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Hey fellas.
Last weekend i did one of my longest hikes. 30 miles. The goal was to make 35 ,but we skipped heading down a spur trail to make the 5 extra miles.
here is a short AAR and i'll add more to it.
Ok.
The plan was to hike 35 miles. The end result was just around 28.Me and a buddy set out to hike a section of the FT that i have done before, knew the water sources etc. I really wanted to do a different section but not only was this his longest hike, it would be the longest i have done in a few years( most of all my hikes are the survival forum hikes i host and are shorter distances/time frames) ,So we decided to do a known distance and area that was known to both of us.
Weather for this trip could have been better. We have been in a drought pretty much down here in my AO. So i knew some water sources would be dried up (they were) and we had to plan around that. Temps ranged from lows in to the 50's and highs in tthe mid 80's,humidty sat around the 68-70+% mark.Pretty much good mild weather for this trip. My only gripe was wishing it was a few degree's colder.
Terrian is like most of my hikes. Loose sand hills ( think sand dunes) dead falls,tangle foot and thick brush. Lush oak hammocks that turn into miles of burnt out clear cuts.
Day one- We arrived at the trail head at 8 am , paid the park service nazi her inflated prices ( up from 8$ a car to 12.50),checked in , gave a blood smaple, shoe size and next of kin. We unloaded and got going. We wanted to make the 13+ mile day one way point by mid day. This would mean that we would have to stay at around the 3 mph pace mark. I was a tad worried about this becuase im nurisng a hurt back, using a new pack and with someone who over packed imho( partner was at 40lbs). We made the half way point by 11am. Sat sown, filtered some h20, ate lunch ( dehydrated,pineapple, and jerky i made),rested for 1 hour. We then left at 12. We continued without major break for the reast of the trip. We arrived in camp just before 2 pm. The pace was a tad fast for me. Im good to go all day long at 2-2.5 mph. thats just my pace. At the 3 mph mark i wear done some as weather /load increase. By the time we got to day ones camp site i was a bit tired,and dehydrated( i wont lie).We set up camp, filtered 6 liters of h20, started re hydrating and took a chill in the shade and talked about how we felt, what could be changed for day 2 etc. Around 5 pm or so, my buddy wanted to play around with some firesteels, and mag bars and such ( firestarting). So we got what we needed going and made a small fire for the evening. As it got going we sat down, ate dinner,bs'd some more, and made some coffee. As the sun went down, the sketters came out inforce. We both hung out under my tarp shelter in teh safty of the bug netting listening to a talk radio show, and bsing about current events till around 9pm.
At 1 am 6-10 drunk teenagers decided it would be cool to do doughnuts and scream and yell for the next 45 minutes a few houndred yards away on one of the forest roads.
Day 2-
Not sore. kinda ready to roll to be honest. Weather was nice and crisp. Made a small fire,had coffee,ate bfast ( cliff bar, dehydrated apples) and broke camp.
We hiked back to our mid way point. The temps rose fast, and it was 5-10f hotter than day 1. We made the trek in good time ( 2 hours). Wind kicked up pretty nice and our camp was set so we got a good wind all day till sundown. no bugs this day. Just some ants that wanted to eat my pinky toe.We lounged around watching f18's do bomb runs at the local bombng range. Kinda cool to see a dust cloud rise damn near few hundred feet ,, and 3-4 seconds later a " BBOOOoooooooooooommmmmmm" impressive...
At sundown we made a fire, ate dinner, and just hung out bsing for a few hours. Sounds boring, but both of us have worked non stop for 6 months or so ( no time off pretty much) , so it was talk that had no point, and no reason. Just anything that wasnt about "work" LOL. We did try to reason why a platypus( the animal) was created and gave up at 30 mins of not one clue and went to sleep.
day 3.
woke up ,damp and chilled.stiff. The humidty musta been 100% where we were. Everything was cold, and damp. At 6 am i started getting ready,packing,unpacking,eating bfast. Woke up my buddy. we hit the trail by 7:50AM. We had one or two breaks( other hikers asking how far it was to the next trail head), but pretty much just busted out the last 5.5 miles right at 2 hours flat.
Over all it was fun, and relaxing. Only issues i have physically is a blister in my calous in the side of my heel.I have new insoles in my merrels and this musta have cuased it as my other merrels i never had this issue. It was a deep blister ( under the calous) and felt like a pinch when i walked. It was worse on pavement. Few sore spots( calves ) and a handfull of bug bites ( not to bad considering the weather.
****ty stuff-
sugar sand- yeah i know..boohoo. But walking on what equates to a sand dune for several miles a day sucks ***. On top of that, since this area has had several fires,it creates a black dust. This dust gets everywhere( took my pants off in camp to find out i had black legs...***,feet, thighs...hell everything from toes to belt line).Its never been that bad before. i also blame my sore foot on that ****.
drunk teens...yes if your from marion/lake county,some hikers heard you scream " damn dude, i didnt need to see your ****..." ( why you even were looking at it is beyond me) over a 1/2 mile away !
water at day two may have fecal matter in it(slight oder to the h20). treated with hypocholorite after filtering . we'll see if i go on teh squirts diet in the next few days.
cool stuff-
no multicam
i lost 9 lbs
gear-
I used some new gear this weekend.
Pants- picked up a pair of columbia utlitizer 2 pants. They are a 70/20 cotton/nylon blend, they worked out awesome.
Insoles- i picked up a pair of sof sol's from the local shop on slae for 19$ they have done well over the last 2 weeks on my AM walks. They did well through out the hike, but i suspect they could be the cause for my sore heel...
Kelty Falcon 4000ci backpack- worked out great. Like my other keltys it did the job and did it well. Molle webbing on a top lid sucks when there is alot of over hangs. They need to make a cover for that. It sucks to go under something to get yanked back becuase a limb/stick has caught the webbing.
sea to summit spork- works well like it has at home- Its a damn sprk after all.
Nalegen 1 liter SS bottle- sucked. While i like the idea i can cook,boil etc with it, it weighs damn near twice what a plastic nalgene weighs. I'll reserve it for work,truck use, day hikes or such. I have a metal cook cup, so screw that heavy thing. The rope lanyard also binds up when putting the lid on and takes two hands.
cabot and sons hikers(socks)- ive worn these for day hikes. they worked well this trip. Tad thick for the weather but did well.
protus load out( big items)-
weight for trip- 34 lbs
pack- kelty falcon 4000ci top lid removed
sleep pad- therma rest- usgi issue
sleeping bag- marmot 32f trestles
shelter- protus made 8x8 sil tarp,bug netting and ground sheet
filter- katadyne hiker with sweetwater treatment drops
bladder- 100oz hydra strom
bladders( back ups and in camp use)- platypus
bottle- nalgene
cook cup- gsi stainless
knife- german issue sak,more as fixed blade
shoes- merrel moab ventilators mids
shirt-columbia
pants-columbia
drawers- jokcey-mesh,micro fiber
socks- cabot and sons merino hikers
hat- outdoor products vented boonie
belt- OSOE cobra belt
anti zombie device- g17 1x reload
FAK
hiking stick- tracks lite staff
Anyway.it was fun. Not really a survival hike per say, but a mental survival one as i needed the break from society and enjoyed the down time.
i'll have a review of the kelty ruck in the next few days.
Before i post pictures.
Food- fellas. make sure you have enough. While what i packed weighed alot and filled up some ruck space. It was way less than what my body needed by day 3. While i "needed" to be worked that hard, it did make the trip "tiresome" at some points. Little oat meal packs and cliff bars wont cut it sorry.
We avg. around 5-600 cals at best per day.... thats with a food menu like so..
b-fast- cliff bar, coffee, emergenC drink 16 oz. 1 liter of h20. dehydrated pinapple or apple chunks
lunch- emegenC drink. 1 liter of h20, jerky, dried fruit
dinner- 2x pack of white albacore( with spice apckets and suaces added),dried fruit, jerky, coffee, emergenC mix.
physical shape-
Since i hurt my back for over 3 months now i havent ran my normal routine of 2 miles a day. I did however stay on top of walking 2 miles a day and once i got the kelty wearing it with 30 lbs in it while doing so a week ahead of the trip. I started jogging again but only 3/4 of a mile.
My partner, used a new pack to him( borrowed from me) and only walked with it 1-2 times before the trip. He is smaller, and in better shape than me. I had no issues on the trip physcailly besides noticing that in some areas of the trail where when i was running didnt effect me..this time they did slightly. My partner by day 2 was havings ore hip flexors from the packs weight, walking that far and having to crawl over,under dead falls. His pack weight was 40 lbs+...mine 34lbs.
Get in shape. Least walk each AM. That pack doesnt feel heavy or hurts till well past the 5 mile mark...more so at miles 12 and 14....
gear-
use it.
My partner ,having swicthed packs, and adding more weight than his last hike ,suffered for it. He would constantly misplace items. In other words , he didnt have a flowing camp routine. " now where did i put the tarp stuff sack..." or have basic knowledge for example. take your clothing and stuff it in your sleeping bag comprosion sack for a pillow.....use and know your gear.
just some stuff i'll add more later.
and pics to follow...
Last weekend i did one of my longest hikes. 30 miles. The goal was to make 35 ,but we skipped heading down a spur trail to make the 5 extra miles.
here is a short AAR and i'll add more to it.
Ok.
The plan was to hike 35 miles. The end result was just around 28.Me and a buddy set out to hike a section of the FT that i have done before, knew the water sources etc. I really wanted to do a different section but not only was this his longest hike, it would be the longest i have done in a few years( most of all my hikes are the survival forum hikes i host and are shorter distances/time frames) ,So we decided to do a known distance and area that was known to both of us.
Weather for this trip could have been better. We have been in a drought pretty much down here in my AO. So i knew some water sources would be dried up (they were) and we had to plan around that. Temps ranged from lows in to the 50's and highs in tthe mid 80's,humidty sat around the 68-70+% mark.Pretty much good mild weather for this trip. My only gripe was wishing it was a few degree's colder.
Terrian is like most of my hikes. Loose sand hills ( think sand dunes) dead falls,tangle foot and thick brush. Lush oak hammocks that turn into miles of burnt out clear cuts.
Day one- We arrived at the trail head at 8 am , paid the park service nazi her inflated prices ( up from 8$ a car to 12.50),checked in , gave a blood smaple, shoe size and next of kin. We unloaded and got going. We wanted to make the 13+ mile day one way point by mid day. This would mean that we would have to stay at around the 3 mph pace mark. I was a tad worried about this becuase im nurisng a hurt back, using a new pack and with someone who over packed imho( partner was at 40lbs). We made the half way point by 11am. Sat sown, filtered some h20, ate lunch ( dehydrated,pineapple, and jerky i made),rested for 1 hour. We then left at 12. We continued without major break for the reast of the trip. We arrived in camp just before 2 pm. The pace was a tad fast for me. Im good to go all day long at 2-2.5 mph. thats just my pace. At the 3 mph mark i wear done some as weather /load increase. By the time we got to day ones camp site i was a bit tired,and dehydrated( i wont lie).We set up camp, filtered 6 liters of h20, started re hydrating and took a chill in the shade and talked about how we felt, what could be changed for day 2 etc. Around 5 pm or so, my buddy wanted to play around with some firesteels, and mag bars and such ( firestarting). So we got what we needed going and made a small fire for the evening. As it got going we sat down, ate dinner,bs'd some more, and made some coffee. As the sun went down, the sketters came out inforce. We both hung out under my tarp shelter in teh safty of the bug netting listening to a talk radio show, and bsing about current events till around 9pm.
At 1 am 6-10 drunk teenagers decided it would be cool to do doughnuts and scream and yell for the next 45 minutes a few houndred yards away on one of the forest roads.
Day 2-
Not sore. kinda ready to roll to be honest. Weather was nice and crisp. Made a small fire,had coffee,ate bfast ( cliff bar, dehydrated apples) and broke camp.
We hiked back to our mid way point. The temps rose fast, and it was 5-10f hotter than day 1. We made the trek in good time ( 2 hours). Wind kicked up pretty nice and our camp was set so we got a good wind all day till sundown. no bugs this day. Just some ants that wanted to eat my pinky toe.We lounged around watching f18's do bomb runs at the local bombng range. Kinda cool to see a dust cloud rise damn near few hundred feet ,, and 3-4 seconds later a " BBOOOoooooooooooommmmmmm" impressive...
At sundown we made a fire, ate dinner, and just hung out bsing for a few hours. Sounds boring, but both of us have worked non stop for 6 months or so ( no time off pretty much) , so it was talk that had no point, and no reason. Just anything that wasnt about "work" LOL. We did try to reason why a platypus( the animal) was created and gave up at 30 mins of not one clue and went to sleep.
day 3.
woke up ,damp and chilled.stiff. The humidty musta been 100% where we were. Everything was cold, and damp. At 6 am i started getting ready,packing,unpacking,eating bfast. Woke up my buddy. we hit the trail by 7:50AM. We had one or two breaks( other hikers asking how far it was to the next trail head), but pretty much just busted out the last 5.5 miles right at 2 hours flat.
Over all it was fun, and relaxing. Only issues i have physically is a blister in my calous in the side of my heel.I have new insoles in my merrels and this musta have cuased it as my other merrels i never had this issue. It was a deep blister ( under the calous) and felt like a pinch when i walked. It was worse on pavement. Few sore spots( calves ) and a handfull of bug bites ( not to bad considering the weather.
****ty stuff-
sugar sand- yeah i know..boohoo. But walking on what equates to a sand dune for several miles a day sucks ***. On top of that, since this area has had several fires,it creates a black dust. This dust gets everywhere( took my pants off in camp to find out i had black legs...***,feet, thighs...hell everything from toes to belt line).Its never been that bad before. i also blame my sore foot on that ****.
drunk teens...yes if your from marion/lake county,some hikers heard you scream " damn dude, i didnt need to see your ****..." ( why you even were looking at it is beyond me) over a 1/2 mile away !
water at day two may have fecal matter in it(slight oder to the h20). treated with hypocholorite after filtering . we'll see if i go on teh squirts diet in the next few days.
cool stuff-
no multicam
i lost 9 lbs
gear-
I used some new gear this weekend.
Pants- picked up a pair of columbia utlitizer 2 pants. They are a 70/20 cotton/nylon blend, they worked out awesome.
Insoles- i picked up a pair of sof sol's from the local shop on slae for 19$ they have done well over the last 2 weeks on my AM walks. They did well through out the hike, but i suspect they could be the cause for my sore heel...
Kelty Falcon 4000ci backpack- worked out great. Like my other keltys it did the job and did it well. Molle webbing on a top lid sucks when there is alot of over hangs. They need to make a cover for that. It sucks to go under something to get yanked back becuase a limb/stick has caught the webbing.
sea to summit spork- works well like it has at home- Its a damn sprk after all.
Nalegen 1 liter SS bottle- sucked. While i like the idea i can cook,boil etc with it, it weighs damn near twice what a plastic nalgene weighs. I'll reserve it for work,truck use, day hikes or such. I have a metal cook cup, so screw that heavy thing. The rope lanyard also binds up when putting the lid on and takes two hands.
cabot and sons hikers(socks)- ive worn these for day hikes. they worked well this trip. Tad thick for the weather but did well.
protus load out( big items)-
weight for trip- 34 lbs
pack- kelty falcon 4000ci top lid removed
sleep pad- therma rest- usgi issue
sleeping bag- marmot 32f trestles
shelter- protus made 8x8 sil tarp,bug netting and ground sheet
filter- katadyne hiker with sweetwater treatment drops
bladder- 100oz hydra strom
bladders( back ups and in camp use)- platypus
bottle- nalgene
cook cup- gsi stainless
knife- german issue sak,more as fixed blade
shoes- merrel moab ventilators mids
shirt-columbia
pants-columbia
drawers- jokcey-mesh,micro fiber
socks- cabot and sons merino hikers
hat- outdoor products vented boonie
belt- OSOE cobra belt
anti zombie device- g17 1x reload
FAK
hiking stick- tracks lite staff
Anyway.it was fun. Not really a survival hike per say, but a mental survival one as i needed the break from society and enjoyed the down time.
i'll have a review of the kelty ruck in the next few days.
Before i post pictures.
Food- fellas. make sure you have enough. While what i packed weighed alot and filled up some ruck space. It was way less than what my body needed by day 3. While i "needed" to be worked that hard, it did make the trip "tiresome" at some points. Little oat meal packs and cliff bars wont cut it sorry.
We avg. around 5-600 cals at best per day.... thats with a food menu like so..
b-fast- cliff bar, coffee, emergenC drink 16 oz. 1 liter of h20. dehydrated pinapple or apple chunks
lunch- emegenC drink. 1 liter of h20, jerky, dried fruit
dinner- 2x pack of white albacore( with spice apckets and suaces added),dried fruit, jerky, coffee, emergenC mix.
physical shape-
Since i hurt my back for over 3 months now i havent ran my normal routine of 2 miles a day. I did however stay on top of walking 2 miles a day and once i got the kelty wearing it with 30 lbs in it while doing so a week ahead of the trip. I started jogging again but only 3/4 of a mile.
My partner, used a new pack to him( borrowed from me) and only walked with it 1-2 times before the trip. He is smaller, and in better shape than me. I had no issues on the trip physcailly besides noticing that in some areas of the trail where when i was running didnt effect me..this time they did slightly. My partner by day 2 was havings ore hip flexors from the packs weight, walking that far and having to crawl over,under dead falls. His pack weight was 40 lbs+...mine 34lbs.
Get in shape. Least walk each AM. That pack doesnt feel heavy or hurts till well past the 5 mile mark...more so at miles 12 and 14....
gear-
use it.
My partner ,having swicthed packs, and adding more weight than his last hike ,suffered for it. He would constantly misplace items. In other words , he didnt have a flowing camp routine. " now where did i put the tarp stuff sack..." or have basic knowledge for example. take your clothing and stuff it in your sleeping bag comprosion sack for a pillow.....use and know your gear.
just some stuff i'll add more later.
and pics to follow...
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