Muddy Mountain Stomp on the Backbone Trail

[Matthew Thomas]

Took a three day weekend to my advantage and ran up to the Backbone Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains north of Malibu, CA. Its really a dayhiking trail but the Backbone is just 60 miles of dayhiking trails stitched together, and it's a good ol' time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNk-5Je9ikg

I took a walk up Santa Ynez canyon up to the Musch campground on a rainy Saturday afternoon. The next day I hiked up to the Topanga overlook via the Hondo Canyon Trail and then turned around and came back for another night at Musch, a really nice campground there in Topanga State Park.

I'm new to backpacking but I have gotten a lot lighter thanks to the forums here, I was carrying an Ohm backpack with a Lunar Solo and some 20deg REI sleeping bag I got at a used gear swap. Thanks for coming along with me on the trip. My next goal is to lighten my clothing and cooking setups, because one thing I learned on this trip is that cotton is seriously the worst thing you can wear when it's raining out.

edit: grammar

[Eugene Smith]

Matthew,

Dude, loved it! You got style. I'm glad you posted another vid, I remember you posting one sometime back.

The leather boots and jeans you were rocking were by and far the highlight of that video for me…. classic. Seeing someone get out on an impulse, enjoying the outdoors the way they want to, listening to the coyotes, stomping in the mud, and mixing up the routine of regular day to day life is what it's all about.

"I feel a little mist, I feel a little penetration going on there…"

I'm definitely glad this is made of silnylon and not cuben fiber, if you don't know what cuben fiber is, I think it's that stuff they make the Sun Chips bag out of, and that boy is loud!"

Classic. Thanks for sharing.

[Scott Truong]

Haha.. great vid. Good to see a little rain, mud.. or heat wave ain't going to keep you from a good stroll.

If you don't already have/tried a set, Driducks dude. So worth $15. 9.5 oz for full rain protection and can easily double as wind shirt.

Excellent choice for a soundtrack.

[Matthew Thomas]

Thanks for the replies. I was looking at those Driducks you mentioned and they look mighty nice, much better than a trashbag at least. I was also looking at this thing called the "packa" at

http://www.thepacka.com/

and this looks like the ultimate raingear to me. I like how you can have a couple options for setting it up, and the lack of water going down your back seems decent.

Yeah I try to make my own soundtrack for the reports so that it fits with the whole thing. I came back from the trip and started playing around and the little jam is really inspired by the trip itself which I like. Also I don't want to mess around with copyrights or anything silly like that, it's not my taste.

Keep walkin.

[Jeff Moody]

Is that you playing the guitar on the video?

[Matthew Thomas]

Yeah buddy! I try to keep it in the family.

[Jeff Moody]

Sweet. I really liked it. You ever release any of your songs? I would not mind having the one in your video or any others like it.

[Scott Truong]

Some good guitaring… Beck Live "Loser"

[Matthew Thomas]

Alright guys I finally got back up to that tower and made it to the top. This was just a dayhike so I had a lot more energy than on the previous visit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSqPbAyN7Vw&feature=channel_video_title

As backpackers we kind of have to have an internal finish what you start sort of mindset, when you're 30 miles from civilization it's pretty much a necessity. :]

edited for page stretching

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