As to the tide tables, one of our members mentioned GPS, and we know you had maps. Would the combination have allowed you to predict how far up the river the tide would/could rise? I completely understand the fatigue factor...
The addition of a GPS might have helped save me a couple hours on the glacier, but it wouldn't have really helped me with the tides. The altimetry on those sensors isn't accurate enough to really specify whether you're in danger of a flooding tide, and the maps aren't detailed enough to tell you that either (63K, 1inch=1mile resolution, 100' contours). I just should've paid more attention to how high my gravel bar was compared to the far-off tidal flats further out. Apparently, it wasn't that high (which is easy to midjudge, when the tide differences reach 16-20' or more between low & hi tides, you can be 2 stories above the low tide mark and still not be safe even if everything around you looks otherwise). Anyhoo, I used to carry a dedicated GPS, but it failed me on a trip several years back (in Russell Fjord, outside Yakutat Alaska) on day 9 of 17, and I realized I didn't need it to navigate for the rest of the trip. Haven't carried one since. I'm a fan of not over-relying on technology whenever possible. It's handy at times, but a reliance on it will hurt when it eventually fails (that's
when it fails, not
if). There are very few trips where I feel the "need" to carry a GPS anymore. There's one I'm planning (down the pipeline) where it'll be a necessity, but not this kind of trip in SE Alaska.
Now about the stove? Was it less hassle than carrying a tiny gas stove? Did it hold up well and do you plan to keep using it instead of a gas stove? I know that finding dry fuel was sometimes a challenge in those environments, but you mentioned having the forethought to gather and store fuel as you found it, rather than wait until you needed it and hoping it could be found. We quite often discuss firestarting methods here. Would you care to tell us what type of tender you used to get teh stove going? Used a Bic lighter to ignite the tender? Carry a spare? Any accelerants like wax or petroleum jelly?
The wood stove was primarily a weight-saving measure. I own several gas canister stoves (JetBoil sponsored us with free stoves last year on a trek in British Columbia for instance; the stove still sits in my gear closet), and although they are simple to use and fairly efficient, for a trip of this length I'd still need to carry 1-2 pounds of fuel, plus the stove. Even if it's sometimes difficult to find dry wood (I got better at it by trip's end), I never had to worry about
running out of fuel, or carrying it for the whole trip. No moving parts, no pressurized canisters, nothing to break or fail. If you can light a fire, you can cook dinner... I like the KISS (keep it simple, stupid) mentality of it. I can boil as much water as I like without worrying about over-using fuel. Trade-off, of course, is that you've gotta light fires, which was definitely tricky at the start of the trip. I often used a bit of paper (torn from a blank page in my journal) and some used plastic baggie atop it, which made an adequate fire starter. A dedicated firestarter like wax, for instance, would've worked very well too, I just didn't bring those.
Anyway, I definitely plan to keep using the wood stove on these trips... next time I predict I won't have nearly the trouble I did this time at the start of the trip. I just needed to brush up on my "bush" skills in that regard.
ETA: We would be very interested in your equipment choices in general if you would care to discuss it.
I don't mind discussing it at all... when I get a gear list posted on the website (a "to do" item, life is busy for me at the moment), I'll shoot a post over here if anyone's interested. I made a lot of efforts to carry lightweight functional gear this trip, which helped tremendously in my navigability... some of the "big" days scrambling I wouldn't have been able to pull off with an additional 20 lbs on my back. Anyway, that's not a high priority for me right now, but hopefully soon I can share that in detail.
All the best,
- Mike
I usually wouldn't pack something like that for the plane ride (although wax is benign enough), I pick it up locally. The wet wood gave me some flack the start of the trip, but after I got the hang of it, it wasn't so bad. When I went to resupply for the second leg, I didn't feel I needed to bother. I DID carry some backup alcohol (with a little pepsi-can burner) that I occasionally dribbled a few drops over the little fire to make it easy to light with a Bic, and that helped, although it doesn't burn as hot or as long as (say) wax, but it still worked tolerably well.
