Take care of your feet, they will take care of you.

Your feet are your most important piece of gear when you go anywhere.  If you don't take care of them, they WILL fail and you will be in a lot of discomfort at best, or stranded in the worst case.  Because this is so important, and so many people complain of foot problems when hiking I thought it would be a good idea to address this right away.

First off, have a look at your feet.  Are they well maintained right now?  Nails trimmed, clean and in good condition?  If not, then you really have to get them up to par. Talk to your doctor if you have serious issues, but for the most part self maintenance is something that you should have been taught from an early age and is easy to keep up.  Wash them daily, trim the nails and if you get pedicures make sure they don't remove too much callous. The callous is there to protect the tissue underneath. If you have really soft skin then you will be more prone to blisters. The opposite end of the spectrum is no good either, tree bark feet will split open and leave you at risk for infection just as easily as broken blisters.  Soft leather like a fancy sports car seat is what you are after.  Socks are your friends.  Learn to wear socks to keep the skin from drying out and cracking.

When I served in the military it was actually a charge-able offence to let your feet become a problem. Weekly foot inspections were a part of life while in the field.  Your feet are your most important piece of gear, treat them that way.

So now that your feet are in good condition, boots are probably the next most important piece of gear when you go out into the wild.  Your feet are what will get you to where you want to go and they will get you back.  Provided you take good care of them and protect them.  So what boots do you get?

This really depends on a lot of things.  Are you walking, hiking, climbing, riding, fighting fires etc etc. There are boots for everything, use the type of activity to determine the style of boot you need then above all, get boots that fit!  A poorly fitted pair of boots are going to cause you nothing but grief, pain and misery.

The steps to fitting boots:

1. Go walking.  That's right. Before you go anywhere near a store looking for boots, go for a good walk.  Spend at least an hour on your feet walking.  Feet that have been sitting around without your weight on them are a different size than they will be later after walking. Wander the mall, walk the dog, play with the kids or a game of tennis.  Do something to drive blood into your feet and spread out the bones.  Don't over do it, you don't want swollen feet either.  Just 'warmed up' feet.

2. Bring socks. For hiking or back country style expedition boots you will want to bring 2 pair.  A brand new pair of sport socks that go up past your ankle, and a brand new pair of wool socks.  Holy crap Tony, it's 35C outside, wool socks!?  Yes. Wool socks.  Put both the sport socks on and the wool socks over top.  Now try on the boots.

3. Find your size.  Every make and model of boot will fit differently.  Get the clerk to help you measure your foot if you need to. You will want boots that fit snugly, but not tight. They should hug your feet through the 2 layers of socks. Do up the laces on both boots. Walk around the store in them. Spend some time squatting, bending, leaning and rolling sideways on your ankles.  Check for support and for spots that seem to get sore.  If something pokes, pinches or feels in any way uncomfortable, get a different boot.  Don't be afraid to ask for a different pair in the same size and model.  Not all boots are made by the same person or machine and boots from different boxes may fit slightly differently.  Also don't be afraid to buy the left from one box and the right from another.  You need your boots to fit and be comfortable. You may not find a good match at this store, try another until you are happy.  Make this purchase as if you were going to spend 10x what they are priced at.

4. Break them in.  All boots need to be broken in.  Some boots may only need an hour or so, others especially heavy leather boots will need much more time.  I'll assume you bought standard hikers like in the picture above.  If you want to know how to break in heavy leather boots like combat boots, let me know and I'll write about that.  By breaking in, I mean they need to conform to the shape of your foot.  When you get the boots home, put them on (with both pairs of socks, even in the heat) and tie them up snugly. Now take the dog out for a 20 minute walk.  Adjust the laces as needed as you go.  The material in the boot will compress and form to your foot. when you get home, leave the boots on.  Relax, let your feet and boots cool down before taking them off.  A couple of walks like this and your boots should be good to go.

The big question I can see looming right now is why the 2 pairs of socks.

This is something I have learned over the years on long hikes and forced marches.  The sport sock will get sweaty, and stick to your foot.  The wool sock will compress and tend to adhere to the boot.  Any rubbing that occurs will be between the fibers of the two pairs of socks rather than against your skin, causing blisters. The wool is also a good insulator and will help you regulate the temperature of your feet.  I used this technique for years and I have never had cold feet or blisters to worry about.

Always deal with hot spots right away, BEFORE they turn into blisters.  I have an issue with my left foot where I get a hot spot under the ball of the toe, but it comes from the bone rubbing on the interior tissue.  It can cause me some problems, but a well broken in boot and insole helps me to keep that in check.

Hopefully you don't need custom orthotics but if you do, then have them made.  Your feet are your feet, do what you have to do to get out and be comfortable.

The Trail Awaits!

The cutline heading west from Fullerton Loop Kananaskis, Alberta

Camping on the Cheap

So you want to go camping, but don't have money to spend on a ton of gear.  Well, if you can eat, and sleep at home and can go outside in all weather then you have most of what you need already.

There are a few items that you will need to buy, but once you have them you won't need to buy them again and they become part of your camping 'kit'

To demonstrate the ease of getting what you need I am going to 'virtually shop' the Canadian Tire website for the gear you need.

Axe or hatchet.  I recommend a mid size axe as it will make splitting wood much easier.  As with any bladed tool, get the best you can afford.  You won't regret spending more.  But here is a nice entry level axe for camping.

http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/yardworks-axe-24-in-0575108p.html#srp  $31.99

Tarp.  The standard  tarp you can get from any hardware store. I recommend that you get 2.  1 to put on the ground, another to use as your roof system. the 9x12 tarp is plenty for 2 people, if you have to shelter a larger group, then go with a size up.

http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/certified-value-tarp-9-x-12-ft-0405030p.html#srp  $7.98 x 2

Bed.  You will regret not having something to separate you from the hard, cold ground. I recommend getting an air mattress as it will separate you from the ground completely and folds up smaller than a foam mattress.  This is on the expensive side, and there is a risk of leaks developing. Smaller is better as shared body heat helps in the night.

http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/woods-double-airbed-with-2-in-1-pump-0765573p.html#srp  $94.99

Cooler.  You need something that you can put 2 bags of ice in, plus all the food that you want to keep cool. Remember to plan your meals and bring plenty of snacks.  Don't bring more than what you have to, and keep in mind that wild animals are attracted to food smells. (bears, coyotes, wolves, cougars etc)  Lock your food up in the car when you are not using it.

http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/coleman-advantage-cooler-46-can-0853433p.html#srp  $49.99

Rope The last item is some sort of cordage to help with tying up the tarp.  There are tons out there but something like this should work.

http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/polypropylene-hollow-braided-rope-blue-50-ft-0618464p.html#srp $2.97 x2

Total cost for gear that will get used again and again:  $198.87+taxes The only risky bit is the air mattress. because if it fails you have a hard sleep.  Another option is to use a pile of quilts or a futon or something but if those get wet you are done camping.

Once you have purchased these items, then you can finish up your shopping at home.

The easiest way to pack for a camping trip is to work through your day in your mind.  You'll have breakfast at home, and you'll have lunch at the site.  So pack a lunch that doesn't need cooking, then activities for the day.

Pack the meals you will need.  Don't forget you will be cooking these over a fire, so don't go all 'iron chef'  Keep it simple.  If you want bacon and eggs for breakfast, bring a frying pan you don't mind getting scorched over a fire.  Or you can pick one up cheap at the dollar store.

Drinks.  Pack some pop, but also bring plenty of water.  Bring a litre per person per day. This is probably the most important thing to bring from home as well as a kettle for heating water for the hot chocolate or washing up or the all important morning cup of coffee (instant is your friend)

Snacks for during the day, snacks for around the campfire at night.  Don't over do it, but you want to have some fun food on hand.

Bedding.  It gets cold out at night in the outdoors.  Heavy blankets, flannel jammies, toque and mittens are probably a good idea to have along even if you don't use them. Use a fitted sheet over the air mattress, then cover it in a regular sheet, a couple heavy blankets and a nice thick comforter or quilt.  Just remember that everything will get dirty from being outside, and will probably smell smokey when you get it back home.

So there you have it.  For a one time expenditure of under $200 dollars (less if you have some of the items at home already) plus whatever food and drink you bring, you can have a nice weekend camping trip.

Don't forget to pack a flashlight and some extra batteries and a roll of your toilet paper (in a ziplock freezer bag to keep it dry) Trust me on this one.  The stuff they try to pass off as toilet paper in government run campgrounds is not worthy of touching anyone's bottom. Quarter ply paper made from the scratchiest fibers known to man.

Some questions answered:

How do you set up the tarp to provide shelter for the night?  That depends a lot on weather and your personal preference. There are plenty of guides online.  I found this in a google search a while ago

The reason I have 2 tarps on the shopping list is to use one as the floor and the other as the roof part of the shelter.

Here is a simple one that I built in the back country of Kananaskis.  It was toasty warm with the fire out in front.  I used a single 9x12 tarp with stakes fashioned from sticks and some paracord I picked up at liquidation world for 3 bucks for about 50 feet.

 

There are plenty of camping checklists to be found online.  Use them to help you pack, but remember you don't have to break the bank.  Everything that you use to live at home can be used to live outside for a weekend.  As you get more experience you will know what items you prefer, and you will probably want to get a tent at some point as well.

Key things to remember when going out camping in order of importance

1. Water
2. Shelter (this includes appropriate clothing for being outside in the rain)
3. Fire (matches, lighter and something that burns easily to get it started such as newspaper)
4. Food

With these 4 items covered  you can easily spend a night out doors.  Do a dry run in your back yard the week before you go.  That way if you forgot something, you can just run into the house and get it.

Contact me if you have any questions on how to get started with camping.

HAPPY CAMPING!

Frost Warning

There was a frost warning for parts of the foothills regions of Alberta.  Its late August, so that is quite normal.

How does this impact out door adventuring?

At this time of year the temperature in southern Alberta can swing wildly from below freezing in the early pre-dawn hours to the mid 30s Celcius (80s and 90s F) in the mid afternoon.  It can be a real challenge to deal with that.

The problem with living outdoors this time of year is that you will sweat during the day, and depending on your activity levels you may sweat a lot.  You need to take in enough water to prevent dehydration as well as minerals like salt.  But then overnight the temp drops drastically and you suddenly find that your sweat soaked garments provide little or no insulation and hypothermia can set in.

Sweat and salt - (found with google image search)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/66998152@N00/209177061

The solution is to carry an extra shirt for sleeping in and to try and rinse and dry your daytime shirt.  When I went on military training exercises during this time of year I would change my undershirt at sundown and again at sun up.  Keeping my 'night shirt' clean and dry was almost like a religious activity for me, there is nothing I hate more than being cold, especially at night.  I also always carried my wool sweater with me as well as a jacket. It made my combat webbing pack a bit heavier than the other guys, but I kept warmer at night. (Also, being a mounted recon soldier means you don't walk near as much as infantry and it becomes easier to carry more gear)

For me, I do most of my adventuring in the northern temperate montane ecosystems.  This means that nights are cold and that you can expect rain or snow year round and with little or no warning. As such I always carry rain gear, and light winter gear even in the summer.  I have woken up to an inch of snow on my tent in July. Melted and gone by noon, but its a shock to the system.

As seasons change, you need to change your kit.  My mom always had a saying: "remember to bring a jacket when the month has an 'R' in it" meaning that starting in September, it can get brrrrr cold, and stay that way.

Feel free to add your comments especially if you live and adventure in a different climate or ecosystem than I do.

Strawberry Hills - Kananaskis Country

Hello and welcome!

6 am.  Stoked for the first real back country hike I've done in a while.  The trail appears to be fairly flat from the look of the topo map and Google satellite imagery.  The goal is to make it to the lake marked on the map below.  My calculations put the hike at about 6km from the parking lot.  Not a long hike, but a nice day trip for lunch and relaxation, and then be home right around supper time.

Heading out now. I'll post the details and some photos when I get back later.




_____________________________________________________________________

Wow.  Nature is awesome.  Nature is also great at forcing changes in plans and for playing tricks on humans. I was expecting a bridge across the Highwood River from the parking lot, however google satellite imagery did not show one, so I brought my crocs just in case we had to ford the river.  When I got to my brother in-law's place and asked if he had sandals or something to cross a river with, I could see a worried look on his face.  Let the fun begin!

We left the house at 8 and were at the parking lot at the Fitzsimmons Creek Recreation Area at about 930. Sure enough no bridge or other 'easy' way of getting across.  There was a herd of cattle that were crossing the river so we approached that area and watched them cross.  They found a nice deep part of the river, the water was ICY cold at that time of the morning with clouds and a chill breeze, I was not looking forward to submerging myself past my groin at this place.  We also had Greg's border collie Jasmine to worry about.  She doesn't like to swim and having to carry her, or mount a dog rescue operation were also not on the top of my list for activities for the day.  We walked the shoreline for a bit and found a spot that looked promising.  We traded our boots for our 'water wear' and I led the charge (this was all my idea so I had better go first).  HOLY HANNA.  I hate cold, I get cold when I open the fridge at home. The pain in my feet was almost instant, but I pushed on as quick as I could.  The water got to about my knees, and I splashed a bunch of water up my shorts, but we made it.  The area we chose had a couple of dry sand bars to break up the crossing into manageable bouts of intense cold and pain.

We made it across.  I had brought a couple of rags, we used one to dry our feet.  Man it felt good to get the socks and boots back on. I pulled out the map, located our position and then plotted a course through the sticks and brush to intersect with the trail we were looking for.  That was the easy part....

We found the trail quick enough.  It looked like it was an old logging road.  You could see traces of the ruts but nature is working on erasing all traces of road.  The cattle were on the trail with us, and protested our presense loudly.  The little ones sounded like they were actually saying the word 'moo' I was thinking to myself, I wonder if there are any bulls in this herd.  A bull would not be good to run into... Oh look, there's a bull now, snorting at me.  They let us pass without incident.  I guess we looked too little to be a threat to the herd.

According to the map, we would cross Strawberry creek, then at Fitzsimmons creek we would turn north and follow the trail along the creek to a gate and just follow the trail until it turned and crossed the creek again in about 4km.

This is where nature let us know who is in charge.  We crossed the first creek.  It was a bit of an adventure as it was fairly deep and too wide to just jump across.  We found a downed tree across the creek upstream from the trail and crossed there.  We worked our way back to the trail.  I checked the map and compass and noticed that the trail was heading south east, the trail we wanted headed north, north west.  I thought maybe it loops around up ahead.  It was heavily wooded so I had no landmarks to go by.   I thought the next creek must be up ahead somewhere.  The woods thinned out a bit in about 5 minutes of walking and I noticed there was a mountain to my right, but no mountain to my left.  I called a halt. Greg and I both looked at the map, our compasses, and the terrain.  We determined that the creek we had just crossed was Fitzsimmons.  Somehow we had missed crossing Strawberry creek.  The area was heavily flood damaged from the "Flood of the Century" a few yeas back, so it is possible that Strawberry creek simply vanished or was redirected and ran into the Highwood river north of where it did previously.

So now we knew the map to be inaccurate and to be more aware and trust the land more than paper with lines drawn on it. This led to error number 2.  The trail intersection with the creek was hard to read on the map, but there was a trail the followed along the creek, so we took it.  The going was quite rough as the flood had ripped up trees and deposited them all over the trail.  But we slogged on for about 20 minutes. Then we got to a beautiful part of the creek.  There was a moss covered cliff on the other side and a steep embankment on our side.  It was beautiful, but not what I was expecting from the satellite and map. We slogged on a bit more and came to a spot where I could see where the pathway should be.  It was about 200' above us!  Crap.  So now we had a choice to make.  Hack our way back to the last trail intersection, or scramble up the rocky slope to the top of the ravine.  The dog started running up the slope, knocking loose rocks and debris, I was worried that she would slide down and possibly hang herself on the leash or pull one of us off balance, so we removed the leash and climbed up.  It was a strenuous climb with the packs but we made it.

We followed the trail for a bit, then I remembered I had my phone with me, and it has a camera. I had elected not to bring an actual camera because of weight.

The creek lies at the bottom of this ravine. The trees down there are probably 30' tall or so.

Fitzsimmons creek from the bluff

From up here we could also see the Alberta/BC border at the top of the ridge about 5km away.

Fitzsimmons creek Valley and Mt. McLaren

The trail was easy and clear now as we were back on an old logging road.  Not sure how we missed the intersection down by the creek.  We determined that we would figure that out when we headed back along this trail later.

It was an easy hike at this point.  The trail was clear and in places completely covered in mountain daisies.  The colors were amazing. (sorry, another reason I don't carry a camera is that I prefer to soak in the beauty rather than spend my time trying to capture it in pictures that don't do it justice.)  But here is a shot of some of the trail flowers.

Overgrown logging road and Mountain Daisies

We hiked for along the old road absorbing the beauty and spirit of the wild country.  We saw views I cannot begin to describe (again, the few photos I took, just don't capture the vast beauty).  We saw horse tracks, elk tracks, deer tracks.  Then I noticed a torn up rotten log, but it didn't look recent, then we noticed a turned over rock and a small hole dug.  Bear signs, but not recent.  Then I noticed something that proved bears had been here.  

Bear Poop

We had Jasmine off leash at this point, but as Greg would have to shout at her every 20 seconds or so to stay on the trail, I figured it was probably safer to leave her off leash as her running through the brush and Greg's shouting would give bears plenty of warning we were passing through.  It also meant no chance of seeing deer or elk, but being in Mr and Mrs Bear's home means you need to announce your presence.

Mt Armstong

The trail led back to the creek where there were remains of an old logging bridge and had a bit of a rest and a snack, It was about 11:30 now.  According to the map, we had come 4km along the trail, add in our detours and sight seeing along the creek, plus the scramble up the mountain side, I would say we had done 6+km at this point.

The lake (pond) that was our destination would require bushwacking to find the clearing.  With the dense woods and limited view, as well as no guarantee that the pond would even be there, it might just be a slough or marshy wetland, we decided not to go for the lake and head into the Strawberry hills area and stop for lunch where the trail looped back across the creek.  We hiked another 30 minutes or so past a couple of intersections that I double checked with map and compass each time. The area was a maze of trails and it would be very easy to make a wrong turn again and have to back track.  We found the creek crossing we were looking for and stopped for lunch.  Google map coordinates for lunch area

Lasagna from Backpacker's Pantry  Traditional Italian comfort food with a backpacking twist. The perfect blend of Italian seasonings, tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, noodles, and hearty Organic soy protein in lieu of ground beef. Makes two 12 oz. servings. Vegetarian. High Protein.

Really quite tasty. But next time I'll have to stir it up a bit better with a stick or something.  Only took the water about a minute to boil and another 15 minutes or so for the food to re-hydrate.

We let the dog clean off the dishes, then rinsed them in the creek.  Refilled the water bottle from the water I had brought along.  Mountain creeks like this are probably safe to drink, but can also contain bacteria, and seeing as I can't afford to take time off work, and I wasn't willing to boil water on this trip, the extra weight of water was worth it. (packed 3L or about 6.6lbs)

Lunch by the creek

This little creek must have been a raging torrent during the flood.  Just a short distance from our lunch site was a log jam.

Log Jam near our lunch site

The trail behind us from lunch site

The trail ahead from lunch

It is important to be aware of where you are at all times.  A half hour or so after lunch I noticed a pile of rocks and a burnt stump jumbled near what appeared to be an overgrown animal trail, but the main road carried on.  However as we followed the road, it started heading north, the compass confirmed that.  So again we stopped and decided to go back to the pile of rocks.  This had to be the trail that we wanted that was marked on the map.  It was well hidden, someone in the past had probably missed it as well, so they marked it.  I added another rock to the pile. and we headed on down the path where we met up with the trail guardian.  A grouse.  Just sitting there, rock still.  He let us walk right up to it, within about 3'.  The velcro on my pocket as I tried to get my phone out for a close up scared it off.

As you can see from this photo, the trail was very overgrown, little more than an animal trail through the woods. There were horse tracks and deer and elk tracks here and there in the mud, as well as a big pile of elk droppings. Not hard to follow if you pay attention.

Grouse on the trail.
Yes this is what passed for a marked trail on the map.

The trail eventually let back to the spot where we stopped for a break by the bridge remnants and it was easy going all the way back to cows and the river, then the drive back home.

The main trail that we missed at the beginning went up and in the wrong direction, but turns and heads the way we wanted to go.  The main reason we missed it was because we were focused on finding 1 creek, crossing it, then looking for a trail at the second creek.  Stawberry creek was a dried up creek bed right where the cows and their bull were hanging out.  Had I not been looking for signs of a creek on the way back, I would not have noticed it.

All in all a very nice hike, I think I'll be heading back here for an overnight trip to explore some of the other trails and roads in the area.

Hike details:

5 hours from leaving the vehicle to sitting in the vehicle again.

Distance covered estimated at 12 to 13 km

Total elevation gain was maybe 200m but there were a lot of ups and downs, and if you don't miss the trails, the hike would be a very easy one.  Well worth freezing your feet to get across the river.