Tag Archives: sintax77

Utah RV Camping – Bryce Canyon to Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument

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Exploring Southern Utah with an RV from Bryce Canyon National Park to Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument for awesome views, Hiking & Boondocking adventures.

We kept our itinerary pretty loose for this trip, but our general plan was to head from Las Vegas, where we rented our motorhome, towards Bryce Canyon and Escalante in Utah.  We ended up having no problem at all finding boondocking (free) options for all but our last day of RV camping.

Filming Date – Fall, Early October 2020

Day 0 (night before video starts)

  • Fly into Las Vegas Airport
  • Pick up the RV rental at the airport Walmart (we used RVshare.com)
  • Head west 2 hours to St George, Utah.
  • Do a quick boondock camp outside of town in the desert.

Day 1

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Backpacking the Devils Path – Most Dangerous Hiking Trail?

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Some say it’s the Toughest, most Dangerous Hiking Trail in the east. We set out on a backpacking trip to find out how tough the Devil’s Path trail really is.

 

Set in New York’s Catskill Mountains, the Devil’s Path is a 24.6 mile long end to end hike on steep, rocky terrain with around 8,500 feet of elevation gain and and 9,000 feet of elevation loss.

The mountain range that the Devil’s Path traverses is basically one large plateau with a handful of deep notches carved into it. The result? Almost all of the elevation change is crammed into a handful of 1 mile or less stretches, with little to no distance in between each ascent and descent.  Scrambles, loose rock and mazes of gnarly roots add to the challenge.

Myself, Kyle from the Trail Tails Podcast and Flossy packed up our backpacks with some tents and hammocks and hit the trail on a mid-August morning to find out if this hiking trail would live up to it’s devilish reputation.

Catskills Devil’s Path Route Overview – Sintax77

There are 5 Major Summits (Catskill 35ers) on this hike

  • Indian Head Mountain 3,573′
  • Twin Mountain 3,652′
  • Sugar Loaf Mountain 3,806′
  • Plateau Mountain 3,840′
  • West Kill Mountain 3,880′

Starting Trailhead Used (East): Platcove Trailhead , 42°08’02.5″N 74°06’16.1″W
Prediger Trail Road, Elka Park, NY 12427

This is an easily accessible parking lot with room for a decent amount of cars, but it does reportedly fill up by early morning on weekends.

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I Finally Upgraded my Winter Backpacking Gear!

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I finally upgraded some of my Winter Backpacking Gear Essentials and made my picks from Backcountry’s full inventory of outdoor gear.

FTC Disclosure: This video is in partnership with Backcountry. This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through my links. Individual gear selections were made by me and all opinions are my own.

For detailed specs on the items I found most attractive, here are the
Three Pieces of Winter Camping Gear that I Ultimately Chose

Other Backcountry Gear Seen and Discussed

MEGA Tarp for 2 Hammocks or Bad Weather – Dutchware Xenon

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Setting up my Dutchware Xenon Two Person Tarp for Two Hammocks under One Tarp or Bad Weather Camping Conditions, such as wind snow and rain while hammock camping.

This is a 12 foot long, 11.5 foot wide tarp with an end pole mod to better accommodate a two hammock spreader bar setup and two doors at one end for wind protection, privacy at camp, etc.

I’m also using an optional internal pole mode to create even more space inside.  I’m using a single one in the middle, but it’s also possible to use two of them for even more space.  If you want to take it even further, you can have it made with optional side pull-outs as well.  I don’t really find this necessary with the internal pole mods that I’m using. I suppose you could go that route if you’re looking for a lighter alternative to the internal pole mod.

The double hammock spreader bar system I’m using is a Dutchware Beetle Buckle suspension with 32″ spreader bar pole, but I don’t see why you couldn’t use this tarp with any other DIY spreader bar solution you may already be using.

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Winter Hot Tent Camping …and Kicking Cancer’s @#S

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Backpacking & Winter Camping with a Hot Tent on the Appalachian Trail using a Titanium Wood Stove & 5 person Luxe Twinpeak tent.

For this adventure, we got a guided tour of Virginia’s Mount Pleasant Scenic Area in the George Washington National Forest. The weather at our elevation of roughly 4,000′ was forecast to be in the mid to low 20’s with high winds, so we were excited to see how the tent & wood stove combo would work out.

Cole Mountain Loop Route Overview – Sintax77

No permit is required to camp in the George Washington National forest, but there are rules and regulations regarding backcountry camping. You can find more information on the George Washington & Jefferson National Forest website here.

Full GPS track data, including campsites, water sources, etc, for this trip and many others can be downloaded on my Trip Data Page.

You can read more about Ricky’s story and his experience with pancreatic cancer here.

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How to use a GPS for Hiking (Dedicated Device or Phone App)

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How to use a GPS Device or GPS App for Hiking & Backpacking Trips using Caltopo and free Garmin Basecamp GPS Software for route planning, point of interest waypoints, elevation profiles and more.

Whether you use a dedicated GPS device or a GPS phone app, the free tools and software I share in this tutorial can help you take your pre-trip planning to the next level.

Links to GPS Tools that I go over

  • Garmin Basecamp
    • This is the current version, but for the reasons discussed in the video, I would recommend that Garmin device users install the previous version 4.6.2 until they fix the map install issues on 4.7.0. If you’re using a GPS phone app, you’ll be fine with 4.7.0.
  • Basecamp Previous Version Archive
    • You can get version 4.6.2 here.
  • Forum thread with more info on the problems with Basecamp 4.7.0.
  • GPS File Depot
    • Great resource for free GPS maps.
  • Caltopo
    • Awesome web based GPS tool. You can use it as a standalone tool, but I prefer to use it as a supplement to Basecamp.  I pretty much just use it for the routable trails feature. Between the two, there’s not much you can’t do.
  • GPS Visualizer
    • Free tool for adding elevation data to GPS tracks. Simply export the track as a GPX file, run it through here, and re-import into Basecamp or directly into your GPS device.

Suggested maps to start with on GPS File Depot

  • Editor’s Choice map for the state you’ll be hiking or backpacking in.
  • My Trails
  • Trails 100

My GPS, seen on the video