Author: Rick Mc

Career gymnastics coach who loves the outdoors, and the internet.
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Grab-and-Go hikes in Florida

Guidebook author Sandra Friend has done it again. Added another cool online feature.

A new free resource for hikers: head on over to the Florida Trail website to download yourself a set of Grab-and-Go Hikes. … These are mini-guides to popular day hikes (many with opportunities for camping) along the Florida Trail, and include mileages, directions, and a map.

Quality is excellent. Here are screenshots from the Big Oak Trail PDF download:

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Florida Trail Association – Grab-and-Go Hikes

Check out, too, Sandra’s main website: FloridaHikes.com

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Chimney Pond Trail, Mt Katahdin, Maine

Aaron Doody points out our list of the best hikes in North America is missing Mount Katahdin, in Maine’s Baxter State Park.

He’s right. We’ve added it.

The hike up Katahdin, preferably via the Chimney Pond Trail, to Cathedral, and across the Knife’s Edge climbs one of the most prominent peaks (4,292 ft) in the Eastern US, and has been blessed with a glacial history that’s created several steep-walled cirques and the corresponding alpine lakes.

The fact that the peak is located in a north woods wilderness region adds to the allure, because access to services (such as the gift shop on top of Mount Washington) is non existent. A week long stay in Baxter Park, listening to the call of the loons (and buzzing of mosquito’s in the ear) will help anyone get back to nature.

Thanks Aaron.

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Knife’s Edge, Mount Katahdin

Katahdin – SummitPost says the summit is even higher: 5267ft / 1605m

Chimney Pond Trail – Katahdin Wiki

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day hiker dead on Mt Rainier

We climbed Mt. Adams in the Cascades in beautiful weather. But our guide Matt insisted we haul survival gear up to the summit including parkas, emergency sleeping bag, stove, fuel.

On the descent Matt suggested a future trip up to Camp Muir on Rainier. No doubt he’d insist we carry survival gear yet again.

Here’s why …

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Wikipedia

Park rangers say the three — two men and a woman — planned a day hike Monday to Camp Muir, which stands at about 10,000 feet feet on the 14,410-foot mountain and has a shelter. However, a wintry storm that blew in pinned them down near that location. Park officials say the storm dumped 2 feet of snow and created 5-foot drifts at Paradise and generated winds of 70 mph at Camp Muir.

At 3:30 a.m. Tuesday the trio, which dug a snow shelter to avoid the brunt of the storm, managed to get through to park rangers with a 911 emergency call; but because of heavy snow and near zero visibility rangers were unable to safely initiate a search at that time. At about 7:15 a.m. one member of the party found his way to Camp Muir and was able to direct a search team, made up of climbing guides and park rangers stationed at Camp Muir, to the party’s location near Anvil Rock.

All three of the stranded hikers were under shelter at Camp Muir by 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, though all suffered hypothermia and frostbite and one was unconscious and unresponsive and ultimately succumbed to his injuries.

The man who died was the husband of the surviving woman. All three were in their early 30s and from Bellevue, Washington. They all were experienced mountaineers who had visited Camp Muir in the past and enjoy hiking on Mount Rainier. …

Day Hike Turns Fatal at Mount Rainier National Park – National Parks Traveler

That site has a Category called: Missteps in the Parks

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Nepal trek in November?

A few years ago, my Canadian hiking buddy Grant Assenheimer and I did an 11-day trek on the infamous Huayhuash Circuit in Peru. It was superb.

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… the remote, forbidding Huayhuash range was made famous when Joe Simpson & Simon Yates climbed Siula Grande in 1985. The book & film Touching the Void were both hits. …

… Punta Coyoc pass 5490m (18,012ft) …

Grant is in Kathmandu right now deciding on an early November hike. So far he is leaning towards Annapurna Base Camp off the Annapurna Circuit. Alternately, one of the less touristy Everest hikes.

Leave a comment below if you will be in Nepal. October / November are the best months. Grant is looking for trekking partners.

He’s happy to hike independently. Or to hire a guide.

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Wend – free adventure magazine

Yet another magazine – Wend – is offering a free digital version online to attract attention to their dead tree product.

It’s nicely done.

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Check it out: Summer 2008 – Volume 3, Edition Issue 2

Magazines do not seem to be dying in the way that newspapers are. But rather evolving.

Of course I’m not able to link directly to any article. Wend is unlikely to get much attention from bloggers.

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trail run the West Coast Trail

Wanetta Beal just ran the West Coast Trail in 19 hours and 13 minutes. … As far as she and Parks Canada staff know, she’s the first woman to do the 75-kilometre route in less than 24 hours — instead of the usual six days.

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“I knocked it off my list of things to do in my thirties,” said Beal, 35, of Whiskey Creek. “I feel like if I can do this, I can do anything.”

(via FART)

The men’s record is Frank Wolf and Kevin Vallely of North Vancouver, 10 hours and 13 minutes. “They set it on 24 July 1997, 10 days after finishing first and second in the North Vancouver Kneeknacker Race. The time measurement is from Bamfield Trailhead to the end of the trail on the west shore of the Gordon River. It includes all stopping time, including the wait for the Nitinat Ferry. This is a good and fair convention for measuring the time of future runs.“

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how to poo in the woods

From Crow:

Dig a hole. I have found the little plastic orange shovel is useless for digging a hole. When the digging is good, my foot, a stick, or a rock will work just as well and when the digging is hard, the shovel is worthless. When the digging is hard, I look for natural holes like uprooted trees, or turn over rocks that have sunk into the earth.

cabin-835-4.jpgFor toilet paper, I use a stick or rock big enough to keep my hands away from any chance of fecal contamination. There is speculation that it isn’t the water that makes hikers sick but their own feces.

For when I feel a need for toilet paper, I carry a few paper towels in a ziplock sandwich bag. When I’m in a situation were a stick won’t do, paper towels work much better than toilet paper, travel better, and can be wetted for a more thorough cleaning. It is thought of as a good practice to pack out any paper that you use. You can however, bury it if you wish, confident that you won’t be causing any more harm to the environment then encasing it in plastic and carrying it with you. Some people have burnt it and caused huge forest fires. (there is a sign on the PCT that says, “this forest fire started by a PCT thru-hiker burning his toilet paper” ) If there is any chance of fecal contamination to my hands, I bring out my wash kit and wash them.

If I have used the hole from an uprooted tree, there is lots of loose soil to bury my poo in. If I have used the hole from a rock, I rake what surface duff and dead leaves I can find over the poo and put the rock back on top of all of it.

As The Crow Flies» Blog Archive » How to poo in the woods.

I’ve never had to resort to a stick as TP, myself. I burn the toilet paper. Carefully. And cover with the biggest, flattest rock I can find to try to prevent the evidence being dug up by critters. I always keep the TP, lighter and hand sanitizer together in one emergency ziplock. And use the sanitizer before and after.

Recently we had mandatory human waste pack-out bags for climbing Mt. Adams, Washington. Those were a great source of amusement for our group, three of whom had never used them before.

I had. And donated an odor proof, leak proof kayak bag for carrying our “droppings”. For some reason people packed it down in plastic bags, one of which broke.

Oops.

related: How to Shit in the Woods – Amazon

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meeting a bear on the Juan de Fuca Trail

In preparation for the longer West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island, Matt made a 2-day dash on the adjacent Juan de Fuca Marine Trail. That’s 47km (29mi) of tough hiking.

One part of his trip report struck home:

…on the trail around 9:00. Sombrio River was quite low, so I opted to wade through it rather than trek up to the suspension bridge. The sun was shining, so I wasn’t too worried about wet feet. After a bit more beach walking, my spidey-sense was tingling. In a field of grey boulders, I saw one furry black boulder that looked out of place. Sure enough, a small bear was eating something, probably a dead seal. Luckily, the tide was out, so I was able to give him a wide berth. I had a chat with him on the way past, and we came to an understanding. I wouldn’t eat his dead seal, and he wouldn’t eat me. …

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larger photo

read the entire trip report with more photos

On my only hike on the JdF I had an encounter, as well. A small black bear decided to climb a tall tree in the middle of the campground. I was the only camper.

A quick exit was prudent.

There are a lot of bears in that part of the world.

I just subscribed to Matt’s blog: Take a Load Off – Lightweight Backpacking