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

do y'all use poles at all? i never have

also:

esbit stoves: yay or nay
recommend a camp stove?

jordan asked me if i wanted poles, since i'm fairly clumsy over rough terrain, but i refused since only corny old ppl use them

btw: jordan says nay to esbit stoves (they stink and take a long time to boil water); the optimus crux or the MSR pocket rocket are 2 of his recommendations - super small stoves, fairly cheap for what they are.

if hiking poles are corny, that's what i want to be

never used one myself tho

Was meant to be going up Ben Lomond yesterday but the weather was rubbish, will do it next time the weather is half-decent on a Saturday. Summit view looks nice:

http://www.doc.govt.nz/upload/13462/Ben%20Lomond%20018.jpg

I've never used poles, but my hiking buddy does, and says they distribute the work load of hiking all around your body so that you don't end up with gargantuan legs and skinny arms.

so that's why

i guess! he might be nuts

I should really get a pole, last time I went hiking my calf muscles were absolutely pummeled. I've got a sweet walking-stick but it was my granddad's and I don't really want to take it up a mountain in case I lose it or whatever.

Poles are also supposed to take some of the impact off of your knees, which is why they interest me as my knees are completely shot.

My left ankle is the only thing that gives me any real trouble, although after a very long hike my whole lower left side is sore in the joints (ankle, knee, hip). I am certain that I walk stupid.

hahaha

http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt313/rutherfordmills/881of1.jpg

i want to hike breakneck ridge some time in the next coupla weeks

aw that was one of my friend's favorites when he lived in beacon!
i never went :(

out shufflin, same clothes for days

!!!!! hahaha

i always use poles when i'm backpacking. i usually don't take them if i'm just going hiking unless i know the hike is going to be especially rocky or steep.

also, i always use a hydration pack... tza said that makes me lame, but i can't stand carrying water bottles.

i was always jealous of my friends' water packs. carrying bottles sucks.

i dont get the water packs, how can that work

not trying to be tuomas here

it goes on your back, eazy-peazy. less hassles than nalgene bottles knocking around. (whoa rei is selling a 70-oz.er for cheap. i think that's what my friend has.)

anybody use portable water filters? one of my friends had one that we all used, it seemed to work fine. (i.e., nobody ever got sick.)

lol i didnt say it made you lame! i just noticed it in the picture and loled bc my dad and yuppie sister are all 'ooooh camelbacks!' i see their benefit - mostly for my dad, who bikes a lot. actually kinda sad that if i wanted to use one hiking in peru it'd require filling a pack with bottled water. oy.

where did you use it, tipsy?

oh nm i understand that i thought yall were talking about those weird hydration tabs

used the filter in the smokies and in big south fork. just stuck it in some creeks. water looked clean, tasted clean. pretty handy.

i used an MSR miniworks for a while, but i just replaced it with a platypus gravity filter (half the weight, and way more convenient to use). i'm paranoid about drinking unfiltered water, and i even carry chlorine dioxide tablets in case the water looks really nasty (i've only ever used them one time, though).

i'm guessing most water filter Cos would tell you their filters are fine for south america but somehow i do not trust that so i suspect i will just stick to bottled water as wasteful and annoying as that seems.

xp to tza- i know you didn't say that, but it actually sounded kinder than "tza laughed at a picture of me wearing my hydration pack."

also, filters don't filter out viruses (no companies claim that they do), so if you really were going to drink from a water source you found, you'd need some sort of chemical additive as well.

(or you could boil it.)

well i'd definitely not drink from still water. running water though i guess doesn't freak me out too much. partly because i grew up playing in the woods and drinking out of creeks (even though my mom said not to).

i think we used this filter, but i don't remember for sure.

and yeah, i'd be more paranoid in south america too i guess -- even though there might not be any logical reason to be. (i don't honestly know. everything you hear about bad water in the south seems to be to do with public water systems. is mountain water in peru really dirtier than mountain water in the u.s.? i have no idea.)

ohhhh mannnnnnnnnn you guys i wanna cry suddenly my family is like 'altitude is too bad we can't hike colca we have to do it on a bus tour' and i want to cry :(

!!!! that is so unbelievably sucky! how high is it?

esbit stoves: yay or nay
recommend a camp stove?

Esbits are good mostly for boiling water that you can use to rehydrate dried food, or make tea or coffee with. They are light, simple and pretty foolproof. Some people complain they smell sort of fishy. You can't really "cook" on an esbit stove and there is no way to control heat except to move the pot higher or lower above the flame.

They are not especially cheap (about 50 cents a pop for maybe twelve minutes of burn time to boil maybe four cups of cold water). You can blow out the tablet and save the remainder, if your water has boiled.

I use an MSR pocket rocket stove that burns an iso-butane mixture that comes in canisters. I like it. You can control the flame output and it is really simple to use. The biggest drawbacks are that it is hard to tell how much fuel you have left in a canister unless you weigh it with a gram scale, and in sub-freezing weather you lose efficiency, so it isn't much good for winter camping.

There are also alcohol stoves. Some are made by small companies like Trangia or Brasslite. You can also find descriptions of how to make your own alcohol stove using things like cat food cans or pepsi cans, so the cost is close to zip. The type of alcohol to burn is not rubbing alcohol, but denatured alcohol, like the auto product HEET in the yellow bottle.

People who use alcohol stoves are often pretty fanatic about them for some reason. Maybe because they home made them. Alcohol burns a bit cool, so it takes a bit longer to boil water. The fuel is cheap! They are silent (so is esbit). If you spill some burning fuel, the flame is almost invisible, so you have to be careful.

For any camp stove I would recommend a wind screen.

the rim is 13-14,000 ft.
v v high. i was at 10,000 last summer and it was crazy.
but :(
i don't want to be stuck on a bus!
i mean, i get it. but. still!

dadrza has a weird heart so it may be too risky. i just hate the idea of being on a bus.

oh man hiking u guys wtf how did i miss this thread it is the best

i have ~opinions~ about the HIKING IN NEW ENGLAND and how GABBNEB might actually be sort of CORRECT on like that one point, about katahdin

but srsly i know it's busy and shit but franconia ridge????

has there been a controversial history of the AMC yet, and, if not, ~why not~

feel like the true story behind some kind of storied and olde enthusiast's assoc. is pretty ripe for some laughs

Trekking poles? Never used em. Never needed em. I can pass on that people whose knees are shot seem to swear by them, so if your knees need help, it's probably worth investigating them.

If you look into them, have some one who knows show you the proper use. I guess there's a bit of technique that, if you know it, is a big improvement over randomly stabbing the poles at the ground as you walk and hoping for the best. Do not assume the salesperson at the outdoor store knows anything on this subject. That's a crapshoot.

how do you hike 20 mi w/just a water bottle? no replenishing along the way? camelbaks are the way to go def.

this weekend: http://www.localhikes.com/Hikes/Maryland_Heights_8872.asp

used to play a game where you find a creek and race your friends upstream until you find either a] a spring or b] something interesting, good times

love big south fork btw, i have a really detailed trailbook from the late 70s somewhere in the uh attic maybe? i should dig it out and pick out some stuff.

it seems like i only hike when i'm camping, i don't do day hikes any more...maybe i should? red river gorge is only a 40 min drive from here.

I thought about doing harper's ferry around now,though I remember it bring a little underwhelming. Gonna be hot this weekend.

yep, but it's a sister fun day and it will be swell.

i have the day off tomorrow... it's either hiking or mountain biking, and i can't decide.