Just got back from a hike.

R

rpbali

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Feb 23, 2007
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Hey guys, don't post much here, but I do a ton of reading. Some friends and I just got back from a 3 day hiking trip and I thought I'd share some photos. We're heading to BC to hike the West Coast Trail in a couple weeks so this trip was intended to make sure all our gear was still going strong. We hiked mostly along the South Saskatchewan River. It was about a 75km round trip.

This is the group as we are about to start hiking. I'm on the right in this pic.
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It wasn't long before we found some snow!
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The first couple hours of hiking was on forest trails. Very nice.
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Here you can see the river is still frozen over for the most part.
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We did a lot of hiking on the ice. It made for nice walking...for the most part.
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Taking a break. Our pants were soaked after sitting for 2 seconds:D
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Found some pussy willows along the way.
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We ate luxuriously the first night. We each had a huge steak as well as a potato, carrot, onion, mushroom, pepper mix in tinfoil. Just for size reference, there are only 2 steaks on that grill - the bottom two pieces are actually one steak.
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Continued...
 
Figured I should toss in a pic with a blade in it:)
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Here was our camp the first night.
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Some scenery
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On the second day we hiked the rest of the way to a small town called St. Louis. We had been looking forward to this for a while as we were stopping at a local restaurant for lunch. We were pretty excited once we saw the bridge into town from a distance. Home-made bacon double cheeseburgers with all the fixings. Man, that was good!
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One of my favorite pics
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Having some fun.
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And back at the van at the end of the third day.
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All in all the weather was great. The first day we were hiking in t-shirts most of the time which was pretty awesome while down on the ice. Second day we woke up to some snow falling and it was stupidly windy until 1600ish. Probably gusting 35 knots. And the third day was nice again. Legs were definitely sore after this trip!

- Jason
 
Thanks for the pics. I wish there was a river like that in So. Cal.
 
Very cool picture and nice pictures. Lets get a couple of campfire shots next time :) I really like backpacking like that but haven't gone out and done it for a while now. Four people is a pretty large group for that kind of thing. How were the group dynamics? Were you all pacing equally. I'm noting the height difference between the tallest and shortest person and wondering if one person was working harder to keep up?
 
Hmm, guess I didn't really take any fire shots. Here's the closest I can give you. We set up the ring of rocks because the grass was ridiculously dry. A little ember and we'd have to stomp out a quick spreading grass fire. A little diligence though, and there were no problems.
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As for the group, I'd say we're all equally in shape. Or equally out of shape, one of the two:rolleyes: We all seem to like the same pace, so it worked well.
 
Were you testing any specific pieces of gear? I'm always interested in learning what stuff people use. Do you have a gear list? Any "leave home-you don't need it items"? The pics are great, even though I'm viewing them on my cell phone.
 
Great pics. Seems like you had a great time. Although I am a little tired of seeing the sight of Winter, I guess you get used to it up there :D
 
cool pics man. just curious, have you completed the registration for the west coast trail? i havent done it in a while but if memory serves me correctly you need to register and get a trail use permit before being able to tackle that trail.

hope ya have fun on the west coast :D
 
Awesome pics! Thanks for sharing. The two times food tastes the best...cooked over a fire along the trail and at the end of a long section of hike. Both times you really appreciate the flavors a lot.

Love the scenery shots!
 
Man those steak pics made me hungry! How does that Spyderco do as a backpacking knife? Looks like a good choice. Make sure to post when you get back from B.C.!! Stay safe out there.
 
Looks good sir - maybe try to condense the size of your pack a bit for the WCT though.
The Southern section from Port Renfrew to Walbran is no joke.
You travel more miles vertically than horizontally on that section, and parts are more scrambling than hiking.
I sweat more than I had to lugging around a too heavy pack - but I refused to jettison the Balvenie double wood for my personal comfort level!

You're gonna see the most mind blowingly beautiful country in God's creation. Take your time, you are in for an amazing experience.


Good luck and safe trip!
 
Looks like a nice trip:thumbup: I really like the scenery shots-I'm a cold-weather baby, but I sure love the way it looks on my computer screen:D
 
Looks like a real enthusiastic group, and great pictures. Thanks for sharing.

Oh, and get some fire pictures next time or kgd will be on your butt again - he is relentless! :eek:

Doc
 
Rockywolf said:
Were you testing any specific pieces of gear? I'm always interested in learning what stuff people use. Do you have a gear list? Any "leave home-you don't need it items"? The pics are great, even though I'm viewing them on my cell phone.
Click to expand...

We bought a bunch new gear for the WCT mostly because we got some wicked deals. Backpack I needed as I didn't have one that would suffice for a 6-7 day trip. Ended up with a TNF Primero 70. Water proof! It worked out very well, and after some minor adjusting of the straps it was very comfortable. The hip belt also worked in after the first day.

I needed some new boots anyway, so I bought some back in the fall so I'd have a chance to wear them in over the winter. Salomans with a Gore-tex lining. Workin' great thus far - holding up to their water proofness quite nicely.

One of the people with us went to an MSR clinic through work and so we got some really good deals on some gear. We bought a few Carbon Reflex 2 tents, a Quick 2 Cook Set, couple Hyperflow water filters and some other things. The tents are so light it's insane - a 2 person, 3 season tent that weighs in at 3 lb!
 
jca21 said:
cool pics man. just curious, have you completed the registration for the west coast trail? i havent done it in a while but if memory serves me correctly you need to register and get a trail use permit before being able to tackle that trail.

hope ya have fun on the west coast :D
Click to expand...

Thanks! As for registration, since we're going in the shoulder season, there are no reservations or anything to be made. You show up, take the orientation, get your trail permits and hike.
 
Runsalone said:
Man those steak pics made me hungry! How does that Spyderco do as a backpacking knife? Looks like a good choice. Make sure to post when you get back from B.C.!! Stay safe out there.
Click to expand...

The Spyderco Temperance works quite nicely. VG-10 blade is a great stainless - holds a great edge and doesn't corrode easily at all. The FRN handles are comfortable, grippy, and easy to clean. Also, the kydex sheath is nice because it won't hold water and is easy to clean.
 
Chunk said:
Looks good sir - maybe try to condense the size of your pack a bit for the WCT though.
The Southern section from Port Renfrew to Walbran is no joke.
You travel more miles vertically than horizontally on that section, and parts are more scrambling than hiking.
I sweat more than I had to lugging around a too heavy pack - but I refused to jettison the Balvenie double wood for my personal comfort level!

You're gonna see the most mind blowingly beautiful country in God's creation. Take your time, you are in for an amazing experience.


Good luck and safe trip!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice! As for condensing the pack, we brought some things on this trip that we won't on the WCT. We wanted to weigh our packs down for training. Such items include the 8.5 lb of beer that I had in my pack:D We're doing the WCT from north to south, so our packs will be a bit lighter by the time we get to the ladders at the south.
 
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