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

i miss mountains.
i want to hike.

so yesterday the wife and i backpacked out to this very isolated rustic campsite in the middle of kettle moraine state forest, wisconsin. our first actual backpacking trip where we're not basically camping in a tent next to the car. anyway, around 4 in the morning (cause it started getting light out about an hour afterwards), we were woken up by this EXTREMELY loud, EXTREMELY close cougar scream. i had never actually heard one before, but when we got home today i looked it up and yep this is exactly what it sounded like, no doubt about it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKw4OFAu1WM

needless to say, it scared the SHIT out of us. almost sounded alien at first and it took a few moments for the reality of what we just heard to sink in. it was LOUD, very loud. it sounded like it was probably a couple hundred feet from our tent at most. we woke up and just stared at each other, pretty much paralyzed with fear, not wanting to move or even whisper anything for five minutes or so. started imagining all these nightmare scenarios in my head where the cougar would come over and smell us in the tent and start ripping it up and gorging on our insides. i had a very weak, hand-crank flashlight and a hammer in the tent, and i was trying to decide whether i should should put on my shoes and go out there in the pitch black forest and flash the light around and blow the whistle, try and scare it away. but i also didn't want to catch it off-guard and scare it so bad that it would attack me. opted to stay in the tent, wide awake until dawn, holding my hammer and flinching over every rustling noise we heard, telling myself that it's not a bear and it won't seek us out.

of course, it didn't help that the day before we left, there was a report of the first cougar attack on a wisconsin cow in over 200 years. but that was 100 miles away.

anyway, mountain lions screaming near your tent in the middle of the night with nobody else around you for miles. good stuff.

ugh there was only the one scream this morning, but listening to that video again, i get goosebumps.

jesus christ!! reminds me of "37 days of peril"

the more i think about it (and i've been thinking about this a lot since it happened), the cougar wasn't "a couple hundred feet" from us. it was seriously within a hundred feet. it's difficult to describe the effect of hearing this noise, when you're sleeping in a tiny two-person tent in the middle of nowhere. i still can't believe it! especially after reading about how rare it is to encounter a mountain lion in fuckin' wisconsin these days. i called the rangers' office and reported it; the receptionist just kinda laughed and said "i'll make sure to pass this info on to my boss."

Just as deadly, but not as big.
I found some ticks stuck to my legs after trekking in the lake district, has anyone else had ticks/mites attached to them and what did you do about it?

I noticed them in the evening after having a shower, i thought it was a little spider and tried to brush it off, but it was stuck. I got some tweezers and pulled it out, had a look at it then googled it. It looked like a deer tick/lone star tick (not sure if lone star tick in uk?), anyway i checked and found about 8 in all. managed to get them all off in one piece and have another shower with added scrub action. I did some more googling and found they can give you lyme disease. Managed to get appointment with doctor next day who said i was right to come in as 12-24 hours after being bit, infection can get in blood. I'm now on a 2 week course of antibiotics which will clear up bites and stop any chance of the lyme disease hopefully.

Can't stop itching :(

you pulled them out the right way... all the other things you hear (burn them off, cover them in vaseline, cover them in nail polish remover, etc.) are more of the "old country wisdom" variety and don't really work. you're supposed to grab it firmly with a tweezers and pull it straight out (not twisting).

8 of them is pretty hard core, though - i've only ever had one at a time. and you generally have around 72 hours to get the ticks out before there's a real danger of lyme disease, so even if you had 8, if you got them out right away and then went straight to the doctor, you'll probably be fine.

(the company i work for makes tick removers, among other things, so i've had to learn a lot about ticks.)

keep reading your name as 'a bold plan drawn up by assholes to screw mormons.'

figured this would be the best place to ask, so how safe is DEET to use exactly? been having major problems with biting flies/midges. I bought some 3M DEET cream, but am a little worried about it being a cream. are sprays better/safer? it's around 35% DEET fwiw. citronella oil based patches/sprays are also available but I'm a little worried about smelling like a forest. we also have something apparently based on tomato extract. any thoughts?

i work for a company that makes insect repellent, so i'm kind of biased, but i think the concerns about deet are overblown. also, the 3M ultrathon cream (which is the best deet repellent i've ever used, and i prefer it over my company's product) is good if you're worried about deet, because the actual chemical is suspended in the cream, meaning that it doesn't come into contact with your skin as much as it would if you were using a 100% deet spray. i have never had good luck with the natural stuff, so i usually either use ultrathon or 100% deet, because it works. there's also a chemical called picaridin that supposedly works really well in a 20% concentration - i've never tried it, though. but i've read the studies about it, and it's tests as good or better then 30% deet in almost every case.

thanks!! yeah I got the ultrathon, used it today, worked great

Hey now I have my hiking gear back! Now I just need a vehicle so I can get to mtns O_o

Feelin this exactly ^^^^

u_u

I cannot answer the question about safety with and degree of accuracy.

I worry more about DEET when it leaves my skin and just enters the world-at-large than I do about personal health effects. When I am backpacking, I use it as sparingly as I can for this reason. I don't like washing it off into lakes and streams, or acidentally ingesting it from my hands after applying it.

There's no question DEET is the most effective chemical repellent. The only good non-chemical alternative requires wearing mosquito-proof clothing, such as a very tightly woven nylon windbreaker, or a headnet. This works well, but on hot days it has very limited applicability.

BTW, as of 1 pm today, I am on summer break. I plan to hike my eye teeth out. Now, if it would only stop snowing in the Oregon Cascades and start melting. Sheeesh, it's been one cold, wet spring around here.

just settled on great smoky natl park for major summer hiking vacay (vs cobbled together state parks in ohio, virginia, and west virginia).
EXCITED! i'm sure the state parks would have been ok, but i am excited about staying in one place for a little while. would love some recommendations when the time gets closer! (rox, lookin at you :)

<3!

I know everything about the park, I have devoted my life to it and I am dying to give you recommendations. lol

that's what i figured. you're a ranger-in-training or something, right? i'd like a weather prediction if you have the time too ;)

also if there is a natural repellent for large families traveling en masse/annoying people please let me know

there are very quiet, unvisited places. no repellent needed. the park is really big!

and yes, i am a ranger in training.

awesome! i'll pop back in when i have actual questions.

thinking of kicking it here for a couple of weeks in the month between submitting thesis and doing viva http://www.banja.no/en/index.html

Re bug repellent, my fam always got Ben's from the camping supply store. I think it's Ben's? Little orange bottle. Was considered pretty hardcore at the time but that was 20 yrs ago.

caek, that place sounds most excellent.

I just returned from a five-night camping trip with my wife. We hiked every day. Nary a soul about, just us. A good time had by all. When the dust settles, I may post a pic.

My pack sitting near a small creek along the trail, last thursday.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4117/4761926614_64e3cc1ecf.jpg

Awesome. So jealous.

great smokies, here i come. one week until departure. excited. wondering if i should buy new shoes as my boots have been bothering (like REALLY bothering) my achilles tendon the last few times i wore them...

Shoes that kill your feet are not shoes; they are instruments of the devil. They are evil.

unless you buy trail runners or mostly synthetic light hikers, buying new boots might hurt your feet worse due the break-in period!

Light hikers work excellently well for me. I am experimenting with trail runners now, too.

i'm just sort of depressed that my boots hurt. i'm going to test them out this week, but the other thing is that wearing boots in 90 degree weather sounds like not such a great idea.

My hiking boots had next to no break-in period! I love them so much.

i think if my grand plans to date someone who likes real hiking (and driving to awesome hiking spots) are to truly pan out, i need to buy some new hiking boots or at least trail runners b/c he's not going to be convinced by my ol' new balance running shoes.

hiking hungry is, like, the best hungry, even better than swimming hungry.

(i had the same hiking boots from age 16-26 and they ruled. i miss them and just kinda want the same pair but that model and make is long gone.)

Welcome to the experience of old people everywhere, rrrobyn. Whatever products (especially clothes) that you love, which exactly meet your needs, they will be superceded, often by something you don't like or want.

real hikers that live hikin will appreciate yr newbies rrrobym

oh man, those new boots i bought? they were replacements for the ones i had from 20-33. and the new ones are the same brand and basically the same model sort of, only they hurt! the old ones fell apart while i was wearing them, and then i duct taped them together so i could walk home :(

hey roxy -- i was just reading on hikinginthesmokies.com that there is a road (roaring fork) closed -- is this an important road to get into trailhead areas from the gatlinburg entrance? it sounds like it is :-/

According to our last update from the park service, the trailheads effected are Baskins, Bullhead, Grapeyard, Old Sugarlands, Rainbow Falls and Trillium

Most of those trails are accessible by other trails that are not on the closed road - is there one in particular you are wanting to go on? The road is closed but the trails are open, so it is just a matter of how you access it

and that road was SCREWED UP

A lot of those are the ones we wanted to go on, but if they're accessible from other areas, I guess it's ok? Do you have recommendations for sites to visit for alternate routes? Trail recommendations? We're looking at day hikes mostly, nothing over 5-6 hrs round trip.

Depends on what sorts of things you want to see - are waterfalls more important or valley/mountain views from up high?

My favorite hikes are Charlie's Bunion further into the park near Newfound Gap with a wonderful view when you reach it, Abrahm's Falls in Cades Cove - gorgeous and easy with swimming at the top and maybe Alum Cave Bluffs which are part of the hike to Mt Leconte, but you can stop at the bluffs.

Stay tuned for pictures of these hikes.

Valley/mtn views! Waterfalls are great, too, but I think they're less urgent. We live in flat old Chicago, so any sort of elevation change is pretty exciting.

CHARLIES BUNION:
You can sit up there and have lunch before heading back. It is round trip 8 miles but I did it once with 15 adolescent boys who had been in treatment for 6 weeks and totally out of shape and they all made it with no problems.
Charlie's Bunion has an AMAZING pay off when you get there - this view:
http://www.matzkoscottage.com/wp-content/images/framed_pics/charlies_bunion_20.jpg

ALUM CAVE BLUFFS:
I once weathered a storm underneath this bluff and didn't get wet at all. Another great place for a picnic. It is 4.6 miles round trip and has some awesome views along the way.
http://image26.webshots.com/26/4/48/93/371944893GmtfHT_ph.jpg

ABRAHMS FALLS:
5 miles round trip and really cool. The fall is 20 feet but there are usually TONS of people on this trail and at the top, just fyi
http://faculty.ucmo.edu/myxo/images/abrams_falls.jpg

Wow. Swimming! Thank you so much -- the pictures are beautiful and I am muy excited about this. You're #1 awesome!

The one with swimming at the top is a fairly easy hike to do and is a nice way to spend a whole day up at the top. Also, the trailhead is on the Cades Cove Loop drive - an 11 mile loop road that shows off the valleys that people once lived in. Some of the cabins are there and you can go walk around in them. There is an old mill that is functioning and they sometimes are selling corn flour they are making if you are there on the right day.

Here is info on the loop:
http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/cadescove.htm

and here is a map of the loop so you can see where the abrahams falls trailhead is:
http://www.cadescove.net/images/ccmap.jpg

A model ranger, you are, Nijoli! Now my husband wants to know if you are able to make it not rain the entire time we're there ;) That's probably asking too much, I realize.

I guess if it does we might have to go into Knoxville to go record shopping or something. Thanks again.

If you do that, be sure you go to the store where I work, which is Lost and Found Records.

Will do! (My name is Amanda btw -- would hate to introduce myself as "la lechera")
this is what it would be like if i were your neighbor at mesa verde
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3354/3638217365_0626531e61.jpg