Backpacking

[Paperback Writer]

Glad you made it out safe. I went to the San Juans a couple years ago. It was awesome. I'll have to look at where we went. Where were you planning to go?

I wanted to hike south of Wolf Creek Pass in the South San Juan Wilderness. Ellwood Pass was supposed to be my trailhead and was planning on hiking into Crater Lake off the CDT and then continue south past Summit Peak. When the forest service road was closed, I went on the west side of the continental divided to a trail to Quartz Lake that I'd hiked several times earlier but never that early in the season. Was hoping to connect from that trail into the CDT but it was still under several feet of snow. Ended up going farther south in SSJ wilderness NE of Chama, NM and entered at the Elk Creek trailhead and did a shorter hike to Duck lake and other lakes in the vicinity.

Oh yeah, you could have raced right over that with the micro-spikes. No problem.

The sad thing is that I saw those micro-spikes at REI while shopping before my trip and thought about buying them. But decided against carrying the additional weight. dumb, dumb, dumb. Also didn't bring my water/canoe shoes for the same reason and ran into that makeshift lake in an Aspen grove. Fortunately, I was able to navigate around it and was able to get across some high water streams without wading. I really should have expected different conditions in the mountains in early July than last year when I backpacked after Labor Day. The San Juans got a lot more snow this past winter. While attending the wedding in Utah, MIL texted me that Wolf Creek Pass on Highway 160 was closed for a day after a snow storm and that was where I was heading the following week. Still not enough to get me to call the forest service though. duh. I did visit their office in downtown Pagosa Springs after my hike and they were most helpful and had a laugh at my attempt to climb quartz ridge and hike the still-under-the-snow CDT without spikes or snowshoes. And you guessed it - asked if I was from Texas: GUILTY.

[BigPiney]

My annual trip just got cancelled. I am really sad about this. Just too much snow this year, even in August.

[RC Vikings]

My wife and I did this hike Saturday. 20.8 miles from the Idaho side of the Tetons over to the Wyoming side. Great hike with spectator views. I'd never been up Cascade Canyon before and it's well worth it if you're looking for hikes in the park. At the top is one of the most beautiful campgrounds I've ever seen. Anyway it was a very enjoyable day.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2628369201/overview

[Pelado]

My wife and I did this hike Saturday. 20.8 miles from the Idaho side of the Tetons over to the Wyoming side. Great hike with spectator views. I'd never been up Cascade Canyon before and it's well worth it if you're looking for hikes in the park. At the top is one of the most beautiful campgrounds I've ever seen. Anyway it was a very enjoyable day.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2628369201/overview

Day hike, or did you camp somewhere?

[hostile]

My wife and I did this hike Saturday. 20.8 miles from the Idaho side of the Tetons over to the Wyoming side. Great hike with spectator views. I'd never been up Cascade Canyon before and it's well worth it if you're looking for hikes in the park. At the top is one of the most beautiful campgrounds I've ever seen. Anyway it was a very enjoyable day.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2628369201/overview

I’ve hiked up cascade from the Wyoming side but never gone all the way over. Campground at the top is amazing

[Topper]

My wife and I did this hike Saturday. 20.8 miles from the Idaho side of the Tetons over to the Wyoming side. Great hike with spectator views. I'd never been up Cascade Canyon before and it's well worth it if you're looking for hikes in the park. At the top is one of the most beautiful campgrounds I've ever seen. Anyway it was a very enjoyable day.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2628369201/overview

I love Jenny's Lake but we haven't done that hike. Well done.

[BigPiney]

We need a hiking thread, this is for backpacking.

[RC Vikings]

Day hike, or did you camp somewhere?

It was just a day hike. We camped at the trail head and took off early Saturday morning.

[tooblue]

Algonquin Park 3-day Canoe Trip

My brother in-law, nostalgic for his childhood, started a yearly canoe trip a few years ago. He has daughters who won't go, so he has co-opted my boys as his own for the past three years. This year I was able to join them. I took a lot of pics. Here's a sample ... I'll post more later:

Recently returned missionary son—longest portage we did was 780 meters


First nights dinner


Worlds without end

[Sullyute]

Looks like fun, Tooblue. Keep the pictures coming.

[Northwestcoug]

That sounds like a great tradition, tooblue.

[tooblue]

More shots from the canoe trip ... There are isolated camp sites on the hundreds of lakes in the park. Situated very far apart and limited in number, you have to book a spot on every lake you travel to a couple of months in advanced.

At our first camp site there was long grass growing on a slope down to the rocks and the shore. We all laid down and looked at the stars


My 55L pack


Our first morning ... the mist rising from the lake


the mist got heavier as the sun rose higher in the sky


On this particular lake there were 8 loons—they could be heard through out the night





Will post more tomorrow

[tooblue]

The second day we paddled for about 2.5 hours to our next destination, set up camp and just hung out. There was a beautiful sunset followed by a crazy night of massive thunder storms and heavy rain. No one stayed dry in their tents ...


Next morning the mist was thick





We then had a long day of paddling and portages ...











My fifteen year old, after watching both his 20 year old and 16 year old female cousins carry a canoe by themselves on earlier portages wanted to do at least one portage on his own. My brother in-law shadowed him. This portage was 220 meters.


Here at our last launch headed back to the main dock and our drive home

[Eddie]

Looks awesome. I know a guy who used to do a 2 week canoe trip somewhere in Minnesota every year. He owned 8 canoes himself and a trailer to haul them all. He'd organize the entire deal - round up 14-16 people to go and have them each pay around $1,500 to cover the costs of food, fuel, permits, etc. They'd drive from Utah and then usually make a couple of stops sightseeing along the Canadian border on their way home.

He said he started by doing canoe trips into Shoshone in Yellowstone each year - but he found that going to Minnesota there were fewer issues with wind and mosquitos (really?). He enjoyed portaging to get a couple of lakes in and said that for most trips, by day 2 they were deep enough into the wilderness area that they didn't see another soul until they were coming out again.

[bluegoose]

Great pics, tooblue. That place looks beautiful. How were the bugs up there?