still fuckin with climb cuz climb pays: the ILX hiking thread

That's for a 500 mile thru-hike. Thru-hikers on the PCT cover 2650 miles and what that does to their bodies is a bit more extreme and not quite as benign. By the end of the hike they are usually burning muscle mass, not just fat.

ya i wouldn't want to do 2650 miles in nearly one go

once you reach a point where you're burning muscle mass, that's where i draw the line

i think if my grand plans to date someone who likes real hiking (and driving to awesome hiking spots) are to truly pan out, i need to buy some new hiking boots or at least trail runners b/c he's not going to be convinced by my ol' new balance running shoes.
― obliquity of the ecliptic (rrrobyn)

^ http://www.cleverhiker.com/blog/ditch-boots

i don't hike but this thread title always makes me smile

I do hike. I switched over to trail running shoes about eight years ago. I haven't had one blister on my feet since then.

I have recurrent ankle issues so I just wear ankle brace when going on long or difficult hikes. Can't remember last time I actually wore boots.

I have an ancient pair of Timberlands I still wear if I expect to encounter snow or especially rocky terrain. A couple years ago my buddy and I came across a guy trying to traverse a pretty steep snowfield in toe shoes. I gave him my Tims and he went across, then my friend brought my boots back and I went across. It was pretty funny, and he smoked us out for the trouble. Anyway, yeah trail runners are nearly almost always fine. I’ll often wear Chaco sandals for summer hikes with a lighter pack.

Aimless those are great pics upthread from 3 years ago. That’s my neck of the woods. Love it.

i was forcibly converted to trail runners over boots almost twenty years ago when someone stole my treasured asolos while they were drying outside a hut. never looked back. also a chacos guy in the summer (tho i just replaced my ten yr old pair of those with the even more minimalist and v weird looking and v comfortable bedrock sandals)

really stoked to do some hiking up in the pecos this summer

This year may not yield many backpacks or camping trips, but I am getting in some nice day hikes in the area. Yesterday I was able to get out for a 13-mile round trip to the top of a small local mountain (Salmon Butte) with 3100 ft. of elevation gain and loss. that's my most strenuous hike so far this year. Had to hike up through the clouds/fog, but broke out into sun on top. Had the place to myself. A very good day!

has anyone hiked a decent chunk of the trans canada trail? I have questions.

also, for anyone who's long-distance hiked, anything you wish you'd brought that hadn't occurred to you? or essentials you found yourself unexpectedly reliant upon?

Anyone have experience with the hut system in the Dolomites? Thinking I might have 5-6 days there in July. Looks awesome but I haven’t done a ton of due diligence.

My long distance hikes top out at 210 miles once, and 140 miles a couple of times, which are not particularly long as distance hiking goes. One thing I can say from experience that, once you have a well-thought out and refined gear and clothes system, then managing your pack weight becomes almost entirely a matter of managing your water throughout the day. Knowing ahead about water availability on your day's route is extremely valuable information, if you can get it.

More generally: don't skimp on your sleeping bag and keep it dry. In the cold, wet, windy conditions that conduce to hypothermia, your sleeping bag can save your life. I never hiked far enough to pound my feet all to hell, but foot problems are the most common physical reason long distance hikes fail, followed by other repetitive stress injuries. Mental exhaustion actually sends more thru-hikers home than physical injuries.

Good luck.

Thx a lot A. I have a good sleeping bag and I'm doing tons of research on where and when I'll be able to resupply.

Did a 4 night circuit in Vanoise Nat'l Park a couple weeks ago. SE France, along the Italian border. Completely awesome. Odd that the oldest national park in france could feel a bit undiscovered.

I've only done maybe a dozen day-hikes so far this year. Next week I expect I shall be able to go to NE Oregon and do some serious hiking. I'm considering a 5-day/4-night route that would cover about 40 miles, with a cumulative elevation gain of around 6000 ft. God willing.

were you solo, tobo?

looking forward to my annual summer long-weekend in SW Colorado. gonna get up early enough to finally do Sneffels Highline in Telluride.

this thread title always brightens my day

were you solo, tobo?

Wife and I will be hiking in the Dolomites in early September. Mostly long day hikes, but one overnight stay in a rifugio. One hike has about 1200 meters in elevation gain. Never done anything quite like this - we are really looking forward to it.

tobo73 your trip sounds amazing.

did a great hike in vermont (sunset ridge trail @ mt mansfield aka stowe) last week, extremely recommend it

It was!

Another thing: we ran into a couple of groups who were walking into refuges high in the alpine zone, not far from the ice fields, to meet climbing guides. i think that's a relatively affordable way to get some experience in a less-crowded glacier environment. The groups we chatted with seemed to be building their own skill sets so that they could do this sort of thing on their own some day, rather than just piggy-backing on a guide who would do all the heavy lifting to get clients onto the ice. We've done a bit of this kind of thing and it can be very rewarding in quieter areas.

How did you find out about the private rustic place? Did you just stumble in there w/o a reservation?

I used a guide service that mostly does TMB bookings. They booked the huts for me and suggested a route. This is their "self-guided" service, and the cost was very reasonable imo. I was pretty late in making travel plans and got spooked by how booked-up huts were in busier areas, like the TMB, so the self-guided service sounded like a good way to buy a little peace of mind.

In hindsight, I'm pretty sure we could have stumbled into any of the refuges where we stayed and there would have been plenty of beds. Next time, I'll do the planning and any booking on my own. the booking service really wasn't necessary in Vanoise but I didn't know that in advance.

my girl-friend and i just finished a seven day hike across the alps from gmund/tegernsee to sterzing/vipiteno in south-tirol. it was great. quite a busy route as it has been covered on german tv. we slept in hotels so we could wash our clothes every day by hand. i always ask myself how people do when they stay in huts. are there washing facilites or do they stay in their sweaty clothes all the time? especially the hike from bergfügen to the kellerjoch and then on the ridge up to the arbiskopf offered some great views on the alpine main ridge. i surprised myself that i could somehow could overcome my giddiness. it was quite ok though the warnings made me uneasy beforehand. one day hike involved 1500 m in altitude gain. we organised the accomodation ourselves but here is the website about an organised hike for anyone interested: https://www.die-alpenueberquerung.com/

sorry i meant kreuzjoch not kellerjoch, that was the day before and we only circumvented it.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/pinal-breaking/2019/08/23/group-44-hikers-rescued-trail-lost-dutchman-state-park/2097204001/

44 hikers! WTF. That's too large of a group to be on a trail. I've done that trail before. I do very well in the heat but no way would I hike that trail in middle of summer at hottest time of day.

apparently ppl at AZ State Parks cautioned against the hike but were ignored

Did they all get heatstroke? I am trying to figure out how 44 of them were stuck. I have never been on that trail.

I guess so? It only says "some" had heat issues. 41 of the 44 needed assistance per a different article.
It's also possible they got lost/couldn't find the right path down. At a certain point, there's no official trail to the top of Flatiron, you just scramble up the steep ravine.

but yeah the sun just beats off the volcanic rocks. there is a lil bit of shade in the ravine but it's still pretty desert-y.

group of 44 hikers from Kansas were rescued Thursday evening on the Flat Iron Trail in Lost Dutchman State Park.

Give 'em a break. They were from Kansas. Probably surprised to find the Flat Iron Trail so steep!

Hiked Flatiron on MLK Day, east of Phoenix in the Superstitions. Did it once before. Tried it another time and it was rainy, so we watched person after person fall on their ass coming down this rock bowl section and thought eh let's turnaround here and do it another day. Perfect weather this time but it can still be treacherous. Not a good trail for dogs, yet we saw some. One couple was bickering, the guy upset that the lady brings the dog on difficult trails. Dog was obv older and they said had had acl surgery 6 mos ago. Sheesh.
But then we encountered a lady and her adorable lil girl. Couldn't have been older than 4. Had a stuffed monkey backpack. We're giving them space to pass us as they're going down and we're going up. It's not really a trail at that point, just a ravine with an endless series of lil terraces. The lil girl loses her footing and before I can react to try to catch her she tumbles head over heels, landing on the jagged rock right on her head. So awful and scary to see. She's crying, screaming "mommy I don't want to do this anymore!". Has a huge bump under her eye, and I assume on top of her head too under her hair. Why bring such a young kid on a trail like that?? There's tons of other ones to take her on. Another lady asked us what happened, and said yeah I was concerned about the girl because she was going to fast down, trying to catch up to her mom and (I assume) mom's boyfriend. So not only do you take this kid on this trail, you're not watching her closely every second and assisting her on the way down? Grown ass adults are struggling to handle it?? I don't fucking understand some people.

https://m.imgur.com/gallery/GdKBxFJ" class="noborder">

This was a bit freaky to stumble across…

https://ibb.co/hKnZ4s5

Yeesh.

Hope you were able to get the duffel bag full of money.

lol I was def looking around for banditos

Wife and I will be hiking in the Dolomites in early September. Mostly long day hikes, but one overnight stay in a rifugio. One hike has about 1200 meters in elevation gain. Never done anything quite like this - we are really looking forward to it.

― Mazzy Tsar (PBKR), Monday, July 22, 2019 9:55 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I never came back to post about the trip, which was amazing. Scenery around Cortina was incredible and the way the entire area is set up for hiking between ski lifts and gondolas to take you up to altitude is very nice.

Highlights included the open air WWI museum and other remnants of the war, staying in a rifugio at 8000 feet, and near lunar scenery behind Laguzoi:

http://imgur.com/gallery/VIrfFe6

We loved it so much we are going back this September to hike some different areas. I’ve caught the bug!

Cool! That's bucket list stuff for me. Weather was good? How'd you do with the 1200m climb? Had full pack on I assume

I mainly solo hike these days (if walking in (mainly))the south of the UK is considered hiking) and mainly solo. I'm trying to complete various paths and tend towards day walks with the odd overnighter when I can. I can manage 15 or so miles most days or 20 at an absolute push. I did a chunk of the Offa's Dyke path recently, which was just breathtaking.

I'm pretty desperate to try some more adventurous stuff (the GR20 across Corsica is the dream) but family circumstances make things tricky. I suppose my main worry, given that I'm mid-40s, is how long I'll be able to manage decent long distances and do I need to get my shit together?

Did I mention it was mainly on my own?

Cool! That's bucket list stuff for me. Weather was good? How'd you do with the 1200m climb? Had full pack on I assume

― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Wednesday, February 5, 2020 1:29 PM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Weather was iffy; the first hike poured for the last 2.5 hours (about 5.5 total hike). We got back to the car just as I was getting so soaked that water was seeping into the top of my boots/through to my underwear. Last hike was about 45 degrees F in misting rain. I had no gloves so it was pretty cold. In between we had two amazing days between 70-75 degrees.

Lol, my math on our hikes was off! Probably the greatest elevation change was when we took a gondola up to Rifugio Lagazuoi at just under 9000 ft and hiked down a little over 1500ft then back up to the starting point. This was the third day in a row of hiking so the last 45 minutes of switchbacks going back up was brutal.

We used day packs even when we stayed overnight and just packed super light: wearing pants, underwear, socks, shirt, then a clean spare of each that we wore to dinner, sleep in, and the next day, plus minimal toiletries, wallet, and a couple of chargers.

Did you not have good rain gear?
Oh nice, able to get away with just a day pack

I'm kinda pissed cause bought new Salomon X Ultra shoes and they're great except they pinch down on my left foot by small toe, piercing pain from it. Returned them, and got these North Face ones which are VERY comfy and rugged enough for AZ...but have a design flaw wrt waterproofing. After like 5 hikes a seam on both shoes is coming apart and water can get in it. Not looking forward to having to deal with a factory return. Plus then I'll have to search for yet another shoe model.

I suppose my main worry, given that I'm mid-40s, is how long I'll be able to manage decent long distances

This was one of the reasons why we are going back right away (I'm 47); I can always go to a museum/vineyard/etc. when I'm older. Although at one point on one of our hikes I felt like I was really working and kind hauling ass up to a rifugio and just before I got there an Italian grandma-type passes me going back down and smiles and says, "buon giorno," which was awesome but also put me in my place.

xp I had regular hiking pants, waterproof boots, and a North Face rain jacket. My wife didn't want to stop and put on rain pants so I didn't either. The hiking pants really held up for a couple of hours, but started soaking through eventually.