Sunday, August 30, 2009

Turkey Creek Slideshow

Tracklog For Turkey Creek

From 20090828


I went just under 16km yesterday on a six and a half hour trek.

Death By Mountain Nearly Achieved!

While taking the rather direct route straight up the side onto the trail yesterday, I encountered a falling rock. It was about 2' across, and it came down in a direct path to strike just left of my sternum. As steep as the hillside was, it seemed pretty unsurvivable at the time. I got my trekking pole up and it took the brunt of the impact for me. I'm out $200 to buy a new pair of carbon fiber trekking poles, but minimally injured.

I also fell into a water filled rock cut while I was trying to photograph it. I hurt my knee pretty badly in doing so. The water sluiced me down the cut and dumped me over a waterfall into a pool. Waterproof cameras are great for these outdoorsy pictures! It would have been a blast if not for all the limping from the knee.

My hiking companion was totally unprepared. Instead of going on a Friday campout, Saturday backpack in, Sunday backpack out, I did a 16km hike with a heavy pack that I didn't use nor need. I made my destination though, and I took pictures to prove it. As soon as I can find my card reader, I'll get them offloaded and then uploaded.

Friday, August 28, 2009

About To Depart

After adding water, and some yoga instructions, I'm at about 13.48 kg.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Packing

I bought myself a Berkley 23kg hanging scale. It's for fish.

Gregory Z-55 backpack, 1.67 kg.
Leaf bag, 1.70 kg.
Wiggy's 35F sleeping bag, 3.13 kg.
OR bivy sack, 3.68 kg.
5' by 8' silnylon tarp, 3.88 kg.
6 stakes and 100' guyline, 4.05 kg.
Hammock, 4.63 kg.
3 Tasty-Bite, M&Ms, dried cherries, crackers, peanuts, 7.01 kg.
SmartWool long underwear, 7.36 kg.
Water filter, 7.77 kg.
9 LED headlamp, 8.0 kg.
GPS, 8.18 kg.
Rain pants, jacket, gaiters, and hat, 9.21 kg.
Junk bag, 10.21 kg.
2 AA batteries, 10.26 kg.
Digital camera, 10.54 kg.
Socks, underwear, t-shirt, shorts, 11.13 kg.
Sandals, 12.19 kg.
2 Nalgene bottles, 12.41 kg.
Balaclava, 12.44 kg.
Salmon, 12.71 kg.

This doesn't count what I'll wear:
Shorts, underwear, t-shirt, socks, boots, trekking poles, and sunglasses. The hat, GPS, and gaiters listed above might be worn as well. Also, I'll have water in my water bottles.

I also added in some ziplock bags and a spare leaf bag, which take the total weight up by a tad bit more.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Googles Maps and Turkey Creek

Turkey Creek and Skeleton Canyon. I've always turned right here, and gone up the creek to the springs instead of ascending the ridge. We come out on the ridge.


View Larger Map

Google maps is broken, but I can reverse engineer the location to wedge it here in.

Scales And Food

Right now I'm looking around the internet for hanging digital scales. A hanging scale would make it easier to weigh a lot of my stuff.

I'm also wondering about what food to pack. Unsalted peanuts are definitely going to be going with me. Probably peanut M&Ms too, despite the fact that I really don't like the ingredients that M&Ms are made out of. I don't want to cook (and I especially don't want to clean pans), so no pasta. Some cucumbers might be nice. Apples as well.