Topic

WT School Escalante 08


Forum Posting

A Membership is required to post in the forums. Login or become a member to post in the member forums!

Home Forums Campfire Member Trip Reports WT School Escalante 08

  • This topic is empty.
Viewing 18 posts - 1 through 18 (of 18 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #1231761
    Peter Sustr
    BPL Member

    @czechxpress

    Locale: Boulder

    Hey Everybody,

    I wanted to post some info and pics of my recent trip with Wilderness Trekking school 1 in Escalante. It was a great trip that not only taught me, told me and reconfirmed alot of the thoughts and ideas I had about lightweight backpacking but, showed me as well.

    I was really excited to go on this trip but for some reason I didn't plan my gear alot. I read alot of books and looked at maps but, not alot of time with my gear. I thought it was strange to have a whole gear plan setup before going there, I wanted to be educated on what was the best of what I had already or had convinced myself was the best by websites and forums.

    On my way there leaving from Denver, making the 9 hr drive to Escalante was a exciting trip in itself. My plan was to drive straight to Escalante and hit up a trail I had read about in the guide book but, then I ended up driving into Capitol Reef National Park; that split second I had just changed my plans.
    Capitol Reef Entrance

    I got a permit at the ranger station for Chimney rock trail and headed straight there. I had a challenge packing my overnight pack since I had a huge vomit pile of gear all over my car that I had planned to 'sort out' once I got there. So I dug around and found enough of the gear I needed and headed out. I slept under an overhang in a wash that was near the trail. It was a great night which i spent hoping that 50 million years of geology wasn't going to crush me in my sleep.
    camp under overhang in Captiol Reef

    I got to Escalante and met up with some of my other classmates. At about Noon we went to the Escalante-Grandstair Case Visitor Center where we did introductions and started talking about lightweight philosphies and techniques as well as what BPL wanted us to learn and experience. We then decided to go back to Escalante Outfitters (EO) and setup some tarps and shelters.

    Tarps at EO

    The next day we went back to the visitors center to talk about nutrition, seeing what Andy Skurka and Don Wilson, our instructors, were going to carry with them and ideas on what gear was going to be needed. I had been cold the last couple of nights but, the forcast was for warmer temperatures as the week progressed. I decided on a couple of major changes to my gear and food. 1. I cut out the hydration sleeve and back padding on my Jam2, to have it as Andy has his (Savings 3 oz)

    2. I couldn't take my beloved pop-tarts on the trip. Not a good weight/oz ratio and they are just sugar i'm told. I love these things for breakfast, lunch or dinner but, when we were only allowed to bring 26 oz of lunch and snack with us for the next 3 days, it changed my way of looking at food. I thought that this was one of those famous Ryan Jordan tricks you hear rumors about, like missing sections on a map…..

    Here is what my 26.2 oz looked like:

    26.2 oz food

    Officially it was:
    1 King Size Snickers
    1 ziplock of O.G Pringles
    6 Balance Bars (various varities)
    2 Clif Bars (Crunchy Peanut Butter!)
    1 Sweet & Salty Bar

    Here's our groups final pack weights:

    Everyones Pack weights

    Here is a future shot of why Matt had a higher pack weight; he would not be denied his double ridgerest padding :)

    :Double RidgeRests!

    We hit the trail on Tuesday afternoon and started our hike in Glen Canyon National Recreational Area at the Coyote Gulch trailhead, going down to the Escalante River and then back out Hurricane wash. Lets just say it was good times!

    Glen Canyon

    I took about 300 pictures so I obviously won't post them all here but, here are some pics of spots we stayed and the amazing place that it was.

    Camp site #1

    Above campsite #1

    Looking east above campsite:

    Looking East above campsite #1

    Huge Canyon walls:

    Huge Canyon Walls

    Canyon Creek

    Passed a total of 4 arches/bridges:

    Arch

    bridge

    Don Wilson showing us unexpectedly how to fight your way out of qucksand (Thanks Don!!); see the video at andrewskurka.com:

    Don getting out of quicksand

    Walking in water and sandy water to drink, sounds like a good vacation to me!

    walking in water

    The Escalante River:

    Escalante River

    Camp # 2

    Camp site #2

    Andy making us Muffins:

    Andy making us muffins:

    The last dinner, man were we hungry!

    last dinner

    and finally, this is what happens when you unleash 12 hungry and thirsty hikers on civilization after a trip!!!

    pizza and beer!

    Thats about all i got for now, I will try and post more later. I had a great time and want to thank Don Wilson and Andrew Skurka for their wonderful leadership and sharing with us all of there knowledge and ideas. I also want to thank everyone that was on the trip with me, you guys made it soo much fun!!!!

    If you have any specific questions let me know.

    Thanks for checking this out.

    #1456453
    Don Wilson
    BPL Member

    @don-1-2-2

    Locale: Koyukuk River, Alaska

    Hey Peter –

    Good looking photos! Man that quicksand was pretty thick.

    Cheers,
    Don

    #1456460
    t.darrah
    BPL Member

    @thomdarrah

    Locale: Southern Oregon

    Very nice report and pictures, thanks for sharing on BPL.

    #1456486
    Douglas Prosser
    BPL Member

    @daprosser

    Locale: Camarillo, California (SCAL)

    Great pics & comments. I enjoyed hiking with you.

    #1456509
    David Chenault
    BPL Member

    @davec

    Locale: Queen City, MT

    Taking a big, commercial group into the most traveled riparian area in the Escalante drainage?

    Not very low-impact.

    #1456524
    Peter Sustr
    BPL Member

    @czechxpress

    Locale: Boulder

    All of us used LNT principles in all aspects of our trip and was discussed extensively during the course. We saw plenty of examples of people not following LNT but, I can say 100% that we did.

    #1457328
    Sean Thompson
    Member

    @questtrek

    Locale: Michigan

    Very cool, enjoyed the pictures and the report. I bet those muffins were good!

    #1457331
    Ken Helwig
    BPL Member

    @kennyhel77

    Locale: Scotts Valley CA via San Jose, CA

    Great pictures!! The last one with the beer. Was that the whole groups? That would have been just my amount after a hike!!!!

    Seriously though, nice pictures!!

    #1458697
    Peter Sustr
    BPL Member

    @czechxpress

    Locale: Boulder

    Thanks for the comments on the pics, I did my best Ansel Adams I could :)

    We had a good time and yes that was the entire group but, that was only 1 hr after getting there. As you can see we were holding up our laptop with 3 large pizza boxes as well.

    It was a good time!

    #1458712
    Mike Clelland
    Member

    @mikeclelland

    Locale: The Tetons (via Idaho)

    Andy made muffing? THat makes me feel so good, I might start crying tears of joy.

    And – Right on for you for cutting some excess stuff off yer pack – and for ditchin' yer pop-tarts!

    #1458825
    Carol Crooker
    BPL Member

    @cmcrooker

    Locale: Desert Southwest, USA

    Hey Mike,
    Is it possible Andy is staging a coup to become the new muffin king?
    Watch you back :)

    #1459836
    Ryan Hutchins
    Member

    @ryan_hutchins

    Locale: Somewhere out there

    Ha, I thought the same thing as Mike! Andy can be the muffin king, but I still want to teach him how to bake a calzone in the backcounty, mmmmmm.

    I love the escalante area, it's been too long since I have gotten in there. Beautiful pics thanks for sharing. I'm glad Don made it out of the quick sand!

    #1460440
    Mike Clelland
    Member

    @mikeclelland

    Locale: The Tetons (via Idaho)

    Ryan – do you have a good way to make a UL calzone??? If so, let the world know!

    #1460469
    Peter Sustr
    BPL Member

    @czechxpress

    Locale: Boulder

    Mike,

    That sounds good if we can learn how to make a calzone UL, I enjoyed making the muffins this weekend, which worked out better then i thought!!

    Also, here is a link to my gear list for the Escalante trip.

    http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pCo6xntI5sqHXAWDNy3I4CA

    Let me know if you have any questions.

    #1460837
    Craig Burton
    Member

    @missingutah

    Locale: Smoky Mountains

    Escalante, Capitol Reef, and the rest of the Colorado Plateu in South-Central Utah must be one of the most spectacular place on earth. I could spend a lifetime just driving back and forth along Highways 12 and 24 through there. Great pictures; and it's good to hear you had an enjoyable and provoking trip. That is a very special place.

    #1464222
    Aaron Zuniga
    Member

    @gliden2

    Locale: Northwest

    Great pics and write up. I've been waiting to here more insight and reflections on the WT courses. How many miles were you hiking daily? Way to go with those pack weights, that's seems like a great place to test the limits of ultralite. I'm looking forward for the info on WT 2 TBA! All I know for sure is Spring 09, anybody else know or planning on attending?

    #1464755
    Peter Sustr
    BPL Member

    @czechxpress

    Locale: Boulder

    We didn't do very many miles a day, I would say that we only did about 5 miles a day. The WTS 1 is more about learning the basic techniques of lightweight backpacking then putting in alot of miles. I wished we had hiked more but, that wasn't in the agenda.

    I am looking forward to WTS II. I doubt I will be able to attend but from what I heard from our instructors, it will be the same thing as WTS III but, not in the snow; thats the only difference I'm told.

    #1464761
    CW
    BPL Member

    @simplespirit

    Locale: .

    I believe Ryan is working on the WTS stuff for 09 right now.

Viewing 18 posts - 1 through 18 (of 18 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Forum Posting

A Membership is required to post in the forums. Login or become a member to post in the member forums!

Get the Newsletter

Get our free Handbook and Receive our weekly newsletter to see what's new at Backpacking Light!

Gear Research & Discovery Tools


Loading...