panatomicx
Trail Wise!
Less noise and more green
Posts: 498
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Post by panatomicx on Sept 10, 2015 15:09:46 GMT -8
Here's a photo in which we're coming down the chute from Rachel to Martin Lake in the Beartooths. Notice the concerned look on my face. We spent about 30 min scouting it out. One of the TRs had said the best way was up through some trees on the right, but to us, it looked easier to go straight down the chute, which is what we did. We made it down without any problem. How do you feel when hiking off-trail? Sometimes there's a well defined use trail, or a procession of cairns. Sometimes there's just the faintest suggestion of a path through the grass, which ends at the boulder field. Sometimes the talus is small, and easy to traverse, other times the boulders are big and scary, and you're happy to reach one with a flat top so you can catch your breath. Coming around a lake by a cliff should you stay close to the water, and hope you have a few rocks, or at least 18" of ground to inch your way around, or go up and over. And when you do go over you look down and think "hmmm, I don't know about this". But as you continue to look, you see a couple of handholds and spots to step and you make your way down. Or your buddy's ahead and when he gets to the top you call out "How's it look?", and he says "It's do-able!", and you're happy. Should we go left around this little rise or right? When you looked at the map at home, sitting on the couch, that area appeared as flat as a soccer field. But it's not. Then you look over your shoulder at what was a perfectly blue sky and you wonder 'Is that just haze, or are those clouds, and are they getting darker?" For me, at least, it's always a bit concerning. Even when I've read trip reports about the route, and looked at pictures, and gone on Google earth, there's always a bit of uncertainty. Plus, I'm talking about above treeline stuff, I'm sure it's more difficult in the woods. But you make your way through that endless field of car-sized boulders, and the way around the hill was correct, you see a bootprint, and the chute was not too steep, and a little ways up you come across a nice, grassy bench above a stream or lake. An absolutely pristine, perfect camp. There's no one else around, because it just ain't that easy to get to. That makes it worth it.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2015 16:01:27 GMT -8
Most of my hiking is done off-trail, but I'm not averse to using a trail to get to an off-trail route. Some off-trail routes that are heavily interspersed with downed timber are a waste of time and energy — unless I'm really interested in playing jungle gym for endless hours, instead of actually reaching a campsite.
I'll take most of your questions as rhetorical. Ultimately, route-finding is a matter of options and contingencies. Word descriptions, trip reports, maps, and satellite photos cannot fully resolve the question of which route to try. Anytime I leave my plans with another person, I make it clear that I'll change planned routes on a whim if I feel the need.
I avoid the car- or house-sized boulder fields like the plague. With a 35- to 40-pound pack, they are not worth the risk. I've surfed down many steep scree slopes which were comprised of smaller rocks. But when the rocks are large enough to dislodge and break or trap a leg, I look for another route. Sometimes they are unavoidable, but I'm not the risk-taker I was when I was younger.
I generally don't find or even seek out route descriptions previous to leaving the trailhead. I'm entirely on my own doing a route no one I know has done. That's the way I like it.
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jay
Trail Wise!
Posts: 152
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Post by jay on Sept 10, 2015 16:21:19 GMT -8
I find myself of a similar mindset to Travis; I prefer to get off the beaten track as long as it does not elevate risk to the point of foolishness. Walking a fully marked trail that is basically a sidewalk through the woods is not much of a challenge and generally tends to invite more people on it than I really want to meet on a trek. In my experience, the rougher the trail, the fewer people you see on it.
That is the way I prefer it.
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Post by hikerjer on Sept 10, 2015 16:49:38 GMT -8
other times the boulders are big and scary, When I was young d foolish and a silly boy, I used to cross boulder fields with abandon. The only time I worried, even a ittle bit, was with large car size boulders that moved when I was on them. I don't do that anymore.
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johnnyray
Trail Wise!
Argle-Bargle, Jiggery-Pokery, and Applesauce
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Post by johnnyray on Sept 10, 2015 17:07:35 GMT -8
I recall a story in BACKPACKER some years ago about a guy crossing a boulder field, getting his leg pinned and that as they say was that, I think it was in the Winds.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2015 17:13:30 GMT -8
I recall a story in BACKPACKER some years ago about a guy crossing a boulder field, getting his leg pinned and that as they say was that, I think it was in the Winds. Yeah, June 2002. Here is the story in Backpacker: Trapped! The Mike Turner Story
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tigger
Trail Wise!
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Post by tigger on Sept 10, 2015 17:54:11 GMT -8
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Post by hikerjer on Sept 10, 2015 18:49:08 GMT -8
Ya, Tigger. That definitely looks like fun.
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swmtnbackpacker
Trail Wise!
Back but probably posting soon under my real name ... Rico Sauve
Posts: 4,886
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Post by swmtnbackpacker on Sept 10, 2015 18:55:12 GMT -8
Mostly "on trail", though I will go off if safe and convient. Trails minimize impact and are safer for solo travel.
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Post by llamero on Sept 10, 2015 19:22:46 GMT -8
It's all good. Some maintained trails lead to majestic places and there is no need to "leave a trace" by going ot. I've had some exceptional trips exploring the old Skyline Trail in central Oregon and other abandoned trails, but sometimes you just gotta go find out what is over there off the maintained path. Be gentle and safe.
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rebeccad
Trail Wise!
Writing like a maniac
Posts: 12,711
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Post by rebeccad on Sept 10, 2015 21:17:48 GMT -8
I do like getting off the beaten track. Like others here, I do NOT like boulder fields with car-sized boulders (I did one this past July that went on forever, give or take a bit. I wasn't a happy camper).
A bit of route-finding is good, hanging by my fingernails over an abyss is not.
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BigLoad
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Pancakes!
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Post by BigLoad on Sept 10, 2015 21:26:17 GMT -8
I don't go off-trail a whole lot, but then some of the trails I hike ceased to be trails long ago. When I do go off trail, I enjoy the heightened sense of freedom and exploration, and I find myself automatically paying much closer attention to landmarks and other direction-finding cues.
I've also had a few harrowing experiences off-trail, most recently descending an improvised route down Mt. Antero behind Reminiscence and Spindle a couple years ago. He's about the size I used to be, which is light enough to cross a pond by hopping from one floating dead leaf to the next. He scampered down the scree and talus as if it were solid as a mountain. At 15-20 pounds heavier, each of my steps dislodged a little more scree than the one before, until every stride uncorked a 300-pound avalanche. I thought the talus would be more reassuring. It was for a while, until I could feel it quiver beneath me. I don't mean a boulder or two wobbling under my step, but tens of tons of interlocked boulders quaking in unified threat of imminent downhill migration. As I worked over toward what I hoped would be a more stable slope, I steadied my nerves by reciting with great emphasis an unprintable mantra which composed itself in filthy splendor at just the right moment. I think Spindle's experience was similar to mine, except her headache grew bad enough to eclipse some of the fear. When we finally got back to camp, all three of us were so exhausted that making dinner seemed almost impossible, and eating it hardly worth the trouble. And yet everything was just fine in the morning.
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amaruq
Trail Wise!
Call me Little Spoon
Posts: 1,264
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Post by amaruq on Sept 11, 2015 4:03:25 GMT -8
I'm talking about above treeline stuff, I'm sure it's more difficult in the woods. Eh, just different difficulty. In the woods it's easy to 'misplace your bearings' because the dense vegetation allows for fewer landmarks to navigate by. Other than that, one can almost smack down a straight route from A to B. In the mountains you can pin point your location on a map by comparing nearby peaks, but an ill placed route can have you hanging from an exposed cliff wondering why you thought this route made sense only 400 yards back. Going off trail in these parts is not impossible, yet not easy either. I'm not one to shy away from a challenge, but there is a reason the Aboriginal Canadians traveled the area in canoes. The Canadian Shield provides for rampant muskeg and marshland, a checkerboard of thousands of lakes, and incredibly thick underbrush. Add in up to half a century of deadfall in some areas and the sides of the trail can quickly become solid walls of vegetation, living and dead. Above the treeline, across grasslands, or through less underbrushy forests, I'm all for off-trail adventuring.
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balzaccom
Trail Wise!
Waiting for spring...
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Post by balzaccom on Sept 11, 2015 5:47:10 GMT -8
We do both. Off-trail means that you have to think a bit more: not just about where you are going to end up in 30 minutes a day, but also where you are going to put your next step, where you are going to hike the next twenty feet. We certainly go slower off-trail than on. But we also enjoy the solitude. In California, off-trail is a pretty good recipe for peace and quiet.
That said, we're not huge fans of manzanita thickets, vast talus fields, or steep snow. That's what topo maps and Google Earth are for!
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davesenesac
Trail Wise!
Our precious life is short within eternity, don't waste it!
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Post by davesenesac on Sept 11, 2015 10:02:50 GMT -8
My primary interest in going from point A to B out in the natural world is usually the path of least effort. Thus will readily use trails if available while choosing off trail if not so. However there are a few times when I'll instead choose a more strenuous or difficult route if it is faster when time is an issue. And if there is something of amusement and interest to be found going off trail may also readily vector away. Also as a landscape photographer, I ramble about exploring a considerable amount of terrain where few if any others have been before. Often do so while carrying utterly ugly loads of camera gear including at times on top of a full backpack. Our western wilderness areas, public lands, and parks have vast amounts of terrain in that category where trail hikers, fishermen, climbers, peakbaggers, would have little need to wander through getting to their areas of interest. Great adventures for our ancient human spirit across our wonderful planet. As a child I lived in California outer suburban areas where there was usually an abundance of nearby natural areas we all played about in. Especially endless days about riparian stream areas with their dense oak woodland jungles. Thus became very good at walking about in awkward places with monkey skills of getting through including climbing up and over all manner of unpleasant obstacles. David www.davidsenesac.com/2015_Trip_Chronicles/2015_Trip-Chronicles-0.html
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