I'm off!

I leave tomorrow morning for a 14 day backpacking trip. I'm at my Mother's place in SoCal and have no access to my computer to post photos so you all will just have to imagine. Be prepared for tons of photos upon my return to regular life on May 1st!

Hike on!

Amost ready...

OK, I leave for L.A. in two days. I am frantically making lists, checking things off the list and remembering more to put on the list. I have decided on my ULA P-1 pack for this trip as it will hold 6+ liters of water better than my home made pack. Unfortunately it weighs just shy of 2 pounds whereas my homemade one weighs in at 11 ounces. I just don't think the lighter one will handle the weight of water, food for 5 days and gear. At this point it looks like the weather down in that part of the world is hovering at mid-60's during the day with mid-30's at night. That would be f not c.

Well, here's the pack. I am guessing it will weigh in at about 13 pounds, without food and water. More than I'd like but still not too bad.

I haven't talked about this here but I've been struggling with low back pain and have had some physical therapy over the last couple of months to try and fix the problems I am having. I am trying to correct decades of posture problems and while I can't say I am 100% cured, I hope to be able to hike my miles without too much difficulty. This is of course, the biggest reason to keep my pack weight as low as possible and I have done my best and still be prepared for most scenarios.

In this photo you see a joke gift I picked up for myself over the Xmas holidays. Hand warmers made in the style of men's underwear. They are called, wait...
handerpants. I love them and will be wearing them on this trip as sun mitts. The desert is sunny, even when it isn't always hot, so these will protect the back of my hands from sunburn and will make me laugh all day long... simple pleasures.

I don't think they will be white when I return.

Evening

The Grandest of all Canyons... also known as the Big Ditch. I love it there. Devoid of mechanical sounds, with only the sound of living critters to interrupt the rushing of water, lots of water, more water than you can imagine. If I had shit-loads of money I'd take a trip every year... it is that cool, really.

If you ever get a chance.........

New Photo App

Whoooeee. I am sure having fun with the new app for my Mac. It is called VintageScene and is really easy to use. Folks who have more talent with Photoshop and other professional software will probably see the deficits of these images but what the hey! I like playing with images I have taken on my travels.

Ravens - Grand Canyon Raft Trip 2009

Pinecone, Tahoe Rim Trail  2010

El  Rito, NM   2010     Sparky's wind toy

One could spend a lot of time on these kinds of experiments. Angela says it isn't wasted time, it's time well spent. I'll take her word for it.

Food for 5 days

It is that time of the year again. The dehydrator is humming along in the kitchen and I am making lists, one of my favorite things to do!  You see here most of the food I will be taking for the last section of my upcoming PCT hike, enough for 5 days. The only thing missing here are a few lunches (drying as I type), maps and my daily ration of gorp or gorp-like snacks.

I don't yet know what the food will weigh per day but I suspect it will be in the 1.5 pound range. It will be lighter than some years as I took the extra time to dehydrate all the tuna and chicken, rather than simply throwing single packets in, straight from the store. Young and strapping people can often eat 2-3 pounds of food per day but I couldn't possibly choke down that much food. There is a phenomena called "hikers hunger" which is supposed to hugely increase appetite but I've never been out longer than 3 weeks before so I have yet to experience  this.

Included in this re-supply is laundry soap, shampoo, TP, wet wipes (for dry camps) and some extra first aide supplies. I'll pick it up at Warner Springs Resort where I will spend the night in a bed, soak in hot springs and generally just laze about. I'll get here on day 10 so I'm really gonna need that shower!

Do I need to get a life?

One of my favorite things to do in a drug store is to cruise the 'travel size' area looking for products I can use backpacking. You see to the left my latest find... Colgate Wisp, the mini toothbrush. The orange brush is your standard toothbrush, weighing in at .2 ounces. The cute blue one didn't even tip my scale on the gram setting so I would venture to say it is pretty light. For the first use there is even a dab of tooth paste in the center (the blue stuff). In addition, as if this wasn't groovy enough, it's got a rubbery, toothpick kind of thing on the other end! How cool is that?

Some people use a kind of toothbrush that you slip over one finger and they brush their pearlies that way but frankly, I don't like putting a dirty backpacker finger (mine) in my mouth at the end of the day. Yuck!

The simplest things are so fun sometimes.

foot gear

Last year I stopped wearing shoes, in the most common sense. Crocs, Teva sandals, shoes of no particular form, have been my experiment. Yesterday I hiked in last years hiking shoes and damn, my left foot was cramped by the time I made 8 miles. (I think my feet have spread out a bit) Frankly this isn't going to work for me. So here are my current thoughts, in visual form.

Above you see a pair of home made sandals that use a vibram sole that seems to be pretty grippy. You see two different ways to attach them to my feet. I don't know which would be better.  The next idea is to use moccasins.

Unfortunately, the sole of this kind of foot wear is smooth and not very grippy. WHAT to do? When I was laying awake, at 2:30 am last night (or this morning) I imagined I could find a way to use a grippy sole and make a groovy kind of shoe for myself. What do you think? I need more brain than I currently own.