January 2019 – Turigrinos

Potable Aqua Chlorine Dioxide Tablets

Potable Aqua | Chlorine Dioxide Tablets | 2018 | $0.45 | 0.5g I carry a pair of chlorine dioxide tablets as a back-up method of water purification should my primary filtration method fail. One individually-wrapped tablet will treat 1 liter of water in four hours and is effective against bacteria (giardia), cysts (cryptosporidium), and even viruses. All you have to do is open up one of the little squares, drop the tablet into a container of water, and wait. Oh, and the water tastes just fine. Note that a Sawyer Micro Squeeze, one of the lightest membrane filters on the [...]

By Person A|2019-01-30T05:10:58+00:00January 30th, 2019|

O’Keefe’s Foot Cream

O'Keefe's | Foot Cream | 2018 | $7.93 | 91g Foot care bible Fixing Your Feet recommends using a foot balm or moisturizer to make your skin smoother and more supple in order to prevent blisters. As a person who does absolutely nothing to moisturize my feet, rubbing O'Keefe's Foot Cream on them before going to bed resulted in a noticeable difference in the smoothness of my feet in the morning, and it only improved with additional usage. I don't carry it with me on the trail but I've made this foot cream a part of my pre-outdoors preparation ritual: [...]

By Person A|2019-01-30T04:07:04+00:00January 30th, 2019|

January loot!

Person B and I went on a bit of an ultralight shopping spree, here's what we picked up: Gossamer Gear Joshua Tree Mini Lip Balm (4g) replaces my Sun Bum SPF30 Mango (11g)Acurite 00316 Digital Window Thermometer (34g). Provides a 24 hour min/max temperature which should help me correlate gear and comfort with overnight conditions (previously I was checking my watch, which I hung from a loop at the top of the tent, whenever I woke up but I don't feel that that's representative of actual outside temperatures)Gossamer Gear Warm Sak (22g), Person B's new pot cozyGossamer Gear Long-Handle Bamboo [...]

By Person A|2019-01-12T02:19:30+00:00January 12th, 2019|

Acorn Versafit Fleece Socks

Acorn | Versafit Fleece Socks | 2018 | $19 | 78g After a particularly chilly night on a shoulder season trip I decided that I was going to get out of the cold feet game once and for all. Going cold turkey, so to speak. My usual hiking socks are either short or thin (or both) since my feet get so hot when I hike which means they don't have much to offer in the way of warmth. I've had the same pair of Acorn fleece slippers for as long as I can remember and they're like little furnaces for [...]

By Person A|2019-01-09T04:26:00+00:00January 9th, 2019|

Peak Design Cuff v2

Peak Design | Cuff | v2 | $29.95 | 24g Open (leash) Closed (bracelet) Unless I'm on an astrophotography trip and using a tripod almost all of my photography is hand-held. Dropping the camera is always a concern but in some situations (such as near water of cliffs) a drop would be catastrophic. Solution: some kind of leash. The Cuff is a short leash that goes around your wrist and attaches to the camera via an anchor link. The general idea is that if you drop the camera it will pull and cinch up the Cuff on your wrist, preventing [...]

By Person A|2019-01-09T03:49:04+00:00January 9th, 2019|

Bogachiel River Trail Maintenance

Spent a night and a day with the Washington Trails Association working on a reroute of the Bogachiel River Trail (erosion wiped out parts of the old trail). This was the first time I'd done trail maintenance with the WTA in 10-15 years. No pictures since I didn't bring my camera due to the heavy rain forecast (which didn't happen until we were done working for the day) and not a lot of notes since I was busy digging up ferns and roots and removing topsoil. However: Sleep Slept great! Temps never dipped below 50F in the tent so I [...]

By Person A|2020-08-01T21:18:31+00:00January 6th, 2019|

Ancient Lakes

The wall from just beyond the trailhead Ancient Lakes (aka Quincy Lakes) is a pair of coulees separate by a mile-long basalt "rib" or wall. On a previous outing with Person B we had ascended to a saddle on the wall with an amazing view of Dusty Lake but did not attempt to reach the top. This past weekend I went on a solo trip to check out the top of the wall with hopes of catching some epic panoramic views of the Columbia River Gorge. It was also the only night with lows in the 30s (as opposed to [...]

By Person A|2020-08-01T21:26:28+00:00January 1st, 2019|