Thanks. Still quite awhile away, but I make multiple travel options in advance due to fires almost always affecting one place or another. The northern Winds are also an option - easy to find solitude there. And of course, there are still remote bucket list destinations in the Sierras. We even get those Moab ads here on SF channels. But I've done ten day hikes in some of those canyons without encountering anyone else. The cyclist mob seems to have their own particular routes.
[QUOTE=Drew Wiley;1427509]The northern Winds are also an option - easy to find solitude there. [/QUOTE
Anyplace along the Divide between Teton National Forest and the Wind River Reservation is superb. The only problem is getting in there. I've tried several times to get into the Brown Cliffs / Alpine Lakes / The Fortress Area with no luck -- over the Divide, over Hay Pass, etc. I won't pay the ludicrous Reservation access prices. Maybe in my next life!
But my friends and I have gotten into some incredibly remote areas around there. The last time I was there -- near Green Lake -- some idiot didn't put out a campfire -- ten feet from the trail. It exploded and burned the entire sides of several mountains. The Wind Rivers are the most beautiful mountains between the Canadian Rockies and the Andes. Pretty soon there won't be any forest left in the West, so I'm glad I got out there when I could.
It's quite a drive from here, so I've never gone in through the Reservation either. Did a two-week loop two years ago in the southern section, with complete solitude half that time. Good timing for pictures too. Have done several trips in the central part, again quiet except for Elkhart Park and headed toward Titcomb Basin. Some of our canyons in the Sierra are actually a lot harder to get into than anything in the Winds, but that story of a solo hiker getting his foot trapped under a rock back around the Brown Cliffs, and slowly starving as he wrote a diary about it, is certainly poignant. I did some shortcut travel near there once, but not quite that far east.
My concept of wilderness is slowly evolving -- changing from the 60s and 70s romantic notions of wilderness being "untouched by man", towards a deeper, fuller understanding of its history. A recent good read was 1491 -- a description of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus, and all.Originally Posted by Drew Wiley
When I was managing part of a US Forest Service wilderness area (attempting to manage the human impact on said wilderness to be more precise) we took a trail out of the system (stopped maintaining it and took it off the map) in order to create a large hole in the wilderness that was trail-free. I was already maintaining 150 miles of trail -- didn't mind having 6 miles less. Back then (all of the 80s), we'd spend 10 days out in the wilderness at a time, working on the trails and maybe see 4 hikers...many times no one. And that was when I finally got all the trails and signage up to our wilderness standards...tread 16 to 18" wide, trees bucked out and trail brushed out to 3' on each side, signage at all trail junctions (and only trail junctions), springs monitored, and all that stuff. Slightly toned down from the regular standards -- taking the use and conditions in the Yolla Bolly Mtns. into consideration.
Since then, those wilderness trails have gone 25+ years without serious maintenance...and a few fires. My last few one-week backpack trips (missed last season) I have seen no one out there...and the trails are disappearing in many places. Becoming a 'wilderness' again!
"Landscapes exist in the material world yet soar in the realms of the spirit..." Tsung Ping, 5th Century China
Maybe it's the wilderness that's been evolving. It sure is different than it once was. Some wilderness areas -- such as the Maroon Bells -- require you to get a permit and then take a shuttle bus!
I'm lucky that I have a lot of old Forest Service maps, because many of the less popular trails have been removed from the new maps, due to no maintenance, due to lack of funds. The trails can still be used, of course, if you known where they are/once were. It was recently reported that half of the Park Service budget for last year went to fire fighting. You could say their budget went up in smoke.
I grew up right on the edge of a canyon rugged enough to protect itself, provided someone doesn't dam it (which has been proposed more than once). And every year, I don't feel like I've had a real break unless I can spend at least a week with no sign of human presence around - no trails, fire rings, even stone ducks or tree blazes. I have a reasonable success rate at that, though it typically involves trail use too, to get deeper in. I don't mind ancient reminders of man being there long before. I've pretty much avoided all the "freeway" trails out here, like the Muir Trail, though I've crossed enough sections of it over the years to be familiar with most of it. Trails per se are important around here on the coast during tick season. Head off through the brush and you'll get them.
Apologies if I missed it but I was trying to search through this thread about what changing bags/tents folks bring? I have a patterson bag which is very heavy but noticed the Kait bag on BH is much much lighter weight. What are folks typically using while backpacking to load the holders?
I'm going on a 5 day hike but the first/last day will be the 7 mile monsters. It'll be around Santa Fe with the days in the middle being 1-3 miles (basecamp for 2 days I believe as well). This would be my first long hike with the 4x5 (and am sort of debating if I should just bring my X-700 with a 28mm lens instead) so I was trying to see how minimal I can make the setup (hence worrying about the weight of the patterson bag).
Originally I was even thinking of bringing my MeFoto Backpacker Classic tripod. I used the TrailPix on my last hike with my Nikon N80 and it worked well enough, but my Intrepid may prove to be a bit much for it. The MeFoto is around 3.6 lbs.
Thought about bringing just 1 (maybe 2) holders knowing that I'll be having to load film more often if I do and probably just 2 boxes of film (for unexposed and exposed).
Last edited by m00dawg; 24-Feb-2018 at 10:20.
I admire you guys taking 4x5 cameras n equipment on backpacking trips. When I backpacked the ADKs and Catskills upstate NY, ultralight was the only way to go. We trimmed our winter backpacks to 25LBs, even cut the strings off the tea bags to save a gram here n there. My backpack included tent, zero deg bag, food for 4 days, clothes and liquid fuel stoves with fuel to make water and cook.
To add in another 20 LBs of camera stuff was out of the question for off trails let alone on trail in the steep mountains on snowshoes or crampons. I tried carrying many different cameras and found the best of all was my 9x12 Maximar. Id load film in my sleeping bag at night, store my exposed film in an empty film box with the original black plastic bag inside. A regular tripod was just too big n clumsy and too much added weight let alone interfering with the balance of the load. I had the cheapest lightest small aluminum tripod I could find... it weighed less than 1 pound and folded to 10". The 9x12 with film weighed 2 pounds and took up hardly any space in the backpack. At 3 pounds it wasn't a problem, sat right up top inside the pack.
I don't know what kind of terrain or situation, or your physical condition; it may not be too strenuous for you with a heavy pack but I couldn't do it for where we were.
have fun and be sure to post your photos?
I’ve been on numerous multi-day (3-7 day) backpack trips in the Sierra carrying either a 35mm, MF, or LF setup in addition to camping supplies using a Gregory Reality internal frame backpack. The packing order, from bottom up, goes: bearcan (required by law) with freeze-dried meals and toothpaste, down sleeping bag, socks, etc , stove, etc, personal hygiene items, lite jacket/wind jacket and then the camera and one or rwo lens on top (the Reality is a top loader). In the outside assessable pouch at the pack's middle goes the cleaning kit, film (in WP Outter box for roll film) or a box of 4x5 readyloads which I used before I wised-up to cut film holders. The air mattress, Harrison pup tent, poncho/ground cover, and sometime the tent are strapped in the side pockets. Two water bottles, one full, are on the packs waist area and the tripod in a holster at the center. The spot meter is attached to my waist belt in its case. A fuel bottle is tied to the outside of the pack and compass, water purification tablets, energy bar, lip balm, etc inside the top compartment with the film case with map and compass fastened to the top hood. When I switched to cut film holders 5 of them go inside an F64 film case attached to the outside of the pack and the lens cleaning kit in the middle compartment where the readyloads once went. Sandals for stream crossing are at the bottom pack. With everything on my back one or two hiking poles makeup my hiking kit. Because of limited space it is essential to choose wisely the choice of lens. This posed a problem with the P67II because of their size, but with the Toyo 45CF I carry a 150mm apo-sironar-s attached to the camera and a 90mm Nikon f9 and maybe a 300mm Nikon M. I use to bring the 90mm Grandagon f4.5 but it is a large lens so a couple of years ago I got the smaller Nikon specifically for backpacking. A Gitzo series 0 CF tripod works well with the 35mm and 4x5 but because of the big focal plane shutter of the P67II I find it necessary to use a heavier tripod tripod.
But a photo is worth a thousand words. Here is a snap of my pack on a 5 day hike in Torre del Paines NP in Patagonia carrying both a 35mm and the 67II (I must have been crazy!). The tripod is in the dark blue bag on the far left next to the lighter blue bag with the air mattress, and the tent is in the black bag on the far right.
Thomas
[QUOTE=xkaes;1388585]I've taken one to seven day treks -- from Canada to Mexico -- /QUOTE]
Literally ?????? it is around 2,200km and at (say) 40km/day that is over 50days!!!
Or were you driving
regards
TONY
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