Class list filled- Multifuel backpacking Stove, but…..

I don’t mind taking a few more people if folks still want to come down and build your stove. It’s going to be fun.  I have extra materials I can use, I’ll contact Adult Ed on Monday to let them know.  Worst case–> just contact me and then show up.  I don’t want big surprises.

One-night double wall, downdraft stove building workshop in Camden, Maine on October 16.

Here is a picture of what the stove will look like:

Further details about the stove itself are in this updated blog post from 2012.

  The evening will include an  introductory talk about some of the science and history of these stoves, which address the question of getting the most efficiency out of the unit.  This is a true multi-fuel stove,  suitable for also burning denatured alcohol and solid fuel tablets when wood is not available or is wet.  Because of the hands- on nature of the class it will be limited to 8 people.  Sign up!

Online registration here.

Uncle Tom’s CDT Packing List

Did I forget anything?Comments, please. All comments answered.

Packin’ the Porter

1. Pack Group:
1 Backpack – HMG Porter…………………                  31.0 ounces
Total……………………………………………..                   31. ounces =  1.9 lbs.

2. Shelter Group:
rain wrap                                                                         4.4 oz
rain jacket                                                                       8.0 oz
1 Tarptent -Moment —–                                            32 oz.
Total…………………………………………….         44.4  ounces  = 2.75 lbs

3. Sleeping Group:
1 down bag, Western Mountaineering/stuff sack, 20F             40.0 oz.
1 Ibex wool long sleeve zip T                                                           5.8 oz.
1 Ibex long tights                                                                                 5.4 oz
1 socks wool                                                                                      2.6 oz.
1 headlamp w/ batteries  ( Princeton Byte)                                2.1 oz.
1 stuff sack sil-nylon………………………                                          1.3 oz.
1 Exped Down mat                                                                          31.0 oz.
1 Exped Comfort pillow                                                                   8. oz
Total……………………………………………                  96.2 ounces  = 6.0 lbs.

4.  Clothing :
1 pr. wool socks                                                                          2.6 oz.
1 pr. Manzilla Windstopper gloves                                         2.2 0z.
1 Ibex wool hat                                                                           2.1 oz.
1 pr.  Patagonia mid weight stretch tights                            8.6 oz.
1 Pat. wool midweight long sleeve hoodie                              9.4 oz.
1 Western Mountaineering Hooded Flash Down jacket        9 oz.
1 pr. New Balance Minimus shoes                                         10.7    oz.
Total……………………………………………             44.6  ounces=  2.8 lbs.

5. Kitchen Group:
1 Steripen Adventurer                                                                   4.4 oz.
1  “Four Dog”  Bushcooker LT1 multifuel stove,
W/ titanium windscreen,
W/ Titanium cook pot 700 ml modified w/ lid               10 oz.
2 lighters…………………………………………….                       1.2 oz.
1 water bottle – used Gatorade bottle…                            1.7 oz.
1 qt. water bottle ( Tiki Mon)                                             5.4 0z.
1 Ursak Minor – food bag………….                                     2.7 oz.
abrasive scrub pad, Bronner’s soap                                   1.0 oz.
1 spork……………………………………                                      0.3 oz.
1 cup, bowl=Orikaso                                                            4.2 oz.
1 MSR coffee filter                                                                  0.6 oz.
2 bandannas………………………………………..                         2.0 oz.
1 length cord – 50′……………………………..                              2.5 oz.
Total………………………………………….      36.  ounces     =        2.25  lbs.

6. Hygiene Group:
1 small pack towel……………………………..                                     1.3 oz.
1 bottle hand cleaner                     …………                                1.3 oz.
1 small zip lock………………………………….                                      1.3 oz
w/ floss, vitamins, ointment, emery boards
1 partial roll toilet paper……………………..                                 2.0 oz.
1 Baby wipes                                                                                  2.0 oz.
1 chap stick                                                                                     0.2 oz.
1 disposable razor                                                                           0.1 oz.
1 small child toothbrush……………………..                                         0.5 oz
1 small tube tooth paste…………………….                                         0.7 oz.
Total……………………………………………..             9.4  ounces  =  0.6 lbs

7. Electronics:
1    iPhone with headphones,  wall charger and connector          6.6 oz.
1    Panasonic Lumix  DMC-FX-07 Digital Camera w/ charger  14.5 oz
1       Solio solar charger w/ wall charger                       8.8 oz.
Total……………………………………………..29.9 ounces  =                1.9  lbs

8. Navigation:
Maps,  pages, pencil
wearing:
1 cap
1 pr. sunglasses
1 Ibex wool zip-t
1 pr. synthetic underwear
1 pr. Patagonia shorts
1 pr.  socks
1 pr. On the Beach/  boots
1 pr. gaiters
1 pr. Leki poles
total packed weight, dry, without food, maps               17.8    pounds

Big week of preparing for the CDT

There are exactly two months left before I’m actually walking on the Continental Divide Trail. Weeks go by where I don’t do much to get ready for this trip, but these past few days saw a major ramp up in my actions. Of course there had been a couple days worth of blizzard here in Maine to help keep me inside, but that’s OK. Here’s a glimpse of the CDT-hiking-related tasks I’ve addressed this week:

Trail planning:-
-plane ticket to El Paso Purchased for April 16.
-Found out that I’ll just miss the Sunset Unlimited Amtrack west (by an hour) from El Paso when I reach the airport. The next Amtrak west will be two days later. Plan B = the Greyhound bus to Deming, arriving early evening.
-Reserved room at Deming motel ( 1 block from bus station).
-The Columbus route starts south of Columbus. Arranged supports from Keith Schwarzer to drive us 55 miles south to get there.
-Contacted The Weatherman to confirm meeting at Yellowstone
-Did research to determine date we’d hit Doc Campbell’s
-Transferred the outlines of each of Ley’s Columbus route maps onto New Mexico Delorme’s pages for quick reference.
-Purchased Bear Creek’s SD cards to go w/ GPS. ( Already purchased map set in 2012, and the upgrade book 2013). Contacted Jerry Brown about eTrex30 details.

Gear:
-sprayed Vegigators with rain repellant.
-Ordered Exped comfort foam pillow (6 oz.) from Amazon
-Reassembled repaired Arc’teryn Altra 65 backpack
-Practiced taking photos with StickPic
-Tweeted a question about high capacity/low weight iPhone backup battery/case

Food:
-major order forwarded to sponsor Four Dog Stove- 50 Mountainhouse freeze dried dinners, assorted Mountainhouse lunches and breakfasts, additional map order (BLM and Delorme Wyoming), 2 cases of Coghlan solid fuel tabs ( hexamine).

Body:
-hernia surgery done on Friday
-scheduled podiatrist appointment

My Personal Challenges of Aging

It’s happening again.
I am headed into an unplanned surgery this coming Friday to repair a hernia. Bummer. I will be on a much reduced program of healing for as long as 6 weeks. I have a plane ticket already purchased for a flight from Maine to El Paso on April 16, when I cobble together rides to reach the Mexico border at Chihuahua , then turn around and start a 3,000 backpacking walk to Canada, over the Continental Divide Trail.
How did I get into this situation? I even had a physical at the beginning of December when I asked to be checked for a hernia on my left side. My physician did the deed, I coughed, and she told me that I did not have a hernia.
I’m sort of an expert in this questionable skills area, as I have already experienced three hernias on my right side. I told her that I had been feeling fatigue in my lower abdomen for some time- not pain, but an awareness that that part of my body begins to ache when I hike all day.
Thankfully, she was not defensive, and suggested that I contact a surgeon to get a second opinion. Enter Dr. Paine. He was booked solid for many weeks, so I requested to be put on the wait list for a call. This past week, I was home working at my desk when that call came in at 10:20 AM for an 11:00 opening. It took Dr. Paine all of 1 second to tell me I had a hernia. When I explained about my hiking plans, he assisted the secretaries in bumping people around to fit me in for the surgery this week. Good man.
I have several physical concerns that are a part of my life. Granted, I’m healthy, with no known diseases that require prescription medication. I do have a chronic Vitamin D deficiency that has not improved after three years of various D3 treatments, including 50,000 unit capsules. Other than that, I’m the picture of vigor.
However, not all is rosy. I’m wearing out!

Here’s a graphic representation of what’s going on (as of today):

The Real Story

1- Repair chronic shoulder impingement syndrome, including trim of collarbone- date @ 1986
2-Surgery to remove arthritis and repair suspected torn rotator cuff ( 2006)- cuff was fine, “You have the shoulder of a man in his 80’s” Complete shoulder replacement predicted to be necessary between 2011- 2014.
3-Three right side hernias ( same location)- 1966, 1972, 1982. OK now.
4-Hernia repair scheduled for 2/15/13 ( Friday!).
5-Bone on bone situation in wrist, w/ chronic pain in 2001. Surgery recommended to cut and remove section of my forearm bone, and install metal plate with screws holding it in to alter wrist function, trim arthritis from wrist. Declined.
6-Right knee- traditional surgery to remove torn meniscus- 2 large open incisions. No further issues. 1980’s?
7-Left knee- arthroscopic surgery to remove torn meniscus – good repair- 1994
8- Chronic inflammation of 2nd metatarsal in foot-> nerve damage- surgery suggested going in through the top of the foot- Declined. Orthotics prescribed and used. The damage was due to a biomechanical gait problem which I have worked to correct after two years.

So I plan to ask my doctor to give me highly specific directions of how far I can walk, when I can increase mileage, and what I can lift in the 6 weeks it will take me to heal. I have agreed to have my wife, Marcia, come in with me and hear what he tells me. I have NO interest in blowing this recovery. Even if I require the full 6 weeks to heal, I will have three weeks to fully train for the hike. In the past I have healed much sooner than expected, but I’m older now. Dr. Paine told me that I should be able to start backpacking in mid- April, and I plan to be a good patient and be in flight on April 16, and in decent shape. I’ve looked at the elevation profiles for the first week and it’s fairly flat, which should help.

Core workout before big blizzard pays off !

1,600 pounds dry hardwood = 80 gallons propane

Single digit temperatures, a bare porch, and a blizzard on the way? Better get active.
I moved a half cord of firewood yesterday afternoon before the next “possible snow storm of the century” hit coastal Maine. Big hype?
My tractor’s trailer failed me after the trailer’s tire slipped off the rim as I was driving a full load of wood up the hill to my enclosed porch. I had a couple of hours before dark, so I went to plan B, which was push, lift, turn, and restack with the help of the trusty wheelbarrow. I managed to move 18 barrow loads of dry hardwood until there was no more wood to reclaim before it would have been buried under lots of white crystalline water.

Was it worth it? YUP!

#1- We may lose power here, with the possibility of very strong winds during the storm. The heat from our wood stoves are not dependent on electricity. There is also NO COMPARISON to the comfort of a stoked and glowing a wood stove to the meager blasts from the duct work of a hot air furnace.
#2- I did a quick bit of research this morning. Our furnace is fueled by propane. One half cord of dry hardwood is the equivalent of 80 gallons of propane. Since my last charge for a gallon was $3.00, that half cord on my porch is worth $240. Much of that load was free, as I harvested the trees here on on our property. But even if I paid the current cost of $200 a cord for split and delivered hardwood, which I do some years, I still would have saved $140.
#3- Core workout accomplished.

What it’s like to hike the Continental Divide Trail

See for yourself. Check out the following 2 hour and 28 minute documentary from Simon Cook, trail name- Cookie. He describes himself as a designer, illustrator, and occasional adventurer. It’s no nonsense, no in-town footage, no dumb stuff. I like the way the sections of trail are broken down into mileages, wih accompanying dates of travel.

Continental Divide Trail – 2 Hour Version from Simon Cook on Vimeo.

I enjoyed the video for a second time last night. I took quick notes ( thank you, pause button) and then spent a couple of more hours with Yogi’s CDT Planning Guide . I have come up with a tentative list of eight food/supplies/batteries packages to send to myself along the 3,000 CDT.

Genuine homework

Those eight boxes will hold 40 days worth of food, at an average of two pounds per day. That leaves 110 days of meals and supplies that I’ll obtain by walking off the CDT and then hitching or walking into varying levels of resupply options, ranging from full-blown emporiums like a large supermarket in larger towns to gas station/convenience stores with you know what ( candy, chips, pastries, Slim Jims, canned food) to fill up the backpack and the stomach.

Coming up on the 2013 CDT Action Plan is putting together a Mountainhouse Foods order for those 40 days worth of meals.

Getting into Snowshoeing

Excellent snowshoeing conditions are going to end. It’s been great, white, fluffy, deep. I have been out four times in the past week or but showers and forty degree temps are expected for the next three days. It’s a primal shuffle that you get into out there, a gait that has been practiced for thousands of years in this part of the world.
Snowshoeing is more difficult than regular walking, while still a satisfying way to move about the winter country.
Sectionhiker just posted an excellent, brief, and accurate Beginner’s Guide to Snowshoeing. Required reading !
Rick and I spent three hours last night walking up to the top of Ragged Mountain from the Hope Street parking lot access to the Highland Path. Here’s the map:

Hope Street up to Ragged

Last night, it was cold, with winds up to 25 miles and hour. Rick and I were there by 5 , decided to head all the way up to the top, and felt we could be out by 8 PM. We never reached the summit. On the way up near the top, we missed a turn. The trail petered out and we realized we were truly bushwhacking. At this point we had been out for close to a couple of hours, the temps were dropping, and my headlight was not burning particularly brightly. So we backtracked our way back down. Here’s a bleak (but brief) video clip from that point.

It’s 2013: The Continental Divide Trail beckons!

Artwork by Michelle Ray

Today, it’s officially 2013 and time to take action toward my latest big-deal adventure: backpacking the Continental Divide Trail ( CDT). I’ve got 3 months and 15 days to pull things together. I already have my plane tickets. I had air miles accumulating from my credit card for the past 5 years so the flight from Portland, ME to El Paso, TX cost me just $10 as did the trip back to Portland from Bozeman, MT on October 1.

In the past 6 years I have completed three thru-hikes: the Appalachian Trail in 2007, the Pacific Crest Trail in 2010, and Vermont’s Long Trail in 2011. Readers can access my daily Trailjournals from these journeys on Trailjournals.com, or click the hot links on the right side of my blog to get there.

On March 27, 2007 on my first day on the AT I met General Lee and then encountered Richard Wizard a couple of weeks later. We and several others held up as a “AT family” that eventually reached Katahdin together. We’ve forged life-long bonds and we reunited to complete the PCT in 2010, and in Lee’s case, the Long Trail as well. Lee is from Georgia, and Wizard from Texas. On the trail, we’re known as MeGaTex, and all three of us are on “ the bus” for this one, plus other people that I’ll introduce you to in the weeks ahead.

I started a blog in 2008, after I enjoyed writing about the daily adventures on the AT. Between my trail journals and my WordPress blog site I have racked up over a half million “hits” from readers. I’ve been rewarded many fold for my time spent whacking away at these keyboards, sending out my thoughts from the house or in the tent. The kickbacks just keep on coming. So, just to be perfectly clear- I’ll take any and all the help I can get.

So far, I’ve spent close to $500 on maps about this “King of Trails”, which is of undetermined length, ranging somewhere between 2,700 and 3,100 miles. It’s undetermined because it is not like the AT or the PCT, or the LT. It’s undetermined because the trail is only 70% complete, and 58% complete in the most northern state of Montana. You get choices to go high, go low, go over mountains, or walk riverbeds, or walk roads. The one defining characteristic about the CDT that makes it especially challenging is the tendency for hikers to lose the trail. It’s unmarked and unsigned, for sections as long as a couple of hundreds of miles. Depending on the depth of winter snows, the trail generally gets buried in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.

Right from the start, you get to choose three starting points along the Mexico/ New Mexico border. I’ve been spending the last month familiarizing myself with the New Mexico maps, and still am not sure I understand where the trail goes. For example, I have the latest 2009 edition of the New Mexico Delorme Atlas and Gazatteer where I believe there have been major changes from the Acoma Indian Reservation below the town of Grants all the way up to the Colorado border, and that’s 1/3 of the CDT in Mexico. I’m concerned about the fact that New Mexico is mostly a barren desert and that natural water sources are as much as 150 miles apart.
I plan to update my official Trailjournal at least once weekly as April approaches.

Adventure Cycling: Top 10 Most Popular Blog Posts Ever, 2012 Edition

This time of year, my Twitter feed is jamming up with “Top Ten” lists from 2012. While I think it’s great to compile the best from the avalanche of information that’s that’s cascading over us, most of it is just clever advertising.

That being said, I am filtering through and blogging up the good lists. Here’s one:

Adventure Cycling Association: Top 10 Most Popular Blog Posts Ever, 2012 Edition.

My last post, the “Cycling Eight“, came from this Adventure Cycling Association list. I can see where my interest in both bicycling and camping is headed. I am not a member of the ACA, but I just requested a trial issue of their magazine.

I really enjoyed three off this ACA list: The Cycling Eight, A Fat Tire Year-Touring on a Pugsley, and #4 Ten Things You Don’t Need.

I decided to modify the “10 Things You Don’t Need” to address backpacking.
1) You don’t need an expensive backpack. I have a pricey Arc’teryx and customer service has been a curse. Never again. Best to have something that fits well. Most packs hold up, even used ones.
2) You don’t need special Goretex/waterproof backpacking boots. They’ll plague you with blisters. Go with lighte, breathable alternatives.
3) You don’t need lots of money. In 2007, I thru hiked the AT with Lifetraveler, who also completed the trail in 5-and-1/2 months on just $2,000, and one pair of boots.
4) You don’t need “backpacking clothing”. You can outfit at a Goodwill. If stuff wears out go back.
5) You don’t need multiple sets of spare clothing. I use one set. When I reach a washer and drier, I change into my rain gear and wait for my clothes to clean and dry. If it is warm out, water sources can be a place to get water to wash, and the sun works well as a drier.
6) You don’t need a lot of stuff to cook and eat with. I use 1 pot, one spoon, and a cup.
7) You don’t even need to be physically fit. I just watched “Walking the Great Divide“, where three guys each lost at least 20 pounds in their first three weeks of backpacking. You start slow and get more efficient. Weekend warriors may need to be in better shape.
Time for me to get out and shovel away a half foot of snow.

Fresh powder out the front door

Hiking and Biking in December

Crazy weather here in coastal Maine in December.
I do what I can, trying for daily outdoor sessions.
A couple of days ago, it was still raining, but I had to get out-  I did a 4 mile hike from the house around Moody Pond. We’ve had 4 inches of rain here in the last week.  I started out walking down the abandoned Proctor Road, which is just a stream on top of mud.

Proctor Road

After I leaped over a stream, I cut onto a snowmobile trail that led to the “closed” Martin’s Corner Road, where I was careful to stay out of the water here.

Blow down on Martin’s Corner Road

This was a big blow down from the wind a couple of days ago, which gusted to 60 MPH.   I was afraid I might get electrocuted, so I pushed through thick brush where I scratched my legs on the briars.
Here’s a map of the hike.  My house is just at the edge of the map, up top.

Yesterday the thermometer read 21 degrees when I left the house to join 8 other Bubbas for our regularly scheduled Sunday ride.  Nate said that we’ve been able to get some good miles out each month this year, even through last winter. There was some mud out here in the lower portions of the ride, but major ice flows on the long exposed ledges up on the top of Mt. Pleasant.  Not many of us were even willing to try and ride up, and chance a bone-crushing fall on the solid ice.  Hike-a-bike is what I call it.

Nelson, Eric, and Jason on the windblock

This was also the first time that we took an alternate route back down, heading way right off the summit, and snaking our way over abandoned jeep trails interspersed with dry steep granite, and low growing shrubs. Scary steep in places, but my trust in momentum and tire adhesion worked again.
I chose my fat-tired Pugsley for this ride.  It continues to shine in these in-between-seasons conditions.

Eric, Nelson, and Craig Mac on the powerline

Lately, I have been able to keep ascending through muddy climbs and rocky stuff, even passing some of the guys who usually toast me when it’s dry and grippier.  Love the white bike!
The best part of the ride for me today was the long descent at the end.  You can see it starting on the elevation profile below, right about the 5.4 mile mark.   I was riding behind Rigger, who waited for me half-way down. I like to follow him, because he’s excellent at picking good lines through impossible stuff.   There have been some serious crashes on this downhill over the years ( Nelson comes to mind), so we all continue to watch out for each other.
I had some battery left in my iPhone, so I  inserted the headphones, cranked up the volume, and had Neil Young and the Horse as my soundtrack for the ride out to the car.  Do check out “Driftin’ Back”, the 27 minute extravaganza off Mr. Young’s  most recent CD, “Psychedelic Pill”.  I thank my peretually-musically-enhanced buddy Lock for being persistent in bringing Mr. Young to my ride today, and most every day this December.
The weaving through the winter countryside was magical today.  I even pulled some holiday spirit back home with me.