One thing that kept me from trying backpacking before now was the misguided idea that it was beyond me – only for the truly hardcore and outdoorsy. That’s not true, of course, backpacking is completely approachable (and fun!), but there are still a few things I learned that had I known ahead of time would’ve made my trip even easier and more enjoyable. Read on to hear how things went for me and get inspired to plan your own backpacking trip!

1. The Spot

I could not have asked for a more perfect spot to try out backpacking than Maine’s Bold Coast – that extra-rugged stretch of granite coastline extending from Cutler to Lubec and overlooking the Bay of Fundy. It’s a wildly beautiful area characterized by wave-washed cliffs, serene wetlands, blueberry meadows, and classic Maine evergreen forests. I wish I could take credit for the find, but that goes to my girlfriend and personal backpacking guru, who even refused to tell me where we were going.

The roughly 12,000 acre Cutler Coast Public Reserved Lands allow anyone to access all the Bold Coast has to offer through a 10-mile system of trails and primitive campsites. We affectionately called the area “the baby PNW” given its striking similarity to the Pacific northwest coastlines of northern California, Oregon, and Washington, albeit on a smaller scale. Look out for a future article detailing this fantastic Maine gem.

2. Preparedness and Packing List

There are two big things to keep in mind when deciding what to pack for your trip: how long you’ll be out (how many nights) and the weather you expect to encounter. These two things will frame the discussion of what I ended up packing as well. Because we only planned to camp out one night, I didn’t need to worry about bringing too many changes of clothes.

I did, however, need to be prepared for a pretty wide range of weather. August in New England is all over the board. You might get stifling hot and humid days, intense booming thunderstorms, pleasant mid-70s and a light breeze, an all-day drizzle, or all of the above in less than a 24-hour period. Plus, you shouldn’t be surprised if the temperature drops 20 degrees or more overnight.

With that in mind, my clothing choices were centered around layering – which is a good rule of thumb no matter your outdoor activity. A minimum of three layers is appropriate for most situations: a moisture-wicking synthetic base layer (a t-shirt) to wear next to your skin, a fleece or synthetic layer for warmth, and then a wind- and water-proof jacket to go on top of the other two layers. With that basic structure, you’ll be prepared for most conditions you encounter when 3-season hiking or backpacking.

Whether you wear shorts or pants is more of a personal call (or bring both; if your budget allows, get zip-offs for the best of both worlds!), but remember that you shouldn’t be wearing anything cotton as it doesn’t insulate when wet and will take forever to dry – synthetics only. I brought a light rain jacket and fleece for my outer layers, and then a wider variety of base layers – because I had the room so I could try things out and see what I liked.

I wore a short sleeve t-shirt and shorts for hiking during the day and then a pair of running tights and a long sleeve tee in the evening and overnight. I appreciated having the full body coverage after the sun went down for warmth and to mitigate mosquito bites. The long sleeve tee is redundant if you’re trying to cut down on what you’re packing (because of the fleece layer), but I would definitely bring long leg coverings of some kind.

Even though I was well aware of layering and the moratorium on cotton before this trip, I didn’t quite nail my packing. This was apparent from the start when we laid out all our gear in the morning prior to departure (see below pictures). My very first note for writing this article is: “bring a beanie, you bald idiot”. Remember how I said the temperature drops significantly overnight? Well it was still pretty chilly that morning, too, and boy did I feel it on my bare head. Even if you’ve got hair, you’ll still want to bring a warm hat – yes, even in summertime. I’m from here, I knew this intellectually ahead of time, but I was still not totally awake to the reality of the situation until I stepped outside that morning. In my defense, a warm hat was not on my personalized packing list and I’m a rule-follower, so if it’s not on there, I don’t bring it. Luckily, I was entitled to the spare beanie, but of course that morning ended up being the coldest part of the trip.

The rest of my wardrobe was rounded out by a swimsuit (which I was specifically told to bring), a baseball cap, a “Under Armour”-type long sleeve top (waaaaay overkill), wool socks, and my Teva sandals. I can’t recommend enough that you bring a pair of sport sandals or lightweight sneakers as “camp shoes” to wear at the campsite and especially on the car ride home. There is no better feeling than taking off your boots after a long day – your feet will be so grateful (and make sure you properly secure them so you don’t lose one and end up stuck in your boots like me, ugh).

Outside of clothing, food and drink is probably the next biggest thing you’ll need to devote brain power towards planning. Because we only did a single overnight, we were a bit indulgent when choosing our meals. We brought ham sandwiches for lunch on our first day and pre-cooked chicken to add to our backpacking “just add water” pouch dinner that night since the short time frame meant we didn’t have to worry about spoilage. The rest of our snacks were fairly standard hiking fare: Clif Bars, banana chips, chocolate (be careful about THAT in the summer, though, or you’ll have a different kind of goo!), nuts, those apple sauce goo pouches. The idea is to bring plenty of calorie dense foods so you can efficiently replenish your energy.

For water, I’d recommend bringing as much as you can comfortably carry (is there a rule for this?). We each filled our 3-liter Camelbak reservoirs as well as roughly another ~2 liters each in separate bottles (one of those earmarked for cooking). So all in all we carried approximately 10 liters between the two of us which ended up being more than enough for our 24-hour sojourn. Of course, we also packed water purification tablets just in case, but we didn’t even come close to needing them. Those are cheap and light, so if you don’t backpack much they may be okay, but yuck, they make water taste bad. Better idea; either a filter from somebody like Sawyer or Katadyn , or a UV light from SteriPen .

If you like an alcoholic drink in camp, remember that warm beer is…warm beer. Whiskey/tequila works better, or wine, particularly box wine (lighter weight, no glass to break). Pro tip: Put your box white (or red) wine in the freezer, then wrap your food that you want to keep cool around it with a t-shirt or something; it’ll slowly melt, and you’ll have cool food AND cool wine on a hot day.

Here’s the complete packing list with a few annotations about the things we haven’t discussed so far.

• Clothing
  • Hiking boots
  • Camp shoes (Tevas, Xero, etc.)
  • Wool socks (2-3 pairs)
  • T-shirts (2)
  • Long sleeve tee (ultralight longies can be great for this)
  • Shorts (1 pair)
  • Swim trunks
  • “Under Armour” top
  • Tights (or long leg coverings; again, ultralight longies can fit the bill)
  • Fleece
  • Rain jacket
  • Ballcap
  • Beanie
  • Sunglasses
• Toiletries
  • Toothbrush
  • Toothpaste – optional, frankly (unless your partner says is isn’t). Hang on to those mini tubes that the dentist gives you; perfect for backpacking!
  • Toilet paper
  • Sunscreen
  • Bug spray
  • Chapstick – I can’t live without
  • Baby wipes – for “showering” (or a travel washcloth and some warm water)
  • Medication
• Camping supplies
  • Tent
  • Sleeping pad
  • Sleeping bag
  • Inflatable pillow – an actual lifesaver
  • Stove + fuel
  • Small pot
  • Bowls + cutlery
  • Bear bag (careful here; KNOW how to use it, and practice…it’s not as easy as it sounds to do it right)
  • Paracord
  • Multi-tool / knife
  • Lighter
  • Firestarter material – we had dryer lint (which sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t, depending on what clothes you’ve dried. Better idea; soak it in some melted Vaseline and it’s guaranteed to work)
  • Trailmap
  • Water purification (tablets or UV like SteriPen or filters like Sawyer)
  • Trowel
  • Whistle
  • Duct tape
  • First aid kit
• Other
  • Pack (duh)
  • Hydration bladder for pack (cool new option: Hydrolight)
  • Additional water (particularly on the coast, where a lot is salty)
  • Photo ID
  • Hammock (optional, but nice if you’ve got the right trees and a hot afternoon!)
  • Book (or Kindle)
  • Notebook (and pen…duh)

When it comes time to load up, you want to make sure your load is balanced well and that anything you want to access quickly is on top or in an outside pocket (like snacks, bug spray FOR SURE, etc.). I wasn’t too careful repacking on the morning of day two because I was getting mauled by mosquitoes at the time. It was clearly noticeable that I was a bit top heavy and off-balance that day and if the hiking had been any more technical I would have stopped to fix it. At least now I can personally attest: how you pack is as important for comfort as what you pack, so do it right!

3. Don’t Hesitate to Turn Around

I had so much fun on this trip, but it wasn’t without challenges. My biggest one was blisters on my heels – which I knew would be an issue, but man, they were bad. My hiking boots are relatively new still, but I thought that I was moving out of the break-in phase and that slapping some big bandages on my heels would make me good to go. Listen to me now: if you think your boots are broken in because they’re comfortable to wear around town, you’re wrong and you should continue to break them in. I’m actually wearing them now as I write this so I don’t have to experience what I went through ever again (until the next pair!). However, the unfortunate truth is that some boots may give you blisters no matter how well you’ve broken them in (if only this was something you could find out in the store when trying them on).

There are a couple of things you can do to combat blisters, which arise when your foot moves in your boot, rubbing against your sock and boot liner. One method is to use Kinesio Tape to cover blister-prone areas so the rubbing is on the tape and not your heels. This is what I was trying to accomplish with the bandages, but those end up being too loose and just act as another surface to produce friction. Kinesio Tape adheres like a second skin to absorb the friction and protect your actual skin. Another possible solution is to add a sole insert to your boot to hopefully take up that extra space that is allowing your foot to move around. Even just a bit of something, flat plastic, etc., underneath the heel may be enough. I’ll experiment for next time and get back to you.

What this all translated to for my trip this time, however, was a fairly uncomfortable afternoon. The Cutler Reserve does not have big elevation, but it is a lot of up then down then up again – and boy was that a killer on my heels. As we were making our way to our intended campsite in the far south of the reserve, we were also getting pulled off trail every 0.1 – 0.25 miles onto rocky overlooks to snap stunning pictures of the coastline. We passed a couple of campsites recently added to the reserve, one occupied and one free, but we wanted to hike the entire coastal route so we continued on.

But as it grew later in the afternoon and we struggled to estimate exactly how much further we had to travel, we started to consider turning around. Campsites in the Cutler Reserve are first-come, first-serve, so even though we were hedging our bets by camping out on a Sunday and avoiding most of the weekend traffic, there was no guarantee. Plus, I became insatiably thirsty in the afternoon and there was some question as to whether we’d need to be near the stream (which was much closer to the campsites we’d passed) to replenish our supply. My girlfriend and I are both stubborn and don’t like to quit – but that’s a terrible way to look at the situation. Deciding to turn around because you’re uncomfortable for any reason is always smart. In this case, water ended up being a non-issue and blisters were unavoidable (though I was happy to cut our mileage a bit and not make them that much worse), but backtracking did mean we narrowly secured what turned out to be a phenomenal campsite; we had a tent pad on a bluff overlooking a private cove and pebble-strewn beach – as picturesque as can be.

4. Indulge in the Simple

That pebbly beach ended up being fuel for one of life’s simplest joys: throwing rocks into the water. If you haven’t indulged in this activity recently, or at all as an adult, I cannot recommend it enough. Now, perhaps my girlfriend and I are particularly childish, but I think we were on that beach all of five minutes before we started trying to skip stones in the light surf. When it became clear the conditions were not of the skipping kind, we transitioned quickly to attempting to make the best “kerplunk” (“sploosh”?) sound possible. We excavated deep trenches on either side of where we sat fueling this game. It sounds totally stupid, but it was also so, so enjoyable. And if this kind of simple thing isn’t what hiking/backpacking is about, then there’s something I must be missing.

It’s the easy take, but true: when you divorce yourself from the phones and the screens, and the instant gratification of modern life by getting far enough out to lose cell service (or put on airplane mode), you find pleasure in nature’s simplest things. Throwing rocks, climbing trees, or just observing and being in nature. I think backpacking is great for this because it forces you to simplify; you can only bring what you can carry, after all. That combined with the physical exertion is a great mental reset. Even though we both brought books and notebooks, we were content to sit on the beach and let our eyes follow the line of lobster buoys out of the cove towards Grand Manan Island, Canada (only 13 miles away!). After our arms were too tired to throw more rocks, of course.

5. Do NOT Underestimate Maine’s Mosquitoes

Between this and the blisters it probably sounds like I had a hellish first time backpacking, but that’s really not the case – it was a blast. However,I would love for you to be able to avoid the minor negatives to my experience and so I’m telling you now to bring a lot of insect repellent. Gripes about Maine’s mosquitoes are nothing new, but my God they were vicious and they were legion. They were a contributing factor to why we spent so much time throwing rocks, actually, because there weren’t quite as many right on the beach as there were where we had to pitch the tent. I even ended up dragging everything down to the beach in the morning to repack in an attempt to minimize exposure, but still ended up with a whole zodiac of bites covering my legs and arms. We had mosquito repellent, but not enough. If you’re trying to save space or shave weight, this is not an area where you want to make compromises. You should, however, check out some of these bug un-friendly products: Thermacell, Insect Shield.

6. Still Bring That Smartphone

I know I just sang the praises of putting it down, but you should absolutely still bring your smartphone on your backpacking trip for a couple reasons. The first is safety: if you have an emergency and still have cell service your phone can be the difference between life and death (or at least mild and extreme discomfort). I had mine in airplane mode to try to preserve my meager data allowance and temperamental battery (which refuses to charge from anything less than a wall outlet), but my girlfriend had hers on and even had decent service almost the whole trip so we were covered there. However, a big secondary reason to keep your phone handy is to document your trip. I have a decent DSLR camera and I swear my smartphone takes better pictures more than half the time because the technology for automatic focus, exposure, and all that jazz is just so good nowadays (and it’s one less bulky and HEAVY thing to pack, too). And while it’s far from my first instinct to pull out my phone and snap a picture when something catches my eye, I’m glad that I made an effort for this trip.

The shared album where my girlfriend and I both dumped our photos has 415 pictures, and sure, a lot of them are duplicates or only slightly different (I’ve yet to comb through and delete anything), but there are also a number of great pictures of the two of us – not to mention the stunning landscape. I’m very happy to have this record of the fun time we had, plus plenty of propaganda to convince my friends and family (and all of you!) to go give backpacking on the Bold Coast a try!

7. Backpacking Isn’t as Scary as It Sounds

It really is not as hard as you might think – especially if you start with just a single night (or stick with doing those forever!). As I mentioned above, doing just an overnight cuts down on the clothing and other items you need to bring, and it very much lets you play fast and loose with your food planning – you could pack in with cold pizza or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and get away with it easily (plus then you don’t need a backpacking stove or have to worry about cooking over a campfire). Backpacking gear can be expensive, but you can easily rent it from local outfitters or online here, also letting you try it out before you commit. If you’re already a camper or hiker you’ll have most of the things you need anyway.

When/if you do decide to purchase gear, keep in mind that for the majority of circumstances you don’t need to purchase “ultralight” or backpacking-specific gear. Often this type of product is much more expensive than its “normal” counterpart while only shaving a few ounces (or a few fractions of an ounce). Useful if you’re undertaking a technical trip, but overkill for the vast majority of us weekend backpackers.

Finally, you don’t need to tackle a 4,000 foot mountain in order to go backpacking. Elevation in the Cutler Reserve is no more than ~200 feet and trails are well marked and decently maintained, making it ideal for a first-time sojourn. Make sure you take proper safety precautions and do a little planning (refer to the packing list above!), but there’s no reason you can’t follow your heart into the wilderness for a night to look for the best rocks to throw.

Photos by Adam Copeland and Ashley Charleson.

The post 1st Time Backpacking appeared first on EasternSlopes.com.

My 19-year-old son and I were taking a breather, having just completed the red course at Gunstock Aerial Treetop Adventure in Gilford, NH. Perched on a platform surrounding the rough hide of a straight and tall oak 50 feet off the forest floor, we had just picked, clambered and swung our way across some 40 or so ropes obstacles like ladders, foot bridges and dangling planks of wood. We had also launched across a half dozen zip lines, including the last of which, a 275-footer that deposited us on this small wood structure high above the ground.

“Here we are again,” I said, looking back over my shoulder into the dense arbor in a hopeless attempt at trying to spot the platform from which we had leaped. It was too far back. Then I looked straight down at the couple who were ahead of us all the way along the course. They had decided to forego the final leg and had just descended a long ladder to solid Earth.

I understood. When you get to this point after having swung, climbed, inched along and crossed swinging logs, high wires, and all manner of “challenges” over the course of an hour and a half or more, you get tired. Or perhaps you’ve expended the stores of “gung-ho” you’ve carried along since learning how to use the safety harness. Or you just want to go get lunch.

“Yep,” said Becket. Never one to mince words. We had been here before, almost a decade earlier when he was a pre-teen stuntman-wannabe and I was a much more limber 50-year-old who barely understood what a muscle cramp was.

Last time, there were four of us, including my wife and our oldest son. Back then, descending after the red course was a group consensus to call it a day arrived at with a little negotiation and a promise of a return trip.

So, here we were, and Becket and I were determined to go on.

Pick Your Adventure

Gunstock has created an all-ages and all-abilities summer playground with a mix-and-match ticketing scheme that means you can put together as many or as few heart-pounding activities as you care to undertake. Becket and I secured zip line and Discover Adventure passes; that gave us access to the Arial Treetop Adventure, Mountain Coaster, Zip Tour, and more (https://www.gunstock.com/off-snow/tickets-passes/). We received a brief but thorough primer on how to use the ropes course harness and received additional instruction in using the ingenious safety rig at the beginning of the course.

Because of its design, a steel “C” clamp with an opening smaller than the safety cable but large enough for the user to manually slide it over flat transitions, there is virtually no point on the course where you aren’t always secured to the cable. Aside from figuring out how to use the clamp when climbing ladders and before each obstacle, the only other limitations are you have to be at least 12 and must be able to reach to 5 feet 11 inches.

While getting all the way through the Aerial TreeTop Adventure takes some stamina and conditioning, the nice thing is you do NOT have to be a fitness freak to have fun here. You can go as far as you want through the challenges — there are ladders down to the ground at the end of each of five courses that become progressively more difficult to complete — and can set your own pace. (I used the excuse of stopping to take pictures a few times as a means of catching my breath.) There is no pressure to keep moving, except maybe from the folks you arrived with.

The Green course is the easiest and has 11 “games” and a 60-foot zip line with platforms from 8 to 13 feet off the forest floor. Then there is the blue course, a few feet higher. It has nine challenges, including a 70-foot zip line. Silver, averaging 20 feet off the deck, becomes somewhat strenuous with a baker’s dozen of ladders, swings, seesaws, and 65-foot and 125-foot zip lines. Then there’s red, 10-feet higher still with 17 challenges, including these annoying swinging rope loops you catch with your feet to cross an open expanse of forest. It has an 80-foot zip line and the long 275 footer we just came across.

Fun for Everyone

A smaller “Explorer” course is designed for children ages six to 11, but for the bigger kids, each course takes you farther up into the canopy. I was thinking about that fact as I watched Becket start the 20-foot climb to the first obstacle of the black course. 

“Time to go,” he said, sliding his safety clamp up the stainless cable as he climbed. I looked back down at the couple watching us continue and the grin on the guy’s face seemed to project a better-you-than-me-pal message before they headed away. Onward.

We climbed to at least 70 feet off the deck and gingerly crossed a gap between trees. The route was a long sequence of vertically dangling smooth logs with foot pegs mounted through their bottoms. I chose to hug each one as I crossed, leaving the C clamp to follow me across.

It was the first of the final 16 “games” that included a “labyrinth” of intersecting planks and cables to cross, various footbridges, suspended rings, a rope swing, and more. Depending on how the ground slopes away between these obstacles, you can find yourself upwards of 100 feet off the ground. One particularly high crossing was a 165 foot long bridge with irregularly spaced planks. There are also three zip lines and a kind of skateboard mounted on a cable that you balance on as you pull yourself across a high gap to the final platform.

The black course tested our balance and a fair amount of upper body strength to say nothing of confidence and stamina. Finally, with lunch and a Zip Tour from the summit still ahead of us, I watched as Becket attached his safety harness to the “auto belay” device mounted securely above our heads. Then he swung out into space and floated down as a series of magnets spinning within the device checked his speed.

After Becket released the attachment, the belay device rewound its long cable back up to me and I clipped in.

“All you need to do is step off,“ came the advice from below where a dozen or so people just getting their primers on the safety gear gathered. I wondered what they were expecting to see. So I stepped off after a brief hesitation and enjoyed a smooth ride back to solid ground.

Mountain Coaster: All Speeds for Most Sizes

Since we had a little time before our appointment to be outfitted with gear for the giant peak-to-base zip line, we wandered over to the mountain coaster for a bit of fast fun. As if expending energy on the ATA courses wasn’t enough, we were curious about the speeds we could achieve on Gunstock’s mountain coaster.

Becket has been a fan of roller coasters since he was big enough to make the cut at Great Adventure, so there was no way we weren’t going to check this out.

The cars, secured to twin, stainless steel rails, take riders uphill on a track through the forest. Eventually, you reach the top and the car is released from the track and gravity takes over. It’s a neat system allowing each rider to control their speed plunging through the forest and swoop, bank, and spin through all manner of turns.

The ride is just long enough at around 4,100 feet to get comfortable letting the brakes go and allowing yourself to feel the g-forces on a few turns reaching up to 25 miles an hour. That doesn’t sound like much, but on a corkscrew turn that completely blurs the greenery surrounding you, it’s plenty for a 6-minute ride to the bottom. If that’s not enough, just go again.

Fun for the Entire Family, Little Tykes, Too

On our way in to grab something to eat at the lodge, we passed all manner of outdoor contrivances for school-age kids to enjoy from a water-balloon fort where teams could attempt to soak one another to a “space bounce” rig where four kids in bungee-cord harnesses could jump and flip to their hearts content. There was also a giant film stunt airbag onto which participants could fall from two different heights. And just before we entered the lodge, we watched a family gop rolling by on rented off-road Segways.

Gunstock also rents paddleboats and personal kayaks for floating on their placid snowmaking pond, conducts mountain-top yoga classes, and offers guided hiking and glam-packing retreats. Just in case you don’t want to leave Fido behind, you can also take a skijoring class with your favorite canine (that teaching your dog to pull YOU around on your XC skis).

Zip Tour: An Adrenaline and Vista-Filled Rush

After lunch in the large lodge and being outfitted with a beefy safety harness and heavy duty trolley, Becket and I got a lesson in using the gear and headed to the Panorama high-speed quad for our ride to the top during a perfectly clear, blue-sky afternoon.

Once at the summit, we followed signs to the first platform and took a few steps to a platform beneath a pair of heavy cables that shoot downhill to the north. A summer worker directed us to stand on marks beneath the cables so he could pull our trolleys out of our small rucksacks and attach them to the wire above. As he attached Becket’s big trolley to the cable, I watched his sequence of steps to hook it on and lock it in place with latches and hefty pins. I memorized the sequence.

Once the technician says you are clear for takeoff, the rider transfers their grip from a short length of rope to the brake handle and pulls down to disengage. Then it’s all up to you. Pull down hard and release all friction, ease up and the brake starts to squeeze the cable and you slow down.

Becket launched, so I pulled down and lurched forward, keeping my eye on the landing 275 feet away, doubting I’d have any chance of catching my son.

The ride was thrilling! And the harness is comfortable enough once you get moving. But it was over before I realized as I zoomed into the landing area watching for the staff member to signal me to begin to brake. Once detached from the line, we walked maybe 50 yards to the base of next station. Becket led and I followed, climbing a circular staircase up a tall tower — fighting vertigo all the way — to the start of the next line.

“Wow! What a view!” exclaimed Becket as I reach the top. We stood on a platform, with the stunning expanse of Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire’s largest, laid out directly to the north. A couple in front of us has just taken off and the sound of their trolleys on the line whined as their speed increased and they soon disappeared from view.

We wait for them to reach the Zip Tour’s mid station more than 3,960 feet ahead of us at the top of the Pistol triple chair at the resort’s easternmost point, but it’s not a long wait. Just long enough to take in the expansive views and consider how to get the most speed (think cannonball) out of the zip.

Becket and I stood in the start gate near the forward edge of the tall platform at least 200 feet up — hands on brake handles — when the station master gave us the green light. Now consider, you can’t really see the end point. I mean, you can estimate where the platform ought to be, across that valley and in those trees somewhere way down yonder, but you’re really just jumping out into space ready to well, practically fly, a full three-quarters of a mile to the next landing and … “yeehah!” Becket’s whoop of joy as I see him escape out ahead of me makes me realize this race is already lost, so I jump after him.

“Whoohoo!” That one was me, releasing an exclamation normally reserved for a handful of times a season when carving high-speed super-G turns in winter. The steel cable sings as I speed to maximum velocity (estimated at around 65 miles an hour), maintaining a cannonball shape as best I can, and the landing platform comes into view. I wait as long as I can before relaxing my grip on the brake, and … just like that I’m standing on another wooden platform with my face frozen in a grin to match Becket’s. He’s already itching to get to the next platform for the final zip.

From the edge of the next launch, you can just see the finish, down between trees, high across the main parking lot, over the snowmaking pond where people are floating in kayaks. This line, just 150-feet shorter than the last, is just as fun, just as fast, and — taking in the entire day — guaranteed to bring out the child in any of us.

By the time I am sailing high above the parking lot at the resort’s base I am a little disappointed it’s all about to end. People look up as I fly over their heads and I think to myself, how could anyone not love this? I ask this question of Becket as we shuck our harnesses, trolleys, and backpacks, and place them in a golf cart at the base of the landing platform.

“That was amazing!” he exclaims. “Think Mom would love it?” I do, and I think we’ll have to come back next time with everyone.

The post Return Engagement: Gunstock Aerial Tree Adventure a Decade Later appeared first on EasternSlopes.com.

Out of the box, the Black Diamond Distance 15 Backpack is a good-looking (hey, style points count!), fully-featured minimalist pack. Sounds like an oxymoron, right? Let me put it a different way; within the world of ultralight gear, the Black Diamond has a TON of features, making it more than just a race day pack.

I started testing the pack out on a mid-January day on Round/Sheep Mountain, just west of my home town of Loveland, Colorado and less than 20 miles from Rocky Mountain National Park. This 4.5 mile one way hike begins at 5,743 feet and tops out at 8,450. I’ll save you the math – that’s a gain of 2,707 feet in just four and a half miles. The trail is plenty rocky and this time of year, patches of ice are prevalent. Round Mountain is my favorite suffer-fest, especially when I’m training for a trail race and need to get some serious vertical in quickly.

The Black Diamond Distance 15 was the perfect pack for this day – in and out of clouds, with a stiff breeze that made our 35 degree temps feel like the 20s. Its “kitchen sink” nature was just right for this kind of weather. I was able to strap my Black Diamond Distance Carbon Z Z-Poles to the Z-Pole Quiver Sleeves, used .75 ml soft flasks in the larger front pockets, and stash snacks in the smaller pockets. Being a cautious sort, I used the zippered security pocket to stash my cards-and-cash Ziploc (break-ins at trailheads are bad, people!) and keys (you only need to lose your car key once on a remote trail run to NEVER EVER EVER space out on where you put it again).

I also packed: a packable down parka, extra food, extra water, Kahtoola NANOspikes (which I ended up wearing for most of the outing), a waterproof layer (again, you never know in January in CO), etc.

I found the pack to be incredibly comfortable – I was really pleased at the adjustability of the side panels. The pack was easily as comfortable as my running/ultramarathon specific packs. At 5’10” and close to 180 pounds, but with curves, I’ve had some challenges with pack fit; men’s packs seem boxy, and women’s just seem too short for my torso. But this pack felt fantastic on and I had to do minimal fiddling to adjust during my journey.

I am extremely excited about the Distance 15 as my go-to for a three day stage race I am doing in early August in New Hampshire). This event is largely self-supported, and let’s face it – RAIN is likely. The incredibly tough Dynex© Ripstop fabric is perfect for uncertain conditions, and let’s face it – it looks super cool!

I took the pack out for another spin last Saturday; a bunch of friends and I took advantage of a bluebird day (and somewhat better trail conditions) to get 12 miles in at Devil’s Backbone Open Space near my home in Loveland, CO. As usual here in the Front Range, the conditions were boomeranging all over the place. A relatively warm 40 degrees at 8:30 AM, then the CO sun beat down on us, having us all stripping layers – we were in t-shirts and tank tops on February 1 (ETA – before a two-day snowstorm and temperature drops to the single digits – please follow my trending hashtag, #whateverColorado!

Two of my friends were trail traveling with more minimal packs and I was delighted to offer up my pack as a storage space for their gear. I used a 1.5 liter hydration bladder this time around, leaving the front pockets free for phone, snacks, tissues and lip balm. (Note: This is fun for a little while; after a few trips, you may want to tell your friends to get their own blasted Distance 15!)

My only minor issues with this wonderful pack have been, a) the cord that cinches the main compartment can get a bit tangled and can be tough to open/close; and b) I’d love a cinching option on the front pockets to make sure everything is super secure.

What impresses me most about the Black Diamond Distance 15 is its ability to hold so much gear, yet remain extremely comfortable on a longer outing – the breathability of the back panel was especially welcome during the warm conditions at Devil’s Backbone. All indications are that this will be an amazing four season pack and I’m stoked to keep putting it to the test, especially as I expand my comfort zone and explore more of the rugged and diverse terrain my adopted home state has to offer. There’s a 14er in my near future, and this pack will accompany me on my journey!

The post Black Diamond Distance 15 Pack appeared first on EasternSlopes.com.

Is this an entirely new paradigm for hiking boots?

When we saw the Xero Xcursion boots at this summer’s Outdoor Retailer show in Denver, we immediately wanted to try them. They check off a lot of our boxes; for starters, they’re insanely light for a mid height boot, at 13 ounces per boot in our size 11. For any sort of fast and light work, that’s a huge bonus over almost any other boot in our stable. Second, they’re fully waterproof; in the East, we pretty much consider that a necessity. Third, they’re reasonably priced, at a $160 retail (better prices can typically be found online, of course). Fourth, they have a ridiculous 5,000 mile sole warranty; ultralight boots typically have a very short sole life. Now, we’re not sure how they calculate that…we don’t log our miles that accurately. We did see noticeable wear on the boots that got the most wear (likely in the 300 mile range, with a mix of backwoods and pavement). But functionally, it means that they’ll guarantee these for a whole lot of miles, and a whole lot of time.

But on top of that, they use a zero-drop sole design. We’ve tested those before, and found that we tend to get very good traction and “feel” of the trails with them in general. With the Xero Xcursion having such a thin sole, we figured they’d be a great scrambling boot, with enough protection for our ankles that we’d enjoy Eastern granite summits more than with low-cut lightweights. Add all of that together, and they seemed like a good fit for a lot of our activities with a daypack or less. And we were right…but we were also wrong.

First Things First: Watch The Fit

So, when you try on a pair of Xero Xcursions, you may well make the same fit mistake we made. The forefoot and toe box are wide and open and feel loose; we felt the 10 1/2 was true to size, and perhaps a little large. Until testers got out in the field and found they were getting a lot of toe bang on steep downhills. Don’t let that open toe box fool you…the Xcursion actually runs slightly on the short side. Our testers bumped up to an 11, and were fully happy with the result.

BUT, and it’s a big one…you have to get used to the boot not being snug over your entire foot. It isn’t, it never will be, and based on our experiences it isn’t necessary or even desirable (unlike with other boots). Because the sole is so flat and thin, as long as our heel is held well, we had no loss of stability from the free floating forefoot. What we DID have was a lot more comfort; long days without being footsore, and when our feet did the typical late afternoon swelling, there was plenty of room for them. No pressure, no hot spots, no discomfort.

The only other fit issue was around the shin. The top of the boot is quite open, and a tester with “spindle shanks” had trouble tightening it down around his leg. For most people, it won’t be a big issue, but we’d like to see Xero move the speed eyelets a little farther back. That would resolve the problem, and if they moved the lower one back a bit more than the upper, it would help keep your heel planted better (it’s very good now, but any skier who has used a Full Tilt/Raichle/Dalbello 3-buckle boot will understand what we mean).

One more minor concern that we had; the Xero design uses a nylon webbing piece that goes around the heel, down to the sole, and back up to become one of the eyelets. Pretty cool design, pulling all of those areas together to help pull your heel back into the pocket, but it IS exposed. With Eastern Granite, we could see that strap becoming frayed. It appears to be easily replaceable, but you’ll want to keep an eye on it so that it doesn’t fail while you’re in the middle of nowhere.

Next: Ditch Your Preconceptions

Here’s where the fun really began…using the Xero Xcursions. Immediate feedback was that they were so light and comfortable, testers weren’t just using them for hiking; they were wearing them grocery shopping, to PTA meetings, pretty much everywhere. Breathability was exceptional, so long, warm days weren’t an issue (we have to wonder if that loose fit is a factor, allowing more air to flow in and out).

Hiking, though, proved that the Xcursion isn’t just a novelty. On trail, off trail, scrambling up and down rocky summits, they surprised us with their comfort and control. We had concerns about how well the “chevron” sole would grip, but found it was much better than we expected, except on slimy, wet, algae covered rocks and logs. Those are tough on any sole, so it wasn’t a huge surprise. Overall, we were more impressed with the grip than we expected to be.

The biggest surprise, though, came when we used the boots while carrying a pack. The first time, a tester went out with a roughly 35 pound pack, and expected to find that the boots felt overmatched…and he was wrong. His notes contain things like “just crossed a sidehill, felt totally planted,” and “on the way back out, I forgot I was testing boots and just hiked, never noticed them” (although it was an early morning breaking of camp, and limited coffee may have been a factor).

That led us to push even more, with one tester carrying a load of over 75 pounds for several miles…and no sense of insecurity! Our take was that by letting our feet “roam” inside the boot and coupling that with the flat, minimalist sole, we had a better connection with the ground and less opportunity to slip. And, when we DID slip, it was more of a skid than a roll. As in, the boot slid out, but we didn’t have a significant ankle roll; there again, having our foot so low to the surface means less leverage against our ankles. No matter the cause, regardless of the pack weight or the terrain, we had exactly zero (or perhaps “Xero”?) ankle twists.

Be Careful About Break-In; You, That Is, Not The Boots

The final “major” test came when one tester used the boots for a multi-day backpacking hunting trip in Southern New Hampshire. He averaged almost 15 miles a day in extremely rugged terrain, steep and rocky, carrying roughly 30 pounds, almost none of it on trails, and all of it without the added security of trekking poles. A lot of the terrain required side-hill edging, and while the sole of the Xcursion doesn’t look like it would handle that well, he found the footing more secure than with his favorite hikers. And although a lot of the hiking was literally granite boulder to granite boulder, the lack of cushioning didn’t lead to being footsore at the end of the day (a huge surprise to all of us). When all was said and done, he felt that he’d been able to push more for longer days thanks to the weight and secure footing.

He also, thanks to where he was hiking, had a lot of opportunity to test how effective the waterproofing was, and it was simply flawless. No moisture entered the boots even when wading across wide, shallow streams, and as mentioned before the breathability continued to be excellent. One note about that, though; the gusseted tongue only comes up to about your ankle bone, so deeper water WILL come in over the top.

However, he did find the one “flaw” in the boots; his own Achilles’ tendon. Here’s the problem…if you’re used to “regular” boots with a heel, your Achilles will have shortened slightly (it’s something often discussed around women wearing high heels; this is the same thing, but to a lesser degree). And tendons don’t like to stretch. By the end of day 2, he was definitely feeling inflamed in that area, and on day 3, it was definitely worse, particularly going uphill.

Bizarrely enough, he got some relief by letting the sole go flat while climbing, rather than staying on his toes. After a few days of rest, though, the pain was gone, and further efforts in the boots bothered him not at all. We’d highly recommend doing a whole lot of calf stretches as you prepare for using the Xero Xcursions for long days.

Thinking Outside The Box: Enhanced Stability For Seniors

Here’s where we really move beyond traditional uses for boots. One tester has a father who is 85, was always an outdoorsman, but is now getting a little less stable, so doesn’t get out in the woods much. Since they have the same foot size, he had Dad give the Xero Xcursions a try, and the difference was shocking. Dad motored up and down trails that he hadn’t felt comfortable on, with ease, and started going back out in the woods more.

So…well, there’s Mom, too. She’s not an outdoorsy type, but she HAS had balance issues; three falls in the past year. We put her in a pair of the boots, and as she walked around, we could see her face light up. She even went out and took a walk in the woods and came back beaming; she felt perfectly safe. THAT’S something new!

The Big Question: Is The Xero Xcursion Right For You?

There’s always that bottom line with any outdoors product; nothing is perfect for everyone. The kicker here, though, is that the Xero Xcursion met needs for every single person we had try them out, and THAT is unprecedented in our experience. It’s why we’re making the recommendation that every single person give them a try, and give them more of a chance than you’d dream of (one of our friends picked one up, looked it over, and explained all of the things wrong with it for hiking…of course, in actual testing, we found out he was utterly wrong about all of them).

Our greatest regret? The Xcursion has no insulation at all, making it a limited partner for winter in the Northeast. That said, we have spent time wearing them in the snow and cold and yet again, they’ve outperformed our expectations. We’ve worn them at 25 degrees in 4 inches of fresh snow for the better part of an hour without anything other than minor coolness in the toebox. One female tester took them out for a long walk in subfreezing temperatures against her better judgement, and came back prepared to use them judiciously through the winter. Our best guess is that the loose fit allows more blood flow than we typically get with a more tight fitting boot, but whether it’s that or something else, we’re impressed to the point of being shocked. That said…Xero, how about an insulated boot for the Northerners so that we can wear them in ALL conditions, all year long?

For us, the Xero Xcursion is a permanent fixture in our hiking life…well, until Xero brings out something better!

The post Xero Xcursion Boots appeared first on EasternSlopes.com.

And you go out to your car, and suddenly realize that there’s a half inch bombproof layer of ice over every surface. You pull out your scraper, but it won’t even make a dent, so you turn on the car, put the defrost on maximum, and wait. And as you wait, you start to hear the cars of those wimps winding their way up the access road…

Okay, it isn’t the end of the world, but it can spoil your morning, a little. And it can spoil your day a LOT when you end up missing that window of opportunity before the school buses get in the way on your way to work. Is there a good solution?

Is there a better solution?

We’ve tried a million different scrapers, and all of them have good points and bad (well, most of them…some were ALL bad). We’ve got a shelf of them that should go to Goodwill, except that wouldn’t be fair to bargain shoppers. So when we saw the PR info on The Better Ice Scraper (IT WORKS…just ask the packaging, although at least it didn’t say “As Seen On TV”), we were…skeptical. Let’s dig into it.

The Better Ice Scraper is a somewhat unassuming little block of plastic with a typical looking rough scraper at one end and a brass scraper blade at the other. They claim “shape shifting” technology…cool name, we’d call it flexibility in the plastic. They also claim ergonomic design for less hand strain and better leverage; we’ll buy into that one, as you put your hand right over the middle of it and push down, which is easier than trying to apply pressure with at long handle. They also claim that it “stows neatly away in glovebox”…um, no. Not unless you have a VERY large glovebox, with nothing in that. The number of people we know who fit that set of parameters is exactly zero. Our regular flat Lucite scraper fits away much more easily. However, it is relatively small, and you likely have some convenient spot that you can make work.

But speaking of work…does it? That’s the key question here. It doesn’t matter that it fits anywhere if it’s as useless as the other ones we have hanging around. The good news is that, with one significant caveat, it DOES work well.

First, let’s talk about that heavy, thick, nasty ice. Those plastic teeth at the back do a good job of breaking through it, fueled by you being able to put some serious pressure on The Better Ice Scraper with your palm on top. Our own note: We’d recommend you be careful to not put TOO much pressure down, as you could be at risk of breaking your windshield, particularly if it’s brutally cold out and you already have it warming up inside the car. The instructions basically tell you to lead with the teeth, then pull back with the blade to remove the rest. That works when there’s a relatively thin layer of ice, but not when you’ve got the really gnarly stuff…clean most of it off, then flip to using the metal blade, as the blade is wider and won’t drop down into the path created by the teeth.

Once you have the windshield cleared of the worst of the junk, though, the blade does a fantastic job of getting ALL of the frost off. Most scrapers leave tracks of ice, which doesn’t give you a safe view out your windshield. The Better Ice Scraper’s flexible blade, bent to conform to the shape of the windshield by the weight you are applying, solves that problem brilliantly. It definitely, in this instance, performs as advertised.

So, what about that one caveat? It’s this: you need a small car or a tall person to get the entire windshield. I have a Mazda 6, and at 5’10”, I can lean across from both sides and get the entire windshield. However, I can’t get the entire windshield of my partner’s Toyota Highlander without getting up onto the hood, which would be a bad idea even if she wouldn’t kill me for it. Solution? I scraped what I could from the rest of the windshield with a “normal” scraper. It was a lot better than nothing, but did leave somewhat compromised vision through about a 6″ vertical stripe. If you’re significantly shorter, or have a taller vehicle, this may not work…or at least, you may need a stepstool beside your car to give you better reach.

Bottom line, for $13 bucks, we consider The Better Ice Scraper well worth a try. And thank us when you get that perfect powder line from the first chair…

The post The Better Ice Scraper–Is It? appeared first on EasternSlopes.com.

If you’re familiar with the phrase “herding cats,” you have some idea of what it’s like to the get the crew of EasternSlopes.com gear testers to agree on anything. That makes perfect sense because we all bring different physiologies, experiences and expectations to the table. And that means we all have different opinions on what works and what doesn’t. So, for everyone to agree is understandably rare. That’s as true for sleeping pads as it is for backcountry skis.

That’s why we’re somewhat stunned with the feedback we got on the REI Flash sleeping pad. ALL of our testers loved it. And while some had air mats they liked better than the REI Flash sleeping pad for specific purposes, they all agreed on one thing: if they could only have one air pad for all uses in all seasons, the REI Flash sleeping pad would be a top choice.

To understand how our personal herd of cats all arrived in the same place at the same time, it helps to understand what we are looking for when we test an air mattress for our uses here in the damp, often cold Northeast. Since all air mattresses are, essentially, just a bag full of air that you place between your body and whatever’s underneath you,you have to look at very specific design features to see why one pad is better than another. We simply don’t accept “It was comfortable and lightweight,” as a complete review from any of our testers.

You can pretty much assume that any air mattress that doesn’t leak will provide plenty of cushioning and comfort (although we HAVE found exceptions). When testing air mattresses  we look at other factors, some of which  might not be immediately obvious.

Evaluating The REI Flash Sleeping Pad

Although as we said, a sleeping pad is essentially a bag of air, a GOOD sleeping pad is more than that. Specific design features can make a sleeping pad function better. The REI Flash Sleeping Pad shows the benefits of careful design. Following are the specific areas we look at with each sleeping pad, and how the REI Flash fared.

Ease of Use

The mummy shape and “waffle” design of the REI Flash sleeping pad significantly reduce the volume of the pad so it can be inflated with fewer breaths. One of our favorite rectangular pads, for example, takes 15-18 breaths to inflate, the REI Flash Sleeping Pad takes 10-12 on average. Fewer breaths also mean you are blowing less moisture into the pad each time you inflate it; over time, that moisture can add up and increase weight and reduce the insulation value. Our testers liked that ease of use.

The mummy shape of the REI Flash Sleeping pad echoes the mummy shape of most backpacking sleeping bags. Obviously, this saves weight, but it also helps the pad fit into some of the smaller solo tents that narrow at the foot.

Stability

The waffle surface of the REI Flash Sleeping Pad is another example of careful design thought. Again, the waffle chambers reduce interior volume, which means it inflates more easily. But there are a couple of added bonuses. One is that the waffle design is welded through and several testers noted that this seems to provide a more stable sleeping surface than some other pads. In other words, it’s not just the texture of the fabric that holds you in place, the nature of the way your sleeping bag molds into the pockets increases both the surface area contact and friction so you stay put through the night. One of our testers commented that he had no more difficulty staying on the pad than on his mattress at home; THAT’S stable!

Warmth

The REI specs give the R value of the REI Flash sleeping pad as 3.7, which is warm enough for cold-weather use. But that tells only part of the story. Remember that we said the waffle surface has several benefits? It also allows the insulation in your sleeping bag to expand into those pockets in the pad’s surface, which likely provides as much or more insulation value as the R value of the pad. Expanded insulation (“loft”) is warmer than flattened insulation and this significantly helps the cold-weather performance of the REI Flash sleeping pad.

This, combined with the mylar reflective layer and fiberfill insulation makes the REI Flash sleeping pad very comparable in warmth to others we have tested that were heavier and bulkier. Our testers have slept on it in below-zero conditions with no complaints. Do note that this will NOT work with some “differential fill” sleeping bags that have little fill along your back; they may not have enough fill to fully expand into the pockets.

Materials and Construction

The laminated 30-denier ripstop polyester material used in the REI Flash Sleeping Pad is not the lightest we’ve ever seen, but it does seem to have the durability we prize. If you’re going to skimp on weight with ultralight fabric, you don’t want to do it with the one thing that MUST hold air to give you comfort and warmth.

The quality of the construction seems flawless. There are no uneven seams, no signs of excess glue around the valve (we’ve seen both), no obvious weak spots. Despite some hard use, our testers have not yet managed to get the pad to leak…and that’s a very good thing!

Noise

On an outing this summer, one of our testers noticed that her tent mate, a more active sleeper, was using an air pad that creaked loudly every time he rolled over, waking her up. She innocently (so she claims) suggested that they trade pads so she could get his feedback. The upshot: She got a good night’s sleep and he liked the REI Flash sleeping pad well enough to buy one for himself (seems the noise of his pad even woke him up!)

The Takeaway

Over the years, we’ve been consistently impressed by the thoughtful designs and the overall quality and durability of most REI branded products. Even in something as seemingly simple as an air mattress, REI consistently delivers more than you expect. The REI Flash sleeping pad is no exception. No wonder our herd of cats all liked it.

The post Backcountry Comfort: REI Flash Sleeping Pad appeared first on EasternSlopes.com.

If you’re thinking that the above isn’t just rhetorical, you’d be right; we’ve had it happen. And while a 3 mile hike without a pack isn’t really a big deal, the time and hassle when you’re expecting to jump in the car and head home is.

The reality is, the jumper cables that we all have carried since our parents beat the idea into our heads are an outdated design. Sure, they can work, as long as there’s a handy donor vehicle, you can get it into the correct position to have the cables reach both batteries, you can get a good connection at all 4 points of contact, the charging system of the donor vehicle is in good shape…in other words, there are a ton of problems to get around to make them work.

And for a while, it seemed like the lead acid jumper packs that you can find at your local parts supply store would solve the problem. Except that they had one problem; they needed to be used pretty often and recharged regularly to work right. That’s great if you’re a tow truck for AAA, but for the rest of us, they ended up forgotten in the trunk until they needed, and then they were worthless. Well, other than for creating new and exciting forays into swearing.

Connect the cables, hang the unit from your hood, and you’ve got your jump start…it’s that easy! (EasternSlopes.com)

The advent of high-quality lithium ion batteries, however, has changed the landscape, with a plethora of relatively small and light options on the market that are designed to have the cranking amperage to turn over your car and get it started without fuss or muss. We’ve tried a couple, with somewhat mixed results, and came to the conclusion that they were better than nothing, but not perfect or even close, and they were pretty pricey.

Which brings us to the Weego Jump Starter 22. At a $99 retail ($79ish street price), it packs a whole lot into a small and inexpensive package. Let’s start with the OTHER features. It has a built in 250 lumen LED flashlight, which might seem a little silly as it’s pretty weird to carry a flashlight around that’s the size of a small paperback, but is in fact brilliant (pun intended). When you’re trying to charge your car in the dark, you can use the Weego to get everything set up, then plug the cables in and start it. Or, as happened to one of us, when a headlight bulb popped one evening early in a long, dark drive, the Weego became a handy light to help replace it. Let’s face it, it’s never a bad thing to have an extra flashlight around, and it’s nice to know that one little bag can solve a lot of problems.

Beyond that, the Weego Jump Starter 22 acts as a very good, very quick charger for your phone or tablet. Convergence means that our phones are an integral part of being in the outdoors, with them acting as map, compass, GPS unit, camera…until the blasted battery dies on you because it was cold and the cell signal was bad and the phone was searching and power on your phone went from 50% to 5% in a half hour. The Weego is a bit heavy compared to some of the top battery options out there, but if you have a limited budget, having the ability to use it as a car starter AND a cell phone charger is pretty cool.

A flashlight built into a charger may seem like overkill, until the first time you’re trying to get a clamp onto a corroded battery terminal in the dark. And then it’s suddenly the smartest idea ever. (EasternSlopes.com)

At this point, you may be thinking…”but if I use it to charge my phone, I won’t be able to use it to start my car, right?” Not so fast. We played around a bit to see how hard we could push it, and you can do more than you might think. On a single charge, we charged a Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini twice, and started a Mazda 6 with a 2.3L engine 3 times. The third time was on the edge…it barely had the juice to turn it over fast enough to make it catch. Still, that’s pretty impressive for a little multi-function unit. We wouldn’t hesitate to charge a phone a couple of times and figure that we’d get at least one good jump start out of it.

It’ll handle larger engines, too. We booted up a Ford Ranger with a 3 liter V6 a couple of times with no problems, and that one required more cranking than the Mazda to get it to catch. And for good measure, we then took it to jump an Ariens 13hp lawn tractor, no problem. It’s rated to handle up to 5L gas and 2.5L diesel engines; we don’t own anything that large, so can’t speak to that ability. Still, given how well it handled the smaller engines, it seems likely that it would work for those…just maybe not 3 times on a charge.

The Weego cable/clamp setup is a beauty, too. The clamps have great serrations, and reasonable clamping strength for being so small. The key to making them work is to use the lanyard that comes with the unit to hang it from your hood over your battery; if you just lay the battery in the engine compartment, it’s likely to shift and disconnect a clamp. The cable is a “smart” one, as well; it will tell you if you’ve connected it correctly or not, protecting the unit and your car battery. We’d all like to think we’re smart enough to not connect a battery in reverse, and most of us have still managed to do it; at least you can’t damage anything this way!

In a nutshell, we can’t think of any reason to NOT carry the Weego Jump Starter 22 in your car, or even in your backpack, unless you need one of their bigger units. While there are other units on the market, the fact that Weego backs theirs with an 18 month warranty is a plus. And, it actually comes from a “real” company; Weego is a division of a company that has been around since 1964, so it’s likely that they’ll hang around during your warranty period unlike some of the cheaper direct imports. We can tell you this much; we feel a whole lot more confident coming back to our car at the trailhead after a few nights in the woods than we used to, now that we’re carrying it all the time!

The post Weego Jump Starter 22 appeared first on EasternSlopes.com.

This powder morning at Wildcat looked more like February than November! (EasternSlopes.com photo)

If you watched the snow totals piling up across northern New England on Tuesday, November 27, 2018, it became pretty clear pretty quickly that Wildcat Mountain in Pinkham Notch would be the best place in New Hampshire to go looking for powder. Elevation and proximity to the coast both made a real difference with this early-season storm and Wildcat is about as high as it gets. By Wednesday morning, they had 17 inches of fresh, light snow, while some other areas were getting pasted with a foot or so of cement.

The EasternSlopes.com team got organized early on Wednesday morning and headed up for a powder morning at Wildcat. We weren’t on the first chair, but there weren’t many tracks to be seen on our first ride up. It being early in the season, we decided we should warm up on a groomer and headed off down Polecat.

That burst of common sense lasted exactly as long as it took us to reach Lynx Lair. We stood at the top, looked at the ungroomed, essentially untracked fluff, looked at the fat AT skis we’d chosen for the day, said, “might as well go for it . . .” and dropped in.

Playtime!

Wildcat has the best views in Eastern skiing, and on this morning, 17 inches of fresh snow. (EasternSlopes.com photo)

Lynx Lair to Lynx, and from then on we just followed our instincts, seeking out the ungroomed edges of groomed trails and pockets of untouched powder on the ungroomed. Lynx, Wildcat, Catapult, Bobcat–great snow everywhere. We skied the corduroy only when we had to to get from one powder playground to the next.

To save our ski bases for later in the season, we (mostly) stayed out of the woods. The next storm will have everything on the mountain in prime condition

The light was good, temperatures were moderate and the snow was simply phenomenal. It didn’t look or feel like November. In fact, if you’d suddenly woken up from a long sleep and someone had told you this was mid-February, you wouldn’t have questioned them. The only downside was that our November legs didn’t allow us to take as many runs as we would have in February. We skied until our thighs made us stop, and literally limped into the base lodge. You know the feeling . . .

But still, a powder morning at Wildcat is a near-perfect way to end November and get you pumped for the rest of winter!

The post November Powder Morning At Wildcat appeared first on EasternSlopes.com.

We sent a broad range of clothing in to Insect Shield for treatment, from socks to “decent” shirts and pants.

But, there’s been a significant problem, and that’s the range of clothing available. In particular, there have been no socks of any quality; some cotton ones, which are designed more for construction workers, but nothing that we want to hike in. Given that ticks often enter through the cuffs of your pants and climb up your legs, it’s one of the most important clothing options…but without that option, we’ve been stuck with tucking our pants legs into our socks. That has its own problems in some areas…it allows stuff into the cuff which can be uncomfortable, and when you’re someplace other than the backcountry, it can look REALLY stupid. And, of course, you have to spray everything well with DEET, as well, which can be unpleasant. Insect Shield has made some of their own clothing, Ex Officio has made some, as have a few other companies, but the range

Nothing bites like salt marsh mosquitoes, but ISYOC treated clothing kept them at bay. (EasternSlopes.com)

hasn’t been great for active outdoors types.

And then came the Insect Shield Your Own Clothing (ISYOC) program. Pick your favorite clothes, send them in, and for a moderate fee ($7-10 per item, depending on how many you send in at a time), you get back fully treated clothing. You choose what you like, what fits you, what works for what YOU do, from hundreds of companies, rather than what one or two manufacturers feel like making for their particular customer base. We were thrilled, and immediately started sending some of our favorite clothing in, and life was good.

But, of course, it can be hard to decide whether something is ACTUALLY working or whether we’re just HOPING it’s working; Google “confirmation bias” for more information about how we all tend to look at things. After some thought, we realized that the best way to test it was to have identical pieces of clothing, some treated, some not, and see how insects reacted. And, we felt it needed to be new clothing; while we’d been sending in our favorite pieces, those had been contaminated many times with sweat, DEET, whatever else we’d been testing. We reached out to some of our favorite companies…Columbia, Darn Tough, and Atayne…and they all generously agreed to send us matched pairs of some items so that we could have one treated, one untreated, and compare them in the field.

A day hike along water can be an insect nightmare; but, with Insect Shield-treated clothing, we were consistently in control of the biters. (EasternSlopes.com)

As testers went out and reports came in, we heard nothing but positives. We sent pairs of people out with one wearing an Atayne shirt, Columbia pants, and Darn Tough socks that had gone through the ISYOC treatment, the other wearing identical clothes without treatment, and ended up with some REALLY irritated testers…the ones wearing the untreated clothes, that is. They were stuck swatting flies, constantly looking for ticks and pulling them off their pants and shirts, while the ISYOC testers were smugly relaxed. However, the swatters got revenge when they swapped clothes (yes, sweat and all); in order to make sure that the effect wasn’t caused by the PEOPLE being different (we all have that friend who is swarmed by mosquitoes while nobody else is being bothered in the slightest, and if you’re unlucky, you’re that friend), we had them swap so that they’d be able to compare the effect in the same conditions at the same time. There was no question; it didn’t matter who was wearing it, the tester with the ISYOC clothing noticed a significant

One of our favorites for sitting in camp in bug-infested areas was the Outdoor Research Echo Hoody with ISYOC treatment. Light, comfortable, and with the hood the bugs really had almost no way to get at us. (EasternSlopes.com)

decrease in irritation from flying insects.

As for the ticks; well, that was if anything a more obvious comparison. When flying insects are swarming an area, they’re still going to be in your face to some extent, making it necessary to actually pay attention to whether you have more or fewer of them around, whether they’re landing or not, whether they’re biting when they’re landing. Ticks? They’re there, or they aren’t. When two testers get back to the car and do the clothing check, and one has 8 ticks on his pants and the other has none, it’s pretty clear. When it happens over and over, it’s more clear. And when two testers are sitting around a campsite and one notices three ticks on his pants, and the other ISYOC-equipped tester has none…well, you start to get the picture.

In fact, if we were to offer an entirely anecdotal, non-scientific opinion, we’d say that Insect Shield clothing is more effective against ticks than against flying insects. Why? Flying insects can land where they want, so can exploit gaps in your clothing; face and back of hands being the place they most commonly land. Ticks, on the other hand, have to grab hold of whatever goes by them and then crawl to the juicy spots…and crawling along a large stretch of noxious treated fabric doesn’t appeal to them and the drop off and look for a  more pleasant host. Sure, they can manage to land right at the edge of your shirt collar or something of the sort, but in fact we’ve never found a tick on our skin at the end of the day when we were wearing full IS clothing.

Since we started the testing, the greatest proof of how effective testers have found it is in the number of “normal” clothing pieces they’ve sent in for treatment. One tester sent in all 8 pairs of his favorite well-used SmartWool crew socks; now he knows that if he grabs a pair of those green socks, they’re definitely treated. Hiking, backpacking, kayaking, working on the lawn, he uses them for everything. Another, known for being a world-class cheapskate who spends a lot of time out with surveyors and clients, scoured Goodwill stores for shirts that he could wear for day-to-day “decent” applications and sent them in; for under $15 each, he has decent looking treated shirts. If they get messed up by wandering through brambles or the like, he can retire to his “beater” wardrobe and not feel bad about it.

“Normal” clothes, possibly even Goodwill finds, become outdoor favorites when Insect Shield treated. (EasternSlopes.com)

We did run into one interesting effect, though. With certain shirts, in particular one of the Atayne t-shirts, we had a couple of times when particularly rapacious mosquitoes would actually land and bite through the fabric…that was totally outside of our prior experience with Insect Shield. The t-shirt in particular was very thin, and an “athletic” cut, meaning that it fit closely to our bodies, with no looseness. After much discussion, we came to the conclusion that it was caused by one of two factors, or a combination of them:

1. The thinness of the fabric caused it to have a limited amount of permethrin that was being released at a time, causing the effectiveness to be limited, and

2. Having thin fabric that tight to the body allowed the natural scent of skin and blood to overcome the effectiveness of the permethrin so that particularly hungry mosquitoes would zero in on the good stuff and ignore the bad.

We have NO idea whether we’re right or not, but we’d recommend not having ultralight, ultratight fabrics treated and expect them to work really well. Note, though, that those t-shirts DID still help; they just weren’t as effective as other options.

There are those days when you can’t really enjoy a stunning view because the bugs are driving you nuts; ISYOC cuts that problem dramatically. (EasternSlopes.com)

One other interesting experience was when two testers were sitting around in the evening, both with ISYOC pants on, and one was getting his ankles attacked by no-see-ums. The difference? One had ISYOC socks on, as well. Apparently, the little biters could ignore the permethrin and fly up into the cuff and have a meal…but not when they had to get by socks, as well. Score another for ISYOCks! (Yes, we just coined that term, and yes, we think we’re funny.)

Something else to think about. One of our testers the other day said “well, time to put the ISYOC stuff away for the year…no more mosquitoes.” We all sort of looked at him sideways and waited for him to figure it out…didn’t take him long. Yeah, the ticks are still around and are going to be for a LONG time to come. We’re keeping our Insect Shield gear out; and in fact, somebody said “hey, why don’t we send our longies in? That way we can keep the ticks out for the rest of the year!” Good idea…we can wear whatever we want on top, and have “invisible armor” keeping the ticks off. Given that at least one of us has gotten an embedded tick in January, in Maine, it makes a LOT of sense.

If there’s one takeaway from our testing it’s this: Wear ISYOC treated clothing, and you’ll spend more time outdoors, and enjoy it more. (EasternSlopes.com)

The takeaway? We wish we could afford to send everything we own in for treatment. After getting used to having treated clothing of various sorts on, it actually became irritating to have to figure out what was treated and what wasn’t, and we found that a lot of our favorite clothing was just sitting around and not being used because it wasn’t treated. There’s no greater confirmation of how effective the ISYOC treatment is than that; when you actively choose something that’s not quite as comfortable for the conditions because it isn’t as bugproof, you know that at a very deep level, you REALLY believe in the treated fabrics. Our recommendation? Send in socks, bandanas, scarves, anything that goes around your ankles or neck, for greatest effect…those are the most common entry points for ticks, and they’ll keep other biters out as well. After that, shirts, with pants being the last choice as those tend to be thicker and harder for anything to bite through if it decides to land. And then, as you have a few extra dollars, keep sending more and more of your wardrobe in…you’ll use it all more!

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The view of Mount Washington from Widlcat is breathtaking on a blue-sky Spring day. No photo does it justice. From Wildcat, it looks like you could reach out and touch it. That’s Gulf of Slides on the far left, Tuckerman Ravine center left, the summit Obsrvatory is clearly visible, Huntington Ravine is center right, with Great Gulf Wilderness and the looming shoulder of Mount Adams to the far right. (Tim Jones/EasternSlopes.com photo)

Wildcat Mountain in Pinkham Notch, NH has a reputation. Actually, Wildcat Mountain has a number of reputations . . .

First, Wildcat Mountain has a reputation for being a “skier’s mountain.” It’s a big mountain with some of the best natural snow and ski terrain in the east. The mountain is high (the summit elevation is 4,062 feet–only 18 feet lower than Cannon Mountain) so it gets snow early and holds onto it late into the spring. Interesting factoid: the parking lot at Wildcat is only 400 feet lower in elevation than the summit of its sister resort Attitash! The runs are long (2112 vertical, the second-highest in New Hampshire) and they twist down the mountain the way ski trails should. Polecat is the longest green-circle trail in New Hampshire at 2.75 miles. There are bumps and glades and black diamond trails galore for expert skiers and boarders to explore at Wildcat Mountain if you like a challenge. Intermediates and even beginners can let loose on their l-o-n-g, sinuous groomed cruisers.

Second, Wildcat Mountain has the reputation of having the best views of any ski area in New England. No contest. Lots of ski areas have good views, some are exceptional (Big Squaw in Maine, Mount Sunapee in New Hampshire, Burke in Vermont, Le Masif in Quebec come quickly to mind). But nothing comes close to the view you get from the top of Wildcat Mountain on a sunny day. Mount Washington is RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF YOU with Tuckerman and Huntington Ravines and the Gulf of Slides right in the center of your view! Mount Adams to the north of Washington is just icing on the cake. The view is so spectacular it will sometimes cause you to lose concentration on your skiing and stop you in mid-run.

The third reputation that Wildcat Mountain has is directly related to its other reputations. There’s no way to put this delicately; Wildcat Mountain has a reputation for bad weather. Sometimes that reputation is well-deserved, sometimes it isn’t. Storms, whiteouts, high winds and extreme cold are common at Wildcat thanks to that high elevation, the fact that it’s wide open to the north and northwest winds (which accelerate as they flow over and around Washington and Adams), and directly across a narrow notch from Mount Washington, which proudly bills itself as “Home of the World’s Worst Weather. There’s no better ski mountain in New England when the weather is good, and few more challenging when the weather doesn’t cooperate. When the weather turns really rough, Wildcat skiers retreat down the valley to more-sheltered Attitash (both mountains can be skied in the same day on the same ticket).

There’s no place quite like Wildcat Mountain on a blue-sky day with no wind. The snow stayed firm and fast all day long! (Tim Jone/EasternSlopes.com photo)

All of which brings us to the first day of Spring, Tuesday, March 20, 2018. There literally could not have been a more perfect day for skiing at Wildcat Mountain! The temperatures started cool in the morning, warmed just enough to make the day pleasant without being too warm. There was just a hint of a breeze but no wind to speak of (especially by Wildcat Mountain standards). And the sun was out in a brilliant blue sky. The mountain had gotten two major dumps of snow earlier in March. The snow had settled and weather had turned cold creating a perfect base–firm but not icy anywhere. While the woods and the non-snowmaking trails could have used another foot or two of fresh powder (when couldn’t they?) the trails were perfectly covered and perfectly groomed. Clearly there was still a lot of snow on these trails before the two big March storms. Wildcat’s recent major investments in snowmaking over the past few years is paying off big time.

It didn’t matter what open trail you took, the snow was soft, edgeable and fast. Long cruising runs like Lynx (a personal favorite) were pure joy–as good on the last run of the day as they were the first. 2017-18 has been a wild winter, with conditions fluctuating wildly from day to day. The first day of Spring at Wildcat Mountain was one of those days that keeps you dreaming of winter even after the snow is long gone.

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