Camping and Backpacking GEAR thread

A very undiscovered chunk of Wilderness off of the Cumberland Trail this weekend.

 

My plan is to hit passages 1-3 all in one extended weekend, using Patagonia as my basecamp and getting a shuttle to the border. Driving down there and back multiple times from PHX to do them one at a time would SUCK! Awesome weather this past weekend though. I already have passages 4 and 5 knocked out, so next I need to look at stringing together 1-3 as one trip and probably split up 6-12 as 2 trips or maybe one big one.

 

I hear ya, Im doing 2-3 next weekend. Welcome to come along if you want. Then 4 as a day hike skipping the hiking on a road portion up to Temporal Gulch. Then 5-7 in one shot on a 3 day weekend. At least then I am back to Tucson and getting to 4-7 is way easier than 1-3. It was the best option I could come up with since I have only 2 vacation days left for the year.

 

I am doing passage 28 this weekend, then next weekend I have other commitments. Weekend after that is a water cache for my big 16-21 stretch on November 3. After that, I'll be looking to hit a stretch in the south around Thanksgiving.

 

1. I’ll chevk out the contest shortly.
2. RTR!
3. The sheath for the hatchet, you make those?
4. Sure could have used a hatchet last week... put an axe in my knee while camping...

 

Dang... Yeah I make kydex holsters. I actually finished this one on a live stream when I hit 200 subs (gonna live stream in an hour or so cuz I broke 250 today)



Also roll tide!

 

Hitting up Arizona Trail passage #28 (Happy Jack) northbound this weekend so I can bridge the gap of some other passages that I've already done. 29.4 miles with 2900' total gains but it's small rolling climbs between 6500' and 7600'. I'm at a 10.44# baseweight right now, trying to shave it down to below 10#. Water is unreliable on this passage so I'm carrying 4 liters and caching a couple gallons in the midpoint. I could cut some weight if I go cold soak and leave the cook kit at home, but it's going to be down into the high 20's on Saturday night so I think a hot meal is in order. Wifey won't let me leave the inReach at home, either. I could also swap out my luxury pillow for a lighter one but I'm using this trip as a test run to try it out and see if it helps me sleep for longer stretches. Also, there's rain in the forecast so the rain gear has to come along. Choices, choices.

Here's my LighterPack for this trip. Critiques always welcome: https://lighterpack.com/r/asfupw

 

One of the coupler/insert/joint thingys between tent pole sections that allows them to join together has been jammed down inside of the tent pole itself.

Any suggestions or tricks on how to get it out?

 

Picture of said thingy? There are a few different types of tent pole joints.

 

Not home now. I'll google something up real quick

Edit:
Silver part has slid down inside the orange part.

 

Those types have the silver joiner glued into one or the other orange tent poles. It's not jammed in there and is meant to stay in place. Some brands are one piece of aluminum and the joint is actually lathed away.

 

I understand.

It is not protruding from either side now though. I guess the epoxy has let go and it slid down or is that not even possible?

 

It's totally possible especially if it was just press fitted in there and not glued. Hmmm.. that's a tough one. Maybe a tapered drill bit meant to tap out broken screws would get a bite on it?

 

Yeah maybe. I'll give that a try.

It's a cheap Magellan tent but its served me well so far. Poles are apparently hard to find for them.

Here's some chicken scratch I scribbled down that shows another example

 

Can you try some heat to the outer pole away from where the insert is logged and working closer to see if you can get the exterior to expand a bit in hopes the inner sleeve falls out?

 

Try to use an "easy-out" of an appropriate size. I've seen this before. The glues used are not always up to spec and the fit is so tight that not much glue fits between the pole and the joint insert anyway. I've occasionally lucked out just sticking a skinny jaw of a needle-nose plier or a hemostat in and twisting it out.

 

Straightened out coat hanger worked perfectly!

@skier @OnePuttBlunder @Seabass

 

Well first time I find myself thinking about replacing some gear. I normally wear La Sportiva Wildcats on my longer hikes, but the first two passages of AZT have taught me that they get soaked through pretty dang easily when it is wet. The trail is pretty overrun with this invasive grass called Buffel Grass. The stuff holds water like a sponge and when you walk through it it just soaks through everything pants, shoes, socks etc. Thinking about picking up the Goretex version of the wildcats in an attempt to keep my feet dry. On the good news side the Big Agnes Copper Spur held up to 12 hours of rain like a champ, not a singe drop made it through the rain fly. I ended up bailing on passage 3 Sunday, shoes never dried out after a couple hours by the campfire before round 2 of the rain came in, and then 12 hours inside my truck. Woke up Sunday morning to dark skies and just called it. Had an open day next weekend so I can make up passage 3 and not lose any time on my schedule. The other bit of good news is with all this late season rain we have been getting sourcing water on the trail is going to be much much easier than normal.

Here is a few shots of the passage. Wish the weather were better cause this passage is all about the distant views of the Santa Rita and Huachucca Mountains, but visibility was down to a couple miles most of the day, did catch a break in the clouds when I reached the trail high point.

I hate this grass with a passion.






About the 48th pile of bear scat I have seen in the first 36 miles of trail

 

Anyone else got the mt. Shasta cvt tent?

 

Did it have bear bells, and smell like pepper spray?

Have a great trip.