February 2020 – Turigrinos

Trip Report: Frenchman Coulee

Looking east across the north rim of Echo Basin A few weeks ago I did a trip heading south from Ancient Lakes along the Babcock Bench to see if I could connect up to Frenchman Coulee at the south end of the bench. Unfortunately due to a late start and short daylight hours I fell a few miles short of my goal and had to turn around. This past weekend I returned to finish the job but starting from the south instead of the north. The area is similar to Ancient Lakes in that there are two coulees, Frenchman Coulee [...]

By Person A|2020-02-28T06:28:45+00:00February 27th, 2020|

Book Review: Ultralight Bike Touring and Bikepacking

Justin "Trauma" Lichter has hiked over 40,000 miles and is known for completing the first winter thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail. More recently it appears that his focus has turned to bikepacking as he's teamed up with Justin Kline to release a pair of books, Basic Illustrated Bike Touring and Backing in 2015 and Ultralight Bike Touring and Backpacking in 2016. As someone who has always aspired to bikepacking (particularly the 285-mile Palouse to Cascades Trail) I probably should have started with the basic book but since I already have a rack and pannier system in place I decided [...]

By Person A|2020-02-22T01:08:50+00:00February 14th, 2020|

Pre-Trip Checklist

Checklists are an easy way to prevent avoidable mistakes (read The Checklist Manifesto for a more in-depth explanation). What follows is my current checklist for preparing for outdoor trips. Like everything else on this site, the checklist and the gear lists it refers to are a work in progress. Packing 3 season gear list4 season gear listDay trip gear list Charging Power bankPhoneinReach MiniHeadlamp (lock afterwards)Camera Refill SmartWater bottlesPillsPepto BismolIbuprofenAspirinBenadrylToothpastePotable AquaBalms/creams (first aid, friction, etc.)Hand sanitizerSunscreenAlcohol bottle (squeeze out some air and tighten cap afterwards)Paper tapeLeukotape Navigation Send email/message with itinerary to Person B/family memberSend test message with inReach Mini [...]

By Person A|2020-06-21T18:03:45+00:00February 9th, 2020|

Pillow Quest

One of the problems with the stream-of-reviews format is that there's not a single place to go for an overview of a particular category of gear as well as brief evaluations of all the candidates. And I emphasize brief because I go through a lot of gear and sometimes I don't even have to take it out on a trip to know that it isn't going to work for me. Writing a full "review" in this case doesn't really apply but on the other hand I still want to capture the fact that a particular product was evaluated. So today [...]

By Person A|2020-02-22T01:37:57+00:00February 9th, 2020|

Trip Report: Babcock Bench

Columbia River Gorge from the Babcock Bench The Babcock Bench is a basalt bench spanning the eastern side of the Columbia River just north of the I-90 bridge. It's hikeable from the north via the Ancient Lakes trailhead at the end of Ancient Lake Road all the way down to Frenchman Coulee, a distance of around 10 miles one-way. On previous trips to Ancient Lakes I'd explored the top of the basalt rib between the two coulees but was left wondering whether the southern wall of the southern coulee was similarly accessible (the northern wall of the northern coulee leads [...]

By Person A|2020-02-12T15:59:09+00:00February 9th, 2020|

February 2020 Loot!

Last month I bought almost everything my winter backpacking heart desired... except socks. My decade-old Darn Toughs had almost worn through in a couple places so I thought a replacement might be in order. It's only day one and I've got four purchases to share (and future purchases for the month will be added to this post, as always): REI Coolmax EcoMade Liner Socks After debating between silk, wool, and toe liner socks I decided to stick with tried-and-true synthetics. They've got a killer combination of durability, thinness, and low cost that's hard to beat. I like my trail runners [...]

By Person A|2020-03-02T05:34:45+00:00February 2nd, 2020|