Ultralight Fishing Kit

August 22nd, 2009

Thought this was very interesting — a tenkura style fly fishing kit weighing only 6 oz. Almost makes me want to learn fly fishing…the idea of catching my food on a backpacking trip is very intriguing.

Skunked again

August 21st, 2009

My dog got sprayed by another skunk this morning, making it the third or fourth time in the last two years….apparently, this dog really loves skunks.

Here’s the skunk shampoo recipe we used (from http://www.bathgifts.us/pets/antiskunk_shampoo.htm)

Caution: peroxide may lighten dark coat colors.

* 1 quart hydrogen peroxide
(make sure you are using hydrogen peroxide)
* 1/4 cup baking soda
* 1 teaspoon liquid soap
* ix well and shampoo.

BEFORE trying this, gather ingredients (do not mix), put dog in tub, make all preparations ready. You can mix the soap and peroxide together but as soon as you add the baking soda it starts to fizz. Sponge it on while it’s very active, with special drenching of identifiable skunked areas, then lather and leave it in for a while and rinse.

White Mountains Trip Report — Day 2

August 15th, 2009

I woke up early, around seven am or so, after a pretty lousy night’s sleep. I spent most of the night tossing and turning trying to get comfortable on the wooden tent platforms. Turns out I don’t like tent platforms. After packing up our gear and filling our water bottles with the remaining filtered water, Dan and I had a quick breakfast of poptarts.

The big question mark at this point was where we’d be staying that night. The next closest free camp site was almost 20 miles away (Osgood campsite). In between Imp and Osgood are two AMC huts, Carter Notch and Pinkham Notch. Both of those were full service huts and reservations were strongly recommended (according to the guide book, at least).

That decision could wait for a while, though. First we had to climb 1500 feet up to the Carter line of mountains — North Carter, Middle Carter, South Carter, and Carter Dome. Mount HIght is also in this range, but we decided to take a side trail and bypass the summit; by the time we had reached Mt Hight we were both getting a little beat and Dan’s knees were starting to act up.

We stopped for lunch at Carter Dome, which was only a short distance past Mt. Hight. Carter Dome was pretty cool — a large rocky area with nice views.

Dan and I on Carter Dome

Dan and I on Carter Dome

Lunch there was mini bagels, pepperoni, and cheese and tasted great. As we were packing up the food I saw what I later confirmed was a spruce grouse.

After lunch we began the descent of almost 1500 feet in a mile to Carter Notch Hut. This was a pretty tough descent and we got to the Hut around 3:30pm.

Carter Notch Hut

Carter Notch Hut

At this point we had to decide where we wanted to stay. The next closest shelter was Pinkham Notch Hut another six miles away. Since Carter Notch Hut had some open bunks we decided to bite the bullet and stay there the night (at 90 bucks a person). While pricey, that did get us a hot dinner (salad, soup, stuffed shells, and dessert), breakfast in the morning, and a bed with a mattress.

After paying and ditching our gear in the room, Dan and I sat down to play chess in the common room. While we were playing, I noticed a kid (probably 12 or so) come rushing in and start filling up a glass of lemonade. The kid ran back outside. A minute or two later the kid returned, this time with what I figured was his father. The kid went to fill the glass again while the father slumped down on the bench; the father was carrying a huge pack that must have weighed fifty or sixty pounds. His son (I assume) kept giving him glasses of lemonade and helped his father get his pack off. Clearly, wherever they’d come in from, the father had been having a hard time with all that weight.

After a few more games of chess, we sat down to dinner. This was served “family” style; clearly, other families are much more polite at dinner then mine — there was a distinct lack of fighting and arguing. We were joined by six other people — a father and daughter, a mother and son, an older woman hiking alone (I think) and a older man, who also appeared to be on his own. Conversation was very interesting — the mother and son (the mother was seated to my right, the son across the table from her on Dan’s left) were very impressed by Dan’s whistling skills and decide that his trail name would definitely be “The Whistler”. I quipped (I’m quite good at quipping, having practiced for years) that as long as I didn’t become “Whistler’s Mother” I was fine with it. After talking a little more about music, it turned out they had also stayed at Imp the night before, in the shelter, and had also heard the Indian Flute player. The father and daughter were both reading Ann Rand’s “The Fountainhead”, which I thought was interesting. The solitary woman was someone Dan and I had passed during the day (and would pass again the next day).

Dinner was soup (Moroccan Lentil, which was pretty spicy), salad, stuffed shells, “almost sourdough” bread, and for dessert carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Everything was very good, even the carrot cake. After dinner Dan and I headed back to our bunk room where we were joined by the overpacked father son team that had arrived during our chess games. I took the bottom bunk and Dan took the top.

I had a fairly rough night’s sleep, again. Just couldn’t get comfortable. Around 10pm I went out to use the bathroom and stayed out there for a few minutes star gazing. The night’s sky was amazing; no light pollution and being 3000 feet up helped, I’m sure. Eventually I got to sleep, although I woke up several times during the night.

Primal Quest 2009 starts tomorrow

August 12th, 2009

Primal Quest 2009 start tomorrow. Unfortunately, I don’t get any of the channels it’ll be shown on (Untamed Sports, The Ski Channel, and Rush).

Guess I’ll have to wait for the dvds.

Back from the DIRT…

August 9th, 2009

This year’s DIRT went pretty well. This year’s Wiffleball game became Boys vs Girls (and the Boys won, despite claims of cheating and illegal performance enhancing drugs).

Stefano, Joanne, Pete, and Michelle

Stefano, Joanne, Pete, and Michelle

The Horseshoe portion started fairly late (7:30 or 8pm) and went until 1:30am. The normal 10 rounds, followed by the playoffs, had to be shortened to 8 rounds (and we ended up playing only 7 games due to the late hour). We also only played to 8 instead of the normal 11 and the playoffs were played to 11 instead of 21. I made the playoffs but ending up placing fourth, but still had a lot of fun.

Too bad I didnt throw these...

Too bad I didn't throw these...

Not just the President, they're also members

They're also members

Going to the DIRT

August 7th, 2009

This weekend is the 2009 DIRT, otherwise known as the Dylan Invitational Recreational Tournament. Among the festivities is the traditional “Kids” Vs Old People Wiffle Ball game (kids being not so much kids as we were when the tradition first started, but the Old People are still Old…) and of course a horseshoe tournament; this is the summer edition of the AWSHIT winter horseshoe tournament, held for the last twenty years.

White Mountains Trip Report — Day 0 and Day 1

August 2nd, 2009

Dan and I had arrived at Timberland Camp ground, about 3 miles from the AT trailhead, Friday (7/17) night around 10pm.  Sue (my wife) and her Mother had arrived a few hours before us and had been busy during that time setting up my Mother in law’s pop up camper.  It had started raining halfway through the 5 hour drive and continued down pouring throughout the night.

The plan was for Sue to spend the week camping at Timberland while Dan and I left the next day (7/18) to backpack from Gorham, NH to Crawford Notch.  Sue would pick us up in Crawford Notch on Thursday, 7/24.

We got a late start Saturday morning.  Dan and I redistributed the food bags again, leaving behind a larger share than we were originally going to take.  We replaced several hot meals with greater supplies of cold meals, like Tuna Pesto sandwiches and mini-bagels with cheese, pepperoni, and summer sausage.  I also realized I had forgotten my trekking poles and a bandanna at home, in my rush to get out of the house.

Because of my missing poles, we stopped at a local Walmart to pick up a pair of cheap replacements.  The replacements, a pair of Outdoor Products trekking poles (20 bucks for the pair) actually held up nicely during the trip.  I feature I liked that my normal poles lack were the locking clips, rather than a twist lock, for adjusting the pole height.  Major issue was the filmsy baskets on the poles, both of which broke off during the trip.

After getting breakfast at Dunkin’ Donuts, Sue dropped us off at the trail head around 1 pm.  The A.T. in the WMNF actually runs over many different trails — this stretch was on the Rattle River Trail, running alongside the Rattle River. 

A.T. / Rattle River Trailhead in Gorham, NH

A.T. / Rattle River Trailhead in Gorham, NH

The first three miles went by extremely quickly; Dan and I covered them in an hour or so, with only a brief stop at the Rattle River Shelter at mile 2.

After crossing and re-crossing the Rattle River,

Bridge over Rattle River

Bridge over Rattle River

the trail began to climb steeply up the side of Middle Moriah and Mt. Moriah.  Our first night’s campsite, Imp Shelter, was on the other side of Mt. Moriah (on the Carter-Moriah Trail.  We gained almost 2500 ft of elevation in the three miles from Rattle River Shelter to Mt. Moriah.  Once on top of the ridge, the the trail became fairly level, with some lengthy sections of moss “bogs” that were protected with a long run of boards for hikers to travel over.

After we passed Mt. Moriah, we stopped briefly on the ridge while Dan readjusted some gear on his back.  The ridge had great views of the Presidentials and the Carters before we re-entered the forest.

We arrived at Imp shelter around 6:30 or 7pm.

Imp is an AMC managed shelter; along with the shelter itself, there were several tent platforms.  Per person, it ran 8 or 9 dollars a night.  Dan and I chose to use a tent platform and picked Platform One, which was the most secluded.  Dan filtered a few liters of water for dinner while I set up the tent and started putting together dinner (Mountain House Classic BBQ Chicken and Rice).  I gave Sue a call (she was also having chicken for dinner, with with corn on the cob and potatos).  After dinner we crawled into our bags and listened to another camper play and Native American flute.  I fell asleep pretty quickly after that, but didn’t sleep very well.  Combination of the tent platform and not being able to find the right temperature balance in my bag kept me tossing and turning most of the night.

http://www.gossamergear.com/cgi-bin/gossamergear/myog.html

Backpacking in New Hampshire

August 1st, 2009

Just finished a weeklong backpacking trip through the White Mountain National Forest, starting at Gorham, NH and ending on Mt. Washington.

Pictures are here: http://zukland.com/gallery/main.php/v/AT_White_Mts/

gorham_mt_washington