These are common questions I get. Check back from time to time, as I will add answers to other questions I get, or add to the answers already posted.
How long have you been hiking, and what kind of a hiker are you?
I’ve been hiking since the late 1990s, and I am mostly a day hiker. I like to hike places and see what is out there from incredible vistas atop mountains, hiking amongst the redwoods, through canyons and much more. There’s a lot out there to see, and I want to take in what’s in my part of the world. My natural pace tends to be a little slower than most hikers, but that doesn’t stop me from seeing some magnificent things. To see some of those things, I’ve found that sometimes I have to work for it, and I enjoy hikes where I have to push myself. In the end, it’s worth it.
What motivated you to start your site?
I’ve been thinking about blogging about my hiking experiences for about two years now, and I finally started it in 2018. What motivated me was when I hiked the Pleasants Ridge Trail, and it was rated at the time on the All Trails site as moderate. I hiked that trail, where can you read my summary here, and there was nothing moderate about it. It’s a downright dangerous trail where an inexperienced hiker, or an experienced one for that matter, can easily become injured because of the trail conditions. That was the tipping point that motivated me to start this site.
What do you take with you when you hike?
Before I answer that, and I do get that question a lot, I want to make clear I am not affiliated with any of the manufacturers of the products I use. The particular products that work for me may not work for you, and you go with what you’re comfortable with.
I couldn’t go anywhere without my backpack, and I use an Osprey Stratos 34 Pack. It’s not a heavy pack, but what I really like about it is the cooler ventilation in the back of the pack where it doesn’t press against my back. It’s all about comfort for me, and this pack works for me.
For water storage, I use Osprey Hydraulics Reservoirs. I like the Osprey reservoirs better than CamelBaks in that they are fallible from the top instead of the front. The CamelBak Crux Reservoir screw lid can sometimes be difficult to align and close without water coming out and spilling all over. Sometimes they are a real struggle to work with and are not a good design. I have both the 2 liter and the three 3 liter. I also have a 40 oz insulated Hydro Flask bottle with me as a backup if I run through my reservoir – it has happened. See my post, When a Hike Turns to Agony, where I wrote about a bad hike I had when I ran out of water.
An extremely important piece of equipment I carry with me is the ACR Personal Locator Beacon. I hike very remotely and sometimes never see another person and have no cell phone reception. It will send out a distress signal with my location and help will come. I also carry an emergency strobe light that can supposedly be seen for up to five miles.
I carry two cans of Counter Assault Bear Spray with me. I know a guy who went through three cans in a week in the Desolation Wilderness. Not only can it be effective on bears, but on any mammal, really. Sometimes people get uneasy when they see me with it. Not because I pose a threat, but because I would have something like that with me in such “peaceful places.” All I pretty much say to them is something to the effect of, “We’re not walking around in a petting zoo out here,” and I move on. Sometimes they get it, and sometimes they don’t. Be careful where you have it though. While it’s fine to have in most places, there are some jurisdictions that don’t allow you to carry it even though there are possible dangers present. It is illegal have in most National Parks, as it is deemed a weapon.
I have a headlamp I keep in my pack just in case something goes wrong, and I’m out in the dark. I also carry spare batteries for it too. If I get stuck after the sun goes down, I also pack an emergency blanket with me.
I have a Garmin GPSMAP 64s to orient myself if I need to and to record my tracks. I use the Garmin 24K Topo Maps version 3, but it does leave much to be desired. To be honest, for trails they’re kind of sloppy and inaccurate. The map shows trails where trails don’t exist and sometimes shows trails that are not accurate to where they are in real life. This is not acceptable to me for a map that is supposed to be so detailed that you pay so much for. AllTrails does a better job in my opinion. If I could port their topo maps to my GPS, I’d be much happier. The Garmin maps are not updated often at all. I purchased the 24K for the detail, about two years ago over the 100K I had before. The topo detail is great (hills, grades, etc.), but landmarks and parks and trails, etc. are not updated. For example, Pinnacles National Park was established in 2013, and the map still has it listed listed as a National Monument. This in itself isn’t a big deal, but it shows the lack of attention Garmin gives to its topo maps, and it makes me wonder what kind of crucial information is not updated on them. I did find OSM topo trail maps that can be loaded into the Garmin GPS, and they have much more trail information than the product Garmin produces. They can be downloaded to your computer for free and imported from your computer. They are at GMapTool.
I also carry extra batteries for my GPS. The Garmin can chew through them, and I also carry extra batteries for my headlamp and an extra battery for my strobe.
I carry a basic first aid kit along with salts if I cramp, and I keep a rain poncho handy when I’m hiking in the mountains, even if rain isn’t in the forecast – I’ve seen things change very quick and unexpectedly.
I hike with a pair of REI trekking poles, and I sometimes carry a pair of binoculars with me.
That’s pretty much it.
How frequently do you post?
Typically when I post trail summaries, they come at two week intervals until the end of the season, which for me is usually by the end of October. I begin posting summaries in April, which is when the weather starts to get good and the snow may have melted at the lower elevations. If I write something other than a trail summary, such as an opinion about something or observations I’ve made on the trail, it’s sporadic. Sometimes I will time them between trail summaries, but I can change the frequency. Posts about things other than trail summaries are random and can be few and far between.
One of your categories is Hiking At Elevation. What does that mean?
Any hike I write about that goes 7,000 feet and above, I categorize at elevation. Elevation effects people differently, and while 7,000 feet doesn’t impact me under normal conditions, it can some people. Other people don’t feel the effects of it until higher. I don’t mean for this to be confused with altitude sickness. When I start to the feel the effects of hiking at altitude, I generally feel it when I’m climbing. I tend to noticeably hike a bit slower, and it becomes an effort for me where I can physically feel it when I am climbing. If I were hiking the same kind of grade at a lower elevation, it would not affect me the way it does at elevation.