Category: Backpacking
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8.5 months
We’re supposed to be 1000 miles south, finishing our big spring trip right now. But all three of us got sick last week, and are fortunate that jobs and permits let us move the start date back a week. After eight and a half months Little Bear has little interest in crawling, though he has…
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4th class
The east exit chimney in Rock Canyon in not 4th class. I’m fairly Steve Allen first called it that, in Canyoneering 2, but Allen’s notorious, egregious overgrading can be justified as he was usually the first person publicizing these things. What is less easy to justify is the use of that rating in the Hayduke…
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The nuclear option
I was hoping things wouldn’t have to go this far, but as I discussed here sorting out carry options for baby and multiday gear has not been simple. Putting this pack on the back of the Poco AG has worked well, but it’s short on space, and relies on the Poco belt, which is good,…
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BD Alpine Start hoody: the final word
Black Diamond’s Alpine Start hoody hasn’t changed much in the two years it’s been on the market (and since I first wrote about it). The material, a light and tough softshell with excellent breathability and darn good weatherproofing, is unchanged and remains the heart of what is (still) the most versatile and all-around best outdoor…
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Future baselayers now
Baselayers, I’ve written many words on the subject, including these and these. Fancy underwear may be a prosaic subject, but given that you wear it more often than anything else while In The Woods, it is worth both more words and perhaps, more money. Because exciting things are happening. The orthodoxy of baselayers has for…
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Why, again (part 2)
Read part 1 here, and some trip background here and here. With dry clothes, a sandy bed, hot water bottle, and the whispering river twenty feet away I slept well, a welcome contrast to the occasional shivers the previous night. Even better, experience has shown that getting on the water at dawn on a cold…
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Little Bear floats
We’ve got big plans for Little Bear as the weather warms, starting with a backpack and packraft loop down in Utah a few weeks hence. Lots of know unknowns when it comes to taking a baby on such a trip, so we’ve been training and sorting logistics and gear as conditions permit. Some things, like…
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The universal trophy mentality
Doug Peacock, inspiration for Hayduke and author of the excellent Grizzly Years, has continued to solidify his place as one of the most divisive and intellectually cheap writers on wilderness issues in the 21st century. First it was this article two years ago, conspicuously lacking in detail and conspicuously abundant in name-calling and deliberate mis-characterizations.…
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Why, again (part 1)
Being on the cusp of my half three-score and ten, and thus of a disordered mind, I give myself and you this list, of every float however partial I’ve made on the South Fork of the Flathead: August 2010, Youngs Creek down to Spotted Bear May 2011, over Limestone Pass, down Danaher to Salmon Forks…
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BD Dawn Patrol Touring pants
I used to think heavy softshell pants like Black Diamond Dawn Patrol Touring pants were stupid, a needlessly heavy and expensive version of the lighter and more versatile pants I’ve been using for hiking, climbing, and everything since I was ~20 and the hundred or so dollars taslan pants ran was no longer excessive. By…
Bedrock & Paradox 
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