I don't think you could survive the zombie apocalypse with this kit.
Showing posts with label backpacks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label backpacks. Show all posts
John Muir Trail. Yosemite National Park
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| John Muir Trail 2014 |
If nature would've cooperated, this post could have been a
happy tale of 4 people trekking across green meadows and sleeping under stars.
As it happened, our 3 day backpacking trip was cut short by a freezing cold
rainstorm at 10,000 feet and our tent which kept out the water about as well as
a single slice of Swiss cheese.
My brother had planned our little backpacking trip a few
months ahead of time. The plan was to
hike 8 miles from Tuolumne Meadows to the Sunrise High Sierra Camp on the first
night, then 5 miles to a spot on Sunrise Creek the second night, and finally 11
miles to Half Dome and back into Yosemite Valley on the third night to stay at
the backpacker’s camp.
We headed out from Tuolumne Meadows early on the first day
and headed to Sunrise High Sierra Camp on the John Muir Trail. This 8 mile section
of the John Muir Trail is one of the most beautiful trails in the United
States. You pass through redwood
forests, towering mountains, across pristine meadows, past glacial lakes and
granite domes. There were several
natural springs along the trail where you could fill your water bottle directly
from the creek. We had blue skies and 65
degree temps all day. It was a glorious day.
The Sunrise High Sierra Camp is built along the hillside of
the High Sierra Trail. The canvas cabins were still down and the stone lodge
was closed, so the only amenity we had was an outhouse and a creek for
filtering water. The mosquitoes were out
in force, so we started gathering wood for a campfire the minute after we set up
our tents. We made a huge pile of wood at the community fire ring. There were
about a dozen other people at the camp when we arrived, but no one lifted a
finger to help us gather wood. By contrast, you should have seen the amount of "help" we got when were actually lighting the fire. We spent
the evening sitting by the fire, boiling water for our Mountain House Meals. The
Mountain House “Chicken with Rib Meat ad Mashed Potatoes” is quite literally the
best freeze dried meal I've ever eaten. By sundown, there were about 20 people hanging out by the fire with us.
Fast-forward to 4am. The temperature outside plummets to 38
degrees and the rains starts, slowly at first, and then it turns into a torrential downpour
that lasts 6 hours. By 10 am, our 2-man tent is sagging on top of us. Water has
soaked our sleeping bags and all of our gear. My girlfriend is on the verge of
tears. We can’t access the weather through her phone, so we have no idea how
long the rain is supposed to last. The forecast had called for clear skies, so the rain was a complete surprise. There is no hell on earth like laying in a soaking wet sleeping bag in near freezing conditions, miles from civilization, while you're girlfreind is sobbing next to you. We
made the decision to break camp and head back to Tuolumne Meadows, rather than
risk 2 more nights in the rain with a useless tent and soaked gear.
We hike 8 miles over the mountain in less than 2 hours with
our wet packs that weigh twice as much as they had the day before. The rain literally never lets up and temperature never really gets above 45 degrees. We stopped once for 5 minutes to eat a granola
bar. The trail that had been so beautiful the day before, was now completely blanketed by a heavy endless fog. We passed at least a dozen other hikers on the trail who looked as miserable as I felt.
We reach our car around noon and change into dry clothes. We drove into 2 hours to Oakhurst and shelled out 189$ for a motel room that would have cost 40$ anywhere else in the United States. We spent that night in the motel watching cable movies and eating BBQ Brisket in our comfy queen-size bed.
My brother and his girlfriend actually continued on to Half Dome. A bear raided their campsite the next day and rummaged through their gear. Other than that, he says they never ran into any more problems and they made it to the dome.
We reach our car around noon and change into dry clothes. We drove into 2 hours to Oakhurst and shelled out 189$ for a motel room that would have cost 40$ anywhere else in the United States. We spent that night in the motel watching cable movies and eating BBQ Brisket in our comfy queen-size bed.
My brother and his girlfriend actually continued on to Half Dome. A bear raided their campsite the next day and rummaged through their gear. Other than that, he says they never ran into any more problems and they made it to the dome.
I guess the lesson here is to splurge for a better tent?
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| Cathedral Lake. John Muir Trail |
What backpack should I buy for day-hiking?
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| Tahoe Backpack by Granite Rocx |
If you’re looking for an inexpensive multi-purpose backpack
for hiking, there are a couple key questions that I would consider:
·
Does it have waste strap and a chest strap?
·
Does it have low-profile design?
·
Does the pack fit my torso length?
·
Does it have plenty of extra compartments for
easy access to your gear?
·
Is it made from a high quality, lightweight, ‘ripstop’
material?
·
Can you attach additional gear to the outside?
·
How long is your intended hike?
·
Can I afford it?
If someone asked me for a recommendation for a day-pack, my
first choice would be the Tahoe backpack made by a company called Granite Rocx.
For 65$, no one makes a comparable pack with anywhere near the number of
features as the Tahoe. It has an adjustable waste and chest strap. It has a low profile design that keeps the
pack close to your back when you hike. It has 3 large compartments with a ton
of extra smaller pockets for gear access. It’s made from ripstop nylon. It has
a compression buckle to attach a tent, a nylon gear stash on the outside of the
backpack for holding your beach towel and it has a insulated detachable cooler that
can hold 12 beers. The Tahoe also has a
feature where you can unzip the main compartment and strap a beach chair to the
backpack. I’ve never seen another pack with that feature. This is the best
beach backpack on the market at any price point.
I’ve hiked with a ton of backpacks and this is the first
pack I’ve ever used that satisfies the medium between the too small camelback
type backpacks and the over-sized internal frame backpacks that hurt my
shoulders. Last week, I took my Tahoe on a 17 mile round-trip up Mount Wilson in Southern California. It was the first hike I've done in months where I didn't have shoulder pains. You can order it directly from Granite Rocx website or through
Amazon for 65$. I’m not the only person who loves this pack, it currently has a
perfect 5/5 rating from users on Amazon. Hope this post was helpful on your quest for a new day-pack.
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| Granite Rocx Tahoe Backpack |
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| Newport Beach Picnic |
Amazon Deals on Hiking Gear
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| Affordable Hiking Pack: Teton Explorer 4000 |
TETON Sports Explorer 4000 Internal Frame Backpack Amazon Price 65$
For 65$, this backpack was less than half the price of most name brand backpacks with similar features. I shopped around for a few weeks looking for a good deal on a hiking backpack and this bag is seriously on par for quality with all of the major brands. In fact, it's quite a bit nicer than a lot of the expensive bags I was checking out in REI. I loaded it up today with all of my gear. My 3 pound spring sleeping bag fit snugly in the
