Backpacking books: Wild vs. I Hike

When I can’t be outdoors, I read about the outdoors. Time spent on the train to work is easily spent reading, especially when the books are about backpacking. I’m no literary know-it-all, but below are some thoughts on two books I’ve recently finished. I recommend them both but for different types of adventurers.

Credit: Cheryl Stayed

In Wild, Cheryl Strayed brings readers into her life long before her first steps on the Pacific Crest Trail. Her experiences before backpacking the PCT, brutally life-changing, set the mood for her jump to becoming a backpacker.

The story is not about the trail itself, but the trail as a metaphor for the mountains she trudges over to find peace with losing her mother, her marriage and in many ways, herself. Deciding she had nothing to loose and everything to gain, she left Minnesota and headed to Southern California and the PCT.

Her mistakes on the trail are unfathomable to most backpackers. Thankfully Cheryl’s struggles with gear, maps, and the brutality of hiking ease simultaneously as her acceptance of what brought her to the PCT clears a way to move forward in life and her hike.

This isn’t a trail guide; it’s about a mental journey that brings each of us into the mountains: to find peace with something. Whether it’s peace in a life that’s fallen apart or peace and quiet in a loud word, hikers can relate and respect her decision to find peace where she did. Hiking the PCT to find her peace reminds us that some life-struggles call for needed trail-struggles to sort through it.

Credit: Lawton Gritner

In contrast, Lawton Grinter, or by his train name, Disco, has hiked every long-distance trail in the US. His trail experience dwarfs that of nearly every other backpacker, yet he continues hiking to find peace and his place in the world.

Through a compilation of short stories, Disco offers readers the perspective of a veteran backpacker who is still humbled by what nature throws his way. In a reminder that no two hikes are the same, he makes mistakes, he makes friends and he makes memories that will last a lifetime.

Where backpackers can struggle with Wild, they will laugh and shudder along with Disco’s tales through some of the country’s most rugged areas. The pouring rain, scorching heat and swarming mosquitos are vividly relatable to backpackers everywhere. Yet, it’s exactly these vivid experiences and his retellings that might loose readers who are either new to backpacking or considering the jump from camping.

Two great books for the coming winter months where, if you’re like me, the backpacking  gear hibernates until the spring thaw melts away the snow, exposing the trails once again.

Curves, twists and Bend, Oregon

Bend, Oregon is one of the few outdoor sports meccas. A town where adventurers and dirtbags can get their fix without venturing too far from civilization and muddy hiking boots are considered fashionable. Locals enjoy daily access to the kinds of outdoor adventures that us tourists merely dream of.

Old Mill District, Bend. Credit: Bend Lodges

Bend’s landscape sets the tone: the pristine Deschutes River twists and curves through town, the Cascade Mountains rim city’s western limits and the high desert landscape to the east offer a seemingly endless horizon of adventure. The river is lined with single-track, streets are painted red with bike lanes and the downtown area boasts copious gear outfitters for all your wildest adventures.

Nearby Smith Rock State Park features miles of hiking and thousands of popular rock climbing routes. During a trip to Bend earlier this month, we took a morning to hike around Smith Rock, taking the formidably named Misery Trail for views of the famous Monkey Face outcropping and the valley below.

The trail maintains a steep climb for the first half mile before cresting the summit for a chance to catch your breath and take in the panoramic views. The trail descends to the Crooked River and around the base of numerous climbing routes. When you’re standing at the base of a climbing route, people watching takes on an all-new meaning; climbers, you are a rad/crazy group.

Beyond the scores of adventure sports, Bend has wholeheartedly embraced the art of craft brewing. In a town of 80,000 people, you’re nearly bewildered choosing between the 22 craft breweries to enjoy a post-hike pint. For fans of craft beer, the Ale Trail is a unique and fun way to see some of the town’s most popular brewers and sample their best work.

Bend finds itself being near everything while also nothing; a balance that could only be fully appreciated by people looking for adventure.

Pt. Reyes – 1 Year Anniversary

What do two outdoor junkies do for their first wedding anniversary? Backpacking, of course! We try to head to Point Reyes at some point each season and decided to book this trip long before our wedding-filled crazy summer. What a good idea!

The cool coastal air was a sigh of relief from the brutal heat of Sacramento this summer. We stopped to get our permits and plan our route. We were up for a challenge and decided to take the long way to Glen Camp, a 7.5 mile hike mostly along Sky Trail.

We made good time getting up the steep Meadow Trail to Sky Trail, hung a left and followed it down to Baldy Trail. If you’re reading this, don’t hike Baldy Trail! The name is misleading; the trail has not been maintained in a long time and the Poison Oak is rampant and waist to shoulder high in some areas.

Can you see the trail? Me neither.

The trail continues downhill to Glen Trail and Glen Camp Loop. We wound in and out of thick canopy until we found camp. Point Reyes is great for having steel boxes and benches at each site, but the camp was very exposed to the mid-day sun and fairly warm. Still, better than not backpacking, so we took the time to relax and nap.

Being our anniversary, Kari hiked in a very nice bottle of wine from our wedding venue in a lightweight Platypus wine bag. Classy! We enjoyed some dinner, put the tent fly on in preparation for the morning fog and called it a night.

The hike out was a little different and longer. We decided to avoid Baldy Trail and the Poison Oak and hike from Glen Trail to Coast Trail. Not only did we avoid a bad trail, but we got more ocean views, cool breezes and wildlife.

 

 

We continued up Coast Trail until we met the end of Sky Trail, heading back uphill a for the majority of our hike. We turned off a bit earlier than before to explore a new trail for us; Old Pine Trail. We hiked under the cool canopy through the last few hours of the morning fog and until we found ourselves back at Bear Valley Trail, the main connector and our way to the parking lot. 

Glen Camp is nice, but not our favorite at this park. We still need to explore Sky Camp, but the hike is too short to get us really interested. Next time, we’ll plan a hike here during winter to make the sun exposure to our advantage. Pack weight was 26 lbs for me, carrying the tent on my own, and 23 lbs for Kari.

Get out there and have fun!

Backpacking Penner Lake

It was late June, perfect weather and a chance to teach the next generation about the joys of backpacking. We headed to Tahoe National Forest to hike from the Carr/Feeley Lakes trailhead, accessible with moderate ground clearance on any 4×4, to hike to Penner Lake. It’s a short 3.5 (approximately) miles and could make for a great day hike, too.

The trail starts off fairly level, crossing over the damn behind Feeley Lake and heading around a handful of other gorgeous lakes. At the Y on the southern end of Island Lake, keep right and hike around the left side of the lake. The views are amazing.

The trail climbs steadily up a ridge that ends just as Penner Lake comes into view. We continued along the trail to get around to the far side before setting up camp. We found a flat spot with some fallen logs about 50 yards uphill from the trail.

That night glowed with the light of a super moon, some kind of rare occurrence we’re told. It was bright all night long, making headlamps near un-needed.

 

We packed up the following morning as the clouds came in. We got a little rain during a lunch break, but the tree canopy did a great job keeping us dry as we trotted our way back to the trailhead.

Pack weight for this overnighter was 28 pounds, a little heavy for such a short trail and trip. Greg and I carried extra supplies to lighten the loads of our young campers. This is a popular area with limited trailhead parking, so get up early and make it happen.

Have fun!

Five Lakes Trail – Day hike in Tahoe

Five pristine lakes on a 2.5 mile trail? Count me in. The bang-for-your-buck on the Five Lakes Tail makes it well worth the heavy trail traffic.

The trailhead is on Alpine Meadows Road just under three miles after the turn-off from Highway 89. Look for the Granite Chief Wilderness signage on the right side of the road, about 10 feet back, and let the fun begin.

It’s a pretty steady climb for he first mile or so but when the time comes for a breather, turn around and enjoy the view. Soon enough the trail levels out at and abandoned chair lift poles pop up as you meander through a mix of private land, Tahoe National Forest and eventually Granite Chief Wilderness.

Once the trail crests, you’re in Granite Chief and start heading through nice meadows, shaded areas and yes, the five lakes. No false advertising here, boys & girls.

The closest lake to the trail also looked like the nicest to take a swim. Being mid-June at the time, it was still bitter cold.

After passing the lakes we kept heading with the trail. It ends about a half mile past the last lake at a junction with the Pacific Crest Trail. Call me a hiking nerd, but  being on the PCT for a even few steps felt majestic. No through hikers today, but maybe next time we can hand out some trail magic.

From here, head back and make sure to be careful on the downhill sections. The trail is not terribly stable and slips will happen.

Have fun! It’s a small price to pay for such views.

Missing canadian found, I’m back!

Where oh where have I been, you ask? Or maybe you didn’t and I’ll tell you anyway. It’s been a long time since my last post and I have some explaining to do. This summer has been a little more than cramped. Busy doesn’t do it justice. I’ll spare the details and bring you up to speed real quick.

Ready? Let’s go.

First, we traveled to Coos Bay for my sister-in-law’s wedding. Welcome to the family, J! We stayed in yurts at Sunset Bay State Park. Swank camping.

The area is beautiful and yurt camping rocks if you haven’t done it.

Flying stand-by to Las Vegas earned me a day in Portland roaming the town and Deschutes Brewery. Bottoms up!

Kevin, in the middle, didn’t let dialysis tame the bachelor’s party. Vegas, baby!

We headed to McMinnville, Oregon to visit wineries around our wedding venue last year with my parents.

Who says Oregon is rainy all the time?

Next, I headed to Tahoe for Greg’s bachelor’s party. Seeing the wedding theme yet? More to come on this hike later, I promise.

We celebrated Joe’s 45th birthday with bash and some kickin’ cake.

We got keys to our house and Kari started painting, and painting, and painting. And yes, we were closing escrow this whole time…

Then time for wedding #2, groomsman duty with some classy dudes.

It was an honor to dance and party all too hard in celebration of this amazing couple.

Greg and I took some youngsters out backpacking at Penner Lake the night of the super moon. Trail review to come soon.

To celebrate our first year of marriage, Kari and I headed out with the new tent to Point Reyes. Another trail review to come soon.

Any lastly, wedding #3 for the year. Best friend got married and yours truly was the best man. Best-ish, I guess. I invented a dance move for all you Crossfitters. It’s called the WOD.

Things are slowing down and life is returning to a more normal speed. Thanks for staying with me. There is plenty of fun ahead. Let’s make memories and enjoy every step of the way.

Keep your stick on the ice!

At the speed of nature

There are days that I can feel my brain switching between thoughts, never taking the time to fully develop any of them. I feel frantic, anxious, unable to concentrate, let alone confident that whatever I’m doing is being done well. Too much happening at once.

Thankfully, those days aren’t too often. But they’re a sign; a sign that I need to clear my mind. It’s time to get back to the basics. For a while, it was almost too easy to do. Pick a lake in the Sierra’s, buy some dehydrated food, set off for a backpacking overnighter with Kari. Just the two of us, out in nature, breathing fresh air as the stars come out.

In December, Outside Magazine covered a project in Japan, where scientists are researching the positive effects of spending time in nature (improved cognition, relief of anxiety and stress, lowered blood pressure, etc.). Japan has the third-highest suicide rate in the developed world. They have a keen interest in confirming what many, myself among them, believe: being in nature, away from the sights and sounds of civilization, helps the mind relax and the person feel whole again.

The article resonated with me; it explained why it’s often not the length or difficulty of the outdoors adventure, but being there that matters. The calm of a cool breeze through the trees, a campfire and stars is more than what medicine can provide.

This weekend, Kari and I took Lucky on his first camping trip. It’s a long weekend and the outdoors were calling. Those calls must have been a wrong number. Lucky got a deep cut on his paw, leaving him feeling vulnerable in the wilderness and unable to relax. Our air mattress popped, leaving us freezing cold with a nervous, barking dog. We slept in the car. We were out of the campsite before the ranger’s morning rounds.

I had been looking forward to this weekend for a while. I knew I was overdue for some time outside, time to let my brain let go. I got a sliver of it around our campfire; watching the fire burn down and stirring the red-hot coals. A sliver is better than nothing.

The Outside article sited research saying five minutes is the minimum amount of time to begin the positive effects of nature. If that holds true, my few hours should be enough to get me by until the next chance we get. Here’s to hoping Lucky doesn’t get hurt and my sleeping pad doesn’t fail.

TRX to the rescue

Since last spring, I’ve been kicking my own rear-end to get my health into high gear. It’s become priority number one, just don’t ask why I let it slip so far. You’ll hear a list of excuses like a fourth grader who lost his math homework for the third time. Today, I’m down from 215 lbs to 173 and not done yet. There are no diets, pills, gimmicks or anything less than me pushing the envelope in this story. But one thing has been lacking; consistent strength training.

I’ve tried gym memberships and either can’t afford them or don’t want to drive before/after work. With my notoriously weak joints, I need solid muscle to keep those puppies held together. We’re talking joints made of putty unless I do something about it. That’s what lead me to the TRX.

I’ve started slowly, doing knee and shoulder routines to get my weak spots up to speed. Now I’m ready to starting a strength program.

I picked the TRX for a few simple reasons: it’s amazingly portable and can be used almost anywhere, it’s body-weight resistance training, amazingly versatile and there is no shortage of how-to videos online. Seriously, millions of TRXers put videos online to keep us newbies inspired and no one loves free advice more than this guy!

My left knee has been recovering well, the isolation training has been exactly what it needed. Single leg lunges and squats, specifically, have been my get-ready-for-snowboarding motivation and they’re working.

For my sad little shoulder, the TRX “Y” and “T” moves have been what my physical therapist said I needed. My shoulder was make worse in the past by lacking upper back strength. Near nightly routines on the TRX are taking care of that for me.

I’ve realized it’s time to take strength training seriously or my body will keep reminding me of my shortcomings. I’m not trying to lift 435 lbs at a bench press competition, but I would like to do some pushups with claps in the middle. That, and by next spring maybe my 35 lb backpack will feel like a feather while we’re out on the trails. Who knows, but I like the direction I’m headed.

One thing I can promise is the simplicity of the TRX keeps me coming back for more. The possibilities are endless and I can do my workouts anywhere, anytime. Like off the roof rails of our 4Runner.

Here’s to a fit and healthy Thanksgiving, from our family to yours!

Backpacking shutdown

This summer has been tough for a close friend of mine: my pack. He’s been relegated to the closet for all but one trip.

My knee is 90 percent recovered from a nasty ACL & Patallar Ligament sprain and I’ve been cleared to hike. But my newest hiking buddy, our pup Lucky, has been put on a  rest order after having the ol’ man parts snipped. We’ve had to cancel a trip and this puts future trips in jeopardy with the changing weather around the Sierra’s and Lake Tahoe each October.

Should a weekend pop-up with good weather once Lucky’s ready to go, we’re there. But out of respect for the soon-to-be-changing conditions, I’ve decided to begin shutting down the backpacking season. Barring a mild fall and a late start to winter, I’ll be conditioning for snowboarding and Lucky will be sniffing and slobbering.

In honor of the season that wasn’t what I hoped for, I’m sharing a time-lapse of gorgeous scenery in Iceland to ease my back country cravings. The video is what backpacking is for me; motivating, empowering, peaceful, yet strangely calming and relaxing.

Here’s to a good snow season and an early start to next year. Cheers!

ICELANDIA – Time-lapse Visuals from 64° North from The Upthink Lab on Vimeo.

Backpacking Bachelors Day 3: Trails? Where we’re going, we don’t need trails!

Our curse of wrong-turns would come back to haunt us on the way out. This time, the curse tried a little harder.

Can you find me? Better yet, what about the trail?

The day started out great. Another peaceful morning, breakfast, filtering water and getting ready for adventure. We took down camp and packed everything up. We made quick time getting around the bottom of Susie Lake and over to Heather Lake.

After a short break for air, we kept hoofing it west, uphill this time, to Lake Aloha. I’m telling you, that lake is a sight you’ll never get sick of.

After passing our lunch spot from the hike in, we were excited to see where we went off trail and discover the section of the PCT we missed. One of the best parts of hiking an out-and-back is the small sense of familiarity on the way back. Yet without warning, we lost that familiarity.

Not too long after hiking the “skipped” PCT section, we cruised along Aloha’s shore enjoying the views again. The snow melt was in full tilt and I swear Pyramid Peak looked more bare than the trip in. We sailed along the base of Cracked Crag and back into the meadows.

This is where we came across a snow drift that we didn’t recognize from the hike in. We went up it, looking for signs of a trail then kept on going thinking we’d find it soon. This was the big mistake; we should’ve hiked backwards until we found the trail again and taken a better look around.

Lesson learned, trust us.

To this day, two weeks later, I still can’t pinpoint on the map where we went wrong. I have a good idea, but it isn’t until half way through our adventure can I tell you for certain where we were and where we went. We eventually located ourselves and changed headings to get back on track.

Miracle iPhone service and GPS? Only if you have Verizon. Thanks, Kevin.

A little longer and we found our exact location. We came too far southwest, ending up at Desolation Lake, headed towards Frata Lake. Most likely, we’d also hiked past Channel Lake and another unnamed water hole.We made our way to the northern shore of Frata and crossed the small gap over to Lake of the Woods, meeting up with the bottom of the trail around the lake’s eastern side. We were ready for cold water and lunch, to say the least.

Looking across Lake of the Woods at Pyramid Peak

After the break, we hiked one hell of an inclined trail up to the PCT, the lovely trail we should’ve never left. It was a tough climb, only made tougher by our extra four or five miles of “extra credit” hiking. We hopped back on the PCT right at Haypress Meadow and quickly started down the trail to Tamarack Lake. The views were amazing and lasted a little longer this time around with out extended breaks, letting overworked feet rest for a minute.

Greg leading the charge uphill. I’m wheezing behind the photo.

The boat dock at Upper Echo Lake was a sight for sore eyes and sore muscles. We hung around for the taxi and headed back across, cool wind blowing the entire way.

To say it was an interesting trip doesn’t do it justice. It was a true test of navigation and a reminder to never hike alone. We had three sets of eyes that missed the trail, twice. Groups keep you in check and need consensus on a heading before going anywhere.

All that aside, we had a blast. A great trip and a great way to kick off the last few weeks before marriage begins. Could we have lived through a metaphor for life? Just when you think you’ve got the trail figured out, it takes you for a wild ride. Just go with what you know and try to keep heading in the right direction, the rest will all unfold as you go.