Tag Archives: ultralight backpacking

My Friend Says He Hates Hiking …So We Went Backpacking

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3 Days of Hiking, Backpacking, and Camping in Northern Utah’s Stansbury Mountain Range.

For the adventure, Kyle and I decided to do a fall backpacking loop just outside of Salt Lake City, with the 11,000 foot Deseret Peak as our main focal point.

Located about 20 miles west of Salt Lake City, the Stansbury Mountains are a 28-mile long range with an average elevation of around 8,000 feet or so.   It is named for U.S. Army Major Howard Stansbury, a topographical engineer, who led an expedition that surveyed the region back in the 1860’s.

For sleep and shelter I packed in my trusty trekking pole tent, a three-season inflatable sleeping pad, and a 30 degree sleeping bag for the expected lows going down to just above freezing or so.  Kyle went with similar setup, swapping the 20 degree sleeping bag for a warmer 15 degree quilt, and a lighter trekking pole tent made of Dyneema fiber.

Standing at 11,022 feet, Deseret Peak the tallest peak on the Stansbury Range, and offers stunning 360 degree views of the surrounding Great Salt Lake and the Bonneville Salt Flats.  There’s also a nearby Air Force Base, as well some U.S. Army proving grounds nearby.  The latter made for some interesting sights on day two, to say the least…

Check out Kyle’s Channels on YouTube

Kyle Hates Hiking – for Spooky Scary Outdoor Stories
Trail Tales Podcast – For fun and in depth backpacking talk

Trailhead Used
Stansbury Front Trail – OP Miller Campground
Forest Rd 001, Dugway, UT 84022
40.52799098486984, -112.5918796076991

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Camping in Bigfoot Territory – Exploring the Dark Forests of Oregon

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3 Days of Backpacking in the Pacific Northwest Wilderness.

For this late summer adventure, I packed up my gear and headed out for three days of camping, hiking and backpacking deep in the woods of Oregon’s Mount Hood National Forest.  Utilizing a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) along with some other lesser used trails, I routed out a backpacking loop that would climb about 2,700 feet up onto the shoulder of Mount Hood.  The focal point of this loop is an alpine meadow area known as Paradise Park.

Because the total mileage of the loop was a relatively short distance of only 16 miles, I decided to do a base camping approach for this trip.  The plan was to camp both nights at Paradise Park at around 6,000 feet, with side trips further up Mount Hood on day two.

For sleep and shelter I packed in my trusty trekking pole tent, a three-season inflatable sleeping pad, and a 30 degree sleeping bag for the expected lows going down to just above freezing or so.

Standing at 11,249 feet, Mount Hood the tallest peak in Oregon and one of the highest  mountains in the nation based in terms of prominence (peak height relative to surroundings).  Starting at around 5,500 feet or so, the mountain begins to transition to a windswept landscape akin to the surface of Mars.  It’s truly an amazing place.

The approach from down below is an entirely different experience though. The environment prior to tree line is a dense, quite, almost eerie forest with thick foliage and towering pines trees.  The stuff that bigfoot legends are made of, from what the locals tell me.  I didn’t believe in any of that though…

Trailhead Used
Paradise Park Trailhead
Mt Hood Village, Oregon 97049
45.31218941983911, -121.81907830291594

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Backpacking in Grizzly Country …and Tales of Close Encounters

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3 Days of Backpacking, Hiking and Camping in Idaho’s Teton Valley.

For this late spring adventure, I decided to do my first backpacking trip in Grizzly Bear Country.  My chosen area was a corner of the Caribou-Targhee National Forest with the goal of solo camping on the banks of Upper Palisades lake, a remote alpine lake in southern Idaho situated at an elevation of 6,700 feet.

Located just 25 miles southwest of Wyoming’s famed Grand Teton National Park, this corner of Idaho offers some extra solitude, less red-tape, spectacular mountain views and plenty of wildlife, including a variety of waterfowl, moose, and yes – Grizzly Bears. With this in mind, I picked up a fresh can of bear spray, packed my ultralight backpack, and hit the trail for 3 days of adventure.

For sleep and shelter I packed in my trusty trekking pole tent, a three-season inflatable sleeping pad, and a 30 degree sleeping bag for the expected lows going down to just above freezing or so. While there was still plenty of snow pack at the elevations just above the lake, I decided to take my chances with some lightweight trail runners instead of boots.

Along the way I’ll tell you some tales of various grizzly bear encounters I’ve had in Tetons, the recent Teton bear attack that another gentleman was thankfully able to survive relatively unscathed, and some fun facts about moose and beavers too.  So grab your pack, let’s go!

Trailhead Used
Palisades Creek Trailhead
Irwin, Idaho 83428
43°23’53.5″N 111°12’44.8″W

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I Went Backpacking to Find $2 Million in Gold

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Join me for 3 days of Backpacking, Camping and History as we search for the Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine in Arizona’s Superstition Mountains.

For this desert backpacking trip, I headed south to the Superstition Wilderness, within the greater Tonto National Forest – about 60 miles east of Phoenix, Arizona.  Not only was this a beautiful and scenic hike due to the stark desert surroundings and sharp, rugged peaks, but this particular region has added bonus – a rich history full of intrigue and lore right at home in your favorite spaghetti western flick.

Some of these tales are indisputable facts.  Others, are more debatable – the stuff of legends and mystery.  The most notable and famous of those stories is that of “The Dutchman Jacob Waltz who was supposed to have had a secured a secret gold mine in the area, and that of Adolph Ruth, who met a mysterious demise many years later trying to find the gold after Jacob’s passing.

Whether the Lost Dutchman’s Gold was an actual mine, or a hidden cache that was originally mined elsewhere, depends on which version of several accounts you choose to believe.  In fact, even the fact that he came upon it accidentally is up for debate as well.  Some iterations of the tale suggest that he was given the details of the hidden mine after saving the life of a man who belonged to a wealthy Mexican mining family.

As the legend goes, Jacob managed to live off the gold keep it’s whereabouts a secret from local treasure hunters and bandits for many years.  Until, on his death bed in 1891, he confirmed the gold mine to his caretaker Julia Thomas and provided her with info on it’s whereabouts.  Apparently, it wasn’t quite enough info, because they never found it after years of searching.

Word spread, many more people started searching, and they continue to search until this day.  People have gone missing while searching, some have even had their skull found right on one of the trails we hiked on our loop, complete with two bullet holes and their body found separately in heavy brush 1/4 of a mile away.   That man was Adolf Ruth, who went into the Superstitions on a two week expedition in search of the gold back in 1931.  He never showed up at the end of those two weeks, but he did leave a bunch of strange clues and unanswered questions…

Trailhead Used
Peralta Trailhead
Gold Canyon, AZ 85118
N33° 23.858′ W111° 20.873′

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Facing the Elements: Joshua Tree Backpacking in a Rain Storm

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Join me for 3 days of Backpacking, Hiking and Desert Camping in the Rain while  exploring California’s Joshua Tree National Park.

For this winter desert camping adventure, I decided to do a solo backpacking trip in Southern California’s Joshua Tree National Park.  I chose the Maze zone as my primary area of exploration, with the added possibility of hiking along the storied Boy Scout Trail as well.

Due to backcountry camping permit regulations, I chose to obtain a permit for camping within the Maze Zone, with the possibility of hiking into and exploring the Boy Scout Zone by day.  This was mostly due to the fact that the Boy Scout Zone is the only JNP zone that requires you to specifically get a permit for 1 of 8 specific campsites, and I wanted to have some more flexibility to choose my campsites on the fly.

Getting a permit for the Maze zone allowed me to camp anywhere I wanted as long as I was at least 1 mile from an official trailhead, one half mile from any road, and 200 feet from any trail.  Prefect – that sounded like exactly the solitude I was looking for.

Being February in the Mojave Desert, my expected temperature range would be from roughly 40 to 75 degrees or so.  What about rain, you ask?  Well, 336 days out of the year, the answer would be a solid – “No need for rain gear over here!”.  I apparently arrived on one of those 29 other days.  No worries though. I think it provided a pretty unique opportunity to see the Mojave Desert during one of it’s most vital times for survival of plants and animals in this arid environment – a desert rain storm curtesy of El Niño.

For sleep and shelter, I packed in my Outdoor Vitals Fortius trekking pole tent, a 3-season sleeping pad and my Hammock Gear 40° down quilt.  Reliable drinking water is pretty much non-existent in Joshua Tree National Park regardless of the season, so I was tasked with packing in all of my drinking water for the entire 3 day trip.  For this reason, I decided to skip the usual dehydrated backpacking meal choices in favor of some cheap and easy ready to eat food options.

I also opted to ditch the stove and just go the no-cook backpacking food route, because why not?   Honestly, my pack was jammed to the hilt with water, and I just wasn’t in the mood to carry more fuel and cooking supplies.

Route Overview – Smoky Mountains Little River Gorge Backpacking Loop – Sintax77

A permit is required for backcountry camping in Joshua Tree National Park.  You can reserve them on the Joshua Tree National Park 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.

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Summer Backpacking – Fog, Rain & Shelter on the Old Loggers Path

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3 days of Backpacking, Trekking Pole Tent Camping and Lean-to Shelter Camping on the Old Loggers Path.

FTC Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through some of my links.

For this 3 day, 2 night summer backpacking trip, I decided to revisit the OLP in Pennsylvania’s Loyalsock State forest.  The OLP is a 27 mile backpacking loop along babbling brooks, waterfalls, hardwoods and hemlocks. I previously did this loop counter-clockwise as a solo hike a couple of years ago, but there was so much to soak in that I decided it would be worth hiking it again. This time I would hike it clockwise with my buddy Dave from Outdoor Vitals, who recently moved out to Pennsylvania from Utah.

Dave had never camped in a lean-to shelter before, so we targeted the Sprout Point shelter for our first night, followed by some tent camping along the confluence of Rock Run and Yellow dog run on the second night.  This would also be my first time experimenting with an ultralight trekking pole tent, so I was looking forward to trying that out.

Our weather ranged from highs in the upper 70’s with fairly high humidity, and lows in the upper 60’s.  This allowed me to save weight by packing a lightweight 40° quilt and leaving my extra warm clothing layers at home.  There was a possibility of rain each day though, so I packed in full rain gear. I also brought a folding saw and some other comfort items, so my base weight was still right around 10 lbs despite the warm forecast.

Trail conditions on the OLP are a mix of nice flat dirt sections, punctuated by spurts of steep sections littered with Pennsylvania’s infamous rocks to keep you on your toes ; literally.  Despite the occasional rough sections, the average daily gross elevation gain was only around 1,500 feet per day. Potential water sources are fairly plentiful on the Old Loggers Path, but the key word is potential. When I went before in spring, I got by with only carrying around 1 liter of water at a time.  This time around things were very dry, so the only water sources we used were the two that are always flowing – Pleasant Valley Stream and the Rock Run / Yellow Dog Run confluence.

Route Overview – Old Loggers Path Clockwise Backpacking Loop – Sintax77

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