Brett on Stuff

Occasionally something comes along in the outdoor industry that re-invents your previous perception on the world.

For me, this is one of them. At first sight it’s a nice looking puffy jacket. But that’s a winter thing right? They’re heavy. Then someone picks up said puffy jacket and throws it at  you. You put you hand out ready to catch a pound or so of duck-filled garment and them – boom. Not what you expected. It’s like a helium balloon just brushed against your hand. Where did the weight go? This doesn’t make sense. It’s thick and puffy, and warm – but it doesn’t weigh anything. Huh?

And so began my $160 love affair with the Montbell Ex Light Jacket. Not to be confused with its heavier cousin the Montbell UL Jacket, this sucker weighs in at a scant 5.7 oz for a Medium. But don’t expect any frills – like pockets or hemmed waists.

I wore this whenever I had a chance on the Wonderland Trail. Rest stops – camp, heck I even slept in it on most nights. It’s a perfect compliment to my lightweight summer bag when things get a little chilly at night to ensure I’m snug as a bug in a rug.

Granted, I’ve spent more time in this Jacket off the mountain at this point. It’s so snug, so cozy that I’ve been living in it for most of the winter.

This jacket replaces my Bozeman Cocoon Vest, as for 0.4 oz more it packs a whole lot more warmth.  The trade-off is that I’m more vulnerable to rain as the Cocoon was synthetic and this is down, but one I’m willing to risk.

South Puyallup River –> Mowich Lake

Total Distance: 21.7 mi
Date: 9/5/2009

Indoor Swimming Pool

I woke up around 6:30 to the feel of wet feet. It rained hard in the night, and the area we pitched the Tarp Tent was not a good one. A huge puddle of standing water formed at the bottom of the tent and because I have a 1st generation Cloudburst without the bathtub floor – it overflowed the ground sheet and came a few feet into the tent. With a lightweight down sleeping bag, this would have been unfortunate. Luckily for us – we were planning on being off the trail tonight – so it didn’t matter too much.

Coffee In Bed

I got up and pulled our food sacks down in the pouring rain. As it turns out, it isn’t so easy to hold and Umbrella and bear-pole stick at the same time with a heavy bag full of food on the end. The bag and the pole toppled over, my umbrella slipped out of my hand and the bag crashed down on it. Fortunately it didn’t do any damage – but it was a good reminder of how fragile ultralight gear is, and how one mistake can lead to discomfort the rest of the trip.

Nigel was the hero of the morning, he got the stoves going and made everyone coffee in bed.

Three Believers and the Heathen

We packed up our soggy tents in the rain and broke camp around 8:30 am. The rain was pouring and the river was swollen now – very different than the tranquil river I sat by last night to clean my feet – it was a raging torrent.

On Nigels recent TGO crossing – Nigel took an umbrella with him (based on my advise), and found it utterly useless. The exposure and sideways rain of the Scottish highlands is a far cry from the wind-sheltered forests of the Pacific Northwest. So Nigel chose not to bring a brolly on the WT, deciding that his goretext suit worked well in Scotland, so why not repeat the same technique again? Tim, Dave and I all had brollies.

The climb up to Klapatche was long – and it was a cold morning. Knowing this, I left camp in a T-shirt and shorts – assuming I’d warm up a lot on the climb. It was a frustrating climb as a group – as Nigel tended to overheat in his raingear if he moved too fast – and so kept a moderate pace. The brolly brigade tended to burn up the climb to keep warm, but then get chilled waiting for Nigel to catch up. It was a good lesson to try and match techniques to keep a similar pace. On the rest of the hike sans rain – we had all been perfectly matched pace-wise.

Bear Encounter

As we were climbing up to Kaplatche we saw a big black bear about 300ft below us in a valley. We stopped to watch him and after a while he looked up directly at us. We waved our arms and made some noise and he bolted off up the other side of the valley. It was scary how fast he ran uphill.

A Quick Snack

At Kaplatche Park Camp – the weather turned foul. It was chilly cold, the rain poured and the wind howled. We hid behind a tree each for shelter and quickly munched down a snack. It was a bleak place today. As soon we we re-fueled, we hit the trail again.

As we crested the ridge there were signs of an old forest fire long ago. The visibility was very poor – maybe five or ten feet in front of us. Had we been up here in the snow, it would have been very difficult to navigate our way.

The rain pounded down as we made a big dropping decent into North Puyallup Camp. At camp there was a set of old walls and remains and a big bridge crossing over a strong creek. We stopped here for a short snack, to try and boost morale and get our energy back up.

As we started the very long decent to Golden Lakes, the vegetation sprung up and soaked our lower bodies. The hands-free brolly technique worked well with poles and kept us dry and comfortable. Although after so many hours of sustained rain, Nigel was getting tired of his sweaty Gore-Tex and longed for an Umbrella himself.

Golden Lakes

Finally we arrived at Golden Lakes and the “Sunset Park Patrol Cabin”. Tim and raced off and arrived a good fifteen minutes ahead of the rest of us and was hanging out by himself on the front porch. Tim swore he heard someone in the cabin washing dishes – but it appeared empty by the time we got there.

We wandered around camp to see the lake – but there wasn’t much to see. It was eerie and visibility was very low. At first what appeared to be a cliff and a steep drop off – we realized was the actual shore of the lake. doh!

We sheltered on the porch of the cabin and unpacked our gear. Searching for drier socks for our soggy feet – we undertook some extensive foot care. I used Hydropel on the trip with great success. Even with soggy wrinkled feet – no signs at all of blistering. A far-cry from our Pasayten Trip last year where multiple blisters plagued me for most of the trip.

The builders tea got brewed again on the porch together with a bowl or two of oatmeal. It was around 2:30pm – but we still had a long 11 miles ahead of us.

While we sat at the Cabin – we lamented at the fact that we had passed no-one all day at this point. Surely there must be someone going the other way?

Too Close for Comfort

After a refreshing break, we hit the trail again. We started the long seven miles decent and got into a groove – racing down the hill at a considerable pace. I was a little ahead – maybe a hundreds yards or so from the others. As I turned a corner, I heard a rustling in the blueberry bushes just off to my right. I stopped dead in my tracks and was looking at a mamma bear and cub about 30ft up hill from me. They both were looking up and staring. Instinct took over and I shouted “bear” and started clacking my poles together over my head.   Before I knew it – the others had caught up and were also clacking poles and yelling at the top of their lungs. The baby bear started to run – fortunately uphill away from us, but mamma bear stood up to get a better look at us. A long twenty or thirty seconds of yelling and howling ensued, and finally – mamma turned and ran after her cub.

(Photo for ‘effect’ – by Steve Oliver)

We took away a few lessons from the encounter:

1. It’s always better to make a little noise hiking in bear territory than sneak up on one at speed (I knew this academically, but it’s difference with experience). We spent the rest of the decent singing loudly to avoid another such encounter.

2. Ultra-light titanium hiking poles make a pathetically whimpy noise when clacked together.

3. It’s probably always best to let Tim run on ahead.

North and South Mowich

The rain stopped half way down – which made hiking more pleasant, but the decent was brutal. Nigel’s knee started giving him a lot of grief – so we took all the heavies out of his pack and spread them amongst the group so we could all keep an even pace still.

Eventually we hit the bottom of the trail and started the cross the Mowich Rivers. They were quite swollen – but the crossing logs were still in place, and we crossed over without incident.

It was around 5:30pm when we crossed by the Mowich River Campground. We ran into a group of 3 hikers that were heading up to Golden Lakes for the night. We warned them about the bear – but didn’t envy their long climb – it would surely be dark by the time they reached camp.

Ready to be done – we started the final 3.2 mile push up to Mowich Lake. It was more of a climb than we expected – but we pushed on – munching down our abundance of snacks.

Permits Please

Finally at about 7pm, we arrived at the fork in the Trail where we turned off a week earlier – and then minutes later at the parking lot.

We ran into a ranger at the lot – who checked our permits for the first and only time on the entire trip.

As we hiked down the road back towards the car – we looked back to see the mountain peaking out between the trees with clear blue skies behind it.

Celebratory Beer

On the way home we stopped at the Rainier Bar & Grill in Enumclaw. Kudos to the delightful wait staff that graciously did not cover their noses with disgust every time they walked past our stinky table.

Tim ordered the world biggest burger. I think he was more afraid of this, than he was the momma bear. Washed down with several beers, it was a nice end to a spectacular trip.

One Thing for Next Time?

Over beers – when asked what single item would you bring along next time, the votes came in at:

Nigel: Brolly

Tim: Immodium

Brett: Wool T-Shirt

Dave:  Silnylon ass-less chaps

[Phew – I’m done. Only took me four months to write up this trip. Did I mention how much less time I have on my hands now that I’m a Dad? Is it summer yet?]

Paradise River –> South Puyallup River

Total Distance: 14.6 mi
Date: 9/4/2009

A Stir in Camp

The morning started average enough. Wake up, go for a pee, get the stove going start to make breakfast etc etc. That is, until Dave decide that it would be a brilliant idea to accidentally knock his cup over, next to the wasp nest entrance – and watched it tumble into the opening.

Almost every wasp in the nest decided to come for a little visit to see what the commotion was. We backed away and kept a little distance. After five minutes or so, they decided that Daves cup wasn’t a big threat and slowly started flying back into the nest. Whew.

A hasty pace

Today our plan was to make it to Devils Dream – and there was a big climbing coming out of Longmire. We got on the trail relatively early and Tim took charge of the situation – setting a ferocious pace for the 3 1/2 miles to Longmire. We passed by Cougar Rock Campground and the trail paralleled the road for quite some time. After being up high the last few days – I found this very distracting – hearing cars ripping by – took away from our ‘wilderness’ experience.

On the last hill down to Longmire there is an old wooden pipe wrapped with metal bands. I assume this was used to feed water into Longmire at some point.

Longmire

For many Longmire is a great rest-stop – a point of resupply and a home cooked meal. We were just passing through so wanted a weather report and to dump some trash (mostly those beer bottles from last night). As we re-stocked on provisions yesterday we didn’t even plan for lunch.

Coming off the trail in Longmire – it was easy to locate the ranger cabin – so we stopped in to get a weather update and let them know the toilets were overflowing at Maple Creek.

A Change of Plans

The weather update wasn’t good. NOAA had issued a severe weather warning for the mountain. A cold front was moving in and heavy rains and snow were forecast. Daytime temperatures in even in lower elevations were forecast in the low 40s. Hard to imagine given how nice it was outside this morning.

We weighed up our options – we weren’t really prepared for any extensive snow travel and the idea of spending more days on the trail in socked in rain didn’t sound that inviting. However, we wanted to complete the loop. As our pace had been so relaxed at this point – we decided to see if we could change camps, add some more mileage each day and get out a day or two early.

The original plan was:

Day 6: Paradise –> Devils Dream
Day 7: Devils Dream->
Day 8: Klapatche Park –> Golden Lakes
Day 9: Golden Lakes –> Mowich Lake [Exit]

After evaluating several options, we settled on the following:

Day 6: Paradise –> South Puyallup
Day 7: South Puyallup–> Mowich Lake [Exit]

A big push to Puyallup today before the skies open and then a long wet hike out tomorrow. Sounds doable if not down right fun.

The permits were changed, and the plans were locked. We went off to the store to fill up our water bladders. Shaving two days off our plans meant we had an abundance of food – so we dumped the excess at Longmire to save weight.

Onwards and Upwards

Back on the trail we started the long climb up to Devils Dream. The five mile climb whizzed by and rain started to fall as we reached the campsite. We stopped under the shelter of our umbrellas and trees and had lunch and piping hot builders tea to boost morale again.

Devils Dream was a nice big camp with a deluxe toilet. However it was dry and the nearest water was quite far back, it also felt like it would be a bug-haven earlier in the season.

Indian Henry’s

Beyond Devils dream, we climbed up into some stunning meadow areas. We hiked past Indian Henry’s Cabin and the surrounding “hunting grounds”. I’d seen pictures of this area before and it looked stunning – so it was an section of the trip I was really looking forward to. Not today. It was drizzly, the clouds were low and gray and the flowers were all gone. Not the picturesque meadow with crystal blue skies on the pics I saw We swore that we would all come back and if not do the whole loop again – at least section-hike this area on a stellar day.

Anything that lacked in views was certainly compensated by taste of the amazing blueberries. Dave and I feasted again and filled up a little bag for breakfast.

Tahoma Crossing

After Indian Henry’s, the trail dropped down and took us over the mighty Tahoma Creek via suspension bridge. The flood damage was extensive below. If this was a “creek” – I’d hate to see a river

Lunar Experience

After the crossing, the trail climbed up a section of glacial moraine and into a radically different world. The forest was gone and the landscape changed into a surreal lunar-like volcanic kingdom. The area was breathtaking and makes one feel small and inconsequential. It felt as if giant back-hoes had been here and tore up the entire side of the mountain – the vegetation was so sparse. Accompanied with a nice break in the weather – it made for a pleasant place to linger.

We took a “side trip” to a nearby hill to get a better view – from the top we could see all the way to Mt. Hood. Here we stopped for a while to load up on snacks and water. Dave broke out the map and tried to figure out how long before we hit camp. It was late in the day – almost 6pm by now.

In the distance on the other side the ridge we saw a cluster of white dots. They looked like they were moving – a quick zoom with Tims lens and we confirmed a herd of eight mountain goats.

Moving on, we made a long and hasty decent back into forest. The terrain was treacherous here – and a fall would be fatal. We sure were glad not to be hiking this section in any kind of snow.

South Puyallup Camp

We arrived at South Puyallup around 6:30pm. We pitched out tents in the only remaining camp – and went to scout out water. Water access was minimal – and we had to hike back up the trail to get some. I scrambled down to the river via the group site and washed my feet in the cloudy glacial run-off.

Back at camp – Nigel and Tim had the stoves going, and out came the Chicken Tikka once more. This time Tim and I got to try it – with lots of left over mountain bread to soak it down.

No soon had we cleaned up, hung out food the rains started to fall. All four of us huddled up inside Nigels Lunar Duo to play a game of spades and tuck in to the generous re-supply of whiskey that Dave picked up yesterday.

Huge props to Nigels’ Lunar Duo – amazing that there was enough space for four people to sit up comfortably. I’ll never be able to do that in the Cloudburst tarp tent…

A colleague at work has recently been looking into outdoor clothing companies that make products in the North America vs. almost everyone else that makes then in China.

Here’s a list of his favorites – and some new ones to me:

http://www.wildthingsgear.com
http://www.featheredfriends.com
http://www.nunatakusa.com
http://www.integraldesigns.com
http://westernmountaineering.com

I received 25 comments on the post – so entered the number into http://www.random.org/ and let it do the hard work for me….

The lucky number came up as …. 3

So… the winner is: Lighthiker.

Congrats to the winner and thanks to everyone for participating and the kind words.

I really purged my gear pile – so more freebies to come in the near future…

I’m spring cleaning…. (yes – I know it’s Fall…) and sorting through my outdoor gear. I have a GoLite Breeze up for grabs. This pack was the predecessor to the Jam and based on Ray Jardine’s original design in Beyond Backpacking. It’s a very light no frill pack and in excellent (used) condition.

Read this GoLite Breeze Review for more info.

How do you win? Simply submit a comment on this post and include your email address (so I can contact you for sending info…) when you do. I’ll pick a lucky winner at random on Friday.

Oh – and you have to agree to reimburse me for postage costs.

Maple Creek –> Paradise River

Total Distance: 7.4 mi (10.6 mi Unofficial)

A Soggy Start

The rain slowed to a trickle in the early morning so we hopped up and took advantage of the lull to grab some breakfast. The toilets were so overflowing in Maple Creek that we decided not to contribute to the problem and broke out the trowel and “set up camp” in the nearby clearing.

After packing away the soggy tent, we broke camp around 9:30.

The trail started out innocent enough – traversing Stevens Creek in the woods. Soon we came across badly conditioned sections of the trail – lots of washouts and erosion from flooding with make-shift paths around.

The overgrowth was wet and made for a soggy morning stroll. We powered on and soon put the easy miles to the lakes behind us. The trail crossed the road several times on the way to Reflection lakes – with the occasional car rolling by.

At Myrtle Falls a bridge was out and a big tree had been felled to create a temporary bridge.

Reflectionless Lake

We passed by Lake Louise and arrived a Reflection Lakes a little before noon. Today was our resupply day and my brother Craig had graciously agreed to take the afternoon off work to drive out and meet us at Reflection Lake – which I assured him would have stunning photogenic views of the mountain.

At noon, it was very cold, drizzly and windy. The lake was a hopeless display of ripples with nothing but white-cloud on the horizon behind it.

Our plan was to “meet Craig between 3pm and 4pm and if he didn’t show up by 6pm – assume he’s not coming”. We had over three hours to kill. We filled up water in a nearby creek and decided that in order to keep warm – a side-trip was in order – after all – this was a very short day.

“Pinnacle Peak” lay right behind us with a mere 2.6 mi round-trip. At least the climb would keep us warm even if there was nothing to see up top.

The Path to Pinnacle

As we climbed the route to Pinnacle peak, the wind really whipped up. My windproof came on and off and on and off as I struggled to maintain a comfortable temperature on the climb.

After a mile or so, the climb opened up and the clouds lifted a little also. We could see Pikas and Marmots all over the place.

The Pikas were hard at work gathering grass and leaves and piling them up on top and in-between the rocks into little nests. According to tracker Tim – they stash it in piles they can reach between the rocks when the snow falls and blankets the area.

As we reach the top – a sign warned us to tread lightly.

Lunch at Pinnacle

The view off the backside of Pinnacle wasn’t bad – the weather was clearing a little. We stopped for a quick lunch break, after which Tim wandered off to snap some photos, while I followed the path along the far ridge.

Dave and Nigel stayed put and got the Builders Tea going again.

I walked along the ridge for a while alone and then stopped by a grove of trees to peer down in the valley. The clouds were higher on this side and the views were expansive. I stared down into the sides of the valley trying to see if I could see any wildlife movement. Perhaps it was my time to spot a bear in the distance. No bears – but far off I could see black clouds forming with sheets of rain pouring out of them backed by bright sunlight -it was very dramatic. The base of Mt. Adams was visible also – albeit the summit was lost in cloud.

The Mountain Exposed

After taking it all in for ten minutes or so, I started walking back towards the others. I could see Dave and Nigel facing me – perched near the crest of a ridge sipping on their freshly brewed tea. Completely oblivious to the situation – behind them was Mt. Rainier in all its glory. The clouds had lifted for a moment and the sky was perfectly blue behind the perfect summit.

I waved and shouted at Nigel and Dave – in case the clouds came back in an instant and they missed it. At first they just waved back – then they thought I had gone mad as I jumped and yelled and pointed. Eventually they twigged and turned around to see it.

I caught up with them, and they filled a mug for me – and we climbed a few more feet to the ridge line and stood for a while taking in the view.

From here, there are epic views of Paradise and the surrounding valley.

Back to The Car

Time ticked on – and we needed to get down in order to meet up with Craig for our Resupply.  We hauled down the trail and arrived back at the trailhead around 2:45.

The trailhead was a different place than when we left it. It was warmer and sunny now – and the air was still. Much improved over the hostile welcome we got earlier. However, there was no Mini (Craigs car) in the parking lot at the trail head – so we walked around the corner to the second parking area – and lo and behold – there was Craig – pulled over reading a book. Hooray! The crops are saved!

Our hope was that Craig has remembered our re-supply gear and that Melissa had gotten the wider angle lens to Theresa in time. Little did we know all the extras that Craig had in store for us….

We dumped our packs out on the side of the road and triaged old food and trash, lay out our wet tents to dry. It was pretty much the site of a roadside yard sale.

Proper Bacon Butties

Not only did Craig bring all of our goodie bags (including copious amount of Chicken Tikka Masala for team Dave-Nigel), but he brought real British Bacon a frying pan, HP sauce and English-style white bread from Uwijimaya.

Did I mention that the bacon is hand-cut by a local Seattle pig farmer and hand-smoked. It’s the most amazing bacon I’ve ever eaten to begin with. Top that with five hard days on the trail and Craig fixed us up the best bacon butties that ever were.

But the gifts kept on giving. In his red cooler – Craig had a bunch of beer, a bottle of Bombay,  tonic, lemons and ice.

Tomorrow we are heading for Devils Dream – notoriously bad for Mozzies – so of course – I had to drink as much Tonic (Quinine helps cure Malaria) as I could. I hate the taste – so had to disguise it with plenty of Gin . Beer in the right hand and a titanium cup of G&T in my left hand…

Care Packages

Tim’s lens showed up in the resupply – and he excitedly swapped it out and started snapping away in his new found wide-angle freedom.

Also in the resupply were a few little gifts from the Girls back home. Dave got a pile of English sweets (candy bars) and dished them out between us. I think I got a Crunchie and a Caramel. He also got a bottle of whisky to refill his flask.

Theresa sent me a care package, contents of which were:

• A pair of underwear. Incase, I changed my mind about going commando half-way.
• A respirator as she thought I was sharing a tent with Nigel and suspected it would get quite stinky at night.
• Salted Dark Chocolate Caramels (my favourite)
• A love letter from home, with a little picture of Chester. Written on tissue paper – so it was ultra-light incase I wanted to take it with me.

Eventually it was time to say our goodbyes, re-pack our bags and get back on the trail – we still had a few miles to put away before camp. There were four bottles of beer left in the cooler – so we decided to take them with us for ‘camp beer’ later on. Tomorrow we would be crossing Longmire and could ditch the empty bottles there.

Huge thanks to Craig for taking the time off to come up and resupply us – it was one of the highlights of the trip!

A Blast From The Past

Back on the trail – we weaved in and out of day hikers – descending quickly to camp. Around 4pm we passed Narada Falls – we took the few hundred yard side trip up to see the falls – and on the way back down – as we approached the sign for “Wonderland Trail” – I got a weird sense of Deja Vu. Then  I remembered why – I had been here before – over fifteen years ago – back in 1993. I recall visiting the falls from the road with Felix and hiking down this far – asking him what the Wonderland Trail was – he told me, and I recall thinking at the time: “Who on earth would ever want to backpack for almost a hundred miles – that’s just insane.”… I chuckled at how times change.

A Full Service Camp

We arrive at camp around 5pm and went down to the river to chill our beers. setup our tents in Site 1. There was a large wasp nest in the base of the tree – but they seemed busy flying in an out and didn’t seem to bother us.

We ate dinner, cleaned up and broke out the beers over a game of spades. Poor old Tim and Nigel got crushed again

Indian Bar –> Maple Creek

Total Distance: 10.0 mi

A Nibble Free Night

We woke up at 6:30 to a full view of the other side of the river from the missing wall of the shelter. Phew – we made it through the night without getting pooped on or nibbled by mice.

I stepped outside to assess the situation. Given the low cloud and changing weather in the evening I thought we might be in for a rough day. Outside the shelter at first the skies seemed grey, but as my eyes adjusted to the light I realized that they were crystal clear and blue and the valley was out in all it’s glory. It was going to be a good one.

A steep start

We were on the trail by 7:50. Tim and Dave went ahead a little to try and get some early light photos while Nige and I finished packing. The trail out of Indian Bar starts off as steep as the inbound trail on the other side. Foolishly, Nigel and I decided to run the first few sections of steps to clear out the cobwebs and try and catch up with Dave and Tim. The trail was steep, so the run was short lived.

As we climbed the path, the sun shined down in our faces from up high. Tim and Dave were silhouetted in the distance and bright cotton-like plants glistened in the morning sun. Behind us was a crystal clear view of the Mountain. The sun/silhouetting effect was breathtaking and made for an inspiring start to the morning. I wish I could have captured it in a photo – but only this one came close enough…

Trouble in Paradise

We caught up with the boys and stopped to drink water and take in the views. As we watched the mountain, a small cloud of what looked like fog started to appear to the left of the summit. We stood there for 20 minutes while the cloud came around to the right and enveloped the mountain in a flat-bottomed halo. A lenticular cloud, usually a sign of changing weather – which for us – meant it could only get worse.

We moved on and climbed further up with even opening views. As we climbed, we passed by a section of what looked like limestone pavement. It was almost as if the Romans had built a road through here.

Role Playing

On the climb, Tim decided that next time we backpack together as a group – we should all take specialized roles. The idea is we can study up when off the trail and educate each other during the hike. Here’s how we carved them out:

• Geography, Trees & Birds: Tim
• Geology: Dave
• Medic: Nigel
• Flowers & Edible Fauna: Brett

How did we arrive at such a distribution? Easy – Tim was carrying the load for most of us at this point – naming countless birds, educating us on types of trees from foliage and cone shapes, and always had his finger on which peak was which. Dave was making up all sorts of crap about Geology that none of us really knew enough to challenge, so we went with it. Nigel brought a massive contraband first aid kit with everything under the sun in it – so he seemed like the perfect fit for the medic. Meanwhile, I was stuffing my face with blueberries and occasionally asking the group “I wonder if I can eat this?”.

Peak views

We reached the high point in a lovely meadow ridge area. The views were wrap-around stunning. Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood, Goat Rocks and the Tatoosh Range were all clearly in view. We lingered for a while basking in the panorama and refueled with a little snack. It was hot in the Sun – in the high 70’s today.

Back to the Forest

As we started the long decent down – we saw an elk in the distance jumping low in the trees. Later on the trail, we passed a spot close to where the elk was and there were 10 or 12 “crop circles” in the long grass meadow. It looked like elk impressions and they were fresh from last night.

Descending through the forest we passed group of twelve heading for Indian Bar – we warned them to conserve water as it was dry the entire way.

Eventually we hit Nickel Creek and stopped to wash in the stream. Tim decided to go for a little plunge-pool bath and dry out on a big tree.

We ate lunch here (cheese, Salami & Chocolate) and burned an hour relaxing in the sun.

Box Canyon

Back on the Trail and a mile or so later, and we arrived at Box Canyon. This is a point where the Wonderland Trail crosses a road and there is a small lookout area with bathroom etc. We dumped trash here but didn’t linger long. Leaving box canyon we ran into a trail crew working on a section of the path – we thanked them for their hard work. The Wonderland trail is truly a meticulously maintained ninety mile path – and we were very grateful for their efforts.

We pounded out the next 2½ miles pretty quick and were at Maple Creek before we knew it – our destination for the night.

Maple Creek Camp

We arrived early yet again – and so had our choice of camp sites. After scouting them out, we settled on camp 4 – or “Stone Henge” as we affectionately called it. It’s way in the back and looks out on an open meadow area, behind camp is a huge pile of broken columnar basalt. Some creative hiker had taken some short sections and built a miniature stone henge sculpture.

The toilets at Maple were actually an overflowing toxic biohazard dump, so we steered clear of them.

We went down to the creek to wash up. Nigel and Dave both had Patagonia and Ibex Wool T-Shirts on – it was impressive how quickly they dried out when washed and re-worn slightly damp next to the skin. They also raved about their performance and comfort for most of the trip – I need to check one out next summer maybe.

Dinner Time

Back at Camp 4 – it was still warm early into the evening. We clocked around 80 degrees at 5pm, so we hung out and chatted.

The Chicken Tikka came out for dinner again, Beef Stew for myself and Chili Mac for Tim. Dave and Nigel had Chocolate Mousse also – which I had little taste of – a nice treat, but quite the sugar bomb.

We hung our food and headed back to Camp 4 to drink the last of the scotch and continue our Spades championship. The cards were getting well used, dirty and damp now – which made them tough to handle. We swore if we ever pass through town again, we’d splurge on a real pack given that we were using them so much.

Thundering Moonlight

As the light faded, we we treated to a stunning moonrise on the ridge in the distance. It was bright and full – and the craters were very visible. The moon rolled up the tree lined ridge – giving some awesome tree silhouettes against the light.

Finally we turned in for the night, and I pull the tarp tent taught before we got in – expecting a little drizzle in the morning.

Around 2am rain started falling on the tent, promptly followed by some deafening thunder and lightening which continued through the night.

<< Go Back to Day 3 of the Wonderland Trail

Climate Change is undisputedly upon us, and while the exact future ramifications are uncertain – some of the predictions are scary. If they hold true – some amazing coastal hikes like the West Coast Trail simple won’t be there for future generations to enjoy?

The wilderness forests that we walk in when backpacking not only give us immense visual and environmental pleasure, but are working hard to pull Carbon Dioxide out of the atmosphere and pump Oxygen back in, but we’re cranking out way more CO₂ than is fair for them to cope with.  So what small things can we do to help combat the emission of CO₂ into our environment?

One thing I looked at recently was my desktop computer. We have two of them in our home – and they are energy hogs. With the advent of broadband, it’s convenient to be able to walk up-to a computer and search for answers – so they stay on. 24×7, 365 days a year. Even when we sleep.  Laptops are less of an issue as they go into low-power mode, but desktops are hogs.

I admire the disciplined people in the world that turn on and off their PCs each morning and evening – but I’m just not that structured So I dug in a little to figure out how I could automate things, and I thought I would share my findings with others on Blog Action Day.

The idea is simple – automatically turn off my computer when I go to sleep, and turn it on again in the morning before I am out of bed. This way, I never experience my computer being ‘off’ – and it’s always on when I want it. So what are the steps? Read on and find out:

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Amusing New York Times write-up of Eric Wilsons adventures on the Wonderland this summer.

He got some awesome photos at least!

White River Campground –> Indian Bar

Total Distance: 10.2 mi

Ready to Rumble

Refreshed after our long half-day rest, we got up early and were treated to an excellent alpenglow on the mountain as we tucked into breakfast. After cleaning up and packing, we hit the road around 7:50 am.  

Finding the continuation of the Wonderland Trail was a little tricky – turned out it was on the other side of the car camp ground close to a toilet block.

There was a big tree chopped down over the river with a branch-made handrail for us to cross over. After the crossing – the trail out of White River was more or less level for a while and them started up a very sustained climb to Summerland.

Summerland

Summerland was a very pretty meadow area. There was a group shelter here that looked like it would be great refuge in a storm. The structure had 3 stone sides and a sloping roof. We stopped and ate a snack at the shelter.

For the second time on the trip – I felt that my food rations were just barely enough. The long climbs caused me to burn up a little more than usual. An extra energy bar per day or something would have been a welcome addition on some of the days. However, later on in the trip this became less of an issue.

We were not alone at Summerland. Plenty of marmots basked in the sun on the rocks and hopped around the trails on the other side of the hill. Dave checked the map and pointed out various landmarks on the horizon.

Panhandle Gap

Re-energized after our snack we moved on and started climbing further towards panhandle gap. As we approached the gap – several patches of glacial ice remained behind some of the small ponds, we went over and explored one of them for a while. The ice was very compact and jabbing it with a pole tip did little to scratch the surface.

Back on the trail and a few hundred feet of elevation later and we were in the saddle of panhandle gap – one of the highest points on the trail. The weather was reasonable, so we decided to stop here for lunch.

My lunch consisted of Whole Foods hummus mix and mountain bread. I jazzed it up with a little sea salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper and lime powder (to try and replicate the fresh lemon juice) at home all mixed in the same back. The hummus was easy to prepare – just mix with cold water and olive oil – stir well and let sit for 8-10 minutes. I’ve taken hummus on several trips now, but never seemed to get around to eating it. We always end up getting off the trail earlier than anticipated and the hummus is one I save for last as it keeps so well. It tasted really good – nice and garlicky and was there was a lot of it.

Tim wandered off a side-trail with his big camera to take some photos, while Nigel and Dave broke out their stove and got the “builders tea” going. Nigel and Dave also brought some vegetable bouillon cubes with them, and got a few cups of soup going. With all the tea and bouillon – for a moment, I felt like I was hiking with a british boy scout troop.

Meanwhile on Tim’s short side-trail he found higher elevation and great views of little Tahoma. On the other side of the valley Tim spotted a bunch of white specks moving in the meadow. A quick photo with the 135mm lens and a zoom-in on the LCD display of 22 mega-pixels of data and we confirmed a herd of about 25-30 mountain goats.

The wind picked up on panhandle gap as we finished up lunch and out came the jackets and hats. We decided to move on and started dropping away into the area below, as soon as we were below the gap – the wind calmed and the sun came out again. So off went the jackets and hats… The area after panhandle was stunning – there were patches of fluorescent green lichen growing in random spots in the valley, and little streams running all over the place.

After dipping down, the trail climbed up again over a ridge and then began a long decent towards Indian Bar. Off to the right was a huge glacial valley. To the left were stunning views of Cowlitz Chimneys.

Down to Indian Bar

As the trail descended towards Indian Bar a series of washboard steps began that never seemed to end. In the distance we could see the shelter – a backpack outside it and a couple of people milling around inside. Here’s a shot of the shelter in the bottom of the valley.

On the way down we passed a delectable blueberry patch. Dave and I lingered for some time, filling up a zip lock for breakfast while Nigel and Tim went on ahead. We’re convinced that the higher altitude blueberries taste best

We arrived at the Indian bar shelter around 3pm. We had the group permit for the evening – and were excited to stay in a structure. The shelter was spectacular – it had three walls of stone, a solid roof and eight bunk beds. The bunks were solid wood planking in a steel frame tied to the wall. There was a fair amount of mouse poop on them – and so Tim warned us all not to snort the mouse poo for fear of hantavirus – tempting though it was.  There is an old abandoned fireplace inside with a note asking hikers not to use it.

At the shelter, a father and daughter were gearing up deciding if they were going to stay the night or push on to their planned destination at Summerland. The weather was starting to turn a little and panhandle gap was already swallowed in cloud – we told them it will be a hard push to Summerland by nightfall – but they decided to go for it anyway.

Washing and Drying

As we arrived early again, we headed to the creek for a refreshing wash and to treat some water. We also discovered that the side of the shelter made a wonderful laundry wall to dry out our sweat-soaked clothes.

While washing in the creek, Nigel made friends with two east cost hikers coming up from nickel creek, with two more ladies in their party an hour or two behind them.

As we organized our food and chilled out around the shelter, the weather started turning fast – low clouds rolled in a swallowed Indian Bar valley until we couldn’t even see the trees on the other side of the river. We wondered about the two hikers heading up to summer land – at the pace they were going, we estimated that wouldn’t even be at panhandle yet – not a great place to get socked in.

The other two ladies showed up and decided they would prefer to stay in the shelter also given the changing conditions. All four of the east cost hikers came over to cook dinner and were sporting crocks at camp, so Nigel felt very at home with his contraband pair.

A full service stop

The “outhouse” at Indian Bar deserves and honorable mention also. It is so far up the hill behind the shelter, that we actually counted some of the trips as side trip mileage. Once you arrive, however, you are handsomely rewarded – the views from the throne are sweeping and spectacular up the valley towards panhandle, while behind a thin covering of trees dampens the noise from a trickling waterfall.

As evening fell, we hung the food and broke out the headlamps for another game of spades. We played long after dark – which gave Dave and I the chance to redeem ourselves from our pathetic performance the night before. Amazingly, Daves flask of scotch kept on giving that night too…

We retired to the bunks and hoped that we didn’t get nibbled on my mice in the night. The temperatures dropped and outside was bright from the moon, yet eerie from the low fog in the valley all night long.

Mystic Camp –> White River Campground

Total distance today – 12.7 miles.

Late Start

The day started early enough – I think we were out of the tents by 6:30 – but for some reason – we lingered in camp a long time. Perhaps it was the line at the Mystic outhouse, or perhaps it was Nigel filming several outtakes of Tim’s “Coffmeal” experiment that burned the hours, I really can’t recall…

The video doesn’t do justice to the final product, so here’s a close up of a fully prepared bag of Coffmeal.

Nigel was brave enough to try a spoonful, and almost threw up in disgust. To which Tim calmly responded – “Yeah – it’s pretty bad. Maybe I should try using just one Starbucks VIA instead of two packets.”

After all the faffing about, by 9am we were on the road, and almost everyone had left camp ahead of us.

Canyon Crossing

After a mile or so, the trail crossed a huge washed out canyon. We had to descend a rough cut trail in the bank, cross the bottom and up the other side. The washout looked recent. At the top of the canyon, we passed a couple from Enumclaw. Turns out they had exactly the same camp itinerary as we did for the first five days or so; so we figured we’d bump into them often.

Winthrop Glacier

The trail continues and climbs up and around the side of the Winthrop Glacier. The glacier was impressive, with huge mounts of black rocks and debris piled on top to hide it’s icy exterior. We noticed some creeks pouring out of the bottom of the Glacier – the water was a very milky dirty colour from all the rock flour. We hypothesized on what caused the Glaciers to melt – our best guess was that the black moraine on top heated up in the sun and caused melting from the top. A quick check on Wikipedia points out that we’re all poor geologists

“Glaciers move, or flow, downhill due to the internal deformation of ice and gravity. Ice behaves like an easily breaking solid until its thickness exceeds about 50 meters (160 ft). The pressure on ice deeper than that depth causes plastic flow. At the molecular level, ice consists of stacked layers of molecules with relatively weak bonds between the layers. When the stress of the layer above exceeds the inter-layer binding strength, it moves faster than the layer below.”

Several short snow patches remained that we needed to cover – Dave grabbed one of our poles for a little extra security on the crossing.

Park View

After the Winthrop Glacier, the trail opened up to a very pretty meadow area with killer views of Mt. Rainier behind us and views of Grand Park in the distance. Grand Park sticks out like a sore thumb in this rugged landscape – it looks like a golf course in the middle of the mountains – a huge, perfectly flat meadow on the side of the mountain. The landscape felt very epic here – and reminded me of the vastness of the Pasayten.

Up to Sunrise 

The terrain changed again as we started heading up towards sunrise, and the population density changed too. There are so many trails within a 5 mile radius of Sunrise that the trail was crowded. As we approached Frozen Lake – there were ten or twelve people on the horizon. We figured if you can’t beat them then join them – so we too stopped for lunch at Frozen Lake. We thought we found a nice quiet spot amongst the rocks – but were very quickly joined by a few friendly chipmunks and Canadian Jays – aka “Camp Robbers” – trying to swoop in and snatch a little cheese.

Lunch was a fabulous affair of cheese, crackers and salami. Washed down with a fresh Nuun tablet

Communication with Home

From Frozen Lake we headed down towards Sunrise camp – which didn’t look like that great of a place to camp – right in the middle of a very touristy area. As we approached the fork off for the Wonderland Trail heading down to white river – I noticed what appeared to be a cell tower up on the hillside in the distance. Nigel took out his phone, and low and behold was able to get a signal in a very specific spot. We used this opportunity to get a few text messages out to Tim’s wife to try and get his 24-105mm lens over to my brother Craig – who would be resupplying us on day five. After successfully getting the word out, we raced down the trail towards White River Campground.

The trail was a steep decent for a couple of miles, dropping about 2400 ft to the campground.

White River Campground

The campground detracted a little from the ‘wilderness experience’ – dropping in on a bunch of SUVs and Trucks parked neatly next to their designated picnic tables. However, some of the amenities were admittedly nice to have – a clean toilet with TP, a nice sink to wash in and a ready supply of water that didn’t need to be treated. We arrived in camp quite early – a little before 3pm and so were able to take a nice long “rest day” – an chill out for a few hours. We lay on the benches and napped in the sunshine.

White River has a special area in the trees reserved for Wonderland Trail hikers – known as the “Walk-in campsite”, there were four or five spots here and another bear pole. There were also several bear boxes in the area for the car campers to use.

It also had a designated area called “Campfire Circle”, where they hold events and talks from time-time. Nothing scheduled tonight, so we were able to use it as our staging area for dinner.

A Freeze Dried Feast

Nigel got to experience some UK made freeze dried foods when on his TGO trip. One brand in particular – expedition foods – made such an impact, that he had a shipment of them sent out to Seattle. So Nigel and Daves pantry was well stocked with British favourites – like “Chicken Tika Massala”, “Curried Beef & Rice”, “Apple Pie & Custard” and so forth.

While my package of Mountain House Beef Stew was decent, I have to admit – I was having freeze-dried-food-envy at their fine selection. My spoon did wander into their bag a few times – and it sure tasted delicious.

Nigel also brought along some Mountain Bread sold at whole foods, torn up and dipped in the Chicken Tikki – if you squinted enough – one could almost imagine a big fat garlic naan.

Spades and Contraband

After dinner, we still had a lot of time to kill. Out came the ultralight playing cards and we got started on a game of Spades. Nigel and Dave disappeared back to the tent and came back with sheepish grins on their faces. Both of them were packing contraband items!! Nigel was sporting a fancy pair of Crocs – which he claimed helped “massage his feet” in camp. He claimed that almost everyone on the TGO carried a pair – so felt quite justified by the extra 3/4 pound in weight. Dave also was packing in contraband – except his item was much more welcomed. He’d brought in a large hip flask of Scotch along with four shot glasses!! Terribly civilized. So there we sat in Campfire Circle, playing cards and sipping on whisky sniffers… how much better can life get?

The couple from Enumclaw showed up in camp also – and were kind enough to stop by and give us a mosquito coil they had with them, so we were well protected from bugs while we played.

Trail Name: The Wonderland Trail

Distance: 93 mile loop + Side Trips

Elevation Gain: 22,000+ ft

Date of Trip: August 30th, 2009

Permit Info: An advanced permit/reservation is required, although a limited number of permits are reserved for walk-ins. Applications can be made around mid-march each year.  Permit information here.

Getting There: There are several routes into Mount Rainier National Park. Depending on where you decide to start your trip – you should figure out which ranger station you plan to pick up your permit from. A permit reservation letter will be mailed to you before your start, but you need to use this to pick up your permit before 10am on the start of your hike, otherwise your slots will be given away to walk-ins.

Trail Map:

Map from National Park Service.

Don’t forget to click on the thumbnails to see larger images!

The Backpackers:

For this trip – we had a group of four – Nigel, Tim, Dave and myself. Tim, Nige and I did the Pasayten together last year and since then Nige completed the TGO in Scotland to hone his Ultralight skills (Or develop some contraband habits as we’ll discover later…). Tim was a good sport spending a week with three brits. Dave was the newcomer and showed up to Nigel’s house the day before with a five pound sleeping bag that more or less filled the entire Jam backpack Nigel lent him. Fortunately, Nigel has a gear surplus and was able to kit him out to be in the ballpark. Our start packs with 5 days of food and full water, weighed in at 23lbs (Brett), 25lbs (Nigel) 26 lbs (Tim),  and 27 lbs (Dave). Dave scoffed at our running shoes and opted for more sturdy boots without poles as he had a shoulder injury and didn’t want to impact it too much. 

Tim Ahlers	Brett Marl
Nigel Ellis	Dave Nettleton

Mowich Lake –> Mystic Camp (13 miles)

Ranger Station

Day 1 started with a 7:15am departure from Seattle. We headed to the Carbon River ranger station in order to exchange our reservation letter for a trail permit. We arrived at the Ranger Station around 9:15 and asked for any trail beta. The ranger said “the

trail is in good repair and currently has no known issues. The only complaints had been of bugs. Oh – and watch our for the resident bear at Mystic Camp – the camp site is on his normal path, and so he’s seen there very frequently. All the camp sites have a toilet and bear poles to hang your food. We recommend using the poles rather than tree-hanging.” Dave bought a detailed map for $12 (cash only), and off we went up the unpaved road to Mowich Lake.

Camera Fiasco 

Tim was generous enough to pack in an extra 4lbs of weight for his Canon 5D SLR so we could get some great photos. He brought it out at the trailhead to take the obligatory trip-start photo, and quickly realized he had the wrong lens. Instead of a versatile 24-105mm zoom lens, he had left a fixed focal length 135mm lens on it. A big zoom isn’t all that ideal for landscape photography, but c’est la vie. In the end, it turned out for the good – Tim got creative with his composures; and we got more people-shots than normal.

Spray Park

We were on the trail around 10:30am. From Mowich the trail immediately drops and then we turned right to take the Spray Park route. Spray Park is not the official path of the Wonderland Trail but it’s about the same distance, a lot more climbing, yet prettier than the path via Ipsut Creek, so we felt justified in the choice.

As we arrived towards the top of Spray Park (A “park” in Wonderland Trail speak is a wide open meadow area) the morning fog lifted to blue skies and the mountain was revealed in all it’s glory. We were a few weeks too late for a vivid display of wild flowers, but it was stunning non the less, with a few lingering species of purple flowers left. We were however, awarded with an abundance of Blueberries and we stopped and munched at various points along the way.

Enchantments and Pikas

The views from the park were excellent – we believed we could see out to the Stewart Range and make out Little Annapurna. Not only were the landscape views great, but the wildlife viewing was in full swing – Marmots, Chipmonks, Pikas, and Canadian Jays swooping at our food. Tim pointed out that Pikas are having a hard-time in the wild – being pushed to higher and higher elevations and the US FWS are considering listing them as an endangered species.

Quick Lunch Stop

We took a quick break for lunch. I had a fabulous lunch – a trail-made BLT. I took sourdough seed bread from Specialities in Seattle, some cooked British back bacon that I made at home, a little bag of greens, and three tasty tomatoes picked from our garden that very morning. Rounded off with a fresh apple. Very heavy for my usual lunch, but I knew it was going to get eaten within hours

We also did a little preventative care on our feet. After getting huge blisters on a trail last year – I was taking no chances. I tried out hydropel for the first time on this trip – and it certainly seemed to work.

Carbon Glacier

Carbon river has a nice long suspension bridge over it. It’s very bouncy and only one person is recommended at a time.

After crossing the river, there is a long, sustained climb up the side of the Carbon Glacier. Nigel got a little sick on the trail after Spray Park (blames it on our McDonalds breakfast stop), and so had to take some Imodium. It was working, but had the side effect of dehydration. In the exposed heat of the mid-day sun – Nigel started feeling very weak and dehydrated. We stopped to get some electrolytes (Nuun) in his water, and spread out the heavies in his pack amongst the rest of the group. Some shade, more fluid and lightening the load did the trick, and Nige was soon moving again in full stride.

At the top of Carbon is another very pretty park area – with great open views of the mountain. We lingered here to take it in, and then started final climb up over some glacial moraine and down to the lake. We passed a wasp nest on the way down – and Tim took two stings in his shins. The first aid kit came out a second time, and it’s only the first day.

Mystic Lake

We arrived at Mystic Lake around 6pm and Nige & Dave stopped to load up on water, while Tim and I went 1/4 mi down to camp. Mystic was a crowded camp in the trees – not especially exciting. While at camp, we chatted with a nice Dentist from Portland who was doing the northern loop. He was interested in our ultralight gear and Tarp Tent and was looking for ideas to lighten up.

Ate dinner, sorted food, hung food on the pole; and tucked up in bed. No bear sighting.

We’re back! We had a stunning trip on the trail. Thanks to Tim lugging his huge SLR around the trail – we ought to have some excellent photos to show also once he processes (digitally, in lightroom) them. A big storm is heading for Rainier this weekend – with 1-2 ft of snow down to 6,000 ft. Trail-finding in snow around Klapatche didn’t sound much fun – so we compressed the last few days and got out 2 days ahead of schedule.  The trail was spectacular, every day brought something unique and different. Including a few side trips – we figure we cleared over 100 miles and about 24,000 ft of elevation. I definitely want to go back and section hike some of the areas that we’re socked in due to the storm yesterday – but they we’re still pretty none the less. Oh – and I think my teeth are stained from all the blueberries I ate.

I’m looking forward to going over the notes and writing up a trip report in the coming weeks…

Here’s my menu for the WT on Sunday. It’s a solo menu – as we’re each going independent on food. It’s a ton of work to prep all this, and I’m used to doing it for 2 (Theresa and I). Don’t save much work only thinking about one!!

Expand for full menu

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With our Wonderland  Trail start just five days away, it’s time to start thinking about food. Breakfasts and dinner are   always easy – but I always struggle for that perfect lunch. Salami, aged cheese and crackers is my staple – but I want something different some days.

So here we go with some more kitchen experiments…

First lets meet the band…

The rock star of this recipe is the good old dried banana.

This rather revolting slug-looking creature can be found in the bulk food section of Whole Foods. Despite its rotten appearance, they are exceptionally tasty little chaps.

Backing vocals are provided by the delicious Nutella hazelnut spread, easily found in most US grocery stores. QFC carries this in the Seattle area.

On base we have the mighty fine Almond Butter, also found at Whole Foods – in very convenient little 6g squeeze packs.

And finally, on percussion we have Harmony House Foods freeze dried Mango Slices.

So lets put it all together… we take our dried banana and chop it into little chunks like so:

We then spread out the Nutella and Almond Butter onto a Tortilla.

Sprinkle the Bananas and mango on top.

Roll and devour.

Not bad. These suckers are going to make their debut somewhere on Day 3 – halfway between Sunrise and Indian Bar.

Our Wonderland Trail permit is just 2 weeks away… time to start thinking about gear updates and food/menu planning…

Just looking at the trail elevation profile here.

~100 miles of lovely ups and downs

Hopefully this year will be make it onto the trail, unlike last years attempt.

Our little guy turns one year old today. We celebrated on Sunday while Theresa’s family were in town.

Over the last year, he’s done a handful of hikes with us, (mostly asleep on Theresa’s chest) and we hope to get in many more in the coming year including a short (Wet diapers aren’t exactly ultralight!) overnight.

Had a minor mention today’s New York Times article How To Get Out in the Woods.

The quest for the perfect trail food begins… and this is my first experiment with homemade freezer-bag style food. Inspired by Sarahs blog, I ordered the stuff I needed from Harmony House Foods.

All good Thai curries, start with an excellent paste. I’m too lazy to fry my own paste on the trail – so my plan was to pre-cook and then dehydrate the paste. I fried some paste in coconut cream in a similar way to my Massaman Curry post here (except using Green Curry Paste). Follow the Massaman Curry recipe up until the point I mention beating people back with a spoon.

Once I made the paste, I spread it out onto parchment paper and popped it in the convection oven for a few hours on very low (I don’t have a dehydrator)…

A few hours later, and it dried out nicely. Next I broken it up and ground it into a powder in a coffee grinder.

A few days later and I’m ready to make the concoction… I’m a complete newbie at this, and so have no idea on the right ratios of stuff… but I’m pretty fearless, so I just winged it

Here’s the recipe I used:

- 1 cu Uncle Bens Instant Rice

- 3 Tbsp of Green Curry Paste Powder

- 1 2oz bag of Chaokoh Coconut Milk Powder

- 4 Tbsp Dried Diced Potatoes

- 3 Tbsp Dried “chicken bits” (Soy product)

- 1 1/2 Dried Tbsp Onions

- 1 Tbsp Dried Peppers

- 1 tsp Lime Powder (Sour)

- 1 Tbsp Palm Sugar

- 1/2 tsp Sea Salt (My fish sauce substitute)

I simply threw all the dry stuff into a bowl, mixed it up and added to a zip lock. Final dry weight was 10.7 oz. Heavier than freeze dried fare – but a hearty meal for two.

To “cook”, I simply added 2 /12 cu of water. I think 2 1/4 might have been better – it was a little wet.

The taste? Outstanding, really outstanding – even if I do say so myself. Theresa tried it and wanted to eat it for dinner. The chicken bits were actually pretty decent and (IMHO) a good alternative for not carrying the weight of canned chicken. It was very spicy – as I used a lot of paste, so you might want to cut back on that if you try this at home kids.

Next time, I think I’d add fish sauce and sugar to the paste before drying it – to see how they survive, vs using salt.

And here are some photos documenting it, and the ingredients: