BackpackingLight

As its name suggests, BackpackingLight takes lightweight backpacking seriously.  Much of the site requires a paid subscription to view, but their gear list and tools section is free and awesomely thorough.  This winter backpacking checklist is specific, easy-to-read and print.

Section-Hiker

The blog’s author used this list when preparing for a winter trek up Mount Washington in NH. Many of the recommended gear links lead to his own reviews of said gear, making this list doubly useful.

Backpacker

The Backpacker editors put their hiker-heads together for this comprehensive list. Be sure to read the comments section for even more great winter gear advice.

What items would you add or subtract? Suggestions welcome!

Know how to boil water and slice some cheese? Sweet! I saw this video the other day and decided to test it out.  The results were delicious! Try it on your next hike and let me know how it goes.

Recipe and video courtesy freezerbagcooking.com

I’ll be posting a series of entries about my recent hiking/bouldering excursion to Joshua Tree National Park sometime this week, but a story today on MyDesert.com details the rescue of two groups of hikers, one in near Mecca, CA, and another on Mount San Jacinto, which hovers above Palm Springs.

The two Washington State-based hikers on San Jacinto were reportedly hypothermic due to lack of warm clothing and failing to realize that winter temps are often below freezing in the high desert, and especially on surrounding peaks.

Mount San Jacinto / flickr: caveman

I’ll admit that I once held the same misconception of the California desert, but luckily we had done some research prior to heading to Joshua Tree a couple weeks ago, and subsequently brought a few warm layers, a 20-degree bag, a parka and some gloves. My friend and I, who were seeking a nice respite from the frigid Northeast, were greeted by rain, fog and 40-degree temps in the Morongo Basin, and spent a few extremely chilly nights exposed in the Hidden Valley area of Joshua Tree. Needless to say, we would be the ones being rescued had we not prepared accordingly.

The moral of the story is perhaps obvious: Research, prepare for the unforeseen, and don’t get cocky.

Long story short:

1. A guy in St. Louis decides to create a parody website panning The North Face.
2. Naturally, he named it The South Butt.
3. The North Face gets its panties in a bunch and decides to sue him.
4. The world keeps on spinnin’.

ST. LOUIS — The North Face Apparel Corp. is suing a small suburban St. Louis-area company called The South Butt and the teenager who started it. The lawsuit filed last week in federal court in St. Louis seeks unspecified damages and asks the court to prohibit The South Butt from marketing and selling its parody product line. — Associated Press

Out There has an interesting take with more details here.

Dave over at Compass Points wrote a eloquent account of a recent backpacking trip we took through Northeastern parts of Shenandoah National Park in VA.  I’d like to expand upon one passage in particular, as I think my readers might find it interesting:

We discovered a sandbar on the opposite shore, and when our shoes sunk there, we knew we had made it. On dry trail, we returned our boots to our feet – except Chris, who would continue this strenuous hike in, of all things, Crocs.

Yes, you read that right — I walked the next 10 miles in Crocs.  Eagles Crocs (go Birds!).  Here’s my review after trudging up the side of the ancient, stony Appalachian mountains, then steeply descending — headlamp-assisted — to our perch at Bird’s Nest Shelter: The Crocs…well…they ROCKED.

As any hiking buddy of mine within complaining distance knows, I have temperamental feet.  When they’re not cramping, they’re cracking, when they’re not cracking, they’re rubbing.  Seriously, my feet are jerks, often forcing me to give up hikes or cancel them before they’ve even begun.

We all know Crocs are great camp shoes because of their soft sole, relative durability, light weight, and carbon nanotube supermolecular (or something) rubber material that keeps microbes and their associated smells at bay.  Crocs aren’t thought of as a hiking shoe for several good reasons, not the least of which is the total lack of ankle support, or the fact they they’re only held to the foot by a tenuous rubber strap above the heel, which will probably give you a blister if you give it enough time.

HOWEVER, I needed footwear immediately.  My gorgeous Patagonia Drifters, which normally fit like warm apple pie, were now frozen blocks, and I was not going to hike 10 more miles to the shelter in frozen blocks, dry moisture-wicking wool socks be damned.  So I slipped on some socks, then the Crocs, got laughed at and chided the rest of the day, but I made it.  The Crocs made it.  My feet felt better at the end of the day than at any other time in my backpacking life.

Perhaps it was because the Crocs are so flexible that they allowed my foot to stretch fully while walking over boulders and roots, like if I were barefoot, and thusly prevented any sort of cramping issues.  Or perhaps what I should have done at that first river crossing was to take my boots and socks off, worn the Crocs through the river, then put my warm-apple-pie Patagonias back on and saved the Crocs for camp.

So, to recap, we’ve learned two lessons:

1. I’m an idiot whose river-crossing footwear decision-making abilities are lacking

2. Crocs excel as a hiking shoe in a pinch