Hiking. Day, Thru, Section, Ultralight to Traditional

sipafz

Caught the Bug
I made it out to the Kettle Moraine to hike / snowshoe this morning. On the way, I took the scenic route which were some combo snowmobile / rl4wd trails:

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Decided to park at Butler Lake:

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Took a minute to decide which way to go:

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It was cold at 9 degrees, Butler Lake looks it!:

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Being that the trail can get a bit obscure with the snow cover, I decided to follow:

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A mile in and a fork. I took the trail less traveled:

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After a bit, it was nothing but virgin snow:

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A while later, it was getting hard to follow the trail:

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Zoom in and yes, a trail marker!:

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After 2 miles it was time for my favorite trail snack and hot coffee:

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After, it was time to head back to the Jeep and home. It warmed up to 19 degrees by time I got home. Great day in the woods!
 
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sipafz

Caught the Bug
My wife surprised me with plans to go hiking this morning. A 45 minute back roads drive brought us to the Ray Zillmer trails in the Northern Kettle Moraine. Mild temperatures in the low 50’s made for comfortable hiking conditions.

On the trail we encountered some ice patches in the shady spots:

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Only the breeze and occasional bird could be heard as we passed thru a stand of pines:

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The warm sun was melting the remaining evidence of winter:

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Charlie Brown found his tree:

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The ice on the Kettle Lakes were losing the battles with the sun:

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CarolinaJK

New member
Visited Vegas about a month ago and decided to hike the “Calico Tanks” trail. Not too challenging, but the views were breath taking!


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Trail Bud

Hooked
Great thread!!
Use to go every weekend 10-20 miles and 3000-6000 in elevation. Now I need a knee replacement to get back to where I was.
A few pics.

Rock Creek snow camping
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Half Dome Yosemite
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Half Dome Cables
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Dragon Peak
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My Whitney
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Mt Russel
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Trail Bud

Hooked
Bump. Glad to see we have a backpacking thread. That's actually what got me into Jeeping. Love the remote places. I'm definitely a minimalist/ultralighter by nature when hiking, but still always have preparedness supplies. I carry about 15 lbs base weight in the summer and 20 in the winter. No technical rope climbing for me but I'll do some class 3 snow climbing in the spring and love climbing 14ers. I'll post some gear pics when I have time.

Hiking got me into back packing too. I wish my packs were as light as yours.
My winter pack is about 50lbs. I have the boyscout mentality too. Be prepared, I bring the kitchen sink. :).
 

Trail Bud

Hooked
North fork of the Kings river in Sequoia. A long day if you dawdle. Imlay Canyon "Mystery" bag. Henderson 7mm wetsuit Photo: Sierenphotography.com
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Heaps Canyon, Zion National Park. Last rappel was like fun, but different. Big... big... day. 600ft rope by BlueWater.
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Cave in Nevada. Long hike up a really steep hill. Then rat-poop dust. Lots of it. Photo: Kevin Westervoorde
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Boulder cave in southern California. Stylish nylon cave suit by Lost Creek. Photo: Jansen Cardy
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Mt. Roberts (The long way), Juneau Alaska Cave bag by Petzl. Northface(You must go on sooo many adventures...) jacket Photo: Brian Weed
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Orderville Canyon, Zion National Park. Almost got flashed, so that was fun]


Beautiful pictures! Love Zion/Bryce area.
We lost 12 hikers in a Zion canyon from a flash flood about a couple of years ago.
 

Trail Bud

Hooked
Awesome pictures Trail Bud! The thought of a 50 pound pack is causing me anxiety. lol
Thanks!

That carried over to jeeping too. lol
Sent from my iPhone using WAYALIFE mobile app
your right my knee went bad and I got a jeep. (mountain wheelchair) :)

Those are some great pictures! You can keep the snow camping though!

Thanks.
Snow camping is cool. It's very warm in the snow with the tent. And with the right gear it's a good time most of the time, just heavy packs.
but this fixes the heavy pack.
DSC00671.jpg
 

sipafz

Caught the Bug
Thanks.
Snow camping is cool. It's very warm in the snow with the tent. And with the right gear it's a good time most of the time, just heavy packs.
but this fixes the heavy pack.
View attachment 297850

The last time I was snow camping, I was in my early 20’s and spent all my money on my Yamaha YZ250. We use to stud the tires and run the snowmobile trails here in Wisconsin. My gear was basic at best and probably rated for 40F. We froze! Now, 25 years later, camping is only during the warm months.
 

Jsouder53

Hooked
Great thread!!
Use to go every weekend 10-20 miles and 3000-6000 in elevation. Now I need a knee replacement to get back to where I was.
A few pics.

Awesome pictures! Snow camping is one of my favorite memories from when I was a student at NOLS. I can’t wait to move west again and actually be able to backpack without being eaten by mosquitoes or die of heat exhaustion [emoji51]



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WJCO

Meme King
The last time I was snow camping, I was in my early 20’s and spent all my money on my Yamaha YZ250. We use to stud the tires and run the snowmobile trails here in Wisconsin. My gear was basic at best and probably rated for 40F. We froze! Now, 25 years later, camping is only during the warm months.

I adopted snow camping for the sole reason of how much I loved camping and didn't want to limit it to just a few months per year. I've found with the proper clothing and boots, it can be quite comfortable. The hardest part is that morning wakeup though when you gotta get out of the sleeping bag.
 

DINKELROC

New member
Here are a few shots of some trips I took into the Ansel Adams Wilderness a few years back. My son Jakob got some great pictures of the back country.
 

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