[pct-l] trip report

[Thomas Jamrog]

I appreciate your honesty.

Uncle Tom
Blogging about the Great Outdoors
on http://tjamrog.wordpress.com ( hotlink)

On Feb 17, 2009, at 6:42 PM, Lenny Leum wrote:

> Hello all,
> I'm still catching up on pct-l reading, I must say I have learned a  
> lot since joining the list in November, although y'all can be  
> ridiculous, bone-headed, uhhhh I'll leave it at that...  (not that  
> I'm one to talk)
>
> Moving on, I just got back from an excellent 4 day solo adventure  
> specifically timed to coincide with all the "crappy" weather we just  
> had here in southern California.  For my rain gear, I relied on a  
> poncho/tarp and wind shirt/pants.  For shelter I used the tarp and  
> underneath I rolled myself up into a burrito made from a 8x10 k-mart  
> blue tarp.  With this system, *you* are going to get wet at times,  
> most notably when transitioning from poncho to shelter or vise  
> versa.  In the morning, getting a little wet wasn't too bad, just do  
> a couple jumping jacks and walk around camp with the pack loaded  
> while eating breakfast to get the blood moving.  At night, make sure  
> you have dry clothes to change into, and a tiny little synthetic/ 
> absorbant pack towel can help also, wipe dry, squeeze out, wipe dry,  
> etc.  One simple thing that would have made my life easier would  
> have been 1 or 2 more plastic bags.  A "wet and beyond hope" bag  
> would have been nice.  I
> got lucky, on the 3rd day enough sun came through to dry out most of  
> my damp clothes/bag/jacket.  I can see this system becoming very  
> difficult under prolonged wettness...  If you are going to use a  
> tarp for shelter, go out and practice using it and sleeping under it  
> in the rain.  Seriously.  Put everything in your pack, walk around  
> the block a couple times in the rain, set up your tarp in the yard,  
> set the alarm clock on your watch so you're not late for work, and  
> try to get a good night's sleep.  Practice setting up your tarp!   
> Practice unpacking your sleeping bag, pad, bivy or whatever your  
> sleep system is under the tarp without getting anything wet, then  
> try putting it all back into your pack in the morning without  
> getting anything wet.  If you're using down, you gotta ask yourself,  
> what got wet and what the hell happened?  The trick is to keep your  
> *stuff* dry. Turkey bags!  or whatever, just make sure everything  
> that you care about
> staying dry is in a plastic bag.  I had one plastic bag lining my  
> sleeping bag stuff sack, one for extra socks and sleeping type  
> clothes, and one for stuff I might want while hiking (beenie,  
> gloves, windshirt).  That way you don't have to worry too much about  
> your pack getting wet, it's gonna happen.  I also had a trash bag to  
> put over my pack at night, this was especially usefull for the one  
> clear night I had where everything froze solid, so at least my pack  
> wasn't a popsicle.
>
> I found that the "three P's of pooping in the woods" turned out to  
> be great.  One problem is it can be hard to hold the pee until after  
> you've wiped up the poo, no problem, just splash a little water on  
> top and pretend like it's pancake batter, mmm.
>
> I also had 2 major stream crossings and several smaller ones.   
> Because of the rain, the water was completely brown with mud, and it  
> was impossible to tell how deep.  The only option I had was scouting  
> around.  I was able to "find" a route accross that included linking  
> together partially submerged rocks, with flat spots and dry rocks so  
> that the crossing became feasible and non-eventfull.  Trekking poles  
> are awesome for stability and for probing.
>
> What else... I carried a BV500 bear cannister, which was super nice  
> in that I didn't have to worry about hanging and retrieving my food  
> in the pooring rain.  I loaded the shit outta that thing, figured  
> I'de put the new backpack to the test (a new circuit).  As to the  
> food... hahaha... just for comparison, I eat half a pound of granola  
> every morning for breakfast.  I eat a lot and have too fast a  
> metabolism for my own good.
>
> 1.5 lbs granola
> baggie of powdered milk
> 2/3 lbs cheese
> 4 avos
> 3 tomatoes
> 1/2lb salami
> 6 pita breads
> 1lb peanutbutter filled pretzels
> 1lb sesame crackers
> 2/3 lb ish raisins walnut mix
> 2 mac-n-cheese
> 1 ramen
> 1 saffron rice
> 1 tasty bite
>
> Ok, so I didn't finish it all.  I used a bear can for 29 days on the  
> JMT last year (yeah, we averaged less than 10 miles a day, so what's  
> the friggen hurry if you have the time?)  The trick to packing the  
> bear vault type bear can is to look through the plastic from the  
> outside as you are packing, that way you can check for empty  
> space... but I digress... I don't have a scale, but my pack was  
> definitely over 40 lbs, probably 50, and it was more than I ever  
> hope to carry with the circuit again.  It is difficult to completely  
> take the load off your shoulders, even at low weights, but then  
> again it only has a little aluminum stay as a frame.  That said, it  
> is a great pack, but would recommend it with an ultralight mentality.
>
> Well geeze, can you tell I've been in the woods for a few days?  All  
> that time thinking with no one to talk to, I think I'm borderline  
> old man rambler status and I'm not even 30.  Hopefully someone gets  
> something outta this...
>
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