White Cloud Peaks 2017

White Cloud Peaks 2017

I finally sorted through my photos from my annual hiking trip in Idaho. My point-n-shoot camera is getting so old that I decided that I’d take a chance and just bring my new Sony cellphone. I really like the camera on it. I took over 140 photos and a few videos.

Smoke

As soon as we started heading out of Boise, we noticed a lot of smoke. You’ll see a satellite map from NASA that explains why. There were a lot of forest fires in the Pacific Northwest. The smoke seemed to clear up a bit as we got closer to Stanley, ID. At the base camp, we noticed that the smoke would roll in, in the evenings. There was a campfire restriction in place where we were hiking/camping, which made sense based on the number of forest fires. The other obstacle getting to and from the trailhead was the dirt road getting washed out in a few places with a lot of standing water. It wasn’t a real problem. Everyone just drove around the really bad parts. Of course the big 4×4 trucks went through the water.

The bugs weren’t too bad this time. I didn’t notice but the Sawyer brand insect repellant that I bought from REI has Picaridin instead of Deet. It seems to work well and it’s supposed to be better for your gear (Deet is bad for nylon). Unfortunately, on the hike out, I think my sweat was getting some of the insect repellant in my eyes. It burned like crazy. Luckily Dan had plenty of water and helped flush it out of my eyes. I had a little microfiber towel from REI for this trip and that was handy when I need to pour water on my eyes.

Lost and Found

The most exciting part was when I got lost. Dan and Adrian decided to climb up a rocky ridge overlooking a group of lakes. You can see the Google Earth satellite photo. It was a lot of loose rock, so I hiked up to a different ridge that overlooked Fourth of July Lake. That turned out to be a good idea since Dan scrapped up both knees. There was a square shaped boulder that Dan called “Altar Rock”. I ate my lunch down by Altar Rock waiting for them to return. After I a while, I figured I’d start hiking back and they would catch up to me. Eventually I could hear them behind me. I knew the base camp was southwest but I veered more south than west. I must have gone over a ridge or they went over a ridge because about 5 minutes later, I couldn’t hear them. I wasn’t too worried. I was sure I was going the right direction. When I got near Fourth of July Lake, it didn’t look right. I thought it was the smaller lake that I had seen from the ridge. I was looking at it from a different section and it was unfamiliar. So I went farther south which would have been towards Fourth of July Lake if I was really near the little (unnamed) lake.

I got to a meadow and realized that wasn’t the right place/direction. I was still heading down the mountain so I figured I would eventually reach the lake. Once I reached a burned out area, I knew I was lost. I figured that I need to find a creek which would either lead me to Fourth of July Lake, the trail, or the parking area. I found a creek (you can see a video and selfie). Unfortunately GPS wasn’t working in many locations so I couldn’t mark that location on the map. I crossed the trail in a part that was washed out by falling rocks, so it didn’t look like “the trail”. So I kept following the creek. I eventually found an obvious section of the trail. I could keep going down or head back up the mountain. The correct direction was up.

Since I was disoriented, I figured 50-50 chance and down made sense. Again, I knew I’d either reach the lake or the parking area. I eventually got to a bridge in the trail. It looked really familiar. I thought about it but then kept going down. It kept nagging at me so I went back and stopped to fill my water bladder. I convinced myself that the bridge was the same bridge we crossed while hiking in from the trailhead, which meant I went way too far down the mountain. Now that I knew where I was I headed back the other direction, staying on the trail. I eventually made it back to the lake where the guys were just about to split up to look for me. Pretty exciting but I had water, a jacket, snacks, and two packets of energy Gu (which you can see in the first photo).

New Equipment

I got to try out my lightweight camping chair from Alite. The Mayfly chair has a bar in the front so that you don’t have to balance it all the time but it has two rubber balls on the back legs so that you can balance and sort of rock on them if you like. The Monarch Butterfly chair that Dan has, requires you to balance on the back legs all the time, which can get tiring. Either chair is way better than sitting on the ground or log. I also brought one of the emergency blankets with the reflective sides. I used it under my sleeping pad for a little extra insulation with the plan of using it over my sleeping bag if it got too cold (it didn’t). It did frost one morning. Strangely there wasn’t dew on the ground in the mornings, probably too dry.

I’ve previously posted a couple videos using the slow-motion feature on my phone. So this time I tried to find different applications for it. We were skipping rocks and I thought that would be cool and it was. I also tried really hard to capture a dragonfly flying with the slo-mo video. That was difficult and turned out OK. I also have a slo-mo video of one of the creeks. We had fun with Dan’s camera, set up for long exposure. You can see one photo of me in my tent with the headlamp. I thought it came out really cool.

Another new piece of equipment was my new Black Diamond Distance Z trekking poles. They are only 13 oz (369 g). They have removable tips, carbide and rubber. When we got to the trailhead, I swapped the rubber tips out for the carbide tips. There’s a velcro strap to store the poles together, with a pouch for the extra tips. I thought I lost the strap and rubber tips. You’ll see a photo of the strap stuck to my headlamp, which is where I eventually found it when I got home. I took apart my tent and backpack looking for the strap, when I got home. I think the new trekking poles made a difference when I got lost and had to hike back to the base camp. I think it was about an extra hour of hiking but I felt pretty good, not exhausted. My feet got sore but that was mostly due to some of the loose rock on some of the steep sections. I had Lowa boots for the first time and I think I’ll go back to Asolo. Soaking my feet in the cold water at the lake was amazing.

If you’re wondering about the big army canvas bag, I used it as luggage for my backpack. On the previous trips, I stuffed my backpack into an overseas-size luggage. I’m not one of those who trust the airlines with my backpack. I figure it’s bound to get ripped up or have the straps messed up. These backpacks are too expensive to get trashed by the airlines. The canvas bag worked pretty good but was difficult to carry.

Finally, I bought a TentLab, The Deuce of Spades cathole trowel (you can see the green trowel in the first photo). I figured if anyone got sick or had a dehydrated food that wasn’t agreeable, we should have more than one trowel. I also plan on hiking in Michigan at some point, so I really should have my own cathole trowel.

I keep thinking that I have all the gear I need but each year, when REI has a big sale, I find more camping/backpacking gear to buy. I know I’m going to get a titanium coffee mug for the next trip. My Primus mug that I boil water in stays too hot, making it hard to drink tea. I think I’m also going to shop for water-shoes. They’re useful for going through creeks and walking in the cold lakes to soothe sore feet.

I finally made it to the Birds of Prey Sanctuary in Boise. It was really interesting to see some of the birds there but the photos didn’t turn out too good. We are already thinking about where to hike next year.

ETA

Loud group across the lake

I forgot to mention that after the first night of peace and quiet, a group of about 12 adults and kids settled in across the lake from us. They were incredibly noisy. I mean, you hike to remote areas to escape such screaming and hollering. The adults seem to keep them from making noise too late into the night. We kept joking about ways to scare them away, such as running through their camp screaming “bear!, bear!”. We also thought about building a trebuchet to fling flaming poo. Yes, we were that annoyed.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/q4UYRb5ifEURa15P2