Yosemite Redux! - Camping

Friday, 2012-04-27

I've been awake since I can't quite remember, I just know that I have had only about (4)hrs. of sleep, then did my 7th CrossFit session with my trainer. I felt pretty wiped out by then, but once I was home again, showered and fed (turkey sandwich with Pepper-jack cheese and pickles) I was much better.

I finally got everything I planned to take with me in the car, and hit the road to Merced. I met up with S.- to carpool to Yosemite. [S.- invited me along on the trip. She had been busy with school and was looking forward to getting out into the woods to relax a bit, and was able to score a camp site after all.] She was far better organized and prepared for this car camping trip than I was: I haven't been "camping" in forever. [Staying in the tent-cabins at Curry Village last year was pretty awesome, however.] S.- actually has camping equipment pretty much ready and waiting whenever she wants to pack it into her car and go; that's cool. Next stop, Yosemite!

The day was sunny and clear-ish in The Valley, but once we got to Yosemite it was fully overcast and cool. Seeing the waterfalls on either side of the valley falling out of the clouds was pretty awesome. Too bad I didn't have my camera at hand to capture it. S.- was kind enough to point it out, however, since I was tired and a little slow on the uptake.

Yosemite Falls, falling out of the clouds.

We arrived at Upper Pines and got checked into our site. I wasn't sure if there was some "etiquette" to tent placement, so I set-up mine inside the wooden border; she chose outside the border.

The tents are pitched! REI HalfDome 2-person tent, w/ rainfly & foot-print.

All my stuff fits! It does look a little crowded at this angle, however.

I rented my tent from REI Stockton at very reasonable rates. I also opted to rent a self-inflating Thermarest sleeping pad. It was not quite as impressive as I had expected, but it worked fine. I was only slightly concerned that the tree at the left of my tent (top tent pic) might fall over and kill me during the night. It was leaning directly over my tent, but at least it did not have a canopy of limbs and such to shower me with water if rain developed overnight.

One of several "campers" that brought their own rolling youth hostel.

Our loop of the Upper Pines was fairly full. We did get some late arrivals that had to set-up their tents in the dark by car headlight. The folks in the two-story camper above had two teen boys who took turns throwing a hatchet at a tree. Happily, the hatchet did not ricochet off the tree and hit someone.

I bought two bundles of firewood at Home Depot in Modesto the day before (a variety pack of woods), but it turned out not to be enough: There was no kindling included, and trying to use S.-'s hatchet to split some of the logs into smaller pieces for kindling was only minimally successful. But I got a fire started all the same! Naturally, the matches and Firebug pellets were an essential ingredient.

First time starting a "camp fire" since my days in the Boy Scouts. It didn't last long. :-(

We had stopped in at the Yosemite Village store earlier for new mantels for the propane lantern (the old ones went up in a puff of smoke), and ended up going back to buy a box of firewood. The store had prepackaged boxes of firewood, kindling included! I was very happy. Once we returned to camp I continued with my fire-making efforts. I think Campfire Mark IV was the one that finally stayed and burned till late.

S.- cooking dinner on her Coleman propane stove. Campfire Mark IV in the foreground.

We were both a little disappointed in my campfire skills as we had hoped to cook the steaks over the fire-pit. Maybe next time. At least I have refresher experience building a fire, and S.- reminded me that the teepee method was the right one. I just looked it up in my old Official Boy Scout Handbook by William "Green Bar Bill" Hillcourt, December 1981 (Ninth Edition, Fifth Printing). I'll have to remember to take this book along on future camping trips. [Advance planning on my part, including preparation of a fire-building kit, would certainly be helpful.] My fire kit on this trip was: Lightnin' Bug pellets (small), Uco Stormproof Matches in a yellow plastic matchbox (includes a little bit of cotton tinder in cap), the aforementioned Home Depot firewood bundles, a few pine needles found at the campsite (not usually recommended, at least not at Yosemite), some newspaper and other paper products that S.- had on-hand. She sure is smart, and experienced, at makin' fire.

Dinner turned out beautifully: S.- had pre-seasoned and packed tinfoil packs of new potatoes; small squash and zucchini (I think); and the steaks. The Coleman stove had a grilling plate for the steaks, and they were mighty tasty. Two bottles of red wine helped keep us warm while I dilly-dallied with the fire. Dessert was strawberries, chocolate, and more in a combination that was very tasty. We huddled next to the fire till we finally turned in for the night. I was surprised to see the sky had finally cleared. The moon and some stars were visible through the trees.

Next time: Hikin'!

-Lancer!!

More Hiking Equipment

I purchased a Kelty Redwing (50) day-pack at REI last week. There is a good video review and overview, (10:24)min,, of the pack here. Another shorter video review, about (5:28)min., is here. The pack is hydration bladder compatible (most of them seem to be nowadays), has nice padding on the back and the hip-belt, and includes an aluminum spine/frame-stay and semi-rigid polymer framesheet (which appears to be removable). I had been pretty set on buying the Osprey Stratos (24), but the lumbar pad at the base of the stay on the Kelty pushed me in that direction.

Kelty Redwing (50)L Pack, Cypress; Image (c)REI, (c) Kelty

The Osprey has an included (removable, replaceable) rain-cover, and dedicated bungees for attaching your hiking poles while still wearing the pack (i.e. you don't have to stop and remove the pack to stow your 'poles, or have someone else stow them for you); this feature is referred to as "Stow-on-the-Go" on the website. This last feature had a lot of appeal for me because I plan on hiking Half Dome solo this year, and I also intend to do several other solo hikes before, and after, Half Dome. The lack of lumbar padding was a ding against the Osprey because, while the pack has a floating mesh support web, the aluminum frame stays seemed to dig into my lower back just a little; over time I expect it would just become worse. Also, the hip-belt was not as well-padded and the shoulder straps were a bit narrow.

Osprey Stratos (24) Pack, Tarn; Image (c) REI, (c) Osprey Packs.

I also tried the REI Lookout (40) day-pack (which is what I believe Dave used on the hike last year), but I disliked that it had only two (2) compression straps (one on each side), rather than four (4) (two on each side). As one reviewer pointed out, this means you can't cinch down the base of the pack as much as at the top, so keeping the pack close to the back (front to back) is not possible. This may be a trivial point, but I will go with the option, rather than without. The REI pack also had an integrated rain-cover; I still wish the Kelty included one. And the REI pack also included an internal frame, which I did not realize it had when I was checking out Dave's pack.

REI Lookout (40) Pack, Grecian Blue & CastleRock Gray; Image (c)REI.

Dave's REI day pack. Yosemite Half Dome Hike, Sept. 2011. (c) Lancer!!

When I was at the REI San Carlos store a couple weeks back, the same day as the San Jose 408K, I tried on the Gregory Z30 pack. It seemed to fit well, and has all the features I was looking for, except the Stow-on-the-Go bungee cords (Osprey is the only one that appears to have them). The salesperson who helped me get fitted for the pack mentioned that some customers had complained that the frame stays had a tendency to dig into their lower back, despite the lumbar padding, so rather than purchase this one on the spot, I chose to wait and try some others at the Stockton store when I had more time to spend on it. Disappointingly, the online inventory checker shows these packs are unavailable in any of the stores, but it is still available online. I really like the deep blue color, Midnight Blue.

Gregory Z30 Pack, Midnight Blue; Image (c) REI, (c) GregoryPacks.

Now, since my pack did not include a rain-cover I purchased one separately: the REI Duck's Back (60). This rain-cover appears to be more than suitable for my needs. On closer inspection of the rain-cover itself, I see there is an attached stuff-sack that can be used for storing the cover, which means the included carry case can be used to carry other items on a belt, or other webbing attachment point on your pack. Nice! The built-in pouch also appears to have a hole in one corner. That is either a defect (possible), or a pass-through port for your hydration bladder hose (more likely?). If and when I need to use this cover, I believe I will treat that opening as a hose pass-through.

REI Duck's back (60)L Rain Cover, Liquid Orange; Image (c) REI.

Mine does not appear to be quite as bright as in the photo, but it is still orange.

That's it for now.

-Lancer!!

Update: Proof read and made corrections. Added another video review link.

Post Xmas 2011 Easy Run

2011-12-28, Wednesday

Today's plan calls for an Easy Run. Actually, that was Tuesday' plan, but I'm doing it tonight, anyway.

DC Bike Path: 1/2 Marathon Training, Easy Run. Dist: (6.03)mi. Pace-avg: (15:32). Speed-avg: (3.9)mph. Speed-max: (5.6)mph. Burned: (620) Calories. Running lights, Headlight.

Plan: Run (4.0)mi. @ a (17:45) pace for a total time of (1:11:02)hrs.
Actual: Run/walk (4.0)mi. @ an avg. (15:11) pace for a total of (1:00:42.93)hrs., bracketed by a (1.0)mi. warm-up walk, and a (1.03)mi. cool-down walk.
Fuel: Pre-run: GU Energy Gel (Mandarin Orange); Mid-run: (water); Post-run: very late dinner of Xmas left-overs.

Tonight's run went well: I finally bought the Gore Running Wear Essential Jacket I was checking out at Fleet Feet in Stockton. The big advantage to buying it in the store: I could take it home and use it the same night. And since I was in Stockton I went to REI and checked out the hydration packs again, and also the Petzl headlights. I decided on the Petzl Tikka XP2 and a Petzl CORE rechargeable unit to go with it. While the CORE was charging I loaded the (3x) (AAA) batteries that the headlight can also use, and I headed out the door.

For tonight's run I wore my Nike long sleeve running shirt, my new Gore Running jacket, my Mizuno Thermal beanie, and my new Petzl headlight; I also wore the usual Under Armor ninja hood, Nike Pro Combat compression shorts and my Nike running pants, along with running socks and my Brooks running shoes. During my warm-up walk to the park I set the Petzl for flashing white mode. It was pretty cool to see the reflective street signs and Bots Dots flashing with my light. Once in the park I switched to the high output white beam with the diffuser. I was really impressed with the brightness of the maximum setting; it's bright even when using the diffuser. The economy white mode was a little too dim with the lights in the park, but once deeper into the park, without lights, the economy mode was sufficient for running; I kept it on the high-output mode, anyway.

One of the creepier things I noticed with the headlight, as opposed to my usual Knuckle Lights running lights, was the number of glowing eyes I saw off the bike path; it was pretty surprising. I am fairly certain all of the eyes I saw belonged to the resident feral cats. On the return path I noticed at least one cat appeared to have only one eye.

My new running jacket worked out well. I ended up buying the black version because it was the only one in size XL; the blue one in Large was just a little too snug. And since I bought the black one, I decided to wear my yellow and black Brooks running shell over it, to improve overall visibility. The Gore jacket has a lot of reflective piping and stripes, but I felt better wearing the bright yellow shell with its own reflective details. The overall comfort level was cool, but not cold. On the return leg of my run I noticed my torso was pretty damp with sweat, but I did not feel too chilled by this. I believe the starting temperature this evening was about (41) deg. F. at 2345 hrs., and remained the same when I returned home.

Splits: Mile (1): (14:02); Mile (2): 14:33); Mile (3): (16:33); Mile (4): (15:45).

-Lancer!!