Still bouncing between smokin hot and just plain hot in the lowlands. Since everybody is off on the same days the pack decided get out of Dodge and cool off up yonder hollow.
I have been up this way before but my boss has not. Since I was last here the wood cutters have been through and left their tangle foot residue. Bummer but what can I do about,,, zip, lets get going.
The boss is using a Osprey Ariel 65 pack. She reports it to be pretty sweet. This is a replacement for a Arc'teryx Bora that she gave to her niece. Nice girl and a nice gift.
Ahhhhhhhhhhh the classic Z rest. Not just for sleeping on, a nice place to take a break too. I have used a Z rest many times in the desert and it is a nice break pad there as it insulates your body from the heat as well as the cold.
Of course we all need to take those wee little breaks. Really nice for the four legged members to be able take a little dip.
We are in the middle of burning season. You can see patches burning in the mountains from quite far off.
Because of this we mostly used my boss's Jet Boil. This canister comes from two countries over and is the trouble with these things in this neck of the woods. This one has a Piezo lighter that only works during full moons but can still be lit with a lighter (or fire steel). These things heat water like crazy. I have never used one of these for any thing other than heating water.
We ended up putting up the tarp without the help of two trees to run the ridge line between. I did use a small tree for on corner of the tarp and a trekking pole for the main ridgeline. This is not really hard to do with a little practice. Lots of places I go don't seem to have a lot of trees so being able to rig with out them is a plus. If you live where trees are limited you need to practice this.
Since I packed my wood burner stove and my boss packed some treats and having a open fire seemed like a bad idea we improvised and it all worked out OK.
You can see my boss in her wind shirt. These thing are really nice. Small enough to stick in a pocket, handles light rain and of course that chilling wind. I have used mine for both a outer layer and an additional air trapping inner layer. I can hear you out there now...."But mister Blackdog these wispy wind shirts are not uber tough and able to fend off meteors and wolfs". I say baaaaaaaaaaaaaah, they are really useful, pack real small and harder to F up than you might think and there is always duct tape. High on my things I like list.
Night time comes to Rabbit Holler.
Same thing for a packable insulation layer. Layer under a shell, wear as outer layer and again packs small. I kind of believe if your gear is too heavy for your old spindly legs to get on down the line when needed it is near useless. Small stuff in you pack leaves more room for important chow --- like those yummy vitamin packed marshmallows. It did in fact get quite chilly.
And during the morning patrol with the mutts a view of the camp.
The boss who works like a dog almost every day tends to treat these excurions as a excuse to catch up on napping. In fact am pretty sure the only place that she can nap is on a backcountry trip. Had a First Sergeant like that now that I think about it. Here in a Marmot Angel Fire sleeping bag. I have never been in it but I am told it is nice. Next to the Marmot is my many year old Moonstone bag. Pretty sure this bag is older than most of the readers here. Kind of in the measure twice cut once school of thought.
And since I went too,, morning coffee with one of the gang. and again a packable insulation layer that my old ass can actually get up the hill. Just the ticket for early A.M. lounging with a little Via coffee.
And loaded up ready to trek back into the frigging rat race. You can just see my bosses Mora clipped to her pack. She loves that thing.
Hope you enjoyed, nothing special but it was nice to beat the heat for a day or so. Again not a test of anything, all this equipement (except the Osprey) is old hat. Sometimes it is nice to just do and not test or train.
Be careful out there and have some fun when you can.
