I just finished an intense 9-day/80 hour wilderness first responder course through NOLS WMI. It was hosted by UT RecSports in Gregory gym, so Manuel, Hannah, Ellie, Sebastian, Brad, and I assisted some with the day-to-day running of the course in addition to taking the course.
The course prepared us to handle medical situations in the back-country for extended periods of time (while an evacuation is being prepared), as well as how to decide when an evacuation is necessary, when it should be rapid, and how to communicate our findings and needs regarding the injured patient to front-country 911 operators.
We learned about the patient assessment system, which provides a guide for us to follow which assessing the patient. And then we practiced applying it in many scenarios as we learned about various medical issues and illnesses that might occur while leading a trip in the back-country. Prevention was a recurrent theme during the class - it's always easier to prevent an injury or illness. Along these lines, we learned about how to encourage good camp hygiene (wash hands and pots adequately, isolate illness) and personal care (dry socks, foot checks).
I'm going to completely rebuild my personal first aid kit - especially for international trips. In both Turkey and Peru I suffered non-trivial injuries to a foot and hand, respectively. In both cases, caring for the wounds required multiple trips to pharmacies where it was difficult to convey the types of supplies we wanted (and these supplies were sub-standard, in both cases). Hence, I plan to stock my first aid kit with at least sterile gauze, conforming gauze bandages, occlusive semi-permeable dressings, 1" athletic tape, an irrigation syringe, wound closure strips, Tincture of Benzoin, moleskin, gloves, and two triangular bandages (and certainly more items for some trips).
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Spring 2015 Adventure Trip Staff Assignments
It's hard to believe that a year ago I was in guide school canoeing in Big Bend's backcountry and now I'm mid-way through a NOLS wilderness first responder course and assigned to lead guide some UT RecSports trips this spring!
For Spring 2015, I've been assigned to:
For Spring 2015, I've been assigned to:
- 2/14-2/16: Camping/Caving Colorado River at Colorado Bend State Park with Andrea and Joseph. I've been meaning to go camping and hiking at Colorado Bend State Park, so this trip should be fun. I'm also excited about it being my first trip as lead guide!
- 2/20-2/22: Hill Country Backpacking at Lost Maples State Natural Area with Ellie and Morgan. I guided this exact trip in the Fall, but I'm excited to go back and get more experience lead guiding.
- 3/14-3/21: Alternative Spring Break to Mission:Wolf with Emily and Tommy. I'm the third guide on this trip, and I instinctively have some reservations about an animal sanctuary that allows humans to have contact with wolves, but I'm excited about being part of another alternative spring break trip and I'm trying to go into Mission:Wolf with an open mind. I'm specifically excited about getting to do some hiking on national forest lands, improving my leadership and guiding skills, and just getting away from everything for a week.
- 5/20-5/24: Backpacking South Rim at Big Bend National Park with Brad and Andrea. I did this hike as a very gruelling day hike, so I'm really excited to do it as a backpacking trip where we can have really low mileage every day and have much more time to enjoy the beautiful scenery. It will also be my first extended trip as lead guide!
Thursday, January 1, 2015
2014 Recap
Wow! 2014 was a great year of growing through adventure.
Guide school was the reason this blog began, and it really was a transformative experience. From the skills I learned, to the people I met, to just the experience of it all. It's hard to put into words the power or affect that guide school had on me. There's something about being away from civilization. Of looking all around you from a high point and seeing no building and no one that was not part of your group. Of facing fears head on, and overcoming them. Of learning to be more upfront and honest about your fears and abilities. Of realizing you can do things you previously did not believe you could do. Of learning when to consider the needs of others over your own (and when not to). Of learning how to mitigate and diffuse group conflict. Of seriously considering our impact on the places we visit, and learning how to minimize it.
But guide school was just the beginning. You really take skills from the classroom into real life as you start to actually guide trips. I was lucky enough to have Emily as lead guide on my first trip guiding, and amazingly it was to Lee's Ferry and the Grand Canyon as part of an alternative Spring Break. What a first trip! But I feel like you learn a lot on your first trip, and I certainly did. My other overnight trip in Spring 2014 was to South Llano State Park with Jakub as lead guide. Jakub is seriously the most 'giving' of our guides, and it was a pleasure to work with him and learn from him.
I was originally only assigned two trips for the Fall 2014 semester. This really saddened me, but I was luck enough to pick up two additional trips that I really wanted when other guides backed out of guiding them. I ended up guiding all of the backpacking trips ran in the Fall, and really honed my backpacking skills and grew tremendously as a guide.
In recap, 2014 saw:
Guide school was the reason this blog began, and it really was a transformative experience. From the skills I learned, to the people I met, to just the experience of it all. It's hard to put into words the power or affect that guide school had on me. There's something about being away from civilization. Of looking all around you from a high point and seeing no building and no one that was not part of your group. Of facing fears head on, and overcoming them. Of learning to be more upfront and honest about your fears and abilities. Of realizing you can do things you previously did not believe you could do. Of learning when to consider the needs of others over your own (and when not to). Of learning how to mitigate and diffuse group conflict. Of seriously considering our impact on the places we visit, and learning how to minimize it.
But guide school was just the beginning. You really take skills from the classroom into real life as you start to actually guide trips. I was lucky enough to have Emily as lead guide on my first trip guiding, and amazingly it was to Lee's Ferry and the Grand Canyon as part of an alternative Spring Break. What a first trip! But I feel like you learn a lot on your first trip, and I certainly did. My other overnight trip in Spring 2014 was to South Llano State Park with Jakub as lead guide. Jakub is seriously the most 'giving' of our guides, and it was a pleasure to work with him and learn from him.
I was originally only assigned two trips for the Fall 2014 semester. This really saddened me, but I was luck enough to pick up two additional trips that I really wanted when other guides backed out of guiding them. I ended up guiding all of the backpacking trips ran in the Fall, and really honed my backpacking skills and grew tremendously as a guide.
In recap, 2014 saw:
- 9 posts about the second half of guide school (January)
- 9 posts about the alternative Spring Break trip to the Grand Canyon (March)
- 14 posts about my Europe trip (September/October)
- 4 posts about Fall 2014 backpacking trips (October/November/December)
- 12 other posts
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Backpacking Caprock Canyon
Sean and I led a 4 day / 3 night backpacking trip to Caprock Canyons State Park as a post Fall semester trip. Sean had proposed this trip, and I had been to the park before, so we were well prepared. We also had three people - Brad, Andrea, and Will - who had just finished guide school part 1 come on the trip as 'shadow guides'.
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Sean and I finalized the menu on Tuesday, and then Brad and I did the food buy while Will, Sean, and Andrea pulled gear. We spent $315 on our food buy (8 meals + snacks), which was really good considering that our budget was $500. This comes out to just $2.63 per meal per person! Once we returned I worked on sorting, repackaging, and labelling all the food while Sean went to some far-away store to buy more backpacking fuel and the others finished the gear pull. This made me the meals expert throughout the trip.
We met Wednesday morning at 6:15am to divide the group gear, tents, and food into 15 approximately equal-weight piles. Of course, the piles with dromedaries weighted more, but this is unavoidable and at least the dromedaries were empty sometimes! I also made an effort to separate the meals such that everyone's packs would decrease in weight at about the same pace. I picked the pile with the smaller dromedary, dried apricots for Friday's lunch, bagels for Thursday's breakfast, tortillas for Wednesday's dinner, the smaller first aid kit, extra baggies, and a rain-fly.
The participants arrived around 6:30am, and we hit the road at 7:10am. We stopped at Subway for lunch about half-way. The entire drive, not counting the lunch stop and a few gas stops, took around 6.5 hours. Since Sean and I were the only authorized drivers, we each drove our vehicles the entire way. At least Sean towed the trailer! It wasn't that tiring, and the scenery was interesting enough since we were almost completely on 2 and 4 lane back roads (many with 75 mph speed limits). I got really comfortable passing slow moving vehicles on 2 lane roads at high speeds on this trip (which is pretty crazy considering how nervous I was the first time I did it on the Guadalupe Mountains trip just a few weeks ago). We took the older Suburbans, which at points did not seem to appreciate going 75-80 mph.
We arrived at the park around 3pm and checked in at the visitor's center. Here we learned that we would have to return each day to check in for our camp site each night. This was awkward and frustrating since this was supposed to be a backpacking trip! We decided to come back the next morning (Thursday) from the Wild Horse site and check-in for our North Prong primitive site, and then hike in and back out on Friday night to check in for our South Prong primitive site.
We ran a shuttle to the Wild Horse camping area, left some of the dromedaries (mine had leaked all over my bag - thankfully my dry bags and zip-lock bags had protected everything except my fleece and rain gear - I was really thankful I had decided to put my sleeping bag in a big dry bag at the last minute when I was packing), and hit the trail around 3:30pm from the Canyon Rim trail head near the Honey Flat camping area. We hiked a relatively flat 4.76 miles on the Canyon Rim trail and the Wild Horse trail before ending our hike at the Wild Horse camping area. We arrived shortly before it was completely dark, and everyone set up the five tents while Sean and I prepared our dinner of mango, black bean, and mandarin orange tacos along with sliced cheddar cheese. This dinner was really good, but could have used a bit more filling for the tacos. After dinner we heated water for tea and hot chocolate while the participants did the dishes.
After no one claimed to have any empty space in their 3-person tents for Sean and I, one group admitted that they were fitting four people into their tent so Sean and I realized we'd have a tent to ourselves. It always works best for the guides to share a tent, since we tend to wake up earlier than the group every morning to start cooking. It was a nice luxury to have a 3-person tent for just the two of us.
There was only one other site occupied at the Wild Horse camp, and its occupant had a few horses. We heard these horses throughout the night, but more annoyingly, a rusty windmill woke us repeatedly during the night with its loud creaking. I had a really strange dream that night too in which I was sitting in Emily's office back at Gregory Gym after apparently not remembering anything about the trip that occurred after the first night (but apparently having made it through the entire trip and drive back safely). I was throwing up and really sick, and they were trying to figure out what was wrong with me. Strange dream that seemed really real at the time.
Sean and I woke up at 7:40am on Thursday and quickly heated water for our breakfast of bagels. We woke the participants shortly after 8am. We ate breakfast, and then dealt with that night's camp site registration and setting up the car shuttle at the South Prong parking lot while the participants packed up their remaining gear and took down the tents. I ended up with a full large dromedary since my smaller one was left behind (since it was leaky). I was fully prepared for this heavier load to make the day's hike miserable, but it actually did not end up being bad at all! We finally left the Wild Horse camp around 10:30am. We talked with the 'shadow guides' before the hike began, and put them in change of the guiding starting from the beginning of the hike (and ending at the end of the next morning's breakfast).
We hiked about 4.66 miles before reaching North Prong primitive camp. We had lunch about 3.5 miles into the hike, around 12:45pm. Lunch was massive, as it consisted of a half block of cheese and a half block of sausage for everyone. As hard as I tried, I could only finish half of my half block of cheese (and spent the remainder of the trip attempting to finish the other half). After lunch we continued onto camp, arriving around 2:30pm. The hike became prettier near the end of the day as we hiked deeper into the canyon and were able to see many of the red rock formations.
We set-up camp, and then I led some people that wanted to go off-trail exploring on how to disperse our off-trail impact. We ventured to some tall rock formations, at which point we realized the trail from our camp actually led exactly to where we had wanted to go. Oh well - it was still a good learning experience for the participants to learn how to hike off trail while minimizing their impact. We scurried up a small red rock hill, and sat and enjoyed the views. My leg did not like the descent from the hill though, so I went back on the trail to camp with a few of the participants. Once back at camp, we noticed that the participants who had stayed near the tall rock formations had climbed really high on some. Not only was it potentially dangerous, but Sean noted that it also seemed like they were likely having an affect on the foundations. I felt bad that I had not considered this. Sean sent Will and Andrea to try and get them to come down.
Once everyone was back at camp, some of us began playing cards while others took naps, read books, and chatted. I played spades and spoons for a few hours. Eventually the 'shadow guides' cooked the quinoa dinner, while Sean supervised. Dinner took a while to prepare, but it was tasty. I'm personally not a fan of quinoa, but I forced myself to eat two small bowls. The walnuts were a good addition, and I would probably add more in the future. There was some leftover quinoa at the end, so we bagged it up.
The next morning, Sean and I woke at 7:30am and found that a rain puddle had formed near our heads during the night. Sean's down jacket and down sleeping bag had gotten wet, as had my synthetic sleeping bag. We got up and prepared water for our oatmeal breakfast. The participant that had the brown sugar forgot about it, so we did not have brown sugar. No one missed it, so perhaps we can leave it behind in the future. We aimed to leave camp by 9am, and got rather close. We did our daily group circle stretches, and then began our hardest day of hiking (still only about 4.39 miles). From the start, we climbed a steep trail up to the John Haynes ridge. The day remained overcast and misty until shortly after lunch around 1:30pm. The John Haynes trail was rougher than most of the other trails, but the views were pretty even with the overcast, hazy weather. We stopped for lunch before a steep climb. Lunch - which was tortillas with peanut butter, sunflower seeds, and dried apricots - was very popular. This was a meal we did during the Guadalupe trip, and it has easily become my favorite backpacking lunch meal.
After lunch we hiked a bit father on the John Haynes Ridge trail, before deciding to take a short 0.3 mile each way detour to a Fern Cave. This 0.3 mile stretch was probably the hardest of the trip! The climb down to the cave was steep and the trail seemed to have eroded substantially in some sections. We probably should have left our packs at the detour point, but we left them about 0.2 miles down the trail. My knee was not happy with this descent, and really did not like when a rock gave way beneath me and led to me falling about 3 feet into mud (thankfully, I had my rain pants on at this point). The fern cave was cool though.
The last bit of the hike from the detour point to the South Prong primitive camp required some steep descents. Especially since it had been raining earlier in the day, some of these descents were difficult. There was one point where the rock was so steep and smooth that many of us opted to sit and slide down the rock. The trail was also difficult to follow at points, so some of the descent might have been more difficult than planned since I'm not sure we were on the actual trail at points. None the less, we reached camp around 2:30pm and quickly set up our tents. This time Sean guyed out the rain-fly near the broader end of our tent, in case it rained again. We also tried to air out the tent since there was still a lot of wet residue from the rain puddle that morning. Then Sean, Brad, and I hiked 1 mile really quickly back to my Suburban and we drove to the visitor's center to check-in to our final camp sites. Apparently our reservation had been for the South Prong tent camping sites by the parking lot (and not the South Prong primitive sites that we had instead set up camp at), but they moved our reservation to the primitive sites. However, the primitive sites were more expensive (since less people were allowed per site), so I had to pay the $16 difference with my credit card since we had no other forms of payment with us. Emily is going to handle the reimbursement once the Christmas break is finished. We each refilled a dromedary bag and moved both vehicles to the South Prong parking lot. Then we made the 1 mile trek back into camp. Once back at camp, Sean and I started cooking our final pasta dinner with chicken, soy-based bacon bits, sundried tomatoes, peppers, and spices. This was another meal we had on our Guadalupe Mountains trip, and it was just as delicious this time! After dinner we heated some hot water and then called it a night.
We awoke Saturday morning at 7:15am to cook our final breakfast - pancakes! Sean manned the sticky skillet while I manned the non-stick medium pot. It was a fine line setting the stoves such that the pancakes were not burnt yet the stoves did not go out. We both produced some pancakes that looked beautiful, and some that were beat up and/or terribly burnt. In each case, they tasted great though (especially with syrup). It was a fun meal to end the trip on!
We packed up camp and did the short 1 mile hike out to the Suburbans. We loaded our backpacks into the trailer and then headed to the visitor center to let the participants change clothing and buy souvenirs from the gift shop. It felt so good to change into clean clothing!
Around 10:45am we began our drive homeward. We stopped around 1:15pm for lunch at the same Subway we stopped at on the way. It took forever to get through the Subway line - we spent 75 minutes at lunch! After lunch we continued onward and reached campus at 6:10pm. It was a long drive back, and I was getting a bit fatigued by the time we reached Austin despite drinking two energy drinks during the trip home.
We spent about an hour cleaning, drying, and restocking gear as well as filling out evaluations. All of our gear was so muddy, wet, and dirty from the trip! However, with fifteen people helping, it went relatively quickly.
Overall thoughts
I was amazed that my right knee did not bother me very much! Between wearing the IT band while hiking and consistently taking ibuprofen, I kept the pain to just mild soreness and stiffness. I experienced no sharp pain during the trip! Going into the trip, I had put the chance of experiencing this little pain at about 10%, so I was very happy that my knee did as well as it did.
It was an interesting experience trying to step back while guiding and let the 'shadow guides' make mistakes. I've been constantly taking on more and more responsibility when guiding, so it was a change of pace to step back. Of course, mentoring new guides is part of the process though and will need to be something I begin to work on. From our side, I think I would try to give a bit more of an introduction to the 'shadow guides' perhaps the night before after letting them watch us guide for a day. My biggest comment to the 'shadow guides' was that they needed to keep the group more informed (how long are we stopping for, when is lunch, what should we do now that we've arrived at camp, ect) and take more initiative. But considering that they had not been through guide school part 2 and this was their first trip, I think they did reasonably well.
The trip as a whole went well. The route was perfect, progressing from simpler scenery to downright amazing scenery. Both of our primitive camps were set in great areas. Parts of the hike were rough, especially with the wet trails, but the hikes were never too difficult (especially considering the short distances we covered each day). It was awkward to have to check-in at the visitor's center each day, but I would not let that keep us from running the trip again.
I used my rain pants for the first time since the South Llano trip in Spring 2014. I always carry them on trips, but rarely use them. I remembered on this trip how nice they are though, and I bet they will be utilized more on upcoming trips.
Personally, this was a good trip for me after the Guadalupe Mountains trip. I really struggled physically, both with knee issues and fatigue, during the Guadalupe Mountains trip. I had some serious doubts during and after that trip about my abilities as a guide. However, in preparing for this trip and in guiding this trip I regained confidence in my guiding abilities. And I learned that everyone can have bad days on trips - it's more about how you push through them and keep going.
UT RecSports ran four backpacking trips this semester, and I guided all four! I've grown so much since the first trip of this semester to Lost Maples. My outdoor skills have improved, and I feel really comfortable backpacking now. My guiding skills have also improved drastically. I can thank Emily for much of this, since she was lead guide on my first trip over Spring Break 2014 and then on both of the Fall trips we guided together she pushed me to step out of my comfort-zone and fulfil lead guide roles more often. I'm excited to see how I continue to evolve in the Spring!
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Sean and I finalized the menu on Tuesday, and then Brad and I did the food buy while Will, Sean, and Andrea pulled gear. We spent $315 on our food buy (8 meals + snacks), which was really good considering that our budget was $500. This comes out to just $2.63 per meal per person! Once we returned I worked on sorting, repackaging, and labelling all the food while Sean went to some far-away store to buy more backpacking fuel and the others finished the gear pull. This made me the meals expert throughout the trip.
We met Wednesday morning at 6:15am to divide the group gear, tents, and food into 15 approximately equal-weight piles. Of course, the piles with dromedaries weighted more, but this is unavoidable and at least the dromedaries were empty sometimes! I also made an effort to separate the meals such that everyone's packs would decrease in weight at about the same pace. I picked the pile with the smaller dromedary, dried apricots for Friday's lunch, bagels for Thursday's breakfast, tortillas for Wednesday's dinner, the smaller first aid kit, extra baggies, and a rain-fly.
The participants arrived around 6:30am, and we hit the road at 7:10am. We stopped at Subway for lunch about half-way. The entire drive, not counting the lunch stop and a few gas stops, took around 6.5 hours. Since Sean and I were the only authorized drivers, we each drove our vehicles the entire way. At least Sean towed the trailer! It wasn't that tiring, and the scenery was interesting enough since we were almost completely on 2 and 4 lane back roads (many with 75 mph speed limits). I got really comfortable passing slow moving vehicles on 2 lane roads at high speeds on this trip (which is pretty crazy considering how nervous I was the first time I did it on the Guadalupe Mountains trip just a few weeks ago). We took the older Suburbans, which at points did not seem to appreciate going 75-80 mph.
We arrived at the park around 3pm and checked in at the visitor's center. Here we learned that we would have to return each day to check in for our camp site each night. This was awkward and frustrating since this was supposed to be a backpacking trip! We decided to come back the next morning (Thursday) from the Wild Horse site and check-in for our North Prong primitive site, and then hike in and back out on Friday night to check in for our South Prong primitive site.
We ran a shuttle to the Wild Horse camping area, left some of the dromedaries (mine had leaked all over my bag - thankfully my dry bags and zip-lock bags had protected everything except my fleece and rain gear - I was really thankful I had decided to put my sleeping bag in a big dry bag at the last minute when I was packing), and hit the trail around 3:30pm from the Canyon Rim trail head near the Honey Flat camping area. We hiked a relatively flat 4.76 miles on the Canyon Rim trail and the Wild Horse trail before ending our hike at the Wild Horse camping area. We arrived shortly before it was completely dark, and everyone set up the five tents while Sean and I prepared our dinner of mango, black bean, and mandarin orange tacos along with sliced cheddar cheese. This dinner was really good, but could have used a bit more filling for the tacos. After dinner we heated water for tea and hot chocolate while the participants did the dishes.
After no one claimed to have any empty space in their 3-person tents for Sean and I, one group admitted that they were fitting four people into their tent so Sean and I realized we'd have a tent to ourselves. It always works best for the guides to share a tent, since we tend to wake up earlier than the group every morning to start cooking. It was a nice luxury to have a 3-person tent for just the two of us.
There was only one other site occupied at the Wild Horse camp, and its occupant had a few horses. We heard these horses throughout the night, but more annoyingly, a rusty windmill woke us repeatedly during the night with its loud creaking. I had a really strange dream that night too in which I was sitting in Emily's office back at Gregory Gym after apparently not remembering anything about the trip that occurred after the first night (but apparently having made it through the entire trip and drive back safely). I was throwing up and really sick, and they were trying to figure out what was wrong with me. Strange dream that seemed really real at the time.
Sean and I woke up at 7:40am on Thursday and quickly heated water for our breakfast of bagels. We woke the participants shortly after 8am. We ate breakfast, and then dealt with that night's camp site registration and setting up the car shuttle at the South Prong parking lot while the participants packed up their remaining gear and took down the tents. I ended up with a full large dromedary since my smaller one was left behind (since it was leaky). I was fully prepared for this heavier load to make the day's hike miserable, but it actually did not end up being bad at all! We finally left the Wild Horse camp around 10:30am. We talked with the 'shadow guides' before the hike began, and put them in change of the guiding starting from the beginning of the hike (and ending at the end of the next morning's breakfast).
We hiked about 4.66 miles before reaching North Prong primitive camp. We had lunch about 3.5 miles into the hike, around 12:45pm. Lunch was massive, as it consisted of a half block of cheese and a half block of sausage for everyone. As hard as I tried, I could only finish half of my half block of cheese (and spent the remainder of the trip attempting to finish the other half). After lunch we continued onto camp, arriving around 2:30pm. The hike became prettier near the end of the day as we hiked deeper into the canyon and were able to see many of the red rock formations.
We set-up camp, and then I led some people that wanted to go off-trail exploring on how to disperse our off-trail impact. We ventured to some tall rock formations, at which point we realized the trail from our camp actually led exactly to where we had wanted to go. Oh well - it was still a good learning experience for the participants to learn how to hike off trail while minimizing their impact. We scurried up a small red rock hill, and sat and enjoyed the views. My leg did not like the descent from the hill though, so I went back on the trail to camp with a few of the participants. Once back at camp, we noticed that the participants who had stayed near the tall rock formations had climbed really high on some. Not only was it potentially dangerous, but Sean noted that it also seemed like they were likely having an affect on the foundations. I felt bad that I had not considered this. Sean sent Will and Andrea to try and get them to come down.
Once everyone was back at camp, some of us began playing cards while others took naps, read books, and chatted. I played spades and spoons for a few hours. Eventually the 'shadow guides' cooked the quinoa dinner, while Sean supervised. Dinner took a while to prepare, but it was tasty. I'm personally not a fan of quinoa, but I forced myself to eat two small bowls. The walnuts were a good addition, and I would probably add more in the future. There was some leftover quinoa at the end, so we bagged it up.
The next morning, Sean and I woke at 7:30am and found that a rain puddle had formed near our heads during the night. Sean's down jacket and down sleeping bag had gotten wet, as had my synthetic sleeping bag. We got up and prepared water for our oatmeal breakfast. The participant that had the brown sugar forgot about it, so we did not have brown sugar. No one missed it, so perhaps we can leave it behind in the future. We aimed to leave camp by 9am, and got rather close. We did our daily group circle stretches, and then began our hardest day of hiking (still only about 4.39 miles). From the start, we climbed a steep trail up to the John Haynes ridge. The day remained overcast and misty until shortly after lunch around 1:30pm. The John Haynes trail was rougher than most of the other trails, but the views were pretty even with the overcast, hazy weather. We stopped for lunch before a steep climb. Lunch - which was tortillas with peanut butter, sunflower seeds, and dried apricots - was very popular. This was a meal we did during the Guadalupe trip, and it has easily become my favorite backpacking lunch meal.
After lunch we hiked a bit father on the John Haynes Ridge trail, before deciding to take a short 0.3 mile each way detour to a Fern Cave. This 0.3 mile stretch was probably the hardest of the trip! The climb down to the cave was steep and the trail seemed to have eroded substantially in some sections. We probably should have left our packs at the detour point, but we left them about 0.2 miles down the trail. My knee was not happy with this descent, and really did not like when a rock gave way beneath me and led to me falling about 3 feet into mud (thankfully, I had my rain pants on at this point). The fern cave was cool though.
The last bit of the hike from the detour point to the South Prong primitive camp required some steep descents. Especially since it had been raining earlier in the day, some of these descents were difficult. There was one point where the rock was so steep and smooth that many of us opted to sit and slide down the rock. The trail was also difficult to follow at points, so some of the descent might have been more difficult than planned since I'm not sure we were on the actual trail at points. None the less, we reached camp around 2:30pm and quickly set up our tents. This time Sean guyed out the rain-fly near the broader end of our tent, in case it rained again. We also tried to air out the tent since there was still a lot of wet residue from the rain puddle that morning. Then Sean, Brad, and I hiked 1 mile really quickly back to my Suburban and we drove to the visitor's center to check-in to our final camp sites. Apparently our reservation had been for the South Prong tent camping sites by the parking lot (and not the South Prong primitive sites that we had instead set up camp at), but they moved our reservation to the primitive sites. However, the primitive sites were more expensive (since less people were allowed per site), so I had to pay the $16 difference with my credit card since we had no other forms of payment with us. Emily is going to handle the reimbursement once the Christmas break is finished. We each refilled a dromedary bag and moved both vehicles to the South Prong parking lot. Then we made the 1 mile trek back into camp. Once back at camp, Sean and I started cooking our final pasta dinner with chicken, soy-based bacon bits, sundried tomatoes, peppers, and spices. This was another meal we had on our Guadalupe Mountains trip, and it was just as delicious this time! After dinner we heated some hot water and then called it a night.
We awoke Saturday morning at 7:15am to cook our final breakfast - pancakes! Sean manned the sticky skillet while I manned the non-stick medium pot. It was a fine line setting the stoves such that the pancakes were not burnt yet the stoves did not go out. We both produced some pancakes that looked beautiful, and some that were beat up and/or terribly burnt. In each case, they tasted great though (especially with syrup). It was a fun meal to end the trip on!
We packed up camp and did the short 1 mile hike out to the Suburbans. We loaded our backpacks into the trailer and then headed to the visitor center to let the participants change clothing and buy souvenirs from the gift shop. It felt so good to change into clean clothing!
Around 10:45am we began our drive homeward. We stopped around 1:15pm for lunch at the same Subway we stopped at on the way. It took forever to get through the Subway line - we spent 75 minutes at lunch! After lunch we continued onward and reached campus at 6:10pm. It was a long drive back, and I was getting a bit fatigued by the time we reached Austin despite drinking two energy drinks during the trip home.
We spent about an hour cleaning, drying, and restocking gear as well as filling out evaluations. All of our gear was so muddy, wet, and dirty from the trip! However, with fifteen people helping, it went relatively quickly.
Overall thoughts
I was amazed that my right knee did not bother me very much! Between wearing the IT band while hiking and consistently taking ibuprofen, I kept the pain to just mild soreness and stiffness. I experienced no sharp pain during the trip! Going into the trip, I had put the chance of experiencing this little pain at about 10%, so I was very happy that my knee did as well as it did.
It was an interesting experience trying to step back while guiding and let the 'shadow guides' make mistakes. I've been constantly taking on more and more responsibility when guiding, so it was a change of pace to step back. Of course, mentoring new guides is part of the process though and will need to be something I begin to work on. From our side, I think I would try to give a bit more of an introduction to the 'shadow guides' perhaps the night before after letting them watch us guide for a day. My biggest comment to the 'shadow guides' was that they needed to keep the group more informed (how long are we stopping for, when is lunch, what should we do now that we've arrived at camp, ect) and take more initiative. But considering that they had not been through guide school part 2 and this was their first trip, I think they did reasonably well.
The trip as a whole went well. The route was perfect, progressing from simpler scenery to downright amazing scenery. Both of our primitive camps were set in great areas. Parts of the hike were rough, especially with the wet trails, but the hikes were never too difficult (especially considering the short distances we covered each day). It was awkward to have to check-in at the visitor's center each day, but I would not let that keep us from running the trip again.
I used my rain pants for the first time since the South Llano trip in Spring 2014. I always carry them on trips, but rarely use them. I remembered on this trip how nice they are though, and I bet they will be utilized more on upcoming trips.
Personally, this was a good trip for me after the Guadalupe Mountains trip. I really struggled physically, both with knee issues and fatigue, during the Guadalupe Mountains trip. I had some serious doubts during and after that trip about my abilities as a guide. However, in preparing for this trip and in guiding this trip I regained confidence in my guiding abilities. And I learned that everyone can have bad days on trips - it's more about how you push through them and keep going.
UT RecSports ran four backpacking trips this semester, and I guided all four! I've grown so much since the first trip of this semester to Lost Maples. My outdoor skills have improved, and I feel really comfortable backpacking now. My guiding skills have also improved drastically. I can thank Emily for much of this, since she was lead guide on my first trip over Spring Break 2014 and then on both of the Fall trips we guided together she pushed me to step out of my comfort-zone and fulfil lead guide roles more often. I'm excited to see how I continue to evolve in the Spring!
Beginning our trip at the Canyon Rim trailhead near Honey Flats campground
On the trail on the first day
Group picture on day 2 (photo by Sean)
The views become more scenic on day 2
Our group hiking on day 2
The North Prong primitive camping area (photo by Brad)
Hiking off-trail in a somewhat dispersed manner (photo by Brad)
Some of our group on the rock formations by the North Prong primitive site (photo by Brad)
Morning 3 was foggy as we hiked up the John Haynes Ridge trail
Bison near the roadway by Lake Theo
A herd of bison on the roadway near Lake Theo
On the trail on day 4
The sun finally comes out on our drive home
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Sawnee Mountain Preserve + IT Band Knee Issues
On Sunday my dad and I went to Sawnee Mountain Preserve near my parent's house in Cumming, GA.
We parked at the Spot road entrance, and went on the 3.5 mile Indian Seats trail. We climbed up to see the Indian Seats, which also provided a nice view north towards the Blue Ridge Mountains. My dad is afraid of heights, so he did not want to get very close to the edge! After enjoying the view for a while, we continued onward towards the visitor's center at the other entrance. We never saw the rock climbing area, so I guess you have to hike a bit off-trail to get to it - and they probably did not mark it to dissuade people without permits from climbing. The visitor's center was closed on Sunday, but from looking through the windows it seemed like it had some nice exhibits for kids.
We were surprised by how many other hikers and runners were out on the trail. It made me happy to see people using and enjoying the preserve and its trails. About 2.5 miles in, my right knee began hurting pretty bad again - the same pain I had been experiencing during the recent Guadalupe Mountains backpacking trip. I took it easy, and then took some ibuprofen once I returned home. However, when I sat and iced it I experienced some of the worst pain I've ever felt - I could not even move my knee without excruciating pain. It got better with heat, but it was very concerning.
Once I returned to Austin, I visited the sports medicine clinic at UT. My knee issues were diagnosed as iliotibial band friction syndrome. The doctor said that rest, ice, compression, and elevation along with ibuprofen will help the inflammation, and that using a roller and doing stretches and exercises will also help. However, she said I'll likely not be feeling great by the time of my next trip to Caprock Canyons.
I considered backing out of the trip, but I have been looking forward to this trip and I know the UT Outdoor Recreation program will not be able to find another guide to take my place (since they already tried when Hannah backed out of the trip for stream team about a week ago). I'm hoping for the best, but also preparing for the worst - I'll take lots of ibuprofen, a knee strap for IT pain, and probably a tennis ball for rolling. Hopefully I do not regret opting to go on this trip. At least the doctor said I will not make it worse by using it, although I may be in a lot of pain.
We parked at the Spot road entrance, and went on the 3.5 mile Indian Seats trail. We climbed up to see the Indian Seats, which also provided a nice view north towards the Blue Ridge Mountains. My dad is afraid of heights, so he did not want to get very close to the edge! After enjoying the view for a while, we continued onward towards the visitor's center at the other entrance. We never saw the rock climbing area, so I guess you have to hike a bit off-trail to get to it - and they probably did not mark it to dissuade people without permits from climbing. The visitor's center was closed on Sunday, but from looking through the windows it seemed like it had some nice exhibits for kids.
We were surprised by how many other hikers and runners were out on the trail. It made me happy to see people using and enjoying the preserve and its trails. About 2.5 miles in, my right knee began hurting pretty bad again - the same pain I had been experiencing during the recent Guadalupe Mountains backpacking trip. I took it easy, and then took some ibuprofen once I returned home. However, when I sat and iced it I experienced some of the worst pain I've ever felt - I could not even move my knee without excruciating pain. It got better with heat, but it was very concerning.
Once I returned to Austin, I visited the sports medicine clinic at UT. My knee issues were diagnosed as iliotibial band friction syndrome. The doctor said that rest, ice, compression, and elevation along with ibuprofen will help the inflammation, and that using a roller and doing stretches and exercises will also help. However, she said I'll likely not be feeling great by the time of my next trip to Caprock Canyons.
I considered backing out of the trip, but I have been looking forward to this trip and I know the UT Outdoor Recreation program will not be able to find another guide to take my place (since they already tried when Hannah backed out of the trip for stream team about a week ago). I'm hoping for the best, but also preparing for the worst - I'll take lots of ibuprofen, a knee strap for IT pain, and probably a tennis ball for rolling. Hopefully I do not regret opting to go on this trip. At least the doctor said I will not make it worse by using it, although I may be in a lot of pain.
View from near the Indian Seats at Sawnee Mountain Preserve
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Backpacking Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Over Thanksgiving break Emily, Keith and I led a backpacking trip to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. This was a trip I proposed, so I took the lead in guiding parts of it.
I led the pre-trip meeting on Thursday 11/20. During this meeting we explained the trip details, and what the participants would need to bring. At this point, the weather forecast looked pretty brutal, with most nights expected to drip into the 20s in the mountains. We also handed out rental backpacks, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, and headlamps to everyone who needed them.
Emily and I worked from 1pm to 5:30pm on Tuesday 11/25 to complete the food buy, repackage the food, pull the group gear, and pack everything.
We met at 5:45am on Wednesday 11/26, and all 13 of us left campus around 6am as planned. We stopped in Ozona for gas and Fort Stockton for a Pizza Hut buffet lunch before heading to Van Horn for a final fuel up. Manuel took over driving my Suburban in Van Horn. We arrived at Guadalupe Mountains National Park around 3pm Mountain Time, and went to the visitor's center to pay our entrance fees and obtain our back-country permits. I had planned four different itineraries in case obtaining particular back-country sites was difficult, but we easily obtained permits for our first choice itinerary. Although we had 13 in our group, we decided to only report having 12 people in order to only take up 3 back-country sites at each back-country camp ground (since park regulations require a site for each four people).
Hence, our itinerary ended up being:
Wednesday (2.3 miles): leave GRE 6am, drive to GMNP, obtain back-country permits, hike 2.3 miles on Smith Springs trail, overnight at Pine Springs (reserved group camp site)
Thursday (4 miles + 2 miles): Backpack 4 miles from Pine Springs camp (elevation 5822 ft) to Guadalupe Peak camp (elevation 8160 ft), set up camp, hike 1 mile to Guadalupe Peak (elevation 8751 ft), hike 1 mile back to Guadalupe Peak camp, overnight at Guadalupe Peak camp
Friday (3.1 miles + 3.9 miles): Backpack 3.1 miles from Guadalupe Peak camp (elevation 8160 ft) to Pine Springs camp (elevation 5822 ft), drop trash, pick up water and supplies, backpack 3.9 miles from Pine Springs camp (elevation 5822 ft) to Pine Top camp (elevation 8081 ft), overnight at Pine Top camp
Saturday (9.3 miles + optional 2.0-2.9 miles) : Day hike on Bush Mountain Trail to Blue Ridge Trail to Tejas Trail, with optional extension to Hunter's Peak via the Juniper Trail and Bowl Trail, overnight at Pine Top camp
Sunday (3.9 miles): Backpack 3.9 miles from Pine Top camp (elevation 8081 ft) to Pine Springs camp (elevation 5822 ft), drive back to Austin
After getting our permits, we realized that if we set up camp quickly, we could go hike the nearby Smith Springs trail before sunset. I was worried about the gate being locked at the end of our hike (especially since the gate only had an 8am opening time, but no closing time, marked on it), so I pushed our pace throughout the hike. The hike was also a bit rockier and rougher than some of the group imagined, as most of us did not change out of our car clothes and shoes for the hike. We finished shortly before sunset and the gate was fortunately not locked when we left. After the hike we cooked chicken noodle soup, tomato soup, grilled cheese, and crackers for dinner at our Pine Springs group spot. We ran out of bread too quickly though, and it also took a long time to toast sandwiches with only one small skillet. It was good that we reserved the group site though, as the entire camp ground seemed to be full by the time we were cooking dinner.
After dinner Emily, Keith and I had a guides meeting to discuss the next day. We decided to wake at 6am, wake the participants at 6:30am, serve breakfast at 7am, and try to hit the trail by 9am. We opted to skip the Devil's Hall trail, which would have added 2 miles to Thursday's hike. Then Emily and I met without Keith and she encouraged me to speak up more with my ideas and not be afraid to be wrong. After all, it's my trip - I did most of the planning so I know the trip better than anyone. I tried to take this to heart for the rest of the trip.
The first night was pretty cold. It got close to freezing in the Pine Springs camp ground, which made deciding to sleep without the rain fly on the tent a bad idea. It wasn't terrible, but I did wake up many times due to the cold. I began getting ready around 5:50am, and worked with Emily and Keith to prepare our bagels (half were pumpkin flavor!), yoghurt, and granola breakfast. We packed our food for our next lunch, dinner, and breakfast into 3 bear canisters, filled 7 dromedary bags half-way, and divided the group gear into 13 piles. Then we instructed everyone to select a pile and pack that gear into their pack. I ended up with a half-full dromedary bag and a first-aid kit. I also carried a topographic map and our trip discontinuance forms (in case anyone decided during the hike that they did not want to continue).
We left camp around 8:45am, but we probably did not leave the trail head until 9:15am. A ranger checked our back-country permits in the parking lot before we began. I signed us in on the hiker log, and then led the group up the 4 mile trail to the Guadalupe Peak back-country camp site. We opted to take the horse trail up, which added 0.9 miles but climbed less drastically. I'm not sure whether this was actually a good idea - if I did this backpacking trip again I might consider taking the hiker trail up (although it is much more brutal - most people say the first mile is the worst). I tried to take a moderate pace up the mountain, only stopping when I was really out of breath. The group as a whole was really strong, and many probably did not need as many breaks as I did. Emily said I set a good pace though.
We reached the Guadalupe Peak back-country site around 12:45pm. One couple had just finished setting up their site, so we claimed the three sites around theirs. We opted to eat our lunch of hummus, pitas, and sun-dried tomatoes before setting up our tents. We decided to leave for the 1 mile hike to the peak at 2:30pm, so most people rested after setting up their tents. Our group had five tents for 13 people - 3 3-person tents and 2 2-person tents. People moved slowly when it was time to leave for the peak, so we did not actually end up leaving until 2:45pm.
The outside of my knee was still hurting from the morning hike up, so I had Keith lead the hike to the peak and I went last. The climb to the peak was difficult for me because my knee was hurting and I constantly felt out of breath. However, it was worth it! Everyone enjoyed taking pictures and exploring. Since it was windy and cold, we opted to hike down before sunset. My knee was seriously hurting, so I lagged behind the group on the way back to camp. Once JT and I returned to camp, we found that a group of 3 people had unstaked our tent and was claiming that our group had taken too many sites! I told them to go check our permit (hanging from Emily's tent). They knew that there were five campsites, but instead of trying to find the fifth site they had instead decided that we had too many spots. As I found out later, they had also confronted Keith when he arrived back to camp and Keith had found the fifth site for them (yet they still claimed when we found them at our site that they did not know where the fifth site was). In general, it was a frustrating experience, but I think Keith and I handled it correctly. Most of the time the people you meet in the back-country are good people, so it was particularly surprising to run into these incredibly rude people.
Emily and I made our Thanksgiving dinner shortly after sunset. Emily manned the potatoes, while I made the stuffing and then grilled the turkey spam. We also had some dried cranberries for toppings. We were all surprised at how delicious our Thanksgiving dinner was! Certainly a Thanksgiving to remember between climbing Guadalupe Peak and having a great Thanksgiving-themed backpacking meal. We all retired pretty early after finishing dinner - partly to stay warm and partly because we were tired.
Friday morning Emily, Keith, and I opted for waking again at 6am, waking the participants at 6:30am, serving breakfast at 7am, and trying to hit the trail by 8:30am. Friday's breakfast consisted of oatmeal and toppings. We successfully left camp by 8:30am, and all of us reached the parking lot by 11am. Since Emily likes downhill hikes and my right knee was still pretty painful, Emily led downhill and I trailed. We gave ourselves 90 minutes to repack and redistribute group and personal gear before heading back into the mountains. Since we were now packing for two nights, we prepared four bear canisters with food and filled 7 dromedary bags completely full. Hence, 11 people had either a bear canister or a dromedary bag and two people had various other group gear. I took one of the bear canisters, since they were really bulky. After repacking and eating a lunch of tortillas with peanut butter, sunflower seeds, and dried apricots, we hit the trail again at 12:30pm.
My knee was hurting, so I opted to trail the group. Keith went first, and Emily hung in the middle of the group. Our group divided pretty quickly, with 6 people staying close to Keith, 3 people staying with Emily, and JT and I dragging at the rear. JT had a pack that was too heavy for him, and I was really dragging energy-wise and kept feeling like I was going to throw up. We drug ourselves up the mountain, continuously falling further behind the group. I felt really embarrassed to be physically performing so poorly on a trip that I was guiding. How can you take care of the group if you can not even take care of yourself? Doubts continued to wash over me as I made my way up the mountain. Eventually, when we were somewhat near the top of the mountain (perhaps 0.5 miles from Pine Top camp), we saw Manuel and Keith coming down the trail with just day packs. They had come to make sure we were okay, and to carry our packs the rest of the way. Although I felt really embarrassed to take Keith's offer to carry my bag, I took the offer to get to camp quicker. It was super embarrassing, but I also felt so thankful for the assistance.
Once at camp, lots of people greeted us. Some people gave JT a chair when he arrived and made sure he had water and food. Others helped me set up our tent. Everyone really rallied around us - which was great to see, but I really felt like I let the group down by struggling so much. Emily, Keith, Ashley, and Kat took the lead on cooking dinner (which let me rest, but also made me feel even more useless). I really could not force myself to eat much of the quinoa and vegetables dinner, as it really did not seem appetizing to me (although everyone else seemed to like it).
We opted to sleep in a bit Saturday morning - waking at 7am, waking the participants at 7:30am, and hitting the trail for a day hike at 9:00am. Breakfast was more involved, as we cooked frozen hash-browns with sausage. It was delicious, but not very plentiful. The group as a whole decided to do the 9.3 mile loop on the Bush Mountain, Blue Ridge, and Tejas trails. Although long, we figured it would not be too strenuous with just day packs and we were all excited about the prospect of seeing the northern side of the park and different terrain.
I decided to take the lead on this hike along with Manuel. From looking at my topographic map, I could tell the first 2.5 miles of the hike would have us gain a bit of elevation as we hiked to the summit of Bush Mountain (8631 feet). The trail was a bit rough, and certainly went up and down rather frequently. But we made decent time, and got to the Bush Mountain summit. The trail between Bush Mountain and the Blue Ridge camp was a hiker-only trail and was pretty narrow and rough at points. I got stabbed pretty deeply by a yucca plant at some point during this hike, and soon realized that my pants were quickly becoming drenched with blood from the puncture wound. I found a part of the trail where I could step to the side and wait for Emily to come by with the first-aid kit, and then cleaned up the wound and the blood. It was amazing how much such a small puncture had bleed!
We stopped for lunch near the Blue Ridge back-country camp site. Lunch was tortillas with peanut butter, jelly, and chocolate chips as well as trail mix and jerky. None of this seemed very appetizing, so I ate a peanut butter tortilla and a bit of jerky. I knew that this being the third meal where I had ate very little likely accounted for my low energy, but I really could not force myself to eat anything else.
After lunch, we continued onward but my right knee became extremely painful and difficult to move. At one point I was unable to bend it at all without serious pain. I took Advil, and that seemed to help. But I was lagging pretty far behind the group at this point. The group decided to split near the Tejas camp, with 6 people opting to take a longer hike on the Juniper and Bowl trails to Hunter's Peak with Manuel. Keith, Emily, and I were all drained and opted to go with the rest of the group on the Tejas trail back towards camp as planned. Our group all seemed pretty tired and sore on this last bit of the hike. We pushed through though, and then Keith and JT opted to go to Hunter's Peak once we got to the trail junction by camp. Emily and I took the rest of the very tired group back to camp, and decided to start dinner in about 75 minutes at 5:15pm.
Dinner was pasta with peas, chicken, and spices. The first pot finished cooking shortly after most of the group had returned from Hunter's Peak. I was actually really hungry, but there was not really enough food go around, so it was yet another small meal for me. Emily and I really under-estimated how much food our group would want to eat for dinners!
We opted to wake at 5am on Sunday, wake the participants at 5:30am, eat a quick breakfast, and then leave camp by 7am. Our goal in doing this was to avoid having to drive late at night, especially since we only had three drivers for two vehicles and we were all accustomed to going to sleep around 7pm Mountain time. We successfully left the camp around 6:50am on Sunday morning. Since my knee was tender, and I go slow on downhills, Emily led the group downhill with Keith hanging in the middle of the group and me trailing. I made it to the trailhead by 9:55am, and was actually hindered not by my own speed but by the speed of a participant who had painful ankles. We left the park at 10:30am after changing clothing and stopping by the visitor center.
We drove back through Pecos to Fort Stockton. This gave us less time on I-10 and more time on highways with high speed limits. Some of these highways were a bit rough though, and required passing trucks on two-lane roads. I'm not very experienced at passing on two-lane roads, so doing so at high-speeds on unfamiliar roads was a bit stressful for me. But I think I did great. We stopped at a truck stop in Pecos for lunch, and then pushed to Ozona for gas. I finally stopped driving in Fredericksburg, and chilled in Emily's car for the rest of the trip.
Once we got back to the Outdoor Center, we hung the tents and sleeping bags and turned as much gear as possible. We looked over the participant evaluation sheets, but did not debrief the trip since Ashley and Manuel were hanging around and I think Emily was tired. I think the trip went very well, and the participant evaluations were pretty positive, but I feel a bit nervous about how Emily perceived my guiding abilities. I think my leadership as a guide is growing nicely, and coming along as it should. I'm slowly gaining more confidence and finding my voice. And I feel like my soft-skills as a guide are developing - I'm getting better at interacting with participants and perceiving when they are unhappy or not feeling well. And I know my trip planning abilities are strong. However, I feel like I failed on this trip at being physically capable. I know I'm probably my worst critic, and you do not always have to be at the top of your game (and that recognizing that is valuable), but I do think I was physically suffering more than a guide should be.
Random notes:
Emily was amazed by how few hikers we saw on trails besides the Guadalupe Peak trail. It is true that the park really is not visited and hiked nearly as much as it should be - and most people that do visit stick to the Guadalupe Peak trail. It was really neat to hike other high-country trails and get to see other parts of the park. The Saturday hike in the high-country was very scenic!
After seeing Emily's bandana on the Lake Georgetown trip, guessing what it was for, and then googling, I tried out a pee bandana this trip. I can see why some people would think it is gross, but I think it is better than (1) using and carrying out toilet paper or (2) trying to drip dry. It worked well, and will become a staple on my future outdoor trips.
It is important to bring lots of personal ibuprofen. I figured that since I'd be carrying the first-aid kit, that I didn't need to bring my own supply. But the first-aid kit ran out, and I had to get ibuprofen from various participants throughout the trip each time my knee grew unbearably painful.
I found it strange and difficult to guide a trip with JT as a participant. Emily had warned me that it might hard to balance/handle, and it really was at points. JT really struggled on the trip, and did not seem to enjoy himself, which made it more stressful for me to juggle making him happy and taking care of the group like I needed to as a guide. Perhaps on a less strenuous trip it might work better.
Overall, it was a great trip. I certainly think it could be run against next year. And I think the itinerary was just about perfect. I just need to figure out (1) how to keep my right knee happy and (2) how to get into better backpacking shape.
I led the pre-trip meeting on Thursday 11/20. During this meeting we explained the trip details, and what the participants would need to bring. At this point, the weather forecast looked pretty brutal, with most nights expected to drip into the 20s in the mountains. We also handed out rental backpacks, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, and headlamps to everyone who needed them.
Emily and I worked from 1pm to 5:30pm on Tuesday 11/25 to complete the food buy, repackage the food, pull the group gear, and pack everything.
We met at 5:45am on Wednesday 11/26, and all 13 of us left campus around 6am as planned. We stopped in Ozona for gas and Fort Stockton for a Pizza Hut buffet lunch before heading to Van Horn for a final fuel up. Manuel took over driving my Suburban in Van Horn. We arrived at Guadalupe Mountains National Park around 3pm Mountain Time, and went to the visitor's center to pay our entrance fees and obtain our back-country permits. I had planned four different itineraries in case obtaining particular back-country sites was difficult, but we easily obtained permits for our first choice itinerary. Although we had 13 in our group, we decided to only report having 12 people in order to only take up 3 back-country sites at each back-country camp ground (since park regulations require a site for each four people).
Hence, our itinerary ended up being:
Wednesday (2.3 miles): leave GRE 6am, drive to GMNP, obtain back-country permits, hike 2.3 miles on Smith Springs trail, overnight at Pine Springs (reserved group camp site)
Thursday (4 miles + 2 miles): Backpack 4 miles from Pine Springs camp (elevation 5822 ft) to Guadalupe Peak camp (elevation 8160 ft), set up camp, hike 1 mile to Guadalupe Peak (elevation 8751 ft), hike 1 mile back to Guadalupe Peak camp, overnight at Guadalupe Peak camp
Friday (3.1 miles + 3.9 miles): Backpack 3.1 miles from Guadalupe Peak camp (elevation 8160 ft) to Pine Springs camp (elevation 5822 ft), drop trash, pick up water and supplies, backpack 3.9 miles from Pine Springs camp (elevation 5822 ft) to Pine Top camp (elevation 8081 ft), overnight at Pine Top camp
Saturday (9.3 miles + optional 2.0-2.9 miles) : Day hike on Bush Mountain Trail to Blue Ridge Trail to Tejas Trail, with optional extension to Hunter's Peak via the Juniper Trail and Bowl Trail, overnight at Pine Top camp
Sunday (3.9 miles): Backpack 3.9 miles from Pine Top camp (elevation 8081 ft) to Pine Springs camp (elevation 5822 ft), drive back to Austin
After getting our permits, we realized that if we set up camp quickly, we could go hike the nearby Smith Springs trail before sunset. I was worried about the gate being locked at the end of our hike (especially since the gate only had an 8am opening time, but no closing time, marked on it), so I pushed our pace throughout the hike. The hike was also a bit rockier and rougher than some of the group imagined, as most of us did not change out of our car clothes and shoes for the hike. We finished shortly before sunset and the gate was fortunately not locked when we left. After the hike we cooked chicken noodle soup, tomato soup, grilled cheese, and crackers for dinner at our Pine Springs group spot. We ran out of bread too quickly though, and it also took a long time to toast sandwiches with only one small skillet. It was good that we reserved the group site though, as the entire camp ground seemed to be full by the time we were cooking dinner.
After dinner Emily, Keith and I had a guides meeting to discuss the next day. We decided to wake at 6am, wake the participants at 6:30am, serve breakfast at 7am, and try to hit the trail by 9am. We opted to skip the Devil's Hall trail, which would have added 2 miles to Thursday's hike. Then Emily and I met without Keith and she encouraged me to speak up more with my ideas and not be afraid to be wrong. After all, it's my trip - I did most of the planning so I know the trip better than anyone. I tried to take this to heart for the rest of the trip.
The first night was pretty cold. It got close to freezing in the Pine Springs camp ground, which made deciding to sleep without the rain fly on the tent a bad idea. It wasn't terrible, but I did wake up many times due to the cold. I began getting ready around 5:50am, and worked with Emily and Keith to prepare our bagels (half were pumpkin flavor!), yoghurt, and granola breakfast. We packed our food for our next lunch, dinner, and breakfast into 3 bear canisters, filled 7 dromedary bags half-way, and divided the group gear into 13 piles. Then we instructed everyone to select a pile and pack that gear into their pack. I ended up with a half-full dromedary bag and a first-aid kit. I also carried a topographic map and our trip discontinuance forms (in case anyone decided during the hike that they did not want to continue).
We left camp around 8:45am, but we probably did not leave the trail head until 9:15am. A ranger checked our back-country permits in the parking lot before we began. I signed us in on the hiker log, and then led the group up the 4 mile trail to the Guadalupe Peak back-country camp site. We opted to take the horse trail up, which added 0.9 miles but climbed less drastically. I'm not sure whether this was actually a good idea - if I did this backpacking trip again I might consider taking the hiker trail up (although it is much more brutal - most people say the first mile is the worst). I tried to take a moderate pace up the mountain, only stopping when I was really out of breath. The group as a whole was really strong, and many probably did not need as many breaks as I did. Emily said I set a good pace though.
We reached the Guadalupe Peak back-country site around 12:45pm. One couple had just finished setting up their site, so we claimed the three sites around theirs. We opted to eat our lunch of hummus, pitas, and sun-dried tomatoes before setting up our tents. We decided to leave for the 1 mile hike to the peak at 2:30pm, so most people rested after setting up their tents. Our group had five tents for 13 people - 3 3-person tents and 2 2-person tents. People moved slowly when it was time to leave for the peak, so we did not actually end up leaving until 2:45pm.
The outside of my knee was still hurting from the morning hike up, so I had Keith lead the hike to the peak and I went last. The climb to the peak was difficult for me because my knee was hurting and I constantly felt out of breath. However, it was worth it! Everyone enjoyed taking pictures and exploring. Since it was windy and cold, we opted to hike down before sunset. My knee was seriously hurting, so I lagged behind the group on the way back to camp. Once JT and I returned to camp, we found that a group of 3 people had unstaked our tent and was claiming that our group had taken too many sites! I told them to go check our permit (hanging from Emily's tent). They knew that there were five campsites, but instead of trying to find the fifth site they had instead decided that we had too many spots. As I found out later, they had also confronted Keith when he arrived back to camp and Keith had found the fifth site for them (yet they still claimed when we found them at our site that they did not know where the fifth site was). In general, it was a frustrating experience, but I think Keith and I handled it correctly. Most of the time the people you meet in the back-country are good people, so it was particularly surprising to run into these incredibly rude people.
Emily and I made our Thanksgiving dinner shortly after sunset. Emily manned the potatoes, while I made the stuffing and then grilled the turkey spam. We also had some dried cranberries for toppings. We were all surprised at how delicious our Thanksgiving dinner was! Certainly a Thanksgiving to remember between climbing Guadalupe Peak and having a great Thanksgiving-themed backpacking meal. We all retired pretty early after finishing dinner - partly to stay warm and partly because we were tired.
Friday morning Emily, Keith, and I opted for waking again at 6am, waking the participants at 6:30am, serving breakfast at 7am, and trying to hit the trail by 8:30am. Friday's breakfast consisted of oatmeal and toppings. We successfully left camp by 8:30am, and all of us reached the parking lot by 11am. Since Emily likes downhill hikes and my right knee was still pretty painful, Emily led downhill and I trailed. We gave ourselves 90 minutes to repack and redistribute group and personal gear before heading back into the mountains. Since we were now packing for two nights, we prepared four bear canisters with food and filled 7 dromedary bags completely full. Hence, 11 people had either a bear canister or a dromedary bag and two people had various other group gear. I took one of the bear canisters, since they were really bulky. After repacking and eating a lunch of tortillas with peanut butter, sunflower seeds, and dried apricots, we hit the trail again at 12:30pm.
My knee was hurting, so I opted to trail the group. Keith went first, and Emily hung in the middle of the group. Our group divided pretty quickly, with 6 people staying close to Keith, 3 people staying with Emily, and JT and I dragging at the rear. JT had a pack that was too heavy for him, and I was really dragging energy-wise and kept feeling like I was going to throw up. We drug ourselves up the mountain, continuously falling further behind the group. I felt really embarrassed to be physically performing so poorly on a trip that I was guiding. How can you take care of the group if you can not even take care of yourself? Doubts continued to wash over me as I made my way up the mountain. Eventually, when we were somewhat near the top of the mountain (perhaps 0.5 miles from Pine Top camp), we saw Manuel and Keith coming down the trail with just day packs. They had come to make sure we were okay, and to carry our packs the rest of the way. Although I felt really embarrassed to take Keith's offer to carry my bag, I took the offer to get to camp quicker. It was super embarrassing, but I also felt so thankful for the assistance.
Once at camp, lots of people greeted us. Some people gave JT a chair when he arrived and made sure he had water and food. Others helped me set up our tent. Everyone really rallied around us - which was great to see, but I really felt like I let the group down by struggling so much. Emily, Keith, Ashley, and Kat took the lead on cooking dinner (which let me rest, but also made me feel even more useless). I really could not force myself to eat much of the quinoa and vegetables dinner, as it really did not seem appetizing to me (although everyone else seemed to like it).
We opted to sleep in a bit Saturday morning - waking at 7am, waking the participants at 7:30am, and hitting the trail for a day hike at 9:00am. Breakfast was more involved, as we cooked frozen hash-browns with sausage. It was delicious, but not very plentiful. The group as a whole decided to do the 9.3 mile loop on the Bush Mountain, Blue Ridge, and Tejas trails. Although long, we figured it would not be too strenuous with just day packs and we were all excited about the prospect of seeing the northern side of the park and different terrain.
I decided to take the lead on this hike along with Manuel. From looking at my topographic map, I could tell the first 2.5 miles of the hike would have us gain a bit of elevation as we hiked to the summit of Bush Mountain (8631 feet). The trail was a bit rough, and certainly went up and down rather frequently. But we made decent time, and got to the Bush Mountain summit. The trail between Bush Mountain and the Blue Ridge camp was a hiker-only trail and was pretty narrow and rough at points. I got stabbed pretty deeply by a yucca plant at some point during this hike, and soon realized that my pants were quickly becoming drenched with blood from the puncture wound. I found a part of the trail where I could step to the side and wait for Emily to come by with the first-aid kit, and then cleaned up the wound and the blood. It was amazing how much such a small puncture had bleed!
We stopped for lunch near the Blue Ridge back-country camp site. Lunch was tortillas with peanut butter, jelly, and chocolate chips as well as trail mix and jerky. None of this seemed very appetizing, so I ate a peanut butter tortilla and a bit of jerky. I knew that this being the third meal where I had ate very little likely accounted for my low energy, but I really could not force myself to eat anything else.
After lunch, we continued onward but my right knee became extremely painful and difficult to move. At one point I was unable to bend it at all without serious pain. I took Advil, and that seemed to help. But I was lagging pretty far behind the group at this point. The group decided to split near the Tejas camp, with 6 people opting to take a longer hike on the Juniper and Bowl trails to Hunter's Peak with Manuel. Keith, Emily, and I were all drained and opted to go with the rest of the group on the Tejas trail back towards camp as planned. Our group all seemed pretty tired and sore on this last bit of the hike. We pushed through though, and then Keith and JT opted to go to Hunter's Peak once we got to the trail junction by camp. Emily and I took the rest of the very tired group back to camp, and decided to start dinner in about 75 minutes at 5:15pm.
Dinner was pasta with peas, chicken, and spices. The first pot finished cooking shortly after most of the group had returned from Hunter's Peak. I was actually really hungry, but there was not really enough food go around, so it was yet another small meal for me. Emily and I really under-estimated how much food our group would want to eat for dinners!
We opted to wake at 5am on Sunday, wake the participants at 5:30am, eat a quick breakfast, and then leave camp by 7am. Our goal in doing this was to avoid having to drive late at night, especially since we only had three drivers for two vehicles and we were all accustomed to going to sleep around 7pm Mountain time. We successfully left the camp around 6:50am on Sunday morning. Since my knee was tender, and I go slow on downhills, Emily led the group downhill with Keith hanging in the middle of the group and me trailing. I made it to the trailhead by 9:55am, and was actually hindered not by my own speed but by the speed of a participant who had painful ankles. We left the park at 10:30am after changing clothing and stopping by the visitor center.
We drove back through Pecos to Fort Stockton. This gave us less time on I-10 and more time on highways with high speed limits. Some of these highways were a bit rough though, and required passing trucks on two-lane roads. I'm not very experienced at passing on two-lane roads, so doing so at high-speeds on unfamiliar roads was a bit stressful for me. But I think I did great. We stopped at a truck stop in Pecos for lunch, and then pushed to Ozona for gas. I finally stopped driving in Fredericksburg, and chilled in Emily's car for the rest of the trip.
Once we got back to the Outdoor Center, we hung the tents and sleeping bags and turned as much gear as possible. We looked over the participant evaluation sheets, but did not debrief the trip since Ashley and Manuel were hanging around and I think Emily was tired. I think the trip went very well, and the participant evaluations were pretty positive, but I feel a bit nervous about how Emily perceived my guiding abilities. I think my leadership as a guide is growing nicely, and coming along as it should. I'm slowly gaining more confidence and finding my voice. And I feel like my soft-skills as a guide are developing - I'm getting better at interacting with participants and perceiving when they are unhappy or not feeling well. And I know my trip planning abilities are strong. However, I feel like I failed on this trip at being physically capable. I know I'm probably my worst critic, and you do not always have to be at the top of your game (and that recognizing that is valuable), but I do think I was physically suffering more than a guide should be.
Random notes:
Emily was amazed by how few hikers we saw on trails besides the Guadalupe Peak trail. It is true that the park really is not visited and hiked nearly as much as it should be - and most people that do visit stick to the Guadalupe Peak trail. It was really neat to hike other high-country trails and get to see other parts of the park. The Saturday hike in the high-country was very scenic!
After seeing Emily's bandana on the Lake Georgetown trip, guessing what it was for, and then googling, I tried out a pee bandana this trip. I can see why some people would think it is gross, but I think it is better than (1) using and carrying out toilet paper or (2) trying to drip dry. It worked well, and will become a staple on my future outdoor trips.
It is important to bring lots of personal ibuprofen. I figured that since I'd be carrying the first-aid kit, that I didn't need to bring my own supply. But the first-aid kit ran out, and I had to get ibuprofen from various participants throughout the trip each time my knee grew unbearably painful.
I found it strange and difficult to guide a trip with JT as a participant. Emily had warned me that it might hard to balance/handle, and it really was at points. JT really struggled on the trip, and did not seem to enjoy himself, which made it more stressful for me to juggle making him happy and taking care of the group like I needed to as a guide. Perhaps on a less strenuous trip it might work better.
Overall, it was a great trip. I certainly think it could be run against next year. And I think the itinerary was just about perfect. I just need to figure out (1) how to keep my right knee happy and (2) how to get into better backpacking shape.
El Capitan and Guadalupe Peak from US 62/180
On Guadalupe Peak with El Capitan in the background
On Guadalupe Peak
Our group on Guadalupe Peak
Preparing to hike down on Sunday
Sunday morning from near Pine Top camp
From the Tejas trail on Sunday
Part way down the Tejas trail on Sunday
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Backpacking Lake Georgetown
This weekend Emily and I led a backpacking trip on 16.5 miles of the Goodwater Loop of the San Gabriel River Trail.
Goodwater Trail map, Austin Explorer description, download all photos
We had asked the participants to arrive between 3pm and 3:30pm, with the goal of leaving at 4pm. Hence, I arrived at the Outdoor Center at 2pm to repackage and split up gear with Emily. It was like a guide school reunion in the outdoor center! I saw and talked to Chris, Sean, Tommy, Tessa, Hannah, Manuel, Ellie, and probably more - truly great to see everyone! We prepped everything, including cutting up all the veggies and cheese to avoid taking cutting boards and knives and preparing little bags of snacks (granola bars and fruit gummies) that everyone could eat whenever they felt like it. We put some tent parts in each of the gear piles so that groups could then evenly split up tents between their occupants after the first night. I opted for one of the heavy piles with a rainfly, ground cover, dromedary bag (6L / 14lb), oatmeal, and water filter.
We originally had 10 participants, but one girl did not show up and when Emily called her she said she decided not to go, so we ended up only having 9 participants. This required Emily and I, as well as two other participants, to share what the girl who cancelled should have carried.
We left campus around 4pm on Friday and made it to the Russell Park trailhead around 5:15pm. We left the participants to eat their dinners in the campground near the trailhead while Emily and I drove a shuttle car to the Cedar Breaks trailhead.
Once back at Russell Park, we waited for the participants to return from eating their dinner and then we hit the trail. It was a quick 1.5 mile hike to Walnut Spring Camp. My pack was pretty heavy, which was not a problem for the short, flat hike - but made me realize just how rough Saturday might be.
Once at camp, I picked a site (there were 3-4 to choose from) and then did a tent set-up demo with Emily. I wanted to incorporate this because (1) you can show the participants how to set up a tent, which decreases frustration and makes them capable of setting-up and taking-down their own tents and (2) you can give a quick LNT talk on picking appropriate camp sites. Emily and I took the tent from the demo, and set-up our sleeping pads and bags in our tent while the participants set up their tents. Then we started some water boiling for tea/coffee/ect and got out the snacks allocated for Friday night (pre-cut cheese, crackers, jerky). Then Emily gave her '6 Ds of Dumping' talk for how to appropriately poop in the backcountry.
Everyone opted to retire to their tents around 9:30pm, mainly for warmth. The plan was for Emily and I to wake at 7am and then for us to wake everyone else at 7:30am after heating up some water. I awoke at 6:30am to gunshots, presumably from nearby hunters. Our trail ventured into some hunting area, and we were camping near the hunting area. I wanted to nestle deeper into my sleeping bag, but I heard many of the participants up and about, so I decided to get up and help Emily get water started. I learned on this trip that the idea is to get out of your tent ASAP and start water and then go back to your tent and prepare for the day while it is heating up. Unfortunately for us, Emily had connected a gas tank to a stove with a broken connector, so the stove would not connect but would also not disconnect - and was spilling gas and fumes everywhere as we tried to disconnect it. To make matters worse, the gas spilling everywhere was extremely cold. Emily finally took it far away and broke it apart completely in order to stop the spillage.
For breakfast we had oatmeal with dried fruit and brown sugar. We bought (and thought we packed) enough oatmeal for everyone to have two packets each morning. However, it became obvious quickly that we had much less oatmeal than we had planned. At the end of breakfast we only had 6 packets left!
At 7:40am we decided to aim to leave camp at 9am. We packed up camp and then I went down to the lake to explore while the participants finished packing their tents and personal gear. The lake was pretty cool in the morning with fog rising from the lake and all of the dead trees sticking out of the lake.
After stretching, we hit the trail around 9am. We had an easy 4.5 mile hike from Walnut Spring camp to Tejas camp, where we ate lunch. The morning hike was relatively flat, following a jeep trail for at least 2 miles. There were splits in the trail that were only sometimes marked - I generally followed Manuel's advice to stay on the trail closer to the lake unless a clear making indicated otherwise. We reached Tejas camp around 11:15am, and we stopped at a campsite to relax a bit and eat lunch. There were also trash cans to dump trash in and a water spigot to refill our personal water containers and dromedary bags. I usually hate camping lunches, but this one was actually okay: tortillas with hummus, salmon, and dried tomatoes.
After lunch I had a bit of trouble finding the trailhead, but eventually found it. My pack was indeed heavy, and as the terrain got rockier and hillier, I really started struggling. The 6.5 mile hike from Tejas camp to Cedar Hollow camp felt so long. Some of the hills were rather steep and muddy - which is hard normally, but becomes almost impossible when you have a heavy pack. I'm guessing mine was around 55-60 pounds. The entire group seemed quiet after lunch, and I resorted to imagining songs in my head and counting repeatedly just to get my mind off of the weight. I really wanted music. I internally wanted to stop for so many breaks, but limited myself to just a few. We stopped for a long break with about 2.5 miles left before Cedar Hollow, which felt great. But we climbed a hill shortly after the break and I internally really wanted another break. And of course, all I could think during the hike was how hard Guadalupe Mountains will be. Determination, stubbornness, and mental toughness really are important when guiding - you need them to push through the challenging times.
When we reached camp, everyone was pretty tired. But Emily and I pushed onward and got our tent set-up before she napped and I wandered down to the lake to sit and relax for about 30 minutes. The lake was really pretty, and it was peaceful to just relax and reflect for a bit. Then it was time to head back to camp and get my ramen dinner started. I had forgotten the bag of spices I had prepared back in the Outdoor Center, so we opted to use the spices that came with the ramen. We added some carrots and celery to the boiling water with the ramen, and it turned out great. We cooked 11 packets, so everyone was able to eat about a packet of ramen each. We also had cashews for a topping, which I think made the meal. I was happy with how the meal turned out, and think it is a good backpacking meal.
After dinner we boiled some water for tea and then sat talking for a while. After most of the group decided to get up to watch the sunrise, Emily and I opted to retreat to our tent at 8pm. Everyone else seemed to do the same around 8:30pm.
I slept nicely, only waking up a few times. I was not thrilled when my alarm went off at 6am, and decided to reset it for 6:30am after looking outside my tent. However, as the sky grew lighter, I decided to go ahead and get up. It was pretty cold, but the fog on the lake was pretty. I waited for the sunrise until about 7am, before deciding to go boil water and start making breakfast. In the end, the sunrise did not seem to end up being that pretty because it rose behind a peninsula.
Since we only had six packets of oatmeal left, Ben, Emily and I split a packet of ramen and someone else had a tortilla with peanut butter and tuna (yuck?). Then we packed up camp, stretched, and left camp around 9am. I ended up carrying the trash bag, but my bag was so light with an empty dromedary bag that I really did not care. It's amazing how much difference the dromedary bag makes!
Our Sunday hike was just 4.5 miles. We took a few short scenic breaks, and stopped at Crockett Gardens to see the weeping rock. Then we hiked onward along a cliff-side trail with pretty views of the lake for the remainder of our trip until we neared Cedar Breaks park. Once back at the parking lot, Emily and I drove to get the other Suburban while the participants headed to the boat dock to eat lunch. After lunch, it was just a short 40 minute drive back to campus.
Once back at the Outdoor Center, everyone returned their group gear, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, and backpacks. We said goodbye to everyone, and then hung the tents, ground cloths, and rain covers to dry, hung the sleeping bags to dry, did the dishes, disinfected the sleeping pads, and essentially got everything that we could ready to be rented/used again.
All in all, it was a great trip. I have been really stressed with paper deadlines, so this was a perfect escape. I also enjoyed working with Emily, and our group was good (although quiet). We planned out our gear and food much better than on the Lost Maples trip - we took very little gear that we did not use, and we had very little food remaining at the end of the trip.
All of the girls, and some of the guys, on the trip began mentioning that their hips were sore at some point. Some of the girl's hips seemed sore to the touch even. But my hips felt fine. I wonder why I was somehow exempt from hip pain (despite my backpack certainly being one of the heavier ones due to the dromedary bag). Perhaps my backpack fit better? Or my hiking poles helped? Or I have more fat?
After a great weekend, it is time to focus on finishing up conference papers for the next week. And it is exciting and encouraging that we leave for our Guadalupe Mountains backpacking trip in about 2.5 weeks! I'm so incredibly excited!
Take-away points:
Goodwater Trail map, Austin Explorer description, download all photos
We had asked the participants to arrive between 3pm and 3:30pm, with the goal of leaving at 4pm. Hence, I arrived at the Outdoor Center at 2pm to repackage and split up gear with Emily. It was like a guide school reunion in the outdoor center! I saw and talked to Chris, Sean, Tommy, Tessa, Hannah, Manuel, Ellie, and probably more - truly great to see everyone! We prepped everything, including cutting up all the veggies and cheese to avoid taking cutting boards and knives and preparing little bags of snacks (granola bars and fruit gummies) that everyone could eat whenever they felt like it. We put some tent parts in each of the gear piles so that groups could then evenly split up tents between their occupants after the first night. I opted for one of the heavy piles with a rainfly, ground cover, dromedary bag (6L / 14lb), oatmeal, and water filter.
We originally had 10 participants, but one girl did not show up and when Emily called her she said she decided not to go, so we ended up only having 9 participants. This required Emily and I, as well as two other participants, to share what the girl who cancelled should have carried.
We left campus around 4pm on Friday and made it to the Russell Park trailhead around 5:15pm. We left the participants to eat their dinners in the campground near the trailhead while Emily and I drove a shuttle car to the Cedar Breaks trailhead.
Once back at Russell Park, we waited for the participants to return from eating their dinner and then we hit the trail. It was a quick 1.5 mile hike to Walnut Spring Camp. My pack was pretty heavy, which was not a problem for the short, flat hike - but made me realize just how rough Saturday might be.
Once at camp, I picked a site (there were 3-4 to choose from) and then did a tent set-up demo with Emily. I wanted to incorporate this because (1) you can show the participants how to set up a tent, which decreases frustration and makes them capable of setting-up and taking-down their own tents and (2) you can give a quick LNT talk on picking appropriate camp sites. Emily and I took the tent from the demo, and set-up our sleeping pads and bags in our tent while the participants set up their tents. Then we started some water boiling for tea/coffee/ect and got out the snacks allocated for Friday night (pre-cut cheese, crackers, jerky). Then Emily gave her '6 Ds of Dumping' talk for how to appropriately poop in the backcountry.
Everyone opted to retire to their tents around 9:30pm, mainly for warmth. The plan was for Emily and I to wake at 7am and then for us to wake everyone else at 7:30am after heating up some water. I awoke at 6:30am to gunshots, presumably from nearby hunters. Our trail ventured into some hunting area, and we were camping near the hunting area. I wanted to nestle deeper into my sleeping bag, but I heard many of the participants up and about, so I decided to get up and help Emily get water started. I learned on this trip that the idea is to get out of your tent ASAP and start water and then go back to your tent and prepare for the day while it is heating up. Unfortunately for us, Emily had connected a gas tank to a stove with a broken connector, so the stove would not connect but would also not disconnect - and was spilling gas and fumes everywhere as we tried to disconnect it. To make matters worse, the gas spilling everywhere was extremely cold. Emily finally took it far away and broke it apart completely in order to stop the spillage.
For breakfast we had oatmeal with dried fruit and brown sugar. We bought (and thought we packed) enough oatmeal for everyone to have two packets each morning. However, it became obvious quickly that we had much less oatmeal than we had planned. At the end of breakfast we only had 6 packets left!
At 7:40am we decided to aim to leave camp at 9am. We packed up camp and then I went down to the lake to explore while the participants finished packing their tents and personal gear. The lake was pretty cool in the morning with fog rising from the lake and all of the dead trees sticking out of the lake.
After stretching, we hit the trail around 9am. We had an easy 4.5 mile hike from Walnut Spring camp to Tejas camp, where we ate lunch. The morning hike was relatively flat, following a jeep trail for at least 2 miles. There were splits in the trail that were only sometimes marked - I generally followed Manuel's advice to stay on the trail closer to the lake unless a clear making indicated otherwise. We reached Tejas camp around 11:15am, and we stopped at a campsite to relax a bit and eat lunch. There were also trash cans to dump trash in and a water spigot to refill our personal water containers and dromedary bags. I usually hate camping lunches, but this one was actually okay: tortillas with hummus, salmon, and dried tomatoes.
After lunch I had a bit of trouble finding the trailhead, but eventually found it. My pack was indeed heavy, and as the terrain got rockier and hillier, I really started struggling. The 6.5 mile hike from Tejas camp to Cedar Hollow camp felt so long. Some of the hills were rather steep and muddy - which is hard normally, but becomes almost impossible when you have a heavy pack. I'm guessing mine was around 55-60 pounds. The entire group seemed quiet after lunch, and I resorted to imagining songs in my head and counting repeatedly just to get my mind off of the weight. I really wanted music. I internally wanted to stop for so many breaks, but limited myself to just a few. We stopped for a long break with about 2.5 miles left before Cedar Hollow, which felt great. But we climbed a hill shortly after the break and I internally really wanted another break. And of course, all I could think during the hike was how hard Guadalupe Mountains will be. Determination, stubbornness, and mental toughness really are important when guiding - you need them to push through the challenging times.
When we reached camp, everyone was pretty tired. But Emily and I pushed onward and got our tent set-up before she napped and I wandered down to the lake to sit and relax for about 30 minutes. The lake was really pretty, and it was peaceful to just relax and reflect for a bit. Then it was time to head back to camp and get my ramen dinner started. I had forgotten the bag of spices I had prepared back in the Outdoor Center, so we opted to use the spices that came with the ramen. We added some carrots and celery to the boiling water with the ramen, and it turned out great. We cooked 11 packets, so everyone was able to eat about a packet of ramen each. We also had cashews for a topping, which I think made the meal. I was happy with how the meal turned out, and think it is a good backpacking meal.
After dinner we boiled some water for tea and then sat talking for a while. After most of the group decided to get up to watch the sunrise, Emily and I opted to retreat to our tent at 8pm. Everyone else seemed to do the same around 8:30pm.
I slept nicely, only waking up a few times. I was not thrilled when my alarm went off at 6am, and decided to reset it for 6:30am after looking outside my tent. However, as the sky grew lighter, I decided to go ahead and get up. It was pretty cold, but the fog on the lake was pretty. I waited for the sunrise until about 7am, before deciding to go boil water and start making breakfast. In the end, the sunrise did not seem to end up being that pretty because it rose behind a peninsula.
Since we only had six packets of oatmeal left, Ben, Emily and I split a packet of ramen and someone else had a tortilla with peanut butter and tuna (yuck?). Then we packed up camp, stretched, and left camp around 9am. I ended up carrying the trash bag, but my bag was so light with an empty dromedary bag that I really did not care. It's amazing how much difference the dromedary bag makes!
Our Sunday hike was just 4.5 miles. We took a few short scenic breaks, and stopped at Crockett Gardens to see the weeping rock. Then we hiked onward along a cliff-side trail with pretty views of the lake for the remainder of our trip until we neared Cedar Breaks park. Once back at the parking lot, Emily and I drove to get the other Suburban while the participants headed to the boat dock to eat lunch. After lunch, it was just a short 40 minute drive back to campus.
Once back at the Outdoor Center, everyone returned their group gear, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, and backpacks. We said goodbye to everyone, and then hung the tents, ground cloths, and rain covers to dry, hung the sleeping bags to dry, did the dishes, disinfected the sleeping pads, and essentially got everything that we could ready to be rented/used again.
All in all, it was a great trip. I have been really stressed with paper deadlines, so this was a perfect escape. I also enjoyed working with Emily, and our group was good (although quiet). We planned out our gear and food much better than on the Lost Maples trip - we took very little gear that we did not use, and we had very little food remaining at the end of the trip.
All of the girls, and some of the guys, on the trip began mentioning that their hips were sore at some point. Some of the girl's hips seemed sore to the touch even. But my hips felt fine. I wonder why I was somehow exempt from hip pain (despite my backpack certainly being one of the heavier ones due to the dromedary bag). Perhaps my backpack fit better? Or my hiking poles helped? Or I have more fat?
After a great weekend, it is time to focus on finishing up conference papers for the next week. And it is exciting and encouraging that we leave for our Guadalupe Mountains backpacking trip in about 2.5 weeks! I'm so incredibly excited!
Take-away points:
- Ramen is a good backpacking meal. Cooked carrots and celery worked well, as did the cashew toppings. The included flavor packets were fine.
- Tortillas with peanut butter and/or hummus work well. Meat (chicken/tuna/salmon) work well but is somewhat smelly. I wonder if there is a better option for meat? Perhaps tofu?
- I still need to find a good balance between making good time and stopping for breaks when leading. And why is it that when I stop for a scenic break, a better view always happens to be further ahead?
Morning at Walnut Spring Camp
Our group + Emily near Tejas Camp
Climbing one of the steep hills shortly after leaving Tejas Camp
Morning at Cedar Hollow Camp
The view from our Cedar Hollow site
Lake Georgetown at Cedar Hollow Camp
The sole of one of my boots became almost completely unattached and had to be removed :(
My pack on day 3, with the group trash on top
Our group + Emily at Crockett Gardens
The group returning from the side hike to Crockett Gardens
Pretty view of Lake Georgetown as we neared Cedar Breaks trailhead
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