Short hike on the AT today (Photo heavy)

TheMadIndian

TheMadIndian

Joined
Jan 5, 2014
Messages
888
I got out for a few miles today with my youngest, our goal was wildcat cabin, which would've been 8mi round trip day but he wouldn't listen to his old man and I'm not going to harp on him about it he'll figure it out eventually :D all he brought with him was a sweatshirt, his 1322 crosman w/targets, canteen w/water and a gatorade bottle (I've got survival blankets with me always so worse case...). Needless to say it was 39F and very, very windy, he was cold and hungry in no time so we turned around just after 2mi :D getting in just over 4mi on the day.
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I didn't fix the retention from the last hike and it really didn't wobble around all that bad
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Took a break before climbing up onto the ridgeline
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Up on the ridgeline
I love when he gets contemplative like this
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Nice shot of the Warwick valley
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A nice view deserves some knife pics!!
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I had to sneak in there
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My trail buddies
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Did a little chopping with the BK2 and made the boy a quick walking stick
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Still have to switch the paracord to webbing but despite that it carried real well today and no issues with tightness this time around (then again I wasn't working nearly as hard)
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Back home, thanks for checking out the pics
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trailbum said:
What a great day.
I like that pack setup.
Great lookin dogs.
Click to expand...

You are so transparent....

.....but I agree....even 4 miles is better than nothing, and the AT is a great place to do it. Thanks for the pics. Maybe what your son needs is his own Becker....although When I hike with my goylez, I'm the one packing steel. And water. And food. And emergency stuff. But at least they go......
 
Looks like a great time, thanks for taking us along. I like the pack rig too.
 
trailbum said:
What a great day.
I like that pack setup.
Great lookin dogs.
Click to expand...
Thanks, its a 5.11 moab rush6 with two attachments, the 4x6H 5.11 bag and a condor water bottle holder

granitestateofmind said:
You are so transparent....

.....but I agree....even 4 miles is better than nothing, and the AT is a great place to do it. Thanks for the pics. Maybe what your son needs is his own Becker....although When I hike with my goylez, I'm the one packing steel. And water. And food. And emergency stuff. But at least they go......
Click to expand...
I used to, once they get to be teenagers though they start hauling their own (I've got 4 kids) he turned 13 in Feb and I forgot he had his BG scout knife and mora 511, I like it for him because it's got that big finger guard but he has used my BK11 from time to time

tradewater said:
Looks like a great time, thanks for taking us along. I like the pack rig too.
Click to expand...

Thanks
 
Great pack, great pics and great looking dogs!

Looks like a everyone had a good time!
 
Looks like a fun outing man, thanks for sharing.
 
Love the valley shots! :thumbup:

Great looking rig ya got there!

Thanks for sharing!
 
Great shots. AT = Appalachian Trail???? Don't know. I'm a Californian. :o

Do they make you keep your dogs on leashes?

Lawrence
 
Lawrence Helm said:
Great shots. AT = Appalachian Trail???? Don't know. I'm a Californian. :o

Do they make you keep your dogs on leashes?

Lawrence
Click to expand...
Yes to both but I'd keep them on this time of year anyway we have a lot a bear activity now and I have at least one family of coyotes here and Nov is usually the time they start dispersing their pups to get ready for the next litter and they're bigger than my little one and she's convinced she's our protector lol she keeps all the deer and all the small game on their toes

Hawk590 said:
Looks like a beautiful way to spend a day. What part of the AT?
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Thanks, it's the Bellvale section heading north towards Bear Mountain
 
TheMadIndian said:
Yes to both but I'd keep them on this time of year anyway we have a lot a bear activity now and I have at least one family of coyotes here and Nov is usually the time they start dispersing their pups to get ready for the next litter and they're bigger than my little one and she's convinced she's our protector lol she keeps all the deer and all the small game on their toes
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Hmmm. I tend to overthink everything. I'm not sure what I'd do in your situation. With two dogs on leash how would you get to your gun? How would you hold it steady? Or your knife? The dogs would be out in front of you confronting whatever it was and you wouldn't be able to do anything. :(

Years ago with different dogs I used to hike on trails with rules. I'd leave the leashes on at the start of a hike & then take them off when we were away from people. If we saw people later I'd put them back on -- didn't carry a gun back then -- carried a Buck 119, 124 or 639 most likely.

There are no rules where I hike nowadays, no police, no forest rangers, only a rare hiker beside Ben, Duffy & me.







Lawrence
 
Lawrence Helm said:
Hmmm. I tend to overthink everything. I'm not sure what I'd do in your situation. With two dogs on leash how would you get to your gun? How would you hold it steady? Or your knife? The dogs would be out in front of you confronting whatever it was and you wouldn't be able to do anything. :(

Years ago with different dogs I used to hike on trails with rules. I'd leave the leashes on at the start of a hike & then take them off when we were away from people. If we saw people later I'd put them back on -- didn't carry a gun back then -- carried a Buck 119, 124 or 639 most likely.

There are no rules where I hike nowadays, no police, no forest rangers, only a rare hiker beside Ben, Duffy & me.







Lawrence
Click to expand...
Nice pics.

When I had my Rotties and Shepards I didn't worry as they were bigger than most we'd encounter other than bears ( I realize now that was a mistake ), something I learned a few years back when a friend lost his terrier, is to keep them close, if they're loose and running around and run from danger they're activating whatever apex predator's, they've encountered, prey drive. If I keep them close they won't end up in that situation and it would be very hard to surprise us or for us to surprise another animal as we're making noise and very attentive to our surroundings. In the event we were approached I'd release them at their collars rather than dropping their leashes, once I knew we'd be in a fight and I'd focus on the threat at hand. First and foremost protecting the kids, the dogs and then myself in that order.

The day of that last hike I posted, before the hike I ran through my rules of conduct and the people from my office continued to make fun of me throughout the day about not running and staying together, don't look directly at it, make yourself as big as possible and speak in a low loud voice if confronted with a bear, coyote or coydog. Sadly that same day on the opposite ridgeline on the other side of the lake a group of college kids from NJ stumbled upon a bear, got scared and ran, the bear caught and killed one of them.

This for me is a daily reality as I live off the AT so I don't have to go hiking to encounter this situation, just last night I spooked a bear on the other side of my Silverado, so I have to be careful just letting the dogs out to go to the bathroom
 
TheMadIndian said:
Nice pics.

When I had my Rotties and Shepards I didn't worry as they were bigger than most we'd encounter other than bears ( I realize now that was a mistake ), something I learned a few years back when a friend lost his terrier, is to keep them close, if they're loose and running around and run from danger they're activating whatever apex predator's, they've encountered, prey drive. If I keep them close they won't end up in that situation and it would be very hard to surprise us or for us to surprise another animal as we're making noise and very attentive to our surroundings. In the event we were approached I'd release them at their collars rather than dropping their leashes, once I knew we'd be in a fight and I'd focus on the threat at hand. First and foremost protecting the kids, the dogs and then myself in that order.

The day of that last hike I posted, before the hike I ran through my rules of conduct and the people from my office continued to make fun of me throughout the day about not running and staying together, don't look directly at it, make yourself as big as possible and speak in a low loud voice if confronted with a bear, coyote or coydog. Sadly that same day on the opposite ridgeline on the other side of the lake a group of college kids from NJ stumbled upon a bear, got scared and ran, the bear caught and killed one of them.

This for me is a daily reality as I live off the AT so I don't have to go hiking to encounter this situation, just last night I spooked a bear on the other side of my Silverado, so I have to be careful just letting the dogs out to go to the bathroom
Click to expand...

Sounds like you thought the whole thing through. Nicely done. My threats aren't that severe. Lots of coyotes but they're used to us and we're used to them; a few Mountain Lion tracks and some attacks not too far away, but against farm animals not people or dogs. I doubt a mountain lion would consider us prey. I know bear are in the mountains but I've never seen any tracks nor have I heard about any bear coming down on this side of the mountain so I'm not going to change anything.

Lawrence
 
Great pics. Looks like a great place to explore. I'm liking your daypack setup as well. Thanks for posting this.
 
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