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

Kicked off the year with an in/out the lower 4+ miles of the Chinnabee Silent Trail at Cheaha State Park/Talladega National Forest, where I generally also hike and backpack several times throughout each year.
After years of ignoring it, I also tacked on the 2 mile Lakeshore Trail around Lake Chinnabee for a nice ~10.5 mile hike on the afternoon of New Year's Day.
The area around the lake was closed until October after a spring flood, and the results left me questioning what I think I know about time and erosion.
Anyway, all this time I had no idea there was a dam, and a pretty cool one at that, forming the lake.
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Night found me still at a series of small waterfalls called Devil's Den, 4 miles from my car, so I hiked in the dark for awhile, then the last mile and a half by my new headlamp.
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Photos on the way in were a bit of a bust. I just snapped some quick ones of the waterfalls, expecting to come back around dark, but was too late getting out...
Cheaha Falls.
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View from the Cheaha Falls shelter on the ridge above:
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First new fire ring since the flooding wiped away all sign of old campsites along the creek.
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A few from the Devil's Den:
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And Lake Chinnabee.
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facablade said:
Beautiful pics you are lucky to live there
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Thanks, I do count myself lucky. :thumbup:

Eero said:
Are you sure that's the moon and not a slice of an orange???
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Haha, no kidding. I love the colored moon on risings.


Owen, great start to the new year bud. Love the long exposure at Devil's Den.

Btw, I ended up deciding on sticking with the H52w after ZL got back to me and said the H52Fw was out of stock for a couple of weeks by current estimate. Figured I'll just stick to using DC-Fix if I want it more floody. But man, I've been trying to score a SC52w -- they're out of stock everywhere! ZL's backordered until Feb :grumpy: Anyway, can't wait to play with some Li-ion output goodness on the H52w on my next outing :D I hope the low modes don't suffer too much, for more practical use... I still carry L91 backups anyway.

Edited to add: Just checked ZL site again, looks like the SC52w is back in stock! Unless it's an error like what I experience with ordering the H52Fw from them... My last inquiry with them (last week) regarding the SC, they said they'd be backordered until Feb, but now it's listed as "in stock"...


I wish everyone a fruitful 2014, with lots of dirt time! :)
 
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Think I would actually like the pure flood version for in the woods, especially after being accustomed to using the H30w for years. Even the H52Fw gives a slight bouncing ball effect, and the beam simply disappears if you look up and ahead too far. When I first noticed, I thought "oh no, first use and it's flickering" :(


I got a $50 gift card from Mountain High Outfitters, and knew exactly what it would be used for.
Patagonia's Capilene 3 is the absolute bomb. Had two tops, but now have bottoms, too. I swore they would never go near my workplace, especially after paying full retail, but haven't been able to resist "field testing" them the last few nights. Along with my Icebreaker Bodyfit200 bottoms(same price on sale in-store, $60 total), this is the most I've ever paid for a baselayer, but I've tried a wide variety, and it's almost unbelievable how good these are.
 
Yeah, different strokes: I like the non-floody for one-light bping use. I've never tried a pure flood light though for headlamp use, so I can't say I wouldn't like it. I just know I haven't had a problem using the H51w on trails at night, with or without diffusion film, and I like the efficiency of a standard vs. pure flood beam (run at lower levels to illuminate ground directly in front = more lux with standard vs. flood at same lumens = more useful runtime). And when running on higher levels, looking up allows me to see a bit farther ahead (obviously not as well as a throwy handheld). Even in camp, I'm always looking at something when doing tasks, so low levels on standard beam is fine for my use. I could also be spoiled by the ZL standard beam though, which IMO, has enough side spill for my uses. And the hot spot becomes less defined the farther away you project the beam.

I find that if the trail is flat and not very tricky, I like having the headlamp clipped onto the front pocket of my HPG Kit Bag. That works perfectly for me: no glare as when worn on head, can position beam dead center easily, throws slightly more shadow than when worn on head, if I need to point down or up I can just tilt the light by hand temporarily, doesn't bounce hotspot much. I've tried wearing it on my belt and on my pack hipbelt and shoulder straps, but they were never very satisfactory... often because I can't position beam dead center easily, the light gets moved too easily, or the spot bounces too much. When the terrain gets more difficult, I actually like just wearing the headlamp as a headlamp. I like being able to quickly point the light where I want it -- I've found I value that more than throwing better shadows.

Incidentally, I realized on my last hike that I actually prefer a handheld when hiking if I can hike with one hand free. All the advantages of waist-level light mounting, none of the disadvantages. I also realized upon coming home and checking specs that the light level I use most often on my H51w is 7 lumens on ZLs rating, sometimes bumping to the 26. That was actually surprising (thought the absolute lumen value was in a higher range), and reinforced how bright low lumens seems when your eyes are adjusted for the dark (under canopy or rising half-moon on this last night hike). I thought I was going to leave my H52w medium modes at the default 50 and 25 lumens, but now I think I'll adjust to 50 and 12 lumens. Should give me a more useful range of adjustment.

Not really UL in philosophy, but I'm considering a DC-Fixed H52w + SC52w for bping trips now. I feel like a H52Fw/H502 + SC52w would make a better combo, if I ever pick up an engineered flood/floody light. But for now, I love the flexibility the standard H52 with removable diffusion film provides, especially if the SC52w is staying home. Side note: still no SC52w, directly dealing with ZL has been quite frustrating. They're not very good at communication and managing their supply. Looks like I'll have to wait a bit if I want one.

Whoa, way more than I intended to write, sorry folks. I've been thinking about lights and their uses often lately...




Do Capilene baselayers stink very much after sustained use, like other more inexpensive synthetics? I've never used any myself, wool user, but I just picked my GF up a Cap1 from REI on sale, and I've been eyeing the Cap 4 hoody as a alternative to the R1...
 
Capilene, at least the Cap1 top I use most, will reek after a few days. Think I've posted my theory on it before, but it seems to me that the anti-microbial whatever stores odors rather than fighting them, then releases them all at once(:rolleyes:). By day 4, you better have at least rinsed that thing, or look out!
Since I'm rarely out more than 2-3 days, it's not usually an issue, but I've had a "WTH is THAT, OMG is that ME?!?:barf:" moment a time or two.
 
Haha :) Noted. Yeah, my experience with less expensive synthetics is similar, but it starts right after the first day. Except for UA Boxer Jocks...they are magical!
 
Just for reference to my previous post #1764, slapped some DC-Fix back on my H51w ever since getting the H52w, been using it around the house and reading at night, and just used it now for a after-dinner walk. Even'ed out beam is nice for this use. I wish I could find some comparison shots of the H52w with DC-Fix and H52Fw. I'll take some comparison pics later between my DC-Fixed H51w and stock H52w (not enough blank wall space in my apt), but the emitters are different so it wouldn't be quite right...

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Thanks!

They're calling for 2" of snow Wednesday where I'm headed tomorrow. I tell you, it'll be a crying shame if I get stuck surviving in the wilderness for an extra day, and miss work!

Been having some frustration with the sleep system, and am about to pull the trigger on a new one. My insulated pad has a slow leak I can't find(waking up every 3 hours to blow it up last week), and turning into a very active sleeper has me constantly fighting my bag, so it may be new pad and quilt time! :D

It's a heavy trigger pull, though...
 
Think more $$$ :eek:
I worked both my off nights on Christmas Eve and Day for triple time and a half, so I'm gonna call this my Christmas bonus(since we didn't GET a Christmas bonus this year:mad:).

Guess I'll see what's up with the pad the next couple nights. I slept on it yesterday at home, and only had to put a couple breaths in it to fill it up, and it's still fully inflated this morning.
Might have blamed the 20F temp for it once, but not three or four times in 12 hours. That's never happened before. Mid 20s tonight, and 20 tomorrow night, so we shall see.
May tote my short Z-Lite, too, just in case.
 
More?! Dang, that's pretty baller enough for me already, haha :D

Yeah, I was going to ask how many times it flatted out. Low temps makes one think the pad is leaking, but at 3-4 times... sounds like a slow leak indeed. No bathtub test?
 
Yep, exped downmat was my top runner guess :thumbup:

Very nice man!! Merry Xmas to you :)

As for BA pad... Passed bathtub test and holds air at home... Weird. Usually one early morning top off is enough for cool temps, but at 20*F I guess it may take more? Never had either my old BA insulated or Neoair (with Zlite) that low. But this isn't the first time you've had it that low though...

In any case, looks like you'll have some good new stuff :D

ETA: Did you do with the 900fp or 850fp water resistant? Now that I'm looking at the Katabatics again, relative to the new Enigma, they're actually not that bad. A little more, but not as crazy as they used to look to me. Perhaps it's time to consider the water resistant Sawatch again for my new shoulder/winter quilt, keep the current EE for summer use. I'm just a bit wary of continuous baffles after using my current EE this past year...
 
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I got the 850 fill water resistant down. Another thing I'm not happy with is that my bags often look and feel damp when unpacking after the first night in certain conditions, and show a loss of loft. Our humidity goes sky high at night(90% right now) plus I think I sweat, particularly in the Pinnacle, unless it's really cold. Seems like my environment is the ideal candidate for that treated down, and I'm curious to see how much difference it makes. Edit: I also have the bad habit of breathing into the bag, which shouldn't be an issue with the quilt!

And yeah, I've been using that pad since fall 2011, so two and a half years...
 
Nice, that'd be my choice too :thumbup: I like doing coastal trips, and it gets damp, have experienced the same. Pain for drying out clothes too...

And there was that one thunderstorm in yosemite where due to settling for a poor site with a good view we had a little stream running under our groundsheet :D Water-resistant down would have been welcome then too, haha...

Looking forward to pics and thoughts when you get your new goodies :thumbup:
 
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