Backpacking

[bluegoose]

Wow. That's incredible. That is one brave wife you've got there.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Dropped my girls and wife off for their big adventure. They should be out for 24 days. 240 miles is what is planned. I did the first 2 miles on the new army pass trail with them this morning.

They hit Whitney this Thursday and then I will see then again next Monday with a food resupply over Kearsarge pass.

My oldest daughter's (13) pack was about 15 lbs. The younger (8) had about 7 lbs. My wife took up the slack with around 45. Should be interesting to see them next week and see if they want to keep going.

[TripletDaddy]

Lol @ girls camp while Pineys wife and daughters are going out to lap the Donner Party

[PaloAltoCougar]

Sheesh, BP, I know you mentioned you wife was doing this but I didn't realize she'd be doing it with two girls in two. I am truly dazzled by your womenfolk (although I suppose I should await the outcome...). Still, to even attempt such a feat requires a lot of mental and physical toughness. I can't wait for reports. Is it just the three of them? And I'm curious what gear your wife is packing. Tent? Stove? Purifier vs. tablets? And your girls are tough indeed. I couldn't get my boys to settle for a foam pad; had to be a Thermarest.

[BigPiney]

BP, I think that is the awesomest thing ever for your wife and daughters to do. Kudos to them. Your daughters will remember that for the rest of their lives. Best of luck.

P.S. I love the converted 7-up water bottle.

It is Squirt, but yeah. We figured it was the best way to interface with their filter. Hope it works.

Sheesh, BP, I know you mentioned you wife was doing this but I didn't realize she'd be doing it with two girls in two. I am truly dazzled by your womenfolk (although I suppose I should await the outcome...). Still, to even attempt such a feat requires a lot of mental and physical toughness. I can't wait for reports. Is it just the three of them? And I'm curious what gear your wife is packing. Tent? Stove? Purifier vs. tablets? And your girls are tough indeed. I couldn't get my boys to settle for a foam pad; had to be a Thermarest.

It is just the three of them. I am at home with the youngest two watching Shaun the Sheep. My oldest boy gets home on wednesday from a 5 day backpack and then he will take over child watching duties so that I can get back into work.

Tent is an REI Quarter Dome T3- got it on clearence for $200 and it weighs about 4.5 lbs. Was pretty much the lightest 3 man we could find. They dont sell the footprint anymore so we got some tyvek and cut one out and it only weighs a few ounces.

Stove is the $6 china special that steelblue talked about a few years ago. Only problem is that we didn't know how much fuel she would need so she took 2 large canisers for this week. Those are a pound a piece so I will see how that went when I see them next week. hopefully one canister will last a week or so.

Purifier is the Sawyer. She also brought a Sawyer mini as a backup since it weighs about 3.5 ounces or less. They both will hook up to foldable bags or the aforementioned 2 liter bottle and you just squeeze the water through. So fill up the 2 liter in a stream or lake and then filter. Should work well.

Guess I will know how well everything works when I make my 15 mile rt resupply run next monday.

The biggest issue with where they are going is that they are required to carry bear canisters and my wife is carrying both of them and all the food.

[PaloAltoCougar]

BP, my respect for your wife is now off the charts. I'm impressed she was able to get the pack down to 45. But even that's a hefty load, esp. with all the climbing they'll face. And for others reading this, be aware that Mrs. BP is very fit but rather petite. By comparison, I should be packing around 75 pounds or more. No thanks. I really wish them well and look forward to Monday's report.

[bluegoose]

BP, my respect for your wife is now off the charts. I'm impressed she was able to get the pack down to 45. But even that's a hefty load, esp. with all the climbing they'll face. And for others reading this, be aware that Mrs. BP is very fit but rather petite. By comparison, I should be packing around 75 pounds or more. No thanks. I really wish them well and look forward to Monday's report.

True. 45 pounds is a big pack by most standards. On little mrs BP that is massive.

[Uncle Ted]

True. 45 pounds is a big pack by most standards. On little mrs BP that is massive.

Yeah, I thought the limit was 25-30% of your body weight.

[Paperback Writer]

Yeah, I thought the limit was 25-30% of your body weight.

Having to pack in food for three makes managing pack weight difficult. Once while backpacking close to Cowboy's range in Wyoming, I had a pack weight of about 55 lbs, my 13-year old son carried about 30 lbs. I knew it was too much weight but expected that to drop as we consumed food. The problem was that we kept catching and eating trout and didn't eat as much freeze dried food as planned. It's hard to manage food and fuel and I tend to pack more than necessary with the thinking it's better to have it and not need it then to hike hungry.

[BigPiney]

Having to pack in food for three makes managing pack weight difficult. Once while backpacking close to Cowboy's range in Wyoming, I had a pack weight of about 55 lbs, my 13-year old son carried about 30 lbs. I knew it was too much weight but expected that to drop as we consumed food. The problem was that we kept catching and eating trout and didn't eat as much freeze dried food as planned. It's hard to manage food and fuel and I tend to pack more than necessary with the thinking it's better to have it and not need it then to hike hungry.

There is nothing worse than hiking hungry. When I did the JMT almost 20 years ago, I hiked hungry. I lost 15 or so pounds in less than 3 weeks. And I wasn't a big guy to begin with. I ended the trip at 150 lbs, so almost 10 % of my body weight was lost.

Update on my girls: Just got a text from them and they are on the top of Mt Whitney. Huge sigh of relief from me. If they can do that, they should be good. Their next big day will be Sunday when they go over Forester Pass at 13,153' and then I resupply them on Monday morning.

I didn't realize how nervous I was until I sat here this morning anticipating a text from them. And you won't always get service up there, so I wasn't even sure I would get anything.

[PaloAltoCougar]

There is nothing worse than hiking hungry. When I did the JMT almost 20 years ago, I hiked hungry. I lost 15 or so pounds in less than 3 weeks. And I wasn't a big guy to begin with. I ended the trip at 150 lbs, so almost 10 % of my body weight was lost.

Update on my girls: Just got a text from them and they are on the top of Mt Whitney. Huge sigh of relief from me. If they can do that, they should be good. Their next big day will be Sunday when they go over Forester Pass at 13,153' and then I resupply them on Monday morning.

I didn't realize how nervous I was until I sat here this morning anticipating a text from them. And you won't always get service up there, so I wasn't even sure I would get anything.

That's great news. If they made it atop Whitney and are feeling okay, they're good the rest of the way. Still very impressed with the Piney women.

[Jeff Lebowski]

That's great news. If they made it atop Whitney and are feeling okay, they're good the rest of the way. Still very impressed with the Piney women.

No kidding. What a great memory to make together.

[BigPiney]

They did send a request of things for me to bring them as well.

Bandanna
Moleskin (yeah, they didn't bring any)
A full deck of cards (I guess 49 cards is not doing it)
my wife's sunglasses
ursack

I also plan on bringing in some fresh fruit and maybe some homemade brownies.

[Pelado]

They did send a request of things for me to bring them as well.

Bandanna
Moleskin (yeah, they didn't bring any)
A full deck of cards (I guess 49 cards is not doing it)
my wife's sunglasses
ursack

I also plan on bringing in some fresh fruit and maybe some homemade brownies.

Nothing quite so refreshing as fresh fruit after a few days of freeze dried.

[BigPiney]

Here they after 64 miles. Not too bad for 7 days worth of work. They actually got ahead of schedule so they only did 3 miles yesterday and rested some so they could wait for me to being in their food this morning.

I got up at 5 this morning and started hiking just after 6. Met up with them just after 9 and hiked a 1/4 mile with them. They are doing well.

I ended up doing 15 miles and am beat.

I will get to see them again on Thursday evening for a bigger food drop. But this will be in leconte canyon, one of my favorite places, so really looking forward to the 12 miles each way.