OK, so you need to get ready for that upcoming backpacking trip. There are a few things you need to do before starting in earnest:
TBC...
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness '08
While not technically a backpacking trip, it's still worthwhile to mention. This was my first overnight canoe trip, as well as my son's first long away-from-the-car trip. My brother Mike and his son Travis (16) joined us. We put in at Kawashiwi Lake, spent most of our time on Lake Polly, and did a day trip to Fishdance Lake to try and find the pictographs located there. We had a three person canoe for Eric, Mike and me, plus a solo canoe for Travis. Overall, we did a decent job of bringing the right gear, but will definitely refine what we bring if we ever do a canoe trip again.
A few of the lessons learned from this trip:
1) Be prepared to adapt your plans to the situation. We had planned to travel to Fishdance Lake and find a camp spot, but we found a great one that we all liked on Polly. So we stayed there for several days instead moving camp each day. I'm usually one for moving every day, but with Eric in tow and my brother/nephew being a bit of a novice, establishing a camp and day-tripping was a good idea.
2) When diverting from the normal routine, do your research. Although this was my first canoe trip, I think we did a decent job of bringing the right gear and planning an appropriate route.
A few of the lessons learned from this trip:
1) Be prepared to adapt your plans to the situation. We had planned to travel to Fishdance Lake and find a camp spot, but we found a great one that we all liked on Polly. So we stayed there for several days instead moving camp each day. I'm usually one for moving every day, but with Eric in tow and my brother/nephew being a bit of a novice, establishing a camp and day-tripping was a good idea.
2) When diverting from the normal routine, do your research. Although this was my first canoe trip, I think we did a decent job of bringing the right gear and planning an appropriate route.
Weminuche '93
My favorite trip by far was a solo trip along the CDT in the Weminuche Wilderness. I was dropped off at Wolf Creek Pass, where the CDT crosses US 160. I then walked north along the Trail for about 60 miles over 6 days to a campground where I met my ride out. I camped about a mile from a group of Boy Scouts on Day 1 and saw a couple along the trail on Day 6, but between these I only encountered a group of 3 guys walking the opposite direction on Day 4. This is my idea of remote!
I had a lot of fun on this trip; and here are a few of the lessons learned:
1) be physically prepared. Spending a lot of the time above 10,000 feet is demanding for those of us who are flatlanders.
2) Conduct a thorough review of the map and available literature and make plans accordingly. I knew there would be a long stretch between water sources, but still came up a bit short one day. But overall, I knew where the long stretches between water would be and replenished accordingly.
3) Know how to read a map, compass and GPS. Storms drove me off the CDT one afternoon, followed by a disappearing trail. I was eventually able to re-acquire the trail several miles later. No worries; I knew where I was on the map.
This is my first trip report...I'll come back to it after I decide what it is I want them to contain.
I had a lot of fun on this trip; and here are a few of the lessons learned:
1) be physically prepared. Spending a lot of the time above 10,000 feet is demanding for those of us who are flatlanders.
2) Conduct a thorough review of the map and available literature and make plans accordingly. I knew there would be a long stretch between water sources, but still came up a bit short one day. But overall, I knew where the long stretches between water would be and replenished accordingly.
3) Know how to read a map, compass and GPS. Storms drove me off the CDT one afternoon, followed by a disappearing trail. I was eventually able to re-acquire the trail several miles later. No worries; I knew where I was on the map.
This is my first trip report...I'll come back to it after I decide what it is I want them to contain.
Training Overview
The program contained within this blog starts are Week 0 and progresses through a series of training segments that build upon each other. If you have some experience in backpacking, you can choose the segments you want to complete; if you are new to backpacking you should try to complete them in the order given There are some segments that are more linear than others, and I try to identify these through the name (eg. Compass #1 and Compass #2) that should be done in order. I will try to add one segment a week, but work, family, trips, etc may make that difficult to do.
While reviewing the blog, feel free to drop me a note if the material is unclear, you have some additional techniques relevant to the segment, additional topics you are interested in, or new material you think would make this site more relevant.
While reviewing the blog, feel free to drop me a note if the material is unclear, you have some additional techniques relevant to the segment, additional topics you are interested in, or new material you think would make this site more relevant.
A bit more about me (or Do I know what I'm talking about?)
I didn't grow up backpacking - but lots of camping, hunting and the yearly month-long camping trip to Colorado. It wasn't until I entered the Service that I really began backpacking. From solo trips along the AT in Tennessee and the CDT in Colorado, to trips with friends or family in the Sierras or Pecos; I love to get away for days at a time. But it was in the Service that I really learned the wilderness skills needed and how to prepare for and conduct training for these skills. Training I participated in included about three weeks of Land Navigation / Orienteering at OCS (aka Benning School for Boys), mountaineering training at Mountain Warfare School, survival training at survival school (SERE High Risk), and numerous planning exercises and new skills at SF school (aka the Q Course). Of course this was followed by the opportunity to plan and conduct training in the mountains/hills/plains of Colorado/Oklahoma/Texas/North Carolina/etc, the jungles of Indonesia, Korea and Thailand, as well missions in other locals. On the civilian side, it has been more pleasure: camping, backpacking, orienteering, rock climbing. I'm sure there are other activities that you may have an interest in, but we'll end here. So what is contained in this blog are wilderness skills that I have learned along the way from formal training, watching some of the best wilderness/survival experts in the country, planning and conducting training around these skills, and lessons learned from doing it myself. A note of warning: How I plan for a trip and act in the wilderness is highly influenced by my military experience and training - but from what I have read about SAR missions, this may not be all bad.
Introduction
This blog has been germinating for several years. One part of the puzzle came from a friend that suggested "you should start a backpacking blog!" Sounds easy enough, but I'm not the write-from-the-cuff type. The other piece came in the form of friends - or more specifcially, parents of my kids or the scout troop I work with - asking for my recommendation on what to read or where to go to learn how to backpack. There are a number of good books out there that give some good advice, but I felt they were all lacking in organization. For the most part, they were organized by topic with basic and advanced skills receiving equal attention. I did not feel the skills were presented in a manner that built one upon the other so that someone would know where to begin, with practical exercises to reinforce the readings. Such a book may be out there, but I could not find it. So here is my advice on how to learn backpacking.
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