care and feeding of graduate students (life as a professor)

Last weekend, I went with the scouts to pine mountain.  We did a loop I’d done before . I expected about a twelve mile loop based on an old GPS track I’d made. The new GPS gave 10.1!  We stayed at the new Jenkins Spring campsite which was excellent.  One the chief volunteers in the Pine Mountain Trail association came by and said that there were a lot of Eagle projects to be done on the trail (which is entirely built and maintained with volunteer labor).

new map of the loop

What’s going on?

The new GPS uses both the Russian and US satellite systems as well as having a more sensitive antenna and thus simply more satellites.  Therefore the distances are more accurate – with less wobble. Also the two systems have different and less correlated systematic errors so that the estimated precision is more accurate with the combination than with either. Thus the ruler used to measure the distance was smaller than before.

On the surface this is sort of an “anti-fractal”. It’s well known, or at least should be, that as rulers get smaller the distances measured gets larger. One simply measures more of the little in and outs on the curve and hence arrives at a longer distance. With the GPS estimates, which depend on point measurements, the idea is a little different. Here there is a swarm of (we can pretend in the limit of large numbers) normally distributed points drawn around a true track. Hence the calculated distance includes the sum of a bunch of random “wobble vectors”. The spread of the wobble is smaller with the new system and so the distance is more accurate. So the fractal measure in this case is actually in the statistics of the sampling and not the curve being measured.

Last weekend I helped lead a backpacking trip for scouts from my son’s and my new troop (which is much better run than the old one – but that is the subject of a different post). This troop, being huge, splits up into patrol-based or crew-based activities occasionally and this was one of them.

The younger scouts and most of the adults base camped at the chief ladiga campground which sits astride the intersection of the chief ladiga bike trail and the pinhoti trail in north east alabama. Another crew (mostly the Moose patrol) went backpacking on the pinhoti.

We walked just about 6 miles (5.92 by the GPS) to a campsite by the Terrapin creek flood control lake. There is a big field for camping there – so that several crews could camp at once. Fortunately, since we had a scout injure himself with a knife, there is good road access in an emergency.

Trip map.

Profile of the trail

This hike is a good simalcrum of the trails in Philmont, although it is generally less rocky and a bit more of a single track. There is a fair bit of poison ivy and poison oak so some care is needed – though I wore shorts and didn’t get any so it isn’t too bad. There are a couple of places to pump water.

There were no bears, despite seeing plenty of “sign”, but we did see a yearling timber rattler perched on a small hickory.

A couple more fun strolls in the Cotswalds.

First the “Rock of Ages”. Apparently the rocks in Burrington Coombe (coombe is an Anglo-Saxon word for a valley) were the inspiration for a famous hymn. Pity that they’re clearly sedimentary and preserve fossils which sort of, maybe, make it clear that Adam and Eve are allegorical (at best). None the less there is a fun stroll there. We parked at the Burrington pub (a favourite for cavers) and walked up the down, then down the down.

Track on Burrington Coombe

England has, this year, been rather wet. So it was mucky.

A typical English trail this summer

That said, there are lots of caves, foxgloves, and a set of tumulus’s on the top.

Another longer hike is around Castle Coombe.

Castle Coombe Walk (one of many)

This path uses more roads than ideal, and even follows the old coach road for a bit. It also passes the site of a Roman Villa. Not much is visible, but we did see a couple of tile fragments – so the villa was there.

I left my GPS at my brother in laws. Hence the hand drawn maps.

1. Day 1
   
   

   Walk up Kinder Scout

   Approximately 12-13 miles (shoelace estimate). We started in the morning, ate lunch at Kinder falls and then dinner at the Sportsman’s pub. (Either it or the George are probably the best in town). Exhausted the teenagers.

2. Day 2
   

   Lantern Pike

   
   It rained most of the day – so we only had time for a short walk, 3-4 miles. Out the Seth Vally walk and up the hill. There is an unmarked stub that takes you up to the top. There is a monument to one of the founders of open trail access on the top.
3. Day 3
   

   Seth Valley Trail

   
   This is a good one for a rainy day. Walked to New Mills, then along the millennium bridge, up past the train station to the visitors centre. The millennium bridge is along the train embankment and quite impressive. There is an Archimedes Screw used to generate power nearby, which generates about 60KW of power as well as allows the trout and salmon to migrate. The visitor’s centre is well worth the visit (toilets, information and food – as well as friendly directions). Walked up to the post office which is next to a Sainsbury express. Picked up some cider and beer (to slow me down). About 6 miles total.
4. Day 4
   
   

   Hill to the south

   
   8 miles. Good practice walk for the next day. Beautiful views. We had hoped to find a pub/sit down place for food in New Mills for a snack, but missed them.
5. Day 5
   

   Walk to Edale

   
   12-13 miles. Walked up over the Edale pass then along by the southern edge of Kinder scout. This trail is a bit harder than it looks. It took about an hour to get to the pass, then 2 hours to do the same distance on the flat and downhill. The downhill was cute, a nice trail goes to the edge of what appears to be a cliff and then the trail goes down it. Stopped for lunch at the “Old Nags Head Pub”. Then headed to the train station. Unfortunately the trains are every 2 hours. (We’d planned to travel by train to New Mills and walk back from that). So we decided to follow the Pennine way back to Edale pass and then Hayfield. Jacob’s ladder was on the way and turned out to be a non-event. (steep but easy). Picked up fish and chips at the Village Chippy on the way back and a passable bottle of English wine across the street at the village store.

Visiting family in the UK. Had a nice 1.92 mile after dinner stroll on part of the Cotswald way.

Tyndale walk

The rainy weather has broken for the last two days so the paths are merely muddy. We drove up to Nibley after dinner and strolled up to the Tyndale monument. Tyndale is an important figure in the reformation – he risked his life to translate the bible into English (something even the Roman Catholics now (reluctantly) accept). The path from the road is a steep but short climb up some rather slippery mud and wood steps. After climbing the tower – and getting a bit dizzy on its spiral staircase – we wandered off through the woods to find Bracken Hill fort. The loop at the end of the trail follows one of its walls. (you can just see it in the picture). It is rather overgrown and would be hard to recognize, except it is being cleared and restored.

There are two approaches to English muck in summer. 1) wear wellies and try to keep your feet dry and 2) wear sandals and just get wet. I tend to like the second of these approaches – you cannot keep the feet dry because they will sweat if nothing else, but the feet dry quickly in sandals. It is the same idea as trail runners and works well as long as you have sandals that fit and give enough support (keens work for me but your mileage may be different)

We broke out the light weight motor boat today. A riverhawk with a 5HP motor, runs all day on a couple of gallons of petrol.

I’m using this as an example to show what the paths from an etrex 20 look like with google earth:

Google Earth Version

and with FoxtrotGPS:

Foxtrot Version

FoxtrotGPS is more than a little less stable than Google Earth, but shows what is available from sources other than the “sage of mountainview”.

The maps show an afternoon trip. The difficult thing on this lake is dodging the buried logs. The engine is a tohatsu 5hp, and we’ve found it runs better with 10w-40 formulated for older engines.

As part of a scout trip (as a backpacking merit badge counselor), I had a chance to try a loop in the Ellicot Rock wilderness.   The scouts have to make three trips of two nights and at least 15 miles (as well as a five day trip of 30 miles), and this was the first for this lot.   It gave me a chance to try some gear.

Map of the trail

I was particularly interested in trying out some innov8 trail shoes and gaiters as well as using my Mountain Laurel Designs trail star tarp and quilt. Three of us (my son, the troop’s scoutmaster and me) had just been to Philmont and were lending our expertise to a group of (mostly) 8th grade scouts on their (mostly) second trip.

We drove up Friday night to Burrell’s ford campground (no reservations, first come first serve), so our first day’s trip was the quarter mile or so from the parking lot to the camp.  Saturday was intended to be about 13 miles (by the maps and usually reliable guidebooks) followed by an easy 3-4 miles back to the cars.  HA!.  In one of my first posts, I described the inaccuracies of the maps in this area, and they came back to haunt us.   In fairness the distances estimated by Google Earth are closer to the guide book.  The profile in the trail map shows the 16 miles we did on Saturday.   The distances weren’t the only problem, on some sections of the trail there was a downed tree about every 200 metres or so (maybe to keep the rif-raf out).

Anyway we trekked up the foothills trail, then down the fork mountain trail, and back the chatouga river trail to the car park.  There was a well-mannered 2 foot or so copperhead about half-way up the foothills trail which was a great addition to the scouts’ list of critters for those working on first class.  We camped in North Carolina, just north of Ellicot’s rock and the commissioners stone that mark the boundary.   Troop 543 was camping at the campsite at the junction of the river trail and the fork mountain trail, and fortunately the site was big enough for us as well.  (They’d come to fish – which for some reason isn’t interesting to our scouts).  Graciously they shared with us and Sunday led us to the rocks (which you will miss unless you know where to look).

The innov8 shoes worked very well, the gaiters broke in the first seven miles, and the tarp and quilt performed flawlessly.  The scouts thought the trail star tarp was cool.  It certainly fit my son and me with room for two more in a pinch.

Kennesaw mountain is one of the best local simulacrums of Philmont trails.  (at least if you don’t mind hiking in 90F (34) weather.  There is a new off-site parking area about 400m from park headquarters off of old 41.  The trails are well maintained, and well-used.  But it is possible to imagine yourself in the wilds.  Lizards and cacti abound, and there are a few deer.

Kennesaw mountain, pigeon hill loop

Two trips are shown on this map. It is probably more realistic to do the flat area first and then come up little kennesaw mountain. It is about 8.5 miles (the mapping software got confused) and a not unreasonable climb.  If you can do this without whining then you’re ready to go!

We saw a couple of individuals practicing and a few crews.

My son’s troop had a trip to Cumberland Island over the MLK weekend.  We braved the traffic and ice in Atlanta to drive down on a Friday night to arrive in time to meet a 9am ferry Saturday morning (stayed at the KOA in St. Mary’s – which graciously let us check in late at night).

The gear is piled on the deck in the bow – so if rain is likely it is critical that the packs are properly weather proofed. We were lucky on the way out and had beautiful weather, but on the way back, well that was another story.

Because of the ice there were a large number of cancellations and our scoutmaster was able to arrange for a campsite in the seacoast site. This was probably good as we had some fairly young scouts and a couple of fairly old scouters along as well.

Cumberland island is a live oak/ palmetto forest (or at least the southern half where we were is), with a beautiful beach on the east coast and swamp on the west coast. There are wild horses , amadillos
, racoons, deer, and an assortment of birds, including the ubiquitous turkey vulture.

Indeed we were warned to use a “minibear” bag to keep the racoons out of our food, and I used the chance to teach about the PCT method of hanging bear bags.

The trail map shows a short walk by the Dungenous ruins out to a place were fill dirt is placed. This fill dirt is full of fossil sharks teeth and fish bones. Since it is disturbed soil and will be used on the road, you are allowed (indeed encouraged) to keep the teeth you find.

Rain was predicted for Monday morning, and as I’d brought a tarp as well as my tent, I thought it might be fun to set up a “Taj Mahal”
We hurried back in the rain to catch the 10am ferry and after a 6 hour drive (interrupted by a stop in Brunswick for seafood) were home.

Henry Coe state park has a well-earned reputation as a great place for backpacking and a truly steep set of paths.  It is also one of the relatively undiscovered gems of the San Jose area.  I arrived on a damp Friday afternoon and was, pretty much, the backpacker in a 40 square mile or so area, only 5-7 miles from Morgan Hill California.

After getting off the plane in San Jose, I checked the weather and it was supposed to rain quite hard on Sunday.  Therefore I went to the safeway on East Dunne street, picked up a few supplies and headed for the hills.  The ranger office was shut, but I could register with the “iron ranger”.  Fortunately a couple of volunteers were around to help and show me where to place my car (behind the barn with a sheet on the dash saying when I’d be back).

I took the corral trail to poverty flats road and 4.3 miles and about 1500 feet lower made camp at poverty flats camp site 3.  On the way down I passed an interesting tree that I don’t quite recognize.  It had large nuts that resembled horse chestnuts, but aren’t. (it is a California Buckeye) I saw deer, a coyote, and a bobcat track on the way down.  The fuel pellets worked well for cooking dinner – but the Osem brand mejadarra (rice & lentils) is now highly spiced and somewhat disgusting.  Boiling water with tea helped the human sump work and I turned in.  I tried the bivy sack (outdoor research microlight)  and had a bit of trouble with condensation, so ended up taking it off.  There was a bit of drizzle but nothing significant.

The next morning was beautiful and sunny so I tried a fast-packing technique of starting quickly and eating on the trail.  So after a mile and a half or so and a 1000 foot up and down over jackass peak I stopped at Coyote creek, ate and pumped water.  This was a decision point and after checking the map I started the climb up Willow ridge towards Coit and Kelly lakes.

I walked back the next ridge over in the afternoon

I called, and surprised, my father from the top of the ridge (I generally carry my cell phone even when it isn’t likely to be useful because if you come out in the wrong place it can be a lifesaver). Unfortunately my wifes cell was off.  On the way I was passed by the one mountain biker I saw.  I was almost to Kelly lake when the ranger drove by.  He was concerned that I was lost, but I gave him my itinerary and we had a nice chat.  He said that if the weather turned really bad, I could alway hold up in one of the latrines (which, by the way are spacious, relatively smell-free and even have toilet paper).  I thanked him and went on my way.  Just past Kelly lake I put up my tarp (as there had been a few sprinkles), ate lunch (peanut butter, cliff bars and tortillas), and pumped a bit more water.  (I didn’t need to carry more than about 2.5-3 liters).  I started on the return leg via Mahoney meadows road.

I saw several large brown newts (coastal range newts) on the way.  They seem a bit out of place in this arid area, but that’s where they live.

About 4 miles later, the heavens unleashed a reasonable amount of rain and I put on rain gear and a pack cover.  The REI flash 50 is somewhat water resistant and my gear is bagged in a contractor’s trash bag, but the cover helps keep the thing drier.

I had been planning to stop at Mahoney pond, which on a nice day would have been beautiful, but I don’t like to stop on a ridge when a storm is in the offing.  There is a slightly overused campsite just off the trail near the pond.  Because the weather was threatening I aimed for the lost spring campsite, but the sign was missing so I ended up at the lost spring.  Rather than go back uphill and hunt around, I elected to head for the Los Cruzeros sites, by  Coyote creek (only about 1.5 miles from poverty flats going the short way and about 17 miles the way I went).

I pitched my tarp, and setup underneath.  This time I was glad of the bivy sack as the Etowah tarp would let the occasion spray through (could have been knocking condensation off of the inside).  I started dinner, a mountain house meal, and then realized I’d setup within the “widow maker” zone of an oak tree.  Fortunately there was a lull in the rain and I was able to very quickly move everything (in a hurry I can pitch the tarp and move in in less than 5 minutes!).  So while dinner finished rehydrating I moved camp.  Dinner, tea, and to bed.  It rained a  bit that night, but nothing too significant by my standards.

The next morning was foggy, but the fog was burning off.  I lazed about, only having six or so miles to go and not wanting to get to the camp office much before noon.  (I couldn’t check in at Asilomar until later in the afternoon anyway).  So back up over jackass peak.  Rather than face a grinding haul back up poverty flats road, I took the much steeper “cougar trail”, which was breath-taking (both literally and in terms of beauty).  Half-way up there was an old car frame, and I have no idea how they got it there.  The ranch, when it was active, had tried planting olive trees.  These trees were bearing fruit, but would have been very hard to harvest by modern means as the slope was 30-50% grade at times.

Once on top I took a short break, and followed the Manzanita point trail, a bit of the road, the forest trail, and then the corral trail back to the office.  This is sort of anti-climatic, and I was passed by the only two hikers I saw on the forest trail near the headquarters.  Once on the corral trail, it started to rain, so on with the raingear and pack cover again.

There is no formal checkout and the ranger in the office was distinctly disinterested in the backcountry so I got in my car and headed off to do science.

Trail stats from gps

28.2 miles, moving average 2.7 mph, 6162 feet climbing (!?).

How did my gear perform?

REI flash 50 pack – Reasonably comfortable and held all I needed.  Not quite as waterproof as advertised (but what is?).  After a long day the shoulder straps began to hurt a bit, but that was probably a mis-adjusted load lifter.  Definitely able to carry a weekend load, but a bit small for much more (though with a summer weight bag??).  It has a strap similar to the over the top strap on the mariposa plus, which is good for securing rain wear and jackets, but not quite as versatile as there is a top pocket in the way (I probably could have adjusted it a bit better).  The top pocket is useful and has clips for car keys so that you don’t have to worry about them getting lost.  The side bags are a bit tight for most water bottles, so put them in before packing the rest.

Etowah tarp – light, possibly leaky (?).

Estibit fuel pellets.  Much more expensive than ethanol, but WORK.  You can take these on planes in small amounts, as they aren’t particularly flammable.  (hard to light without a lighter).  They smell like fish that is slightly off (as do most small organic amines).   They leave a sticky residue on your pot, but it is water soluble and wipes off so it isn’t an issue.  Definitely usable for a short “in and out” trip, but probably not good for a longer trip.

Bivy sack.  Some condensation issues, but generally ok.  The mosquito net was useful on the most rainy night as the little buggers came out.   Not an adequate replacement for a ground sheet under normal conditions, unless you want the rest of your gear to get muddy. Useful as insurance, but not as good as I’d like on its own.  The western mountaineering down bag I brought was much more water-resistant than the down bags of my youth so condensation wasn’t an issue.  As a solo backpacker miles from help, it was comforting to have this.

Mountain house dehydrated meal, cliff bars, and the like.  Edible, even tasty, but I’d be wary of using them for more than a few days as I’d get fed up with the taste.

Summer sausage bars, peanut butter, tortillas.  A little better tasting, but not exactly balanced food.

Osem brand – way too weird spices for my taste.

Green tea hard candy – great pick me up.

Using tea for helping wash up (idea from “as the crow flies”) definitely good.  Covers traces of seasoning and helps the human sump work.