brian barnes
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Thanks David – I didn’t specify it in my first post but that was the podcast I listen to and got the list of flies from. Great minds think alike!
Thanks Guys! Very much appreciate the info. Zac – awesome detailed post. I’ll tie up some of your grubs
Zach – I’d pay the extra $30 bucks for the snow peak if you plan to drag this on one of your backcountry haunts. The Campmor press weighs nearly a pound more!
Thanks guys!
Gavin, Is this the section you are talking about?
Google map link: http://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=36.79373,-91.33108
Steripen works great! get the OPTI. I spent a week in the backcountry with 8 scouts and 3 adults using 2 steripens to meet our water needs (about 40L per day). Worked great and no one had any gastrointestinal issues during or after the trip. We were in the Chicago Basin near Durango, CO (home to a very large population of giardia-filled, mountain goats).
I purposely use a LED headlamp (Fenix Zebralight H30-Q5) that also used the CR123 batteries so I double dip in the back up battery stash.
When in the backcountry my primary interests are fishing and backcountry exploration and food is a secondary focus. I suggest looking into freezer bag cooking (SEE: http://www.trailcooking.com/). Essentially you do all your prep work at home and simply add boiling water to a zip lock freezer bag and eat out of the bag (no dirty pots, dishes, minimal trash, etc). As others suggest owning a dehydrator helps a lot. The meals are excellent and taste much better than the freeze dried meals.
Here is an example recipe:
http://www.trailcooking.com/recipes/spicy-cheesy-beans-and-riceIf you don’t mind cooking in a pot and cleaning it up they have other excellent recipes such as:
http://www.trailcooking.com/recipes/harvest-pastaSince you are only boiling water you can really knock down the weight of your stove/pot etc by using this system. The following kitchen I use (including water purifier) weighs less than one pound and takes up less space in my pack than a football.
Cookware – Snow Peak Trek 900 mL Ti Pot + Pie Pan Lid
Stove Windscreen/Stand – Trail Designs Caldera Cone (SP900)
Stoves – Trail Designs 12-10 Alcohol Stove
Stove Storage Container – Trail Designs Caldera Cone Caddy
Stove Accessories – Trail Designs Fuel Bottle with Measuring Cup
Fire Starters – Mini Bic Lighter
Spork – Light my fire spork
BowlResiding in KS we are forced to be warm water experts! I’ve had great success with Egan’s headstands in tan and rust colors.
Steve – I’ve always wanted to make a trip to the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. I’ve got the inside scoop on a few lakes loaded with cutthroat.
Shannon – Going in September make a big difference regarding crowds. October is even better but the weather gets quite a bit more unpredictable.
John – I’ve enjoyed fishing the Big T both below the lake in Estes and above it in the park. Both easily accessible by car. If you are willing to hike a bit I hear Fern Lake is fishing great (all greenback cutthroats, though its further than you specified at 3.8 miles +1400 feet). I’ll be there in September as well, though we are climbing up and over the divide via a glacier and fishing some remote backcountry lakes. Can’t wait! Kirks has a frequently updated report of east side locations here: http://www.kirksflyshop.com/fishing-report. Here is another good resource: http://www.flyfishingrmnp.com/
Some my favorite backpacking (lightweight centric) manufacturers are listed below. Many of these are cottage industry shops. Essentially guys in garages making it happen on the fringe of ultralight backpacking.
http://www.40below.com/
http://www.alpinlitegear.com/
http://www.brooks-range.com/
http://www.cilogear.com/index.html
http://www.featheredfriends.com/
http://www.golite.com/
http://www.gossamergear.com/
http://www.granitegear.com/
http://www.hennessyhammock.com/
http://www.hyperlitemountaingear.com/
http://www.integraldesigns.com/
http://www.jacksrbetter.com/
http://www.mountainlaureldesigns.com/
http://www.nunatakusa.com/
http://www.owareusa.com/
http://www.rbhdesigns.com/
http://www.simblissity.net/
http://www.sixmoondesigns.com/
http://www.suluk46.com/
http://www.tarptent.com/
http://www.titaniumgoat.com/
http://www.ula-equipment.com/
http://www.westernmountaineering.com/
http://www.wildthingsgear.com/
http://elementalhorizons.com/
http://katabaticgear.com/
http://kookabay.com/
http://us.rab.uk.com/Rich, Check out the East Inlet on the west side of the park (east of Grand Lake). You can easily fill 3 or so days in this area. It’s peppered with streams and lakes and beautiful country. If you are feeling adventurous you could hike up and over to Lake Nanita/Nokoni and exit out the North Inlet Trail but you’d have to get back to your car with some road hiking… Nice thing about the west side in July is less crowds…
Some pics:
Upper East Inlet (Looking west from boulder grand pass):
Make it to 5th lake:
The lower East Inlet has some sweet undercut banks/meadows:
Good chance you’ll see moose:
Plenty of small stream brookie action:
FWIW, if anyone is considering having Capt Vernon guide them while in NC I can attest to his professionalism and knowledgebase. He is a top notch guide that can also speak to the flora, fauna, and conservation issues of the area. I had a great experience on the water with him.
Rich: Below are some thoughts we share with our scouts regarding pack weight. I, and my wallet, wished I’d been steered in this direction before becoming a “backpacker”.
Some considerations regarding the weight of your backpack…
Troop ### is well known as being a “fast and light” troop. Your predecessors have established and maintained this reputation, both locally and at venues such as Philmont, by thinking carefully about what gear they bring along and what they leave at home for each trip. When making choices about the gear you place in your backpack consider your trip objectives. Most of our troop’s high adventure trips are designed to give you the opportunity to see places that most people will never see. To reach these distant and rugged locations you’ll need to leave behind the luxuries of home, but still have the necessary gear to stay safe and comfortable on the trail. Taking a lightweight backpacking approach to wilderness travel is a safe and effective way to accomplish such an objective. Lightweight backpacking isn’t about being miserable, but is about making choices that separate needs from wants. Remember, your focus should be on the location, not the gear you bring along. Lightweight backpacking is also centered around being resourceful and using what minimal gear you have to your advantage. So instead of bringing a pot lifter, a large tube of sun screen, a towel, and a first aid sling – just bring a bandana. This cheap and light piece of gear can be used to replace such items, or in the case of sun screen minimize the amount you need. It becomes a rewarding challenge to find multi-purpose items that eliminate others from your pack. You’ll notice that by bringing less items along, you’ll fuss less over packing, carrying, finding, and unpacking “stuff”, and you be able to focus more on the beauty around you. You’ll also save money since you’ll need less gear.The trail to enLIGHTenment begins by weighing everything that goes into your pack and recording these weights on a spreadsheet. You’ll be amazed by how much some items weigh. The following gear list contains realistic maximum weights for scouts. Reach these weight goals to minimize fatigue, pain, and injury on the trail. If you’d like, the troop can provide web links to examples of gear that meet these weight limits and have been field tested by members of our troop. Options for weighing gear includes purchasing a food grade scale at a home store (Bed Bath and Beyond, $50), spending some time with a scale at the post office, grouping items together (e.g. sleep system) and using a body scale from home, or simply weighing your body weight with and without your trail ready pack and noting the difference in weight. Ideally your pack should not exceed 20% to 25% of your body weight. So for a 100 pound scout, his total pack weight should certainly be less than 25 pounds, more ideally below 20 pounds. Don’t forget you’ll be asked to carry your own food and water and also share the load of some patrol gear. Your refinement of a lightweight backpacking system doesn’t end once the trip is over. When you unpack your gear at home after the trip, jot down some notes on your spreadsheet about what you used and what you didn’t use. If you didn’t use something and its not a “10 essential” than leave it at home next time.
When faced with gear purchasing choices, invest the most possible in a lightweight, high-quality backpack (<3 pounds) that fits you, a 3 season sleeping bag (< 2.5 pounds, ~20F) and sleeping pad (<14 ounces). It unnecessary to purchase bomb-proof gear made for extreme mountaineering as its typically overkill for any application you'll use in scouts. In fact, more and more mountaineers are going "light" for many of the same reasons discussed above. Fortunately our troop provides patrol gear that have excellent specs regarding weight, durability, functionality, and costs. Examples of which include our troop tents, silnylon tarps, and backpacking stoves. Keep in mind though, that its not just the big items that influence pack weight; those little items that only weigh mere ounces add up to pounds as well. A few phrases that illustrate this include: "ounces add up to pounds, and pounds add up to pain on the trail" OR "a one ounce item at the beginning feels like a pound at the end of the day". So it may seem silly to repackage sunscreen into smaller containers, use a baby toothbrush, or place 100% DEET into an emptied eye dropper bottle, but if you scrutinize each item in your pack, bring only what you'll likely use, and find ways to reduce its size and weight, you'll end up saving more weight and space than you realize. With a light pack you'll be flying past others on the trail who didn't consider such an approach. One last consideration is that while you may be able to carry a heavy pack here at home with ease, keep in mind that high in the mountains each breath you take contains only 2/3 of the oxygen that it does locally. Your lungs and legs will certainly appreciate the lightweight pack.
RMNP is a great place to fish in the backcountry. I could easily spend a week or longer and never run out of options. I’ve posted several of my favorite trips to the park on this board in prior posts and also on my blog. Here are some links:
October:
http://www.itinerantangler.com/cgi-bin/board/YaBB.pl?num=1255148892/0#0September
http://minomdeplume.wordpress.com/2008/09/21/trip-report-rmnp-backcountry-september-2008/July
http://minomdeplume.wordpress.com/2008/08/09/200807_rmnp_backcountry_trip/We have a blast fishing every time we go. My preference is to fish the Park in the fall (September after Labor Day) as the fish are hungry and crowds are gone. If fact, I’m heading back this fall for what’s become my annual fall trip to the Park.
Each backcountry fly fishing trip I take, I dial down the weight of my backpacking gear. In a prior September trip, my base pack weight (excludes consumables such as food and water) was at 22 pounds plus 13 pounds for fish/waders+boots/photo gear. With consumables my total pack weight was 45 pounds (ouch!).
After spending more time in the backcountry over the past few years, and realizing that you really don’t need much to stay safe and comfortable, I’ve significantly reduced my pack weight. I’m taking a trip this June into the San Juan backcountry and have my base pack weight down to 16 pounds, fish/photo weight down to 3 pounds, and total pack weight at 28 pounds for 4 days out. I’ll take this same setup to RMNP this September. This setup will keep me comfy to 20 degrees, even in snow. I’m considering bringing waders/boots, as wet wading in the fall gets tough, this would add back 5.75 pounds. Even then a 34 pound pack isn’t bad.
I’ve put together a page on reducing pack weight for my scout troop. I’ll dig it up and post it here. You’ve received good advice above – particularly regarding the initial focus on reducing weights of your shelter (<2.5 pounds, check out the shelters at http://www.tarptent.com), sleeping bag (800 fill down, <2 pounds, check out Mont-Bell ultra light super stretch series - specifically the #2), backpack (<3 pounds, check out the ULA Catalyst, REI Flash 60L, or Osprey Exos 58L), and sleeping pad (give the Therm-a-rest NeoAir a try if you have the cash).
I’d be happy to answer any specific question you have regarding gear as well. Steve K is spot on with his http://www.backpackinglight.com recommendation. I’d add to this and recommend you find a copy of this book: http://www.amazon.com/Lightweight-Backpacking-Camping-Wilderness-Equipment/dp/0974818828/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270223799&sr=8-1 Some Borders and Barnes&Noble carry it. Its also available on the backpackinglight website.
Zach – “canoe hatch” <- funny stuff :) We didn’t have time to go caving but its on the must do list. We also didn’t see any elk. I assume that they stay around the Lost Valley area? The most excitement was having a tree fall near our campsite in the middle of the night. I’m glad the water was at least running at the falls. I bet this week its really going.
For our return trip, what fly patterns should we tie for smallmouth later this year? Should we pound the banks with empty little cans of natural light with stinger hooks behind them? Perhaps this would match the canoe hatch?