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Don't know how long I can use this BoardView Messages“The Hege-O-Matic! Now exclusively offered to world superpowers for zero down and zero interest for the first six months!" Mutt 09:05:28 AM 03/19/04 And as a SPECIAL GIFT, we'll throw in a handy, geniune deluxe PETTY DICTATOR - it's our way of saying thanks!” 9:07:58 AM 3/19/04 “mutt no no thats not what i menat at all. i just wanted to know WTH was the point of this thread?” 9:08:19 AM 3/19/04 “Already searched but no results. Thats the first thing I did.” 9:08:31 AM 3/19/04 “Lyra, thankyou for coming to my defense. At least you are one person whose integrity we can count on.” 9:08:48 AM 3/19/04 “(while supplies last) LOL” 9:09:00 AM 3/19/04 “i heart you, Dunadan! :-)” 9:09:30 AM 3/19/04 “Whattabout the rest of us, Lyrinator?” 9:10:10 AM 3/19/04 “Thank you all! You've been wonderful. Really, the best audience I've ever seen. I'm outta here for an early start to the weekend, but I'll be here all next week!” 9:10:30 AM 3/19/04 “Well Vipes, your boot thread has been up for an hour, now, and nobody's replied, so I guess that means nobody's got anything to say about your boots. You're on your own, dude.” 9:10:35 AM 3/19/04 “But don't let that stop you from posting on more political threads.” 9:11:43 AM 3/19/04 “Phil is the TT racist? What world are you living in? Pretty much nailed the rest of it.” 9:11:49 AM 3/19/04 “these boots were made for walking.... humming and toe tapping” 9:12:41 AM 3/19/04 “Mabey when the evening comes. Its like that on most boards most people at work right now so mabey then. Just figured a "hiking/outdoor board" would have some hiking info :). Well I guess it does I am just surprised that no one has any experience with that brand. I mean id heard of them but can't get them local so I thought id take a shot and order a pair($44 for boots that were $129 normaly) and get some info to be sure I get the right size and stuff.” 9:14:31 AM 3/19/04 “don't worry Phaeddy, i heart you, too!” 9:15:24 AM 3/19/04 “Excellent! DOGPILE!!!!” 9:16:16 AM 3/19/04 “Yeah, I just thought I'd diss a few people who don't agree with me while I was innocently hanging around. Sounds totally logical and forthright to me.” 9:21:05 AM 3/19/04 “viper, just go and try it. sometimes thats all you can do. even if we all said NO, would that really stop you? i never listen to these freaks. they are sooo clueless when it comes to gear.” 9:25:42 AM 3/19/04 “Did I tell you about one of my favorite trips of all time? No? Well, this is a backpacking site, after all. The Ptarmigan traverse is a climber's route which traverses the crest of the rugged North Cascades, from Cascade Pass outside of Marblemount to the valley of Downey Creek near Darrington. The route is largely on rock and glaciers and stems from peak to peak in an area of unsurpassed beauty. Cascade Pass is an ancient Indian trade route from the Puget Sound area of Bellingham to Lake Chelan and neighboring areas of eastern Washington. It serves as the starting point for this week long trip, and is one of the more scenic hikes in the entire state of Washington. What a way to start a trip! Soon you find yourself standing at Cache Col, looking down to Kool-Aid Lake and across to the Middle Cascade Glacier. From Kool-Aid Lake, the traverse is made to Red Ledge, and eventually the Middle Cascade Glacier. This glacier is an easy enough of an ascent, though crevasses in its upper reaches remind you that this is a technical traverse - requiring rope, ice ax, crampons, and experience in glacier travel. Your rewards are the incredible views from near the Spider-Formidable col, especially if there's a goat near the summit. Now it is a descending traverse to the beautiful Ying Yang Lakes. Some climbers continue above the lakes to LeConte Pass, making for a very long day. Or, you spend an extra day in the area and enjoy both! From LeConte Pass, the route traverses the LeConte Glacier on the flanks of Sentinel Peak. More rescues take place on this glacier than on any other leg of the trip. The glacier can be very badly broken up and requires route finding along its entire stretch. You are now beyond the halfway point of the trip, so turning back is not a viable option. From the LeConte Glacier, it is an easy traverse around the shoulder of Sentinel Peak and along its west side. Of course, the trip ain't complete without dropping packs for a quick(?) scramble to the summit! The crux of Sentinel Peak is the the transition point from snow (ice) to rock. Deep moats and icy conditions can present a serious hazard we dealt with carefully. Once on rock, a path traverses to the shoulder and leads all the way to the summit! Views are excellent of Dome Peak and the Chikamin and Dana Glaciers. You now traverse and descend to the South Cascade Glacier, and a pleasant traverse to Lizard Pass. The South Cascade Glacier is very flat and will remind many of the Blue Glacier on Olympus, except that it is crevasse free (during my visits). The descent from Lizard Pass is most pleasant in early season when snow covers most of the route. Without the snow, it is a steep and loose scree descent down to White Rock Lakes. White Rock Lakes are incredibly scenic - quite possibly the most scenic part of the trip. In fact, we unanimously elected to enjoy an extra day soaking it all in and exploring. From White Rock Lakes a descending traverse is made to the head of the West Fork Agnes Creek Valley before ascending a gulley to the Dana Glacier. From here it is a simple ascent to Spire Col before dropping down to Itswoot Ridge and Cub Lake. We, however, elected an alternate course - a direct route to Dome Peak by traversing the Dana Glacier and climbing to the notch below the summit where it meets the Dome Glacier. This route comes highly recommended if planning an ascent of Dome (and why wouldn't you!). It is direct and highly scenic! The ascent of the Dome Glacier is very easy. Aiming for the obvious notch, you soon cross it and enter a giant wind cirque on the Chikamin Glacier side, which is climbed to the the ridge and the beginning of the infamous traverse! We had an easy time across the entire ridge to the final "catwalk" thanks to an abundance of snow on the Chikamin Glacier. However, Geoff remembered a previous year in which the entire ridge was slow going and very exposed, requiring running belays. From Dome Peak it is a simple descending traverse of the Blue Glacier and then beautiful parkland to Itswoot Ridge. Many streams cascade down in this section, providing excellent drinking water as well as many excuses to take "just one more break"! From Itswoot Ridge it is a steep and often slick descent down to Cub Lake, followed by a traverse around the lake and then a steep ascent up to cross into the Bachelor Creek drainage. This upper drainage is very scenic as well, with much parkland for roaming. But better yet are the views from the ridge above Cub Lake! We convinced ourselves to spend an extra day here for photography purposes - a wise choice. The descent of Bachelor Creek is very pleasant through its upper reaches as is descends through parklands of heather and meadows. This is short lived. Soon brush, marsh and fallen trees become the rule for the remainder of the descent down to Downey Creek. This area was extremely buggy! The Downey Creek trail used to be a very nice 6 mile trek. This time it was actually more difficult then the descent down Bachelor Creek with numerous downed trees and major wind falls. This was after a harsh winter and subsequent reports hinted at trail crews attacking this trail once again (we witnessed many markers placed by them in the damaged areas - a good sign that they'll be fixing the trail soon). By the way: you all suck and I'm leaving.” 9:26:34 AM 3/19/04 “lol guess it did turn out to be that way so sorry about that. I guess when i was waiting around i saw the same thing you just said opposing(and IMO wrong for the most part) and got acrried away with something I jsut said I did not like politicts. Sorry guys for getting carried away with the moment. You won't see me much here except for gear and hiking stuff.” 9:27:29 AM 3/19/04 “Viper, you're braver than me. No way would I order boots over the Internet, but I have hard-to-fit feet. I'm goin' to REI next month and spend my dividend on a new pair boots, and really get fitted for them.” 9:28:49 AM 3/19/04 “Well, I would love to see you stick around. This site can always use more gear experts. However, that seemed kinda misleading about your aversion to politics.” 9:31:00 AM 3/19/04 “I ordered Vasque boots from STP, but I've had experience with Vasques before and I knew I would get the right size. Better get down to REI before the 20 percent discount runs out Bit! You don't want to lose that.” 9:33:20 AM 3/19/04 “Jeez, now look at that. Viper's thread turned into a boot thread after all. Thread degeneration at work!” 9:34:08 AM 3/19/04 “Yah I know! I may do it next weekend. Actually going hiking this weekend, lol...” 9:34:15 AM 3/19/04 “These here are some fine boots:  ”9:36:39 AM 3/19/04 “I have a pair of Vasque Sundowners now. They have never fit right. The biggest problem is my toes slide into the toebox really bad. Also, I bought them a half-size large, which fits my left foot okay, but my right foot rattles around in them like a pea in a pod. So this time, I'm gonna get fitted.” 9:37:06 AM 3/19/04 “Sounds like your problem is two left feet. j/k, getting fitted is the best idea.” 9:39:03 AM 3/19/04 “Yeah I know thats why im trying to get this back to "gear" instead of who is right or wrong. I have pretty normal feet. A bit wide but not too bad. Yeah I know im taking a risk but for the $60+ bucks I was saving over the Dunham Cloud 9's I did try on(they were $109) I hope they come right. Oh and yeah if someone that had those boots said yeah they suck I probably would cancel the order. I don't have any problem relying on others reviews or experiences with a product. Not a lot of real long trails here in PA to hike. I have done a few in NY and in the Allegheny National Forest but nothing too taxing. with a 4 year old I find little time for any hikes over 6-7 miles anymore since im always watching him or working. I was just hoping for general wear and light trails and short hikes they would be ok. I will let you know when I get them. I can recomend the Dunham Cloud 9's and the Danner Radical GTX though for light trails both great boots the Danners are 4 years old and still going strong and I wear them every day from about October-April so thats a lot of wear.” 9:39:37 AM 3/19/04 “I can't believe you people. Talking gear on a chatter thread. Have you no shame?” 9:39:40 AM 3/19/04 “None whatsoever....” 9:42:16 AM 3/19/04 “The best pair I've ever had were Technica's, made in Hungary, I think. I now own a pair of Salomon's that are OK, but I can't wait until they wear out.” 9:42:48 AM 3/19/04 “Oh, and BTW, boycott Chinese boots!” 9:44:13 AM 3/19/04 “don't worry Dunadan, you only have like 35 years to go until they wear out. :-D” 9:44:22 AM 3/19/04 “I used to work in EMS with boots and when in College worked in Footlocker :) so I know how MOST(definately not all) boots run and your right they are all different. I just hope I get the right ones. They said no problem exchanging if they were not right though. Got them at Life-link.com.” 9:44:28 AM 3/19/04 “Viper there are a lot of very experienced and knowledgeable people on this board when it comes to backpacking and everyone is very willing to share that with you, so ask any questions you may have. The people here won’t steer you wrong even if they disagree with your politics. Do a thread search for what ever it is you want information on chances are it’s been discussed multiple times. If you still can’t find what you need then start a thread about it.” 9:45:24 AM 3/19/04 “I think the Raichle's are Swiss or something :) I can't boycott them they are neutral :)” 9:46:58 AM 3/19/04 “Boots? Who still wears boots. When you get your pack under 20#'s you can easily swap to trail running shoes. That's what I've worn for the past year or so and they work great.” 9:49:03 AM 3/19/04 “Hey, Lyra, I wear them downtown when I go drinking and dancing. Really impresses the college women. So, I'm sure they will wear out sometime this year.” 9:49:30 AM 3/19/04 More politics for your edification “  ”9:49:57 AM 3/19/04 “take the politics to a yahoo chat room loser.” 9:57:28 AM 3/19/04 “I tried the trail runners in New Balance and Nike. They were ok but on uneven terrain I would roll my ankle too easily so I started going with the 3/4 or higher ones even for light hiking just for the extra ankle support. I have a pair of Nike ACG trailrunners that I still use in the summer as general wear though and like them.” 9:59:12 AM 3/19/04 “Username: cesium137 State of residence: Colorado Other comments: what the hell are you looking at wanker? Nothing much.” 9:59:13 AM 3/19/04 “viper - Welcome to TT. To a newbie who looks at the thread titles it does look like this place is an anti-Bush board mascarading as a backpacking forum. In reality, most people here do backpack and hike. Most of us hike regularly with others on the board. The trips page is quite full and there are other trips that never get posted. Speaking of the campfire, on some of the hikes I have been on we agreed at the beginning not to talk about politics. We have a great time talking about every thing else. Here on TT you can ignore users as well as select the types of threads you want to view on your screen. That can increase your enjoyment of the site...that is unless you like to be called names and be labelled.” 10:18:53 AM 3/19/04 “Lol thanks. I see now that most actually do like to hike or like the outdoors. Ive already ignored a couple(no one on this thread though). I don;t mind the labeling and arguments this is a great country where we can all have different oppinions as crazy and mislead as some are :). I just come back to this thread but have only posted on one other. I think I will mostly limit it to gear and hikes though!” 10:24:27 AM 3/19/04 “I like Thigh High black leather FMB's. Put those on the Bush babes and I'll register as a GOP!” 10:24:35 AM 3/19/04 “Don't look at me! I hate talking politics. I've just been killing time here waiting for a reply to my candle lantern question from 3 years ago.” 10:25:57 AM 3/19/04 “To answer your lantern question - yes. But bring extra candles in case she really likes it.” 10:28:50 AM 3/19/04 “Hey Violin, don't you have a link to a boot thread you could post for Viper?” 10:29:08 AM 3/19/04 “John Muir....that damn treehugger. Teddy Rooseveldt... damn treehugger! (if is wasn't for treehuggers, you rightwingers would be doing your hiking on concrete, LOL) Yeah, we know: More and more and more development is a Wonderful thing and "'Urban Sprawl' is just some o' dat Lefty Crap"... just don't be surprised when one of the places you used to hike and camp is paved over and replaced with yet another strip-mall. You see -- politics DOES relate directly to backpacking. You may get fed up with it, but you can't escape it. If you leave the politics to someone else, they will do what They want, impose Their priorities... and you may very well lose something you love.” 10:36:35 AM 3/19/04 “Latex Boots! I love Thigh High Black Latex FMB's! Add matching latex thong and bra and I'll be your slave!” 10:40:45 AM 3/19/04
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