Readying the gear

We're getting ready to leave tomorrow for 4 days in the woods. My notions of what I need to bring on a 4 day backcountry trip are becoming ever more minimal. Where once I would have a backpack full of clothes when travelling say by train through Europe, I now have a backpack with a second pair of socks, rain jacket, 2 T-shirts and an extra pair of shorts ... alongside the kitchen (the food and water dwarf the stove and fuel), bathroom and first aid kit.

We're heading out tomorrow right after work. The itinerary:
Friday night: Cascade Inn so we get an early start the next morning.
Saturday: Park at Adirondack Loj, rent bear canisters, do final pack and head to Interior Outpost at Lake Colden. Set up camp and then time allowing hike up Iroquois via Boundary Peak (about 10 - 11 miles)
Sunday: Keep our camp set up and head on a big loop to hike up Marcy, Skylight and Haystack. Then back to our camp site for dinner and maybe a swim. (about 11 miles)
Monday: Break camp and hike via Mt Colden to Marcy Dam and set up camp there. (5 or so miles)
Tuesday: Final breakfast and leisurely hike out to Adirondack Loj. We'll be home in Ottawa sometimes later in the day/evening. (2 miles)

Backcountry camping in Adirondacks

We've added a day to this upcoming long weekend, so we will have 4 days for camping and hiking. The plan is to spend 4 nights hiking point-to-point in the High Peaks, moving our camp every day and bagging a few 46ers in the process.

This will give us a chance to test out and tune up the hiking/camping logistics regarding packing - with food (in mandatory bear-resistant canisters for everything that smells like food), kitchen, water and water treatment - and carrying the full packs over significant elevations and distances each day.

The thing I am nervous about is that we'll be camping in black bear country. I'm not eager to get roared at again by a black bear that is feeling a bit threatened or maybe just fed up, as we did a few years ago coming back from a day of climbing near Luskville in Gatineau Park. That encounter is indelibly seared in my memory. And frankly, I have not fully reconcile that experience partly due to the differing human reactions in that moment.

We'll see how we make out this weekend with every aspect of this excursion.

Packing update

After a second round of trial packing Jan decided to exchange the Deva 60 for the Deva 70 AND to get a small duffle bag for tent and sleeping pads for transit. Having the extra volume (69l vs 57l for the xs) will make a big difference to packing and repacking ease; and minimizing the chance of damage.

We'll also be looking at a couple of options for packing our backpacks, maybe in a duffle bag as well, so that the shaped belts and all the straps don't get damaged.

Trial packing

Jan just bought a new backpack. Actually, it's the same Gregory Deva I have just in a smaller size.

Friday night, we trial packed everything we have on our list. One aspect of the trip is being able to fly on planes and take public transport without too much worry about our gear. That requires that everything we bring fits inside our packs. With a tent, sleeping pads and kitchen - albeit a compact one! - that's obviously a challenge.

We learned that the list I'd made was almost 100% on. We needed to use our small day packs for some of the equipment to make it work The weight of the backpacks  is great with only about 35 to 40 pounds each on trial packing (Our target was 45 pounds), ie weight is not going to be a problem as long as we are disciplined, but volume is. While everything fit 'sort of', it makes the packs filled to the brim in a way that makes it worrisome for plane travel. Airlines don't exactly have a reputation for handling luggage with care.

One option is for Jan to get the same size pack as I have, which would giver her another 12 litres volume. This however, would not fix the part of about the super bulky packs, it just get everything in. Another is for us to bring a third bag (like a duffle), that we'd use for the bulky gear like the tent. That option would reduce risk of damage and loss in transit. The third option is to do both.

We'll do another trial pack today for option 2 to see whether that solves the issue.

Seems like a simple thing, but it actually has some consequences re: trip planning. When we don't have a hotel 'home base' because we are moving point to point, we'll most likely rely on more extensive back country support, ie guides and mules. For trips where we can leave things in storage, it's a different story. Besides, we'll lash bulky things to the outside of the packs for hiking in any case, giving us the interior needed space for food and water.

Next up - our packing list.

Spanish progress

In January I started learning Spanish. UNAM in Gatineau has been a great place to learn. My way tends to be grammar and vocabulary, instead of speaking and correction, and the university setting works well for that.

After completing the first two levels in a class, Jan and I have been doing Level 3 together in a private course, as no Spanish classes are on offer in the summer. We'll get through 3 of the 6 units by the end of July; the learning is progressive so there's a good mix of repetition, reinforcement and new pieces. 

UNAM closes for August vacation. I am planning on finishing Level 3 via self-study (it includes 2 new tenses, so I'll be looking for some additional resources online to figure this out) and  listening to Spanish-speaking radio - and maybe even watching some TV - online, and just using it more with Jan. 

Learning a new language, one I understood OK due to the other languages I know but never actually learned, has been a cool aspect of this trip preparation. 9 months of study and 3 months of 'immersion' hopefully will yield a workable Spanish.

Cordillera Real planning

I finally heard back from Bolivian Mountains guide company! They are one of the few we were able to track down online. I suppose, we could wait to do all the research when we are in Bolivia, but I think we prefer to figure out some of the more complex ideas beforehand.

The idea is a 13-day trek across the Cordillera Real, including some high passes and plenty of amazing views. Followed by heading onto Lake Titicaca.

We'll wait and see what they come back to us with.

Adirondacks brilliant on July weekend

We had an awesome weekend of hiking, climbing and a little bit of updating of equipment (new climbing harness!) on our latest training trip to the Adirondacks for the July long weekend (Canada Day July 1 and Independence Day July 4).

Here we are on the summit of Wright Peak. At 4,580' it is the 16th highest in the High Peaks, and one of few that features an alpine zone, with some amazingly resilient alpine vegetation. There is also a Summit Steward program in place to protect them via education of hikers and generally fascinating conversation.

We also made it out climbing one afternoon at the slabs of Notch Mountain off Highway 86 near Copperas Lake. It's one of our favourite spots. And as such a great place to introduce my niece to climbing. She did very well and coped with the stress and excitement of climbing up, rapping down and belaying very well. We pretty much gave her a 4-hour intensive climbing clinic followed by a great swim at Chapel Pond on Highway 73 past Keene Valley, near Giant Mountain.

As for trip training, I carried some big loads all 3 days. The biggest without doubt was the climbing day when I had 20+ kilos of climbing hardware and gear in my pack. Thank goodness that was only a short 30 minutes hike in!

Iridium 9555 satellite phone - our lifeline is confirmed

I just got confirmation from Iridium that they are giving us a satellite phone to use for our trip - for free! That's so fantastic. Like it says so aptly on their site: "The Iridium 9555 is engineered to withstand the world’s toughest environments, so the world’s toughest customers can depend on it as a critical lifeline wherever need takes them." We'll surely put it through its paces out there.


The 9555 only weighs 266 gr (9.4 oz)  -  long gone are the depictions of a sat phone as a big box. 
Now, on to working out how to keep it charged when we are off the grid, which will be a lot of the time.


Meanwhile, thanks Iridium!

El Bolsón, Argentina

We had a great time in this small town at the 42nd parallel in Northern Patagonia  in 2007.
This brief compendium offers a view into the heart of the town. (Click on images to enlarge)

1. Isometric ab-strengthening exercise - or just an odd thing to do in a park, before drinking up?

2. Piltriquitron Mountain - after Aconcagua base camp, we were still drawn to the mountains. This one not nearly so high :)

3. "To go or not to go" - this was a rather large horned animal roaming in the bushes

4. We opted "to go" ... for a beer in this funky in the middle-of-nowhere-in-particular spot just outside of El Bolsón. Check out the assorted stories unfolding on the wall - from Lennon and Ono to local ferias to...

5. Guy on bike with galloping horse ... for all I know this was the one I rode the next day up the Canyon Azul (I'd never even been on a horse before, and we decide to ride up a Canyon that was worth its name - I faked being relaxed and confident all day on that horse!)

6. Yes, finding the bus stop. That was a challenge. We eventually settled on this corner after we realized that one simply waves at the bus driver anywhere along his route and they stop for you. The lady who explained this to us was very nice ... 

Vaccines, Medications, out of country medical - check!

A significant step in our trip preparation is medical - and it's done now! We went to the Downtown Travel Clinic today for the consult with the travel doc - he's an interesting character who is both an athlete and a traveler; always interesting to talk to.

Reading the literature on all the nasty things one can get  from different kinds of mosquitoes, vampire bats and sand flees as well as ingesting contaminated water/food makes it easy to say YES to vaccines.

Today, we got covered re: vaccines.  We updated Typhoid and Hepatitis A vaccinations and added Yellow Fever. While we plan to be in the Andes, ie rather high, much of the time, we will be so close to the jungle that Jan's been promoting dropping down and spending a few days in the Peruvian or Bolivian jungle. Hence the mandatory Yellow Fever vaccination (good for 10 years)  as well as Malaria prevention pills. Those we'll take when we need them. We also got a vaccine that we'll take orally 2 weeks before we leave to protect from ecoli-related traveller's diarrhea - the vaccine lasts for 3 months (just the right amount).

We got prescriptions for a bunch of other fine medications as well as: something to help with altitude sickness, even though I think well-planned acclimatization is the most important aspect here. We also will take 3 different antibiotics: one for intestinal infection, one for breathing-related/bronchial infection and finally one for skin infections which can happen more readily in tropical climates like we'll encounter in Peru and Bolivia.

These plus a few painkillers and the normal first aid kit stuff means we'll be traveling with a respectable assortment of medical supplies to get us out of a jam while traveling  in remote areas.

We also just affirmed that the out-of-country medical coverage we already have takes care of most, if not all  (TBC), of our desires for medical assistance if we need it. We'll confirm whether strictly rescue would be covered, as that wasn't clear.

Jan and I both have been educated in Wilderness First Aid, which has affirmed our existing good appreciation for avoiding trouble, being safe, planning well and having all the adventures worth having. And, ironically maybe, we've had plenty of opportunity to practice certain first aid skills due to our years of inline speed skating. I sure know how to handle road rash!