Sea to Summit — Bowl and Mug
When I go out camping and hiking I like to keep the amount of gear I have to carry to a minimum. I recently discovered an new innovation, the Sea to Summit
mug and
bowl. When you are not using them the mug fits inside the bowl and the result is a disc four inches in diameter by 1/4″ thick. To use either of them you push out the centre of the disc and you are ready to go. Before putting the mug to a test in the wilderness I decided to test it out in my kitchen. I added my favourite hot brew to the mug and discovered that it is best to the grip the cup by the black rim and to use two hands when drinking say a cup of hot coffee or tea. I was impressed by how well they worked. The next test will be to see how they operate in the arctic cold of Adirondack winter camping or a local trek in the Ottawa environs.
http://www.rei.com/product/767560
Sea to Summit bowl
http://www.rei.com/product/787278
Sea to Summit X-Mug
Brevity — an old post
One of the dangers of blogging with your iPhone/iPod Touch is that you will write less than you should. I’ll try to make up for this fault.
I was impressed by how quickly the Jetboil heated the water. The Mac N Cheese tasted good but would taste better after a long day of hiking or camping. I think would taste even better if I had supplemented it with canned tuna or salmon. There was a little problem with portions. If this an outback adventure I would have had to cook two package of the dinner. This may vary depending on the meal. I think my next meal will be the Ginger Pasta which when served with salmon is awesome. Jason, Em and I had this meal when we hiked in the Shenandoahs last year and it rocked.
2008 Goals in Review
Last year around this time I uploaded my goals for 2008. The wisdom was if you publicly state some of your goals you are more likely to take the steps to achieve them. I found this a good exercise last year and something I will do this year. Before I list my 2009 goals I thought I would take a minute to see how I did in achieving my 2008 goals.br /br /br /br /* Run a 1:30 half-marathon timebr /Getting closer with each race. Will have to try harder in 2009br /br /br /* Go on more OHOC outdoor adventuresbr /span style=”color:#3333ff;”Achieved/spanbr /br /br /* Do more hiking tripsbr /span style=”color:#3333ff;”Achieved (OHOC trips, Catochins, Pretty Boy dam, etc.)/spanbr /br /br /* Climb more of the 46ers (46 highest peaks in the Adirondacks , NY)br /span style=”color:#3333ff;”span style=”color:#3333ff;”Achieved/span. /spanClimbed a couple of more peaksbr /br /br /* Loose 10 lbs by May 30 (race date –National Capital half-marathon)br /span style=”color:#3333ff;”Achieved./spanbr /br /br /* Hike the West Coast Trail/Shenandoah National Park/Old Smoky National Parkbr /No. Shifted to 2009.br /br /br /* Run a faster Baltimore half-marathon ( 1:34 ) in October 2008br /span style=”color:#3333ff;”Achieved/span. Each year I run the race around a minute fasterbr /br /br /* Visit Brent ( Algonquin Park ) by canoeing and portaging and bring along a digital camerabr /No. But parents had two roofs and one patio deck rebuilt.br /br /br /* Reach 500,000 Babble point (now 350,000) a href=”http://www.playbabble.com/”www.playbabble.com/abr /span style=”color:#3333ff;”Achieved./span When I combine my babble scores and a href=”http://wordabble.com/”wordabble /ascores I achieved this goal.br /br /br /* Do more cycling (road and mountain biking)br /No. Ouchbr /br /br /* Geocaching goal 900-1000 finds by Dec 31 2008br /span style=”color:#3333ff;”Achieved/span in the spring and finished off the year with 949 finds.br /br /br /* Become more mobilebr /Nobr /br /br /* Complete an Olympic Distance triathlon (1500m swum/40km cycle/10km run)br /Nobr /br /br /* Swing dancing – Learn the Lindy Hopbr /span style=”color:#3333ff;”Achieved/span but more work to do.br /br /br /* Take the train to Baltimorebr /Goal for 2009 (Montreal to New York to Baltimore Penn Station)br /br /2008 was a good year for me. I did more than I expected an achieved other goals that I that I didn’t push up to my blog.
Urban Jetboiling
Tonight I did something I had planned to do last weekend but got rained out. This is cooking with my a href=”http://www.jetboil.com/”Jetboil/a. I loaded up my backpack with my a href=”http://www.guyotdesigns.com/utensils”utensils/a, flashlight, Nalgene bottle, fuel canister, the Jetboil stove and packaged dinner. My destination was the bike path that runs along the Ottawa River. The idea was to test out the stove in a familiar setting before putting it to test in the foul elements. I assembled the stove as dusk was setting in. I reached a point of indecision, should I light the stove before or after mounting the pot. I opted to light the stove first. The stove lit on it’s first try. In the meantime I started to prepare the grub. Before I knew there was a geyser of steam coming out of the stove’s portal. I poured the steaming water in thea href=”http://www.backcountryfood.com/” Mary Jane Mac N Cheese/a and waited patiently. A little while later I was eating my first Jetboil assisted meal. A quick thanks goes out to a href=”http://jasonplancaster.com/”Jason /afor the stove.
Adirondacks June-July 2008
Wright Peak/Algonquin/Iroquois/Phelps/Coldenbr /br /Friday June 27br /One of my goals is to eventually climb all of the 46 peaks in the Adirondacks whose elevation is above 4,000 feet. This past weekend I added one more to the tally, Iroquois. On Friday morning, Chris Mc and I headed down to Lake Placid and stopped in at the Price Chopper to get lunches and groceries for the long weekend. Once at camp we setup a tarp and bug net over the picnic table as suspected we would meet the bugs and/or rain over the weekend. Na, Paul and Ben would arrive at the campsite a little while later. After supper we started a fire and contemplated when Wendy and Erin would arrive. We took bets on when they might arrive and I won. They wouldn’t arrive until mid-afternoon on Saturday.br /br /Saturday June 28br /The five of us were up early (0630) and eating breakfast by 7:00 AM. Our goal for the day was to hike the mountains near Algonquin Peak much of this would be dependant on our stamina and the weather. At 8:21 AM we headed out from the ADK Loj trailhead and made our way south-west. After 30 minutes the trail splits, one direction leading to Marcy Dam and the other to Algonquin. We took the right path and headed south. The trail very gradually climbs and is a Mecca for boulders. Along the way we took in the sight of a a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/2008_Adirondacks_July/photo#5218195600451739874″waterfall/a. After climbing for about an hour we reached another trailhead. Half of the group climbed Wright Peak while the others continued on the trail to Algonquin. The view from a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/2008_Adirondacks_July/photo#5218195649465892946″Wright /awas good but we could see a storm approaching in the distance. As continued our ascent up to Algonquin it started to lightly rain and in rolled the mist. It was hard to spot the next cairn. We stopped for lunch at the summit. The mountain steward was standing on watch. The group split again and most of the people headed down a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/2008_Adirondacks_July/photo#5218195666526403058″Algonquin/a. The remainder continued east to Boundary and Iroquois. The intensity of the rain increased and the fog grew thicker. It was at this point that the GPS proved its value. At breakfast time I punched in the coordinates for all the peaks we would be climbing. A father, his son and a large poodle mistook Boundary for Algonquin. I shouted that the GPS said we had another 300 yards to hike. They were not happy by this remark. The final 300 yards involved hiking through shoulder height trees and boggy mud flats. My knee high gators kept the spruce trees from scratching my legs as well as keeping the mud away from my boots. Once we reached the summit we retreated back to the valley between the mountains. We had a choice to head back by Avalanche Lake or return the way we had come. Three groups were making the same decision and all opted for coming back the way they had come. It would be better to head back on familiar terrain that to take a longer route with an uncertain terrain. The constant rain made this choice obvious. As we headed across Algonquin the rain became more intense and my heart went out to the steward huddled next to a large rock. It would be another three hours before he could head down. Once below the tree line the rain let up and we could take off our rain jacket. The forest was steamy hot. A little while later the sun came out. As we were heading by the falls I saw some naïve hikers making there way to Wright Peak. They were wearing button-down white and blue shirts. I wonder how long they would stay clean and dry as another storm was an hour away. Once back at the camp I had a piping hot cup of tea to celebrate my ascents. Wendy and Erin had arrived by this point and prepared a marvelous pasta dish for supper. Paul and I trimmed up a standing conifer tree and as a standing dead tree is a dry tree. A blazing warm fire was a welcome site to the group.br /br /Sunday June 29br /Most of the group was awake at sunrise and we started down the trailhead early in the morning. Our goal was to climb a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/2008_Adirondacks_July/photo#5218195702365853618″Phelps/a. At the first trail junction we headed east towards Marcy Dam and took in the sights before heading further east. There was much relief as we were climbing the Phelps trail as it had fewer rocks than the trail leading to Wright. We ate lunch at the Phelps summit. The knats and black flies were swarming on the summit so we headed down shortly after lunch. We were at our campsite by mid-afternoon. After a Chinese stir-fry meal we headed into Bamp;J for ice cream. There were black clouds hanging over Lake Placid. As we were heading back to camp it started to pelt. There would be no fire tonight. It would rain for most of the night.br /br /Monday June 30br /On Monday morning, Na, Paul and Ben packed up and headed back to Ottawa. Chris Mc, Erin and I set out early to climb a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/2008_Adirondacks_July/photo#5218195833553157698″Mt. Colden/a. We headed over to Marcy Dam before hiking in a southerly direction towards Avalanche Lake. By lunch hour, we were climbing over the ladders that take you along the shores of Avalanche Lake. The edge of the lake ends in a steep cliff so they have wooden ladders and platforms hanging from the edge of the cliffs. Our trek along Colden Lake was muddy. Midway down the lake we started our steep ascent of Mt. Colden and reached the summit after much exertion and heavy breathing. It was a bright and sunny day on the summit. We ate our lunch while admiring the views, of Marcy Dam, Avalanche Lake, and the a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/2008_Adirondacks_July/photo#5218195812198272450″three other peaks /awe had climbed two days earlier. The hike down to Lake Arnold was a pleasant one as the switchbacks allowed us to gradually drop elevation. We pumped water at a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/2008_Adirondacks_July/photo#5218195875977432370″Lake Arnold /adespite the black fly infestation. Within an hour we were back at the Marcy Dam trailhead. We all headed into town for steak dinner at thea href=”http://www.blogger.com/www.lakeplacidcp.com/dining.html” Lake Placid Boat Club /awhich sits on the edge of Mirror Lake. Erin and Wendy headed north to Ottawa after dinner. Chris Mc and I headed back to camp for the final camp fire.br /br /Tuesday July 1 – Canada Independence Daybr /We were both up at 5:00 AM. I spent a little while packing my thermarests and sleeping bag before leaving the tent. Meanwhile, Chris Mc got the Coleman stove alight. We had all our gear packed and heading north by 8:00 AM.br /br /a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/2008_Adirondacks_July”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/2008_Adirondacks_July/a
Off to the Adirondacks soon…
In just over a week, I’ll be heading down to the Lake Placid area for my second hiking trip of the year. The plan is to climb a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Dix”East Dix /a(4012 feet) anda href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Dix” South Dix /a(4060 feet). Last year, Chris Mc, Kevin and I camped at the base of what we thought was East Dix and later confirmed once we were at the summit. This year we are taking a different approach and staying at a hostel overnight in a href=”http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=enamp;q=Keene+Valley,+NY,+USAamp;um=1amp;ie=UTF-8amp;sa=Xamp;oi=geocode_resultamp;resnum=1amp;ct=title”Keene Valley /aand to summit both Dixs peaks as part of a long day hike. Now that we have the GPS coordinates we can start at the car and just follow the GPS arrow as it counts down the kilometers/miles to go. Chris Mc and I are leading a group of a href=”http://ohoc.ncf.ca/”OHOC /ahikers this time round. There is still one unsolved mystery and that is, will there be bugs and how fierce/intense they might be as this is the earliest in the spring that I have been hiking in the Adirondacks.
Adirondacks 2008
span lang=”EN-US”o:p/o:p/spanst1:date year=”2008″ day=”28″ month=”3″ st=”on”span lang=”EN-US”Friday March 28 2008/span/st1:datespan lang=”EN-US”o:p /o:p/span p class=”MsoNormal”span lang=”EN-US”It was under spring-like conditions that the a href=”http://picasaweb.google.ca/moulec/Adirondacks_March_2008/photo#5183952060740676770″uOttawa /aOutdoors club headed south to the st1:place st=”on”Adirondacks/st1:place for a long weekend of winter camping, mountain climbing and snowshoeing. The weather conditions would be a mystery until we arrived at the trailhead. st1:city st=”on”st1:place st=”on”Ottawa/st1:place/st1:City is within a hare’s breath of setting a seasonal snowfall record. Would there be more snow in the Lake Placid? On our way south we stopped at st1:place st=”on”st1:city st=”on”Malone/st1:City, st1:state st=”on”NY/st1:State/st1:place for the traditional Friday fish and chips pre-trip meal. We briefly detoured to Price Chopper so I could buy fig newtons and pretzel goldfish. /span/p p class=”MsoNormal”span lang=”EN-US”o:p/o:pAs we headed south the condition grew worse. It started to snow. The snow was accumulating on the road. span style=”" /spanAs we drove down the park access road we spotted wild turkeys grazing on a nearby field. Further along the road we had to make an emergency stop as a deer was in the middle of the road eating road salt. We arrived at the a href=”http://picasaweb.google.ca/moulec/Adirondacks_March_2008/photo#5183952112280284386″ADK Lodge/a and loaded our backpacks with group gear. This year we would split into two groups as there is a cap of nine people per campsite, we had 15. Under blustery conditions we headed out on the trail towards to a href=”http://picasaweb.google.ca/moulec/Adirondacks_March_2008/photo#5183952168114859314″Marcy Dam/a. We left at an inopportune time as they were four other groups that would be heading towards Marcy Dam at roughly the same time all in search of scarce lean-tos. I was asked to scout ahead and try to get first dibs on the largest lean-to, known as the a href=”http://picasaweb.google.ca/moulec/Adirondacks_March_2008/photo#5183952176704793922″“palace/a.” (N44 09.443 W073 57.079 e=2347 feet) It is the largest on st1:place st=”on”st1:placetype st=”on”Lake/st1:PlaceType st1:placename st=”on”Marcy/st1:PlaceName/st1:place. I got lucky but by only five minutes before the next group arrived in search of an abode. The snowy conditions would work to our advantage keeping the evening temperatures in the mid-twenties. Despite the higher elevation of the st1:place st=”on”Adirondacks/st1:place had received there annual average amount of snow. span style=”" /spanFor supper, we had started with a mixture Knorr Swiss soups mixed with coconut paste. The main course was pasta. While sitting around eating supper a href=”http://picasaweb.google.ca/moulec/Adirondacks_March_2008/photo#5183952198179630434″Steph/a, the leader, offered us some wisdom, what freezes will stay frozen over the weekend. This could mean that your toothbrush, toothpaste, liquid soap or water bottle might freeze and stay frozen. As we settled in for the night, I ditched my snowlion boots and donned my booties and gators. A pair of tights and Gore-Tex shell pants would keep my legs warm. As the conditions grew chillier, I applied more and more layers making it hard to bend forward. On top, I had base layer coolmax top, a REI lightweight shirt, 200 weight Polar fleece vest, a 300 weight Polar Fleece jacket and a Gore-tex shell. I felt toasty wearing all this gear. Before bedding down for the night I dropped a couple of layers./span/p p class=”MsoNormal”span lang=”EN-US”Saturday/span/p p class=”MsoNormal”span lang=”EN-US”I awoke at 0500 to find it was still dark. I dozed off for a couple of hours before getting up at 0730. For breakfast we had a deluxe breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon and bagels. A cup of black coffee would be all that was needed to restore one’s senses. After breakfast I had my first experience with the cold. It would take two hands to squeeze out toothpaste as it as had frozen overnight. As well, I had to de-thaw my toothbrush in my mouth as it was crunchy from freezing overnight. At 10:00 with bags packed we head west to pickup the Algonquin Peak trail (Junction N44 10.334 W073 57.528). Along the way we were passed by the other group traveling at a brisk place and they were eager to be the first to ascend the mountain. There speed would become a hazard. Over the course of the hike we would gain 3,000 feet. As we climbed we peeled off layers as we were working up a sweat. Along the way we eyed the frozen falls (N44 09.578 W073 58.779 e=3277 feet). This would be a water refilling stop on our return. We stopped at the st1:place st=”on”st1:placename st=”on”Wright/st1:PlaceName st1:placetype st=”on”Peak/st1:PlaceType/st1:place trail junction (a href=”http://picasaweb.google.ca/moulec/Adirondacks_March_2008/photo#5183952254014205378″N44 09.156 W073 59.152 e=3994 feet/a) to put on warmer clothing. At this point we were close to the edge of the tree line. We could see the snow blowing near the peak. I headed out first and did a a href=”http://picasaweb.google.ca/moulec/Adirondacks_March_2008/photo#5183952296963878386″solo /asummit (st1:place st=”on”st1:placename st=”on”Algonquin/st1:PlaceName st1:placetype st=”on”Peak/st1:PlaceType/st1:place summit solo @1400 a href=”http://picasaweb.google.ca/moulec/Adirondacks_March_2008/photo#5183952279784009186″N44 08.613 W073 59.206 e=5115 feet/a). (http://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=6022) On the way up, I had a weird experience as I was breathing hard and sweating profusely while receiving a blast of arctic cold air. The going got a little rough near the top and I was forced to bash my snowshoes’ crampons into the snow-ice base to get a purchase. A misstep could cause one to slide down the side of the peak. I took a self-portrait and headed down to lead the remainder of the group up to the summit. The going was challenging as the crampons on their rented snowshoes were not aggressive as mine. We would use rock carrons for navigation. There was much relief once we back into the shelter of the trees. It was at this point that the fun began. It was child like. We slide down the trail on our bums. Once back at the Wright Peak trail junction we took a a href=”http://picasaweb.google.ca/moulec/Adirondacks_March_2008/photo#5183952339913551410″lunch /abreak. Our trek back to the waterfalls was a brisk one. Using a a href=”http://picasaweb.google.ca/moulec/Adirondacks_March_2008/photo#5183952361388387922″precarious /amethod we refilled water bottles. We took another rest break at major trail junction and met a href=”http://picasaweb.google.ca/moulec/Adirondacks_March_2008/photo#5183952417222962834″Peter Fish,/a one of the early Park Rangers. We were arrived back in camp late in the afternoon to find a surprise. Something had attacked the food pack and left discarded package of brownies underneath the bag. A quick check of the bag revealed that the a href=”http://picasaweb.google.ca/moulec/Adirondacks_March_2008/photo#5183952202474597746″martin /amust have a penchant for chocolate. There was some discussion if it would pay us a visit overnight. Would the martin climb into someone’s sleeping bag for warmth? Steph came back to camp a little later to pass along news of the other group. They were a disappointed lot. They didn’t reach summit. Without a compass, a map, or GPS they decided to take a shortcut and see if they could summit by sighting the peak and snowshoeing off trail in hope of beating our group to the top. This wasn’t a wise idea. Midway up the slope they had to turn back as the snow was too deep.span style=”" /spanFor supper we had a couscous stew along with a raspberry, apple flan for dessert. Tonight, would be a colder night as we had a healthy crop of stars visible overhead. In anticipation I added another layer of clothing, a down vest (-15C/5F overnight). /span/p p class=”MsoNormal”span lang=”EN-US”Sunday/span/p p class=”MsoNormal”span lang=”EN-US”Once again I was awake early but didn’t emerge from my toasty sleeping bag until there were others about. Breakfast was hot fruit mixed with a dry cereal. By mid-morning we were back on the trail heading in a southerly direction bound for a href=”http://picasaweb.google.ca/moulec/Adirondacks_March_2008/photo#5183952511712243506″st1:place st=”on”st1:placename st=”on”Avalanche/st1:PlaceName st1:placetype st=”on”Lake/st1:PlaceType/st1:place./a It would be a warm hike. The snow was melting and starting to gum up our snowshoes. We had lunch while sitting on the frozen st1:place st=”on”st1:placename st=”on”Avalanche/st1:PlaceName st1:placetype st=”on”Lake/st1:PlaceType/st1:place. (N44 08.117 W073 57.883 e=2959 feet) The bright sun reflecting off the snow gave many of us the start of a tan on our faces. Once back at camp we had to peel off more layers as there was melt water dripping from the roof of the lean-to. With a href=”http://picasaweb.google.ca/moulec/Adirondacks_March_2008/photo#5183952520302178114″lighter packs/a we reached the van in record time. We stopped in st1:place st=”on”st1:placename st=”on”Saranac/st1:PlaceName st1:placetype st=”on”Lake/st1:PlaceType/st1:place for a hearty post-trip meal./span/pp class=”MsoNormal”br /span lang=”EN-US”/span/pp class=”MsoNormal”span lang=”EN-US”a href=”http://picasaweb.google.ca/moulec/Adirondacks_March_2008/photo#5184365322493898578″map/abr //span/p
10 days to go before my next winter adventure
Tonight, we had our planning meeting for the uOttawa Adirondacks winter camping, snowshoeing and mountain climbing meeting. Steph, one of the guides, walked us through our gear list and hammered home the fact that we will need two sets of clothes, our day outfit that will get wet during the day and our night set which will keep us warm, dry and toasty overnight. During these meetings he likes to put the fear into the foreign-exchange students so that they take him seriously when he says to pack warm clothing. This year he toned it down a bit. I think this will be the fifth trip that I have taken with Steph and they are always fun and interesting. We talked about peaks and will likely climb a href=”http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/150395/algonquin-peak.html”Algonquin Peak/a or maybe a href=”http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/150567/phelps-mountain.html”Phelps mountain/a this year on Saturday. The weather-of-the-day will determine which peak we attempt to summit. I talked to Steph about changing the trip date in 2009 to the April 3-4 weekend so that it does not conflict with the Boston Tea Party. It would be awesome if a href=”http://jasonplancaster.com”Jason /acould come on the trip in 2009. With Easter coming up rather quickly, I’ll be visiting a href=”http://www.mec.ca”MEC /aa couple of times over the next couple of days to load up on provisions.
Squishy bowl
While shopping at a href=”http://www.rei.com/”REI /alast week, I found a new cool and fun gizmo, the a href=”http://www.guyotdesigns.com/site/htm/home.html”Guyot Squishy bowl /aand cup. They are made out of food grade silicon and are incredibly flexible and light. As well they are fun to play with as you can squeeze and squish them and they quickly returns to it normal shape. The cup fits inside the bowl so the storage footprint is minimal. I’ll try them out of my next outdoor trip and see how they operate under winter conditions.
Ts’yl-os (pronounced sigh-loss)
a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://bp2.blogger.com/_5w5ZZWchEd4/RyvN1IWlXFI/AAAAAAAAChc/YOMptAdjCLE/s1600-h/chilkolake1_4.jpg”img style=”margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;” src=”http://bp2.blogger.com/_5w5ZZWchEd4/RyvN1IWlXFI/AAAAAAAAChc/YOMptAdjCLE/s320/chilkolake1_4.jpg” alt=”" id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128418913350409298″ border=”0″ //abr /br /When I was growing up the premier of British Columbia announced that he was forming a new provincial park called Ts’yl-os. The newspaper gave the subscribers a chance to request a poster of hikers at a href=”http://www.britishcolumbia.com/parks/?id=42″Chilko Lake/a with the mountains in the background. I took up the offer and the poster is on the wall I pass by each morning. Ts’yl-os is located 250 km North of Vancouver. The url of the park is a href=”http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/ts.html”http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/ts.html/a. One of my goals over the next couple of years is to camp, and hike in Ts’yl-os park as well as to hike up one of the peaks.
