No backpacking....bah!

Nope, no backpacks as of late. I really want to get back out there though. Oh well, in the mean time I'm doing a little gear stalking....I have a few purchases I'm trying to talk myself into.

I think I'll do a few posts on some of the gear I'd like to have and maybe post some gear reviews if I can get my hands on any.

1. Montbell SUL Down Jacket weighs an obscene 5 oz. but only has about an ounce and a half of down. Not sure if it's enough to keep you warm in winter but it seems like it would be a great shoulder season pick. Still waiting on some gear reviews before spending the bucks!

2. ThermaRest is coming out with a sleeping pad to rival the Big Agnes. It's a 3" thick pad but only has an R value that will take it to freezing and my BA will go down to 15 degrees. It's a few ounces lighter but I'm not sure if a few ounces is worth $125+ it will be available in May 09.

3. Golite Ultra down quilt rated to 20 degrees and weighs 19 ounces. I'm coveting this one...I must admit. At $180 it's not bad for that temp rating IF you like quilts vs. sleeping bags.

4. I'm still wishy washy on my alcohol stove. I'm looking at a small canister stove like the pocket rocket or similar weight.

5. I gotta find some decent rain gear...I can't believe I've put this off for so long! I just can't seem to make a decision...almost too many choices out there.

Well those are the top needs/wants....well see what actually gets bought.

Gear Report- Tarptent Rainbow

I had no new gear on the South Cumberland hike but I did have an issue with my Rainbow. This was the first time it had been in the rain so I was anxious to see how it would preform. I put it up around 3pm on Friday, it rained overnight to some degree but I couldn't say how much the rain woke me up three times but I slept very well so I don't know if the rain was constant or intermittent. Beginning around 11am Saturday it rained very steady until 3pm. We got a few hours break and then it started up again about 6:30pm. The rain kept up steady but light all night.

Around 4am I woke up feeling light mist hitting my face! I got my headlamp on and couldn't see any leaks so off it went. Another minute later there it goes again just a light little mist on my face. OK, light back on and now I look around some more and see there is water droplets on my sleeping bag...my down sleeping bag. This is not good. So I get my bandanna and wipe it all off and check the seams again and they seem to be holding out just fine so I lay back down with my light and wait. Sure enough after a minute when enough rain drops hit there is a little mist that sprinkles down on me.

It's like the fabric has finally become saturated and the pressure from the rain drops pushed a bit of water through the tightly woven fabric. There wasn't much to do except pull out my extra garbage bags and drape them over the sleeping bag to keep the down from soaking. I don't think it would have though it was such a small amount coming in but I didn't want to carry a sodden, heavy bag back. After posting my problem on backpackinglight.com message boards it seems this is an issue with single wall tents you just have to plan for and live with. So I may look into an ultralight tarp or maybe a sleeping bag cover to have just in case I know rain is in the forecast.

South Cumberland State Recreational Area Backpack

Three of us did this trip over Thanksgiving weekend. It was my first two night backpack. We hiked in from Stone Door along the Big Creek Gulf trail to the Connector trail and set up camp at the Sawmill campsite. It was cool and cloudy and the forecast for Saturday called for rain! We hiked to Schwoon Spring for water on the Collins west loop and then back to the campsite. After setting up camp we gathered enough firewood for the weekend and cooked dinner. This was the second trip out for my Tarptent Rainbow and I was interested to see how it would preform in the rain.



* Photo of rock retaining walls along the historic Stagecoach road

On Saturday we took the precaution of covering our firewood with a garbage bag and took off up the trail to hike the Historic Stagecoach Road. This was a trail I had wanted to hike for quite some time. The rock retaining walls that were built by slave labor are still visible and quite interesting. We hiked on to the South Rim trail to the Stage Road campsite for lunch (we had decided to leave our campsite intact and just dayhike on Saturday). Just as we were getting settled into our lunch the rain started and it didn't stop for several hours. We hiked back to our camp in the rain stopping to fill our water bottles at a small creek. We all decided to hunker down in our tents in hopes the rain would taper off.

My raingear did not hold out! I hadn't purchased "ultralight" raingear yet and was using Stearns brand waterproof breathable jacket and pants. I think I should have seam sealed them because they failed right at the top where the zipper meets the hood. Basically I was soaked from my neck to my waist on my front side. Luckily, we were keeping a fairly brisk pace so I didn't get cold but as the temps dropped with the rainfall I could see that hypothermia could have been an issue had we had more than a couple of miles to cover. After changing into dry clothes and reading for a while I began to get in better spirits. The rain stopped around 3pm and we all jumped out of our tents and quickly got a fire going. We managed to dry out most of our wet gear...thank goodness...I was not looking forward to putting that soaking wet rain jacket back on!

* drying out our gear!!!

Sunday morning we got an early start and hiked in just a steady mist for an hour or so. It cleared up for a while but finally got around to raining on us with about a half mile to go. The rain gear held out long enough to get back to the cars. We made tracks to Mary's Diner for a big buffet lunch and then on to home.

I didn't have any new gear on this trip but came to the conclusion that raingear needs to be a purchase I make soon!

Pack weight was right at 30lbs., this was heavier than usual since I carried two days of food, an extra t-shirt, extra change of underwear and the heavier raingear about 25oz total (since giving up the 10oz Dri Ducks that shredded on the first use!). I could have skipped the extra clothes as I really didn't need them.

Gear Review- GSMNP trip- Ridge Rest and REI Kilo Flash

After getting cold on the Hobb's cabin hike I decided to make a few additions to my gear before the Smokies backpack 2 weeks later. I love my Montbell Super Stretch Down bag but it is only rated to 30 degrees. I just can't afford to buy the SS 10 degree bag. So I thought I'd try a technique I learned from a hiking friend Craig. He uses two bags in the winter in his hammock. So I thought I'd try the same technique. I would still use the 30 degree Montbell as my main sleeping bag since I love the stretchy fabric and I'd add another light weight bag over it like a quilt.

Since I didn't have much time and I really wanted to keep the cost down I decided on a REI women's Kilo Flash. It's rated to 35 degrees and weighs only 20 oz. which makes my total weight 43 oz. or 2 lbs 10 ozs for both bags. I am hoping to get well into the twenties with both bags. I do sleep very cold which is vexing since I hike very hot! On this trip the technique worked perfectly. I don't think it got much below the mid-thirties and I was quite warm in the two bags. I slept in long john top and bottom and a light fleece. The fleece came off in the night as did my socks. The second bag mostly stayed in place...I can see how this would work better in a hammock...it slipped a little but as it was warmer than I expected it wasn't a big deal. The REI bag was on clearance for $114 from $180...now it's down to $70 on the http://www.rei.com/ site. This is a good, warm, light bag and for that price I'd grab one while they are available!

I also took a Therm-a-rest Ridge Rest closed cell pad that I picked up at a yard sale for $4. It retails for $25 and weighs on my scales 12.4 oz. I thought it would be a good addition to my Big Agnes Air Core 15 degree pad. It was too warm to tell a difference though. It's light and I will probably take it once it gets colder out. Right now it is doubling as a yoga mat so at least I'm using it!

Gear Review- GSMNP trip- Granite Gear Vapor Ki

I had been using the Deuter Futura Zero 40 SL through the summer. It is a 3 lb. 1oz. pack but I wanted the mesh Aircomfort back to keep cooler and less sweaty. However I really wanted a lighter pack that held more (2450 cu in). (http://www.deuter.com/)

I was really at capacity in the summer and knew that I would need more room when I wanted to pack down stuff, longjohns, etc. On the Hobb's cabin trip I was able to check out a Granite Gear pack that Sara was using. I liked the look of it and she had good things to say about it. I had done research on the Granite Gear packs before so seeing one in the field pushed me into ordering one.

I got it on sale for just over $100 after doing an online search (retail $170). Can't remember what company I went with though. It lists at 2lbs. 5ozs. and 3600 cu in. It only cuts a little more than half a pound off my weight but I gain over 1000 cu in of space! I am not sure I like the lidless design but it's ok so far. I was able to fit all my gear in comfortably. I added a down jacket and pants, a second down sleeping bag, wool long johns, closed cell pad, and my Jetboil. These are items I didn't have on the last trip.

The pack is super comfortable. I could have gone lighter but I wanted something with the adjustable load lifters and a good padded hip belt. The pack has two large open pockets and two small zippered pockets and an area on the front to strap a sleeping pad or jacket. I am still getting used to not having the lid for additional storage. GG sells an attachable lid but I don't know if it's worth the moeny or the extra weight...it seems really small on the web so I will have to consider this for a while. Other than losing a bit of convenience with the lid I am really enjoying this pack...it is much more comfortable than the Deuter.

Gear Report GSMNP trip- Tarptent Rainbow

The trip to GSMNP allowed me to try out my new Henry Shires Rainbow tarptent and my new Granite Gear Vapor Ki backpack.

The Rainbow replaced a 4+ pound Wenzel youth tent I had purchased from Walmart many years ago to use on the occasional backpack trip. Then I didn't backpack for about 15 years. So the tent was one of the items I really wanted to replace. I did alot of research and read alot of message board postings and had my choices narrowed to the MSR Missing Link and the Shires Contrail or Rainbow.

I have a friend who uses the Missing Link so I had seen it in use before. The tent weighs right at 3 pounds and is a true 2 person tent. I didn't like the fact you must use your trekking poles to set it up with. I did like the "canopy" style door. I really wanted a tent that was a bit lighter though. Between the Contrail and Rainbow I went for the slightly heavier Rainbow because of a couple of features I liked. It is listed as a 3+ season tent and this appealed to me as I intend to backpack once every month and even though middle Tennessee doesn't get a ton of snow I wanted to have the option of going out in the snow. I also liked the side entry door vs. the end entry of the Contrail. I also felt the free-standing option of the Rainbow was a useful feature. The Rainbow comes in at 2lbs. 3ozs. on my scale including all poles, stakes and stuff sacks.

I seam sealed the tent and painted stripes of silicone on the floor of the tent as suggested. I was glad I did the floor! The silnylon is very slippery and even on a bit of a slope your pad will slide around. The silicone kept this to a minimum. I had plenty of room and room for my gear. I don't think it got below about 35 or 40 degrees and it was dry. I didn't have any trouble with condensation. The door provided a very small vestibule; I kept my boots under this and brought my pack into the tent. The Rainbow set up quickly (I tried it twice at home first) and came down even quicker. I believe I could get it into a smaller stuff sack so I can lay it flat in my pack vs. having to stand it up straight. So far I like my choice!

Hike Report- GSMNP Cosby Loop Area

The trip included three backpackers. We drove to Knoxville Friday after work and stayed in a hotel since we didn't want to try to set up in the Cosby campsite in the cold and dark. Wimps...maybe... but that hot shower felt GOOD!!!!!

We were up early on Saturday grabbed a drive-thru breakfast at McDonald's and were on our way. After making a wrong turn and about 45 minutes out of our way we got back on track and made it to the Cosby Campsite. After Tammy got us registered we made our way to the Snake Den trail to begin our ascent of Maddron Bald. This was a long, slow climb...for me anyway. This is the most ascent I've ever done so I was quite glad I had only about 23 pounds in my pack. I would have been under 20 but I added a few things I'll go into later. We smelled bear a couple of times and as we approached the summit there was snow left over from a small storm a few days earlier. The view from the bald wasn't as spectacular as I had expected there was a lot of scrubby bushes growing about 6-10 feet tall that obscured a lot of the view.

We stopped for lunch just as we were heading down the other side. The temperatures were quite interesting to me. On the bald it was almost 60 degrees and then down the other side at a creek crossing it was about 45 degrees, away from the water it warmed to the low 50's. We completed about 12-13 miles on Saturday and got into campsite #32 just before dark. We passed a big pile of bear poop right outside of the camp...good thing there are pulleys and lines to hang food from! We had just enough time to set up tents and gather a bit of wood for a fire. There were only 4 other people in the camp so we cooked in the empty central campsite and hung our food bags there as well. Then walked about 50 yards to our own camp and made a small fire.

Sunday morning we hiked about 5 miles out to the Cosby campsite. The colors were beautiful. Down in the valley's everything was still green, farther up the colors were brilliant yellows and reds and at the top the colors had peaked and were shades of rust and brown. Charlotte kept marvelling at the size of the trees...I must admit they were quite large. One that had fallen across the trail and been cut had 400 years old written on it.