Over Thanksgiving my boyfriend and I went hiking and backpacking at Death Valley National Park in California.  This is sort of a gear review with some trip report smatterings.  I figured I would put this here since it was my first time really backpacking and also I wound up purchasing a few new gear items specifically for this trip and for more backpacking in general.  Our goal was to travel light without being stupid light. 

Packs and a sample of the terrain we were hiking over.

Testing out my pack in our home environment.  I think this was the small that I wound up sending back.

Almost to the top of Telescope Peak.

Where we spent Thanksgiving.

In Wisconsin on the bike trip.

Testing out the bag at home with Bella making an appearance.  I slept more *in* the bag.  My pillow was in the bag with me if that makes sense.

Water/food/weight: We were hiking in the desert with next to no water sources.  We couldn't decide on attempting to access one of the few running springs in the area, or just carry all the water we needed and do the trip we wanted.  In the end, we opted to carry all our water.  My boyfriend carried a Sawyer water filter just in case, but we each hiked out 5-6 liters of water, which was, uh, quite heavy at 2.2 pounds per liter.  We both used a Camelbak bladder (there are lighter options out there, but we already owned these) and a bunch of 1 liter Smartwater bottles, which you can pick up at almost any gas station.  I have no idea how much my pack weighed when we started, but I'm guessing a little over 30 pounds?  Maybe?  We only had to carry food for two days, but we over packed on that as well.  I decided it was worth it to haul out an avocado, a block of cheese, and butter.  Yes, butter.  LOL. We needed it to make the Stovetop stuffing we brought for Thanksgiving dinner!  We were hiking mostly cross country (no trail) and hauling a lot of water, so we were pretty slow moving.  We covered a total of about 40 miles in 3 days, and that was a meandering pace and short days with the sun setting at 4:30pm.  I can only imagine how fast you could fly while hiking somewhere with ample water and an established trail while traveling semi-light. 

Death Valley was amazing and totally different than I expected.  I can't even begin to describe the vastness if you haven't been there before.  Wow.  Totally worth a trip.  Or ten.

We climbed Telescope Peak (a little over 11,000 feet), which is the highest mountain in the park.  You can simultaneously see the lowest (Badwater) and highest (Mt. Whitney) points of the contiguous U.S. from the summit.  Then we spent two days/two nights exploring some unnamed canyons in the Cottonwood mountains.  It rained on us the first night, which meant snow only about a 1,000 feet higher up.  We scrambled up and down a lot of dry falls, which I didn't particularly love, but was kind of necessary in order to complete the hikes.  The last day we just did a day hike in a slot canyon.

Thanksgiving night we were sitting outside the tent eating dinner under a full moon when this big bird came flying toward us.  I figured it would see us and veer upward, but as it came closer it slowed down to check us out.  It was this beautiful owl (which we later looked up and found out it was a short-eared owl) that passed probably only 5 feet over our heads.  Best Thanksgiving dinner ever.

Here's a mess of photos, which I know some of you already saw on Facebook.

Heading up to Telescope, upper left.

In the clouds before the summit.

Made it!

Layers and layers of mountains.

Mt. Whitney is the distance to the right.

Heading out into the desert.

Heading up an unnamed canyon.

I left snow at home, to get more snow in California.  WTF.

Climbing a dry fall.  I hated these fuckers.  Some of them were rather high and difficult.

The view out the front door.

Day hike into Fall Canyon.  The view after doing more climbing around a dry falls.

What you have to scramble up to get there.  Lots of tourists in the (boring) lower part of the canyon.  Very few people after we did the bypass around the falls and got to the cool parts.

Standing right above the dry falls.

Fun part of the canyon where you could practically hop from wall to wall.

Nice trip, Mandy and thanks for the pics (even a Thom sighting) and reviews.

Big Agnes makes some nice tents. The only problem I've had with them is some condensation issues, but they were mild.

Beautiful views. Glad you had a great time.

I've got a really bare bones 40 degree quilt from Hammock Gear- a little over 12 oz    I've got a Katabatic Pallidade quilt that he rates at 30•, but for me it's a solid 20• quilt and then last year I picked up a 0 degree quilt from Hammock Gear. Katabatic makes wonderful down quilts, but they are too spendy and the HG quilts are really nice for a lot less $

Awesome Mandy! Thanks for sharing the reviews.  That bag/quilt definitely looks comfortable.

So where is your next planned trip?

 

Thanks, Jamie!  I think you would really like backpacking.  I enjoyed it even more than I thought I would!

 

No idea.  Probably not until summer, unless we do a small trip around here during that short period where there snow has melted, but the bugs haven't arrived yet.

You're so close to Boundary Waters, etc., that you should try some canoe camping.

so you can't decide if you want to run or backpack, do both 

 

here's my new Ultimate Direction Fastpack 30, going to get some running overnighters in and if it works out well I'll be using this pack for the Bob Marshall Open

Looking forward to the actual review, Warden!  My boyfriend is interested in doing some fastpacking and/or FKT type of stuff, so I'll show this to him too.

I'm bumping this thread to give you a backpacking report.  Those of you who also backpack (*coughcough* Sue, Mike, NorthernHarrier, etc) please post some trip reports too!

I'm going through some crap in my life right now, so I booked a flight out to Washington to hang out with a friend for a week and go backpacking together in the Sawtooth mountains of Idaho.  I cried through my entire first flight from Madison to Minneapolis and then went into business mode and finally stopped crying.  I had a tight connection and needed to book it to make my other flight.   At least I didn’t have to sprint with a roller bag like I did in Denver once.

After arriving in Spokane, we hit the road for Stanley, Idaho.  I’m sad to say that the West is in bad shape with all the wildfires.  We encountered a lot of smoke.  Most of it a dull haze, but also a few really bad pockets that made my eyes burn.  Driving through Montana and Idaho was beautiful.  Big Sky Country indeed.  The vastness of the West always makes my heart ache a little.  On a side note, Taco Bell > Taco Time.  No sauce on your quesadillas, man?  What the heck?

Backpacking day 1:

I guess there’s a reason the Sawtooths are so popular – they’re absolutely spectacular.  We wake up and get our first glimpse of the mountains that we missed upon arriving in the dark last night.  Wow.  I’m not sure why the ex and I never made it to the mountains to backpack before, but now I’m here and I get to finally do this.  Setting out, we're probably chatting so much that we go down the wrong trail.  Uh, oops?  We’re about a mile and a half off track, so we turn around.  We run into a group of dudes and admit that we had to turn around.  (Note this for later.)  A bit of steep, slidey off-trail and we’re on the right track again.  I’m carrying less than two liters of water and it’s like a freaking miracle to me.  I’ve done so much dry and/or desert hiking and it’s a treat to have so much access to water.  It’s everywhere!  We climb and climb and it just gets more beautiful with every turn.  We climb about 3,000 feet on this day and make camp in the meadow next to a lake.  I’ve never had such a fantastic campsite before.  It’s warm and we sit outside our tents until the light fades.  Dinner report:  Good-to-Go chili over mashed potatoes with Wisconsin sharp cheddar I brought with me.  Definitely doing this dinner again in the future.

Can you see our tents?

The wildflowers were gorgeous.

Backpacking day 2:

My friend has a much more leisurely morning routine than the ex and I enjoy not feeling rushed to break down camp.  It’s always nice to enjoy your breakfast with your sleeping bag wrapped around you on a rock overlooking an alpine lake.  I mean, does it get any better than that?  Well, I didn’t bring any coffee, so I suppose it does.  We pack up and hike out and head toward a different lake.  I guess that’s what happens in the mountains – you hike from one amazing lake to the next.  We run into a lot of people this day, including the group of dudes from before.  They stop to chit-chat and say, “Hey, didn’t we see you yesterday?”  Yep.  “And you made it all the way to <insert lake here>?”  Well, no, we went past that and camped at <insert lake here>.  “Oh, wow.  You two sure are something!”  Hahahahalolololol.  Excuse me?  Gentlemen, take note: Things not to say to women in the wilderness (or anywhere) 101.  Like, duuuuddddeeeee.  I guarantee my pack is lighter, I have more experience, and have hiked more miles than you.  We two chicks could hike you under the table.  Besides, your tent is strapped on the outside of your pack, which is n00b mistake #1.  It’s interesting the groups you see out in the wild.  It’s typically either: a big group of dudes, couples and/or families, or solo women.  We didn’t see any solo men or groups of women.  So I guess that made the two of us “something.”  Probably was the braids.

And I guess it’s sexism day in the wild, because later on we meet an older couple and ask them about the lake that’s off trail that we plan on camping at.  The man is a little concerned that it’s awfully rocky down there and that we’d have to bushwhack.  We assure him we’ll manage.  We get down to the lake and have to…bushwhack?  Uh, nope, this is about as far from bushwhacking as you can get.  We walk through some trees off trail.  There are rocks on the ground.  There is nothing I have to push through, there are no branches or bushes in my face or grabbing at my pack, there are no downed trees to scale, no boulders to climb.  Nothing bushwhacky in the slightest.  We wonder if he would have warned a group of dudes or not.  Probably not.  My uterus fell out as soon as my feet stepped off the trail, donchaknow?

We set up camp, do a short day hike to a different lake, and then go for a swim-bath back at our lake.  I expect the water to be horrifically cold, but it’s not.  If it’s not Lake Superior cold, it’s not that cold!  Dinner report: My always favorite backpacking meal of rice, refried beans, cheese, and Fritos.  Unfortunately I forgot my hot sauce.

This moss was so cool.

Switchback heaven

Backpacking day 3:

Brrrr, last night was pretty cold.  My friend had some ice form in her water bottle that she left outside her tent.  I had some trouble with my feet and wound up throwing a pair of handwarmers in the bottom of my sleeping bag.  That helped a lot.  Today is the day we actually bushwhack!  Well, a little.  We put in some on trail miles before hopping off trail again.  And this time we’re finally rewarded with some true solitude.  There’s no one up here but us and the marmots.  They dart around the rocks and check us out.  Our first campsite may have had the most spectacular view, but I think this one was my favorite.  I am successful with 2 out of 3 bear hang throws.  We find a metal cooking grate/grill out there.  FFS, people.  Pack in, pack it out.  It's not difficult.  Let's not even mention the fact that they obviously had a fire going.  Dinner report: Annie’s mac and cheese with vegetables.  I manage to eat the whole thing.  I think I need to experiment with putting some powdered milk in my mac on the trail.  Right now I’m just mixing up the cooked pasta with the cheese packet, some pasta water, and olive oil.

This big guy let me pet him.

Sorry, lots of tent pictures.  I mean, Warden and I have to geek out about gear! 

Backpacking day 4:
It’s exit day!  Town food!  Showers!  Diet Coke!  But first we have to hike.  And hitch.  And damn, it’s hot out again.  Not that I’m complaining.  I have a rule about never complaining about the heat.  I live in perpetual cold for 6 months out of the year.  I do not complain about heat.  We get an earlier start today, since the afternoon will be a bunch of unknowns.  How long will it take us to hike out?  How long will it take us to hitch a ride back to the car?  Will we even be able to?  How long will it take us to drive to our hotel in a different town?

I was planning on packing out that damn metal grate from last night, but realize I forgot it.  Fuck!  So much for LNT.  I still feel guilty writing this.  I really try my best to pack out trash that I find.

We make good time down the trail and leave the spectacular lakes area and hit our 7 mile grind out.  No more mountains, no more views, just a dusty trail through the scrubby lodgepole pines.  My friend's friend (who has probably more backpacking experience than anyone I know) has promised us that this is the busiest trailhead in the Sawtooths and we won’t have any problems hitching a ride out.  So we’re a little surprised when we arrive at the trailhead and there’s…nothing.  Two lone cars void of people.  Well, crap.   So we start walking toward the road.  An older couple in a very clean Subaru stops to make sure we’re okay, but they won’t give us a ride.  The woman was wearing a pink polo.  Hrrrmpphh.  (Yes, I am judging!)  People are coming into the trailhead, but not going out.  We keep walking toward the highway.  Finally, we see a young couple in an adventure looking truck.  Sure, they’ll turn around and give us a ride.  Yes!  They have Minnesota plates.  I high five the kid for being neighbors.  We ride scrunched in the back of their truck and get their bed pretty dusty.  I feel bad.  We give the kid $20 for taking us.  And just like that, we’re back at my friend's Jeep 4 days later.

We're pretty gross at this point.  Covered in dust and smoke and my t-shirt is full of 4 days of sweat.  But it feels good.  It always feels to be dirty and homeless and feral for a while.  I would have been happy to keep going, but alas.  Life and reality and all that bullshit.  Maybe someday I'll get to leave that behind.  Once we get to the hotel, I have to shampoo my hair 3 times in order for it to feel clean, like usual.  Dinner report: We have a delicious meal at a local brew pub, but with the worst service we've ever encountered.  We both get a burger and fries (veggie for me, beef for her.)  We split cheese curds for an appetizer (which comes during the meal.)   The cheese curds were good, but they weren't Wisconsin cheese curds.

Friday refuel food report: We have an awesome breakfast/brunch with much better service.  I finally have my first cup of coffee.  I order hashbrowns and veggies smothered in cheese, two fried eggs, toast, and a buttermilk pancake.  My friend orders an omelet, sausage, and a sourdough pancake with huckleberries.  I gotta say, breakfast is always my favorite meal.  It's so satisfying.  Once we arrive back to Spokane later in the day, we go out for really good pizza and I drink my first beer in two months.  Pomegranate dark chocolate for dessert.  Man, if only I could eat this good every day.

On Saturday I have to head back home.  I get a little choked up because I'm just kind of a weepy mess these days.  Honestly, I've cried more in the last two months than the rest of my life combined.  I then proceed to cry on both of my flights home.   But part of the tears is being thankful and grateful that people have been so good to me and that people love and support me.  And another part of it is feeling a strength, a faint steady beating in my heart.  Something that you can only find being self-sufficient in the wilderness with a good friend.  I'm still a disaster, but I know I will survive this.  I know I will find myself again.  I can do hard things.  And I can do hard things alone.  I move into my own place in less than two weeks.  I’m still nervous and scared in a way, but I know it’s going to be an integral part of moving forward.  My mother always gets so worried about me being out in the woods alone, but it's where I feel the most safe.  I find so much peace in the quiet and the stillness, but also the howl of the wind and the calls of the birds.  I can't think of anywhere better to be.

Nice job, Mandy. I'm very happy for you that you are moving forward.

On the AT, it's mostly solo men and women. They may be hiking together  but they started off solo and hike their own pace.

Group hug.