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Surly official camping and backpacking thread


Chuychanga

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So fires in Idaho, specifically the Wapita Fire, is causing the evacuation of Grand Jean and Stanley. This pretty much puts our destination area exactly in the middle. I think the trail is on fire or at least in a sever warning. They canceled our reservations at Stanley Lake, reserved as back up if someone had to bail or if we stayed for one more night after exiting.

Soooooooooo. Four of us have flights to Boise, ID, in exactly 2 weeks. Yes, we will watch the Michigan game, but after that, it's probably going to be a major pivot.

There's probably stuff near Boise not on fire. That Oregon link may come in super handy @Biff Tannen. Yellowstone is 5 1/2 hours away, but we are not tourist. We want to do through hikes or day pack from a base camp. The Enchantments are 7 1/2 hours away. Hear they are amazeballs but their reservation system is nuts and long gone and don't know if they reserve some passes for walk up requests. I'm seeing Hell's Canyon/Snake River and the Seven Devil's Mountain Range which seems to be the States' dividing line, but we are not experienced now prepared for kayaking.

Anyone have any thoughts? Maybe the fire will go out and we can hike a Mars landscape. But the fire started in late July and is 10% contained.

Sooooooo, Hook'em.

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On 8/24/2024 at 12:21 PM, Biff Tannen said:

Can you get to the Winds?  That is always a crown jewel for hikers. No idea if there’s a permit system though. 

That looks epic. Minimal training this year (once again) and need better/lighter gear.

This year is my friend's pick. We are up to 4 us. He picked Idaho because of the minimal thinking/planning/permits involved. Had to call an audible last minute because of fires near Stanley Lake.

We are going to make a loop out of this trail. The further on trails might not be heavily traveled. We'll see, or not be able to see. It's near the Idaho/Wyoming border. Might be able to see the Teton's from Palisade Peak.

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/idaho/upper-palisades-lake-trail

 

 

 

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2 minutes ago, JohnnyRage said:

That looks epic. Minimal training this year (once again) and need better/lighter gear.

This year is my friend's pick. We are up to 4 us. He picked Idaho because of the minimal thinking/planning/permits involved. Had to call an audible last minute because of fires near Stanley Lake.

We are going to make a loop out of this trail. The further on trails might not be heavily traveled. We'll see, or not be able to see. It's near the Idaho/Wyoming border. Might be able to see the Teton's from Palisade Peak.

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/idaho/upper-palisades-lake-trail

 

 

 

Fuck yeah, beautiful. 

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  • 2 months later...

Still 2024 sliding under the closing wall grabs hat…

Not the best of pics, more lazy access. We ended up bailing on the loop plans after ascending Pallisade Peak. Made the classic mistake of ditching the winding summit trail versus “it really doesn’t look that far if we just go straight up". Handy friend was puking, macho friend turned around, most durable friend ended the night with debilitating leg cramps. I didn’t die, so…I was right.

Spent two more wonderful days at Upper Pallisades Lake around a campsite campfire. Caught an awesome waterfall on the drive out, then Civil Defense Cave near Idaho Falls, and visited Craters Of The Moon National Park on the way back to Boise. That park was a dud except for one lava tube cave that made it completely worth it.
 

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Edited by JohnnyRage
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4 hours ago, tomahawk dunk said:

What plans does anyone have for this year?  I’m going to try to get to Europe to do the Camino Norte and Kungsleden.  Had planned to do them last year but couldn’t pull it off.

I’m going back out to the PCT in July and doing another week NoBo I think. Maybe I-80 to Sierra City or Belden. Would like to get to the Chicago Basin in Colorado too, maybe in September or so. 
 

New Zealand coming up in January, but that will just be some day hikes. Still will be epic. 

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On 12/31/2024 at 7:02 PM, Biff Tannen said:

Colorado Bend overnight a couple of weeks ago.  My tent in the last photo is the small orange one.  Green one were some interlopers I had to send to their correct tent site.   

 

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Ah. The old $30 Ozark Trail Tent.  I suppose anything that gets them out on the trail is a good thing.

Not so sure on what you have  though.  Looks a bit like my Copper Spur, but the fly doesn't look exactly right.

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1 hour ago, TexasHooch said:

Ah. The old $30 Ozark Trail Tent.  I suppose anything that gets them out on the trail is a good thing.

Not so sure on what you have  though.  Looks a bit like my Copper Spur, but the fly doesn't look exactly right.

Copper Spur HV UL1. 2019 version. 

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On 1/3/2025 at 10:55 PM, JohnnyRage said:

Yosemite for this year's September trip. My first time to California.

I went in August. If you didn’t get the prime campsites you were hoping for keep checking everyday when the trip gets closer.  I originally was only able to reserve a crappy site way away from the valley, but other people’s last minute cancellations open up new sites every day.  We ended up getting exactly where we wanted by checking several times a day the last 2 days before our arrival.  Those sites had all been booked up for months prior to that. 

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I went in August. If you didn’t get the prime campsites you were hoping for keep checking everyday when the trip gets closer.  I originally was only able to reserve a crappy site way away from the valley, but other people’s last minute cancellations open up new sites every day.  We ended up getting exactly where we wanted by checking several times a day the last 2 days before our arrival.  Those sites had all been booked up for months prior to that. 

Rec.gov also has availability notifications that will do this for you.

You can set up to 3 different dates/campgrounds, so you may still need to do it manually if that isn’t enough, but it’s great. I ended up not needing it, but I was seeing so many cancellations at Teton leading up to my trip last year. It would have been a breeze to get a site (I understand that Teton and Yosemite aren’t in the same league as far as difficulty of reserving a site goes) if I didn’t already have a reservation.

I have only actually camped in Yosemite once, but it was in 2016. The other time I was there I stayed at housekeeping camp, which I guess is also “camping” but it’s more expensive, so it’s easier to get.

Getting a site at the tiny Devil’s Garden campground in Arches is no joke as well, but I got lucky on that one.
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