montanapalooza 2002

“Kewl, thanks Geezr.”

“Geezr, I've done plenty of dayhiking (which is such a barf-o-rama name for it, why not call it going for a walk) and been on one 2 nighter w/ short distances and a lot of laying around in hotsprings. I've just never been on a trip this long or this high or w/ this much weight. Skeery.”

“It might be scary if you were by yourself, but you will have about a 15-20 person support group. Nothing to worry 'bout”

“We're going to have a ball kids!”

“Yeah, I know, I'll be just fine . . . as long as we don't eat shrimp. HeHeHe! Sooo, who is frickin' excited!?”

“Me!!! I don't like shrimp anyway. lol”

“You'll do great! I picked up the majority of my food today. Now all I have to do is get in trail shape AND wait 50 days!!!!!!!!!”

“I am going to have such a great time takeing so many pictures on this trip.

8)”

“What about skeeters Geezr? Will they be bad at that time? Should I bring something other than bug spray?”

“The last time we were in was the first week of August and we had trouble with Horse Flies more than anything. We just used Deep Woods Off. I usually take a bug net but can't recall the last time I actually used it. I just got used to having one from living in black-fly country and it weighs nothing. One of these days it might come in handy.”

“I'm trying to make up my mind what camera to take. We bought a new digital for X-mas but worried about battery life. I hate to get two days in and have it go D.O.A. anyone with hands on experience?”

“I saw earlier where you are trying to get down to 30 pounds. That it my goal for this trip also. I have been getting new gear lately, not that anything was wrong with my old stuff. I bought most of it last year. Oh well, I'll just have extra for my friends and family to borrow. At least that is what I tell my wife. lol”

“There will be moquitoes but the breeze and cool nights usually keeps them under check.”

“Not sure if I'm going to make it jg. I did get a one person tent but really can't justify ALL new gear. My Gregory pack weighs over six lbs. so that's a major stumbling block. Then I usually take a gps for off trail exploring as well as bear spray and camera. So, with those items and five days worth of food it's going to be tough.”

“My food will probably be my biggest obstacle. I have a 2 man tent , but it only weighs 4 1/2 pounds. My sleeping bag will be about 2 and my pack is only 20 ounces if I remember correctly. It's a Golite and I haven't got to use it yet. Shouldn't need many clothes and my cooking gear isn't too bad. I'm really tempted to by some Marmot Precip rain gear to lighten up a bit more.”

“jg, another item i might replace is my h2o filter. i have a pur hiker that probably could use a cartridge. rather than purchase that i've been thinking about the new extream bottle filter. the filter is part of the bottle eliminating carrying both a filter and a bottle. not much but oz. add up to lbs.”

“Maybe newgirl will carry some of our things???????????”

“I thought about a GoLite, Maybe next year. Are you going to get an opportunity to try it prior to the trip?”

“I was told that some of the bottle filter are hard to get the water out of. I have a filter, but I may just use the tablets. I just don't know yet.”

“We are going to Seattle the first week of July. I may load up the pack and just mess around and do some day hikes around Mt. Rainier.”

“I heard the same thing. In fact, several people here told me not to invest in one. I know that Pur Hiker is the greatest thing since Oreo cookies.”

“Ok, time for us old people to call it a night. Chat with you all tomorrow.

Take care all!”

“Hey Geezr - If an extra pound or two increases the quality of your rest, or comfort on the trail, I'd consider it a worthy investment. If your six pound Gregory makes the load ride like it's ten pounds lighter, it's worth it.

A good night's rest is also worth a little extra weight. I'm sure not going to give up my Therma-rest just to shave ounces. I guess it's kind of a 'trade off' thing”

“I'll cut the straps off my pack, and cut the tags off my clothes to shave oz, but I won't give up my Pur filter, and I won't give up my chair.

We tried the sweewater filter, which was a few oz lighter than the Pur, but it was a lot of extra pumping, and the hose kept squirting water out every few pumps. Not fun to get wet when its cold out.”

“Once you get old and the knees begin to go it's a matter of compromise. I guess what I'm looking for is a few creature comforts and a little less weight. I'm keeping the Therma-rest though. I have lots of difficulty sleeping as it is, I'm not giving THAT up. I can live without lots of items but need my beauty sleep, at least what I can manage.”

“Aero,
Do you have a rough list of the names of people expected? Just wanted to put faces to names using Phil's Photo Page . . . if they're on there.”

“Newgirl, will not be carrying your gear. I'm going to be crushed by my own stuff as it is.”

“Ok, here's who I have doing the trip so far:
aero
newgirl
geezr
gojo
pepperDog
txwoodswoman
om
SB
hodgeman of BC
ChinaChas
jgeils
jerbear
snow nymph
snow dude
crazy mike
prowler
2scoops
naviguesser
BriarRabbit
evergreen

20! (+chief shuttling) There's a few I haven't heard from for awhile so i'm assuming they're still on. And there are a few still considering, but these were the most definite.”

“newgirl,
you don't need to bring 24 old faithful ales for me, 12 should be ample. that will ease your burden some.”

“Good morning Aero.”

“I thought you said Newgirl was going to carry me. I guess it was a misunderstanding. LOL”

“Aero - I got a note from China Chas. I think you can scratch him, from the list.... he's doubtful at best”

“Howdy - I just uploaded a couple more maps to webshots. These are 2 big overview maps that show the surrounding area. They are pretty big, but webshots shows a reduced version, and allows you to click on a "view full size" link that opens a new window with the full size version. If you're still on a 1200 baud modem, you'll be there a while. If you want more crisp versions of the maps, leave a note here and I'll email them to you. Bigmap1 includes Upper and Lower Aero Lakes, while Bigmap2 includes my favorite, Froze to Death Lake.

Here's the link (I hope).

Also, what's with the other Montanapalooza thread? I thought we were going for 2000 posts on this one. We need to put a stop to that other one, and now!”

“Be careful, or someone will start a "Death to the Other Montanapalooza Thread" thread...”

“Hey martyb - They are a bit fuzzy. Would you mind sending me the high resolution versions of those maps? Thanks a lot
hodgeman@telus.net”

“They looked clear to Martyb ;-)”

“I'm going out of town for a week and expect this to be up to 2002 posts by the time I get back!! I will also nail down my travel arrangements then - last time I looked there was a flight into Billings at around 6:30 Saturday night. Do we have enough shuttle vehicles for all the bodies and gear? Oh yeah - a friend of mine might be coming along, too.”

“We should be able to shuttle you either to our house or whereever you want on saturday. I think jgeils is flying in about that timea as well. We'll probably have dinner downtown that night and head to Red Lodge early the next morning. As far as returning, I need to be back in Billings sometime Friday night and I think geezr does too.”

“Aero,
I do indeed! I start work at 5 A.M. on Saturday. Calling in sick will not be an option!”

“Sorry about the new thread. I just didn't want to seach thru all the other posts. At least this post will get it one closer.”

“Jgeils,
Have you thought anymore about where you'll be staying? Like I said, my wife will be attending a quilting symposium that weekend (actually 8 days) and I have room to put several people up. There's one guest room and a couch upstairs and downstairs. We'll just have to pick up after ourselves because the fur (mine)would fly if she returned home to a mess.

I work Saturday but will be off by 2:30 p.m. and can get a few people picked up from the airport.

If you think you'd be more at ease with a hotel that's fine too. I could get you (or other hikers) picked up at the airport and there as well.

Whatever works best for everyone.”

“Newgirl will put up all young males who have steady incomes and look good in Wranglers. ;-)

No farting or picking your nose will be allowed.

No cowboy boots with spurs in the parlor.

A lasso is optional!”

“I just printed the maps (1-8) and they look good! I can read it without glasses!!!

The big maps are a blurrrrr”

“Arky, my man!”

“Martyb - The high res, big maps are great.... nice and clear. I converted them to PDF for Acrobat, so they're easy to use.

They're still big files, though... 2.3Mb each, but if you prefer them as pdf's, let me know”

“Martyb,
With TOPO when you run your cursor along a route is it deplaying the lat and long????????

Tell me it is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“deplaying, that's montananese for displaying.”

“That's OK geezr, I talks montananese purty gud, since my momm is frum their. In ant-ser to yer qwest-shun abowt the lat/long, "yep." It kan allso opper-8 in UTM kordnitts, two.

SN,
I'll speak English to you - do you want me to email you the big (2.3MB) jpgs? Let me know.”

“No thanks Martyb I've have the topos . . . Smart derriere!”

“I love that Topo more everyday. You (Martyb) I can live without.

But because you have TOPO I'll put up with you. However, when Santa brings mine you're out of here.”