I am a Gear Freak-There, I said it....

Well, no camping or hiking for me this weekend. Looks like rain all 3 days so maybe a good time to clean up my stuff inside. A post on BP'er magazine forums got me thinking about my gear collection. I admit, I am a gear nut. It only took me 47 years to figure this out but yes, its true. I have too many of everything. Sleeping bags, Backpacks, bikes, tents, stoves, pads, bike wheels. heck I even have too many energy bars. Heck the picture above is just packs and sleeping bags only. One man only needs so much stuff. But I am constantly looking for more stuff. I don't always buy it, but I am sure looking for it. Its an addiction. I need a support group. Maybe something like GA (Gearaholics Anonymous). "Hi, I'm Kevin and I am addicted to outdoor gear". Thing is, I use almost everything I have at least once a month. Well, maybe not my mountain bike but I make up for it with 6500 miles on a road bike this year alone. Yes I could probably sell a tent or 2. Maybe even a sleeping bag (or 2). And all of those bike wheels are just in case I have a failure on my current wheels. But as soon as I sold it, I would probably go out and buy another one. Everything I have purchased has been scrutinized down to the penny. I never pay full retail on anything and I would say I am pretty thrifty on spending. I don't have the absolute best stuff on the market but its all top quality. So why oh why do I have so much stuff? Yes I take care of stuff in an almost anal way so it lasts me a long time. I have had a daypack for 20 years that has many miles on it. But I was thinking the other day I need to get another one. Is the one I have broken or worn out? NO. But I still had that sinking feeling in my mind that it was needing replaced. Would I give the old one to charity or sell it on E-Bay? NO. Just add to the ever increasing pile of pack collection. I have a 5 year old road bike that has over 25,000 miles on it. its a great bike and serves all my purposes. Its a much better bike than I am a rider. But guess what? Its starting to wear out a few components and my firing sensors in my "purchase" section of my brain have started to find 10,000 things wrong with it. I even went on Trek's Project One site last night and built up a $7000 "fix" for myself. I am sick and I know it....There seems to be very little cure for this sickness except revolving credit. Anyway, I have to go. I just realized I have a backpack trip scheduled in October and I need to look at the wings on my canister stove. Last time I was out I bent one of them just ever so slightly and I think I need to look at those new Jetboil things. And I also noticed my boots have a mark on the side that could be the start of some wear and tear....And that sleeping pad seems a little flatter...and....

Back to Mt. Rogers for Day Hike w/ Neighbors

Saturday September 5th dawned sunny and warm. My neighbors don't hike much but wanted to go up and see the ponies and maybe pick a few Blueberries. So we headed out after my Saturday morning bike ride for day hike. Jeff, Lori, Redd, Ian, my daughter Hannah and me (Also the lab mix Sierra) all left about 10 AM and arrived at Grayson Highlands about 12:30. As we arrived at the backpacker lot, I noticed 2 things: one, it was getting cloudy and 2, there were a lot of folks there. I figured there would be a few folks since it was labor day but I didn't expect there to be as many cars in the lot as there were. It was almost full. We all hiked up the trail and less than 500 yards later we were looking at 2 ponies. We stopped and watched them and took a few pics. About 3/4 way up the spur trail we started picking blueberries. For the first 2 hours, that's really all we did. Between the 6 people, we probably picked 2 gallons of the sweet berries. We kept going all the way to Wilburn Ridge. We thought we might keep going to Rhododendron Gap but Sierra was beat and lay down on a rock to sleep. The clouds stayed over us all day but no rain. The temperature was almost perfect at 60 degrees and low humidity. We ran into a few folks along the way but it wasn't as many as I expected since the lot was so full. We did notice many folks already starting to set up tents in places we didn't normally see them.

On the way back down, we picked some more blueberries (as if we didnt have enough). It was a beautiful day in the Mountains (they all are), and we got to see a lot of ponies. Even got to see some deer too.

Grayson Highlands Scout BP Trip-August 2009

On Friday August 28, we left the house at 4:30 PM to meet up at the church for a 3 day trip to Grayson for BP'ing. About 4:25 it started raining. I don't mean a sprinkle either: I mean a full on "gully washer". The kind that moves mountains and floods fields. At the church, we had to load up the gear for some folks who were doing a family camp and day hiking. 3 groups of Scouts (2 older and one younger) were BP'ing along different routes on Saturday and all meeting up in the Thomas Knob area Saturday night. 2 groups were exchanging keys and reversing the routes Saturday. As we started towards VA, the skies miraculously began to clear somewhat and by the time we arrived at the Backpacker parking spot at 7:20 PM, the moon was even starting to show. We hiked up the spur trail and set up about a mile in at the intersection of the AT. Sometime after midnight, I awoke to the sound of rain gently falling on the tent. It was much cooler than I expected but the rain sounded sweet tapping on the fly. We all woke at 7 AM and fixed a quick breakfast and packed up the wet gear. Our itinerary called for us to head North on the AT, through Scales and up the Crest Trail. Then intersecting with the AT South and heading to Thomas Knob. We made great time even though I was stopping every 5 minutes and eating a handful or two of the wild blueberries that adorn this place.

We got through the Scales are by 11 AM and decided to head on up the Crest trail to a water refill spot. As we were refilling water and eating our lunch, the rain began to fall again. Not so hard but just enough to be annoying. About 1 PM the sun came back out and we arrived at Rhododendron Gap where the AT intersect 3 different trails. We climbed up on the rocks and looked at views, played with the wild ponies and just sit in the warm sun for a while. We also watched a large bird (either Golden Eagle or large hawk as he would never get close enough) soar in the wind. We started out towards Thomas Knob so we could get dibs on the best site in the area. We hadn't seen a great deal of hikers other than a few solo's and a few couples. Seemed like everyone was day hiking. We hit the campsite around 2 PM and it was vacant. YES!!! We set up the tents and the boys headed out to climb a few more rocks and play in the meadows. About 3, our second group arrived and set up and 30 minutes later, the 3rd groups was there. After all the tents were set-up, we all walked down to the water source and pumped some spring water for the evening. Several of the adults and a couple boys wanted to say they had hiked to the tallest spot in VA. I told them there were no views on Mt. Rogers but it was a pretty trail nonetheless. So we hiked up to the top and took a picture or 2.

Just as we started back down, the rain started again. At first it seemed like another short drizzle. But by the time we had walked back to camp, it was coming down in buckets. Luckily, I had brought my tarp for cooking just in case this happened. We all crammed in under 2 tarps, cooked our meals and waited out the rain. Finally about 7, it stopped and 2 or 3 very enterprising adults even got a fire started. By 10 PM, all were in their tents dry and happy. I always sleep light when Scout camping because I feel responsible for everyone. I got up at 12Am and walked out to see a moon visible in the sky and only a few clouds. The evening was cool, even bordering on cold. Sunday morning dawned bright and clear. Some of the young Scouts had decided to make pancakes with Blueberries. They were very good and the boys did a great job working together to cook. The sun was out, it was warming up to perfect and I hated to leave. But life starts again on Monday and we had to go. So, we packed up wet gear again and headed out to Grindstone about 6 miles away. There we picked up some cars and drove back to the rendezvous point. Life sure is sweet!!!

PhilmontTrip

I could start this entry with the words "highlight of My Life". Philmont may have just been that. Our group of 14 Scouts and 5 adults departed CLT at 6:45 AM on July 7th. We met at the Church at 4:30 AM so we could carpool down. Tom Bruce had worked around so he could fly our AA aircraft to Dallas and then on to Colo. Springs. As it worked out, he flew to Colo. Springs but we were not on that flight. We flew a later flight which was kind of stupid since the same airplane we had been on from CLT to DFW was going on to Colo. Springs. Anyway, at least he got to fly us to DFW. We landed in Colo. Springs and had to wait about 45 minutes for our charter bus to take us to Pikes Peak and to our hotel for the night. The trip up Pikes was pretty cool since we were in a Cog Railway car.

After dinner and a trip back to Pikes Peak to retrieve a lost pack, we headed to the Hotel for our trip down to Cimarron. Early on the 8th, we climbed back in the charter bus and off to Philmont. The first day in Philmont is always a pain. The base camp is hot and dusty and the tents are even hotter. We checked in, went to lunch then met our Ranger who was to be with us for the next 3 days. We collected our pots, food, bear rope and bear bags: met with the logistics crew and then got our gear lockers and signed all of the documentation stuff. We also got checked out by the medical staff as well. Thursday would be another day of checking out gear and getting acquainted with the "Philmont Way". The bus picked us up at 1 Pm for the 10 minute ride to 6 mile gate where we were released to the wild for 11 days. Our first order of business was to go over the lightning position. Philmont is known for fast changing weather and lightning storms. They teach you what to do if you are caught in the open in lightning. Hopefully we wont need to practice this on our Journey. We had a very short hike to our first camp. We learned how to pitch bear rope and hang bear bags. We learned about the fire techniques and water conservation. Water is a precious resource at Philmont and they make sure you understand conservation. Day 2 was pretty much spent at Indian Writings. We had a blast there doing our conservation project and throwing Atlatyls. We also spent 3 hours digging in an archaeological dig where we found quite a few interesting things.

Hillary, who was our guide, was really cool and showed a lot of enthusiasm. It was contagious for the boys. The next day, Rob our guide was supposed to leave us. So he took us all to the top of a small mountain to let us meditate on the 10 days ahead and also to make us sign a pledge that we would take care of this great place. He had a special surprise for us and took out a pound cake and chocolate icing. Everyone had a piece and it was great. We hiked back down and headed for Ponil. Rob was going to Ponil too and he hiked a short way with us. then, like a Ninja, he was gone. We saw him later at Ponil drinking Root Beer.

After 1 day at Ponil, a chuckwagon Dinner and breakfast, lots of Root Beer and horseshoes, we took off for Pueblano. It was supposed to be about a 2 hour hike up a trail. But somewhere along the way we missed the trail and ended up "off the reservation". We hiked up and over a pretty steep mountain pass which was burned in the fire of 2002. It was very hot and dry but it was worth it because we saw a really nice Mesa with a lake on top. The hike in to Pueblano was all downhill but we were all still very tired. We only spent the night at Pueblano and were out of there the next AM to head to Miranda. We saw a small Black bear on our way out to Head Of Dean. For most of the Scouts, it was the first encounter with a wild bear. Actually, the bear was pretty tame. Not always the best thing for bear or Campers.

We spent a lot of the day at Head Of Dean doing a team building activity. We really learned a lot about ourselves AND about each other. It may have been the most fun I had on the trip. We got into Miranda late that evening and it was a really long walk up to the check in. They gave us a really nice campsite which we had for 2 nights. We all ate and turned in early for tomorrow is BALDY. Baldy is a 11,441 ft. peak that you can see from almost any spot on the Philmont property. It is very menacing and tough. We arose at 4:30 and were ready to start hiking at 5:15 AM. The first 4 miles don't seem to bad but the mountain turns upward at about 10,000 feet and the last 1400 ft are really tough. The last 500 feet is almost straight up. But we all made it and we crossed together in a long row. It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen boys do together.

After a trip through Baldy Town to pick up food, we headed back to Miranda for some rest and reflection. We made dinner and the boys played frisbee and cards. The adults sat, relaxed and talked about how cool it was to walk up a big ole mountain. The next day we said goodbye to Miranda and headed back through Head of Dean. We filled up our water there and made sure we were ready for a dry camp. Philmont has several camps that have no potable water and you have to prepare. We found a water buffalo (basically a large storage area that is filled by a solar pump). We made our dinner there even though it was early afternoon. That way we knew we had our hot meal covered. We then headed to Black Jack's Camp which turned into one of my favorite camps. Even though it was unstaffed and dry, it was quiet and we walked up a small hill to a great overlook. We could see Baldy and Tooth Of Time clearly. We also spent some time talking to our sister trek and this lead to a closer friendship.

We left Black Jack and headed for Harlan. WE got to shoot shotguns at skeet and race burros at Harlan. We also really got to know our sister trek well at Harlan. We played Ultimate Frisbee and went to their campfire. I was also finally able to get a cell signal and could call home and talk to Laura and Hannah. So it was a swell camp. From Harlan, we left and headed to Cimarroncito by way of the Ute Gulch Commissary. The dude at Ute Gulch was great. We could have all of the fresh fruit we wanted and we got a chance to load up on Gatorade. I also got some well needed Dark Chocolate too. Cimarroncito was a cool place to play around but not too great for Ultimate Frisbee. We did go rock climbing and rappelling which was way to cool.

When we were packing up to leave Cimmaroncito, I started to get kind of sad because I knew our time was short at this great place. But I was also ready to see my wife and daughter and I knew it could not last forever. The trail from Cimmaroncito to Ponderosa was a nice pretty walk. WE got to see window rock and we made a picture at Cathedral Rock with our sister trek.

Ponderosa Park was a pretty place (at least I think it was). We got there about 5 PM after we ate another dinner for lunch as it was a dry camp. As soon as we sit up camp, it started to thunder. About 6PM its started to hail and really rain hard. We all stayed in our tents and read or slept. It made getting up at 2:45 AM easier. We wanted to see the Tooth Of Time for Sunrise. It was at least a 7 mile hike there up hills and on rocky trails. We almost made it but we did get some cool views over the mountains. WE summited the Tooth around 7 AM and it was almost breathtaking.

From the base of Tooth to base camp was about 2 hours of steady walking downhill and with little shade. So even though it was downhill, it was hot. We were all looking forward to Pizza and ice cream so it made the long walk tolerable for us all. Base camp was about the same as we had left it, hot, dusty and boring. We cleaned up, went to Cimarron for Pizza and ice cream. Then we attended the closing ceremonies and headed to bed. The bus picked us all up at 8 AM the following day for the trip back to Colo. Springs and the flight home.

All in All, I cannot say enough about the 12 days I spent in God's Country. I will forever be smitten by this place and I cannot wait to go back. I was able to spend time with my son which is priceless. I spent time with scouts who I got to know much better as men. And I made many new friends along the way. Sitting on the Tooth Of Time with my son Kyle on July19th 2009, will quite likely be one of the greatest moments of my life. I thank God I was able to do this with Kyle. I hope we can do it again one day...........soon...

Day hike to Grayson to see the PONIES

On Friday July 3rd, the family decided to take a day hike to Grayson Highlands to see the poines. Several ponies have given birth the last few months and there were some real small ones. Could not have asked for a better day. It was 90 at home but high 60's/low 70's there.

Hannah loved the ponies every time she has gone. I knew they were there so I had to take her there since I will be leaving on the 7th for 2 weeks in Philmont. We had lunch on top of the rocks just short of Rhododendren Gap. It was probably only a 5 or 6 mile hike roundtrip but was well worth it. The ponies are always cool to watch. Lots of other folks were there too. It was also a chance for me to look at water sources for the big trip with the Scouts in late August. Looks like the water sources will be good for that trip.

On my way to Philmont tomorrow

Well: Tomorrow is the big day. My contingent leaves for Philmont at 4:30 tomorrow morning. We will head to Colorado Springs for a trip up to Pikes Peak. Then we head out on a bus Wednesday morning to Philmont for 12 days of backpacking and fun in the Mountains. Its been a dream that we have all been waiting for since last July. I have been planning this since 2006 when I first started thinking about Scoutmaster. My son and I atre both really excited. Just finished doing an inventory of the pack. I am at 25 pounds without water. I could probably do less than that but I want a few things that add some weight just for the comfort. Hopefully in about 2 weeks I can post some sweet pictures of the group and some views. Wish me luck.......

Another Day Hike to Linville Gorge East

Well, its about 7 weeks until Philmont so Saturday May 23 rd was a training day for Kyle and me.  We had scrapped our idea of going up Friday night and doing an over night trip.  We got up early Saturday morning and drove up to the Wolfpit Road trailhead for the ascent to Shortoff.  Our original intentions were to get at least to the gap before the climb to the Chimneys.  If he felt good in the gap, then we "might" try to get to the chimneys.  The first climb to Shortoff was pretty nasty.  It was humid (overcast and cool but very humid).  I have to admit I don't enjoy spring hiking as much as fall but I still sweat either way.  Once we got to Shortoff, the clouds dispersed and the sun came out.  That burned off some humidity but added some heat.  Still we had a nice breeze on the ridge.  Its a pretty walk from Shortoff over the gap and back down.  We stopped in the gap and talked about whether to go all the way to the chimneys.  Kyle said he wanted to go so we started the mile up.  We ran into a couple of people with some dogs who told us that a woman was missing since Friday afternoon.  They said she went out for a day hike from the parking lot at Table Rock and never returned.  (That explained the helicopters we heard rumbling all morning)

We were pretty good most of the way up.  We did stop to ponder why someone left a really nice military style rucksack in the middle of a trail fully loaded with gear for a week.  Most people drop packs in the woods fully covered; this pack was in full view in the middle of the trail at an overlook.  Kyle and I both looked over the edge and could not see anyone below.  Still, it was a little weird.  Anyway, we climbed the gap out and got to the flats on the ridge before the chimneys.  I enjoy this area as I really think the chimneys are cool.  We made it to a nice overlook and fixed a hot lunch of Ramen Noodles before heading back.

The ride back to Mooresville was nice and easy.  Kyle was pretty stoked that he made it so well.  We never heard if they found the woman or who that pack in the trail belonged to.  Very Weird!!  Well, 7 more weeks until we go to Philmont.  I think it may very well be the highlight of my year.