Fishin Trip with my Pa 2011

Had a very nice fishing trip with my Pa. The weather was kinda moody, but any time fishing with the best Pa ever is all good. We headed down to Stonecoal Lake in Lewis/Upshur Counties in WV (depends which end of the lake, which county you are in) with the plan to rent a cabin at Wisper Mountain Campground, but the place is so far out that we thought we might end up in Kentucky! So we turned around and figured out a plan B. Plan B was to sleep in the back of the truck at the Broken Wheel Campground on Skin Creek Road. Small, older, but decent place.

We caught a few fish, dodged a lot of rain drops and I actually can still cook! Critters seen: Tame, free-range rabbits at the campground, Momma whitetail deer, baby whitetail deer, Momma turkey and her babies, turkey vultures, crows, 2 beavers, a turtle and lots of dragonflies/damselflies. We had a thunderstorm surprise us Tuesday around noon, hated that. We packed up and headed home Wednesday morning. Nice trip. Stonecoal lake is a very pretty lake. It has a 10 horsepower outboard limit, so no speed boats/jetskis pissing you off. And the bonus is that there is no trash on the shoreline. If you like a peaceful and pretty fishing, sailboating, kayaking experience on a WV lake, then I recommend this one!

Field tryout of WBBB and Tarp Flyz

Well, I made it out this weekend to try out my new Warbonnet Blackbird 1.1 double hammock and the itty bitty Tarp Flyz. Conclusions: I like hammock hanging! I was comfortable and stayed warm using a Thermarest Ridgerest pad. It is pretty bulky, but does work. I slept pretty well.
The Tarp Flyz from Dutchware rock! They make hanging & adjusting a tarp very easy. It is pretty much a one-handed operation. If you use a tarp, you need these things. They are very tiny, about 1 inch by 3/4 inch. I think they are made of titanium. They do not have sharp points, that could tear a light-weight tarp or snag on stuff. I will try to put together a video on my next outing to demonstrate them.

I did not pick the best two trees to hang from as they were a bit too close together which made getting the right sag impossible. I decided to go with it anyway. I still slept well. I put the tarp over the hammock, just in case of rain before daylight and to block off any breezes. Using pads works, but they are very bulky to pack. I have decided to invest in an 3/4 length underquilt from HammockGear.com (3-season phoenix rated to 15 degrees, 15.7 ounces, 50 x 45 inches). I will still have to use a short pad for my feet, but this should be way better. I will continue to use my Montbell UL spiral #3 sleeping bag as a top quilt for now; it worked well. I plan to use my hammock next weekend too. It does make finding places to camp much less problematic on holiday weekends, since I don't need a "perfect" spot.

Well, I sure hope everyone got out to experience one of the few nice weekends we have had for a while. I definitely had a very nice time hanging with a friend and then "hanging out" for the evening.

Oh, one last non-objective thought: I do not like the Coleman cilantro and lime rice and beans. It was easy to prepare, and would be enough for one person, but I personally did not like the flavor, since I do not consider heat to be a flavor (even though it was not that hot, there was really no other flavor). I only ate 3 or 4 spoonfuls, and then chucked it in the garbage can. Thank goodness for Clif Bars!

Dutch hooks and Dutch Flyz

I have just comleted a purchase at Dutchware.outdoortrailgear.com, for Dutch Hooks and Dutch Flyz. These itty bitty, Ultralight weight "tools" should make setting up a tarp a lot easier. They look to be ingenious gadgets. I will see about putting a review up when I have had a chance to use them. Just click the title above if you want to check out Dutch's site and check out his assortment of very useful stuff.

Warbonnet Blackbird Hammock

Well, I received my new hammock on Friday and the weather cleared enough today to set up my new hammock. The hammock is the Warbonnet Blackbird 1.1 double with the webbing suspension. The hammock was ordered on Monday and received on Friday. Very speedy!
It arrived in good condition. All seams are nice and even, no ravels, no loose threads. Everything that was to be included was received in good condition. Included stuff: webbing suspension, Bishop sack for storage shockcord guy outs for the hammock. Not included: Caribeaners (I plan to use Dutch clips), but used some stainless steel biners for test set up. Biners are not necessary for set up, but they make set up faster and easier.

The color is charcoal gray which will blend into the woods well. I plan on using my old Campmor 8x10 tarp for now. I seems to provide adequate coverage. I am still figuring out what insulation to use. For now, I am using some taped together pieces of a Gossamer Gear 1/4 inch Thinlight pad along with a Montbell UL short pad (35"). I will take a few extra insulation pieces the first trip or two until I get the hang of hanging :). It will be nice to have a "chair" to sit in while camping. It seemed very comfortable. The foot box is nice. I think this will be a nice summer adventure.
Price paid $130 + $10 for priority mail shipping
Video Review on my Youtube channel (Click the title above and you will be taken to the youtube page: i hope :). But just in case:
http://www.youtube.com/user/KuntryRD?feature=mhum

Warbonnet Blackbird Hammock

Well, I have finally decided to purchase a hammock for backpacking. Have heard that you can't beat comfort. So, after much research and debate, I have decided to go with the Warbonnet Blackbird 1.1 double with the strap style suspension. I don't mind tying knots, but with the learning curve of hammock camping, I decided to keep the suspension simple. I will use my 8x10 silnylon Campmor tarp for now, but I hope to purchase a Cuben fiber tarp later.

I will put together a review on the tarp after I receive it and have a chance to set it up a few times.

Road Trip to Laurel Fork Wilderness in WV

I have never been to Laurel Fork Wilderness, so I decided to check the place out. It is a nice wilderness. Not a lot of loop hike possibilities, but what the heck, The campground is rather nice, but WAY out in the middle of nowheresville. I took another road out and eventually came to one of the roads up to Spruce Knob. The lake was still about 1/2 iced over, but folks were still trout fishing. I decided to head on up to the top, but decided that discretion is the better part of valor and turned around a ways from the top. The snow was still pretty deep but patchy. Since I had no one with me to push or to warn me of being too close to the edge of the road, I decided to turn around and backtrack out. On the backtrack, I had to stop for a Wood cock, known in these parts as a snipe. Very cool. All in all, I had a nice road trip.

I made a few more stuff sacks out of spinnaker cloth. I also got my yogurt made. I do believe it turned out quite well! This will mean a few less Plastic containers in land fills. Yeah!

I need a hike!

Toe update (what a mundane post this is): Toe much better; I do believe hiking shall go on as planned. Will have to bandage it every day and treat for fungal infection, like EVERY day for probably a year, but life is all good.

Daggone it, I went in messed up my toenail. It will probably come off in a few days.
I drug the kitchen door over top of my foot while letting my spaniel out on Friday morning. What a way to start the day. Sure do hurt. I definitely hope this will not mess up the hiking year. I will find a way to get out at any rate: A Kountry girl will survive :)

I have also decided to attempt to make my own yogurt. I really hate the recycle places around these parts will not take the yogurt containers (#5 plastics), so I decided to make my own yogurt.
I will let everyone know how this works out.

SPoT 2 unit

Shoot, I almost forgot that I finally decided to replace my old Spot unit with one of the newer ones.
It is certainly smaller and more compact. In some road use, it seems to work much better than the older one. So far it has a 100% send rate, while the old one was more like 75 to 80%.
The new one actually does let you know how it is working: It has indicator lights to let you know if you actually have a GPS fix or not, whether the messages actually did send or not and you do not have sit and stare at 2 blinking lights for 20 minutes. So far, I like it.

UPDATE POST:
Okay, I have used the SPoT 2 unit on a road trip (March 21, 2011), once again with a 100% send rate. The trip covered lots of mountains, valleys, forest service roads, a rather remote campground and at the top of West Virginia (Spruce Knob). I am definitely liking this SPoT unit much better than the old one. I will continue this discussion later, on another post, after I have had an opportunity to take it on a hike, which I hope will be next weekend (first weekend in April)

Spring fever!

The warm weather has me thinking about Spring hiking. I hope to sneak out in March this year; I have never done a March B-pack trip. I hope to get at least 20 "bag nights" this year (defined as hiking at least 1 mile, setting up camp and exploring).

Today's gear project was to make a spinnaker stuff sack for the Backpackinglight Stealth Tarp. This was a good project to use up some scrap material. The sack weighs 8 grams including drawcord and mini cord lock.

I will be using a Gossamer Gear Gorilla pack for trips this year (size small). I am hoping that I can get all my gear and a 9 pound food bag in it for our annual Section Connection Appalachian Trail hike. I am shooting to keep my total pack weight (gear, food, fuel, water) for that first "stepping on the trail day" at around 20 pounds. If Ole Ma Nature is cooperative, I should be able to do it.

I am hoping to put together a picture or video review for the GG Gorilla pack and a few other gear items this year. Good hiking everyone!

Playing with my base pack weight

I believe I can get my base pack weight down to 8 pounds or less for 2 season (mid-spring to early Autumn in the middle Appalachians) backpacking trips. Check out Z Packs web site!
General gear list with approx weights:
Pack (Zpacks blast 26 with carbon fiber stays, top lid, etc) total weight 11.55 ounces
8x10 Cuben Fiber Tarp with 12 tieouts (z-packs) total weight 6 ounces
cuben fiber pack cover size medium weight 1.1 ounces
cuben fiber ground cloth 3.4 ounces
assorted cuben fiber stuff sacks (includes large food bag, medium + for sleeping bag, 2 medium for misc and clothes and a smaller one) total weight 1.57 ounces
30 degree down bag at a weight of 19 ounces
Neoair short sleeping pad at a weight of 10 ounces
Cook set at 10 ounces
Miscellaneous stuff at 10 ounces
Misc/water stuff/other stuff 10 ounces
Ribz Front pack at 10 ounce
Clothing weight (should cover most any weather) weight 46 ounces
SPoT Unit 6 ounces
Camera 6 ounces (optional)
This comes out to about 9 pounds total base weight, no suffering, no starving.
Add in a quart of water at 2 pounds and a 5 pound food bag and I should be around 17 pounds or so.

Okay, the only problem is cost. Cuben fiber is EXPENSIVE! I expect the cost for the cuben fiber stuff would be around $800 to $1000.
My base weight is between 9 and 14 pounds now, depending on the expected weather and trip length.

Still, if you are trying to reduce your pack weight, be sure and check out Z-packs, Gossamer Gear, Backpacking light, Six Moon Designs and don't forget about home made gear!

Ah winter

I don't really hate winter, I just like it less. The Jeep Patriot is performing well and the gas mileage is not too bad for a 4x4. I have completed a few of my winter gear projects: Made some windscreens, made some cone-shaped windscreen/pot supports for my Heineken pot and Fosters pot, finally made a lid for my MSR Ti cup, made 2 super cat stoves.

Startin my winter projects

I have started my winter gear making projects. I have made two Caldera Clone windscreens; one for my Fosters Can and one for the Heinie pot; they weigh 1 ounce each. I am also gathering materials and tools to make a couple of supercat alcohol stoves. The windscreens turned out pretty well, but the proof is in the using, which I will do as soon as I can fire up the stove outside. Must do the first couple of burns with the new windscreens outside, as the aluminum flashing has a coating on it that will smoke and burn the first few times (I will use a wire brush to brush off the coating after it has softened up).

I will take a few pictures of the windscreens soon and post some test data on the supercat stoves that I make.
I love stove projects! They make winter at least a useful time.

Review of Ribzwear front pack

I ordered a size small (400 cubic inch) Ribz wear front pack on Saturday and received it in good condition on Wednesday. It came packed in a plastic bag via US priorty mail. The pack was received in good condition with its hang tag. There were no instructions for fitting, but it was pretty intuitive to adjust; so this was not a problem. There is plenty of room, and plenty of pockets to organize gear. Used the pack for a cool weather day hike over rather rugged, but rarely steep terrain. I pretty much forgot I was carrying this pack. It is very comfortable, fit well under my day pack (a Golite Peak pack) and gave great access to snacks, camera, gloves, etc. The pack might prove to be a bit hot during the summer, but I think I shall like this pack very much. It should work well for hiking out of a base camp. I purchased it to use with my Luxury Lite pack and it should work well with this pack. I think I should be able to carry a 1/2 liter platy or two with comfort also. Overall, I am very happy with the initial use of this pack and would recommend to others.
As you will notice from the above picture, the pack is riding very well and is hardly noticeable.

Last hike of the year

My friend and I had a wonderful hike in the Roaring Plains West Wilderness in my home state of West Virginia. The day was cool, but comfortable. We had awesome views pretty much the entire day. There is no other place I would have wanted to be today!

Jeep update

Well, I am really liking my new Jeep Patriot. Drives sweet, good visibility. It is familiar enough to my old Caliber to be comfortable, but different enough to be fun.
Gas mileage for this past week was 27 1/2 MPG. Not too bad considering I idle for 10 to 15 minutes in Morgantown Traffic and my drive home is all UP!

It sounds like I might get to test the 4WD this winter, since the long-range forecast for winter is "messy"; kinda like last year.

New wheels!

Finally made up the old mind that it was time to help the economy and buy a new vehicle.
Decided on a nicely equipped Jeep Patriot in inferno red pearl coat. It sizzles! I also decided to try this really cool option called an automatic transmission. This is so cool, it actually shifts gears for you; why didn't someone think of this before now :)

So far I am really liking it. It is familiar enough to be comfortable, but different enough to be fun.
I hope the 4WD makes getting to work a bit easier. I decided to take my Dad's advice and "but what you want", since this will, in all likelihood, be my last new vehicle, as early retirement is starting to take precedence in my thinking and planning.
I hope everyone is having a really nice autumn and I hope we all have a mild winter this year.

AT Hike 2010 - Shenandoah National Park

Day 1 - Start Rockfish Gap; destination is Calf Mountain Shelter. We started at around noon with the rather steep hike up from Rockfish Gap. Packs are way too heavy since we are carrying about 3+ liters of water each as the water source at the shelter is listed as dry. Due to my own negligence at taking care of my body, I did a crash and burn at the top of McCormick Gap. Face plant on a rock! Had a hell of a bump on my forehead and drove my glasses back into my eye orbits. Still did not have enough since to eat and drink anything. STUPID! I was hitting the wall bad on the climb out of Beagle Gap, but the shelter side trail was a welcome site. Oh, and there was water in the spring! Carried 10 pounds of water that I did not have to carry. Two SoBo thrus at the shelter: Ghost pirate and Quick step.

Day 2 - Calf Mtn Shelter to BlackRock Hut. We decided that with the water situation, we would hike down to the Moormans River and take it around to the hut. This made for a 1500 foot elevation loss and gain, but it was worth it to carry lighter packs and have enough water. We missed the high ridgeline scenery, but the river side walk was nice. The Moormans river is the main supply for the city of Charlottesville, VA. The river was very low. We did about 12.5 miles today. The climb from Blackrock Gap up to the Shelter side trail sucked! We had the shelter to ourselves. Very nice evening.

Day 3 - Black rock hut to Loft Mountain Campground (about 6 miles). Low mileage day and a rather easy hike with only a few moderate climbs. We arrived at the campground around 12:30. We visited the campstore, then headed the mile down to the Wayside for FOOD! We then hiked back up to the campstore, did laundry, took showers and resupplied for the next couple of days. We then headed for the campground. The ranger dudes hooked us up with a very nice site that had a sunset view. They let us set up 3 tents on one site (limit is usually 2 tents). Awesome!

Day 4 - Loft Mtn Campground to Pinefield hut. A bit more difficult day, but still low mileage. We did carry water up from the Ivy Creek Maintainance area spring. This spring was flowing very nicely! We did see a naked hiker today. What a not so nice surprise. Kelly was not feeling well today and not sure if she could continue. She took some pain reliever (heavy duty stuff) and we continued to the hut. We pulled in at Pinefield hut around 3 pm. Thunder started around 20 after 3. We did received some much needed rain. It was a pretty good storm! We caught water off the shelter roof. I did get to meet the fabled Mother Goose (she has done 3 or 4 thruhikes and is the first woman to do a yoyo hike - Maine to Georga and the turn around and walk back to Maine). She is around 70ish and had just done a 20 mile day. Very nice woman! Wish we could have talked to her some more.

Day 5 - Pinefield Hut to Hightop Hut (8 miles). More uphill and we carried water for 5 miles from the Simmons Gap Ranger station. There was some water at the spring, but you had to dip it out without scooping up salamander larvae. We were the only 3 at the shelter. We decided to get up at 0400 and start our hike around 06oo. Nice day

Day 6 - Hightop Hut to Lewis Mountain Campground (11.5 miles) . Started our hiking day at 0550 by head lamp. Started off with about 4 miles downhill to Swifts Run Gap; we then started mostly up for the next 7 1/2 miles. Not too bad though. We are finally starting to hit our stride. Kelly fell at the South River Picnic area and banged up her knee. Bill did a break a way and started speed hiking to Lewis Mountain Campground, since it is Friday and campsites go early. Kelly and I followed. Bill arrived at the campground at 1238; Kelly and I arrived at about 2 pm. We snagged two sites. Showers, laundry and Yuengling! Some of Kelly's friends came up around 8:30 pm with burgers and more beer. I hit the sack around 10ish. I slept very well.

Day 7 - Lewis Mountain Campground to Milam Gap (6 miles). Our last day. We tagged Bear Fence Mountain very quickly. I am just now starting to feel really good physically. We hit the car around 1 pm. This was a nice day, and I just want to keep going.

Summary: Section hiking is difficult. You start with a lot of aches and pains, finally start to hit your stride and head toward decent shape, then your hike is over until next year. Just once in my life, I want to see what thruhiker condition feels like. I want to spend 4 to 6 weeks just hiking. It must feel awesome to have your body function as the Human body was meant to function.

Time to hike!

Tomorrow (9/19) is the first day of our Shenandoah N. P. finish up hike.
Decided to use my Mountainsmith Muse pack since it will handle the way too heavy load I will have to shoulder. Pretty much all natural water sources along the AT in the southern section of Shenandoah N.P. are dried up. This means carrying about 7 to 9 pounds of water weight in addition to everything else.

I decided to use the Big Agness Fly Creek UL1 tent since it does offer more more privacy. I am sure I will regret the extra pound of weight tomorrow.
If the two springs north of Calf Mtn Shelter (the spring at the shelter is dry) do not have water, we have decided to drop off the Appalachian Trail and head down the South Fork of the Moormans River fire road to then hike along the river and the Moormans River Trail and then head back up to the AT via the North Fork of the Moormans river fire road. At one time, this was the route of the AT and it is actually about 1 1/2 mile shorter than staying on the ridgeline. Of course shorter does not mean easier or faster. We will have to carry water to all of the shelters we will stay at. Day 3 will put us at the Loft Mountain Campground: FOOD!, shower, laundry and resupply. At least we do not have to carry food for the 6 days we will be hiking.

Trip report to follow.