Archers Fork
First fall hike! I spent a lot of my summer running instead of hiking , minimizing my time in the heat. I decided to hike somewhere new for the fall season and picked archers fork. The 10 mile loop could easily be hiked in a day . Tons of overlooks , rock features , caves . and a natural bridge kept this trip interesting. With side trails and detours the trip totaled 16 miles.
Giant cave at the start of trip. I actually rolled my ankle at the top of the first hill , so I didn't make it to the steep path leading to the cave.
The natural bridge is very close to the big cave.
A lot of evidence of oil drilling both past and present in the park.
An overlook near campsite. My tent is barley visible through the trees.
I believe this is a false morel , poisonous.
This trail is one of my favorites in Ohio. The only bad thing I can say about it is the long drive to to reach it.
Zaleski North Loop
Tried the north loop for the first time. It measures 14 miles and does a figure 8 back to the parking lot. I planned on passing the parking lot and hitting the first camp. Within 2 miles I noticed my shoes were a little loose and rubbing a little on the heel. Too late , as I had half dollar sized blisters on my heel. I stopped at about 4 miles to apply moleskin and found I had left my medkit in another bag. Compounding the problem was I was trying out my new Kahtoola KTS aluminum crampons.
I probably only needed these a total of 1 mile but used them a total of 12. The lightweight aluminum crampons weight in at 1 lbs 10 ozs with a bag (not included) and their lightweight version of anti-balling plates worked fairly well. These fit virtually all footwear and don't require mountaineering boots.
The Aluminum wears fairly quick when moving over rocks and mud , so the steel would work better in these situations. My feet hurt so bad at 12 miles these had to come off. It didn't help , the damage was already done. I'll have to rethink my footwear with crampons , maybee a sock liner will help.
Another piece of gear I tried was the Mountain Laurel eVent rain mitts.
These worked awesome in freezing rain and sleet. The eVent kept my hands from sweating @ 32 degrees Fahrenheit. A lower temperature my have required lightweight gloves.
Ice cave towards the end of the hike. After hitting the parking lot I didn't have enough will to hike another 2 miles and headed home. I'll probably do this again with proven footwear.
Cold Weather Gear
Being in the deep freeze of winter only leaves me one choice. More gear. I've been hoping to increase the temperature rating of my Montbell UL Super Stretch # 3 30 Degree bag by utilizing down clothing. I'll use clothing I'd probably need in winter camp anyway. I'm really trying to keep myself from buying a 0 degree bag that will cost $500.
Feathered friends down booties were a bit of a splurge. I have found walking around in the snow with outer covers comfortable enough. The covers slip off before getting into the tent. These will be nice to put on after a long day of hiking.
Montebell UL jacket and pants are about the lightest pieces of down gear you can buy. Weighing 7.7 ozs for the pants and 6.5 for the top. These are no frill garments , with no pockets, minimal elastic, and no felt lining. They keep me warm standing around in 10 degrees with a warm merino wool baselayer and lightweight nylon shells over them.
Big Agnes Copper Spur UL1 doesn't seem like winter gear, but it's replacing a lightweight, non freestanding , single wall , Tarptent Squall 2. It's only rated for three season use but I don't expect I'll have much of a snow load to test it's limits. Weighing in at a relatively light 3 Lbs 5.5 ozs with stakes, stuff sacks and ground cloth. I set this up in my snowy dark backyard without too much trouble for the first time. It has less room than my tarptent but I managed to get all my gear in and used my backpack as a pillow. I've got enough room to sit up in without hitting my head. A 37 inch peak height was enough for my 5 foot 10 height , taller people my have to hunch over a bit. Lengthwise I had plenty of room to spare and suspect it'll fit at least a 6'2" hiker. This will be my new winter and kayaking tent.
I got a chance to test this gear on a clear cold 0 degree night. I had my backpack set up with full gear and my new tent. I set up in the backyard and lasted about an hour. I wasn't shivering cold , but my feet were a little nippy. I don't think I'd of slept comfortably , and would've woken up shivering. It did get down to -5 degree Fahrenheit that night. With some handwarmers in my sleeping bag , I may have slept without too much trouble.
Some gear I need for comfortable winter sleeping:
A down inflatable pad to replace my Thermarest Neo-Air. I have ordered the Exped 7 down sleep pad and expect that will increase my warmth retention with twice the R-value of the Neo Air. I also have a Mont Bell UL Thermal sheet on the way, that may be used to supplement my 30 Degree bag.
Next on my list is a down beanie from BlackRock Gear.
Who's ready for winter hiking? Me.
Zaleski South Loop
I took a quick day-hike to take advantage of the cool morning and changing leaves. I took a challenging shortcut that ended up not being any shorter. 10.4 miles in 4.5 hours. 2.3 mph moving average. Taking a slower pace allowed me to hear some deer over a ridge and allowed me to get within 30 yards of their crossing. Stealthy I moved towards that point , and a minute later I was faced by a large buck. This deer must have thought I was a tree , it walked straight towards me. Within 10 yards as I stared directly into it's eyes, I raised my hiking poles as a defensive posture. The big buck fell over loosing it's footing trying to make a quick 180 degree jump. It was more afraid of me , as I was of it. Curiously it stopped 50 yards away, looked back bewildered , snorted and bolted over the hill.
On overlook
Ginseng ?
Old school telegraph lines.
Pond View.
Wildcat Hollow Northern Loop
I've hit Wildcats northern loop a few times , Notably a year ago after a large blow-down. Hiking over trees in freezing temperatures , a heavy pack , and a 6 pound rifle was torture. Looking over reviews on the internet , you'd think this trail as impassable to the novice hiker. I can happily report all blow-downs have been removed or circumvented. Another surprise was the distance hiked was only 12 miles. Most references cite it as a 15 mile loop. Trip Odometer of 12.1 miles , Moving average of of 2.9mph in 4 hours 9 minutes. This was accomplished "slack packing" with a base weight of mostly 3 liters water , about 10 Lbs.
Terry demonstrating the proper technique for dispatching a horde of approaching Bloods. Hike-by style. I actually fired the Ruger LCP for the first time: missed a pop can from about 5 yards. With the low sites, and double action only, this is truly a last ditch weapon.
Found a cool little primitive camp less than a mile from the trail-head; i wouldn't sleep in it.
Overall with the trail maintenance this is one of my favorite hikes. No water is provided , and this time of year their is very little for filtering. The views are spectacular . although not picture worthy , as your under trees for most of the hike. Game evidence was pretty sparse this year , I only saw one squirrel , no deer and very little track sightings. Bring some water during dry seasons , and enjoy the hike.
Tar Hollow Fall Hike
Located east of Chillicothe, Ohio this 20+ mile figure 8 offers a challenging day hike/ car camping trip. Unfortunately I thought it was a nice overnighter with a backpacking camp on the ODNR website. About 2 miles in; the backpacking camp had a parking lot and the campsites needed reservations from the general store. Not an easy thing to come by @ 7oclock in the morning . Next time I'll reserve a campsite and have steaks and cool beverage waiting for me.
The trail itself was pretty challenging with steep climbs , a lot of dead-fall, and sometimes confusing red blazes. Being a new trail , I made the mistake of starting the trip on a side trail (blue blazed homestead trail which added 3 miles to the trip). The trip was 15.5 miles with 6 hours of moving time with a moving average of 2.6mph.
The 75 foot fire tower @ the not-so-backpack camp 2 miles in. The tower is climbable , but felt a little to rickety for me.
Another trip to Zaleski
Did a quick overnight @ Zaleskis south loop. Walked in 2 miles in the dark through a thunderstorm and made camp. I'm in process of reviewing and testing out a new Garmin 60cx GPS. It has a cool feature of calculating distance and time. My trip was 11.3 miles , moving time 4 hours and 30 minutes. Moving average 2.4 miles an hour. Stopped 1 hour 26 minutes overall average 1.9 miles an hour. This did not include camp time or lunch. I did stop a few times and go off trail looking for produce.
Picked up some ramps and 2 measly dried out morels.
RECIPE ?! Rays down and dirty ramp soup.
Ingredients.
Ramps cleaned , roots removed.
Morels , preferably more than 2 shriveled up , soaked in brine.
3 cups of Beef broth
Vegetable oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Cut up ramps as desired, I like to keep the bulbs intact , dicing the stems and some of the leaves. Julian morels.
Heat vegetable oil in cast iron skillet. Saute leaves , stems and morels. I leave bulbs out to get a firm , almost raw bite.
Deglaze with beef broth and add bulbs. Serve and enjoy. Total cook and prep time 10 minutes.
A few things that would have made this better. A slice of bacon and rendered grease to saute. A few cloves of garlic. Homemade broth ( I used Tones beef base and half a cup of cheap beer).
Testing Esbit on a Wetfire Stove
Looking through REI I found this cool little stove that weighs a half an ounce. After reading a few blogs and reviews I determined the fuel that's supplied with it is junk. Stories of short burn times , tons of soot , and it's inability to attain boils will keep me from even trying it. Having used Esbit before , and knowing it burns 12-15 minutes I figured I'd give it another shot. The biggest gripe with Esbit is the soot it leaves at the bottom of pans. I tried to remedy this with tin foil rapped around my pan. Esbit burned through and failed to boil 3 cups of 50 F water @ 48 F air temps. Unsure if it was the tin foil or possibly 3 cups , I tried 2 cups and no tinfoil. Boil was a achieved @ 13 1/2 minutes.
Incredibly light and made of Titanium. It's three legs fold down very compact.
Burning an Esbit and surrounded by a windshield.
Stable enough with a MSR Titan Kettle. [ an Interesting fact about the MSR, is the three rows of spot welds mark the 1 cup measurement]
The dreaded Esbit soot will probably keep alcohol stoves in my pack. It scrubs off easy enough , but in the woods , with limited water can be a pain.
Nordhouse Dunes
Nordhouse Dunes in West Central Michigan affords an easy 2 mile hike to the beach of Lake Michigan. Camping is permitted year round with a $5 a night car tag. It seemed pretty deserted in the winter , but I imagine is pretty popular in warm weather.
The trail head. It stayed foggy the first day.
The beach was deserted. The footprints ahead are deer.
The dunes were pretty impressive , some @ 140 foot tall.
The Campsite on top of a dune. A bald eagle was spotted circling ahead , unfortunately I was too slow to get a picture.
After a restful night in my new Montbell #3 the plan was to show up at Founders for their release of Kentucky Breakfast Stout. Getting there @ 11am was a mistake because their were about 150-200 people in line and the place was full.
Hopcat In Grand Rapids is a good place to drown your Non KBS getting sorrows. They had something like 49 taps , with a lot of Michigan breweries. I finally got a chance to drink some Shorts brewing offerings. I had a deliciously sweet Cup Of Joe. The last beer was an over the top , Shorts Mystery Stout.
They happened to be having bike races inside Hopcat. You'd think these people would be sober , but the guy next to me was drinking and got called up to race. He lost.
I'm trying to bring back urban camping.
Overnight Backpacking Gear List
After spending a fortune getting my pack weight down , I've decided to take some ultra-lite packers tips and weigh my gear. Hopefully this spotlights anything that will get the ounces down. Does anyone have any tips?
Current Backpack and contents. Weights are being added.
Base Weight
Go-lite Pinnacle Pack
Tarptent Squall 2 , sack , ground cloth stakes 2lbs 8.6 oz | Probably never get anything lighter than this.
North Face Aleutian 20°f bag 3lbs 4 oz - 1lbs 13 oz saved with Mont Bell # 3.
Neo Air sleeping Pad 15.5 oz - Could Shave a few ounces , but enjoying the luxury.
Oregon research Sin-nylon pack-cover 9.1oz - Will shave 7.5 ounces with Cuben fiber cover
Kataydyn Hiker water filter 13.1 OZ - I could save 11.9 OZ with Micropur MP1 tabs
3 Liter Platypus water bottle
1 liter Platypus Water bottle
Princeton Quad headlamp 3.5oz - saved 2 oz with Princeton scout.
GSI coffee filter and papers
MSR Titanium pot 4.6 oz
Snow Peak 450 double walled mug 4.3 oz
MSR pocket rocket stove 4 oz
Buck knife 4.6 oz - 1.9 oz saved with Mora Classic
Light my fire spork
A few large BIC lighters
Extra Clothes & raingear 2lbs 4.7 oz
Toiletries , medical kit 5 oz
Solar Panel with 2 Sanyo Eneloop AA's 6.5 oz
Maggellan Explorist 400 GPS 5.5 oz
Cannon Elph Camera and extra battery 7.7 oz
Odds and ends , sugar, tea , tooth floss? 7.1 oz
50 Foot emergency spectra line 3 oz
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Toys and consumables
Zune HD 5.6 oz
Smokes and alcohol 
Nordhouse Dunes total bag weight 28.5 LBS with water, whiskey and smokes.
After Nordhouse Dunes , without electronics , water , booze everything else , 12.5 lbs ? I must be missing something.