Category Archives: Backpacking

Aquastar mÃœV Filter

At the 2007 Outdoor Retailer Show, Aquastar announced the mÃœV (pronounced "move") water filter.

It looks like an interesting alternative to chemical treatment.

It's a simple UV device that you submerge in water to kill bacteria. Drop it into a bottle or pan of water for a few minutes and wait while the UV ray zap all the little critters.

It can be recharged by simply attaching the leads to a battery. A single charge will treat about 15-20 litres of water, and a single Duracell D-Battery will provide enough juice to re-charge the filter 10 times.

Weighs in at a respectible 2.4 oz.

Available at Aquastars website.

GoLite Sun Dragon Trail Runner

Wow. No, really – wow.

I don't think I have ever put a more comfortable shoe on my foot. Not even big furry slippers. These fit like a glove and it feels like I'm walking on springs.

The GoLite Sun Dragons have been getting all sorts of interesting reviews – most notably for the crazy new suspension sole that was co-developed by GoLite and Timberland labs.

Check out the sole in this picture – it's quite unique:

Available from Backcountry Gear for $95.

Suprisingly REI is starting to stock GoLite gear, and has these shoes in stock. I went to the Flagship store in Seattle recently and tried a pair on – I was sold. I wore them for a week to work to try and break them in – they really didn't need it. However, I did feel quite weird walking in them for a while – it's hard to describe but somewhat loose and bouncy. I took them up Kendall Katwalk for a quick overnight this weekend and they performed really well. I submerged my feet before starting the 7mi hike down to see how well they would dry out. Not bad – they were moist still after 3 hrs, but dried reasonably well.

REI was a terrible place to buy these. The guy that sold them was clueless about how they worked (they have a special insole that adjusts to your feet that doesn't take a rocket-scientist to figure out) and was adamant that we could not possibly think of doing the WCT in these shoes.

They got quite a bad review by Raymond Estrella, as they started to fall apart after 5 days of use. So I'm curious to see how they hold up. I'll report back after the WCT trip with my findings.

Montbell UL Wind Pants

Staggeringly light at only 2.4 oz., these pants promise to protect from a fair amount of rain and plently of wind.

I suspect that they would also be a better mozzie barrier than my current pants.

I wish they made them in lighter colors to help keep the bugs away – but it's hard to complain at this weight.

Not sure these would stand up to a morning of bushwacking, but I usually only wear pants at night to keep bugs out and an extra layer of warmth.

Available from prolite gear for $68.

Blisters & Bliss

"Blisters & Bliss" is, by all accounts, the definitive guide to the West Coast Trail.

The best way to purchase it is direct from the authors – Dave Foster or Wayne Aitken – at their Official Website.

I recently exchanged a few emails with Dave, who was very helpful and more than happy to share a few tips about the WCT. Here is what he had to say:

 

Brett: "I'm not sure how familiar you are with the ultralight movement – but basically – our plan is to carry a ~18lb pack (including food & water) and do the trail in 5 days. with this light of a pack, we get the luxury of wearing trail running shoes vs. boots. i've done tons of hiking in washington and the homeland (uk), but very little beach hiking. how soft is the sand/beaches on the WCT – and would you consider trail runners to be problematic filling with soft-sand etc. my two thoughts to combat this are a) gaiters over the trail runners and b) a pair of sandskins ( http://www.sandskins.com/) to hike on the beach in. i'm not worried about water or mud – i hike for many many miles with soaked muddy trail runners. :)"

Dave: "I admire your move on the 18 lb pack. I think that's great. Beach hiking can be tough on the lower legs and feet. Blisters often build because of the repetitive steps. The soft sand lasts for intervals of 2 hours or so in a couple of places. Same problem, ie. no variety in the step can cause tiring of thighs etc. Sand and grit in your trail runners will be a problem but gaiters should remedy it."

Brett: "we're planning on setting out of gordon at 11am and making it to camper by evening (taking the high-trail as it will be high-tide at owen), perhaps squeezing in a back-trace to owen once we get down on the beach. how realistic is that? everything i read says people barely make it to thrasher – but they also seem to be carrying 80lb packs :)"

Dave: "Many hikers begin at Gordon and reach Camper late the first night. You should have no trouble. Hiking back to Owen Point without a pack is a possible option. You'll want to play this as a last minute decision depending on weather and how your first day goes. You could do part of the beach rather than all the way to Owen."

Brett: "a lot of the camps sound quite crowded. to avoid the crowds and retain a bit of solitude on the trail, i'm hoping i can eat dinner at a primary campsite, fill up with water, then hike a mile or two beyond and find an more remote ad-hoc site on the beach (with no water source) to spend the night. how realistic is this in most places w.r.t terrain and tidal issues? i read a lot about a 'shelf' vs. 'beach' and it sounds like i would not be able to pitch a tent on the shelf easily. any other tips for quiet or special camps spots?"

Dave: "There are several places where you can avoid the popular spots and move on to an equally nice site with fewer hikers. This year hasn't been very crowded so the choice can be a last minute one. We've tried to mention most viable campsites in Blisters and Bliss. The one's to avoid if possible are Camper and Tsusiat. Camper you might not have an option but Tsusiat is a great place to stop for a break and then move on."

 

Sand between my toes

The West Coast Trail will be a lot of beach hiking. I have not done much sand hiking before, and I'm wondering how well a pair of trail runners will hold up.

Sand inside my socks between my toes rubbing for tens of miles sounds like a sure way to blister hell.

So I'm thinking some gaiters might be a good idea, atleast to stop the sand entering the tops.

Mountain Hardware makes a 2 oz trail gaiter for $35 from BackcountryGear.

The other option is the eVent Shortie at 2.5 oz and $25.

Or perhaps better yet – the Mont Bell Stretch, at 1.5 oz.

Western Mountaineering Versalite

Theresa gets cold at night. The one big drawback of the cloudburst shelter is that to prevent condensation, we often sleep with the door fully open and facing into the wind. That way the airflow keep condensation to a minimum.

The only way I could convince Theresa to keep the Tarptent, was to get her comfy at night. The highlite didn't do it when the wind howls in and the temperatures drop.

So we took on an extra pound of weight, invested a lot of dosh and settled on the WM Versalite.

Theresa has the short (5'6") model, which weighs in at 1lb 14oz (30 oz). This bag is rated down to a whopping 10 °F and does a stellar job at keeping her toasty warm.

Available from Backcountry Gear for $385.

The West Coast Trail

Theresa, Tim, Melissa and I were lucky enough to secure a reservation for the West Coast Trail this year – over labor day weekend.

I'm really excited about it. It has been called the #1 best hike in the world by some, and one of the toughest trails in North America by others.

The WCT is a 47-mile long hike along the coast of Vancouver Island. Here are some of the aspsects that interest me the most:

  • The trail has some interesting history, and is littered with ship wrecks.
  • It's a combination of beach and forest hiking.
  • Some exciting boulder and log scrambling at Owen Point
  • Breathtaking views and sunsets
  • Chance of seeing whales and sea lions
  • Chance of not seeing bears and cougars 🙂
  • Cable cars and suspension bridges
  • Amazing old growth forests

There are maps available at: WCT Map Part 1 AND WCT Map Part 2.

Our current thinking is to fly from Lake Union to Victoria, stay over night – fueling up at Mountain Equipment Corp (as we can't bring fuel or meat into Ca)., then take the WCT Trail Suttle Bus to the trail head the next day.

Most people take 6-7 days to complete the trail. The fastest it's been done is in 2 days (1 night) by two triathlon runners. I'm thinking 5 days, 4 nights would be a decent goal.

Backpackers Pantry Pack Bowl

One modification I just made, was to replace our 2nd Titanium Panset with this simple lightweight "Pack Bowl".

Normally we boil water in one pan and use the 2nd to serve food in, or eat breakfast in. It never hits the stove.

This collapsable bowl can be trimmed down to size and holds boiling hot liquids. I trimmed it down to the 1 quart mark and it weighs in at 0.6 oz.

The 2nd panset was 5.0z, so I'm trimming a staggering 4.4oz off my gear list with this addition.

Available from Backpackers Pantry – $6 for a pack of 4.

12/7/2007 Update:

We stopped using this as we found it's large size to be a little annoying. We have since just taken a simple disposable glad tupperware bowl and cut the heavy rim off. This has worked really well, and comes in a little less as 0.5 oz.

Bozeman Mountainworks Cocoon Vest

A bit of new gear I have my eye on is a replacement for my fleece pullover, which at 7oz is somewhat on the heavy side.

  • I have been really impressed so far with Theresas western mountaineering vest – it's a miracle at 3oz. However, it's down and useless when wet. Theresa carries it for extra warmth at camp and has a fleece as her primary warm layer.

The Bozeman Moutainworks cocoon vest is an interesting candidate. It's synthetic, and so retains it's warmth when wet. At 5.3oz it would save me a precious 2oz and probably be a much warmer layer.

I don't think I care about sleeves – as my thermal underwear and windproof should be enough.

The added bonus, is that it would give me an excellent boost to my sleeping bag, when the temps really dip down.

Gossamer Gear NightLight Sleeping Pad

Starting at a respectible 7.8 oz, this is a very interesting pad.

It's quite thick and was a good candidate for replacing my thermarest. I trimmed the length down to match that of the 3/4 length thermarest I was used to. This dropped the weight to 6.3 oz – less than half the weight of the thermarest.

Sleep-wise, I have only spent one night on it so far, and it was comfortable enough. I have seen other people recommend taking "Tylenol PM" at night to help get more rest – I might even try pairing those up too.

The biggest downside so far, is that it's bulkier in my pack than the thermarest. To the point where, I'm not sure if I can get 5-6 days of food in my pack anymore with this thing in it.

Order from Gossamer Gear, for about $30.

12/14/07 Update:

I ended up replacing this single pad for the a combination of the torso only pad version and cut down section of insulation pad. This was mostly due to the bulk issue. The two pad total less, coming in at 3.5 oz and 1.2 oz respectivley for a total of 4.7 oz.

A 3-Day Sample Menu

I've dug all over the Internet for sample backpacking menus that provide enough calories but don't cost a lot of weight. I have had little success finding good suggestions, so if you have any post-away.

Here's what we typically take on a 3-day trip to feed two of us. We love food, so splurge on a few luxury items on day 1 like apples that are heavy but consumed quickly.

Continue reading

Knee Tendon Straps

On long down hills Theresa knees give her grief. When she puts these one, the grief goes away as these things absorb the stress.

To quote the literature: "Provides compression on the patellar tendon, helping spread pressure uniformly, reducing discomfort and irritation. Compression may also help stabilize your patella, improving its tracking."

So there you have it.

Available from REI for $16.95.