September 2019 – Turigrinos

Trip Report: Seven Lakes Basin

A pond on the outskirts of Deer Lake On August 10th I co-led a trip for The Mountaineers to Seven Lakes Basin after the original co-leader was unable to make the trip. Located in the heart of the northern Olympics, this alpine basin is, as the name suggests, dotted with lakes and has been near the top of my to-do list for a couple years. Unfortunately, lousy weather meant a lack of both views and dryness so I'm hoping to return next year to take in the full experience. On the plus side I did spot six black bears in [...]

By Person A|2020-02-03T02:52:14+00:00September 23rd, 2019|

Gothic Basin Photo Featured in WTA Magazine Article… About Poop

Everyone's gotta start somewhere. This article: https://www.wta.org/news/magazine/features/a-drop-in-the-bucket Contains this photo (full size): Which I put in this trip report: https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/trip-reports/trip_report.2019-07-30.5552171919 Of course, you can read my more in-depth trip report on this site as well. It's funny because when I got home and started working on it I almost immediately thought to myself, "This is probably the best photo I've ever taken." The article itself actually touches on a serious issue: the worsening overcrowding of our public lands and specifically the problem of human waste disposal. I have never been a believer in the idea that burying poop just makes [...]

By Person A|2019-12-17T03:10:37+00:00September 19th, 2019|

UV Degradation: Nylon vs Polyester

In a comment on r/ultralight, fancy outdoorsman Dan Durston links to the following paper in The Journal of the Textile Institute which supposedly shows that at a given high dose of UV radiation nylon was reduced to 15% of its original strength whereas polyester remained above 99%: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00405000.2013.796629 As much as I'd like to read the paper for myself, at $50 a pop I'll take Dan's word for it. When I was out tent shopping it became very clear that one advantage of polyester over nylon was that nylon sags when wet and polyester doesn't, something I can personally vouch [...]

By Person A|2019-09-19T01:17:02+00:00September 19th, 2019|

Trip Report: Tuck and Robin Lakes

Robin Lakes plural The 2019 backpacking blowout continues with an overnighter I led on August 3rd to Tuck and Robin Lakes, a group of alpine lakes situated just east of the PCT at Deception Pass in the North Cascades. From the Tucquala Meadows trailhead you head north past Hyas Lake towards Deception Pass, turning right at the sign for the Tuck and Robin Lakes trail. The trail skirts the mountainside a short ways before switchbacking steeply up to Tuck Lake. From there it's a cross-country scramble across cairn-studded granite up to Robin Lakes. We had some difficulty finding the route [...]

By Person A|2020-08-01T20:44:58+00:00September 4th, 2019|

Trip Report: Gothic Basin

"A Sea of Granite" (teal tent near bottom right for scale) On July 26th I led a two-night trip for The Mountaineers to Gothic Basin, a beautiful alpine basin that I'd previously only visited on a day hike a few years ago. The basin is located off of the Mountain Loop Highway, a scenic highway which winds through the mountains between the towns of Granite Falls and Darrington in Washington State. It shares a trailhead with the Monte Cristo ghost town (an old mining town that was active until around 1900) before splitting off onto trail 724 which was originally [...]

By Person A|2020-08-01T20:52:37+00:00September 2nd, 2019|