Your Trekking/ Hiking experiences

[zelticgar]

16 hours ago, Ghjhero said:

I really hope we can make the trip work. What is it about the view from Bondcliff you like so much compared to say the Presidentials?

You have to see it. On a clear day you get an entire view of the Pemi Wilderness. Looks like a perfect bowl of wilderness. You can also see the Appalachian trail as it goes across Flume, Liberty, Lincoln, Lafayette and all their slides cutting through the back of the range. A sunrise hike timed so you get to the cliff just before daybreak or a trip during foliage season is a must. 

[Ghjhero]

Ok! I guess I'll have to go and see!

[BigFatCoward]

I once hiked mount Kenya, unfortunately our guide 'exagerated' their skills. I got to within a mile of the summit and turned around to see the guide scampering back down the mountain, apparently scared of the snow. 

[zelticgar]

36 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

I once hiked mount Kenya, unfortunately our guide 'exagerated' their skills. I got to within a mile of the summit and turned around to see the guide scampering back down the mountain, apparently scared of the snow. 

That's awesome. I'm assuming he had his money and figured he would get out before dying?  

I just checked out some pictures of Mount Kenya. Looks like a beautiful mountain and a pretty good climb.  

[KingintheNorth4]

When I was a kid, while attending summer camp every year we would go to Starved Rock State Park, near Oglesby, Illinois. We would go hiking through the forest and into the canyons that were created during the last ice age. We'd also hike to the top of Starved Rock itself, a large sandstone butte overlooking the Illinois River. While I enjoyed the hiking for the most part, the mosquitos were a pain in the ass, and hiking up Starved Rock was a workout.

[Wolfgirly]

As a teen and in my 20's I loved going on big hiking tips. I've gone for massive walks on my own too!!! It was wrong but at the time I felt so brave.

[BigFatCoward]

On 2017-6-7 at 7:30 PM, zelticgar said:

That's awesome. I'm assuming he had his money and figured he would get out before dying?  

I just checked out some pictures of Mount Kenya. Looks like a beautiful mountain and a pretty good climb.  

To be fair i felt sorry for the guide, when he first got to the snow he put all his weight on his back foot and proded the snow with his other one, it was pretty fucking funny. 

My brother in law who i did it with said it was much harder than Kilimanjaro, which although higher is much more shallow.  Mount Kenya was proper steep.

[Dr. Pepper]

On 6/5/2017 at 9:09 PM, zelticgar said:

If you could rent an RV from something like "cruiseamerica" that might be a good call. Then you have a ready made place to sleep and cook if you pull into a campground like a KOA.  I've always wanted to do that but have not gotten around to it yet. 

I took a look at the Smoky Mountain site and it looks like they dont have any campgrounds for RV's or more commercial set ups so if you want to really camp out you would need tents, sleeping bags, sleep pads... You would need to look for a "car camping" set up where you park your car and then everything is set up pretty much right outside your vehicle. That way you can bring all your food and drinks with you. The KOA type campgrounds sound perfect if you are cool camping out a little outside the actual forest boundary.  Some equipment ideas on the cheap:

• I just bought my oldest daughter a $25 bag from Ebay. It is rated for 10 degrees but that is marketing bullshit, I would use it down to 40 to 50 degrees. My daughter's is supposed to be here on Friday, cant wait to check it out before our overnight next month. 
• Sleeping pad is a must have, you can use a cheap thermarest closed cell pad. Everyone uses them. $34 at REI. If you are driving I'd bring a blow up bed if you have one. 
• Tents are tricky, I have an REI Half Dome but it probably is too expensive for a first time car camping trip. Backcountry.com is a good site. I just spotted a 4 person tent that is priced at $129. Typically tents can comfortably fit one less than their advertised capacity so a 2 person tent is good for 1, 3 person is good for 2, 4 for 3 and so on. Walmart is another place to look. I would never take one out in the wilderness but those 6 person coleman or ozark trail tents that Walmart carries are so much fun for a campground. We had one up in Maine but it finally fell apart on us. 

There are probably some things i missed but if you have a tent, sleeping bag and pad you are pretty much set. 

Thanks for this.  Had no clue you could rent an RV and that actually sounds pretty cool.  I just became mom to five for the summer so I think unfortunately camping is out, but I'm definitely keeping the rv thing in mind for the future.  As a single mom, I have this idea that it will be easier and more enjoyable for us all.

[Nas!]

Just bought a proper sleeping bag for the still-chilly July nights on the northern tip of Vancouver Island. 

[Ghjhero]

So the day of our hike is the 20th and right now it's looking like 30% chance of rain for that day with thunderstorms the preceding two days. Not ideal conditions to attempt Huntington Ravine in at all. I'm really hoping things look better as next week gets closer, if not we may sadly have to put off doing Washington for another trip. Bonds are probably our backup option at this point, although I can't imagine the views will be the same if it's overcast. 

[Relic]

My experiences with hiking the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal - https://www.justapack.com/hiking-the-annapurna-circuit-nepal/

And the Cami de Bons Homes n Northern Spain - https://www.justapack.com/hiking-the-cami-dels-bons-homes-in-spain/

[zelticgar]

Bumping this in celebration of my trip to Baxter State Park this weekend. Home to Mount Katahdin in Maine. Otherwise known as the Northern Terminus of the Appalachian Trail. Really looking forward to hiking this area. For anyone in the Northeast region of the US, Katahdin is a must do trip. Weather looks good for the weekend, hoping to take in some spectacular early fall views. 

[Larry of the Lawn]

5 hours ago, zelticgar said:

Bumping this in celebration of my trip to Baxter State Park this weekend. Home to Mount Katahdin in Maine. Otherwise known as the Northern Terminus of the Appalachian Trail. Really looking forward to hiking this area. For anyone in the Northeast region of the US, Katahdin is a must do trip. Weather looks good for the weekend, hoping to take in some spectacular early fall views. 

Where are you staying in the park?  I was up there three weeks ago, stayed at Nesowadnehunk Field campground.  I was there with a couple friends doing the AT so we went up Hunt.  I got to south peak around 930 am and it was a bluebird day so was able to zip out knifes edge to pamola and back, and then went down Abol trail.  

I'd only ever been up there in the rain before so this was pretty awesome.  

 

I do feel like knife's edge is way over-hyped though as far as difficulty and danger goes.  But the views and trails were amazing.  

 

I'd recommend avoiding the Abol trail, it's a newer slide so the footing is loose and granular ball-bearing type pebbles for a lot of it. Even if you have to stay at that campground it's only a two mile drive to the day lot at the hunt trail.  

I think Cathedral is my favorite but unless you have a car ride arranged it's not really feasible from the AT/Katahdin Stream/Abol side.  Would recommend doing it from Roaring Brook and then return via Knifes Edge to Helon-Taylor.  The Chimney near Pamola was pretty cool but not as dificult as it's made out to be.

Have fun up there man!

[A True Kaniggit]

Anyone that does go hiking, please watch out for ticks. Last year I went on a U.S. Civil War Battlefield trip, and while doing the rounds in Virginia I ended up walking through a lot of wooded areas. After pretty much every battlefield I would find the little bastards crawling up my legs. Luckily only one was actually able to get embedded into my hip.

[Larry of the Lawn]

31 minutes ago, A True Kaniggit said:

Anyone that does go hiking, please watch out for ticks. Last year I went on a U.S. Civil War Battlefield trip, and while doing the rounds in Virginia I ended up walking through a lot of wooded areas. After pretty much every battlefield I would find the little bastards crawling up my legs. Luckily only one was actually able to get embedded into my hip.

Agreed.  I've had Lyme four times.  Always laugh when someone asks about carrying a gun hiking...I'm way more afraid of tick borne illness or norovirus or violent human than a renegade bear or coyote or what have you.

[TheMightyKC]

3 hours ago, larrytheimp said:

Agreed.  I've had Lyme four times.  Always laugh when someone asks about carrying a gun hiking...I'm way more afraid of tick borne illness or norovirus or violent human than a renegade bear or coyote or what have you.

Thirded! Family and I had quite a bug related scare camping last year, would not recommend it!! Those creepy-crawlies give me the creepy crawlies, lol!

[zelticgar]

On 10/6/2017 at 3:06 PM, larrytheimp said:

Where are you staying in the park?  I was up there three weeks ago, stayed at Nesowadnehunk Field campground.  I was there with a couple friends doing the AT so we went up Hunt.  I got to south peak around 930 am and it was a bluebird day so was able to zip out knifes edge to pamola and back, and then went down Abol trail.  

I'd only ever been up there in the rain before so this was pretty awesome.  

 

I do feel like knife's edge is way over-hyped though as far as difficulty and danger goes.  But the views and trails were amazing.  

 

I'd recommend avoiding the Abol trail, it's a newer slide so the footing is loose and granular ball-bearing type pebbles for a lot of it. Even if you have to stay at that campground it's only a two mile drive to the day lot at the hunt trail.  

I think Cathedral is my favorite but unless you have a car ride arranged it's not really feasible from the AT/Katahdin Stream/Abol side.  Would recommend doing it from Roaring Brook and then return via Knifes Edge to Helon-Taylor.  The Chimney near Pamola was pretty cool but not as dificult as it's made out to be.

Have fun up there man!

We stayed at Abol Campground for the weekend. We thought about a car spot to start at Roaring but opted to go up via Abol. It was steep but the footing was fine and we had a great time climbing up all the boulders. We got to Baxter peak pretty early and had great views of the basin up to about 4500 feet then we got blocked out on the table. I went about halfway on knife edge but decided to turn around. It was viewless and I wanted to get over to Hamlin so we came back and went over to Hamlin. It was mostly cloud covered with 35 to 40 mph winds across to Hamlin but the views opened up over the basin and Cathedral side on the way back. Coming back down Abol was all spectacular foliage view. Met a few through hikers and we were able to meet two friends who were finishing their trail. Absolutely amazing experience. Wish there was an easy way to post picture, I took a ton. 

No ticks up that far but I am pretty careful about them. I treat everything with premethrin and constantly check for ticks after hikes. I've been lucky so far. 

 

[Ghjhero]

I just discovered the Pacific Crest Trail, and I swear if I not hike that my life will be unfulfilled.