The NEW Post Your Campsite/gear/knife/hiking/anything Outdoorsy Pic Thread!

[HikingMano]

Great pictures, Owen :thumbup: The zoom on your camera is great. Optical only, right? Nice.

I love all the vibrant fall colors. And that shot of the retired fire tower is particularly enjoyable to me. Good, solid chunk of time outside, and with a friend = :thumbup:

I see you've really been putting the Notch to use. I'm going to ask you about the Exos 58 sometime. I'm looking to upgrade my Talon 44 to something that can handle a bear canister....


Quick pic from my outing today. Will post more pics tomorrow, after I sift through them.

 

[OwenM]

Sweet pic!
It's optical zoom only. There's a digital zoom, but I disabled it.
I'll get some pics of the 58 in the next day or two. I love the two vertical pockets in place of the hidden flat one of the 46L. I kept the Notch in one, and my filter, cook kit, and rain jacket in the other. It also has twice the padding of the 46 on the hipbelt.
Somewhere around here, I've got pics from a trip with the same friend two years ago, when I accompanied her on a mapping project that this trip finished(she moved away, but was still determined to finish it). Soon the 15yr old Pinhoti maps will be replaced with modern ones with GPS coordinates for prominent features, road crossings, and water sources, along with elevation profiles, and more durable, water-resistant construction:thumbup:

 

[HikingMano]

Awesome, I'll keep an eye out for the pics. Good to know the 58 has more padding in the belt. Any problems with the bottom of the Airspeed frame digging into your lower back with your pack fully loaded (despite UL load)?

Kudos to your friend for completing her mapping project :thumbup: I love an updated map.

 

[Mistwalker]

New Yuma by Todd Hunt (T.M. Hunt)

 

[Eero]

Yikes. That is one sweet blade. I wish I was able to make the gathering and check out some of his stuff. There is always next year, right? Thanks for posting great pictures as always mistwalker. PS I would eat that snail.

 

[Mistwalker]

Yikes. That is one sweet blade. I wish I was able to make the gathering and check out some of his stuff. There is always next year, right? Thanks for posting great pictures as always mistwalker. PS I would eat that snail.

Yeah, the Yuma is really sweet, one of my favorite knife designs to date. Yep, should be two more gatherings next year, spring and autumn. No you wouldn't...lol, it was just an empty shell I found and brought home for my little girl.

 

[HikingMano]

These pumpkins came from the outdoors

Happy Halloween!

I just realized I forgot to post the pics from my Mt. Diablo outing, will have to do it later. Nice knife, Brian :thumbup:

 

[baldtaco-II]

 

[OwenM]

These pumpkins came from the outdoors
I just realized I forgot to post the pics from my Mt. Diablo outing, will have to do it later.

That pumpkin on the right is freaking awesome. If it makes you feel any better, I forgot I'm supposed to post up a pic or two of that Exos 58.

Here's some pics from one of my now almost daily mountain bike rides. I have several different ones I've checked out that are in different directions.
The area that I live in was all undeveloped until 7-8 years ago. Mostly railroad and power company land, I think. Lots of ATV trails and dirt roads, plus some roughcut roads through sections that were intended to be more new neighborhoods before the housing market died down. There's even a trail that starts less than 100 yards from my driveway that goes to a hunting club(I think). Staying out of there through hunting season, regardless.
My favorite so far is a few acres where people have been playing on 4 wheelers and dirt bikes less than 3 miles from my house, and I took some pics with my phone today.

If I mention getting stuck in a rut, I do not mean that figuratively...

Having a blast climbing and cruising down these. 'Course it's been so long since I had a bike, everything is fun.

Technical canyoneering in miniature!

These next three were cut for unknown reasons, though one looks like it was for a power line, but turned into ATV trails. They go down a steep ridge and through the woods to a dirt road below the opposite ridge with houses. There are actually several others along a couple miles of road, but many of them are completely overgrown with brush. I didn't have time today, but went down one the first day I got my bike.

How was I living without a mountain bike???

I put new grips and pedals, and some cool-looking CF headset spacers on my bike as its only mods:

 

[HikingMano]

You are having waaaay too much fun with your new toy Makes me want to take out mine for some actual trail riding. You're so lucky to have good playgrounds so nearby. Why do folks like hard-tails? I can't remember. Is it because of better power transfer or something?

Just got back from overnighter in Henry Coe SP here in CA. Didn't see another soul for a majority of the trip... lovely. Haven't gone through pics yet, but let me post my pics from Mt. Diablo first:

My girlfriend and took part in a guided walk to learn about the Tarantulas that come out during their mating season every fall on the mountain. The first time we camped on the mountain in the fall, maybe 5 or 6 years ago, we were surprised to see all these tarantulas running around the park. This year we found out a couple of Mt. Diablo organizations offer guided walks during the mating season, so we gave one a shot. Turns out there weren't many this season for some reason, and late october is the tail end of the season, so we didn't actually see any. Also, by the time we signed up, the only space available was on a morning walk on the last day; I think you have better luck with the late-afternoon / early evening walks they offer. In any case, it was still a nice morning walk in the eastern end of the park.

Beautiful morning in the Mitchell Canyon area of Mt. Diablo, as we started the guided walk.

Awesome weather.

Dwarf Mistletoe - only grows on Gray/Digger Pines. This thing is crazy; the seeds explode from the fruit and can travel up to 30 or 40 feet.

After our unsuccessful tarantula walk, we headed up to the summit (3,849') to enjoy the views on such a fine day. Here's a zoomed-in view of San Francisco, way in the distance, across the bay.

View southwest from summit area. Santa Cruz mountains in the distance.

These pincher bugs were EVERYWHERE. Makes eating lunch a bit fun when they are constantly dive-bombing your food or your open mouth...

View north, panning east over next two pics.

View east of southeast from summit. What a gorgeous day.

My trusty lil tru-nord. Always good for a quick fix.

Enjoying the views.

The views were so spectacular that day, we could see the Sierra Nevada from the summit area. The next two pics are zoomed in. My P&S is crappy, but you can still see it.

We weren't sure if this was natural or not. Mt. Diablo has quite the geologic history, so I'll have to look into it.

More geologic fun.

View of the north of west, towards quarry.

Zoom on quarry. Ugly scar, but still quite impressive.

All-in-all, a pretty enjoyable outing, even if we didn't get to see any tarantulas this time. Next year we'll have to get back up there earlier in the mating season....



Pics from Henry Coe to come after I've gone through em :thumbup:


ETA: I don't quite understand why my photobucket images aren't showing up high-res and crisp after the site's renovation. They say default "web-copy" is 1024x768, but it looks horrible now. Maybe it's time to switch hosts...

 

[OwenM]

Nice views!
I don't know why hardtails, except that they're less expensive than full-suspension, which might be wasted on some people. I didn't think I needed a full-suspension bike, but now I think I might end up with one some day.

Here's a few pics of the packs. There's really not much difference between them, just that the Exos 58 has more packbag capacity, extra padding on the hipbelt, and the space behind the back pocket is divided down the middle so that you have two separate pockets instead of the single wide one. I pack them completely differently because of that, though. The separate pockets are better suited to round items vs. flat, and my TT Notch fits easily in one of them. I had an old TNF ruck and a Dana Design pack that both had vertical pockets, and have missed them on my more recent packs. The big difference there is that the zippers are on the outside, but they're still technically "inside" pockets, since stuffing the main bag will intrude on their capacity, and vice versa. Fully stuffing a pack this large will be rare for me(I originally bought it solely for that week-long Colorado trip, intending to pack everything as normal, but have room in the main bag for more food and extra clothes). They give the pack a more organized feel, too, and I like putting my shelter in one of them rather than carrying it in the mesh side pocket like I've been doing with the 46L, and having the other one saved for my water filter, and cook kit, and whatever else I cram in there.

The single wide pocket on the 46L:

The separated pocket/s on the 58L:

You can see from the band of material between the seams that it will still have some room if the main bag is full, but the space will be long and relatively flat, then.

 

[cdnrogue]

WOW this is an amazing thread, I never take pictures. I guess for 2012, I am going to have to bring my camera!

 

[HikingMano]

Nice, thanks for the pics Owen. I'm sure I'll have more questions as I get closer. The pack might have to wait though, I'm really, really itching to pick up a MLD Duomid with solo innernet....

cdnrogue, do it! :thumbup:

 

[OwenM]

Edited out the text. Think I figured out what was wrong with it....

 

[lambertiana]

Great pics from Mt Diablo. I used to live in Concord and the picture looking N-NW looks right down at my old neighborhood.

I believe most of Mt Diablo is part of the Franciscan complex. I didn't do a lot of hiking there; I preferred to head over to
Black Diamond when I wanted to take the kids for a little hike.

 

[HikingMano]

Owen, that's weird. I hope it's an easy fix. Did your foot ever come off the pedal? Perhaps you clipped it as you returned your feet?

John, I think you're right, I'll check back on my various pics of the info signs around the summit. I've been wanting to check out the mines at Black Diamond for a while, just never seem to make it out that way.

 

[OwenM]

Ha, I was just editing that post. Both derailleurs are out of whack. I haven't had it in for its first maintenance, yet, and am going in about an hour. I could probably fix it myself after seeing videos, but am going to try to get the guy at the shop to let me watch him do it(free adjustments for 90 days). I have to buy some tools and a pump, anyway.

 

[HikingMano]

Good deal :thumbup:

 

[HikingMano]

Preview for Henry Coe I've got 500something pics to sift through...probably won't get to it until later this week.

 

[OwenM]

That's quite a start!

Owen, that's weird. I hope it's an easy fix.

I spent my whole off day waiting, and when I got the bike home and tried to ride it, it didn't make it across my front yard. So I took it back to the shop.
The mechanic ended up replacing the front derailleur, the chain, and the big chainring up front under warranty, and still wasn't 100% sure what fixed it. He did say that the chainring had a messed up tooth or teeth that seemed to be a defect. It was directly under a crank arm, and there were no marks, so he didn't see how I could have damaged it. Anyway, everything seems to be working, and the shifting on the front is smoother than it was when new. Glad I didn't start screwing with it myself, after all!
My chiropractor is out of town until tomorrow and I've been having some lower back problems for the past week, so won't hike this week, and probably won't ride anywhere except around the house today if I feel up to it.
Tomorrow I'm getting adjusted first thing, and plan on heading to Oak Mountain State Park's MTB trail, here: http://www.singletracks.com/bike-trails/oak-mountain-state-park-bump-trail.html
Hopefully I'll have some good pictures. The fall colors have become much more pronounced in the last few days.