Going to Toss This into the Air!

I'm excited to be working with Viking Bags, Elite Sports, and Born Tough to try out their products! I'll write a review post and a video once the product testing is done. And yes, this will include the stress testing like I've done for other backpacks. Here's the backpack I'll be reviewing:

Keep an eye out for these updates.

If you're interested in their products, you can check them out here:

Backpacks

BJJ Gi's

Shorts

3 Principles of Hiking & Backpacking

#1 Nature Doesn't Care if You Live or Die

Harsh but it's true. Nature doesn't care who we are. All those things that we argue and worry about regarding who or what we are mean nothing to the natural world. And although Nature may be the mother of us all, she can be a mean m-Samuel L. Jackson-r. Nature is perfectly happy to recycle our physical bodies into nutrients for all the other flora and fauna we share this world with. This is a truth overlooked when living in a technologically advanced civilization.

When we go out into nature we are at the mercy of the weather, whatever resources (food, water, building materials, etc.) are in the vicinity, happenstance occurrences like a misplaced foot resulting in an injurious slide down a ravine, etc.

There is no home, apartment, or even car we can find shelter in, what we have in our backpacks or can forage is all we have, and there's no Urgent Care clinic or ER on the trail. Which is why Principle #2 is so critical.

#2 Knowledge is Power

We're the dominant species on this planet to the point where we've started exploring off our home world. This isn't because of our claws, horns, speed, or anything like that. In fact of all the world's many creatures, we're one of the most defenseless, especially for the first few years of life. So how have we achieved such mastery of the natural world? Knowledge.

Our ability to gain knowledge, transfer it, combine knowledge, access knowledge, grow our knowledge, and build upon it has taken us from living in nature to being so very comfortable in our homes that we go looking for nature to live in.

Knowledge is the most important thing we take on our hikes and backpacking adventures. This means knowledge of not just the weather, the trail and its conditions. We need knowledge of our equipment, our capabilities, our hiking partner's abilities, and more. Knowledge makes the difference between a fun day on the trail and a day best forgotten. Knowledge makes the difference between a minor incident and a news story. The nice thing about knowledge is that it's ultra-light! Weighs nothing!

#3 Gear

Based on principle #2 is the fact that we are tool-using creatures. Other animals use tools from time to time, but our entire existence is based on making and using tools. This is especially true when we've left the safety and convenience of our homes. When we plan our adventures in nature we combine our almost unconscious awareness of our vulnerability in nature with our knowledge to select the right tools. Knowledge of what a tool will be used for, how it will be used, and maintained is a crucial aspect of our trekking. Whether it's our boots, backpacks, or clothes, we rely on that gear to do what we need it to do in the circumstances our knowledge has indicated. And of course, we take care of our gear so our gear can take care of us.

These three principles are the basis of all my plans in nature and I'm always working to expand my knowledge and take care of my gear.

Solo Camping at Pete and Spectacle Lakes

I started my hike to Pete Lake around 2 pm and arrived there around 4 pm. It's only about 4 miles and the trail has very little elevation gain. Once at the lake, I found that I was the second party to arrive for an overnight stay. Within about an hour, three more parties arrived, so I wasn't the only one getting a late start. :)

The plan was to spend the night at Pete Lake, get an early start in the morning to beat the heat and make it to Spectacle Lake in the early afternoon. Spend the night at Spectacle and on the following day, hike the approximately nine miles back to Pete Lake Trailhead. Once I'd relaxed by Pete Lake for a while, I set up my new hammock with an integrated bug net. The bugs at Pete Lake this time of the year are nasty. By about 7 pm I'd had enough, (bug spray only dissuades the lazy bugs), and retreated to my hammock to try and get a full night's sleep before starting the next hike around dawn.

I had tested this hammock at home before going on this backpacking trip, but that was in near-ideal conditions. I found that in less-than-ideal conditions, the hammock has some problems. For one, no ridge line to control the hang angle and length. Another is that the straps stretched in the night so I went from hanging at chair height to about 12 inches from the ground by morning.

I woke at first light, had some porridge, packed up, checked around to make sure I'd not left anything, and then started my trek to Spectacle Lake. The trail starts much like the trail to Pete Lake, with not much elevation gain along a well-groomed path. Along the trail, there are several logs that have fallen across the path. Most are easy enough to get over and even those that are a little more challenging didn't stop me, and I have a prosthetic leg. The trail will lead you to Lemah Creek where you're supposed to ford the stream. I wasn't going to do that. It was about 2-3 feet deep and running fast. Fortunately, in addition to trees across the path, there are also trees across the creek. I continued along the trail to Lemah Meadows and on the left found a cairn marking the unofficial trail (a little bush-whacking is needed) that leads to two sets of logs that cross over the two branches of Lemah Creek. It was a little tricky, but with good boots, balance and hiking poles, I was able to make it across easily.

It's not long after crossing Lemah Creek that you leave the forest shade and enter the burned remains of the forest. Nature has started reclaiming the land, but there's little to no shade so sunblock, long sleeves, wide-brimmed hat, are strongly recommended to prevent sunburn.

There are several streams along the way and a waterfall. Take some time to relax and enjoy those. I replenished my quickly depleting water supply at them and doused my hat in the streams to cool myself down.

After a lot of switch-backs and elevation gain, you'll attain the ridge where you can look down to Spectacle Lake. The trail down the basin to the lake starts off steep but manageable. As you get closer to the lake you'll find that the trail starts splitting off into several different paths to various campsites. To go to the peninsula that almost divides the lake in two, stick to the paths going left. They are a little hard to find, the one I took went over a massive flattish rock outcropping and down a steep path. This took me to the peninsula and even more social trails to explore. At this point, I just started exploring the peninsula looking for a good campsite.

I found a great spot next to the lake and rigged up my hammock. Testing it I found that it was sinking down to the ground. The distance between the trees was too great. I relocated it to a couple of trees that were closer together but still had to pull it so tight that I was getting badly squeezed at the shoulders. Fortunately, I always carry a ground tarp and using that, my rainfly, hiking poles, and some line I always carry, I was able to set up an open-ended A-frame tent. I positioned it so the breeze coming off the lake would go through the tent. This helped cut down on the bugs and with a few sprays of bug repellent, I was able to avoid all but the most determined bugs.

After dinner, I spent some time wandering around the peninsula, chatted with a few other campers and then settled down to watch the sun go down behind the mountains. One of my favourite things to do when camping is to sit and just look at the view.

The next morning I woke up a little before dawn and so enjoyed my morning porridge watching the sun come up.

It was going to be a hot one again so I made sure to fill all four of my one-liter bottles with fresh (filtered) mountain lake water, packed up and hit the trail before 7 am. The hike out of the basin in which Spectacle Lake sits is really the only hard part of the hike back. Once that's done the trail is generally a relaxing hike back.