As The Crow Flies

Bags organize gear and make it  fast to pack up.  They also make it  easy to know where everything is.    I think they should be different colors.  I like bright colors because they are less likely to get left behind.    I hiked with a guy, for awhile, that thought his should not only be different colors, but different textures as well so he could reach into his pack and just by feel know what bag he was pulling out.

These are my bags.

Clear plastic pack liner:  I stuff my sleeping bag into this because it’s faster and easier than stuffing it into a stuff sack.  It also more evenly fills up the bottom of my pack.

Big red bag is my food bag.

Yellow bag is my clothes bag and also my pillow.

1 or 2 gallon Ziploc is my office:  maps, guide book, pen, cellphone, etc.

Red zippered bag is my ditty bag

I stuff my tent without it’s stuff sack into the big stretchy outside pocket of my pack.  I put the tent stakes  in there too, in a little bag.   That way I don’t need to open my pack to set up my tent and I can pack up everything, pop out of my tent and stuff it into it’s pocket.

When everything is in bags it makes set up and break down of camp easy.   Not to brag or anything but I can set up or break camp in under 4 minutes.

I’m not one of those huffing hikers powering down the trail with their trekking poles a flying.

When I hike it’s more like I’m coasting–like I’m just resting on my legs as they move me along.  I pick a nice even easy speed that I can keep up hour after hour day after day.

I don’t carry poles so my hands are free.  I have a beverage in my strap pocket to drink as I go; snacks in my hip belt pocket; I fiddle with my MP3 player listening to music or finding a radio station; I look around at the scenery; I have my GPS in the other strap pocket that I can amuse myself with.    Feels a lot like driving.

A lot of people power past me, especially boy scouts, then 40 minutes later I pass them resting on the side of the trail and I never see them again, but  every once in awhile I get stuck with someone,  or even worst a group of people, who power past me, then they take a break and I past them, then here they come powering up behind me again.  I have had that go on for days—that drives me nuts.    Leapfroggers are the worst.

You might remember the Nomad Lites made my Wanderlust Gear.   Wanderlust Gear was one guy, a sewing machine, and a good idea for a tent.   I carried a Nomad lite for years.   I think it weighed less than 2 lbs,  I could set it up and take it down  in less than a minute.  It fit anywhere; which can really be appreciated when you are tired and it’s raining but you can’t find a spot big enough to put up your tent….But, it required trekking poles and I hated carrying trekking poles.

Well, Wanderlust Gear disappeared off the face of the Internet a long time ago.   I contacted his webmaster— he hadn’t heard from him;  I sent him a check for a tent and it came back.  Poof, this guy was gone.

I often wondered why no one picked up his design.   In fact with my new sewing machine I was thinking of pulling out my old nomad light, tweaking the design a bit and making  a lighter improved one.

Looking around the Internet this morning I stumbled on to LightHeart Gear.    It’s a hiker/sewer selling a tent that  looks to be a lot like  the Nomad light.     It’s a double walled tent weighing in at 26 oz (737grams).  It requires 4 stakes and two trekking poles.   It comes in some crazy colors.   I like colors but I think gray is the best color for a tent so people can’t see you.   In standard gray it cost 235.00   The fly is attached but you can roll it up and enjoy the stars when you just want a net tent for the night.

Something she doesn’t state on her website is, the gray tents are  made in China.    So if you are looking to support a cottage industry, keep looking.

Also her website says “Patent Pending” which is sort of crappy because it’s not even her design.

I’ve heard that Gossamer Gear may be making a similar tent in cuben fiber soon.

In every town along the Pacific Crest Trail and the Appalachian Trail there is a hiker box.   It’s where hikers put food and items they no longer want to carry so they can share them with other hikers.  Most hiker boxes will have ramen noodles in them.

Even though I don’t carry a stove anymore, I often nab a package of noodles.  I crumble them up into a baggie and sprinkle the flavor packet over them and eat them as a cold trail snack, like chips.

When I rest or sleep on the trail, I try to keep my feet elevated.    I think it helps them to heal.

Some hikers miss having a chair but I  never do; even when there is a picnic table to sit at, I still lie on the ground with my feet on my pack, because having my feet hanging down below me doesn’t feel like a rest.

At night I  put my pack under my feet or even better— find a slopped place to sleep and point my feet up hill.

Logos on your titanium pot lids can easily be removed with sandpaper.

In the movie Cannibal! The Musical,   a bunch of  guys are lost in the snow without food and they are wondering what they are going to do.  When one of them gleefully shouts, “I know!”  And starts singing the “Let’s build a snowman” song.   One of the other guys finally shoots him and  eats him (illustrating why it’s best to hike alone.)  But the singer had the right idea, because it’s important to keep your attitude up when things look bleak.

Once I was hiking on a reroute in the North Cascades.   It was rainy and cold  and all I had for shoes were sandals.  It was almost dark but I had to keep hiking because I was on a ridge and  there was nowhere to put up my tent.    I also had miscalculated the miles and was about out of food.   Finally I found a place to camp.

The next morning I woke up to snow.   It would snow and then I would drop down in elevation and it would rain and then I would go back up and more snow.   The trail was so muddy and steep in one place I kept slipping and sliding down the hill; I was covered in mud.   I only had about 400 calories to go the next 30-40 miles.   My feet were cold.  The reroute wasn’t well marked and I began to have the sinking feeling that I had missed a turn.   I never stopped singing and smiling that day; if I had known how to tap dance I would have done that too because a bad attitude + a bad situation can quickly send life into a tailspin.

I was belting out show tunes as happily and enthusiastically as I could when I met another hiker.   He looked at me covered in mud,  in my trash bag skirt, my sandals, and my chrome umbrella and  scowled, “What’s with the umbrella!?”

I have found most every problem on the trail can be solved with more food and more rest; and most every problem off the trail can be remedied by less food and more exercise.

On the trail, If  I can get 10 miles in before 10am I know I  will be set up for a good mileage day.    It is something I  strive for.

Now that I’m off the trail, I have a list of things I’m supposed to do everyday,  I use the 10 before 10 rule there to; I try to get 10 of them completed before 10am and then I know I’m set up for a good day.

I got another e-mail from Pinball.   He is busy plowing the callouses off  his feet, after his  CDT(Continental Divide Trail) hike, with his Black and Decker power sander.    Key, he says, is using really coarse sandpaper.

Related post: Tools for your feet

A zero day is a day when no miles are hiked.   Most long distance  hikers take them and even think they are necessary, probably because so many hikers tell them they are necessary.      Though  getting a hot bath, ordering a pizza  and laying in bed eating it while watching old movies is wonderful and when it is cold and wet outside can feel like the best thing in the world, I’m not sure it does anything to help my performance and may even hurt it.

What I have found more rejuvenating  than taking a zero day in town is to hike fewer miles on the trail for a few days.    Sleep in, take long breaks hanging out on the crest and eat more food.  I discovered this when after my son would join me for a week of doing 15 mile days I would feel completely rejuvenated in a way that 3 days in a motel room never did it for me.

Zero days break my grove and suck up all my time and money.   I think it’s best to keep moving no mater how slowly.

I hiked with a guy called  “Just Dave” for awhile and I said, “You know, I think zero days hurt performance.”   He said he thought so too. He only took one zero day for the Appalachian Trail and he said it was the worst mistake he made.  I don’t think he took any for the Pacific Crest Trail.    The best hikers don’t take zeros.

I have an inspiring, fun to look at book called Home work—Handbuilt shelter. It has lots of pictures and diagrams of  little, beautiful, and cheap homemade homes.

One of the articles in it, I thought might be of particular interest to some readers, is called “Perpetual Camping.”    It’s about a  newsletter called  Dwelling Portably. Dwelling Portably is written by  people who find some unused land and dwell there for awhile or otherwise dwell portably.  Doers report on what works and doesn’t, ask questions, and offer advice.

The people  who produce it say:

While quite young, Bert and I decided (separately, before we even met) that buying property was foolish.  You can’t really own land;the government owns it and can kick you off any time you do something that any of dozens of government agencies disapprove of .

We also noticed that much land, especially in the west was not used or was used infrequently.  That inspired us to become perpetual campers: living in a place while it was desirable; moving on when conditions changed.

Issues vary: some have much about vehicular dwellings and little about backpacables or wickiups.  Or vice versa.  So, for a broad sampling, order several back issues.

Bert and I have built portable dwellings that are as comfortable as houses.  In some ways they are more convenient,  because they are small and well insulated, our body heat keeps them warm during winters—avoiding the labor, mess, pollution, and hazard of a heating stove.

Dwelling Portably is $1 dollar an issue.  add .50 if sending check or M.O.  for less then 6 dollars. (Their prices encourage you to order many back issues) 1/$1; 6/$5; 13/$10; 30/$20 Dwelling Portably, POB 190-hwk, Philomath, OR 97370

Or order online from Microcosm Publishing (Thanks, Pig Monkey, for the link)

When I carried a stove and drank green tea on the trail, I would wash my face and hands with the used, still warm tea bag in the mornings.

Related post: Mornings on the trail

Here is the secret to getting big easy miles when hiking the desert section of the Pacific Crest Trail( PCT).   It’s amazing as you can get a 30 mile day in and still spend most of the day laying in the shade.    Your pack will be light because after about 6:30 at night you don’t need much water.   Your feet will feel great because they get a 5-6 hour rest in the middle of the day.

• Start hiking at 4-5am  and hike until about 10-11am taking breaks as needed.   Get your first 15 miles in.
• Find some shade and sleep.  Be sure to sleep with your feet elevated.
• Get hiking by 4:00-5pm walk until 10-11pm.    Get your next 15 miles in and then call it a night.
• Repeat.

It you only want to do 20 mile days, well then, it will be really easy.

If you hike when it’s hot, you are going to need a ton of water and the trail will be brutal.    If you hike when it is cool, it will be easy and you won’t need to carry much water.

Related posts: Backpacking lights

How to keep your umbrella from blowing away while you take your siesta.