Rocky Mountain National Park - July 2010

Our adventurous family activity for the summer was a family backpack trip in early July in  Rocky Mountain National Park.  We were out in Ft Collins for a week for my sister-in-law's wedding and were able to take a quick break from the planning action earlier in the week for a quick overnight trip.  William was 1 yr 5 mths old and Isaac was 10 months old.  I pulled all my gear together very last minute, but fortunately my gear lists were pretty up-to-date and it didn't take too long.  I decided to see if I could borrow a tent or if I had good fortune, find a Golite Shangri-la 4 or 5 for sale in Colorado.  Neither worked and I was afraid we would be forced to car camp with my soon to be brother-in-law's 20+ lb cabin tent.  I had not brought sleeping pads for the boys, so when at Walmart looking for the cheap blue foam pads, I happened to see they had a relatively lightweight compact 4 person tent.  I decided to pick it up as it was only $30.  It turned out it was only about 6.5 lbs without the stakes... really not too bad at a little over 1.5 lbs per person.  I wouldn't trust it in a storm, but it will be fine for dry, calm weather.

We headed out with two packs and the two kids.  I rented a pair of trekking poles and bear canister from an outfitter in Estes Park and we were on our way.  According to the map, it was 1.7 miles to our campsite (Old Forest Inn Sites) and William was able to walk almost 1.25 miles of that.  Hindsight, I'm really impressed he made it that far.  Unfortunately, we only brought the one kid carrier for Isaac and had to carry William on our shoulders or in our arms.

We picked the lower of the two campsites which was tucked into the convergence of Fern Creek and the Big Thompson River.  It ended up being a pretty good drop-off to the Big Thompson River, so either way I knew that we would have to watch the boys like a hawk.  Between keeping the boys corralled and keeping objects out of Isaac's mouth, we didn't have much rest time, but it was a lot of fun watching them explore and toddle around.  Isaac started walking end of May, so he was getting around pretty good by this time.

We crawled into our tent at dusk and enjoyed some family time in close proximity.  Isaac quickly crashed and we enjoyed watching the stars come out with William and then he fell asleep pretty quickly with both of us out soon after that.  Meg said she would much rather camp out here then back in MN.  She said she preferred the drier weather and campsites.

Heading out late morning the next day, I lightly load Meg's pack with sleeping bags and clothes and sent her on the way down the trail so that I could finish breaking down camp.  She put Isaac in the carrier, pack on her back and took off with William in hand.  I quickly broke down camp and took off after them.  I figured it would be much easier to get the rest of the stuff packed up without the interference of the two boys and it was.  I caught up with them after about a 3/4 mile and by that time William was done so I carried him.  He quickly fell asleep and we walked along with two sleeping boys trying to keep them shaded from the vicious high altitude sun.  We made pretty quick of the remaining mile, but it was pretty brutal carrying the sleeping weight of William along with the heavier pack.    We didn't have hardly any food left and I definitely prefer to have more in case of an emergency... I will have to plan that a little better the next time.

Enjoy some pictures.

This must be fairly early in the hike...  William was still cruising along pretty good here.  I wished we would have had some minimalist shoes for him as he is used to running around barefoot all the time.  The shoes we had for him were quite the clunkers and he was constantly tripping in them.  I wore my Feelmax Osmas and they surprisingly worked quite well.  The have no support and no padding in the bottoms, but were just fine with my 35 lb pack and carrying both boys at times.  William was about 31 lbs and Isaac was about 26 lbs at the time.

Our campsite was up on a cliff overlooking the convergence of Big Thompson River and Fern Creek.  Maybe not the best place for two little boys to be playing.  It was a full time job keeping them corralled in the confines of our campsite.  Our $30 Walmart tent worked quite well for us and will be a great car camping tent for us.  I have since purchased an MLD Supermid with netting around the bottom and am anxious to try that out.  This purchase was primarily for winter camping, but will work great as a small group and family tent.

Having fun in the tent before crashing hard.   The fleece sleepers worked great for them for sleeping in.  Isaac hates having a blanket on him, so bundling him in a sleeper is necessary.

Winding down for the nite in the tent...  We left the canopy off for a while so we could watch the stars.  William loved it!

Enjoying a Starbucks Via and some morning sunshine with the boys.  They loved crawling and climbing around the rocks.  They are quite the adventurous little guys!

Gotta like that view.  We didn't see a whole lot of elevation change from the trail head, it's quite a bit further up to some really spectacular views.  Not really feasible with the two little guys...  Hopefully I can get back out for a solo trip one of my next trips out.

Gotta love this picture.  Beautiful and precious!!

Summer's gone, fall is here!!

It's been almost 5 months since I last posted, Wow how time flies and boy has life and work been busy!!  Following my spring Trail Mix 25k race, I discovered that the pain outside of my knee was Iliotibial band syndrome.  I also discovered that the more I ran, the worse it got thus I bailed on the Superior Hiking Trail 25k race and the Afton 25k race.  In fact,  I stopped running all together to let it rest and then started to incorporate more stretching and cross-training into my schedule to hopefully take care of the root of the problem.  As a minimalist shoe runner, I attributed the ITBS to a combination of overuse and a muscle imbalance.  Strange as it was, while the pain was too much to run with,  I was fortunately still able to bike, hike and backpack with no pain.

I'm finally getting back into the routine of running and am experiencing no pain.  I think the key for me is to stay balanced in my cross-training and stretching.  I am eying a couple 5k races this fall and just waiting to see how our family schedule pans out before I commit...

Other blog posts in development:
June 2010 Superior Hiking Trail Solo Trip Report
July 2010 Rocky Mountain National Park Family Trip Report
Backpacking Gear Update

sectionhiker.com Golite Ultralight Down Quilt Raffle

Philip Werner over at sectionhiker.com is raffling off a Golite Ultralite Down Quilt and part of the entry is answering a series of questions.  I thought it be fun to take a stab at the raffle, so here's the answers to the questions I'll be submitting:

1.     1.  How long have you been backpacking and what's the longest trip you've taken?

·         I grew up camping and in my junior years we started going to the BWCA (Boundary Waters Canoe Area) in northern MN.  The typical group canoed the lakes and carried all their gear including the canoe over the portages (between the lakes).  We packed very heavy with lots of gear and luxuries... but that was all we knew and I'm sure that's the only way “the dad's” would be willing to go.  Fresh out of college, my brother and I went out for our first official backpacking trip.  We did a 13 mile loop called the Angleworm trail up in the BWCA.  Again, way overpacked with heavy gear, we stayed 1 night on the trail, almost started a forest fire and got lost!  Yet still, it is one of my fondest memories of backpacking!  After that trip, I started buying traditional backpacking gear.  The longest trip I have made to date is 5 days.

2.     2.  When did you realize that you needed to reduce the amount of weight that you carried in your backpack? Please explain the circumstances which led you to this conclusion…did you have a bad trip experience, or just figure it out?

·         In the summer of 2006, myself and five of my buddies set out for a 4 day trip on the Superior Hiking Trail.  I had accumulated a fair amount of gear between my boundary waters adventures and car camping, so I felt pretty prepared. I took a lot of time to organize and try to get all six of us guys on the same page as far as our gear. As much as I tried to communicate to them that I had all the essentials covered, they all ended up bringing their own. I guess that meant that I was going to have to carry "more than my share". 

·         I don't know for sure, but I think our packs were probably at 50-60 pounds each... About half way through the second day, my knee started to have some throbbing pain.  Not wanting to swallow my pride and ask for help, I kept pushing right through the pain. By the end of the third day, I was moving very, very slowly and every downhill slope was pure torture. 

·         Upon returning home, I went to visit a sports doc and was diagnosed with Patellofemoral Syndrome. Basically, my knee cap doesn't ride right over the end of my Femur. Why does this happen? Doctor said I'm getting old and too out of shape to "overdo" it on the trail. He recommended shoe inserts and basically to get in shape before I try to "prove" that I am a man on the trail (my own interpretation).  This experience motivated me to quickly get some inserts and then put me down the road of transitioning to lightweight backpacking. And the journey began....

3.     3.   What is the total weight of your big three: backpack, sleeping bag/pad, and shelter?  Please include manufacturer, make and model names, unless homemade.

·         3-Season set-up: Backpack - ULA Ohm (24 oz); Sleeping Bag - JRB Sierra Sniveller (25F - 24.3 oz) or Lafuma Extreme 600 Bag modified into quilt (45F - 18.8 oz); Sleeping Pad - Nunatek Luna Pad (12 oz or less depending on season); Shelter - SMD Wild Oasis (13 oz) - Also have a Tarpent Squall (2 Person @ 27.0 oz) and a Tarptent Rainshadow (3 Person @ 41.0 oz) for when not going solo.

·         Winter set-up: Backpack - Golite Pinnacle (22.1 oz); Sleeping Bag - Combine JRB Sierra Sniveller (25F - 24.3 oz) with Lafuma Extreme 600 Bag modified into quilt (45F - 18.8 oz) plus insulated clothing as needed.  Sleeping Pad - 1 or 2 Nunatek Luna Pads depending on temps (12-24 oz).  Shelter:  SMD Wild Oasis (13 oz - but probably not a good idea in heavy snows) and an Oware Heavy Duty Pyramid (4 person - 90 oz) for group.

4.     4.  Do you own a scale for weighing your gear? If so, what kind? How often do you use it?

·         I have a food scale (up to 5 lbs) and a fish scale (up to 50 lbs).  I have pretty much all my gear weighed and entered into a spreadsheet.  I obsessively pour over my spreadsheet every trip I make to try and figure out ways to lighten my load without spending much money.  Planning for a trip is as much fun as the trip itself for me.

5.     5.  Where are you in the process of going lightweight? What have some of the notable weight reductions in your gear list been? Is there an example of a choice you made between two different alternative gear choices you can explain, or are pondering?

·         I'm pretty much where I would like to be.  Now I just need to find more time to get out and use it.  Most of my adventures are with a group, so I have purchased much of my gear with that in mind.  My backpack and shelter were the two biggest reductions by far.  I am currently trying to find a smaller and much lighter winter shelter than my Oware Pyramid and am looking at an Oware Pyramid, vs an Oware Alphamid vs the MLD Duomid.  I can't for the life of me decide which one I want.  So, I may end up making my own out of tyvek. 

6.     6.   How much has cost constrained the rate in which you reduce your gear weight? Can you cite an example?

·         It's taken about 3 years to get to where I'm at now.  I sold off all my old gear and have bought and sold several renditions of each piece of gear since then.  Almost everything I have for gear was previously used/purchased or on sale. This has saved me a ton of cash. 

7.     7.   What was the largest amount of pack weight you dropped by replacing or eliminating a piece of gear?

·         This is a toss-up between my pack and shelter but the “biggest loser” is the shelter.  My solo shelter used to be a 4-season 7 lb Walrus Rapeede that I sold to buy a 1.5 lb Floorless Tarptent Contrail and then in turn sold and now have SMD Wild Oasis (13 oz + 1.5 oz ground sheet).  Over 6 lbs savings.  My pack evolution has given me a 5 lb savings.

8.     8.    What's your view on the trade-offs between the following types of backpacking gear, for your specific climate conditions and needs? Are you at the stage where you want to try different options or not interested and why?

a.       Down vs. Synthetic sleeping bags?

o   I have both and there are certainly pros and cons to each.

b.      Backpacks with an external frame, internal frame, or no frame?

o   I have an internal frame and a frameless.  Both function great for me.  Normally I use a closed cell foam sleeping pad and this provides the structure (frame) for a frameless pack.  I bought the internal frame because sometimes I use my Big Agnes Clearview pad that would not provide a frame structure for a frameless pack.  My GoLite Pinnacle (Frameless) has a larger volume which I need for my winter camping.  The smaller and compressible volume of the ULA Ohm (internal frame) works great for the low volume packing of the summer.

c.       Double walled shelters, single walled shelters, and tarps and bivies?

o   I don't really see the need for a double wall shelter anymore after using single wall shelters.  With proper ventilation and/or steep walls (pyramid style), condensation can be minimized and/or avoided.  My bivy use is isolated to cold weather to minimize drafts with my quilts and for sleeping on snow on floorless shelters.

d.      Full size sleeping pads vs. torso sized?

o   Depends.  Full size is necessary in cold weather and in Minnesota, most of the year constitutes as "cool" weather needing full padding for the northern part of the state.  I combine a torso sized with the backpad in my ULA Ohm pack to give me the full length in the summer.

e.      Boots vs trail runners?

o   Trail runners hands down for all but really cold and snow.  I've even used my trail runners down to 25F and snow.  I use Steger Mukluks for colder weather.  The Mukluk is a light boot with a flexible bottom that feels like walking in slippers.

9.     9.  What would you say are the biggest benefits of carrying less gear? Dig deep here. Have you had any spiritual or personal breakthroughs by going lightweight? Has it affected your relationship with nature, for example?

·         It is easier to connect with and observer your surroundings when you don’t feel burdened by a huge pack on your back.  My gear is much less simpler and easier to use which frees me up to relax and enjoy nature more.  I also bring a lot less stuff which means it is easier to find and use the stuff I do have.  Knowing that I have the bare minimum to survive, forces me to sharpen my survival skills and heightens my adventure experience.  Lastly being minimalist with my gear has spilled over into my running gear/footwear and overall general lifestyle and diet.

10  10.  What advice would you give to someone else who wanted to start reducing the weight of their backpacking gear?

·         Start by weighing all of your gear and enter it into a spreadsheet so that you know where you are starting from.  Then focus on buying used gear or highly discounted gear because you will probably end up selling it anyway to get something different.  The Gear Swap forum on BackpackingLight.com is where I found most of my used/pre-purchased gear.  Be patient for gear to show yet be quick to buy.  Pour over the info on this website and others to get a good background of what is available in the Ultralight and Lightweight world of gear.  Everybody has a different style, climate, and environment that they hike in and thus the gear needs are different.  Find a blog of someone that lives in a similar situation as yours and follow it for ideas.

Trail Mix Race 2010 Map

When I first signed up for this race, I couldn't find a map anywhere of the route for this race.  So, now that I have run it, I proceeded to create my own rough map using Google Earth overlay for others to use as a reference.  The resolution got pretty low, so sorry about that.  Without buying some map software, I'm not sure how to improve that.

Word on the street is that this route does change from year to year, so don't assume this is the way it will always be.  When trail conditions permit, the race loops through the down-hill ski and snowboard area.  This was not the case this year and instead a loop through the wood chip trails near Richardson Nature center substituted for the ski hill.

The loop as detailed below is 12.5km (7.75 miles).  The 25k would obviously be 2 loops and the 50k race would be 4 loops.  It sounds like the aid stations ran short near the end of the 50k race, so those participants should plan accordingly for future races.  It looked like a lot of the 50k runners set up there own little aid stations near the start of the loop alongside the trail.  I thought this was a pretty smart thing to do if you want to make sure you have the water and fuel you need to push through to a strong finish.

The Race (red line) started at the green start button and headed north and stayed left up through to Richardson Nature Center.  It loops back to the south and stays to the east of the northbound traffic.  This creates a couple places where there is 2-way traffic, but the trail is plenty wide for this.  The loop near the Richardson Nature Center is all on wood chip trails that felt somewhat like running on a mattress, not easy!!  There was an aid station set up at the south end of the 2-way traffic that provided water and gatorade.  I'm not actually sure if they had anything to eat as I brought my own gels.  The race loop pushed across to the east side of the park and followed the east side of Hyland Lake where once again, there was 2-way traffic.  At the split of the 2-way traffic, there was another aid station set up.  Both aid stations are pretty strategic in that you won't run any farther than about 2.5 miles without a station.  After the second aid station, the loop heads south and then west up a good size hill.  This hill was pretty defeating for me on my second loop and end up being my slowest mile split of the whole race.  The loop then circles back north and then east to meet up with on-coming traffic on the east side of the lake.  Looping around the north end of the lake, the trail heads west to finish up where it started.

Trail Mix 25k Race Report

This being my first race ever, I had no idea what to expect going into it.  Fortunately this one is pretty low-key, so I just went with the flow.

The 50k race was scheduled to start at 7:00 am and the 25k race at 7:30 am.  Race numbers were available for pick-up at 5:30 am.  I was there around 5:45 am and there was hardly anybody there yet, so I picked up my race number and then wandered around for a bit.  Not finding anything to do or anybody to talk to, I moved my car down closer to the race start.  Most everyone that was there was hanging out in their vehicles at the time.


At about 6:30 or so, I walked back over to the Visitor Center to the restroom.  After doing my business there, I had my first and only VFF siting of the day.  I tried to strike up a conversation with him and he ended up taking off while I ended up chatting ti up with a couple other guys about them.  One guy had a pair that he wears off and on for training for the last three years but hasn't run a race in them.  The other guy I chatted with a little longer as we walked back to the race starting area.  He seemed pretty knowledgeable about the VFF's, but did not have his own pair.  He was running the 50k and took off to finish prepping for the race as it was only minutes away.

I cheered on the start of the 50k and noticed there was a guy wearing a World Vision shirt.  I had thought about running this race as a World Vision sponsor, but just never got my logistics together to do it.  Maybe I will get this set up for the Superior Trail Race.  It's a great cause that I have supported in the past.

I took off my "warmth" layers, grabbed my water bottle, gloves and headed for the race start.  It was warming up nicely and I suspected I wouldn't have to wear my stocking cap for very long.  I hung around the back third of the pack or so and couldn't hear anything the race director was saying.  There seemed to be some confusion as they were trying to line us all up behind the race start.  All of a sudden the starting horn bellowed and we were off.  Somewhat anti-climatic and unexpected start, but I guess that's the way it goes for such a low profile race such as this one.  In the excitement of the start, I forgot to start my watch until over a quarter mile into the race.  Oops, now my splits are going to be a little off.

I really had to hold myself back the first few miles and still felt like I was going out too fast.  I can't stand running on the heels of other people, so I found myself pushing hard to get around several groups as it was really cluttered.  After the third mile or so, I fell into a groove and stayed there for quite a while.  Turns out that miles 2-3 was my second fastest split, but no harm done looking hindsight at my overall splits.

There were places where the trail was a bit wet and muddy, so I picked my way through those trying to keep my feet dry as long as I could.  Inevitably, my feet got a bit wet and muddy.  Wet feet has not bothered me yet in any of my running except for a little discomfort.  Didn't even phase me during the race.

The 25k race consisted of two loops and at the beginning of the second loop, I was feeling pretty good.  I felt I had maintained a pretty consistent pace throughout the race thus far and was content with continuing that.  Fortunately I remembered to suck down a gel between miles 8-9, otherwise I probably would have crashed pretty hard.

I struck up a conversation with a couple guys at around mile 9 and the three of us yo-yo'ed with each other for most of the rest of the race.  It was nice to hear their perspectives as they were both experienced runners.  One of the guys at a couple titanium rods put in his leg a few years ago as a result of a hockey injury, so it was pretty impressive he was out running this race and maintaining this pace.

At about mile 12, I hit the wall as a small hill loomed in front of me.  I walked up the hill hoping that it would give my legs enough rest to push hard through to the end.  This was the ticket and I was able to push through to the end after the walk.  The last mile was my fastest split at 7:43 and I was able to pass several people and got passed by one, a girl.  I fought my pride and let her push on ahead.  ;-)

Here's a pic of me coming into the finish line taken by my beautiful wife who was cheering me on and my little boys watching.

My overall official time was 2:16:11 resulting in a pace of 8:47 for the 15.5 miles.  I am very happy with that for my first race ever and am looking forward to the next race!!

Here are the top 5 finishers for the 25k and 50k races below.  Their times are absolutely amazing to me!!

25k Race

Place Name Age S City St Time Pace

===== =================== === = =============== == ======= ===== 

    1 Fish Wilson          25 M Onamia          MN 1:35:25  6:09 
    2 Brett Busacker       24 M Orono           MN 1:37:38  6:18 
    3 Kirk Walztoni        38 M Eagan           MN 1:38:05  6:19 
    4 Josh Riff            35 M Edina           MN 1:38:23  6:21 
    5 Alex Hooke           26 M Rochester       MN 1:40:12  6:28

50k Race

Place Name                Age S City            St Time    Pace  
===== =================== === = =============== == ======= ===== 

    1 Brian Peterson       25 M Minneapolis     MN 3:16:52  6:21 
    2 Chris Gardner        33 M Duluth          MN 3:28:34  6:43 
    3 Kelly Mortenson      38 M St Paul         MN 3:37:40  7:01 
    4 Aaron Drevlow        36 M Woodbury        MN 3:42:14  7:10 
    5 Jim Ramacier         46 M White Bear Lake MN 3:43:51  7:13 


Thanks to O.C. Williams (the race director) and all the volunteers for putting on such a great race!!

irunfar.com gear giveaway

In honor of earth week, irunfar.com is giving away a bunch of running gear.  Go check it out.

Minimalist Shoe update and Trail Mix Race

As most of you know, I picked up a pair of VFF KSO's last fall for running.  Prior to "retraining" myself to run in minimalist footwear, I was not able to run more than a 1/2 mile with out severe knee pain that would force me to stop and walk.  I also had major knee problems backpacking which was very disheartening since it is a major passion of mine.  One year ago, I backpacked about 16 miles in two days with a really light pack and that was about as far as I could go as my knees started to hurt too bad.

Last summer I visited a sports doc and received some PT for my knees, gluts and all around core strength.  This seemed to help some, but didn't seem to really fix the problem.  It helped balance out my muscles some as well as my flexibility, but that was the extent of it.

Fast forward to last fall, within minutes of starting to run in the KSO's my knee pain was gone and to this day has remained mostly at bay.  I can still feel twinges of pain here and there, but it is nothing like what I experienced prior to using minimalist shoes.

As I've discussed in previous posts, running in a minimalist shoe forces you to run with the proper form.  Most people will need to completely retrain themselves to run and walk in minimalist footwear and this takes time and patience!!

Since January, I have been averaging over 20 miles per week with a high of 32 miles and a long run of 14 miles.  Generally I run on a paved trail (or next to) during the week and to a long trail run on the weekend.  It has been great and a joy to run with minimal pain.  The pain I do have I attribute to my body adjusting and is very different than the pains I experienced before.  When my body is fatigued, I can feel my form start to deteriorate and strangely enough, 'old' pains start to surface.  These 'old' pains quickly remind me to pay attention to my form and I correct it immediately and the pain subsides.

In December I day-hiked 12 miles of the Appalachian Trail in Georgia in my Inov8 295's with no knee pain and this included some running and wearing a 10 lb pack.  I was super excited about this as there were some major downhill sections and this was where my knee pain would previously surface.  Being able to run down a big hill with a pack on and not have knee pain was a tremendous encouragement for me and I was sold on training in a minimalist shoe.

Per my previous post, I backpacked about 24 miles in 2 1/2 days on the Superior Hiking Trail with no knee pain and a 25 lb pack.  I hiked it in my Inov8 295's as much of the hike was either in snow, on ice, in icy slushy water or muddy conditions.  I thought about wearing a minimalist shoe for this, but conditions were just not right for it.

Any way you look at it, I feel that training in minimalist footwear has cured my knee pain that I was previously experiencing in traditional running shoes.  It has also made my feet and legs much stronger and greatly increased my sense of balance as well as core strength.  Running in minimalist footwear has also improved my form tremendously and for the first time in my life, I enjoy running!!

This weekend I will run the first running race of my life (admittedly, I'm not counting 8th/9th grade track as it was all less than 2k.)  The race I am running is the Trail Mix Race that takes place in Hyland Park in Bloomington, MN.  I will be running in the 25k race and will be quite content to be in the middle to bottom of pack for finish times.

One month from now, I will be running a much more challenging race that takes place on the Superior Hiking Trail. The Spring Superior Trail Race will be a very fun race and again I am running the 25k portion.  I will post more on this race later.

Wish me luck for my race on Saturday!!