TRIP NOTES:

Things I Learned

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• Yosemite no longer lets you hoist your food in trees. You must carry a bear can. It added a lot of weight to my pack (3 lbs).

• I need a lighter backpacking pack. I’ve used this pack for over 10 years and it’s done great in over 25 countries but at 6.5 lbs it definitely was the bane of a lot of my weight issues.
• When planning food for nine (9) people, plan forthem to eat more than you think and make sure to lighten the carrying weight of the food in every way possible.
• REI has excellent pre-planned backpacker meals for sale and for copying down.
• As much as I like my Pacific Outdoors CruiserLite Regular (Therma-Rest type pad) at 28 oz, my other Pacific Outdoor Equipment (InsulMat) Ether Compact 6 Sleeping Pad Regular at 17 oz provides more loft and better ground insulation (and is better for women’s hips). Overall better weight-to-comfort-ratio.
• It’s too easy to slip off of the Ether Compact 6 Sleeping Pad. Needs some very minor spray on texture.
• The best anti-blister treatment and post-blister treatment has been Spyroflex Skin Savers dressings combined with Body Glide stick. I wish I had brought more. (http://corganics.com/products/spyroflex.html)
• Moleskin is still tried-and-true. Even if it is 8 years old in the first aid kit.
• Band-aid brand blister bandages have some medicine in ‘em that seem to help.
• The Cool-Max sock liners only add to this anti-blister approach.
• The Cool-Max socks and sock liners helped keep moisture away from my feet in a major way.
• My favorite meal was the cheapest and lightest using Ramen noodles with all of its salt, beef jerky, dried vegetables and added soy sauce. The leftover Adelle’s sausage only made it substantial. But in the end it was the salt and the plentiful flavors that made it great.
• reflective emergency blanket made a great alternative to a ground cloth at 3 oz (versus 18 oz for the normal groundcloth).
• freeze-dried breakfasts were great! too much packaging though. need to figure out an alternative. Favorite was AlpineAire Foods: Granola with Strawberries, almonds and milk.
• The best photos still come from SLR cameras but the lightweight point-and-shoot digis provide an adequate alternative.
• There wasn’t as much poison oak as I had expected
• Pooping with a view of the canyons and river at sunset is as good as a warmed toilet seat with the newspaper in hand.
• That some people had to change their diet to high fiber, sugar, carbs causing lots of diarrhea (e.g., granola, dried fruit, nuts, bars) – thank goodness I eat this stuff normally.
• That most people take too much food but will eat it nonetheless — we had 1.5 bags of dried fruit leftover and several small bars between two of us.

Highlights: (I’m sure my friends on this trip could add lots here)

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• Seeing an adolescent black bear as we were about to leave from Day 1 trail camp.



• Seeing the marmot pose as we were leaving the last part of the Grand Canyon.
• That the people in the group were very comfortable with each other and were ready to help each other throughout the whole trip (no drama).
• The sore muscles and the hurting feet didn’t take away from enjoying the beautiful environment. It was just that incredible out there.
• Every day seemed like a different place: a wet, mossy, fern-covered Redwood forest; an arid meandering rock and water and trees mountain; a moonscape of rock slabs, swamps of bamboo and Redwood trees, open vistas of snow-capped mountains and ice-cold streams.
• That a watermelon kept in the bear locker in the shade stays cold and is one of the best treats at the end of a 4-day hike.
• That after 4-days of beating myself up and hauling a load on my back with my girlfriend there the entire time, I’d turn around and do it again with the same people (with her right next to me).
• That even though I joked and chided Brent about reading maps and distance estimations I was impressed with his leadership, his patience (everyone asking often “where are we?” “how far?” “what next?” “where… ?” “what… ?” etc.) and his overall collectiveness on a trip that turned out much harder than he had remembered it would be. It was a blessing to have him plan the trip.

Day 4 – 6 miles before the end

(The Original Trip Plan)

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