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Calgary, Alberta
Andorra
3830 Posts |
Posted - 06/26/2012 : 1:17 PM
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[quote]Originally posted by Nadine
I would disagree completely (not about the too much clothes part) but about compressing the loft of the bag with extra clothes. That likely happens with or without extra clothes.
With an insulated pad system the loft of the underside of the sleeping bag becomes redundant (and many would argue the down under us in general is completely compressed while we sleep and probably does not add that much insulation). Insulated pad with down quilt least redundant and likely lightest.
I think the idea is that in addition to the constant issue of down under your body compressing, the intended concern was with the fact that if your mummy bag fits well, it is fairly close around you, and thus if you add lots of extra clothing, you can compress the down all around you so as to lessen its usefuleness. |
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Calgary, Alberta
Andorra
3830 Posts |
Posted - 06/26/2012 : 1:20 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Nadine
And thanks for all the great discussion over sleeping bags etc. You guys would be fun to meet up with a chat. Has anyone ever thought of having a Clubtread Alberta "Do" - where we meet up and eat, drink, argue etc.?
(and good one about pushing down around in horizontal baffles to top of body, totally makes sense Brianrieta! - and FG we are whittling our pack down now inspired by your fastpack hiking -I aspire to be an ultralite but I am having trouble giving up my Big Agnes sleeping pad which is so nice for my hips and back, but I might run out now to be the NeoAir to give it a try)
It has happened once or twice, but with a fairly small number of us at all, and not everyone interested in socialization for its own sake, there haven't been many or many people.
Though I suspect that if we linked up, a majority of CT Albertans have met at least one other CT Albertan.
Actually, it might be really fun to play six degrees of CTAlberta separation, and see if we couldn't link just about everyone into the network by at least one link. |
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1107 Posts |
Posted - 06/26/2012 : 1:52 PM
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quote:
And thanks for all the great discussion over sleeping bags etc. You guys would be fun to meet up with a chat. Has anyone ever thought of having a Clubtread Alberta "Do" - where we meet up and eat, drink, argue etc.?
(and good one about pushing down around in horizontal baffles to top of body, totally makes sense Brianrieta! - and FG we are whittling our pack down now inspired by your fastpack hiking -I aspire to be an ultralite but I am having trouble giving up my Big Agnes sleeping pad which is so nice for my hips and back, but I might run out now to be the NeoAir to give it a try).
I would be 'in' for meeting up as a group over beer and dehydrated meals.
I can't sleep on a closed cell foam pad and have been using an Exped Synmat UL7 regular for the past two seasons with decent success. I don't think it is as comfortable as the NeoAir but slightly warmer for similar weight (2 oz more). I had a NeoAir but had durability issues, sadly.
The WCT 14 times! I have done it 'only' 6 but I really do love everything about it. |
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Finally stopping that crazy suffering that is ice, climbing to concentrate on great ski tours!
3523 Posts |
Posted - 06/26/2012 : 3:23 PM
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| Quite a few of the Alberta folks know me, either from running into me in the mountains, or MEC, or both. A couple have become trip partners of mine. (though Bobdep seems to have gone off here, I still get out with him) |
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Calgary
71 Posts |
Posted - 06/26/2012 : 6:28 PM
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Wow, that's amazing, Nadine, that you decided to go for WCT after reading this thread again. I do hope you come back to this discussion and add some photos of the trip. While I've been planning on doing it next year, I will be in Tofino late July/early August, have two weeks off, but only six nights booked, so am now half tempted to go on standby and possibly do it in early August. We'll see. Have fun out there!
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Qualicum Beach, BC
Canada
1332 Posts |
Posted - 06/26/2012 : 10:21 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by BarbaraB
Wow, that's amazing, Nadine, that you decided to go for WCT after reading this thread again. I do hope you come back to this discussion and add some photos of the trip. While I've been planning on doing it next year, I will be in Tofino late July/early August, have two weeks off, but only six nights booked, so am now half tempted to go on standby and possibly do it in early August. We'll see. Have fun out there!
Note that Tofino is a long ways travel from the Bamfield end of the West Coast Trail, requiring driving back to Port Alberni and continuing on gravel road to Bamfield... about 4 or 5 hours travel by car. A water taxi from Ucluelet to Bamfield might be possible, but still several hours from Tofino and weather dependent. Float plane, weather dependent and costly.
From Tofino, you can access Vargus Island by water taxi, bed & breakfast and day hike the outer beaches as an overnighter. Also you could water taxi up to Flores Island and hike the Wild Side Trail for 3 or 4 days and get an experience that would be more remote and much less crowded than the West Coast Trail.
See Philip Stone's book, Coastal Hikes (ISBN 978-0-9680766-7-5) for more details.
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1107 Posts |
Posted - 06/27/2012 : 08:43 AM
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| Am I correct that the Wild Side Trail is only 11KM long? |
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2421 Posts |
Posted - 06/27/2012 : 09:43 AM
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Wild Side Trail:
Sure looks like it. Spending 2-3 days doing just 11 km seems a bit wimpy to me.
Whose bright idea was that, anyway? |
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Qualicum Beach, BC
Canada
1332 Posts |
Posted - 06/27/2012 : 6:45 PM
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11 km... hmm, let’s see:
Day one, water taxi from Tofino to Flores Island. Camp at Whitesands beach.
Day two hike up to Cow Creek and back (22 km return). While the trail has maybe improved since I was last there in the mid 1970's, you can still expect headlands to cross, with over your head salal, surge channels and long soft gravel & sand beaches.
If you want to add a day and go up Flores Peak, good luck. The only reports I've heard of in the past few years were, "Followed flagging till it ran out, lots of bush, got lost, gave up & turned back."
Day three water taxi back to Tofino. These are times FROM Tofino
If you re-read the post, you’ll see that I was trying to make the point that the West Coast Trail is not easily accessible FROM Tofino and was offering suggested trips of a few days, FROM Tofino.
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 | Dru
Mountain Grammar Police
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Sardonic sandbagging scoundrel, Cascade Climbers lobotomized spraymeister, space blanket flyer, new millennium vulgarian betaboy and friend to all squids
Climbing, a mountain
Canada
∞ Posts |
Posted - 06/27/2012 : 8:01 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by peter1955
Wild Side Trail:
Sure looks like it. Spending 2-3 days doing just 11 km seems a bit wimpy to me.
Whose bright idea was that, anyway?
I hear the Albertans speaking.
There are places in BC where you might spend 2-3 days to go 2-3 km. |
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Finally stopping that crazy suffering that is ice, climbing to concentrate on great ski tours!
3523 Posts |
Posted - 06/27/2012 : 8:49 PM
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| Yeah, a lot of places in the Rockies you can make big mileage, but we don't have tides and thick timber the way they do in a lot of places on the coast. |
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Calgary
71 Posts |
Posted - 06/27/2012 : 9:13 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by prother
Note that Tofino is a long ways travel from the Bamfield end of the West Coast Trail, requiring driving back to Port Alberni and continuing on gravel road to Bamfield... about 4 or 5 hours travel by car. A water taxi from Ucluelet to Bamfield might be possible, but still several hours from Tofino and weather dependent. Float plane, weather dependent and costly.
Yup, I am fully aware of that. I figured I'd take a leisurely day to drive down to Port Renfrew, get myself on the waiting list if I decide to do it, have another day to hang out, and then start. Some of those backroads sound intriguing, but not quite for my car. |
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1107 Posts |
Posted - 06/27/2012 : 9:24 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by prother
11 km... hmm, let’s see:
Day one, water taxi from Tofino to Flores Island. Camp at Whitesands beach.
Day two hike up to Cow Creek and back (22 km return). While the trail has maybe improved since I was last there in the mid 1970's, you can still expect headlands to cross, with over your head salal, surge channels and long soft gravel & sand beaches.
If you want to add a day and go up Flores Peak, good luck. The only reports I've heard of in the past few years were, "Followed flagging till it ran out, lots of bush, got lost, gave up & turned back."
Day three water taxi back to Tofino. These are times FROM Tofino
If you re-read the post, you’ll see that I was trying to make the point that the West Coast Trail is not easily accessible FROM Tofino and was offering suggested trips of a few days, FROM Tofino.
Sorry if my question came across as flippant, I was genuinely curious as I had never heard of the trail before and love coastal treks. Thanks for the info. |
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Qualicum Beach, BC
Canada
1332 Posts |
Posted - 06/28/2012 : 5:12 PM
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FamilyGuy,
My reply wasn't meant to be chiding, but rather to point out what my original post meant to say. I guess using all capitals in a word like "FROM" maybe sounds like I'm shouting or something online. Such are the pitfalls of the internet.
BarbaraB,
I still don't get your access to the West Coast Trail from Tofino. So are you thinking of driving all the way from Tofino to Port Renfrew and then hike up to Bamfield? What then? How would you get from Bamfield back to Tofino? Maybe I'm missing something here, but I was under the impression that you were looking for a few days trip you could do FROM Tofino and return to Tofino.
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1078 Posts |
Posted - 06/28/2012 : 5:49 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Dru
quote:
Originally posted by peter1955
Wild Side Trail:
Sure looks like it. Spending 2-3 days doing just 11 km seems a bit wimpy to me.
Whose bright idea was that, anyway?
I hear the Albertans speaking.
There are places in BC where you might spend 2-3 days to go 2-3 km.
Quite true. There are places where 2km = 20+ km in the alpine or subalpine.
There's always that moment for me, when you heave yourself over the 50th log, or bust through the 500th bush when you stop, sigh in frustration, realize how slow you've been going, look at the "walls" in front of you, and say "it can't go on forever.....get me the heck out of here!!!!!"
That is when I know it is yet again a time to rub an irritant on my leg, call search and rescue, and pretend to have a sprained ankle.
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Edited by - DCIPHER on 06/28/2012 6:06 PM |
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Calgary
71 Posts |
Posted - 06/28/2012 : 6:07 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by prother
BarbaraB,
I still don't get your access to the West Coast Trail from Tofino. So are you thinking of driving all the way from Tofino to Port Renfrew and then hike up to Bamfield? What then? How would you get from Bamfield back to Tofino? Maybe I'm missing something here, but I was under the impression that you were looking for a few days trip you could do FROM Tofino and return to Tofino.
I have two weeks vacation coming up, and for the first six nights I am boooked into a hotel in Tofino. I'll do day hikes there, maybe take a kayaking lesson, etc., - just generally see the area. As everything there is booked, I've been thinking that when I leave Tofino (after day 6), rather than heading right back to Alberta, I'd take a drive south to the Port Renfrew area. If I felt like it, I may decide then to go on standby for WCT (and extend my vacation by a couple of days). I'd do WCT south to north, then could take either the WCT Express or water taxi back. |
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Qualicum Beach, BC
Canada
1332 Posts |
Posted - 06/28/2012 : 7:02 PM
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OK Barbara, Sorry I missed your intentions. Still, if you're looking for short trips to do while you're in Tofino, look into:
- Radar beach. The road up Radar hill is in the Federal Park and well signed, but the trail off the hill, down to the beach, is not signed at all. It's a steep muddy trail down & back and can be found with a bit of searching. A full day trip to one of the most remote beaches in the Pacific Rim Park.
- The WW2 plane wreck. I haven't been to it, but it sounds like a 15 minute muddy hike.
- Vargus Island is a short water taxi ride from Tofino and has a bed & breakfast. There's a trail across the Island to Ahous Bay, with a wide sandy bay, good for a hard day trip, or more leisurely from the bed & breakfast .
- Meares Island, another water taxi day trip. Big trees on a flagged hike.
Talk to some locals and mention these hikes and I'll bet you'll get all kinds of information and advice.
Peter R |
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Calgary
71 Posts |
Posted - 06/28/2012 : 9:51 PM
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| Thanks, Peter, those are great suggestions! I just read about that beach by Radar Hill yesterday and will be sure to check it out. Heck, if I'm on the island, I might as wll experience wet, muddy, and steep :-). Also want to check out Meares Island as well as Vargus Island. Apparently Vargus Island has q wold population as well - elusive creatures that I have yet to see. Where about is the WWII plane wreck? |
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113 Posts |
Posted - 06/28/2012 : 9:52 PM
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To add to Prother's suggestions:
Mt Ozzard - The big Radar Dome overlooking Ucluelet. Less of a trail and more of a logging road, but a beautiful view. Here is a trail guide:
http://www.coastalbc.com/hike/mountozzardtrail.htm
Lone Cone - You can catch the Tofino Water Taxi over to the trailhead for Lone Cone, which overlooks Tofino. Pretty amazing spot.
Hot Springs Cove - a little more expensive and not as much hiking, but a beautiful spot! A hot springs waterfall cascades down a series of pools into the Pacific. You can catch a boat up the coast (and/or float plane) and its about a 30 minute hike in on a boardwalked trail.
And last but not least, go surfing!!!
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Calgary, Alberta
Andorra
3830 Posts |
Posted - 06/28/2012 : 11:19 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by DCIPHER
That is when I know it is yet again a time to rub an irritant on my leg, call search and rescue, and pretend to have a sprained ankle.
Nice! :D
It's an interesting point though. I gauge my mountain time by the "would I rather get on a helicopter right now" mindset. Most of the time I'm out, even if the travel is difficult, and the weather is awful, and I have a blister and a swollen calf, or whatever, I'm happy to be out there and prefer it to the alternative. I've only had a few times where things were sufficiently miserable that I just wanted to be gone and away, and thought "If only a helicopter would land right now, I would leave here and not think twice". I only consider things bad if I'm there. |
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Lightweight Gear for West Coast Trail
