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 the 10s or 20s) so it was also an opportunity to check out some new colder-weather gear with hopes of not freezing to death.
Temperatures were in the 40s during the day and the sun made brief appearances before retiring behind a particularly dark cloud early in the afternoon. However the wind was insane especially on top of the ridge where gusts would actually blow me off of whatever particular line I was following. After reading an article on wind speeds the gusts were probably in the 30s since that’s the point where wind starts to affect movement. After reading the National Weather Service’s instructions on how to find records of past weather conditions I was able to confirm that the measured wind speeds in nearby Ephrata were 26mph with gusts up to 34mph.
Sleep
I measured temperatures by hanging my ABC watch from the top of the tent. It was around 40F when I went to bed wearing my fleece sleep socks, underwear, thermals, hiking pants, hiking shirt, fleece, and windproof beanie. I was quite toasty, which is how I like to sleep. The lowest temperature that I saw inside the tent was 37.2F at 3AM, which is when I woke up because I was cold and threw on my Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer. I don’t recall really sleeping after that but by 5AM temps were back up to 40F and I decided to eat an early breakfast and head out.
Gear
Packing list: https://lighterpack.com/r/dtjzwj
Standard deviations:
- The neighborhood market is now dead to me since they stopped selling SmartWater 750mL sport cap bottles. It would be less of an issue if Person B would stop recycling them (wasteful!). In any case I replaced them with two Dasani 591mL water bottles
- You can’t filter water at Ancient Lakes (unless you’re carrying a Sawyer Select or something else which can remove pesticides and farm runoff) so I swapped out the Sawyer Micro/CNOC Vecto gravity filter setup for a plain ol’ Evernew 2L pouch, bringing my carried water to just over 3L
- I didn’t bring my sit pad since I wanted to see if I could live without it. I could, so it’s probably a goner from future trips (or replaced by a roll-up foam sleeping pad, see below)
What worked:
- This was my first trip with my Sierra Designs Backcountry Quilt. It’s comfort rated to 28F so I figured the forecasted low of 34F would be adequate for testing with enough margin of error for safety. The hood came in handy for staying warm and I found the quilt is wide enough that I could even use the hood while laying on my side. The hand pockets were great for tucking the quilt around me while I was on my side or stomach. I now understand the appeal of an open quilt vs an enclosed bag – you can move around much more freely without having to worry about twisting your bag and having a big warm “blanket” on you just feels better overall. Surprisingly, I also didn’t have issues with “drafts”, I found that lifting the quilt to get comfy, rearrange gear, or perform tasks didn’t result in losing all the warm air trapped underneath it
- This was also my first trip with my Massdrop Veil wind shell. Where have you been all my life? This thing eats wind for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Even when I was getting pushed around by 34mph gusts in 40F temps I didn’t feel one bit of cold from the wind. It felt like watching a windstorm through a window
- After my last miserable weather trip I vowed to buy myself a pee bottle so I wouldn’t have to wander around in the dark getting cold and wet when I inevitably had to use the bathroom. The Nalgene 32oz flexible cantene was perfect for this. It weighs 61 grams, rolls up for compact storage when empty, and features a wide mouth for easier use. I found it’s good for about two uses before it gets close to filling up. It also got me thinking that you could even use a Restop to poop in your tent at night, but that’s a line I’d rather leave uncrossed
- Another lesson learned from a miserable trip, Acorn Versafit fleece socks kept my feet warm and toasty all night long. Even when I woke up cold and had to put on a puffy I didn’t have to touch my feet. These things are incredible
- The Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo tent shed wind like a champ, and I found I could place my pack up against the wall to act as a windbreak for what little was able to come in through the gap between the ground and the tent
- Oboz Sawtooth Low hiking shoes were champs on the nasty basalt
- Moving the Peak Designs Cuff off my right wrist and permanently attaching it to the camera was an improvement in comfort (I don’t like things on my wrist and I don’t like fussing with the Cuff’s weak magnet which doesn’t really keep it wrapped up tightly) at the cost of annoyance. Let me put it this way: if being whipped repeatedly and mercilessly in the face by a camera strap is on your bucket list, by all means just leave it hanging loose in a windstorm. Otherwise, try tucking the end into either a pocket or a loop in your backpack strap. In any case, when I was taking straight-down shots of the massive cracks in the wall I was really glad that the strap was just right there
- The Mountain Hardwear Bandito windproof fingerless gloves were astonishing. I already knew that they’d keep my hands warm at 40F while walking the dog, but I didn’t think the same would be the case in 20-30mph winds hour after hour
What didn’t:
- My Alchemi Labs bucket hat blew away within the first five minutes. On the plus side it’s so light that I didn’t notice right away. I never did find it, so when I buy a replacement the first thing I’ll add is a chinstrap
- At 20 inches wide my Klymit ultralight sleeping pad is just too narrow for use with a quilt – I didn’t have anywhere comfortable to put my elbows or hands. I’m guessing that with a sleeping bag they were just held in place by the sides of the bag but quilts don’t provide that option. I also noticed a chill in my hips when I was laying on my side, something I’ve never had happen before and something I wouldn’t expect from a 4.4 R-value pad. I wonder if the V channels in the Klymit pads are actually allowing cold air to flow below you when used with a quilt?
So, now I’m in the market for a wider pad. I might look into a lighter uninsulated pad to make up for the weight gain of the increased size and see if I can’t pair it with a thin foam pad like the Gossamer Gear Thinlight. I like the idea of foam as a backup in case the inflatable completely fails and it would also do double-duty as a sit pad replacement - First time setting up the Lunar Solo in the wind so this was a learning experience but it was more of a pain than I would have liked. I also still can’t get the thing to pitch tautly between the corners and the central pole, there’s a lot of sag but nothing to tighten since the fabric running from corner to corner is already taut. Also, I made a note that because it’s a single wall shelter you don’t have the option to stargaze. I’m wondering if a Gatewood Cape and separate bug shelter combo might give ultimate flexibility (and allow me to drop dedicated rain gear)
- 18 gallon trash compactor bag seemed a bit short. Maybe I’m not compressing my gear enough but I’d rather just get a longer bag with more neck so I feel more confident about it keeping water at bay – with the short bag I didn’t feel like I could twist up and fold over the neck very well
- The Omeals beef lentil stew didn’t heat up after a good five minutes. Figuring it was a dud I started eating the cold food right out of the bag. Suddenly the water in the bottom of the outer pouch started to fizz and boil so I resealed both the inner and outer bag and placed it outside the vestibule to let it do its thing. It was good, but upon further review these meals are pretty poor sources of nutrition for the weight: a package weighs 227g but only provides around 220 calories. I’m thinking one way to save weight would be to remove all of the utensils and only carry a single outer pouch that you could reuse across multiple meals. I love these things as a way to provide hot food for a no-cook setup so I think it’s worth trying to tweak instead of just abandoning. Maybe you could reuse the inner bags by filling them with your own more calorie dense food?
- The clip that hangs down from the top of the interior of the Lunar Solo is crap, need to replace with proper carabiner
- The Light My Fire plastic spork slipped under my sleeping bad and promptly broke as I shifted my weight. Whoops. Good thing Omeals include their own utensils. I’m going to invest in a proper long-handled titanium spoon after this
- My Sea to Summit pillow slips around way too much – going to add Seam Grip to make the back side stickier
Photography
The landscape was cold and bleak with a dusting of snow and the sun spent more time behind clouds than not, so this trip was a bit of a bust for photos. I goofed up the focus on the above picture – it was originally a portrait but I cropped it to a landscape to cut out the boring foreground and sky. Unfortunately the foreground was in focus and the wall was supposed to be “distant”, so cropping out the foreground left most of the picture a bit soft on detail. It’ll be yet another reminder to myself to skip autofocus and always do things manually.
I did, however, manage to pop my head out of the tent during the golden hour and catch the low sunlight on the rocks:
In person it looked like the place was covered in golden fire, so I made pretty liberal use of radiance and warmth filters to recreate the experience. Cropped out the sky and a nearby tree on the right side to tighten things up a bit. Finally, made use of the Orton effect on the plants along the shore and burned the blue water in the bottom right and white bushes in the bottom left to eliminate distractions.
Notes
- It’s probably a good idea to keep toilet paper and poop kits in the car. This trailhead had a portable toilet with sufficient toilet paper but that’s not always the case
- The vestibule of the Lunar Solo is tricky to set up – you can’t just attach them to the front guy line after the fact and pull down to tighten them up since they’ll run out of fabric along the guy line, leaving excess flappy fabric in the direction of the corners. Instead, I think a better method would be to attach them to the guy line before staking it, pulling them down all the way, and then staking the guy line such that they’re taut in both directions
- One ultralight method of weight savings is to replace your pillow by putting the toes of your shoes under your sleeping pad, providing some elevation. I had tested it out in the living room and it was surprisingly comfortable since the toes of my shoes are quite springy (and I’m sure trail runners even more so). However, after trudging through mud and snow for hours my shoes weren’t in any condition to be either in the tent or anywhere near my head, so I’m crossing this off my list of plausible techniques
- Although a watch with a thermometer in the tent is a great way to tell what the “indoor” temperature is precisely when you’re looking at it, it doesn’t do much to tell you how cold things actually got outside. I’ve already ordered a bright red Acurite min/max thermometer as a replacement since it can record the overnight lows without manual intervention and also hang off of a pack and provide accurate temperature all day long (which a wrist watch cannot due to body heat)
- I had the Lunar Solo turned inside out from when it was drying after my last trip. This is not the sort of thing you want to deal with in gusting winds. Next time I’ll be sure to zip everything up and then roll it up nicely before storing it
Next Steps
- Add toilet paper and poop kits to car
- Research wider sleeping pads and see about pairing with a foam pad for flexibility, puncture resistance, and redundancy, replacing sit pad in the process
- Research Omeals improvements
- Research titanium spoons
- Research lightweight carabiners
- Add Seam Grip to pillow