Category: Backpacking
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Backcountry footwear pollemica!
Phillip heading in for a January Subway. Which was an awesome freaking trip. Go look at the photos non-longtime readers. I have an article on Fast and Light Shoulder Season footwear up at BPL today. It’s the evolution of ideas which started in this post, and were born during Le Parcour de Wild, confirmed during…
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2012 Golite Jam (50L)
Perhaps the most important lightweight backpacking pack of the past decade (a perhaps not especially glorious accolade) and one of the best quiver-of-one multisport packs anywhere got a serious facelift for the new year. It will be going up in comparison with the Thruway over the next 6 months for the BPL write up. I’ve…
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Mountain Hardwear Thruway 50
Being as particular about backpacks as I am, it’s not often that I get excited about a production pack. I’m excited about the Mountain Hardwear Thruway 50, especially since I have one next to me right now. I’ll be beating on it for an in depth BPL review, in the meantime, I posted an overview…
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Baring Creek
The St. Mary aspens are poplars for the aficionado. Another weekend, another wolverine trip. This time Sally and I were headed for Baring Creek, containing the world famous, roadside, Sunrift Gorge. The road itself is closed shortly beyond the St. Mary campground, so we had an 11 mile ski in on the road. Taken as…
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Many manys
Sherburne reservoir: how is the second-most beautiful valley in Glacier home to an abomination driven by farming things a hundred miles downstream which shouldn’t be seen west of the 100th meridian? Our first wolverine site was up on Boulder Ridge, south of the Swiftcurrent Valley. It was hot in the sun. And cold in the…
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Don’t hike your own hike
(a moral framework for lightweight backpacking and outdoor recreation) If you have been around hiking circles long enough, you know of the phrase “Hike Your Own Hike”. The idea that as long as your hike does not effect other people, it’s all kosher. -Paul Magnanti …I’m fine with your HYOH just don’t destroy my HYOH…
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The Belly has no Roof
Just back from a rather challenging wolverine research trip. The east (Atlantic, though much of it drains into the Hudson) side of Glacier never fails to impress with how distinct it is when compared to the Pacific side where by fact of convenience I spend most of my time. Drier and higher, with sparser vegetation…
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How miles grow
This time last week I was embroiled in internet discussions, trying without success to convince people to think outside the visitation box of American summer in the national parks, entreating them to embrace winter. Because cold and snow aren’t so bad. And we should go into the wilderness not just on terms friendliest to us.…
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Glacier, circa 1933
Last night, in a patrol cabin in the Glacier backcountry, I was rustling through the media drawer, mostly decade-old magazines, hanta virus info, the log book, and decks of cards, when I found something magic. A very old map of Glacier, still just barely in one piece. We were enthralled at all the changes which…
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Thermomolding for Distance
Thermomoldable ski boot liners are really cool. They’ve yet to make it into many/any boots designed for touring (horizontal miles, rather than vertical), but they should. They’re warm, act as a vapor barrier and don’t absorb much moisture, and with care and proper technique can be impressively flexible as regards fit, both for a variety…
Bedrock & Paradox 
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