Backpacking

[Jeff Lebowski]

I had a gorgeous hike on Saturday with my son. We had an early snowfall so we hiked up a mountain with a combination of about 8 inches of snow and beautiful fall colors. We also happened to be hunting deer on the muzzleloader hunt. I would post pics of the hike but most include photos of a dead deer and that never seems to go over too well. Still sore from the hike (my quads and shoulders are killing me - heavy backpacks on the way down).

[creekster]

That's unreal.

It is unreal. I am too lazy to type the whole story, but i was left wanting to smack some of those idiots she was with up side the head. There were three of us in our group and we all felt the same. There was simply no excuse for leaving her alone like that.

[Jeff Lebowski]

On the way down we came across a young woman with a bad knee who had literally been left behind by her 'friends.' it was a seven mile hike back to the cars; mostly down hill but some climbing and lots of steep trail. we couldn't comprehend how you could leave someone with an obviously swollen knee, no water and inadequate clothing alone on the trail. we took her with us and made it back just as darkness fell. people are weird.

That's unreal.

[creekster]

we left at 5:30 am from the bay area, drove to the trail head (park admission was free! National Public Lands Day! whatever that is) hiked up and back. We got home around 11 pm. We would have been about 2 hours faster but for the young woman i mentioned.

[BigPiney]

This saturday we did a day trip to clouds rest in Yosemite. It is isnt really backpacking, but it seemed like this was a good place to put it. Here are a few views from the top:[ATTACH]3051[/ATTACH][ATTACH]3052[/ATTACH][ATTACH]3053[/ATTACH]

These photos dont even come close to capturing the impressive view.

On the way down we came across a young woman with a bad knee who had literally been left behind by her 'friends.' it was a seven mile hike back to the cars; mostly down hill but some climbing and lots of steep trail. we couldn't comprehend how you could leave someone with an obviously swollen knee, no water and inadequate clothing alone on the trail. we took her with us and made it back just as darkness fell. people are weird.

I used hiking poles for the first time. I found them very useful. As in very helpful help. Especially on the steep descents to take some pressure off the old man knees I am forced to use these days. on any extended flat i tucked them into a pole holder on my day pack. very convenient.

Clouds Rest is a fun hike. Did you go up and back in a day? The one time that I went up there, we got dropped off at Tenaya Lake and did a shuttle down to the valley. Beautiful area.

[creekster]

This saturday we did a day trip to clouds rest in Yosemite. It is isnt really backpacking, but it seemed like this was a good place to put it. Here are a few views from the top:

These photos dont even come close to capturing the impressive view.

On the way down we came across a young woman with a bad knee who had literally been left behind by her 'friends.' it was a seven mile hike back to the cars; mostly down hill but some climbing and lots of steep trail. we couldn't comprehend how you could leave someone with an obviously swollen knee, no water and inadequate clothing alone on the trail. we took her with us and made it back just as darkness fell. people are weird.

I used hiking poles for the first time. I found them very useful. As in very helpful help. Especially on the steep descents to take some pressure off the old man knees I am forced to use these days. on any extended flat i tucked them into a pole holder on my day pack. very convenient.

[cougjunkie]

Not technically difficult, just risky due to flash flood danger.

I saw another list a few years ago where some magazine rated it as one of the top ten hikes in the world.

It looks awesome and some great scenery. Makes sense the difficulty with flash flooding as opposed to technically difficult. I also noticed a portly girl about 10 years in the pics as well.

It would be scary to get caught in a flash flood while hiking one of those slot canyons.

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[Jeff Lebowski]

I am going to question the difficulty when the last picture has a girl wearing flip flops.

Not technically difficult, just risky due to flash flood danger.

I saw another list a few years ago where some magazine rated it as one of the top ten hikes in the world.

[cougjunkie]

Definitely on my bucket list. I would to see a full report. Have fun and be safe.

I am going to question the difficulty when the last picture has a girl wearing flip flops.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Crossing our fingers that weather forecast stays favorable for Buckskin Gulch this weekend. Backpacking magazine rated this as one of the ten most dangerous hikes in the country/world/something, mostly due to weather issues, I think. It has been on the list forever and we've had these permits for 2-3 months. Plan is, go to football game with my son, stay in Provo that night, head to trailhead early the next morning, hike Sunday-Monday. It could be anywhere from a great week, where BYU beats up on Utah and we have a great hike, or a crappy one, where BYU loses and we have to cancel the hike for weather. <crossing fingers>

Definitely on my bucket list. I would to see a full report. Have fun and be safe.

[ERCougar]

Crossing our fingers that weather forecast stays favorable for Buckskin Gulch this weekend. Backpacking magazine rated this as one of the ten most dangerous hikes in the country/world/something, mostly due to weather issues, I think. It has been on the list forever and we've had these permits for 2-3 months. Plan is, go to football game with my son, stay in Provo that night, head to trailhead early the next morning, hike Sunday-Monday. It could be anywhere from a great week, where BYU beats up on Utah and we have a great hike, or a crappy one, where BYU loses and we have to cancel the hike for weather. <crossing fingers>

[bluegoose]

Is your system one that you put together, or does it come with the two bag system? Is it a set up that you can disconnect the 2nd bag and filter directly into other bottles or bags if you want to? Or do you always filter into the 2nd holding bag and then transfer water from there?

I'm curious. I know you've posted some photos of your setup, but not necessarily close enough to know exactly what it is and if I could buy one somewhere or if I'd need to get some tubing and connectors and rig my own.

I don't have a picture with me, but it is something that I pieced together that is very similar to what you can buy from the outdoor store. I wanted to customize mine a little bit so that I could filter directly into my camelback, but if someone didn't want to go through that little extra hassle, you can buy one that is ready to use right out of the box. Mine was a little bit cheaper doing it piece by piece, but not by a ton.

4 liter "dirty" bag for collecting water. Tubing from the outlet on the bottom of the bag. Pinch clamp thingy (Do they have a real name?) half way down the rubber tubing. Gravity-fed MSR filter in-line with the rubber tubing. Another section of tubing, complete with a second pinch clamp. Universal clip-on adapter at the bottom of the second piece of tube. I also cut the Camelback tubing to put another adapter on so that I can hook the camelback directly into the filter tubing. You can also buy a screw-on lid with an adapter built on so that you can filter directly into a Nalgene bottle, but I don't have one of those.

[ERCougar]

Ha!

My BIL lives in a fairly rural part of Southern Utah next to where some of these companies used to operate. He would often see a few kids walk on his property with no shoes and sore feet (they take their shoes when in the woods to lesson odds of escape) and they would give him some story about having run out of gas and ask him for a ride to the nearest bus station. He would ask them if they were hungry and of course they were always starving so he would invite them in for pancakes while he walked outside and would call the home office to come and fetch them.

Yeah, she has some crazy stories. Very understaffed at times. I wouldn't be excited about my daughter having that job.

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[Eddie]

You've pretty much summed up my gravity filter system. Great for having around camp, but a bit of a nuisance on the go. I love having 4 liters of water hanging on a tree in camp, ready to use. And not having to pump those 4 liters is an added bonus. Its not exactly heavy to pack around if I needed to take it on a day hike, but it takes up a bit of space if I were to put it in my camel back. Maintenance is also really easy, as there is no scrubbing of the ceramic like there used to be. Just have to back-flush every so often to keep it clean.

All that said, I would highly recommend it for anyone looking for a little peace of mind in the back country. I've thought about going with the pills like piney uses, but I may just pick some up as a back-up in case my msr filter fails.

Is your system one that you put together, or does it come with the two bag system? Is it a set up that you can disconnect the 2nd bag and filter directly into other bottles or bags if you want to? Or do you always filter into the 2nd holding bag and then transfer water from there?

I'm curious. I know you've posted some photos of your setup, but not necessarily close enough to know exactly what it is and if I could buy one somewhere or if I'd need to get some tubing and connectors and rig my own.

[bluegoose]

So now I'm back to the "which filter" dilemma. I really do like the gravity fed filters for the lack of work. And I love the idea of a gravity fed filter with two bags so that I can just set it up overnight and have a back full of water in the morning. But I really dislike the idea of using one of those when we are en route and water is needed while hiking.

Back to square one...

You've pretty much summed up my gravity filter system. Great for having around camp, but a bit of a nuisance on the go. I love having 4 liters of water hanging on a tree in camp, ready to use. And not having to pump those 4 liters is an added bonus. Its not exactly heavy to pack around if I needed to take it on a day hike, but it takes up a bit of space if I were to put it in my camel back. Maintenance is also really easy, as there is no scrubbing of the ceramic like there used to be. Just have to back-flush every so often to keep it clean.

All that said, I would highly recommend it for anyone looking for a little peace of mind in the back country. I've thought about going with the pills like piney uses, but I may just pick some up as a back-up in case my msr filter fails.