Now That It's Next Week I've Got Butterflies

I've been sitting around waiting for June so that I can go camping. And I've been going stir crazy. So, like any other red-blooded American, I pulled myself up by my bootstraps and recently (within the last two days) decided to go camping somewhere else first. By somewhere else I mean Raccoon Creek State Park. "When?", you ask. May 8th and 9th. "Why?" Well, the stupidity of waiting until June to camp just kinda hit me. What with the fact that I've never camped, my gear is largely untested in the field and June is still almost two months away, I'm going to try to ease into it. Before I find myself ten miles in with a leaky tent, a cold sleeping bag (when I saw that it was snowing in the Adirondacks this week all I could say was 'Holy Crap!') and a broken stove. I made a reservation at one of the tent sites in the park, ordered more good stuff from Packit Gourmet, cleared my absence with the wife and next weekend I'll be packing up the Jeep and heading to PA. It'll just be one night and the campsite does have a gravel access road but there are bears in PA....and the access road is gated. So, I could be eaten and have my carcass dragged into the woods before a ranger could open the gate and drive down the road. Plus, I bought more stuff from REI and I still need to return some stuff (this, too) so I can stop into a store over in Pittsburgh. I'm planning a circumnavigation of the park and I'm hoping to hit the trail by 10 o'clock am (leaving from the park office lot on Rte 18). If you're in the area come hike with me. If you're not in the area "It's beautiful here, wish you were!"

Cocona Test Jacket

Recently Backpacker magazine had an ad in which a company, Cocona, was looking for people to sign up for the opportunity to test some gear. Since, with a limited budget, I tend to be all about free stuff, I filled out the entry form on the Cocona Fabrics website. Wonder of wonders, I was picked to be a tester. Cocona claims that their waterproof, breathable Xcelerator fabric is the best thing since sliced bread....I think that there is no reason for anyone to wax poetical about Cocona. This was the first hike I took with the test jacket I received. The test is supposed to last for sixty days which means it should end just about the time I plan to be climbing Mts Skylight, Marcy and Haystack; unless the jacket falls apart before then.

Euclid Creek After a Rain

I Went

A couple of nights ago I had the opportunity to take advantage of a pretty good opportunity. I was able to attend the IGO backpacking basics course that I had mentioned in a previous post. While a lot of the presentation was geared toward folks who were perhaps still in the "I don't know anything about either of them but I think I might try backpacking and/or hiking" stage (and there were a few attendees like that), it was nice to be able to ask questions and bounce ideas off of someone with more camping experience than me. For example: My biggest concern right now is packing my pack. I was able to ask about the proper way, or a better way, and get a good answer without feeling too ridiculous. And, my fifteen dollar registration fee got me a swank certificate that states that I am basically a basic backpacker. Cool!

Please Wait....Re-Routing....

Once again, I present to you : A New Route. After thinking about it, and reading Adirondack Journey concerning the parking/fees situation at The Garden trail-head and the absolutely free parking at Upper Works, I've come to the decision to change my starting point to Upper Works. I was willing to pay the $40 dollars to park at The Garden but then I thought to myself, "Why pay if I can drive for a half hour and park for free?" Whereas my old camp three was just a spot that looked good on my map, my new camp three will be at Scott Clearing; so I can be reasonably sure of finding a campsite. And, it may or may not be a plus but, the area east of Colden and Flowed Lands is black bear territory so I may get a sighting or two in. Lastly, with the added threat of possibly having to park in the overflow lot at the airport I didn't want to risk having to walk or hitch to pick up my car (the shuttle only runs Saturday and Sunday). So, the new route. The plan is now to start at Upper Works, make my way to Panther Gorge for camps one and two (bagging Skylight, Marcy and Haystack on day two), head to Scott Clearing for camp three and then hike out to Upper Works. The added bits are in red and positioned on the left of the map. Upper Works Rd and trail-head are at the lower left point.

Too Much Time on My Hands

With nothing else to do on a Saturday night:( I decided to give some trail baking (in my kitchen) a try. Because my wife (mostly) loves me, she picked up some Betty Crocker Warm Delights from the grocery store. I've planned on having a celebratory dessert on the trail and was looking for something that I know I would enjoy. Well, thanks to Sarah over at TrailCooking.com for posting her wonderful six part article on steam baking because I now definitely have my dessert! I used the Warm Delight Minis and found that each pouch fills a Wilton Silly Feet! silicone baking cup perfectly, so there is no overflow as it cooks. Put enough water into your cookpot to cover the Silly Feet...um...feet and bring it to a boil. While the water heats up, put the required H2O (1 T + 1 Tsp) into the mix pouch and squish it thoroughly to mix. I put a thin layer of the mix into the baking cup and then put a Hershey's Kiss in the middle of it. I then just poured the rest of the mix on top of and around the Kiss. When the water boils, put the baking cup in the pot, turn the heat down to a simmer and cover the pot. I found that ten minutes makes for a cake-like brownie so you can adjust the time from there. When the time is up, pull out the baking cup (CAREFULLY!), dump on the fudge packet if you desire and enjoy! And here's a tip: Check eBay for the Silly Feet!. I found a set of four for $.99 and $3.00 shipping.

Without Further Ado...

I finally got tired of trying (and trying and trying and trying, etc) to get the Deuter AC Lite 16 review to load to Blogger. Apparently something is broken. So, I broke the video up into three parts, posted it to MyTube and embedded it here. The wooded spot is the Euclid Creek East Branch watercourse. A little history: When I first started hiking, before I got my nerve up to bushwhack, I would just find a creek and start following it. It worked pretty good as I was hiking with a dog and he could drink when he needed to. Flash forward ten years and I still don't mind getting my feet wet. Enjoy!

Just an amendment: I was able to stuff the Muir Woods vest into a small Outdoor Products dry sack (packed size 5" x 8") which gives me an extra space in the AC Lite that measures approximately 6" x 8" in size. Along with the other nooks and crannys in the pack I'm pretty sure this thing could handle a long dayhike.

DeuterUSA.com

Mmm, Mmm, Good!

I had been trying to post a video review of the Deuter AC Lite 16 daypack I recently bought but I think Blogger hates me. The video has been "uploading" since 8 am. It is now 2:15 pm, so I quit. I'll figure it out later. But, I do have good news, too (an open door, per se). The UPS man just paid me a visit and he had a box full of tasty treats from Packit Gourmet! Feast your eyes on my feast. In all I got: Bangers and Mash (x 2); Market Pasta Putanesca; Lemon Cheesecake; Jump Start Fruit Smoothies (x 2); Cheddar Jack Cheese Spread (x 2); Mango Margarita; Moonshine Margarita and a pack of Freeze Dried Chicken. I ordered two of some things just to try them before the trip. The contents of the box were well packaged and looking at the ingredients through the see-through bags has got my mouth watering. I'm really pleased so far with what I see of the food, especially the Cheddar Jack Spread. The cheese in there looks just like grocery store cheese except that it's not cold, obviously. Now my only decision: Take a long day hike and cook lunch on the trail or, take some stuff to work and cook in a more controlled environment? Quick question/comment poll: Which would you do?

Trekking Pole Update

Just an update on the Outdoor Products trekking poles. I've been able to get out on a few more day hikes with them and have been able to test them out a bit more. The only issue I've run into so far is that I don't check them enough. I noticed after a recent hike that one pole was shorter than the other by about two inches. Upon further examination one of the locks was loose. Compared to the other locks on both poles, the gap of the lock (it looks like a "C" clamp) was wide. A quick turn of the adjuster screw (on all of the locks) set me right again. I can say that, even with the one loose lock, the shorter pole was still holding up and I was unable to make it slip any further than the distance it had already moved. Still pleased!

An Adventure in and of Itself

I'm fidgety. I've gotten or have ordered everything I need for my trip and I still have about two months to go. So I have nothing to do except my normal day hikes to get in shape. The only thing I'm waiting for is food. I ordered a few things from packit gourmet (bangers and mash and pasta putanesca) and I'm waiting to get them so I can repackage and stuff stuff into the Bare Boxer. After that, I'm loading up the pack and hitting the trails around home to get used to the weight. While, I'm waiting I've been messing around with my maps. I took a tip from Rylan and Golden over at Southeastern Backpackers (who got it in an email from someone) and took my maps to CopyMax to get the sections I needed copied; so I don't have to carry the whole map. A note of caution: Your CopyMax people may be different but mine wouldn't copy copyrighted material. Instead, they turned me loose on a copier to figure it out myself. At one point I found myself making 875 copies.... After the CopyFiasco I headed home and grabbed the MapSeal. For those who don't know, MapSeal is a magical elixir that will make your maps waterproof and tear resistant. It also stings if you get it in your eyes. I have one of the Trails Illustrated maps and after I applied the MapSeal my copier paper map felt similar. It added a little weight to the paper and feels as if a wax coating was applied; like a grocery store apple feels. It also made the paper transparent in spots where I applied too much and slightly smeared the ink. I'm not displeased with the MapSeal, but only taking a portion of my map means I have to leave UTM grids, and other good info that is printed on the map, at home. So, I just decided to take the whole map and MapSeal it. It works better. The paper is a heavy enough weight that it didn't become transparent and the ink stayed stable. I bought the smaller bottle that comes with the small round applicator brush from REI so I just used an old paintbrush for the initial application. After brushing on the MapSeal I removed the excess with a sponge and let it dry. I also picked up something I absolutely don't need (but it looks cool) so my map will be safe and secure; and dry. I'm much happier now that my map is ready. But I'm still fidgety.

Hiking the East Branch of Euclid Creek