Category: Backpacking
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2022 Bob Open un/official report
The 2022 Open started at Blackleaf Canyon on the Rocky Mountain Front, and ran either to the Rattlesnake trailhead outside Missoula, or looped back to finish at the start, with a mandatory checkpoint at the confluence of Youngs and Danaher Creeks. 9 folks took the start, with several planning for alternate routes. 2022 had started…
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Isle Royale family loop
I’m proud of this one. Back in December when we made boat reservations and committed, I could as is usual with a big trip imagine some difficulties, not others. But those unknowns built and compounded and by the time we arrived in Copper Harbor at 11pm the night before, put the kids to bed in…
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Fashion and the delams
Challenge’s Ultraweave fabrics have seen impressively broad acceptance this winter, with companies as diverse as Pa’lante and Stone Glacier using it, and companies like MLD and Seek Outside moving to make it a core part of their pack line ups. As I found out this past summer, the specs are impressive, and the marketing equally…
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Petzl Swift RL review
Montana at the start of winter is, to state the obvious, dark. On December 22nd we have 8 and a half hours of daylight, and by today, over a month later, we only have an hour more. Provided you can tolerate the cold and have enough interests, there is never a shortage of things to…
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Things from 2021
Astute readers may have noticed that, back in mid spring, photo quality here took a turn. The previous fall my long standing iPhone 5se took a dive (literally, on main stream in Escalante) and after 4 months of tape holding chunks of the screen in, reliability mandated a new phone. I’d spent the winter putting…
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Montana’s early rifle
We’re in the second half of September, which means that in three Montana hunting districts, rifle season has started for deer and elk. This is, I believe, the earliest season anywhere in North America for these animals, aside from special tags. The mystique, or more accurately malarkey, surrounding these three districts is considerable, and the…
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Bark River Micro Canadian re-scale
For the past four years my Micro Canadian has always been one of my very favorite objects. It blends practicality and elegance in a way which few other categories of things can. Restlessness, and extreme specialization (river rescue), are the only real reasons I’ve used anything else. To address the former I bought a Bark…
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Accident report: near-drowning in Meadow Creek Gorge
Paddler A and B were on the fourth day of a packrafting trip on the South Fork of the Flathead at low water (a hair above 500 cfs at Twin Creeks). They passed through the intro rapid right below the normal Meadow Creek takeout and arrived at the first serious rapid 1/2 mile later around…
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Alpacka Explorer 42 review
We spent a lot of time thinking about this one. Our need for a second large packraft, to compliment our Double Duck, was obvious. You really can’t paddle more difficult water with a kid in your lap, one previous option to getting both kids out of the front of the Duck, and we needed to…
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National Parks; the future is still now
The national parks are crowded, or rather, they have been. The pandemic reduced and altered visitation in potentially unexpected ways which are worth pondering. Anecdotally, visitation is back close to or has exceeded the previous records, which were generally set in the latter half of the last decade. This seems to be the COVID outdoor…
Bedrock & Paradox 
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