In light of how absolutely ghetto McLovin’s camera is, I thought I’d post a recommendation for an upgrade. This would eliminate the redundancy on a battery and the picture quality would likely be much higher. Ultralight materials, include electrical tape, a used juice box, a popsicle stick, some foil and some film rolls. It’s actually so easy to construct that a (my) six year old could do it!
Takes much better pictures than a 1990 generation digital feel!
Yesterday Earlier Ploss and I had a random conversation about a future hike on the Wonderland and how we’d rock it differently next time. Here’s what we came up with for a more ideal 8 (7.5) day expedition; distance and elevation updated from 2008 estimates:
| Day | Camp | Miles | Gain | Loss |
| Sat | S. Puyallup River | 11.8 | 4145 | 2925 |
| Sun | Golden Lakes | 12.2 | 3700 | 2570 |
| Mon | Eagle’s Roost | 12 | 2824 | 2725 |
| Tue | Mystic Lake | 12 | 3665 | 3424 |
| Wed | Sunrise Camp | 10 | 2095 | 1420 |
| Thu | Indian Bar | 16 | 3550 | 3520 |
| Fri | Paradise River | 17.4 | 3100 | 5240 |
| Sat | Out | 5.5 | 150 | 1350 |
| Totals | – | 96.9 | 23229 | 23229 |
We I did a poor job of estimating elevation gain/loss last year – from Sunrise to Indian Bar, for example I was off by more than 1500′ of gain – d’oh! – and of course the stretch from Indian Bar to Nickel Creek was not ahem straight downhill. Fortunately in the past year I’ve learned how to properly use both an elevation profile and a pocket calculator.
Going back to the WLT and completing the circuit next time is a really high priority for me, and it was key to reminisce about good times at Rainier eh. I’d definitely like to throw out WLT: Da Return as an early candidate for 2010.
PS: totally hating with the flu, postponed my desert trip out 2 weeks
Props to Ploss for this obvious omission: foot issues notwithstanding the Wildwood should go straight to the top of any day hike list. Of dispute is the actual length of the thing: apparently, it’s 30.2 miles.
The 30.2 mile long Wildwood Trail, a National Recreation Trail, is part of the region’s 40-Mile Loop system that links Forest Park to pedestrian and other routes along the Columbia River to Gresham, to Southeast Portland, along the Willamette Greenway, and back to the Marquam Trail in Southwest Portland.”
I’ll spare you a lot of all the GPS driven, speculative interwebs stuff I’ve read regarding the thing and will take this distance at face value. This means that we could get dropped off at the west end (Forest Park/St. John’s?) and hoof it back to Chez McLovin for a total distance of about 33.7 miles – call it 34. That, my friends, is a day hike. Scheduling TBD.
I received a couple more ultralight gear items today in an ultralight package. These items came courtesy of Mountain Laurel Designs and weigh-in at 2.625 oz per my scale: Silnylon Rain Chaps & a multiuse titanium stake/potty trowel. The intent here is to lighten my load by 6 oz for a totally reasonable price of $54 (+ negligible shipping). All-in-all, it took just over a week to receive my new gear which is excellent for a Cottage manufacturer of ultralight gear. If you haven’t checked out the Mountain Laurel Designs website, it offers killer gear!
Do these make me look SuuuPER?
In all reality, rain chaps are great when used with a ponchotarp or cape as they cover one’s midsection and provide ease in taking a leak. One might argue that rain pants/chaps aren’t really necessary, but at 2.2 oz they provide insurance against getting soaked. These are much lighter than my full-length rain pants at 7.25 oz and are much easier to take on/off in the event of a downpour. Now only if someone made an ultralight black silnylon fisherman’s cap . . ..
Easy to put on over boots and provide excellent coverage/breathability to one's privates
Next item in the package included one Vargo Titanium V-Stake. Given that it’s made of titanium, it’s very light and shaped as a V it makes it suitable for shoveling and cutting through dirt when facing an angry shad. Intial thoughts is that the design should work really well for its intended purpose and although it’s smaller than my MontbellHandy Scoop, it should function nearly as well.
It's hard to see in the photo but the V is actually large enough to use as a scoop, although not large enough to use as a spoon.
Rain Chap first impressions:
V Stake first impressions:
As discussed on the phone, what could be simpler than this overnight section hike roughly 52 miles in length – perfect for a nice, relaxing weekend. As a training hike, none get better and would be on a must-do list for McLovin if our weeklonger does in fact take us to the Olympics.
Next contestant: Filipe 8
This is a reasonable yet killer 2 day endurance test we should do no later than…Franken’s mountaineering schedule and snowpack permits.
| Day | Camp | Distance | Gain/Loss |
| 1 | Salvation Spring | 25.8 | -1830 |
| 2 | Out | 26.2* | -4070 |
| Total | – | 52 | -5900** |
* Mostly accurate distance from Wahtum to Eagle Creek via Ruckel Ridge (TBD)
** Total elevation loss only; actual gain/loss TBD
Ideally we’d crash Friday night at Franken’s alpine abode, hit the Timberline trailhead at dawn Saturday, hit the trail by 8am Sunday, be picked up at Eagle Creek trailhead by 6pm Sunday.
So, Happy girl and I went on a very nice 4 hour snowshoe excursion today. Instead of going on normal snowshoe trails, I chose a summer trail from the map (Frog lake area to Twin lakes) and went totally backcountry just based on GPS waypoints and a compass. Given that it has snowed 5 feet in 5 days up here has made it brutal, but we did make in view of lower twin. The problem was a cliff that was in the way of us getting directly to the lake. Also, we were both spent from breaking trail in waist-high snow. Anyway, we rocked the route I chose. At the summer trail junctions, on one ocassion we were actually able to see a little ceder sign poking out of the snow. Most of this was through dense forest going up 35 degree inclines – brutal. I will post the elevation profile when I get back to town. Dudes…I have a lot of work to do to get in shape over the next 2 months!
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