still fuckin with climb cuz climb pays: the ILX hiking thread

I do a lot of hiking in the GSMs.

Here is my foot on top of a waterfall:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/grotto4.jpg
(fuck ankle support, I guess)

I did twenty miles the other day (Cooper Road and Rabbit Creek trails). It was a bit O_O because all the black bears have just come out of hibernation. Got to campsite and saw this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/wherethebearsare.jpg

The bears were nuts all day! Saw more than I ever have in my life. Any of y'all ever been approached by a bear?

jesus christ are you serious?? you actually saw bears for real?? think i'd probably have a heart attack. did get pretty excited when we saw deer just a few feet away from us when hiking out at the marin headlands, but then i get excited about seeing squirrels.

I saw a ton of bears, one ran right across my trail. Some more experienced hikers have told me not to worry about bears and that if a bear attacks you just whack it on the nose, as if you are punishing a child, and it will run from you, "probably". Shit like that makes me feel pretty amateur hour.

what kind of bears, like how big? i got scared the first time i saw a sign warning about mountain lions, jordan couldn't understand till i explained to him that in nz the scariest animal you can encounter in the wild is a boar.

i wld be afraid of a wild boar!

i used to be terrified of mountain lions but i never actually saw one.

also: 20 mi sounds insane! the most i've ever done is probably 7, and i was pretty fucked afterwards.

yeah but you don't really see them all that often xp

the first time i saw a snake (it was about 7") while hiking was also freaky, but i managed to get photographed with it

I saw a ton of bears, one ran right across my trail. Some more experienced hikers have told me not to worry about bears and that if a bear attacks you just whack it on the nose, as if you are punishing a child, and it will run from you, "probably". Shit like that makes me feel pretty amateur hour.

― (b)admin (roxymuzak), Sunday, May 17, 2009 12:06 AM (8 minutes ago)

what the fuuuck

Justine, they were black bears, like this one:

http://www.shularinn-pigeonforge.com/slideshow/images/smoky_mountains_black_bear_jpg.jpg

Although tbh one of them that day looked like this:

http://ahimsablog.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/black-bear-baby.jpg

I saw some bear TRACKS that were scarier than any bear I've ever seen, though.

See, bears don't want to fuck with you, though. If you make noise on the trail so that you don't sneak up on them, and if you don't mess with them, they're not a danger to you at all. People get really freaked out by bears but I think they've only killed maybe 2 people ever in the Smoky Mountains and one was an idiotic baby who was taunting it and its parents let it and the bear just swiped at it and it died. No one had ever been killed by a bear in the Smokies until 2000. IIRC that incident had something to do with a girl gathering blackberries and there was a bear inside the bush.

They are mostly sweet, and want to leave you alone and be left alone, in my experience. This is why I don't bushwhack much during non-hibernation periods.

so they're not huge, right? maybe the same height as an average person, standing up? tbh, that cub is too cute for words and i'd have to be restrained from attempting to pet it and consequently incurring the wrath of its mum

when we went to the zoo last year we spent aaaaaaaages hanging out talking to 'ting ting' the sun bear

I saw many deer while I was on the trail at night. I was under the impression that deer were diurnal, but I kept hearing all this rustling around between 10 and midnight. I'd flash my light over thinking it was a bear, and it'd be some beautiful deer just prancing through the forest.

xpost yeah most of them are about person sized or smaller that I've seen, there are some fucking huge mamas out there though. The babies are embarrassingly cute, and tumble around in trees and try to get you to pet them so that their moms can kill you, it's terrible

i don't like hiking but this thread title makes me really really happy

it was this or niggaz with altitude

lol

North Face backpack where I'm hold'n all the work at

haha the other day me and my hiking buddy were on a trail and we passed this huge lump of white animal hair and i was like "what could this possibly have come from?" i picked some up to inspect it, saying "haw, im disturbing this ecosystem." my buddy was like "yeah, and it's disturbing me"

i wish that could be our hiking club's motto somehow

I can't wait to get this:

http://www.mysigg.com/ProductImages/MYSIGG/8025.50.JPG

pretty much the most metal looking thing ever

On my last hike I totally ran out of water! I was only a couple miles from the endpoint, though. Next time will take two of the above.

That is pretty metal. How many ounces?

it's 33 oz

am also considering the nalgene flask

http://www.bepreparedtosurvive.com/NalgeneFlask.jpg

I ran outta water on a hike in Arizona once, a day into it (which meant a day's hike out in ridic heat w/o water). It was kinda scary at first but we found a big tree, all by its lonesome, and sure enough there was a little water hole next to it.

cute! tbh i passed lots of creek (the trail was called rabbit creek for pete's sake) but i'm to chickenshit to drink much out of creeks

i got sigg bottle today but it is purple with pretty swirls because i like things that are purple.

woah nalgene flask is neat!
btw i was at eastern mountain sports and EVERYTHING is 20% off!

i know, i am crazy about that flask

man, i wanna go hiking

there are many great options nearby, lb!
jones gap :D :D :D
used to do table rock a lot when i was a kiddie.

also the dupont forest has really cool waterfalls.

man i miss the smokies so much. i don't think i ever did the rabbit creek/abrams loop. out of cades cove, we used to go up to gregory bald a lot. and spence field, i love that hike. also did a lot of day-hiking up from the cosby side. and from newfound gap. (charlie's bunion!) you know the whole time i was there, i never hiked the chimneys. some things to do in the future.

these days all my hiking is urban. which is fine and i like it, but it's not the same. i really loved getting up, stocking up, driving out and spending the whole day walking. then a big dinner and beer somewhere. (if we went up out of townsend we'd stop by that mexican place in maryville on the way home. los something-or-other.)

chimneys suck imo!!! 2 miles straight up a bunch of red clay mud and 2 miles straight back down where you just came from, and the view is great of course, but there are a lot of great views in the smokies. i dread going up there, you didn't miss anything

my favorite short hike is alum cave bluffs, nothing else like it

i'm waiting for azalea season to do gregory's bald! did andrew's bald and it was really miserable, but i picked a stupid time of year to do it.

oh man there is nothing better than finishing a huuuuge hike and just chowing down on the way back through townsend at the heart and kettle or something

*hearth

http://www.nps.gov/grsm/naturescience/images/13p2s1v6.jpg

saw three of these peeking out from a tree and was just like "do not want to be eaten by the inevitable mom" and ran through a trail junction

yeah you want the azaleas in bloom for sure.

the contours of the chimneys is why i never did it. once i got out there i wanted something more immersive than that, i guess. i love the rhythms of a nice long hike.

i think cucumber gap is the best short, completely easy hike

also love house mountain in south knoxville, so cool that a hike like that is just right there

hahaha, i must hike this!!!!

http://www.localhikes.com/Hikes/Haw_Ridge_3840.asp

house mountain is more northeast than south, isn't it? out rutledge pike? but yeah that's a nice near one. that's where i saw a whole flock of wild turkeys try to take flight. they made it up into the lower branches of the nearest tree.

i did some hikes around oak ridge, don't remember if it included HAW ridge.

also good: frozen head.

Haw, I totally meant East Knoxville

http://www.gajos.org/travel/hikes/uploaded_images/DSC_3973-737723.JPG

and big south fork! site of my bachelor party. granted there was less hiking than drinking and whatnot involved there. but there's some great hikes too. east tenn. is really A+ for hiking.

hahaha

i wish i had a pic of the sign at abrams falls

"four people have died here! please do not be next"
xpost

20 miles in one day? that's some serious hiking. what kind of elevation gain?

there's a million place to hike in the East, and it's good to get out there in the fresh air (smokies haw) and go up and down and such, but there's not a lot that's as interesting as most of the stuff in the other half of the country. i gotta start doing some stuff here though in preparation for out there.

in hawaii there were massive warning signs about swimming in waterfalls and getting caught in riptides and swept out to sea. it was scary but also kind of gnarly and awesome.

we've been out to the marin headlands a few times this year (san francisco), i like it because it's all open hills, beautiful views of the ocean, and this totally weird-ass old military stuff (like forts and stuff).

re that nalgene drink bottle: nalgene is responsible for making a lot of the equipment involved in animal testing (battery cages, immobilisers, restraints etc), fyi.

i dont know how to calculate elevation gain but it was mostly an easy hike with a couple uphill climbs, i.e. definitely climbed straight up pine mountain

xpost i did not know that

i want to hike the Tennessee Valley at some point, but the other parts of the headlands i saw weren't super exciting

guys!
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m163/bl82/ColcaCanyon.jpg;
omg

it's true that hiking the smokies is not like hiking the tetons or rockies (or i assume so, i haven't done any western hiking except walking up camelback mountain in phoenix). a lot of southern appalachian/cumberland hikes are sort of just uphill walks in the woods with occasional spectacular views. but they're really nice walks in the woods.

i dont want to hike a place that isn't woodsy!

i suppose 20 miles isn't that bad if you've got real boots and just a daypack

that's one thing i love about the southeast! on christmas day we went on a little light hike/walk on paris mountain in the afternoon. it's nice to have that easily accessible.

mt. mitchell (in the apps) is the highest point east of the mississippi. i don't know what my point is there...

well, i dont have boots, i have tennis shoes, and my ankle was pretty fucked afterwards

lesson learned

i do have a very light pack though

yeah, the woods are nice, but i'm spoiled by early exposure to alpine scenery and i want some wow views when i go hiking. i imagine smokies vistas are a little better than most new york area hikes, though.

alum cave bluffs views are O_O

were those just something like skechers (sp?) you were wearing for 20mi???? U CRAZY

yeahhhhhhhh i will not do that again though!

smokies have great vistas

charlie's bunion:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/18/24124971_7c24732bd9.jpg

mt. leconte:

http://www.outdoornewswire.com/v/current/htdocs/publish/public/2008/06/1213742981/cliff%20top.JPG

but then on the hikes up you also get things like this:

http://greek.wunderground.com/data/wximagenew/g/guardian75/435.jpg

yeah, those don't do much for me

katahdin and maybe jay peak are probably the most interesting things in the east, as far as i can tell, but it's probably just as easy to go west as it is to get to them from where i am

thats the kinda stuff i love, the interior stuff

do y'all use poles at all? i never have

also:

esbit stoves: yay or nay
recommend a camp stove?

jordan asked me if i wanted poles, since i'm fairly clumsy over rough terrain, but i refused since only corny old ppl use them

btw: jordan says nay to esbit stoves (they stink and take a long time to boil water); the optimus crux or the MSR pocket rocket are 2 of his recommendations - super small stoves, fairly cheap for what they are.

if hiking poles are corny, that's what i want to be

never used one myself tho

Was meant to be going up Ben Lomond yesterday but the weather was rubbish, will do it next time the weather is half-decent on a Saturday. Summit view looks nice:

http://www.doc.govt.nz/upload/13462/Ben%20Lomond%20018.jpg

I've never used poles, but my hiking buddy does, and says they distribute the work load of hiking all around your body so that you don't end up with gargantuan legs and skinny arms.

so that's why

i guess! he might be nuts

I should really get a pole, last time I went hiking my calf muscles were absolutely pummeled. I've got a sweet walking-stick but it was my granddad's and I don't really want to take it up a mountain in case I lose it or whatever.

Poles are also supposed to take some of the impact off of your knees, which is why they interest me as my knees are completely shot.

My left ankle is the only thing that gives me any real trouble, although after a very long hike my whole lower left side is sore in the joints (ankle, knee, hip). I am certain that I walk stupid.

hahaha

http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt313/rutherfordmills/881of1.jpg

i want to hike breakneck ridge some time in the next coupla weeks

aw that was one of my friend's favorites when he lived in beacon!
i never went :(

out shufflin, same clothes for days

!!!!! hahaha

i always use poles when i'm backpacking. i usually don't take them if i'm just going hiking unless i know the hike is going to be especially rocky or steep.

also, i always use a hydration pack... tza said that makes me lame, but i can't stand carrying water bottles.

i was always jealous of my friends' water packs. carrying bottles sucks.

i dont get the water packs, how can that work

not trying to be tuomas here

it goes on your back, eazy-peazy. less hassles than nalgene bottles knocking around. (whoa rei is selling a 70-oz.er for cheap. i think that's what my friend has.)

anybody use portable water filters? one of my friends had one that we all used, it seemed to work fine. (i.e., nobody ever got sick.)

lol i didnt say it made you lame! i just noticed it in the picture and loled bc my dad and yuppie sister are all 'ooooh camelbacks!' i see their benefit - mostly for my dad, who bikes a lot. actually kinda sad that if i wanted to use one hiking in peru it'd require filling a pack with bottled water. oy.

where did you use it, tipsy?

oh nm i understand that i thought yall were talking about those weird hydration tabs

used the filter in the smokies and in big south fork. just stuck it in some creeks. water looked clean, tasted clean. pretty handy.

i used an MSR miniworks for a while, but i just replaced it with a platypus gravity filter (half the weight, and way more convenient to use). i'm paranoid about drinking unfiltered water, and i even carry chlorine dioxide tablets in case the water looks really nasty (i've only ever used them one time, though).

i'm guessing most water filter Cos would tell you their filters are fine for south america but somehow i do not trust that so i suspect i will just stick to bottled water as wasteful and annoying as that seems.

xp to tza- i know you didn't say that, but it actually sounded kinder than "tza laughed at a picture of me wearing my hydration pack."

also, filters don't filter out viruses (no companies claim that they do), so if you really were going to drink from a water source you found, you'd need some sort of chemical additive as well.

(or you could boil it.)

well i'd definitely not drink from still water. running water though i guess doesn't freak me out too much. partly because i grew up playing in the woods and drinking out of creeks (even though my mom said not to).

i think we used this filter, but i don't remember for sure.

and yeah, i'd be more paranoid in south america too i guess -- even though there might not be any logical reason to be. (i don't honestly know. everything you hear about bad water in the south seems to be to do with public water systems. is mountain water in peru really dirtier than mountain water in the u.s.? i have no idea.)

ohhhh mannnnnnnnnn you guys i wanna cry suddenly my family is like 'altitude is too bad we can't hike colca we have to do it on a bus tour' and i want to cry :(

!!!! that is so unbelievably sucky! how high is it?

esbit stoves: yay or nay
recommend a camp stove?

Esbits are good mostly for boiling water that you can use to rehydrate dried food, or make tea or coffee with. They are light, simple and pretty foolproof. Some people complain they smell sort of fishy. You can't really "cook" on an esbit stove and there is no way to control heat except to move the pot higher or lower above the flame.

They are not especially cheap (about 50 cents a pop for maybe twelve minutes of burn time to boil maybe four cups of cold water). You can blow out the tablet and save the remainder, if your water has boiled.

I use an MSR pocket rocket stove that burns an iso-butane mixture that comes in canisters. I like it. You can control the flame output and it is really simple to use. The biggest drawbacks are that it is hard to tell how much fuel you have left in a canister unless you weigh it with a gram scale, and in sub-freezing weather you lose efficiency, so it isn't much good for winter camping.

There are also alcohol stoves. Some are made by small companies like Trangia or Brasslite. You can also find descriptions of how to make your own alcohol stove using things like cat food cans or pepsi cans, so the cost is close to zip. The type of alcohol to burn is not rubbing alcohol, but denatured alcohol, like the auto product HEET in the yellow bottle.

People who use alcohol stoves are often pretty fanatic about them for some reason. Maybe because they home made them. Alcohol burns a bit cool, so it takes a bit longer to boil water. The fuel is cheap! They are silent (so is esbit). If you spill some burning fuel, the flame is almost invisible, so you have to be careful.

For any camp stove I would recommend a wind screen.

the rim is 13-14,000 ft.
v v high. i was at 10,000 last summer and it was crazy.
but :(
i don't want to be stuck on a bus!
i mean, i get it. but. still!

dadrza has a weird heart so it may be too risky. i just hate the idea of being on a bus.

oh man hiking u guys wtf how did i miss this thread it is the best

i have ~opinions~ about the HIKING IN NEW ENGLAND and how GABBNEB might actually be sort of CORRECT on like that one point, about katahdin

but srsly i know it's busy and shit but franconia ridge????

has there been a controversial history of the AMC yet, and, if not, ~why not~

feel like the true story behind some kind of storied and olde enthusiast's assoc. is pretty ripe for some laughs

Trekking poles? Never used em. Never needed em. I can pass on that people whose knees are shot seem to swear by them, so if your knees need help, it's probably worth investigating them.

If you look into them, have some one who knows show you the proper use. I guess there's a bit of technique that, if you know it, is a big improvement over randomly stabbing the poles at the ground as you walk and hoping for the best. Do not assume the salesperson at the outdoor store knows anything on this subject. That's a crapshoot.

how do you hike 20 mi w/just a water bottle? no replenishing along the way? camelbaks are the way to go def.

this weekend: http://www.localhikes.com/Hikes/Maryland_Heights_8872.asp

used to play a game where you find a creek and race your friends upstream until you find either a] a spring or b] something interesting, good times

love big south fork btw, i have a really detailed trailbook from the late 70s somewhere in the uh attic maybe? i should dig it out and pick out some stuff.

it seems like i only hike when i'm camping, i don't do day hikes any more...maybe i should? red river gorge is only a 40 min drive from here.

I thought about doing harper's ferry around now,though I remember it bring a little underwhelming. Gonna be hot this weekend.

yep, but it's a sister fun day and it will be swell.

i have the day off tomorrow... it's either hiking or mountain biking, and i can't decide.

what have you done more of lately? do the other one.

i was already leaning toward mountain biking, but that clinches it... thanks, tza.

hi dere i'm going on an 84-mile trek starting tomorrow, got my bag packed and everything

holy wow! where?

hadrian's wall (http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/hadrianswall). i'm taking six days over it, camping along the way.

a friend of mine did that, said it was great!

i am thinking about doing the superior hiking trail, up north

Esbits are good mostly for boiling water that you can use to rehydrate dried food, or make tea or coffee with.

this is all i need! maybe i will get one

I did not make it to Harper's ferry because we did not have enough time but we did a v easy hike @ great falls and I have some pretty cellpwn pics.

i really advise against esbit stoves. they take forever, they smell like crap, the chemical in the esbit tablets is super toxic, and they barely work if there's any wind. i know they're really cheap, but that's about their only advantage. you find a good deal on any pocket canister stove (olympus, MSR, snow peak), take a small fuel canister, and have a nice little setup that is light and costs less than $40. i'll get off the hatin' train now, just wanted to say it one more time.

also- was mountain biking today and came across a dude who MANGLED his legs in a crash. when i first saw him, he was limping a little bit, and then when i realized how fucked his legs were, my stomach lurched a little bit- his flesh was torn to ribbons, blood everywhere, weird blue lumps where there should be no lumps, and both of his socks were completely soaked with blood. definitely the worst on-the-trail injury i've ever seen. i got out my first aid kit and helped him out as best i could (he was with two friends who looked shellshocked), but he was insisting on walking out, rather than staying put and getting evacuated. i did what i could, but i hope he got out okay.

ok i didnt know they str8 sucked

xpost wow.

i have always wondered about waiting to be evacuated, how long it would take, and how long it would take to even get in touch with someone in the first place assuming you are in a place without cell phone reception.

poor dude.

i have only been evacuated one time- luckily it was on a fire road, so the fire department was able to put me in a jeep, instead of having to pay big bucks for a more involved procedure. i had fallen and hit my head, and i had a concussion, so i couldn't walk more than a few paces without getting dizzy and falling again. i was probably out there for about a half hour until another biker passed me and went and got help.

today, it was really crowded on the trail, so i knew that if this guy had an emergency, it wouldn't be more than a few minutes before they saw someone else. if it had been really remote, i probably would have stayed or somehow made sure he made it back.

xpost- that's why i always carry a medical kit, even if i'm only going on a day hike or something.

was he on foot and crashed with a mountain bike????

no, he was a rider. wait, so does that make this story inadmissible in this thread, since neither person involved was hiking?

you were hiking, right?!

no, he was on a bike too! gtfo this thread, impostor!

haha

its ok, its still relevant to hikers.

oh man yall harkening back to something upthread, at deathfest a guy offered me whiskey from a nalgene flask with an entombed sticker on it, pretty much fell in love

one time me & my bros were out exploring in big south fork (menifee co ky i guess?) and found some repelling bros who had seen our band in richmond haha, what a day.

this guy micah we were camping with spent that whole 5 day camping trip borrowing our lighters then throwing them into the fire that night and scaring the shit out of us. also by the end of the trip he was the only one with a lighter, which kind of gave him a lot of POWER.

camping!

a friend of mine did that, said it was great!

it was! amazing weather, too.

i am thinking about doing the superior hiking trail, up north

this looks awesome

yeah, i'm pysched about it

say more about the trip

did 6.6 miles in the rain two days ago

it was stupid

hiking in the rain can be sublime sometimes... if it's not cold and windy and driving right into your face the whole time.

it was hot and boring, tbh

does anyone know about hiking in norway?

it's basically like this

http://ll.vimg.net/imagesoa/cms/images/APNews/Music/20090427/US-Opera-Met-Ring-61b7dc28-f364-4945-8555-ab2f846e05e2.jpg

knew it!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG:
http://www.summitpost.org/images/medium/519248.jpg
(lol)

Finally got this:

http://www.mysigg.com/ProductImages/MYSIGG/8025.50.JPG
+ nalgene flask!

Got some $220 hiking boots for $20, a fluffy pillow that collapses into nothing, an enamel percolator and a bear bell, which when "silenced" just sounds like you're constantly near a rattlesnake.

Did a jazz square on top of Jake's Gap.

Oh and my hiking buddy almost accidentally picked up a black snake thinking it was a lock on a grill near a campsite. Lol

School ends next Thursday. I gotta get out on a trail soon. I have some winter gut to work off.

hoping for this in September!

http://www.summitpost.org/images/medium/309653.JPG

(Galdhøpiggen)

skoal!

xpost- what boots? nice score.

say more about the trip

― i like to fart and i am crazy (gbx), Tuesday, 2 June 2009 23:49 (5 days ago)

sorry, i only just saw this.

it's a great walk - particularly the sections in the middle, where you're walking this long craggy ridge with great views on either side. the rest is mostly flattish, farmland-type terrain, but nice all the same. i camped four nights and on the last day walked 22 miles ending in newcastle. i met lots of awesome people on the way too (both trekkers and local types). it's quite a popular route, but not so busy it gets annoying.

a few pics:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3361/3595184291_c5c16ae008.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3379/3595180925_92d33372f1.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3562/3596232646_1ee8c93d9d.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3600/3595157225_09bbd198c6.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3630/3596205202_b72f09d1d6.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3320/3592980511_21cfc5ea9b.jpg

I hiked up waynupicchu today and it was a treat!

pix or it didn't happen

When I get back. There are lots.

wow hadrian's wall walk looks amazing

Also have some v special photos for ytth!

!!! my boss gave me two "bonus" paid days off to go on a 4-day backpacking trip in august. so stoked.

http://www.bumperstickerz.com/images/10000303-00-00-00-00_lg.png

^^^might get a small tat of this

That's awesome, j! Where will you go?

might do a week in Glacier very soon?!

i'm planning a 4-day loop in desolation wilderness. i hiked the first 8 miles of it as an out-and-back last year around this time, and i really want to go back.

actually more like August xp

ok here is the mountain:
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/102_8966.jpg

and here i am on top of it:
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/102_9012.jpg

wow awesome

So, where are you all going on Sunday? :-)

http://www.wbbm780.com/Nude-hiking-buffs-prepare-for-summer/4635232

i have done this

not as part of like a nat'l day or whatever, but by myself, it's pleasant

aren't the bugs a pain

if i'm nude it's on an empty beach

i was movin pretty fast, tbh

i just spent 12 days hiking around the southwest (mesa verde, valley of the gods, north and south rim of GC, tiny bit in sedona)
FUN

this was after going into the canyon, was eating an apple
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3350/3639374258_d7515a1376.jpg

only regret: not going to mt zion b/c we ran out of time during the utah portion

oops it's just zion
anyway the angel's landing trail looks terrifying and so cool
http://www.micksmtn.20m.com/zion2.JPG
there's a part where you have to grab onto a chain!

woah--we did angels landing about a year ago. i loved zion soo much, wanna go back.

we also did grand canyon, bryce and capitol reef=would go to all of these places again.

Aw yeah I did angels landing years and years ago - wld hike again. And Bryce is the coolest! Like a super mega sized version of those drip sand castles we used to make.

some cool looking shit here^^^^

i did bryce on horseback though. cheating. but i was also like 14 then.

!!

Fun fact: that same trip I came to Seattle for the first time and decided I wanted to live here.

i am in the san juans and ~not~ hiking due to cares, but i can say with some certainty that i would move here in a heartbeat

Do it!

Also check yr webmail!

emailed u

i just spent all day working at a big gear sale at mountain hardwear's headquarters... really made me want to get out on the trail.

I can't wait to go somewhere round here!

can u tell mountain hardwear to fix my jacket the zipper busted

they have lifetime warranties on their stuff, i think? maybe you could send it in and get it fixed

i did take a look at their warranty area- i didn't realize that they repaired the stuff in-house. but yeah, if you send it to them, they will fix it.

great!

btw can i just pimp my friend's project: http://www.biolitestove.com/BioLite.html

this shit is dope as hell

point reyes today:

big elk we saw:
http://files.getdropbox.com/u/821832/king%20elk.JPG

weird caterpillar:
http://files.getdropbox.com/u/821832/caterpillar.JPG

lotsa labybugs:
http://files.getdropbox.com/u/821832/ladybug.JPG

we hiked just past where you can see the big rock out near the end (about 8 miles there and back):
http://files.getdropbox.com/u/821832/view%20of%20point%20reyes%20hike.JPG

baby elk looking it's gonna pee on it's mum:
http://files.getdropbox.com/u/821832/stretching%20baby%20elk.JPG

This looks like a great day! Need to find someplace for next weekend when my friend visits. Based on my experience kayaking with her last summer and my knowledge of her cardio machine endurance at the gym, it should be not too hard. Maybe we will just find a nice place to explore rather than hike? Eh.

from young hill (the hike was really short; i think i confused it with another one in my fast/lazy planning):

http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs187.snc1/6256_95313951588_506836588_2185337_1194683_n.jpg
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs167.snc1/6256_95313956588_506836588_2185338_7996432_n.jpg
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs167.snc1/6256_95313966588_506836588_2185339_5646410_n.jpg
http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs187.snc1/6256_95313981588_506836588_2185341_2758865_n.jpg
http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs187.snc1/6256_95315906588_506836588_2185405_7216029_n.jpg
http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs187.snc1/6256_95315921588_506836588_2185406_5000079_n.jpg
http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs187.snc1/6256_95315926588_506836588_2185407_5347178_n.jpg
http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs187.snc1/6256_95313931588_506836588_2185335_7204293_n.jpg

btw, fuckin with climb, in action, courtesy of dadrza:
http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz47/ppcpp/Machupicchu040.jpg

oh man

just a hint of climb

guys think i'm gonna hit up the superior hiking trail one of these days soon

did not quite realize how good it (reportedly) is: awesome shelters, never crowded, ridgelines with views of the lake, <3 <3 <3

srsly considered stealing yr tat idea, rox

looking for some west connecticut hiking to do tomorrow. got the whole morning to blow

xpost go for it dude, we can be tat bros

~knucks~

~bones~

"urban hiking"
this sounds so funny.
i'm gonna do this today.
i like the idea of being able to take the bus to a park/trail.

still lollin' at gab's comments upthread: "those don't really do much for me"

was thinking about hiking. rox did you hike in CT?

also whatever gabbneb says there is good hiking in new york state. who cares if it's not like the best anyone has ever seen ever. there's a lot of interesting stuff and weird little towns to drive through on the way, and it smells good up there

that trail he mentioned before - breakneck ridge - is supposed to be good. my friend who lived in fishkill used to go do it after work all the time. hudson valley is v v pretty.

yeah i haven't done anything "downstate" (or is it upstate? depends where you are) but the adirondacks is nice. i bet hudson valley is great too, just has less elevation. my grandparents live in CT so we used to drive through the berkshires and western CT a lot and it looks fun, there are a lot of streams with beaver dams too

i haven't been to the dacks but i could see them from parts of the green mountains in VT and they are fucking gorgeous, gabb is retarded and i hate him

The Adirondacks are one of the coolest parks I've ever been to. They are astounding and not for novices. Folks think just because they're in New York that they're not badass, but that's all hogwash. The parks is filled with unbridled wilderness. Here are some cool facts:

1. The Adirondack Park is comprised of about 6.1 million acres (9,375 square miles).
2. The park is the size of the state of Vermont.
3. There's no marked boundary to the park, no "entrance gate" and no admission fee.
4. The Adirondack Park is the largest protected area in the contiguous United States, delineated by the famous "blue line."
6. The Adirondack Park is larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier, Grand Canyon and Great Smokies combined.

I'm hiking a part of Mt. Mitchell tomorrow. That's outside Asheville, NC, on the Blue Ridge. Very awesome. Elevation change of about 2,300 on the trail.

god why didn't i go to the adirondacks ever

i wanted to become a 46'er (do all 47 peaks above 4000 ft iirc) but i have only done 7 and i don't live in ny anymore so
i used these nice french canadians' site as a resource, still recommended http://www3.sympatico.ca/jgrimard/

As soon as school ended my wife and I went on an extended road trip with camping and hiking features.

We did a variety of short hikes (less than 7 miles, all of them) near Mt. Shasta, Mt. Lassen and in the Tuolomne Meadows area of Yosemite NP. Then we skipped down to the Little Lakes Valley and McGee Creek Canyon south of Yosemite. Also the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest preserve in the White Mountains.

On our way back we hiked in Jedediah Smith State Park, among the redwoods. And did some beach walking near Cape Blanco and Cape Perpetua on the Oregon coast.

Great trip!

Now I am prepping for some backpacking later this summer by lugging a 30 lb. pack around my neighborhood and agitating the local dogs. Next week I will get out for a three-nighter somewhere near here. A lot of snow on the Cascade mountains still, so finding open trails is a bit of a problem.

I love this time of year.

Nice, quantum! Have fun! Take pics! My loldad still reminisces about his bike to the top of Mitchell like 20 years ago. To the point that you're like ok dad we get it you rode up mt Mitchell can you please do something new now?

i went to carkeek park. it was pretty. the trails were not long enough! i did like 4 of them. beautiful views/beach at the end, though!

highlights:

http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/carkeek/102_9326.jpg
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/carkeek/102_9315.jpg
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/carkeek/102_9313.jpg
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/carkeek/102_9290.jpg
(^^^this fucking tree!!!!)
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/carkeek/102_9292.jpg
(interior of tree!!!)
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/carkeek/102_9280.jpg
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/carkeek/102_9270.jpg
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/carkeek/102_9266.jpg
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/carkeek/102_9267.jpg

image overload!

but this is important: seaweed is crazy.

http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/carkeek/102_9317.jpg
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/carkeek/102_9314.jpg
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/carkeek/102_9312.jpg

and can someone pls tell me what this gelatinous blob is?
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/carkeek/102_9319.jpg

I saw a gelatinous blob on the beach once and it turned out to be a jellyfish that had washed ashore. Yours doesn't have the tentacle thingies, so maybe it's an alien (or some kind of alien discharge).

this thread just fills me with jealousy. I need to get my life stable enough to start making some weekend outings.

i did bryce on horseback though. cheating. but i was also like 14 then.

― tehresa, Friday, June 19, 2009 11:45 PM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark

You lucky duck. I still haven't visited Bryce. But once you've experienced Utah these other places seem like a stroll in the park.

yeah since this is where a creek goes out to the sound, i am thinking not jellyfish. but what?! ackljglk
xpost

bryce is still one of my favorite places! i liked it so much more than the grand canyon. i think once i can join a hiking group and get out past the city an hour or two, there will be higher peaks to climb, but it's nice to have these strolls in the park easily accessible.

also lol @ a site listing my neighborhood as 'must-do' for seattle urban hiking.

does it say "boots and hogs" inside that tree?!

also lol @ gbx re: neb

even better:
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/carkeek/102_9292_2.jpg

my sigg bottle has been ~~~~FOUND~~~~

Tomorrow I leave town for two weeks for some serious hiking action. I intend to average about 10 miles a day and about 2000 ft of elevation gain per day for most of that time.

The fact that Oregon is expected to get a lot of 100 degree days in my first week out may cause me to scale back my plans a bit, since I will spend most of that week hiking at 7000 to 8000 ft on a high, dry mountain ridge and I'll have to carry every drop of water I drink between breakfast and supper. I have 5 liters of water capacity, but that would be 12 or 13 pounds of water, on top of about 28 pounds of tent, food, clothes, and other gear.

Anyway, envy me. I will be in beautiful country, often alpine, with wildflowers, lakes and many spectacular views. Wheee!

oh wow, jealous! have an amazing time! take lots of pictures!

dont know what to do. there is a bachelor party related activity planned that i'm afraid might kill me, so i'm uhhh, reluctant.

ppls involved want to do this:

http://www.14ers.com/videos/showvideo.php?video=CapitolKnife_1b

im a gamer, but i dont know if im _that_ much of a gamer. there will be no alcohol or shenanigans involved until after the climb. if i do it and survive, i might drink myself to death. :(

also:
http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr222/Chass3ur/Peru2000_0002adj.jpg

^_^

i am really frustrated bc i can't find an appropriate hiking club.

one is doing all several day overnight trips for which i am not equipped/trained yet. others do more leisurely stroll-like things and i just want a nice, tiring day hike adventure! not a walk on a path with 20 ppl. ugh.

start a club imo!!!

do you not like to hike solo? i prefer backpacking with 2-3 people, but for a hiking trip, i'd rather be by myself (if my wife isn't coming, that is).

i would love to hike solo but i wonder if it is safe?
also i need carpools!

ahh, i see. have you checked out REI? they have a community section where you can find out about groups and stuff.

what the fuck

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/fuckinwclimb.jpg

oopsie! i tried to fix my html fuck up and ended up w/ some really strange thing going on there!

anyway. i tried to say:

like i wld <3 to do this solo but what if a mountain sheep eated me?

i was thinking of going to rei to pick up a book about trails, etc., so i will see what's there. i looked at their schedule of events online but nothing jumped out.

i think the <3 ated the rest of the post! but WOAH that was weird.

i know it was like, is the system saying that?!?!?!

a ghost in the machine

awesome

it's my new hiking friend

rei-run events are okay, but the actual store will have a whole bulletin board of pamphlets and announcements for local happenings and stuff. another good way to meet people is to volunteer for a trail work day, since those are usually in good hiking areas where you'll find similarly inclined people.

i will go there tomorrow and casually peruse the flyers.

tomorrow: http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/snow-lake-1

wow! that's pretty damn pretty. take pictures!

it was so cloudy, you couldn't see snow lake! well you sort of could if you looked REALLY hard
it's down there:
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/102_9353.jpg

but to make up for it, here is gem lake. it is v v pretty, btw:
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/102_9367.jpg
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/102_9364.jpg

and here are a few other pixxxxxxxxx why bc they look intersting (to me):
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/102_9346.jpg
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/102_9355.jpg
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/102_9370.jpg
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/102_9347.jpg
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/102_9358.jpg

and i realized i really should have had sturdier boots instead of trail shoes for this. so rocky!

looks pretty metal imo

forgot this one this tree is badass

http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/102_9354.jpg

must. move. to. seattle.

yes plzzzzzz do bc i want to go hiking with like 2 people, not 7 people. and also want to go hiking w/ people that appreciate the scenery and not just say 'yay i went hiking'.

or maybe i just don't like people :( but maybe i could start a new thing: antisocial metal hiking.

that looks great. i agree re: hiking with people.

antisocial metal hiking.

haw this is totally us!!! aka my hiking cru which is me and one other dude

i know we touched on this before, but crazy rocky terrain made me think about poles since i am totally klutzy.

also roxy: jealous of u cru!

my niggaz wit altitude shirt caused quite a stir last night at a party which consisted of half frat boys and half homosexual metalheads

<8

started watching discovery's "everest: beyond the limit". so far the announcer is ruining it for me!

i didn't know you were so into everest. have you ever checked out "the story of the story of everest"? it's pretty remarkable.

would just like to mention here that u know it was a NEW ZEALISH person who climbed that fucker first

i have not checked that out but i will now!

yeah i got this weird everest obsession a few years back totally by accident.

dude on this show summits with NO LEGS!

i think the fascination is something to do with rubbernecking over the really irresponsible decisions people make (for a number of reasons -- some understandable, some not).

not as good as the story of the story of the story of everest imo

I got back a couple of days ago. Great trip! Actually two great trips - one being 4 days' and the other of seven days' duration, in some very remote mountains, where I didn't see another soul for as much as two days running.

I walked 105 miles in those 11 days, saw a herd of mountain goats up close, watched ospreys diving into mountain lakes for trout, did some x-country hiking, endured two thunderstorms and 30 continuous hours of rain (mostly at 7400 feet elevation) where I needed to utilize my survival fire-starting skills for the first time in decades in order to dry out before bedtime. In short, I was 100% alive and engaged.

It is only too bad it is over and I won't have such an intensive hiking experience again until next summer.

wow! that sounds amazinggggggggg. you went alone???

did you take pictures? please share!

Yeah, tehresa, I am one of those crazy solo backpackers who launches himself into the deep backwoods and sometimes off trail for a week or more at a time. After doing this for about 35 years now, I have a fund of experience to draw on, so I am not quite as crazy now as I was when I started this. I'm actually pretty conservative and careful, for a madman.

Oh, and the pics, if forthcoming, will have to wait a bit. I am leaving to go camping with my wife in a day or so, and I have too much packing to do.

see now you are making me jealous cause i'd love nothing more than antisocial hiking but i am just so damn paranoid about breaking an ankle and then sitting there til a bear eats me.

i've only done solo overnight trips - no extended trips. the first one i did, i had an anxiety attack about getting really sick - the fear was that i could try to splint a broken ankle or even crawl out or something, but that if i was insanely sick with some stomach virus, i wouldn't be able to move or think straight through my fever, etc.

so thank god the capitol peak thing i linked to above was called off, at least for me. anyway, now im trying to convince friends to do the much more friendly subway at zion in Oct. Anyone done it?

http://www.zionrockguides.com/zrmg/Canyoneering/Zion%20Canyoneering%20Info/Subway%20Top.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9372441@N07/2802107837/

must. move. to. seattle.

― a terrible camera... with fangs and shit... (ytth), Saturday, August 8, 2009 11:48 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark

holy shit otm

tza i bet my pals in seattle would go hiking with you, they are def day hike w/beers after type ppl

send 'em my way!
(but maybe warn them i am wary of people!)

also all of you: move here. now! i tell you, there are like 30000 apartments open in my hood alone.

maybe you've already met them ;)

i swear roxy is my soul sister. metal and hiking. <3

i have been doing a lot of hiking this summer ever since i spent a week in alaska. i need more hiking friends because my car can't make it to the mountains right now. and everyone always bails on me or just wants to do some like wuss 2-3 mile hike.

yeah. i have not been excited about any of the meetup group upcoming hikes since i went on the last one. and i don't want to hike with 10 ppl. mandee and roxy, plz to come hike with me!

Guys I'm taking a week off work to hike the 5 tallest mountains in Tennessee, tbh!

~~pound

~~return pound!

tbh it's like a nervous tic

what is

My need of the Great Outdoors.

I hear ya, tza. I went on a hike with six people last weekend and it was just too much. TOO MANY PEOPLE. I think three people total is a max for me.

I'm bummed because I was going to do epic hike in RMNP tomorrow but my hiking partner is bailing so now I have to do something in Boulder that is far less scenic and cool. BAH.

my hiking cru and i (man + dog + me) went to devil's lake this weekend. not terribly strenuous, but nice to be outdoors and in nature.

soon i will post pic of THE DEVIL'S DOORWAY (ie a rock formation)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2573/3871755027_0d67d15b69.jpg
this is actually from last year, but the rock and the dog haven't changed at all. my hair is longer.

<3

I spent the past weekend hiking with my bro and his dog. We backpacked in to a nice, little lake at 5000 feet near the PCT and set up camp just before a brief but heavy rainstorm on Friday evening.

On Saturday we hiked about 6 miles with 1000 ft of elevation gain, and visited four other lakes. This was about as much my bro and his dog could handle; my bro has some serious heart problems as a result of 45 years of insulin-dependence and his dog is 10 years old, so this was pretty epic for them.

We had a great time. I love my bro and his dog Diva is pretty darned nice, too.

Am off to the Lake District tomorrow for a wild camping and trekking weekend. Looking forward to it, but somewhat trepidatious due to a) the weather and ii) not having done much fully-laden-rucksack-walking before. I'm reasonably fit though, and we're not talking marathon distances.

Oh yeah, and wild camping is not strictly legal but tolerated, and one of the code of conduct things is do not light fires. But my buddies are so dead keen on the hardcore manly bear grylls ray mears lifestyle that I haven't been able to talk them out of it.

go get a beer at the Old Dungeon Ghyll for me please

I think we are planning on avoiding any and all signs of civilisation. Unless we cry off after 12 solid hours of torrential downpour.

i am signed to go on a relatively easy hike sunday (hooray for finally having weekends back!) but there are like, massive #s of ppl signed up to go and i'm a little wary.

also the weather is turning so it's v iffy.

ledge, take an umbrella in addition to your other rain gear. No kidding. It works a treat for hiking in rain, unless there are high winds with the rain. In which case, you won't want to stay out for long anyway.

Umbrella = lightning rod?

only if yr the tallest thing around

awesome weather today for going up Ben Lomond. October in Scotland is rarely so clement.

http://i674.photobucket.com/albums/vv105/NAPOLEONROFL/DSC00446.jpg?t=1255834188

<3

reminds me of view from the san juans but awesomer

I love Loch Lomond. Less than an hour of a drive from centre of Glasgow and only a couple of hours hike and I was up there at really beautiful scenery. Bonnie, bonnie banks indeed.

up there looking at really beautiful scenery, i don't think i make a post on ILX without omitting a word.

kinda makes me reconsider scotland!

Scotland is really beautiful. The weather is generally terrible.

yeah scotland rules

didn't know there were so many islands in loch lomond!

yeah there are quite a few, though that is a particularly island dense part of the loch afaik. When I was a kid use to go out fishing with my granddad on the loch and often stopped for lunch on an island that had the ruins of some sort of dwelling place that you couldn't see until you got right up to it because it was surrounded by trees. Whoever stayed there was some sort of rad bandit i bet.

weird sights- headlamps of big wall guys 1500 ft off the valley floor at zion at night.

hiked the subway on saturday- best hike/swim ive ever done by far. geological freak show, rappel 3 100 ft drops, swim with trout and canyon tree frogs. highly recommended for the non claustrophobic.

!!!

scotland is so so so beautiful

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/129/350665814_50f1bd98fa.jpg

i've been wanting to go back and see the highlands a lot lately

where the wellies things are

that's me
to my right are some wicker man feet

this link below has some photos that do a good job of capturing the feel of the middle part of subway hike--although like 2% of it. the scope though- the canyon walls above the subway formation go straight up over your head at least 200 feet of pure vert, with spires and slopes far higher.

also, there are so many little weird things. 50 yard long cracks/channels 3 inches wide running in perfectly straight machined looking lines with water rushing through at 20 knots. an almost spherical chockstone wedged 3 feet over your head as you swim through a 24 inch wide pool. a pothole of water with a hidden underwater passage into the pool a few feet away- you can dunk and swim through the tunnel under solid sandstone into the pool.

http://www.citrusmilo.com/zion2005/ilovezion8.cfm

the first pool swim was 49 degree water on saturday. really really cold in a farmer john with no jacket! i wouldn't do the hike without a wetsuit, at least this time of year. we did see a party without them, and two of the hikers were 10 or 11 years old. i will say TOUGH ASS KIDS. the water warms up only a short distance down the canyon, fortunately.

i didnt have my camera, so im waiting on the 3 in party that had them to send then to me.

that looks really awesome!

the chockstone i referred to- i guess its more like 5 feet overhead:

http://www.pbase.com/bjrhodes01/image/85974253

this is looking up the corridor, the direction from which you are swimming. i could just fit in between that narrows, it is shoulder width. just up out of view behind that bowling ball is a short waterfall downclimb. you can't touch bottom in there for most of the way, but its only 60 feet long or so.

wow, dude's antelope canyon shots are impressive. maybe i'll see that someday!

http://www.pbase.com/bjrhodes01/lowerantelope

that is AWESOME.

omg

so im all tryna figure out what other slots might be do-able for a semi-able guy like me and find this tragic and frightening story 8^0 :

http://climb-utah.com/Zion/kolob1.htm

i want to go hiking :(
i need more friends. with cars.

while waiting for our shuttle vehicle at the end of the trail saturday we saw a tandem ultralight plane buzz down the valley and then turn up the adjoining drainage. we all were surprised that was legal in the park, and also that you could tandem an ultralight, and also that it would have enough juice to climb out of the valley-- it was very low and the canyon walls very high. today i read that it crashed, one guy broke his leg. they had to overnight in the park while waiting for rescue team.

exiting the subway formation, back into the light

http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr222/Chass3ur/IMG_1810pshop4x6.jpg

last one (for now):

the shower room. there is a waterfall that drops into a fairly large cave/room. this is adjacent to the final short rap into the big subway space

http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr222/Chass3ur/PA170133pshop4x6a.jpg

wanna go to there

closest major to zion- vegas.

if youre into that. we skipped.

dunnit, twice in college on spring break trips to red rocks. camp for 1.5 weeks out in the desert w/dirtbags, descend on vegas for one afternoon of light mayhem

there are things that one should not, uh, ingest before hitting the casinos, looking like a mental patient, and dragging a retinue of under-21 yo college kids

makes me wanna go back to zion. it was my favorite of the grand canyon-bryce-zion trip, but that was also like 14 years ago.

ok hooray i think i am going on this easy hike saturday! it looks v v pretty!

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/59/208746564_cdb591650b.jpg

looks cool.

gorgeous and very saturated

when do they get snow at 4000+ feet there?

snowing here in town today :(

;here's a forecast from the hike organizer (guessing that's the top of the crest). based on that i'd say... now! but probably not too much.

ugh i suck at links today.

god i love the west coast!!!
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs070.snc3/13735_158841666588_506836588_2906123_7314721_n.jpg

8)

what the fuck am I doing with my life

I don't live in mega-awesome hiking country, but I did have a very nice fall hike today in Sky Meadow State Park (VA). Am vowing to do more of this throughout the fall/winter.

Oh and who here has Colorado hiking recommendations? In late July. Near, uh, Littleton?

damn it missing a rainier skyline loop hike tomorrow because last min decision to go meant it was too late for me to reschedule my stuff for tomorrow. grrrrrrrrrr!

quincie, depends what your hiking parameters are, and your available transportation. im not a big hiker, i do more bike stuff, but:

deer creek canyon park- 15 minutes away by car, a couple of good loops, but vertical involved. the lower loop is about an hour with 500 feet of ascending. i used to do this with my little kid in a backpack carrier, so obv it's not too difficult. if you opt to go to the loops on the top of the mtn, you'll get probly 1000 feet additional of elevation. good venue, rather lots of ppl. in late july, you'll want to start early to avoid the heat.

elk meadow/bergen peak park- 30 minutes by car in evergreen. plenty of long open gentle nature-walky stuff in the meadow below the mtn, with a couple of different routes to the top of the mtn. this will take you from about 7500 ft up to 9500 ft or so with good views. some mtn bike traffic. whats nice is once done evergreen is nearby for food etc.
http://www.trails.com/tcatalog_trail.aspx?trailid=HGR254-047

golden gate canyon state park- 45 minutes, this is a nice, more remote feeling area to hike around.

kenosha pass- 1 hour. i really like this area, its pretty remote, but offers good views of south park (yes, that south park) and the mosquito range, and has a several route options. on foot, it might be better to hike from jefferson lakes area, which is farther away, but the hikes from the highway are pretty good too. best thing about this in july is that you start at 10000 feet, so it is typically much cooler than down in town.

grays and torreys- 1 hour. wanna do a 14er, or two at once? this is the best nearby 14er imo, easy walkups as 14ers go, but you'll need to get a very early start because you want to summit before noon to avoid thunderstorms. total hike time will vary widely with fitness/ability.
http://www.14ers.com/routemain.php?route=gray1&peak=Grays%20Peak
http://www.14ers.com/photos/peakmain.php?peak=Grays%20Peak

Oh thanks so much! v. v. helpful info. Neither Mr. Que nor I are super duper hard core hikers but I've done several Adirondacks high peaks so am not a total wuss (tho as swamp inhabitants we will not be used to the altitude). Cooler weather and fewer crowds are definitely a preference.

getting ready to do so much stupid hiking to complete my goals for the year

Hunt3r do you have Rocky Mtn Nat'l Park recommendations? Am thinking we should go big before we go home. Of course the altitude may kill us--we were feeling it even at Bryce.

sorry, but actually i dont. ive been here 19 years but have never hiked rmnp.

I'm seriously worried about the altitude. Like, that I won't be able to do hikes I would normally have no problem with. Am I overly concerned?

what is the elevation?

Highest is 14,259.

I'll becoming from my home below sea level :(

yikes! you should acclimate for a day or two before attempting anything that drastic but wow... i don't know. the highest i've done any hiking was 10,000 i think, and it was definitely a lot more challenging. but i think you'd be ok if you are in good shape and remember to pace yourself/rest occasionally.

Yeah Bryce was ~9000 and both of us were puffing harder than we expected. I think we could probably get a couple of days in taking it easy to acclimate. Mostly I think probably we should not choose ambitious hikes--"moderate" hikes will feel strenuous methinks.

Hiking at altitude = "dude is this what getting old feels like?"

maybe look for a ridge trail that would give you great views but not too much intense up/down?

afaik ppls adverse responses to high altitude are pretty unpredictable if youre talking about real problems like altitude sickness (headaches or pulmonary edema). the cure of going down is pretty reliable. as far as the increased difficulty of exertion, yeah, it just IS. you can try to acclimate for a day or two which may help avoid altitude sickness, but it wont help you make red blood cells in time for your hike. you'll get fatigued faster than youre used to.

theres a bazillion hikes well below 14000 ft, which is as high as you can go here, right?

when you say go big, do you mean a 14er, or just, hiking in rmnp? cause the 14er in rmnp is not really considered the easiest. the easiest one is quandary peak right next to breckenridge. the east ridge is a long gradual walkup.

By big I kinda just mean being surrounded by a bunch of really tall mountains--not that I necessarily have to climb one all the way to the tippy-top. I'm a view (and food)-driven hiker, so a smaller and or shorter hike with a great view is perfectly fine by me. However I do like to avoid crowds and that has sometimes meant choosing a longer but less-travelled route.

what the fuck am I doing with my life

― how rad bandit (gbx), Sunday, October 25, 2009 2:42 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ahahaha, otm

Def take it eeeeasy for a while.

Yeah I mean usually I make fun of mountains with roads leading to summit (see: Whiteface in Adirondacks, Cadillac in Acadia NP) but in this case it might be kind of handy for the swamp dwellers.

i want a car i want to go hike RIGHT NOW

Yeah but you'll still feel shitty at the top. IMO I'd stay away from the heights until just normal activity feels ok

I drove up to 11k outside Santa fe after being there for only a day and just walking across the parking lot was like damn

went skiin at Taos four days later tho and it was ok

yeah my colca ridge hike was somehting i'd normally consider a walk but it definitely winded us! and that was after a few days in arequipa and then a night at higher elevation.

lol i walked up whiteface by myself, didn't see anyone all the way up and when you get to the top there's like *a crowd*. it is pretty funny.

well, i mean you can drive trail ridge road in rmnp up to 12k, so that will be nice too. you will not lack for options...

xpost

funniest automobile "summit" imo: clingman's dome, srsly.

guys i went hiking on wednesday and nothing went as planned and i ended up camping in the freezing backwoods at 6,000ft+ and was probably the highest up sleeping person in East Tennessee afaict! my face is really red today. vvvvv close encounter with a young bear who did not give an F about us, also all water was frozen and could not be drunk. hung out on this which made everything worth it:

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_VMkLA7HBHmA/R56FWRRU0II/AAAAAAAACyE/DazPUpT5ppg/CIMG1432.JPG

that's charlie's bunion. kickass hike if you ever make it out here, but do it in apr-oct!

(nb that's where i've been and why ayovember has not been up to snuff the past 2 days, haw)

that picture is A++++

Sounds scary. I am glad you're OK and yeah, that pic is beautiful.

Holy shit that looks awesome but ugh cold and dehydrated not so good.

awesome, em!

i'm doing little si tomorrow morning. only a short hike, but at least i am going somewhere!

beautiful. in tn i hiked ramsay cascades in gsmnp on a midweek 95deg/95%humid day with my pops and some family. very few people that day, fantastic falls at the top.

ive never been to ramsay cascades, amazingly.

did you plan to camp there, or was it an emergency thing because it got too dark to finish the hike?

no, we planned to camp further up actually (on Mount LeConte!), but it got too dark to go up the really rocky parts. we had no idea how cold it would be.

the weirdly memorable thing about our hike to ramsay cascades was that it was maybe a coupla days after all of the rhododendrons had dropped their blossoms. it seemed like the we walked half the way on this runner of flowers.

any hiking in the rain tips?
i suppose i'll take a dry shirt or something in a plastic bag inside my pack?
is this going to be a terrible disaster? i don't think rain is avoidable at all tomorrow, but i have lots of layers...

take lots of clean socks in a ziploc! you will love yourself. and wear a poncho over your pack

ended up not going at all bc of thunderstorms :(
rain i can deal with but lightning is ehhhhh.
i'm a wimp.

no you are smart

thanks, mr. que.
feeling kinda frustrated at not getting any mountains.
i went back to bed at 6:15 and when i got up again the weather was really nice (here) so i don't know, maybe i freaked out for nothing :(

haha i was trying to post "no, you are just smart" to this thread 100x and it wouldnt let me

we sound so retarded here, blame hypothermia, but here is the bear i met

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nogDb2z1YGg

lol @ me saying its just like a dog

haha awesome. what is he eating anyways?

omg!

justine was watching that video this morning, and i thought it was from the "oh shit a bear" thread - eg: two people with a digital camera get mauled by bear, etc. knowing that it was roxy and friend doing the filming, i'm glad that's not the case.

i think he might be foraging for bugs

video captures the wtf-ness of wildlife encounters really well, so great

were you really that close or was the camera zoomed in?

It was zoomed in, but we were quite close. I could not have reached out and touched him, but I could have taken one step and done so.

damn. i would not do that. dont wanna end up like chimp lady

planning a toadtrip next week from knoxville to nyc and considering hiking the highest mountains in each state on the way there and back -- kind of a cool idea imo

imHo

awesome idea!

even new york?????

mount marcy? child's play

will u do mitchell?

http://www.carolinamtnclub.com/SB6K/SB6K%20Index.html

The South Beyond 6000 is an organized program to encourage hikers to climb the 40 peaks over 6000 feet in the Southern Appalachians. The privilege of belonging is earned and can only be shared among those who have pushed onward and upward on foot to the tops of these peaks. The Tennessee Eastman Hiking and Canoeing Club started this program after they had studied similar concepts used in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Adirondack Mountains in New York.

you should get in on this imo

i will have done 12 of those by the end of this year iirc!!

2. Climb all 40 peaks by routes involving hiking at least 5 miles with an ascent of at least 500 feet. In many cases, roads come close to the summits, and the return trip may be made by auto. However, where descent by trail is specified, return trip must be made on foot.

weak sauce

so that's why clingman's dome isn't included

i might hike in shendandoah too/instead

it feels misleading tho - thinkin like 40 hikes to 6000+ ft when the min requirement is 500 ft ascent?!
i know you can't start at sea level all the time, but...

yeah its incred rare iirc

well yeah, my point was that the requirement should be more stringent than 500 ft of climb.

i know i might be spoiled by the smokies, but fuck shenandoah natl park form what i can tell, kinda? what kind of nat'l park has as it's main attraction a DRIVE

xpost i think it should just be the 40 peaks period, its weird to have any other requirement imo. if it is going to be the highest/most difficult elevation gains that's a whole other ball of wax

i just think that the actual hiking to the summit should count for something.

i mean, the hill i live on goes from almost sea level to 390 ft in like, a mile... i would not consider that a hike if i added an extra 110 ft and 4 miles?

4 miles???

min requirement is 5 miles and 500 ft... which is... nothing?

mount marcy? child's play

― e\m/ily (roxymuzak), Saturday, November 14, 2009 11:27 PM (Yesterday)

it's not that hard but i think it's like 6 hours from nyc is all. kind of out of your way prob

Douchechill. I might just do VA's highest because it has miniature ponies on it and is beautimous, and then some Shenandoah stuff.

I'm also sleeping outside on the way up and back every night <3<3<3

did a nice hike with justine yesterday to the top of pine mtn in marin county. really nice views of mt. tam, the bay, richmond bridge, and even mt. diablo (where we were last weekend). i have a cell phone pic of justine climbing on top of the summit marker, but i can't upload it to the computer, because i'm dumb and she wouldn't let me post it anyway.

xposted to wdyll but

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/mebunion.jpg

xp i would kill you, since i look like a pudding in my hiking clothes

aw, i bet you look great, justine! post it here not to wdyll and you're safe!

http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr222/Chass3ur/ZionSubway-59pshop4x6.jpg

awesome!

ive been looking at pix from utah. such an amazing place.

http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr222/Chass3ur/ZionSubway-40pshop4x6.jpg

dope imo

thinkin baout 36 hour mt. whitney trek.

winter?!

what do you guys know about snowshoeing?
i'm scared. but i miss hikes.

noooo may '10

my mom snowshoes. it seems pretty fun if you like snow.

http://pullharder.org/2008/01/24/our-whitney-stroll/

i had to google to see what a winter ascent of whitney would be like- pretty entertaining it turns out

snowshoeing is pretty fun, but ive not done anything very challenging in them. ive done lots of backcountry ski touring and highly recommend.

whitney is skiiable no? bring skis shasta

this view was blowing my mind today:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2595/4164972814_a177bcdce8.jpg

ytth was standing way too close to the edge for my comfort:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2764/4164926482_6e8ae86039.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2758/4164902474_9470560ce8.jpg

shiiiiiit

the weird thing was: we kind of picked this place to hike at random, then driving to it we were wondering if it was gonna suck - scenery looked real flat and boring. 15mins later we were driving up a damn mountain.

photos don't do the place justice, not by a longshot

I would really like to try snowshoeing! Unfortunately, DC is not known for reliable snowfall, though we did have a couple of inches yesterday (now mostly gone). How much snow is the minimum for good snowshoeing?

Oooh just1n3 that looks like a lovely hike!

the 2nd two photos were taken on a trail called "prairie falcon trail"... eg, the most badass trail name of all time.

wow that shot is amazing!

i'm not sure about snowshoeing min fall. i was going to go to a class at rei a while back but something conflicted and now i am kicking myself.

hopefully not while wearing snowshoes...

table rockin tomorrow!
wanted to do pinnacle loop but i think we are abbreviating so as to include some less hikingly inclined family members.

went on an xmas ramble with my bf. it was nice, like a ~4 mile gentle rolling hills thing. hilariously, it led up to this vista that i swear looked out over on a nuclear power plant-esque thing. "ITS BEAUTIFUL," we screamed. this was at ijams nature center in south knoxville.

did yall hear about that hiker that held on by his fingertips to an icy ledge for 6 hours?!

!!!!!!!!!!

maybe it was the sleep deprivation but i found this hilarious today
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs175.snc3/20269_221064296588_506836588_3296159_1772404_n.jpg

</3rd grade>

today's hike up in mt tamalpais state park:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/821832/east%20peak%2C%20mt%20tam%2C%20jan%20%2710/P1010982.JPG

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/821832/east%20peak%2C%20mt%20tam%2C%20jan%20%2710/P1010985.JPG

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/821832/east%20peak%2C%20mt%20tam%2C%20jan%20%2710/P1010992.JPG

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/821832/east%20peak%2C%20mt%20tam%2C%20jan%20%2710/P1010998.JPG

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/821832/east%20peak%2C%20mt%20tam%2C%20jan%20%2710/P1010994.JPG

oh man, awesome!

table rock has so many awesome boulders

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs195.snc3/20269_221064281588_506836588_3296157_6490617_n.jpg
http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs175.snc3/20269_221064231588_506836588_3296151_1452983_n.jpg

view from top
http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs195.snc3/20269_221064306588_506836588_3296161_616047_n.jpg

it was v nice but kinda doesn't hold a candle to the west coast! but now i get why they call them the blue ridge mtns:
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs175.snc3/20269_221064291588_506836588_3296158_1420967_n.jpg

i kinda love the more gentle nature of the eastern ranges. they feel more ancient, and the vistas are more infrequent, and well-earned

better foliage thats for sure

i dunno bc like in winter pnw is still green whereas se is brownnnn

love the south's clear skies, tho!

but NE is snowy!

east tn/west nc/southern va is like, still green and all kinds of shit in winter

rockies--clear skies AND green AND snowy. except for the beetle kill lodgepoles-- that's v. brown. :(

how is west nc green if west sc is brown?
tricky.

its a different region iirc

is it???

iirc a trip up the watershed takes you through both wsc and wnc but maybe your wnc is a different area than mine :D

The mans and I walked up to the Greenbriar school and the Walker Srs. homesite in the middle of the night (and snow) the other night. It was so beautiful! It looked like no one else had been up there since the snowfall, and there were soo many cool, identifiable animal tracks in the snow (bear, BABY bear, raccoon, squirrel, rabbit, deer). The snow was so glittery.

aw.
i had a dream about hiking last night that was pretty lol.

so far star trek v is worth it just for these:

http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/rock.jpg
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/sigg.jpg

hahahaha actual lol

Joshua Tree last weekend, on the 49 Palms trail.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4067/4472704504_1cd36192cb_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4010/4472704642_fb65dcd09e_o.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4032/4471925891_d4b4b45759_b.jpg

so cool

damn time constraints prevent me from going to the olympics this weekend. can only go thurs, when hurricane ridge road is not open :(
i will still trek around the rain forest a bit, though. not climb, tho :(

Few shots of recent visits lake district
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4010/4464762410_4944c305b7.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4022/4409162112_1fd891a6a7.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2576/4461428583_5d6fdda902.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4034/4432384239_cb9855a6e9.jpg
Would go every weekend if i could.

that last one is incredible!

that last shot is awwwesome

Apparently that lake is well known for the air force training its jet pilots there. The planes fly below you, didn’t see one that day :(

how high is treeline there? must be really low because arent the valleys almost sea level?

It's around 1500ft, nothing crazy.

just weird cause when i look at mountains here and see south facing treeline i think "ok, thats about 11000 feet."

i was totally weirded/thrown by the fact that the mountains in WA were as short as they were. i'm used to CO/MT mountains, so yeah, it's a little weird to hit a 4k treeline, or see rugged-ass peaks that i know are "only" 6 or 7k

yeah getting lots of vert over the valley always adds something-- why sopris looks so 0_0

beautiful shit yall

joshua tree is the park i most want to visit in the states

got a fancy backpack finally

The JT trail is actually called 49 Palms Canyon (I forgot the Canyon in the first post). It's very well constructed, with stone "staircases," and is obvious enough that it'd be hard to get lost. No shade along the way, so best to do it outside of Summer.

I've been out for a few short hikes this past month. My current fun is in firming up my plans for a 150 mile hike on the Pacific Crest trail at the end of July.

how do you all feel about hiking alone?

love it

me too. Have not done backcountry camping alone tho.

me either, am doing it 1st time sat night. if i dont post by midnight the following night, call NPS plz

k

don't wear cotton. COTTON KILLS

I also love it. The risks are minimal and relatively easy to come to terms with, especially as I have so much accumulated knowledge and experience by now. I've been backcountry hiking and camping, alone, since circa 1973, when I was 18.

The lack of human company is not a problem for me. I've gone as long as a week, hiking 10 or more miles a day, without seeing another living soul. Some people might hate that, but I don't. It just gives me a better chance to see and hear what there is around me, which includes a lot of near-silence, which is a blessed thing after one gets used to it.

This year, for the first time, I own and will bring a Personal Locator Beacon, a device that would allow me to summon Search and Rescue from anywhere I am. That's because I finally realized that when I solo off-trail in the middle of a two-week trek, there's not a snowball's chance that I could be found. My family would like me to come back, if possible, so I will now take a PLB on my long backcountry hikes. Thank god it only weighs 5.5 oz, since I intend never to use it.

did not know about PLBs tbh! I've got an avy beacon but I'm guessing that it's a very different animal

I've camped solo, but never far in the backcountry. all my solo hikes have been long day hikes. v rejuvenating imo

roxy,

if you're doing it for the first time ever, be aware that the night will present you with noises that your mind will not be able to readily identify, because they just don't occur in your normal nighttime indoor setting. As a result, it is pretty normal to be spooked the first few times you sleep out alone.

There are nocturnal animals out there who will be audible. They'll mainly be such visitors as chipmunks, deer, mice, skunks, porcupines. IOW, not one predator in the mix. If anything, your food will be at FAR greater risk than you will be.

You are a big, scary predator yourself in the view of most animals. However, if they can nab any portion of your food, they'll be rewarded with fabulous taste treats, beyond their wildest imagining, like potato chips! Or halvah! Or peanuts! That's a temptation few animals can resist, so expect them to try to invade your food supply at night as you (fitfully) sleep.

BTW, a deer at night sounds like a huge, hooved, ground-pounding behemouth. Just tell it to shoo.

i bring earplugs when i go backpacking... otherwise, i find it almost impossible to sleep.

Aimless, you forgot to say "sweet dreams"

some knob in grand county thought his plb was an avy beacon and kept turning it on in the backcountry around berthoud pass this winter, causing jets to scramble, satellites to swivel, all kinds of mayhem. took them months to find the guy, he'd always turn it off before they could find him.

aimless, you are a font of awesome wisdom!

i went hiking solo today and it was awesome! i wish i'd had a car while i lived here so i could have done it more. i love it because i like to stop and examine weird lichen or trees or whatever looks interesting to me and most ppl find that extremely tedious or boring because they just want to get to the top. i would be scared to go overnight alone at this point though. i tend to get paranoid enough about things like the 'beware! elk have been charging hikers lately!' (this sign led me to spend the first 30 or so min checking my back for elk every 2 seconds, haw).

stop and examine weird lichen or trees or whatever looks interesting to me
ditto!
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4053/4434381487_4b553ba278.jpg

that is a great pic imo

The only time I have felt uncomfortable backcountry camping is when we (me + female friend) spoke with a couple of road crew dudes at the trail head before signing in to the trail register. We wanted an opinion on whether or not it was really necessary to scatter mothballs under the car to prevent porcupines from eating through our brake line. Anyhow I'm sure the dudes were completely OK, but late that night we heard what we decided were the dudes signalling to each other via hooting sounds that they had located us and were now ready to move in and rape+kill us.

Of course the hooting was owls, but I was ready with my tiny swiss army knife anyway.

'beware! elk have been charging hikers lately!'

A couple of years ago I was out wilderness hiking just as the elk rutting season was starting (very late August) and off to my right I saw two juvenile males charging up the hill at me! Except they weren't charging at me, except in a purely incidental sense; the one in the rear was chasing the one in the lead, in a not-entirely-mock combat.

Anyway, the lead elk saw me when it was about 30 meters away and swerved away hard. The trailing elk veered after it, but probably was so focused on its rival that it never saw me at all.

The chances that either one of these juveniles would manage to mate that year were approximately nil. Didn't stop them from rutting, though. Kind of like the 14 year olds on my school bus, come to think.

I have only been hiking alone once, and it terrified me - not because of animals, but because I was ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED SOME CREEPER WAS GOING TO JUMP OUT from the foliage and attack me.

Anyway, I am super stoked that hiking season is starting again. Now if I could just get this chronic dizziness/vertigo to go away.... :/

so, in college, my friends and i decided to prank some friends that were leading a freshman welcome-to-lol-college camping trip. we hiked out to the shelter where they were staying in the middle of the night, hauling a boombox and a trash bag of treats. got the shelter within sight, and started playing this creepy music from The Red Violin. then, during a pregnant pause in the score, we all let out blood curdling screams.

it was then that we discovered that the ppl in the shelter were through hikers, and NOT our pals---they had camped somewhere else because they wanted a better view in the morning or something. anyway, these dudes were PISSED/terrified. like, ready to kill us: two were vets, and when my friend Rusty (6'3", 220#) approached to explain, they had hugo fuckoff knives out, and one guy was holding a big rock. we apologized profusely, offered candy, and skedaddled.

creepers beware: do recon before you go creepin

the ppl in the shelter were through hikers

A bit of definition for those who've never heard of "through hikers". These are insane people who undertake to hike the entire length of the Appalachian Trail (~2300 miles) or the Pacific Crest trail (~2650 miles) all in one continuous go. Takes them about five months on average.

Old joke: What's the difference between a thru-hiker and a vagrant? Answer: GoreTex!

lol! reminds me of harry partch's book of journal entries about being a vagrant hiking up the west coast <3

thru hikers were staple of my NH college experience. once summer came around, they'd start wandering through town, being dirty, and crashing on students' lawns or in frat houses.

buddy of mine did the PCT a few years ago, and i swear he hasn't really been the same since

not_goodwin, u are awesome, btw!
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_HZNmDETrErM/S7ZrTYfvOnI/AAAAAAAACSU/HGNPdbN9hb4/s512/102_9874.JPG

that elk story reminds me of a hike we went on awhile ago: there were a bunch of cows on the trail, refusing to move, staring at us (ever noticed how the black ones look way more menacing than the other ones?). ytth was SCARED but i insisted we charge right through them.

we made it out alive.

yay!

i actually ended up being more afraid when i was driving in the dark and the ELK CROSSING signs were flashing and i remembered how scared i used to be of hitting a deer when i lived in western ny and then i was like 'oh elks are like deer but BIGGER... shit.' and i drove with extreme caution and then i missed the ferry by like 3 or 4 min and had to wait 1.25 hrs for the next one. lesson: fuck caution, be daring?

no, that is rarely ever the lesson