Author: mark

Part of Mark’s Backpacking Guide

One of my joys has been introducing people to backpacking and wilderness experiences. Some people love it, others just couldn’t adjust. They were too used to climate controlled environments, were scared of wild life, and wanted a modern bathroom. Other “city people” jump right in and get into the spirit of things.

TL;DR

• Find a local person who can help and be an informal “guide”.
• Don’t go to an outdoor store and buy “everything you need”. Check around to see what you can borrow and think about what you use in daily life that would work.

A great example of a city girl who took to backpacking was Cyndy. On her first backpacking trip (also her first real camping trip) she adapted to the backpacking life quickly. One small example. The first night she used her plate, bowl, cup and multiple utensils, and cleaned the cup between different beverages. She watched a few of us the first night.  The second night she just used her bowl and a spoon, licking it clean between courses, used it for her hot chocolate, and finish up with hot tea which pretty much cleaned the bowl up. She recognized that while she might not do this at home, there were a lot less dishes to wash. Most people, enjoy the experience of backpacking, but have a few  issues they need to work through. This articles attempts to identify several of the common issues that people new to backpacking might struggle with.

Find Someone Experienced

I generally recommend taking your first few backpacking trips with someone who is experienced. A live person on site is vastly superior to static advice from a web page or book. So the very first step I generally recommend is to find someone local who can help you get started. There are a number of way to go looking for experience backpackers. Personally, I favor a light or ultralight approach to backpacking. This is not yet the norm, so it take a bit more work to find someone with this sort of orientation. I would suggest checking out some of the online forums I list on my light-weight backpacking resources page. Find an online community that is comfortable and then ask who on the list is near you and interested in helping a beginner.

If you are planning to take a more traditional (heavy-weight) approach, then there are a number of ways to find experienced people.

• Find the nearest outdoor / outfitting store and see what groups have posting information on their bulletin board or classes offered by the store.
• Nature oriented organizations like the Sierra Club often have a backpacking section
• Local adult education or park & rec departments
• Women empowerment groups often run backpacking class
• Regionally organized electronic communities like meetup.com will often have local backpacking groups

Are You Ready to Go?

There are two broad classes of people who are interested in learning about backpacking. The first are people who are already used to spending time outdoors and in natural settings. This would include people who are avid day hikers, serious birders, camper, outdoor climbers, or hunters. An interest in backpacking typical comes from a desire to extend time in the outdoors or reach destinations that aren’t possible without backpacking. If you are experienced with the outdoors, you will want to skim the next section or even skip it and pick up again at the Preparing for Your First Trip.

There are numerous people I have talked with in the past who have spent their entire lives in a climate control environment. They had almost no experience in the outdoors, but became interested in backpacking because it sounded interesting, exciting, challenging, or maybe romantic. If this describes you, then I would generally suggest that you work your way up to backpacking rather than jumping directly into backpacking.

Take a Day Hike

I think the first step toward exploring backpacking is getting some experience with day hiking. Start by selecting an area close by where you can take extended day hikes (~10 miles) and which might also offer the possibilities of 1 or 2 night hike-in overnighters. People in your area should be able to suggest good destinations. Take a day hike. If you have never taken a day hike before, go with someone who has some experience. Anytime you are more than a few miles into the wilderness it is recommend to carry the fourteen essentials (map, compass, sunglasses, sunscreen, extra food, water, extra clothing, flashlight, first aid kit, fire starter, matches, knife, whistle, bug protection). If you don’t know how to use a map and compass make sure you go with someone who does. Ask them to teach you, and agree never to separate.

Try Camping

If you have never been camping before, take a camping trip where you can drive up to the campsite. Get the experience of sleeping out in the open or in a tent, laying on a backpacking sleeping mat (foam, thermarest, etc) rather than on a thick mattress that you likely have at home. The nice thing about car camping is that you don’t need to worry about how heavy or big items are. So it’s easy to use items from your day to day life. You can use your kitchen pots and a portable grill to cook over. If you don’t already own a warm sleeping bag you could use a number of warm blankets or quilts to sleep under. Many people love camping… if you do, then exploring backpacking makes good sense. If you hate camping, then stick with day hikes.

Experience “Weather”

Take a long day hike when the weather is not perfect. Why? Some people have no experienced spending time outdoors when the weather isn’t pleasant. If it’s raining, activities are often postponed. When backpacking, the weather can change during the trip and you are stuck with bad weather. You don’t need to enjoy bad weather, but you need to be able to tolerate it. Otherwise stick with day hikes.

Ok… You enjoy walking in the outdoors, and you don’t mind sleeping out and getting a bit dirty. Rain doesn’t scare you. Great! It’s very likely you will enjoy backpacking. 

Preparing for Your First Trip

Now is the time to get ready for your first trip. I recommend taking your first few trips with someone who is an experienced backpacker. That way you will have someone who can help you get over any problems you encounter early on when you are learning a lot. That said, it’s good to learn a bit before you go. I suggest read a book that presents a common-sense approach to backpacking. This will help you avoid many mistakes. At some point this guide will be finished and have everything that necessary to give the reader a good start. For people who hate reading, I would recommend Allen & Mike’s Really Cool Backpackin’ Book which is short, fun read with humorous illustrations. For additional options see my  backpacking resources.

Planning Your Trip

Used to have a nice page about this but it somehow got misplaced. You will need to:

• find a location
• possibly aquire permits
• arrange transportation (and make sure cars work when you return – protect hoses from marmots 🙂
• plan to acquire water
• identify possible campsites
• understand expected conditions (temperature, wind, precipitation, etc)

Make Sure Shoes Fit

The biggest joy killer I have seen has when someone didn’t have comfortable footwear. Especially bad is when someone who lives in running shoes and sandals  goes out and gets a brand new pair of heavy weight hiking boots just before leaving on a trip because that’s what they are suppose to wear. They end up with monster blisters, hot and tired feet, and maybe a bruised shin if the boots are really wrong. And then they have to walk with those same feet the next day. Ugh! People should use shoes or boots that have have worn for a while before they head off into on a backpacking trip. If a pair of shoes isn’t comfortable enough to wear non stop around town for several days, they aren’t going to be good on a broken trail while carrying a backpack. As I have noted on my recommended footwear page, unless a heavy pack is being carried, trail runners (or even running shoes) are often very appropriate for backpacking.

Carry a Comfortable Backpack

One of the most common complaints from new backpackers is that the destination was great, but the hike was no fun at all. Often times, the same people who not have had any problems if it had been a day hike. What’s the different? They were carrying a backpack. This is something I understand very well from personal experience. When I was growing up, I was able to do 30 mile day hikes, but I was unhappy after 5 miles backpacking, and was dead after 10 miles. I thought that pain on the trail was the cost of getting into the back country. I was wrong… but it took more that 20 years for me to discover than I didn’t have to be in pain.

The most common issue is that a first time backpackers carry too much weight. There have been a number of studies that find carrying more than approximately 10% of a person’s lean body weight will be fatiguing. While most people can carry 30-40% of their body weight, this should not be the goal. The solutions is to carry less and to carry lighter weight items.  In the next section I will address taking the right things.

The second most common issue is that the backpack doesn’t fit well. Sometimes this is because the backpacking isn’t well adjusted. Sometimes it’s because the backpacking being used is the wrong size or shape.  This should be easy to catch before going on a trip. Have someone experience adjust the pack and load it up with say 10% of the persons body weight. If they notice the pack or find it annoying, try something different.

The final issue reason I have seem backpacks be really uncomfortable is because a pack is being used way beyond it’s design criteria. I have often seem people who are enamored with ultra light thru-hikers, adventure racers, etc so they pick up some ultralight backpack such as the frameless packs made by GoLite. Then these same people try to stuff 35-40lbs into said packs. What happens? Pain. Don’t carry more weight in a pack than it was design to comfortably carry.

Bring the Right Stuff

I have numerous other pages about selection light weight and performant gear. I start by helping a new backpacker make a  gear list and do a “pack” check before we leave town. During the pack check we remove everything from the pack, discuss if the item is useful (removing those that aren’t) and identify anything that might be missing. I think it’s best for a pack check to be done by someone who is an experienced light weight backpacker who will be able to encourage a newbie to leave behind things that aren’t needed, without pushing the newbie too far out of their comfort zone. Hardcore ultra light backpackers are sometimes not so sensitive.

I generally suggest that people start out by borrowing or renting as much specialized gear as possible until they have enough experience to know that they enjoy backpacking and have a good sense of what they want. When purchasing I gear I strongly recommend purchasing items while are well suited for your area and weather conditions you expect to face. If you decide to wander far from home later you can buy gear designed for specific conditions at that time. Especially as you are starting backpacking, examine items you have for other activities, camping, running, kayaking and consider if they will be useful for backpacking. Many clothing or safety items work well in many contexts. Some general camping equipment works well for backpacking, but often times, camping items will be too heavy or bulky for backpacking. If you have to purchase things, do what you can to keep costs down. 

I encourage experiences backpacker to hold onto some extra gear that they would be willing to loan out. I realize this is not within everyone’s means, but it is an excellent tool when trying to help people get started.

Stay Comfortable: Don’t Overheat or Freeze

A big part of staying comfortable is bring the right clothing, but understanding how activity level impacts thermo-regulation is just as important. Most people focus on staying warm enough, but when you are exercising a bigger issue is often being too warm and sweating. When doing a hard push up a hill, you need 1/4 the amount of insulation as when you are sitting around in the identical conditions. Make sure you understand how engaging in aerobic exercise radically alters how much insulation you need and that the moisture you generate while sweating can sap your energy and really chill you when your activity level drops.

Get a Good Night Sleep

Getting a good night sleep is extremely important. Even if a day was difficult, a good night sleep can make it easy to set aside the previous problems and start afresh. Many  experienced folks, especially those with the mental toughness to thru-hike will say you just lay down and go to sleep. If you can’t sleep, then you haven’t worked enough during they day. But this doesn’t work for everyone, especially someone who is backpacking for the first time. It’s only natural for a first time backpacker to be a bit anxious which makes it harder to sleep.

Rather than write a lot of text here I would suggest reading my stand alone article Getting a Good Night Sleep in the Outdoors. The first section covers a number of the psychological factors I should have cover in the above section but didn’t.  The second section explore what sort of foundation (e.g. pad, hammock, etc) might be needed. The final suggestion is about how to stay warm enough at night, a common problem for first time backpackers.

Physical Fitness

The more fit you are, the better time you can have. Be sure to warm up before you start hiking at full pace. Take good care of your feet with ideas from Footwork Publications. Several years ago I have found the book Conditioning for Outdoor Fitness by Musnick & Pierce valuable. A number of people have reported that  training in Tai Chi, The Alexander Technique, or Feldenkrais Method ( feldenkrais materials) has been useful, especially after an injury.

Avoid Common Mistakes

Below are common mistakes I have seem people make on their first trips:

1. Wearing boots or shoes that you just purchased
2. Bringing too much water when the are water sources along the path
3. Bringing too little water when it’s hot and there aren’t good sources along the path
4. Starting too late and end up lost in the dark
5. Assuming that a pack that feels comfortable after wearing for a couple of minutes will continue to be comfortable after several hours.
6. Bringing a first aid kit, but having no idea how to use it.
7. Wearing heavy cotton clothing
8. Not bringing a map, or bringing a map without knowing how to read it
9. Planning for the weather you hope you will see rather than what the forecast indicates might happen
10. Not listening to the ranger’s advise
11. Forgetting to tell people where you are going and when to expect you back
12. Carrying lots of useless stuff. In the bay area it’s common for people to bring way too many high tech gadgets.

Additional Material

I have a list of other backpacking resources that will be helpful. In particular, take a look at Andrew Skurka’s Beginner Backpacker’s Advice which I think is better that what I have written.

The following are rather incomplete notes I have made at one time or another about being in the outdoors in the face of cold, snowy conditions, with a focus on backpacking. It is not as complete as most of my posts about backpacking, though it will likely slowly improve when I stumble across something I don’t want to forget. In my youth I regularly went backpacking in extreme cold weather (e.g. daytime high 0F at best, howling winds, even colder nights). I spent several decades in more temperate winter conditions, e.g. lows between -10F and 20F, days 0-35F. Since 2015 I am doing almost no winter backpacking. My wife doesn’t enjoy it, and while I love solo backpacking through shoulder season, I find solo winter trips no fun.

I would recommend the following books as a good source of information related to winter activities.

• The Secret of Warmth – Hal Weiss
• Allen & Mike’s Really Cool Backcountry Ski Book – Allen O’Bannon & Mike Clelland
• Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills – The Mountaineering Club

Web resources that I found informative

• Princton OA Winter Camping
• Jim Muller’s Winter Camper
• Borden Institute’s medical aspect of harsh environments vol 1 and medical aspect of harsh environments vol 2
• US Army’s PREVENTION OF HEAT AND COLD CASUALTIES
• Psychovertical’s Stay Alive This Winter
• Cold Weather Clothing – Giesbrecht

Other books which might be good but I haven’t read them include:

• Winter Camping – Gorman
• Winter Camping & Backpacking – Michael Lanza
• Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrian – Bruce Tremper

Safety Issues

Winter conditions can be harsh and can be dangerous. The first building blocks for a safe winter outing are basic survival skills, first aid (especially treatment of cold related injuries) and pay close attention to the weather and environmental conditions. There are a few issues which are primarily applicable in the winter.

Snow Blindness & Sun Burns: It is very easy to get a bad sun burn in the winter, especially when engaged in alpine activities. High altitudes means there is less atmosphere to filter out the suns rays. The cold weather keeps your skin cool which means you don’t feel the burn as quickly as you would in hot weather.  Finally the snow will reflect a fair amount of sunlight which means overall glare is worse than it would in snow free environments, and that you can burn skin which overhead shade would normally protect (like the underside of your nose and chin).. Make sure you protect any exposed skin with sun screen.  Wear sun glasses or shaded goggles with >99% UV filtering. Nothing is worse than buring your eyes and experiencing temp snow blindness.  Pretty much kills the trip. Don’t take a chance, wear sunglasses.

Exposure: Often times winter conditions are cold, dry, and windy. The mildest risk is chapped skin. Worse is frostbite and hypothermia. Prevention is the best solution for these issues.  In colder conditions you need to keep your skin covered and pre-heat your air. More about them below.

Avalanche Safety: You need to read the terrain and manage your risk of being caught in an avalanche.  The most danger locations are on north faces on slopes which are between 30-45 degrees. Clean signs of danger of broken or bent trees, concave bowls, gullies, etc.  If you need to cross high risk areas, you should send people across one at a time. Once the first person gets across, they should watch the following folks until everyone gets across. You should know properly self arrest. There is a helmet cam video of a guy going down in an avalanche which is pretty sobering.

Snow Rescue: Equipment (shovel, probe, beacon, avalung) and methodology.

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning: Running stoves in confined spaces can be dangerous, but is sometime necessary. Butane / Propane mixed with side jets produce less carbon monoxide than other stoves.  Read the five part series Stoves, Tents, Carbon Monoxide.

Stay Warm: Understand Thermal Mechanics

You body core needs to maintain a temperature of 98.6 F (plus or minus around 8 degrees). Beyond this narrow range you are in serious danger. [Reference to core temp chart]. A naked human sitting in 32F conditions would be reduced to a state that they couldn’t take care of themselves in less than 20 minutes.  In 32F water this takes less than 1 minute.

Most of the following sections text is just an outline.  For more content, check out BPL’s article about Thermoregulation. Additional insights can be gained by exploring the theory of heat loss and cooling and the behavior animals use to stay warm in the books Life in the Cold by Peter Marchand and Libby Walker and Winter Ecology by James Halfpenny. The book The Hot Brain by Carl Gisolfi discussion development in view of the the need of thermoregulation for the brain to function effectively. If you want to see a clear mathematical models for much of this see the open textbook Body Physics. There is an interesting paper about Thermal Efficiency of a Human Being.

Heat Generation

The two large sources of heat are “excess” heat generated as your metabolize food and heat generated as your muscles perform work. An “average” person’s base metabolism generates around 70 Kcal an hour. Heavy aerobic activity can increase this by nearly an order of magnitude.  If you are getting cold, getting active can really warm you up.  The activity doesn’t even need to involve large movements, simple isomorphic exercises can do the trick and minimize cooling convection that activities like jumping jacks would cause.

Both your basic metabolism and the energy for exercise is coming from the food you eat. To keep your body warm, you need to make sure you are eating enough food and are well hydrated to keep your body’s system working well. While not required, I typically recommend eating hot meals and drinking hot drinks. I think the amount of energy you get from the food’s heat is small compared to the energy packed into the food, but most people find hot food is more appetizing and gives them a psychological boast. It goes without saying that while alcohol might make you feel warmer, your will actually lose heat faster because your capillaries are more relaxed, causing more blood flow near the surface of your skin.  Skip alcohol and enjoy your hot chocolate with extra cream or butter.

You can also use external sources of heat. The sun transfers around 1000watts / square meter via radiation.  So standing in the sun (when it’s available) can do a lot to help you stay warm. Sitting near a fire or stove can be somewhat helpful but care must be taken not to overheat and then start to sweat. I have found chemical heating pads (typically sawdust & iron filings) provide a moderate amount of heat and can be useful. I have been  disappointed with the performance of the reusable, salt based hand warmers because while providing a pleasant warmth, which could be held in my hand, the amount of heat wasn’t enough to really help when I was cold and they lasted less than two hours. There are also solid fuel hand-warmers, and hand-warmers that make use of liquid fuel like the jon-e line.  The liquid fuel seemed to put out more heat. In extreme color this was my favorite type of hand-warmer but with both you need to be careful about carbon monoxide accumulation that they other handwarmers don’t have. The most common external heat source I use on a regular basis are hot water bottles. Boil water in a pot and then pour the water into a water container. I normally don’t use Nalgene water containers. Winter camping is the one exception because most light weight water containers will melt. The lightest container I have found that doesn’t melt are gatoraid bottles… but I don’t normally use them because I don’t know if the plastic is likely to leech chemicals when heated by the boiling water. The best places I have found to use the water bottle is between my legs where it can heat the blood in my femoral arteries which then warms the rest of my body.

The Bodies as a HVAC System

Blood works like a radiator system.  Can be used to cool the core and warm extremities. Note: this means that if you can heat one section of the body (especially where you have a large artery, you can help warm your whole body.  In colder weather the body constricts the blood vessels in extremities to reduce the speed that you lose heat. The one extremity were no constriction happens is your head. This is why wearing a hat and something to protect your neck is extremely important when trying to stay warm.  There is a old saying “You feet are cold?  Put on a hat”. As you can see, there is a lot of truth in that saying.

Radiation

In warm, still conditions, you you lose 50-60% of your heat through radiation.  Radiation is much less of a factor in windy conditions, or in colder weather when you are wearing thick clothing layers. When wearing thick layers of clothing the radiation energy is captured by, and retained in your outer layers.  1-2 inches of material will capture most of your radiated energy.  It is possible to retain a significant portion of your radiated energy through the use of reflective materials such as what is used in emergency blankets.

Conduction

Conduction cooling is when you loose your warmth by touching something. In most cases this is only an issue for your feet and sometimes your hands. You feet will be conducting heat through the soles of your shoes, and you sometimes touch items with your hands.  See the clothing sections about how to protect your hands and feet. In cold winter having a foam pad to stand on can be a great help in staying warm.

Convection

You can think of convection as conductive cooling through the movement of fluids (liquid or air).  You heat up the fluid, and then it moves away, pulling in colder fluids. Water is 24 times more effective at moving heat than air.  This is why getting wet can be so dangerous in cold weather. This means you want to stay dry. If you get wet, your first priority should be to dry off. Convection is also why you want a good seal on the edges of your insulation layer, especially the neck. Otherwise hot air will escape through your neck which pulls color air in at the bottom, creating a chimney effect.

Evaporation/Breathing

In colder weather, <0F, the combination of evaporation from your breath and convection cooling from warming up air on the way to your lungs and they exhaling the air you just warmed can use up almost 1/2 of the energy produced by a basic metabolism. According to one scientific paper, you can lose 1/4 of your heat if engaged in heavy work with rapid breathing. Having a scarf or a 3M air warming mask can be very helpful by pre-warming incoming air and keeping the humidity up.  If I was regularly facing extreme cold I would give a Polarwrap a try, but for now alternate between a PolarBuff, scarf, and 3M warming mask.

Retaining Your Heat

Two of the most important ingredients for staying warm are covered in the next two sections on having the right clothing and making sure that you have adequate shelter.

Stay Dry: Water moves heat 24x more effectively than dry air.

Use sit/standing pads: The ground is cold. If you are standing around, stand on a foam pad to minimize heat lose from the soles of your feet. If you are sitting down, sit on a foam pad.

Make good use of insulators you have: If are are careful not to get it wet, you can use your sleeping bag for more than sleeping. Get into your sleeping bag to warm up. If you are careful you can do many things such as cook from the comfort of your sleeping bag. You can wear your sleeping bag as a shawl or cape. You can wrap yourself in your foam pad.

Stay away from alcohol. Yes, your hands a feet “feel warmer”, but you are interfering with a number of body system which will keep you warm.  Alcohol does significantly more harm than good. Also keep in mind that alcohol doesn’t free a 0F… so if you have alcohol which has been chilling and is below freezing, you could do yourself some real damage by trying to drink it.

At some point I might move specific information about clothing into this page.  For the time being, check out my Outdoor Clothing and consider using vapor barriers. As those pages discuss, avoid sweating / don’t over insulate. Use layers. Not just your torso but also your head and hands. It’s much easier to dry out a glove system which includes a liner, a WP/B shell, and a some sort of insulated mitten with a highly breathable shell.

There are some good hints other places:

• psychovertical’s the comfort game
• Check out the interview with Murray Hamlet about How to Stay Warm and Antifreeze For Your Body,

Shelter

Western man has come to take shelter for granted. We live in houses, we often travel in cars. We are often unaware of how much protection we derive from these shelters. Even the best clothing system can’t fully protect us from extreme conditions.  There are typically three types of shelters that are used in the back country:

Tents: Do not use double walled tents which have a mesh inner tent. Either use double walled tents which have a solid fabric inner tent or single walled tents to cut down airflow and keep spindrift out of your living area. You want a high vent to let moisture rich air to escape before it condenses on your tent and turns to frost. In many locations winds are much higher in the winter and you need to worry about snow load. This means you want tents that pitch very taut and have steep walls, and have sturdy pole systems. In most cases I would recommend not letting a lot of snow accumulate on your shelter.  This means getting out and shoveling snow. Not the most fun, but you just need to do it.

Tarps: Pyramid, Hex, or Tipi shaped tarps can work well. Some are made to function with small stoves. You can dig out the “floor” for extra room. You should bury the edges to seal out the wind if it doesn’t have a snow skirt. Note that during heavy snows, the snow tends to slide down the slides of pyramids and accumulate which will slowly collapse the edges of your shelter unless you shovel it off.

Snow Structures: It can be significantly warmer in a snow cave or igloo than in a tent.  You should know how to dig a snow cave. There is a book (which I haven’t read) about How to Build an Igloo.

Know how to use snow anchors and other ways to Ditch Your Stakes (Mike Clelland)

I have a few reviews and more information on my Winter Shelters page.

Winter Camping Life

Managing water supply. Pre-form snowballs you can drop into the pot. Hot water bottles at night are morning seed water. Black dromedary bag in sun to conserve fuel. Add snow to bladder inside your jacket if snow is clean for daytime water without boiling.

winter-sleeping-systems-trying-vbl

Going to bed

Camping in snow

how to dry clothing in winter (link broken content not in archive.org) included lots of good tips. some I recall socks over your shoulders when walking, or by your stomach when in your sleeping bag. wrap damp clothing around a sealed hot water bottle

stoves: in many cases you will be melting snow for water. this will take a lot more fuel and you really want a larger pot. butane in canister stoves liquifies at 31F. You can use upright stoves colder than that if you keep the canister warm (like inside your jacket). Now that PowerMax fuel canisters are gone, I generally recommend liquid fuel for extreme cold.

Various Hints

Some of these should be incorporated into the sections above

• In extreme cold always wear liner gloves. When it gets really cold your skin can “stick” to metal which is very unpleasant. If you are always wearing liner gloves this won’t happen
• Traveling in deep snow (except when skiing where the ratio between up and down isn’t skewed toward up) will be much slower than “hiking” and takes more energy. Plan accordingly.
• Big rocks and trees can hold warmth compared to freezing air. In deep snow you will often find yourself postholing more than normal near them.
• There is a lot less daylight in the winter than summer. You will likely be in your shelter, awake longer than during the summer. You will likely be using artificial light more than summer trips and cold weather affects batteries.
• Use external battery packs for your lights so the batteries can stay warm under your coat.
• If you need to go to the bathroom, do it, don’t wait around.  Bring a pee bottle so you don’t have to go far. Mentioned in Going to bed… but it’s worth repeating. Some people recommend pouring out the pee bottle immediately so it won’t get too full and you don’t run the risk of it freezing. When you do dump out your pee bottle be consistent were you dump it some you don’t use that area for snow to be melted into water.
• Before you go to bed fill a pot with snow and then make a number of snowballs and leave them by the door so getting water in the morning is as easy as possible.
• Take only freeze dried food. Anything that has any moisture will freeze really solid in extreme cold.
• Don’t forget that food won’t spoil, so feel free to bring butter, etc which you can melt into your foods.
• Tent poles can freeze together. You might need to warm them up to separate them. I have normally used the backwash from a stove. Jerry Goller claims that if he gets a mouth full of warm spit putting the pole in his mouth warms it enough to come apart. I am not going to try this until I hear a number of people say this works without freezing their face.
• Expect snow storms so make sure you know where things are in case a snow storm covers them up. Items like skis, poles, snowshoes should be placed into the snow standing up rather than lying down so they are easier to find.
• Never wear so much insulation that you feel hot or start to sweat. If you are starting to feel warm ventilate, remove a layer, or drop your activity level. Realize that then engaged in heavy work you need 8x less insulation as when you are asleep, and less than 4x the insulation when you are gently walking around.
• Know the early signs of hypothermia and be on the lookout. Once you are fully hypothermia you will typically no longer be thinking clearly enough to recognize the signs.
• If in sub freezing temperatures for extended times, either use a vapor barrier liner or an over-quilt which is sufficiently warm to shift dew point into the quilt, beyond your down sleeping bag.
• Even when it is below freezing, putting you sleeping bag in the sunlight (protected from the snow underneath) can warm it up enough to release accumulated moisture. It’s good to have the inside black color.
• Don’t trust that other people’s footprints are a safe trail. I have found people are not great at navigating and just because someone has taken a route doesn’t mean it is a good one. Use your map and compass (or GPS).
• Put your boots under your pillow or in a sealed in a waterproof bag in your bag to keep them from freezing. This isn’t so much to avoid the discomfort of putting your feet into something cold as much as if your boots freeze solid, it may be nearly impossible to get your feet into them.
• If you are using vapor barrier socks during the day, make sure your feet get to dry out overnight in your sleeping bag.

Snowshoes

Type of snowshoes…

“Features” or Characteristics

• Float: How many square inches of surface space your snowshoes have. Powered needs the most float. Ice or hardpack need little or no float.
• Traction: The harder the snow (or ice), the more you need traction features. Most snowshoes have crampon like teeth under the ball of your foot. Some have teeth under your heel, some turn the whole frame into traction (MSR Lightning).
• Weight -vs- Float: all things being equal, get the lightest snowshoes you can find.
• Binding: My experience is that the binding don’t make that much of a difference unless you are spending the majority of your time traversing an extended hillside. On long traverses in the same direction having a more ridged binding that keeps you foot positioned seems to take a bit less energy.

Interesting Snowshoes

• http://www.northernlites.com/ – lightest but not the best in situations which need high traction (of course, in those situations you could switch to crampons
• http://www.yowies.com.au/  – from down under

Traction Devices

• Crampons
• Screws in Shoes

Ski: Nordic

Skins, Wax, Waxless

Ski: Downhill

When I started to ski a lot the Olin Mark IV the hot ski!  In 2005 I discovered modern shaped skis. They rock! This dates me and indicates that I wasn’t following ski trends  🙂 

Granite Chief or Cosmos in Tahoe for boots

Telemark Tips

Tools&Misc

Ice Axes

IceBox – making igloo blocks the easy way

Goggles… I typically either use DIY glacier glasses or very traditional downhill ski goggles. There are a variety of high performance sun glasses (many with interchangable lens) that provide basic protection. There are several light weight options for people wanting more protection than wrap around sunglasses:

• Skydiving goggles
• Uvex Folding Pocket Goggles
• Wiley’s SG-1

Minor Updates Aug 2022

The hike from Big Sur Station to Hot Springs is a 20 mile in and back trip. Sykes Hot Springs is one of my favorite places to take first time backpackers who are reasonably fit. The destination has a natural hot springs and a trout filled stream. The hike is pretty. The trip is long enough that people have a sense they have accomplished something, but short enough that it’s not overwhelming for many. The trail is easy enough to follow that no maps are needed and there is little to no risk of getting lost. There are a number of clear milestones, so people can easily see that they are making progress. The conditions tend to be moderate year round so there is never a bad time to go. Sykes is only a two hour drive from the bay area, so it can easily be done in a 24 hour period, though some people like to take several days by the hot springs and/or the river. For people who are fit, It’s also doable as a day hike. The only down side is that you aren’t going to find solitude, except maybe Tue-Thu in the middle of the winter.

Current Conditions

In Aug 2022 the trail from both Big Sur Station and China Camp were open and easy to navigation with minimal deadfall. Kudos to the the trail workers who repairs the trails which have been closed for several years due to fire and flood damage. As always, check current conditions before planning a trip via Pine Crest Trail Conditions. If you have an a satellite communication device like Garmin’s InReach you can send Sykes coordinates “36.25,-121.69” to 765-553-4737‬ (aka trailinfo.org) and get status of any fires within 50 miles.

Hike Description

This trip is into the Ventana Wilderness near Big Sur.  The hike is ten mile each way.  The hike starts at 400 ft elevation and hits a maximum of 1500 ft, but over the course of the hike you will climb approximately 3000 ft and descended 2000 ft.  Craig suggested this should be called the elevator trail since it kept going up and down.  The destination campsite has hot springs and a stream.  There are a number of other campsites along the way. The Pine Ridge Trail mostly weaves through a cover of redwoods, pine and oak. The trail is typically well maintained and extremely easy to follow. In the winter months, especially after a storm, you might find dead fall, or short sections of trail washed out… but these tend to be repaired reasonably quickly. April – October the trail is typically clear.

Someone in decent shape should be able to hike in in around five hours, and come out in around four.. this is an enjoyable pace for me.  Even out of shape, middle aged men can do this hike in less than seven hours, unless they have bad blisters, in which case it might take something like eight or nine hours. I am not the fastest hiker, and I have done the hike 4 hour in, 3 hour out. If you want to witness people going quickly, stop by the day before The Big Sur International Marathon and get passed by people “warming up” on their way up and down.

Part 1: Getting past the campsites

The trail head is at the far end of the parking lot of the Big Sur Forest Service Station. There is a small kiosk and a drinking fountain. Today you walk around 1000 ft and then the trail drops to the campground below. You will walk through the camp area until just after spot #31 at which point the Pine Ridge Trail leaves the campground and rejoins the original trail. The trail used to run on the ridge.

Part 2: Up and into the Hills

The next 2.5 miles of the trail are up hill, taking you away from the ocean. Around 40% of this section is on exposed hills which can heat up in the spring and summer sun, but you will can get a nice view of the ocean in some of the clearings. You will start up a series of small switch backs as the trails gets increasingly steep. Around 1 miles in, you will break out of the trees and start the uphill in earnest. For the next mile the trail will be ascending almost continuously, with some short sections being quite steep. This is one of the hardest up hill sections of the trail. The sign indicating you have entered Ventana Wilderness is at the 2 mile marker.

The next mile will trend upward, but there will be sections which are flat or downhill as you cut across the hillside. Around 2.8 miles in you will find yourself on a sort of outcropping with a large rock on your left. It’s time to celebrate because this is the end of the up hill climb you have been doing for the last 1-2 hours. This is a very popular place to stop and enjoy the last view you will have of the coast. Some people like to have a snack or lunch at this spot. I like to take a very short break here to drink a bit of water and then continue on to Terrance Camp.

Part 3: Cruising Down to the Streams

The next four miles are much easier than the first three with only a few hills to climb.  The trail is mostly a gentle drop. Most of this section of the trail weaves in and out pretty micro canyons. At the three mile mark is a trail on the left which goes down hill to Ventana camp. [Sometimes the sign is missing.] At the five mile mark you will come to Terrace camp, a lovely place to stop.  The area is nicely shaded with a stream for water.

The stream can be easily crossed using stepping stones. Just passed the creek you can go left or right. Left is continuation of the Pine Ridge Trail which will take you to Sykes camp. To the right the trail takes you Outlaw camp.  There is a a pit toilet just up the trail toward Outlaw camp. The trail has a slight climb as you exit Terrance camp. Around 6.5 miles in you will start down a series of moderate switch backs which take you to the next creek you need to cross. Much of the year it is possible to cross this creek without getting your feet wet if you are careful. The best place to cross is typically slightly upstream where there is a large fallen log. When the water is really running high you can cross the stream on the large tree that fell over the stream which is maybe 200 yards upstream.

Part 4a: Down to Barlow Up and Back Up to the Trail

Once you have passed the creek you are beginning the next up-hill section of this trip. At the seven mile mark you will see a turn-off on the left side of the trail for Barlow Flats campsite.  Historically you would continue passed Barlow Flats, but the former trail is washed out. Now The Pine Ridge Trail descends to Barlow, crosses the the river.

proceeds upstream several hundred feet, and then crosses the river, and climbs up the hill back to the old Pine Crest trail.

Part 4b: Over the Last Hill and Down to the Springs

In the next mile or so the hike will get progressively steeper, but is still very pleasant. You know you are near the end of this section when you reach the tree burnt out trunk. This used to be a nice place to stop and have a brief snack before climbing up the last steep climb on this hike

Once you reach the top of the switch back you will have a pleasant mile or two as the trail slowly drifts down toward the river below. Shortly before you get to Sykes the trail will descend a set of steep switchbacks to the river below.

Part 5: Campsites

Now it’s time to decide where to camp. Both sides of the river have a pit toilets. The hot springs are on same side of the river as the trail from Big Sur.  If you want a bit of privacy, I would recommend camping on the far side of the river. There are more campsites on the far side, and you don’t have a constraint stream of people walking past your camp on the way to the hot springs.

Part 6: Hot Springs

To get to the hot springs, walk down stream.  You will eventually come to a rock face sticking out from the side of the hill. If you are careful, it it possible to climb around the rocks and continue down to the hot springs. Most people, take the safer route, and wade across part of the stream to a jetty (sometimes island when the water is really high). 

Continue from the jetty along the left side of the river.  You will pass below a pit toilet which is on a step above the river. Follow the river until you see a trail heading up the hill.  It will look like you could go a bit further by the river, but I don’t recommend staying by the river unless you want to wade / swim down the river to the hot springs.  Follow the trail up the hill. Twice the trail will take you up the hillside and away from the river to get around small cliffs.  After the second up-and-over you will be just short of the hot springs. You will know you are close when you smell a slight sulfur odor.

Historically there have been 2-3 soaking pools. One it typically up the hill, while two are down near the river. The pools have been formed using a combination of plastic piping to direct the hot springs output, and sandbags to hold the water in a pool. As of August 2022 the forest service has been actively working to keep this area more natural, having removed the sandbags and piping. The pools are now just rocks and dirt. It’s not quite as comfortable as the previous incarnation but still a joy to use.

Keep in mind that some people (maybe 20-30%?) treat the hot springs as clothing optional.  A little bit of etiquette can prevent embarrassment and conflicts. Since there are multiple pools it is unlikely that all will be filled with people clothed or unclothed. If naked soakers make you uncomfortable, go to an empty pool or one where people are wearing suits. If you like soaking without clothing and all the pools are filled with people in swim suits, ask if they would mind if you soak without clothing. I am sure that all the people in at least one of the pools would say they don’t care.

Getting There:

Big Sur is a two hour drive from Mountain View if you don’t get hung up in traffic.  Take 85 south to 101 south.  Take 101 passed Gilroy to the exit for 156 west (Monterey Peninsula).  From 156 you will want to take Highway 1 South.  Take Route 1 past Monterey and Carmel.  Big Sur is 30 minutes beyond Carmel. The entry to Big Sur Forest Service Station will be on the left, is approximately half a mile passed the main entry for Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.  The trail head for the Pine Ridge Trail is at the far end of the parking lot.

Permit Info:

You can pick up a free fire permit at the Big Sur Forest Service Station (8am-4pm) or online after watching a 4 minute video and taking a quiz.

Parking is self serve $10/night… bring exact change and a pen to fill out the form. You have to pay for partial days, not 24 hour periods of time. I got the impress the day “ends” at 3pm. So if you arrive Friday, and come out Saturday in the early evening you might need $30. Read the instruction at the kiosk more carefully than I have.

Wilderness permit is self issued at the trail kiosk.

Weather

You can see current conditions at weather.com – Big Sur. The conditions tend to be pretty mild. Late Spring through Early Fall the days tend to get into the 70s or 80s during the day, and down to the 50-60s at night. Note: It will typically be warmer in the summer at Sykes then by the coast: my last visit it was 68F in Big Sur and 90F at Sykes. The weather in Soledad, CA might be a better indication of the temperatures at the hot spring. It almost never rains with modest bug pressure. It’s possible to ignore the bugs, but I would generally recommend bring some sort of protection. Late Fall through Early Spring I would be prepared for some rain, with days to be in the mid 50s to low 60s, and the nights to get down into the lower 40s.

Personal Supplies

We have a Basic Gear Check List if you aren’t sure what you need to bring as well as a few notes about Getting Starting Backpacking. There are numerous gear lists on the web which might give you other perspectives / ideas. You should bring a towel for the hot springs. I sometime hike in River Shorts which I also use when swimming the river and soaking in the hot springs. In the colder month I save weight by leaving my swim suit behind and soak in a pair of dark colored capiline boxer shorts with the fly sewn shut which provides adequate coverage for modest.

Grouping & Group Gear

N/A – will update next group trip.

Physical Preparation

It is possible to find hikes which are similar in terms of elevation gain and distance.  Some examples are: Mount Tamalpais, Fall Creek, Black Mountain, Purisima Creek, El Corte de Madera Creek, and Rancho San Antonio.

Long Ago Group Trips

• April 27-29, 2003 trip with Andrew, Holly, Mark, Craig, Sam, and Cary.  Cary has posted Sam’s pictures
• May 24-26, 2003 trip with Cyndy, Erik, Hubert, Katja, Mark, Mike, Nancy, Paul, Taylor. Group pictures (site gone).

Other Information

• Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park
• Ventana Wild website
• AllTrails Sykes Page
• The bathroom by the trailhead doesn’t have heating or cooling, and only has cold water. The bathroom on the site of the ranger station has hot water and is heated / cooled as is the station.
• On your way out, eat at the Big Sur Bakery.  About 1 mile south of the park on the west side of Route 1.  Excellent wood fired oven pizza, many other tasty items.  Their chocolate pudding is really good.  If the Bakery is closed try the Rio Grill in small shopping center on your right just as you get into Carmel.