unburned part of the area until I got back to the top of the falls.
There, I found the trail I should have come up the previous day. It was pretty rugged, so I wasn't sad about my little shortcut yesterday, but I followed it as it dropped down right to the bottom of the falls. The falls only run in wet weather, so I was glad to see them. Pretty impressive! I managed to keep my feet dry on this stream crossing, but I knew I'd soon get wet on the larger creek crossing, so I didn't worry too much about the muddy sections of trail.
From the bottom of the falls, I'd retrace my steps back to my car at Johnson's Shut-Ins. This time, though, I had the advantage of knowing where my last water source was, so I drank almost a full liter before I left camp and carried minimal water during the morning to lighten my load.
I tried to make good time through this flatter bottom section since I knew it would be the easiest part of the day, but I did stop to look more carefully at the Devil's Tollgate formation in the morning light. When I'd passed through yesterday, I was too tired to explore.
When I hit the last stream crossing, I filtered a ton of water and stayed there for about a half an hour drinking 50 oz., eating a bag of chips, and having a small pile of M&Ms to fuel up for the harder miles ahead. I was reluctant to leave my little spot but confident that I had enough water this time. I could feel the temps rising. With a forecast of 80 degrees, I knew I had to stay well hydrated to keep headaches at bay. I don't do super well in the heat and sun once it gets that warm, but I was paying better attention to the map and being sure to drink at least 10 oz. every mile. I was peeing about every hour, so I was more than adequately hydrated!
I didn't take many pictures on the way back since most everything looked the same as yesterday, but this little guy stood still long enough for me to take its picture.
And this one wouldn't leave me alone during one of my breaks. Shooing it away was unproductive. Shade was in limited supply on most parts of the last 8 or so miles, so where there was shade, the bugs and I shared it. I sent Jeff a few texts from this spot, letting him know that I had 4 miles left and was really starting to drag.
As I rested, another group of boy scouts came by at what seemed like a really fast pace. I could tell some of the boys were hurting, and it sounded like they were getting low on water. I asked if anyone wanted a Duck Dynasty Nalgene bottle I'd picked up off the trail earlier (probably from one of the scouts I met yesterday since I was pretty sure it wasn't from that group of women I'd met), and one of the kids relieved me of carrying it and trying to find it a new home.
Before I left the shady spot, I ate a bunch of M&Ms and some other snacks, drank some Gatorade, and finally decided to power on, hopeful that the worst of the rocky sections were over, but I couldn't remember for sure.
I stopped again with a little over 2 miles to go and drank a bunch more. My feet and one knee were getting sore, my shoulders were aching, and I was ready to be done for the day. The final major descent was a challenge. Descending is usually more painful for me, especially late in the day, and this one was especially so. I had the beginnings of a blister on the bottom of one foot because of earlier descents with wet socks, but I'd changed into a dry pair almost as soon as I felt it, so it never got worse, but I was still babying it.
Just as I crossed into Johnson's Shut Ins, I saw this collard lizard on a downed tree. When I got home, I learned that the fire management in this area is partly designed to help their populations: http://www.nps.gov/ozar/naturescience/lizards.htm
I still had a ways to go to get back to the trailhead, but once I hit the park boundary, I knew I was going to make it.
This trip was the most miles I'd ever done in two days with the most weight in the pack on the most rugged trails, and I didn't feel totally incapacitated by the trip. I didn't feel awesome at the end, of course, but I felt ok. My feet were really sore as I limped into a Mexican restaurant in Farmington for dinner before finishing the drive home, but by the next morning, I was just sore and not in (much) pain, so I feel more ready for my trip than ever.
Snow...
Nearly every morning, I check the conditions on the trail via email and at http://www.shta.org/Conditions.php. The news hasn't been great. One person in the Superior Trail Hiking Yahoo Group was hoping to start in April, and a chorus of locals chimed in to tell him the trail would be rough, if not impassible, even at the end of April. There's a lot of speculation about how late the trail will be ready to hike, which is causing me some consternation since I'd like to leave as soon as possible after graduation.
April 10, 2014: Here are some snow depths on the SHT measured on April 9th out from these trailheads: Castle Danger 25"; Split Rock River Wayside 20"; Caribou River Wayside 24"; Finland Recreation Center 35".
Finland is about 2/3 of the way up the trail. Who knows how much snow is left further north.
A week later, the news was a bit more hopeful:
April 17, 2014: Spring melting has started but there is lots to go. Rivers are starting to open up. Gooseberry Falls opened last Friday. Snow depths are still anywhere from 12" to 30". It will likely be mid-May before the trail is dried out enough for hiking. In the north, Jackson Lake Road and Otter Lake Road are not plowed in the winter so until the snow melts you cannot get to the northern end of the trail.
Since there was some talk that the trail would be nearly impassible until later in May, this mid-May date sounds better. I'm trying to thread the needle between snow melt/mud and major bug season. There may not be much time between the two this year, so I may have to pick which will be worse for me--mud or bugs. Hiking in mud isn't great for the trail. Hiking in bugs isn't great for my sanity. I have to be off the trail by the end of the third week of June so I can go to a conference. Decisions, decisions.
April 10, 2014: Here are some snow depths on the SHT measured on April 9th out from these trailheads: Castle Danger 25"; Split Rock River Wayside 20"; Caribou River Wayside 24"; Finland Recreation Center 35".
Finland is about 2/3 of the way up the trail. Who knows how much snow is left further north.
A week later, the news was a bit more hopeful:
April 17, 2014: Spring melting has started but there is lots to go. Rivers are starting to open up. Gooseberry Falls opened last Friday. Snow depths are still anywhere from 12" to 30". It will likely be mid-May before the trail is dried out enough for hiking. In the north, Jackson Lake Road and Otter Lake Road are not plowed in the winter so until the snow melts you cannot get to the northern end of the trail.
Since there was some talk that the trail would be nearly impassible until later in May, this mid-May date sounds better. I'm trying to thread the needle between snow melt/mud and major bug season. There may not be much time between the two this year, so I may have to pick which will be worse for me--mud or bugs. Hiking in mud isn't great for the trail. Hiking in bugs isn't great for my sanity. I have to be off the trail by the end of the third week of June so I can go to a conference. Decisions, decisions.
8ish miles: Cumberland Falls, Kentucky
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On the weekend of April 12, I headed to Kentucky. Jeff had ridden his bike over 500 miles to get from our home to his mom's house and was doing an organized ride in Eastern Kentucky on that Saturday. He recommended I hit up the trails at Cumberland Falls while he did his ride, so that's where I went!
I briefly visited the lodge there to pick up a map and get recommendations on the best trail. Before driving to the trailhead for the Eagle Falls Trail, though, I parked at the falls and had a look around. Accompanying my map was a flyer warning me of recent bear activity, and something large had obviously been in the vicinity of the falls overnight, tipping over all the heavy garbage cans and leaving a mess (mostly fast food wrappers) for someone to clean up. If they're serious about keeping bears from becoming habituated to humans, they need some better garbage cans. I'm sure the worker who showed up just after I did and had to pick up the mess thought the same.
However, the falls were impressive, and it was a great morning to wander around outside.
I headed to the other side of the river to the trailhead to what the lodge worker had said was the best trail in Kentucky. It was the best workout my calves had been through in a while, and as the temps rose, I was glad I didn't have my full pack on. The trail was great, following a cliff above the falls, climbing to an old CCC shelter, looping through a wooded area, and depositing me at the top of a long set of narrow stairs down to the river.
After a somewhat sketchy scramble over a big pile of driftwood and other debris deposited by the river, I could see Eagle Falls. The falls come from a small creek that enters the Cumberland River just below Cumberland Falls.
The falls were nice, and I could have stayed longer, but I wanted to put in a few more miles. My best views of Cumberland Falls came on the way back to the trailhead. The "Niagara of the South" was pretty impressive!
After a long, steady uphill, the trail leveled off into a nice ridge walk for a while before eventually dropping back down to the river to join the Sheltowee Trace, a 300+ mile trail running North/South through the Daniel Boone Forest of Kentucky. Ever since a visit to the Red River Gorge, I've become more and more impressed with how pretty Kentucky is. This short (and flat!) little section of the Sheltowee had me considering the trail for a longer trip in the future. It's been getting more and more use (and regular maintenance), but a GPS is still highly recommended for some sections. This section, however, was clearly marked, even though the trail had been recently relocated a but further from the river, presumably to limit maintenance required by regularly flooding right along the bank.
As the trail looped back toward the main part of the park, I was happy to be in the cool shade of rocky overhangs and relatively dense woods.
I had a short roadwalk to get back to the car, and I wasn't sure I had time for a third trail, so I headed back to London, KY, where Jeff soon rolled in after a 100-mile day on the bike. One of Jeff's friends grabbed me a beer from his cooler while we waited for the rest of their group to roll in, which made a nice end to the hike.
Sunday, April 20, 2014
March Wrap-Up (much delayed...)
I walked 100 miles in March! After the miles in Indiana, I did a trip and a half around the Silver Lake trail in Highland, stopping at the Railshake restaurant to warm up with some Gumbo. That left me with just a few miles to hit 100, which I did with a walk around town.
I had finished my goal of 1000 calf raises earlier in the month, but I'd not been as diligent working toward the goal of 1000 body-weight squats and ended up having to do over 100/day for the last week of the month. I did it, but I was tired of squats by the end of that week.
All that walking increased my appetite, though, and poor eating choices over spring break + travel for work got me off track with weight loss, so I didn't hit that goal. The poutine at 20 Tap in Indianapolis was totally worth it, but I should have been paying more attention to my food throughout the month. Counting calories, which I'd done in February, had gotten boring, but I should get back to that since it was working.
I'm not making any grand goals for April. Work is always busy in April, and there's some landscaping that need to be taken care of at home as spring gets into full swing, but I'm sill planning on plenty of weekend hiking with the pack as I get ready for my trip!
I had finished my goal of 1000 calf raises earlier in the month, but I'd not been as diligent working toward the goal of 1000 body-weight squats and ended up having to do over 100/day for the last week of the month. I did it, but I was tired of squats by the end of that week.
All that walking increased my appetite, though, and poor eating choices over spring break + travel for work got me off track with weight loss, so I didn't hit that goal. The poutine at 20 Tap in Indianapolis was totally worth it, but I should have been paying more attention to my food throughout the month. Counting calories, which I'd done in February, had gotten boring, but I should get back to that since it was working.
I'm not making any grand goals for April. Work is always busy in April, and there's some landscaping that need to be taken care of at home as spring gets into full swing, but I'm sill planning on plenty of weekend hiking with the pack as I get ready for my trip!
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Weather, Water, and Start Dates
With Minnesota weather, there's really no telling when the Superior Hiking Trail will be cleared of snow and ready for hikers.
The polar vortex that led to record freezing of the lakes and the significant snowfalls led the Superior Hiking Trail Association to post the following trail condition at the end of February:
February 27, 2014: The winter continues with lots of snow and very cold. Probably 36"- 50". There has been very little snowshoeing on the trail so much of the trail is not tracked. Unless you know for sure your ability to do a section through untracked snow, your best bet is to do an out-and-back hike so you know you can get safely back to your car.
In Grand Marais, this neat video shows how frozen the lake was on March 8. Check out the underwater/under-ice rocks from :35-1:15. As I watched the video, I was jealous of the experience of skating there but concerned by how all this cold was going to affect my start date.
The news floating around an email list for the trail isn't too hopeful, either, especially given that an April storm dumped more snow on the trail last year. There's speculation that it will take at least a month for the current snow to melt out, concern about the trail being really, really wet and muddy when everything does melt, and encouragement to keep tabs on the trail condition updates on the organization's website as the weeks go by.
One thing I do have going for me is that the annual meeting of the organization, including hikes at various locations, will happen the first weekend in May, so I'll have solid reports about trail conditions then and have a better feel for whether I'll be able to get on the trail as soon as I'm able to or need to wait for the trail to dry out some more...
The polar vortex that led to record freezing of the lakes and the significant snowfalls led the Superior Hiking Trail Association to post the following trail condition at the end of February:
February 27, 2014: The winter continues with lots of snow and very cold. Probably 36"- 50". There has been very little snowshoeing on the trail so much of the trail is not tracked. Unless you know for sure your ability to do a section through untracked snow, your best bet is to do an out-and-back hike so you know you can get safely back to your car.
In Grand Marais, this neat video shows how frozen the lake was on March 8. Check out the underwater/under-ice rocks from :35-1:15. As I watched the video, I was jealous of the experience of skating there but concerned by how all this cold was going to affect my start date.
The news floating around an email list for the trail isn't too hopeful, either, especially given that an April storm dumped more snow on the trail last year. There's speculation that it will take at least a month for the current snow to melt out, concern about the trail being really, really wet and muddy when everything does melt, and encouragement to keep tabs on the trail condition updates on the organization's website as the weeks go by.
One thing I do have going for me is that the annual meeting of the organization, including hikes at various locations, will happen the first weekend in May, so I'll have solid reports about trail conditions then and have a better feel for whether I'll be able to get on the trail as soon as I'm able to or need to wait for the trail to dry out some more...
86.5 Miles Done in March!
I was in Indiana for a conference this past week and decided to check out a trail at the Morgan-Monroe State Forest afterward to finally try out my new tent and some of my other new gear. I arrived late enough in the day that I decided to just stay in the SF campground just in case some of my gear didn't work, but I got the tent set up with no problem, rinsed the dirt out of my hiking socks from the last trip (they hadn't, for some reason, made it into the washer with my other clothes), and set about messing with and modifying my stuff like I do when I'm in camp.
I wanted to practice the PCT method of bear bag hanging this weekend, and my campsite had a perfect tree. You want your food at least 10' high, 4' away from the trunk, and 4' below the branch so critters can't get it. I thought I would like the Knotless PCT Method and had made myself a little piece of PVC like in the video, but with 4 days of food, the bag was heavy enough to make it really difficult for me to undo the rope wrapped around the PVC, so I went back to using a stick like everyone else does. If the rope is too tight to undo in the morning, you can just break the stick and your food will come back down to the ground.
I won't always have big mature trees with perfect branches in the MN woods, but I can adapt the method to keep critters from getting my food and, more importantly, keep them from associating people with food.
Here's a close-up of the bag with a stick tied into the rope so it prevents the rest of the rope from going through the carabiner, leaving the bag suspended in mid-air.
I'm a bit out of practice when it comes to camping, but I do remember how nice it is to have a table nearby for eating, reading, and spreading out stuff. The campsites on the Superior Hiking Trail have benches, which will be nice, too.
My site also had a nice view of the fire tower, though I couldn't climb up it since it was locked. This is a primitive campground with no water or electricity, so I didn't even think about checking for a security light when I set up. On a bicycle tour a couple of years ago, Jeff and I had to move our tent because of those things on a few occasions, so I was unhappy to see one not far from the pit toilets long after I'd set up my tent. Our freestanding tent was much easier to move than this one, so I resigned myself to having a bright nightlight.
The tent was a bit cozy, which I'd expected, but I was trying to set up like I would in a rainstorm (getting me and everything in the tent as quickly as possible while trying to keep everything in the pack dry). Getting my big air mattress aired up while I was in the tent with it was awkward--kind of like trying to carry too many helium balloons into an elevator. The mattress takes up most of the floor space of the tiny tent, but I was sitting on the floor trying to air it up around me and then scoot it under me. Me and everything, including the pack, all fit, but it was becoming clear that it was going to be difficult to fully pack and unpack everything with me and all that stuff in the tent at the same time.
Dinner was Wild Carrot Salad with pineapple and currents from Packit Gourmet. Tasty, but I wished I had brought along some chicken to throw in to counteract the sweetness and make the meal more satisfying. I like rehydrated carrots and put them in a lot of my homemade camping meals since they add extra chewiness, but since I wasn't super hungry, chewing a giant pile of mostly-rehydrated carrots was just a lot of work, and I ended up not being able to finish the meal. This would be a good size to share with someone else as a side dish (or in tortillas) or to eat by yourself when you're really hungry and is probably best on hot days when cool vegetables will be more appreciated. As it was, I ended up making a big bottle of hot tea right after dinner to help keep my hands warm.
Soon after sunset the temps started dropping and, I settled myself into my tent, checked for any messages on my phone, and tucked myself in, happy to be in my cozy sleeping bag. At some point in the night, though, the wind really picked up and changed directions, coming in through the ventilated bottom of the door of the tent. I made a little wall with some of my stuff to limit the chill, and the tent was definitely getting whipped around a bit, but all the guylines held secure and the tent performed well. The noise and chill of the wind kept waking me up, and I thought maybe I was up for good when I woke up around 4, had to pee, and couldn't go back to sleep (though considering I'd gone to bed at 8:30, that didn't seem so bad), but the wind died down soon after that and I slept for a couple more hours while waiting for sunrise.
The plan was to pack up and hit Three Lakes Trail with a full pack. I wasn't feeling particularly perky in the morning, so it took me a while to get packed up. Carnation Instant Breakfast mixed with instant coffee got me moving a little faster, and I knew I'd feel better (and warmer) once I hit the trail.
The Hoosier Hikers Council maintains this trail and had a nice register to track how many people were using the trail.
The trail was nicely blazed and followed ridgelines and ravines, with steeper hill sections mixed in. There were a number of small creek crossings, but only one of them got my feet wet.
As the trail made its way out toward Bryant Creek Lake, I finally saw my first fellow trail-users: two runners/speed walkers who stopped to ask about my pack and a couple of hikers just out for the day. The trail wasn't as challenging as I'd hoped since it had plenty of flat sections, but I was making good time. At the lake, a local couple was fishing. The woman must have received some bad news on her cell phone, though, because soon there was a burst of swearing followed by a lot more swearing when she actually got ahold of whoever she was yelling at. The lake carried the sound farther than it would have gone in the woods, so the woman's conversation followed me along the lakeshore for some minutes.
Beavers had been working on many of the trees near shore, with most of the smaller trees already downed and a couple of these larger ones just about ready to fall.
A shelterhouse near the trail on the far side of the lake provided a nice place for a break, including this very nice pit toilet and a number of stone picnic tables.
I stopped in this area for about 30 minutes noshing on a couple of granola bars and some almond butter in preparation for the second half of the hike and resting my feet. I was making good time, though, and started thinking about what I'd do the rest of the day after finishing the trail.
When I looked at these pictures, I thought this was one of the nicest ones I'd taken in a while, but then I realized that part of the reason I liked it was that it had green in it. With all the winter hiking I've done this year, I'm getting tired of crunching through last-year's leaves and seeing brown in every direction.
I wanted to practice the PCT method of bear bag hanging this weekend, and my campsite had a perfect tree. You want your food at least 10' high, 4' away from the trunk, and 4' below the branch so critters can't get it. I thought I would like the Knotless PCT Method and had made myself a little piece of PVC like in the video, but with 4 days of food, the bag was heavy enough to make it really difficult for me to undo the rope wrapped around the PVC, so I went back to using a stick like everyone else does. If the rope is too tight to undo in the morning, you can just break the stick and your food will come back down to the ground.
I won't always have big mature trees with perfect branches in the MN woods, but I can adapt the method to keep critters from getting my food and, more importantly, keep them from associating people with food.
Here's a close-up of the bag with a stick tied into the rope so it prevents the rest of the rope from going through the carabiner, leaving the bag suspended in mid-air.
I'm a bit out of practice when it comes to camping, but I do remember how nice it is to have a table nearby for eating, reading, and spreading out stuff. The campsites on the Superior Hiking Trail have benches, which will be nice, too.
My site also had a nice view of the fire tower, though I couldn't climb up it since it was locked. This is a primitive campground with no water or electricity, so I didn't even think about checking for a security light when I set up. On a bicycle tour a couple of years ago, Jeff and I had to move our tent because of those things on a few occasions, so I was unhappy to see one not far from the pit toilets long after I'd set up my tent. Our freestanding tent was much easier to move than this one, so I resigned myself to having a bright nightlight.
The tent was a bit cozy, which I'd expected, but I was trying to set up like I would in a rainstorm (getting me and everything in the tent as quickly as possible while trying to keep everything in the pack dry). Getting my big air mattress aired up while I was in the tent with it was awkward--kind of like trying to carry too many helium balloons into an elevator. The mattress takes up most of the floor space of the tiny tent, but I was sitting on the floor trying to air it up around me and then scoot it under me. Me and everything, including the pack, all fit, but it was becoming clear that it was going to be difficult to fully pack and unpack everything with me and all that stuff in the tent at the same time.
Dinner was Wild Carrot Salad with pineapple and currents from Packit Gourmet. Tasty, but I wished I had brought along some chicken to throw in to counteract the sweetness and make the meal more satisfying. I like rehydrated carrots and put them in a lot of my homemade camping meals since they add extra chewiness, but since I wasn't super hungry, chewing a giant pile of mostly-rehydrated carrots was just a lot of work, and I ended up not being able to finish the meal. This would be a good size to share with someone else as a side dish (or in tortillas) or to eat by yourself when you're really hungry and is probably best on hot days when cool vegetables will be more appreciated. As it was, I ended up making a big bottle of hot tea right after dinner to help keep my hands warm.
Soon after sunset the temps started dropping and, I settled myself into my tent, checked for any messages on my phone, and tucked myself in, happy to be in my cozy sleeping bag. At some point in the night, though, the wind really picked up and changed directions, coming in through the ventilated bottom of the door of the tent. I made a little wall with some of my stuff to limit the chill, and the tent was definitely getting whipped around a bit, but all the guylines held secure and the tent performed well. The noise and chill of the wind kept waking me up, and I thought maybe I was up for good when I woke up around 4, had to pee, and couldn't go back to sleep (though considering I'd gone to bed at 8:30, that didn't seem so bad), but the wind died down soon after that and I slept for a couple more hours while waiting for sunrise.
The plan was to pack up and hit Three Lakes Trail with a full pack. I wasn't feeling particularly perky in the morning, so it took me a while to get packed up. Carnation Instant Breakfast mixed with instant coffee got me moving a little faster, and I knew I'd feel better (and warmer) once I hit the trail.
The Hoosier Hikers Council maintains this trail and had a nice register to track how many people were using the trail.
The trail was nicely blazed and followed ridgelines and ravines, with steeper hill sections mixed in. There were a number of small creek crossings, but only one of them got my feet wet.
One local trail maintainer marks the blowdown logs he cuts with a distinctive "W." I thought I might have to negotiate a number of blowdowns (trees that fall across the trail) because of recent storms, but most of them had already been cleared. I suspect this one was cleared just the day before since the air still smelled of sawdust.
As the trail made its way out toward Bryant Creek Lake, I finally saw my first fellow trail-users: two runners/speed walkers who stopped to ask about my pack and a couple of hikers just out for the day. The trail wasn't as challenging as I'd hoped since it had plenty of flat sections, but I was making good time. At the lake, a local couple was fishing. The woman must have received some bad news on her cell phone, though, because soon there was a burst of swearing followed by a lot more swearing when she actually got ahold of whoever she was yelling at. The lake carried the sound farther than it would have gone in the woods, so the woman's conversation followed me along the lakeshore for some minutes.
Beavers had been working on many of the trees near shore, with most of the smaller trees already downed and a couple of these larger ones just about ready to fall.
A shelterhouse near the trail on the far side of the lake provided a nice place for a break, including this very nice pit toilet and a number of stone picnic tables.
I stopped in this area for about 30 minutes noshing on a couple of granola bars and some almond butter in preparation for the second half of the hike and resting my feet. I was making good time, though, and started thinking about what I'd do the rest of the day after finishing the trail.
When I looked at these pictures, I thought this was one of the nicest ones I'd taken in a while, but then I realized that part of the reason I liked it was that it had green in it. With all the winter hiking I've done this year, I'm getting tired of crunching through last-year's leaves and seeing brown in every direction.
Including my breaks, I finished the trail in less than 5 hours but I was starting to feel kind of headachy and such. My original plan was to camp again and do another 10-mile trail the next day, but it was only 1 p.m., and I was getting anxious to be home after being away most of the week for my conference. I very briefly entertained the idea of trying to do the second trail right after the first, but it would be very close to sunset when I finished. I didn't know if I was capable of that many miles in one day, didn't want to injure myself trying, and knew I wouldn't be able to drive all the way home after that without camping or getting a hotel. I more seriously considered doing about half of the second trail and camping in a backcountry area, which is probably what I should have done, leaving me a short day on Sunday and giving me another night in the tent. What I did, though, was call my husband and tell him I was coming home.
The forecast was for temps to drop down to 20 degrees, which would really be pushing the comfort of my sleeping bag and clothing setup. At best, I would have an uncomfortable night. I don't like having uncomfortably cold nights when I don't have to.