2019 Blog
See also:
THE
ULTRALIGHT HIKER
Ultralight Hiking
Ultralight Hiking Advice
The
Upper Yarra Walking Track
2019 Blog
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and earlier blog
Finnsheep.com
Climate
31/12/2019: Cheap Down: These
folks have ultra-cheap down sleeping bags, pants, jackets, socks etc on
Aliexpress for unbeatable prices. What’s not to like about an 800 fill power
ultradry down jacket for US$76.76 (Jan 2019) including delivery, or down pants
for US46.41, socks for US$16.24, balaclavas for US$24.85 or 480 grams +5C
sleeping bags for US 75.88! Certainly worth a look – they seem to have plenty
of positive reviews.
If you needed a bit more warmth you could easily add some more yourself, as
we did here: Adding
Down to a Sleeping Bag
You can buy the down quite cheaply from eg
Aliexpress Just be sure to buy eg 800 ‘fill power’ down. The fill power
means eg the amount 1 ounce of down will expand to fill
( in this case 800 cubic inches). So around four ounces (or around $20
worth of such down added to a bag will make it OK to say -10C. $100 is pretty
cheap for a sub zero bag which weighs around 600 grams.Think about partnering
it with one of these cheap
backpacks and some other
budget items
.
See Also:
Aegismax
Budget Pack Mods
Ultralight hiking on a Budget
31/12/2019: We are dirty little
devils: Ancient humans procreated with at least four other species: https://www.inverse.com/article/61940-ancient-human-four-species-mating-mixing
31/12/2019: Bertrand Russell’s
Millennial Advice (1959): Ask only, ‘What are the facts’ – always full of
good advice, and his ‘History of Western Philosophy’ is one of a handful of my
list of the greatest books ever (NB does not include the Koran or the Bible,
but does include Freud’s ‘Interpretation of Dreams’ and Kazantzakis’ ‘Freedom
and Death’ and Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings’): https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/12/30/weekly-climate-and-energy-news-roundup-392/ ‘ in his new paper Richard Lindzen
addressed the important issue of the temperature difference between the equator
and the polar regions during the last major ice age and the last major warm
period. The temperatures in the tropics did not change much from the cold era
to the warm era. Thus, we should not expect a strong tropical “hot spot” during
the current warming. Observational evidence of temperature trends show one is
not occurring, thus a strong positive
feedback from water vapor is not occurring. ’ Relax!
31/12/2019: 200,000 hectares (and how many living
creatures) gone overnight but it is nothing new and all down to uncontrolled
fuel build-ups: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/history-of-disasters-shows-there-is-nothing-new-about-nations-destructive-blazes/news-story/f43c2a6037a8b0e422a69880bce10139
PS: Summer
this year (2019) there is not much water anywhere in Gippsland (and of course
fires everywhere) but there is still enough to enjoy a trip down the Thomson.
You can have an enjoyable journey from about .2 metres on the Coopers Creek
gauge though you might have to get out at a few pebble races. Looks more like .3 on the video.
Also there is
water in the Latrobe eg from Thoms Bridge (Yallourn North-Morwell Rd Rd) down
to Sale (swing bridge) is approx five days of delightful flat water paddling
(take a water filter; this section of the river is muddy).
The last
section (shown below) from Kilmany South (two days) is arguably the most
scenic: the river is bounded by a strip of magnificent riverine gums on both sides, though there are some quite large
sections of forest too. Bird life is particularly varied and plentiful. There
are vast numbers of perfect camping spots along the river.
The section
from Noojee down to Willow Grove is probably the best but will need some
clearing. Get cracking. Also the Tanjil is worth considering (eg from Costins
or Rowley’s Hill Rd down to Blue Rock).
See:
Long and Lazy River
Tanjil River
PS: The cover
photo is of Steve coming down one of the Thomson’s better rapids (The Chute –
which can be inspected from the T1 track 4WD only) the same year (2006) but on
a different trip (when we put in from the end of the T9 track (off Stoney Creek
Rd) for a day trip. (NB Road ‘officially’ closed but it could be re-opened by
determined canoeists. I did it last time – now your turn).
I have
improved the photo as much as I can. Alas that I can never take it again, Steve
has been gone now for ten whole years. Seems unbelievable: ‘ The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all
thy Piety nor Wit. Shall lure it back to cancel half a
Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.’ Omar Khayyám
See Also:
Canoeing the Thomson River
Only the Moon and Me
How Green Was My River
30/12/2019: A Cure for Tremor? https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-15/tremor-cure-incisionless-brain-surgery-treatment/10715942?fbclid=IwAR2GT0HZXZH0NzrYx7sxsFw5yxlVexYpSyuhp2p8Pmp-qoBhuAb8tQpIsXk
30/12/2019: It seems quite likely Willis is right and
there is no ‘equilibrium climate sensitivity’ – just a few 100s of billions
down the drain: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/12/26/a-decided-lack-of-equilibrium/
30/12/2019: Tim Blair has hit the nail on the head
here: Life is not a serious business (unless you live in the inner city): https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2019/12/the-laughable-lust-for-seriousness/
30/12/2019: Failed Apocalypse: Willis is a Breath
of Fresh Air: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/12/27/failed-serial-doomcasting/
30/12/2019: If Solar Panels Are So Clean, Why Do They
Produce So Much Toxic Waste? Solar requires 15x more materials than nuclear: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2018/05/23/if-solar-panels-are-so-clean-why-do-they-produce-so-much-toxic-waste/#5ffa44b8121c
30/01/2019:
29/12/2019: The Arch – Update: Della: ‘The new
archway is beginning to settle in and look much less stark with the lower
plantings taking off now and the roses starting to climb the uprights. What a
difference a few months make in the garden (especially when spring and summer
are also involved!) Thanks Steve Jones for the structural work and for laying those
tedious pavers: Every glance out the front door now makes me smile!’
Xmas 2019:
August 2019:
See Also: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/08/31/the-arch/
29/12/2019: Marvelous Mitchell Day 3: What a
wonderful ruin - like something from Ozymandias. Construction of this weir at
the junction of the Mitchell and Stoney creek
commenced in 1881 but the weir was destroyed by floods in 1893 soon after
completion and has never been repaired. Two other attempts to dam the river at
Billy Goat Bend and Tabberabbera both came to nothing so that the river remains
the last great 'free' river in Victoria. In winter it is common for enough
water to be flowing down it to fill one of Melbourne's large catchment dams in
a single day, so that a weir like this much higher up such as the one at
Swinglers on the Thomson would guarantee Melbourne fresh water for a long while
to come. Mind you I am not sorry that it runs free. Dams in Tasmania already built
could just as easily supply Melbourne via a pipeline across Bass Strait.
I'm afraid I
just kept snapping away at it.
And camped right in the shelter of it overlooking a swallow-filled
billabong.
Here the
jungle seeks to reclaim it like Angkor Wat.
This Banyalla
is growing right out of the wall.
And these two
seem to have it surrounded.
You can walk
right out along the top.
What a huge
pool it still is above the weir. it would have
provided very good water for the Lindenow Flats.
The Stoney
Creek on the left of the photo was clearly used as a diversion while they built
the weir.
The stones
from the weir lie scattered below it making a very complex rapid.
My camp is
quite dwarfed by the weir.
It was lovely
to wake in the morning to this enchanting view.
The weir's
stones have been worn quite smooth by a century of rushing water.
Next to last view.
A dragon
watches me pass.
The very last viwe of the weir as I head downriver on mostly flat water.
Two dragons.
But there are
still a few difficult rapids.
But only 1-2
spots to camp below the weir.
One of the
last siltstne cliffs is riddled with caves.
These look as
if they contain ancient rock art.
But it is an
optical illusion. They would have long since washed away.
A beautiful noxious weed?
The first glimpse of 'civilisation'.
But still a couple of tricky rock gardens.
The reed beds
quiver.
At last the 'Final Fling' rapid.
A dead stag
had fetched up here. Despite his being more than somewhat overpowering I could
not pass up the chance of a trophy without even a gun!
You can walk
around this rapid on the right hand side - recomended.
Ony a bit over half an hour to go mainly on flat water.
And real
willows hove in sight. What a delight they are!
On the
car/bike shuttle I chanced upon a family of emus.
It was a
truly delightful three day trip. Younger folk could probably do it more quickly
particularly in higher water levels - but what's the hurry. Unfortunately the
summer has turned hot and dry and there is now not enough water to follow in my
footsteps but put it on your bucket list for when the autumn break comes along
- or you might chance to Catch the Wave
River
Heights: Glenaladale Weir: Began Trip
. 65 ended .66; Waterford: 1.63-1.57; Crooked River: 1.31 - 1,26. These
figures probably give you some idea about the comparability of the three
gauges. Adventure Pro claimed the river was canoeable from .6 on the
Glenaladale Gauge. This is probably about right - for packrafts anyway, but you
would expect portages across many rapids. I know I just managed a few and
portaged 2.3 at nearly 2" more water than that. That being said this section
of the river is characterised my very many long still deep
so you might enjoy the experience even when river heights are low - as
they are at the moment.sections where you might have to paddle against a
headwind. It would be much more enjoyable with a couple more inches of water eg
.8 on the Glenaladale Gauge.
Times:
Angusvale
Camp Ground to Jorgensens 4 hours
Jorgensens to
Amphithesatre Rapid 3 hours
Amphitheatre
to Den of Nargen 2 hours
Den of Nargen
to Glenaladale Weir 2 hours
Glenaladale
Weir to Final Fling 2hours
Final Fling to Glenaladale Bridge 3/4 hour.
Portages
approx 1/2 hour.
Campsites: are not wonderfully numerous on this section of the river.,
though they are to be found. There are hardly any between the Amphitheatre
rapid and the Den of Nargen for example, though there does appear to be a bench
a chain up from the river on the true right bank which might provide some good
spots. There are also not many spots after the Glenaladale Weir, but there are
some. Mostly folks have been camping on the lovely sandbars along the way and
at the confluences of major creeks. There are shadier spots a little further
away from the river which you really need to look out for (look for the benches
I mentioned earlier). There is a delightful spot on the true left bank just
above the Roaring Mag Creek, for example.
The
Glenaladale Weir camping spot is a delight. I camped there and above and
opposite Jorgensens. The trip took me 14 hours on the water, so it would have
become fairly tedious if done over only two days. You would have to make an
early start and a late finish at very least. If you are packrafting you can get
out at the Den of Nargen and walk up to the Caravan Park..
Doing so would cut nearly five hours off the trip making it much more suitable
for an overnight trip. Of course with more water (and fewer years of age) it
might be done much more quickly. You should allow some leeway so that you can
perhaps wait an hour or more for a suitable camp to show up.
See Also:
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/pack-rafting-the-remote-wonnangatta/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/remote-wonnangatta-day-two/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/a-wonnangatta-spring/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/a-wonnangatta-spring-day-two/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/a-wonnagatta-spring-day-three/
Section 1: http://www.theultralighthiker.com/wonnangatta-kingwell-bridge-to-black-snake-creek/
Section 2: http://www.theultralighthiker.com/wonnangatta-black-snake-to-hut-creek/
Section 3: http://www.theultralighthiker.com/wonnangatta-hut-creek-to-waterford-bridge/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/canoe-wonnangatta/
For River
Heights: http://www.theultralighthiker.com/canoeing-the-wonnangatta-catching-the-wave/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/pack-rafting-the-wonnangatta-mitchell/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/videos/dawn-surprise-rapid-wonnangatta-river-australia-day-2017/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/wonnangatta-waterford-to-angusvale-day-one/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/wonnangatta-waterford-to-angusvale-day-two/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/wonnangatta-waterford-to-angusvale-day-three/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/videos/canoe-wonnangatta-the-movie/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/12/23/marvelous-mitchell-river-day-1/
28/12/2019: Marvelous Mitchell Day 2: I spent a
wonderfully restful night under the huge walnut tree lulled to sleep by the
noise of the river rolling past - and surrounded by deer! The walnuts are a
great magnet to them. They clearly check them daily to see whether a leaf or a
nut has been discarded for their delectation. I notice that on the map this few
acres has a National Park boundary around it on the
map so that it may be a remnant of private property for all I know. What a
weekend retreat!
Going...
Going...
Gone.
Such an enchanting river. I would be paddling for nearly eight
hours today. Quite a big day for me.
There are
some big carp in the Mitchell, and I'm sure more desirable fish too.
A relict brachychiton (kurrajong). They are a feature of the lower
Wonnangatta/Mitchell though nearly a thousand km South of where they are much
more common. A beautiful and very desirable tree.
I got out to take a look at a beautiful campsite just above the
Roaring Mag creek on the true left bank. A lovely honeyeater joined me.
What a great
camp in the midst of this tiny piece of temperate rainforest.
Cobbanah
Creek on the true right bank would be a pleasant campsite so long as there were
no flash-floods. On my map there is a small lake (or dam) about 200 metres long
about 200 metres up the creek. I will check it out when Iwalk the Mitchell
River Walking Track which parallels the river on the true right bank.
The rock
faces at the entrance to the creek look almost as if they were man-made which
they weren't.
What a
beautiful limpid pool!
It goes on
and on forever.
Unfortunately
it means (as such things always do) that there is a major drop ahead. And here
it is: the Amphitheatre rapid. It started way up there. I walked it - on the
true left bank)
And it is
still going on way down there.
And some more. It would be quite a thrill and/or dangerous iof
there was a bit more water.
I put in
again at the bottom.
Here is a
look at the wonderful siltstone cliffs of the amphitheatre. There is a walking
track to a lookout on the tops of them.The river
becomes quite gorgey for a couple of km - and there are about 5 Grade 3 type
rapids.
Like this
one, but I just bumped on down it.
Another one.
Could be quite exciting in higher water.
Time for a lunch stop in a shady spot on the true right bank. It was quite
easy to pick up a few bits and pieces of smashed canoe (centre)!
Another Grade
3 rapid.
Then just
deep slow pools and pebble races till we get to Woolshed Creek and the Den of
Nargun.
Some ducks
enjoying the river too.
Woolshed Creek and the Den of Nargun. You can camp
here or walk up the creek for car access if you want a shorter pack rafting
trip. You need to keep a sharp lookout on the true right bank. There is a nasty
drop right after it which you can portage on the right bank.
That was it
up there.
What a treat
to see these two little guys. It was a hot afternoon so there were lots of them
out having a drink to cool off.
An interesting monolith.
What a
spectacular rock-face.
Finally the
ruins of the Glenaladale Weir loom into sight, like something out of Ancient
Egypt. A fine spot for an overnight camp - and a but
of an explore of an interesting piece of Gippsland's history.
What a
wonderful place for swallows to nest: there were dozens of them wheeling and
curving around the ends of this buttress.
I will have
lots more photos tomorrow after I have spent the night relaxing and cooling
down.
River
Heights: Glenaladale Weir: Began Trip
. 65 ended .66; Waterford: 1.63-1.57; Crooked River: 1.31 - 1,26. These
figures probably give you some idea about the comparability of the three
gauges. Adventure Pro claimed the river was canoeable from .6 on the
Glenaladale Gauge. This is probably about right - for packrafts anyway, but you
would expect portages across many rapids. I know I just managed a few and
portaged 2.3 at nearly 2" more water than that. That being said this
section of the river is characterised my very many long still deep so you might enjoy the experience even when river
heights are low - as they are at the moment.sections where you might have to
paddle against a headwind. It would be much more enjoyable with a couple more
inches of water eg .8 on the Glenaladale Gauge.
Times:
Angusvale
Camp Ground to Jorgensens 4 hours
Jorgensens to
Amphithesatre Rapid 3 hours
Amphitheatre
to Den of Nargen 2 hours
Den of Nargen
to Glenaladale Weir 2 hours
Glenaladale
Weir to Final Fling 2hours
Final Fling to Glenaladale Bridge 3/4 hour.
Portages
approx 1/2 hour.
Campsites: are not wonderfully numerous on this section of the river.,
though they are to be found. There are hardly any between the Amphitheatre
rapid and the Den of Nargen for example, though there does appear to be a bench
a chain up from the river on the true right bank which might provide some good
spots. There are also not many spots after the Glenaladale Weir, but there are
some. Mostly folks have been camping on the lovely sandbars along the way and
at the confluences of major creeks. There are shadier spots a little further
away from the river which you really need to look out for (look for the benches
I mentioned earlier). There is a delightful spot on the true left bank just
above the Roaring Mag Creek, for example.
The
Glenaladale Weir camping spot is a delight. I camped there and above and
opposite Jorgensens. The trip took me 14 hours on the water, so it would have
become fairly tedious if done over only two days. You would have to make an
early start and a late finish at very least. If you are packrafting you can get
out at the Den of Nargen and walk up to the Caravan Park..
Doing so would cut nearly five hours off the trip making it much more suitable
for an overnight trip. Of course with more water (and fewer years of age) it
might be done much more quickly. You should allow some leeway so that you can
perhaps wait an hour or more for a suitable camp to show up.
See Also:
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/pack-rafting-the-remote-wonnangatta/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/remote-wonnangatta-day-two/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/a-wonnangatta-spring/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/a-wonnangatta-spring-day-two/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/a-wonnagatta-spring-day-three/
Section 1: http://www.theultralighthiker.com/wonnangatta-kingwell-bridge-to-black-snake-creek/
Section 2: http://www.theultralighthiker.com/wonnangatta-black-snake-to-hut-creek/
Section 3: http://www.theultralighthiker.com/wonnangatta-hut-creek-to-waterford-bridge/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/canoe-wonnangatta/
For River
Heights: http://www.theultralighthiker.com/canoeing-the-wonnangatta-catching-the-wave/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/pack-rafting-the-wonnangatta-mitchell/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/videos/dawn-surprise-rapid-wonnangatta-river-australia-day-2017/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/wonnangatta-waterford-to-angusvale-day-one/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/wonnangatta-waterford-to-angusvale-day-two/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/wonnangatta-waterford-to-angusvale-day-three/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/videos/canoe-wonnangatta-the-movie/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/12/23/marvelous-mitchell-river-day-1/
28/12/2019: Watch Betelgeuse – this could be the show
of a lifetime: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/12/26/is-betelgeuse-in-orion-about-to-explode-in-a-supernova/
28/12/2019: Random Chance – why weather records are
set: http://catallaxyfiles.com/2019/12/26/record-temperatures-and-random-chance/
28/12/2019: Issues 2020: A Fracking Ban Would Trigger
Global Recession: https://www.manhattan-institute.org/issues-2020-economic-consequences-fracking-ban-recession
27/12/2019: The Best Decade in History – yet all
the doomsters can peddle is how much worse the future will be! Poppycock! https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/12/25/the-best-christmas-present-to-humanity-ever-weve-just-had-the-best-decade-in-human-history/
25/12/2019: Naturehike Carbon Fibre Walking Pole 135
grams: $38 each with free shipping (to Australia). US76
per pair. What’s not to like about this? I received a pair for Xmas.
Stripped of the strap and its aluminium screw mine weighed 128 grams each on my
scale and fold down to just under 50 cm (20”) –
51/110cm according to the Specs. They come in three lengths. Mine are Short
– the shortest and lightest. The other two lengths are Medium
54/120 cm $ 140 grams and Long 57/130cm & 145 grams.
The hand grip
is very positive but is longer than ether of us need, so that I think I could
trim a few grams off that weight, probably bringing it to under
120 grams – if I wanted to foresake the screw fitting at the top – which is
bigger than a camera thread anyway.
This is just
marginally lighter than the new Gossamer Gear LT5 poles at 130 grams stripped
(though they are longer – 60/130cm)) . However they
cost US$195 per pair, plus shipping. I/we have been quite happily using Massdrop’s Fizan poles
I really like the look and feel of
these Naturehike poles. The three sections seem very solid and the locking
mechanism is wonderful. They come with a lightweight strap and one basket. It
is a ‘standard’ (Leki) thread so you should be able to replace it anywhere
if/when you break it. At 20″ they will clearly slip inside any pack your are using.
Available
from Aliexpress here: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33057690090.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.34174c4ds7SbS8
See Also:
Extempore Hiking Poles
Ultralight Compact Hiking Pole
Fizan Compact Hiking Poles
Rutalocura Hiking Poles
24/12/2019: Marvelous Mitchell River Day 1: I
canoed this lovely section of river from Angusvale Camping Ground to the
Glenaladale Bridge over the last three days in my Alpacka packraft. The river
heights were at the bottom end of this section’s canoeability (see note below)
and the smoke from the huge bushfires the environmentalists are having in East
Gippsland spoiled the visibility (of the photos) but all in all it was a
wonderful trip.
I left my car
(and trailer) at the Glenaladale Bridge (plenty of parking on the North bank)
and rode my motorbike to Angusvale where I parked it under a shady tree with a
note affixed on both saying, ‘Canoeing the River’. This was a precaution
against campers calling the police over an abandoned motorcycle as happened to
us when we canoed the section Waterford to Angusvale
Setting out from the Angusvale Camp Ground.
I have
included a lot of photos to give a clear
indication of the conditions likely to be found along the river. They are in
order. The canoe height shown throughout was approx .65 on the Glenaladale
Gauge. People claim the conditions are ‘best’ at 1.3 metres which I misdoubt I
would survive any more. I think .8 or thereabouts would be preferable. This is
a common river height in the summer months – but not this year!
This section
of the river is characterised by many long, slow
deep sections
Such as these.
Pebble races.
A couple of
km below Angusvale the inconspicuous 4WD Mitchell Track parts company with the
river. From here on the river flows through a splendid
wilderness. You can see that it is 9 1/2 hours walking the Mitchell
River Walking Track to the Den of Nargun (cave). The track continues another
7-8 km (3-4 hours) to the end of Findlay Alexanders Rd (Glenaladale Bridge). If
you are walking it you generally have to slip off the track (down a ridge here
and there) to get water (in summer). More details later.
There are a
number of complex rock gardens, some of them stretching hundreds of yards. Most
you can just bump on down in your packraft at this river height, except or the
two biggest: the Amphitheatre and Final Fling Rapids. There are quite a few (as
the next photos show just below the sign (on the right bank) above
If you have
been noticing the unusual trees along the river (in the photo above for
example) they are Water Gums or ‘Kanooka’ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristaniopsis_laurina
NB: Later in
the season they have these attractive flowers too:
A shady lunch stop under similar shade.
And time for
a ‘selfie’.
And then onwards.
Beginning to see some beautiful silt-stone cliffs which are a feature of
this section of the Mitchell.
You will see
many reminders that the river can be a trap for the unwary:
This one is a
bit trickier.
After four
hours I camped right under a spreading walnut tree on the right bank – what
could be better?
A spiker
creeps down to the river for his evening meal:
Some other
creatures seen along the way:
What a deer
magnet a walnut tree is. Every tree in this grove had the remains of a deer
under it – like this one!
River
Heights: Glenaladale Weir: Began Trip
. 65 ended .66; Waterford: 1.63-1.57; Crooked River: 1.31 – 1,26. These
figures probably give you some idea about the comparability of the three
gauges. Adventure Pro claimed the river was canoeable from .6 on the
Glenaladale Gauge. This is probably about right – for packrafts anyway, but you
would expect portages across many rapids. I know I just managed a few and
portaged 2.3 at nearly 2″ more water than that. That being said this
section of the river is characterised my very many long still deep so you might enjoy the experience even when river
heights are low – as they are at the moment.sections where you might have to
paddle against a headwind. It would be much more enjoyable with a couple more
inches of water eg .8 on the Glenaladale Gauge.
Times:
Angusvale
Camp Ground to Jorgensens 4 hours
Jorgensens to
Amphithesatre Rapid 3 hours
Amphitheatre
to Den of Nargen 2 hours
Den of Nargen
to Glenaladale Weir 2 hours
Glenaladale
Weir to Final Fling 2hours
Final Fling to Glenaladale Bridge 3/4 hour.
Portages
approx 1/2 hour.
Campsites: are not wonderfully numerous on this section of the river.,
though they are to be found. There are hardly any between the Amphitheatre
rapid and the Den of Nargen for example, though there does appear to be a bench
a chain up from the river on the true right bank which might provide some good
spots. There are also not many spots after the Glenaladale Weir, but there are
some. Mostly folks have been camping on the lovely sandbars along the way and
at the confluences of major creeks. There are shadier spots a little further
away from the river which you really need to look out for (look for the benches
I mentioned earlier). There is a delightful spot on the true left bank just
above the Roaring Mag Creek, for example.
The
Glenaladale Weir camping spot is a delight. I camped there and above and
opposite Jorgensens. The trip took me 14 hours on the water, so it would have
become fairly tedious if done over only two days. You would have to make an
early start and a late finish at very least. If you are packrafting you can get
out at the Den of Nargen and walk up to the Caravan Park..
Doing so would cut nearly five hours off the trip making it much more suitable
for an overnight trip. Of course with more water (and fewer years of age) it
might be done much more quickly. You should allow some leeway so that you can
perhaps wait an hour or more for a suitable camp to show up.
For More About the Wonnangatta/Mitchell River, see:
See Also:
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/pack-rafting-the-remote-wonnangatta/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/remote-wonnangatta-day-two/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/a-wonnangatta-spring/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/a-wonnangatta-spring-day-two/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/a-wonnagatta-spring-day-three/
Section 1: http://www.theultralighthiker.com/wonnangatta-kingwell-bridge-to-black-snake-creek/
Section 2: http://www.theultralighthiker.com/wonnangatta-black-snake-to-hut-creek/
Section 3: http://www.theultralighthiker.com/wonnangatta-hut-creek-to-waterford-bridge/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/canoe-wonnangatta/
For River
Heights: http://www.theultralighthiker.com/canoeing-the-wonnangatta-catching-the-wave/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/pack-rafting-the-wonnangatta-mitchell/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/videos/dawn-surprise-rapid-wonnangatta-river-australia-day-2017/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/wonnangatta-waterford-to-angusvale-day-one/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/wonnangatta-waterford-to-angusvale-day-two/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/wonnangatta-waterford-to-angusvale-day-three/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/videos/canoe-wonnangatta-the-movie/
24/12/2019: I have stressed this again and again, Character is
all: How Social Work Became the Pit of Despair It Is Today: https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/12/how_social_work_became_the_pit_of_despair_it_is_today.html
24/12/2019:
We have a Prime Minister: ‘Speaking on 2GB, Mr Morrison said that action was
“absolutely” needed to better address “how
fuel loads are managed in national parks ” and said a greater focus should
be placed on the “rules that sit around
clearing trees ” close to properties. He warned that some people had
been “quite difficult” in preventing progress in these areas but
agreed it was necessary to change the existing rules’. http://catallaxyfiles.com/2019/12/23/culpable-monsters/
23/12/2019: If you didn’t know, you can thank John
Maynard Keynes for the economic mess: https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2019/12/another-tilt-at-the-keynesian-windmill/
23/12/2019: The correct Prime Ministerial response to
bushfires is virtue signaling: https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2019/12/lnp-prime-mininsters-bushfires-damned-if-they-do-damned-if-they-dont.html
23/12/2019: Deer Wars: Kim Hollows reprises his
role as Executive Producer for the first time since creating Ata Whenua. This
is a story of men and machines, of incredible daring and unprecedented
ingenuity set in the dangerous and unpredictable New Zealand mountains. Over a
20 year period these helicopter pioneers turned a national ecological disaster
into a major export industry – but at a cost. Over 80 men died in the pursuit
of deer and many more seriously injured. This film celebrates this unique time
when through innovation and sheer guts a few hundred Kiwis did the impossible
and created the legend that became the deer wars. Please note that some scenes
may offend. Rating: E (Exempt from classification) Duration: 30 mins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUq4K478fYM&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1TF6J6icQMIBJNPOUg_IPTOFk1SbhZDC2OKdpTkMf498Ncw-RVrK7_7BQ https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/11/24/shadowland-fiordland-video/
22/12/2019: How hot was it in the past? Try 1828 and
53.9C, or 1896 and 1.6 % of Bourke’s population (at least 40 people) dead from
heat stroke: http://joannenova.com.au/2012/07/charles-sturts-time-so-hot-that-thermometers-exploded-was-australias-hottest-day-in-1828-53-9c/ http://joannenova.com.au/2019/12/abc-climate-experts-do-damage-control-on-1896-heatwave-story-cant-say-why-but-they-know-it-was-cooler-faith/
21/12/2019: Prius battery
experiments: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/hsv.general/12xuB36JW0w
21/12/2019: Impeachment Proving a Cash Cow For the
President: https://neveryetmelted.com/2019/12/07/impeachment-proving-a-cash-cow-for-the-president/ Meanwhile the news you didn’t get. A Democrat Rep switched to the Republicans
and pledged ‘undying support’ for Pres Trump: https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/jeff-van-drew-switches-parties-trump_n_5dfbd87ae4b0eb2264d6a68a?ri18n=true
21/12/2019: Australia’s hottest day on record say the
BOM – so long as you ignore all the years prior to when it was last hotter, eg
1896: http://joannenova.com.au/2019/12/hottest-ever-day-in-australia-especially-if-you-ignore-history/
20/12/2019: Sure it’s hot now. It’s summer after all,
but just last week in Vic we still had the heaters on of a night. However
faking the stats doesn’t make it hotter. Nor does a 1C difference in temps
creating ‘mega-fires’. An absence of fuel reduction burns does though. Look at
this graph of WA’s record (when they still used to do fuel reduction burtns
there):
Also see: http://www.warwickhughes.com/agri16/ABS2002-mx.jpg http://www.warwickhughes.com/blog/?p=6350 http://joannenova.com.au/2019/12/hottest-ever-day-in-australia-especially-if-you-ignore-history/ https://www.theaustralian.com.au/science/bureau-of-meteorology-cooling-the-past-to-declare-record-heat/news-story/9f40e780eaf267471b35fd851f24b3fe
20/12/2019: We
must do everything we can to annihilate the deplorables: http://catallaxyfiles.com/2019/12/19/democrats-impeach-the-american-people/
17/12/2019: Well done John Locke: We need more
non-delegation right here now; Just so sick of bullying bureaucrats: http://joannenova.com.au/2019/12/pushing-back-the-deep-state-us-supreme-court-may-be-able-to-stop-politicians-fobbing-off-big-decisions-to-the-epa/
17/12/2019: Citizenship ought not
be a guaranteed right; neither should the franchise Anyone's citizenship
should be cancelled if they continue to be non-citizens, wherever they were
born. The issue of whether some other country would take them or whether they
should be deported is a different matter, but in many cases the answer to the
second question is, 'Yes,' emphatically, 'Yes!' In the past ostracism was a
common and deserved penalty. I see no reason why it should not continue to be.
Most criminals have surely richly earned the withdrawal of the benefits of
citizenship whatever other penalty they may suffer. I mean they still have the
franchise –as do lunatics and the mentally incompetent! As for 'refugees' and
immigrants who have 95%+ Centrelink dependency (and no English language skills)
after 5 years' residence, (they) have long since earned the big kick back to
where they came from! Before you become a full citizen you should have to put
in!
17/12/2019: Jo Nova is absolutely right: Most people
don’t give a damn about ‘climate change. Indeed I suspect most have figured
out long ago that it is a hoax; perhaps the biggest fraud in history, ‘Better
survey’s show 80% of Australians don’t donate to environmental causes or
vote for it Only 3% of US people think climate is most important issue Great Barrier Reef is an icon that half of Australia never
visits. Climate change is about as scary as “litter”. poll 56% of Canadians are skeptics 54% of Australians are skeptics Australian skeptics outnumber believers British survey show skeptics are a they think it’s a total hoax Australians don’t want to pay even a tiny $10 a month for
renewables pay $1 a month. pay a cent. http://joannenova.com.au/2019/12/guardian-prophets-six-weeks-ago-climate-crisis-affects-how-majority-will-vote-in-uk-election-poll/
16/12/2019: I do not believe that disenchantment with
the results of a valid election are a sufficient reason for society to have to
put up with people protesting in the streets; ‘Run the bastards over’ come to
mind: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/12/15/what-the-boris-landslide-means-for-the-climate-debate/ ‘audiatur et altera pars –
let both sides be fully and fairly heard. On climate, that is not happening.
It’s high time it did.’ Another interesting observation here: http://catallaxyfiles.com/2019/12/14/democracy-a-precarious-defender-against-national-self-destruction/
16/12/2019: ‘For what shall it profit a man, if he
shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?’ Vale David Bellamy, a true
hero: https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/12/12/rip-david-bellamy-cancelled-by-the-bbc-for-green-wrongthink/
16/12/2019: Delingpole is right: we must break the
strangle-hold the Left has on so-called ‘education. ‘ According to the
opinion polls, some 72% of students voted Labor, and only 9% voted
Conservative’: https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/12/15/if-boris-doesnt-tackle-red-academe-conservatism-is-toast/
15/12/2019: Our forests: No fire breaks, no fuel
reduction, no logging, no grazing, no management…then add the worst drought (in
100 years?) and a veritable army of arsonists who have been let out of lunatic
asylums (literally – and by the same socialists who gave you all this)! You
will get firestorms: http://joannenova.com.au/2019/12/nsw-is-kindling-to-go-accumulated-fuel-is-an-environmental-time-bomb/
15/12/2019: Hiker Trapped For Days Under Fallen Boulder
Survives By Cutting Off Own Ponytail: https://www.theonion.com/hiker-trapped-for-days-under-fallen-boulder-survives-by-1840394997?utm_content=Main&utm_campaign=SF&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&fbclid=IwAR2HOKVr6PtZ0muMshvRv898VlpcZRFMV10p6IJdoRqJcrp67N4hi4NYq_k
15/12/2019: Greta not like Adolph? She really did say
(she) would put world leaders against the wall. These kids are becoming more
dangerous. As I grow older and older I fear what they will do more and
more. We already have (voluntary) euthanasia in Victoria? How long before it is
compulsory? https://www.weaselzippers.us/439616-greta-thunberg-tells-cheering-crowd-we-will-make-sure-we-put-world-leaders-against-the-wall-if-they-do-not-tackle-global-warming/
A friend’s
comment on this: ‘She speaks as an
authority when in reality she has zero knowledge of how the Earths climate
works. All climate change activists work with this basic model: Earths Natural Climate + Human Effect = Observable Climate. That means, if we knew exactly what
the earth would do without the effects of human activity, any difference to
what is actually observed could be assigned to human activity. But the models for our weather are pathetically inaccurate. There are at least 5 models to predict the daily weather. At
any given time 3-4 are wrong. The models take simplistic assumptions about the
effects of the sun, cosmic radiation, volcanoes and the fluctuations in our
magnetic core. Not many people trust the weather forecast absolutely, yet
climate change activists act like we have a perfect way to predict what the
earth would be like on its own! The measurements of what the earth is actually like are also
rather in accurate. The ocean levels, the saline levels in our oceans, ozone
levels. There are very large error levels in these actual measures. The error
levels are higher than the accuracy of the prediction models! So if you don’t have a good model of earth’s natural climate,
you can’t measure actual climate how the hell do you assign all blame to
humans? Further, you have zero ability to know exactly what activities are the problem ! We must stop pollution, we must be more conscious of the
damage we do to animal habitat, our waterways and our oceans. But “Holding
people against the wall” isn’t going to do anything except create wealth for
the people promoting this crap’.
Another
interesting observation here: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/12/14/st-greta-calls-for-execution-of-world-leaders-who-defy-her-commands/
Della
particularly loved the donkeys. Here is a donkey train passing by in the main
street at Lukla:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbCPK43ZltQ&feature=emb_title
Another
donkey train crossing a swing bridge near Phakding Nepal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KU_FQkSeeQ&feature=emb_title
She also
loved the yak trains. She just had to buy a cow bell as a souvenir. I will have
to figure out how to make it ring like this at home at Jeeralang Junction. Here
is one passing by near Benkar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU-i3P5vI4U&feature=emb_title
A popular
game in the backstreets of Lukla: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwD0FgV1nns&feature=emb_title
Arriving in
Namche. I was full of excitement from the climb (as you can see): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEK0Rlt7MNo&feature=emb_title
Most of the
way you are following the Dudh Khosi River which is always too rough for fish
to live in it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkNtshhEOp0&feature=emb_title
Lots of
wildlife along the way, like these lovely plump birds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PTgx6mIu8c&feature=emb_title
A rickshaw
ride at night through the back streets of Kathmandu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viVDp2CDpJM&feature=emb_title
Here is what
we were seeing. I have turned the sound off to spare you from Della’s noisy
laughter and etc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nigQDqyaJG4&feature=emb_title
At the end of
the rickshaw ride we ended up at the Yak and Yeti restaurant which is in one of
the royal palaces. It is one of the best places to eat in Kathmandu (apparently
in the world) though quite pricey. In Thamel we usually ate at the Green Olive.
This
wonderful man, Guillaume Maurel from Mauritius (whom we met during a long wait
at Lukla Airport) took us there (by rickshaw). Many thanks for a delightful
night
PS: If you are thinking of walking the EBC you should go soon. When I was
there in 2016 you would see 1-2 helicopters a day fly by. Now there are several
in the sky pretty much from dawn to dusk flying by carrying building supplies.
They are building heaps of multi-storey ‘hotels’ along the way which they
clearly anticipate charging you like wounded buffaloes for (when you can stay
in the existing guest houses – which are often nearly empty for a couple of
dollars a night. Pretty much all the donkeys and yaks are carrying helicopter
fuel so that when that when they have finished building these wonderful
features may disappear. Also they are building (using just private donation) a road to Lukla which will be completed in a few
months. This too will change the character of the Trek (but you will be able to
get there by bus, perhaps this time next year – if you dare!.
For more
about the EBC See:
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/12/01/ebc-gear-list/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/11/20/ebc-4-5-and-so-onwards-and-upwards/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/11/19/dos-and-donts-on-the-ebc-and-elsewhere/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/11/18/ebc-3-and-onward-to-xanadu/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/11/17/preventing-batteries-from-going-flat-at-high-altitudes/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/11/16/ebc-starting-out-kathmandu-to-lukla/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/11/15/9-days-trekking-the-ebc/
From my
previous trip, see:
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/to-the-roof-of-the-world/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/i-followed-my-footsteps/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/i-saw-below-me-that-golden-valley/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/thatendlessskyway/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/the-diamond-desert-everest-base-camp-trek-8/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/everest-base-camp-three-passes-trek/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/cold-weather-face-masks/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/my-life-was-wide-and-wild-and-who-can-know-my-heart/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/12/26/the-diamond-desert-everest-base-camp-trek-8/
Here are
Google’s Page Speed Insights for desktop speed for this morning 10-12-2019:
Loading in .7
of a second is great!
And here is
Google’s mobile speed test result:
2.3 seconds
is also great for mobiles but as you can see, there is still room for
improvement! Nonetheless these speeds mean the page is taking about a quarter
of the time that it did th is time last year
I can make
the file size of the images on the home screen smaller – but I can’t figure out
how. Also, though gzip (a compression tool) is loaded it does not seem to be
outputting (according to W3 Total cache). It should compress the text part by
nearly 80% if I can get it working) so I should be able to squeeze these page
speed seconds a little shorter still! I am also not sure whether Lazy Load
Images is working for mobiles.
Reducing the
size of the page (and the images) helped. W3 Total Cache is one of the
important answers. (Seems much better than WP Rocket to me).
Getting rid of the sidebar (mobile users will appreciate that!) and turning off
Google Ads (half the load time!) also. The Jetpack plugin has been holding me
back for years – it clearly slows your site down. It was also costing me A$ 455 per year!
Some of the
(all free)plugins I am now using: W3 Total Cache (most important), Short Pixel
Optimiser (vital), All In One SEO Pack, Updraft Plus (for backup), WP
Statistics and Google Site Kit (both for traffic information), Akismet (for
spam) and Classic editor (because I refuse to learn how to use WordPress’s new
Gutenberg format). I may add back in a couple more such
as Google Language Translator if they don’t slow the site down. I should also
add extra security. PS: Added Wordfence.
I hope you
enjoy the new ‘look’ of the site – and come back lots of times. I have removed
the side bar which spoiled the appearance of the page when you turn your
phone/tablet on its side (Sorry!). I have also tidied up all the ‘suggested
page’ links at the bottom – as you can see. After I have finished a few
necessary farm jobs I will be completing some (I hope interesting) new posts.
For example, I have been working on backpacks – I have the beginnings of over
100 new posts. So, Check back later.
Cheers, Steve
& Della.
PS: I am
happy to hear from any ‘tech heads’ out there with advice!
14/12/2019: Soon, time itself will end: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/dilemma-for-clock-face-as-smartphone-generation-loses-ability-to-tell-the-time-330j5sskf
14/12/2019: Poor Little Pumbaa the Poochie. Bad Mountain
Lion: https://www.aol.com/article/lifestyle/2019/12/10/desperate-woman-punches-mountain-lion-as-it-attacks-later-eats-dog-she-could-hear-her-baby-dying/23878095/
14/12/2019: Just some of Time Magazine’s ‘People of
the Year’:
Adolf Hitler
1938
Joseph Stalin
1939
Joseph Stalin
(again) 1942
Ayatollah
Khomeini 1979
Greta
Thunberg 2019
13/12/2019: Well done Boris & Nigel. You bloody
beauty!
11/12/2019: Non-Lethal Protection; Things We Can’t
Have in Oz: https://byrna.com/
11/12/2019:
How Good is Andrew Hastie? https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2019/12/provocative-essay-from-andrew-hastie-mp-on-countering-chinas-espionage-corruption-and-military-aggre.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBnxa3uzKK4&feature=emb_title
11/12/2019: How refreshing is Naomi Seibt? Yet
another alternative to Thunbeg. There really is hope for the young when you see
how some have already risen above the dogmatism and propaganda they grew up
with: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=253&v=v8dXpe1Pp6Q&feature=emb_title
10/12/2019: ‘OK, boomer’? Pay the bills, support a
family, then we’ll talk: https://www.thecollegefix.com/ok-boomer-pay-the-bills-support-a-family-then-well-talk/
10/12/2019: A Better Thunberg Alternative: http://catallaxyfiles.com/2019/12/07/a-tale-of-two-girls/
10/12/2019: No Apocalyptic Climate Change – an honest
appraisal: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2019/11/25/why-everything-they-say-about-climate-change-is-wrong/#68a9ba1712d6 https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2019/12/04/why-climate-alarmism-hurts-us-all/#e97f6f936d89
09/12/2019: This is child abuse: https://www.zerohedge.com/health/britains-first-transgender-couple-allow-their-5-year-old-child-begin-transition
09/12/2019: There have been bushfires before and there
will be bushfires again: https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2019/12/a-brief-walk-through-the-history-of-bushfire-smoke-haze-over-sydney-.html
09/12/2019: Thousands of Koalas Dead – and millions of
other animals. This is what happens when you ban logging (and other uses)
on public land, have no firebreaks or fuel reduction policies and turn it all
into unmanaged National Parks. We must reverse this madness as it is the worst
possible ‘conservation’ strategy: https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/animals/fears-more-than-2000-koalas-killed-in-devastating-nsw-bushfires/news-story/4fa74ac66d0de1a37bb3b852af26f3e9
08/12/2019: World’s first Xmas card: http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/57200
08/12/2019: There is no climate emergency and we
have already had pretty much all of any warming CO2 can give. Welcome to the
next Ice Age: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/12/01/what-if-there-is-no-climate-emergency-2/ https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2019/12/clintel-presentation-to-eu-there-is-no-climate-emergency.html
08/12/2019: For over twenty years Golden Rice has had
the ability to save a million children from death and many more millions per
year from blindness – yet it has been ‘blindly’ opposed by green groups
everywhere even though its inventor gifted it to the world. You can add all
those millions of dead to the 300+ million who died from malaria because of the
unnecessary banning od DDT many years ago (it has since been unbanned). The
Left (and the religious generally) remain the world’s greatest murderers. The
(left-wing) Nazis were responsible for @ 60 million deaths; the communists well
over 100 million; Moslems probably over 1 billion! When will the world learn to
oppose such irrationality? Bangladesh looks like it might at last start to grow
the Golden Rice: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/gm-crops/ & https://quillette.com/2019/12/01/gm-crops-like-golden-rice-will-save-the-lives-of-hundreds-of-thousands-of-children/
04/12/2019: Le Petomane (the ‘fartomaniac’)
entertained the crowned heads of Europe with his melodious farting. He
could play a pretty fair tune on his derriere apparently. Strangely he has had
few emulators. How long wil it be before someone wins Eurovision with the
ability to accompany themselves with the other end of their alimentary canal? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_P%C3%A9tomane
04/12/2019: Unfortunately I suspect this is not far
from the truth: London’s (Mayor) Khan bans fire extinguishers and narwhal tusks
after they were used to stop terror attack: https://genesiustimes.com/londons-khan-bans-fire-extinguishers-and-narwhal-tusks-after-they-were-used-to-stop-terror-attack/ Here are some of Khan’s ‘real’ statements
about the ‘event’: https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2019/11/sadiq-khans-statement-on-terror-attack-7-steps-to-distance-himself-from-using-the-word-terrorism.html
04/12/2019: It turns out the Russians funded much of
the falsehood promoted by the anti-fracking movement – just as they funded
so many other Left-wing hobby-horses in the past , like opposition to the
Vietnam War, etc: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/the-plot-against-fracking/ https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/12/03/vladimir-putin-endorses-liawatha-sort-of/
03/12/2019: Remember this poem. We need these
sentiments even more today:
Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow - The Village Blacksmith
UNDER a
spreading chestnut tree
The village
smithy stands;
The smith, a
mighty man is he,
With large
and sinewy hands;
And the
muscles of his brawny arms
Are strong as iron bands.
His hair is
crisp, and black, and long,
His face is
like the tan;
His brow is
wet with honest sweat,
He earns
whate'er he can,
And looks the
whole world in the face,
For he owes not any man.
Week in, week
out, from morn till night,
You can hear
his bellows blow;
You can hear
him swing his heavy sledge
With measured
beat and slow,
Like a sexton
ringing the village bell,
When the evening sun is low.
And children
coming home from school
Look in at
the open door;
They love to
see the flaming forge,
And hear the
bellows roar,
And watch the
burning sparks that fly
Like chaff from a threshing-floor.
He goes on
Sunday to the church,
And sits
among his boys;
He hears the
parson pray and preach,
He hears his
daughter's voice,
Singing in
the village choir,
And it makes
his heart rejoice.
It sounds to
him like her mother's voice,
Singing in
Paradise!
He needs must
think of her once more,
How in the
grave she lies;
And with his
hard, rough hand he wipes
A tear out of his eyes.
Toiling,—rejoicing,—sorrowing,
Onward
through life he goes;
Each morning
sees some task begin,
Each evening
sees it close;
Something
attempted, something done,
Has earned a night's repose.
Thanks,
thanks to thee, my worthy friend,
For the
lesson thou hast taught!
Thus at the
flaming forge of life
Our fortunes
must be wrought;
Thus on its
sounding anvil shaped
Each burning deed and thought!’
NB: The
'Smithy' stood underneath the chestnut tree. The C18th American forest was full
of these giant trees (such that Indians had to do very little work, such was
their abundance). An accidentally imported disease wiped (almost) every last
one out in the twinkling of an eye (C1904): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chestnut_blight
03/12/2019: Squanto. Good Heavens –
what an astonishing story: http://ericmetaxas.com/media/articles/miracle-squantos-path-plymouth/
03/12/2019: Save us from those
saving the world: ‘They don't care about the climate, of course. They are
too busy saving the world. I have reached the age when I fear not death but
people who want to save the world. My soul can survive death with the grace of
God but I have seen the horror unleashed by those who would save the world’ https://donsurber.blogspot.com/2019/11/save-us-from-those-saving-world.html#more https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/11/29/greta-thunberg-goes-full-marxist/ We need to dismantle them
all.
02/12/2019: When did routine bad
weather become such big news? 2nd
Dec and a max of 12C here at Jeeralang Junction! A bit of hot or cold weather
though does not 'mean climate change'. That is invalid inductive reasoning of
the kind long ago encompassed in elementary logic texts, eg 'This is a swan,
therefore it is white'. The discovery of Australian swans sure put paid to that
one! There is much other fallacious reasoning in the 'green movement'. Misuse
of 'co-relation' for example. Many things 'co-relate' which does not mean there
is any relationship between them. It is simply a statistical blip. Also a
co-relation has to be pretty darn strong (more than this) to be ‘statistically
significant’ anyway. And 'co-relation'
certainly is not 'causation'. To suppose that something is a cause and another
is a result, we would never find them appearing without each other - or in
reverse order. As we do with CO2 and temperature for example. PS. I can also
remember a July day here when it was 28C: https://www.lucianne.com/2019/11/30/when_did_routine_badbrweather_become_such_big_news_21662.html
02/12/2019: London Bridge: I
like the way after bystanders disarmed the terrorist and pinned him to the
ground, the police then shoot him dead. Which just goes to prove how much safer
we are when we disarm the citizenry and give all the weapons to the police and
the armed forces: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/london-bridge-attack-police-name-knifeman-as-convicted-terrorist-usman-khan PS: I do understand that he might have
had a bomb. Armed citizens could also have shot him dead before he did any
harm.
02/12/2019: EBC Gear List: A number of people
wanted to know what we took on the EBC since we carried all our own gear and
did not employ the services of a guide. I have answered some of their questions
in the post Dos and Don’ts on the EBC
I carried
more than some people might and a lot less than most people do. When my pack
was weighed at some point (checking in for the flight from Kathmandu to Lukla I
guess) my pack weighed 6 point something kg – which sounds about right. Della’s
was lighter than this, though she had more of some things (clothes) and less of
others (communication equipment, safety, first aid, repairs etc).
Well, here
goes (I have added links to some of the things mentioned):
NB: Surplus
or unused in
(brackets)
Grams
Worn:
Columbia
Silver Ridge
Trousers
288
Icebreaker
Icebreaker wool
knickers
58
Darn Tough Socks
Hankies (2)
(Microfibre Towel cut into six
pieces)
28
Keen
Samsung
Galaxy S4 Mini Phone (inc battery, cards,
protectors)
124
Watch & Compass
Sony Camera
(inc battery, wrist strap & card)
CybershotDSC-TX200V 131
Camera
Accessories: String Tripod Stickpic
Gossamer Gear LT4
Kathmandu
L/Sleeve Light Wool Top (as
needed)
220
Gloves (as
needed – rarely): MLD mitts 26 & Icebreaker Wool Liner
25 45
Hat/s:
Sub Total: 2547 (19)
Pack: G4 Free from Amazon (<US$20)
439 (100)
(with some mods and DIY shoulder pouches)
Waterproof Sea to Summit Liner
Air Flow Sitlight Camp Seat
Sleeping Bag Montbell Super Spiral #3 added down
(in Sea to Summit Waterproof compression bag
(Much
repaired) Thermarest Neoair X-Lite Womens
Emergency Shelter alternative 253 grams not
in my
budget)
340 (87)
DIY Pillow
Sub Total: 2176 (187)
Weather: Montbell raincoat
214
Rain Pants
(Zpack)
100
Gaiters
Montbell Down Coat
Montbell Down
Vest
186
Down Socks
Jardine Bomber
Hat
33
Compression
Sack (Insulated
Clothes)
65
Dry Bag
(other)
Clothes
43
Dry Change: 3
spare hankies (as
above)
42
Icebreaker
Longjohns
(Pyjamas)
158
Kathmandu
L/Sleeve Wool Top (as
above)
220
Columbia
Trousers (as
above)
288
Icebreaker
Shirt (as
above)
223
Icebreaker
Knickers (as
above)
58
Darn Tough
Socks (as
above)
73
Microfibre
Towel
83
Sub-Total: 2152 (0)
Drink: 600 ml empty soft drink bottle
(water)
29
Sawyer Mini Water Filter
Emergency
Communicaion: (old) Iridium Sat Phone (inc
battery)
378
Spare Samsung
Galaxy S4 Mini (inc
Battery)
(124)
Delorme
Inreach Poor Man’s Sat Phone
GoTenna
2 Litre Sea to Summit Waterproof Bag for
above
17
Sub-Total: 769 (124)
Electronics: (batteries carried in three Aloksaks which
weighed)
21
Another stuff
sack
(17)
2 x Single 18650 Power Banks
Spare
Electronics Bag (spare hearing aids, cables
Surplus
Charging
Cable
(26)
Unnecessary
AAA Torch inc
battery
(26)
Unnecessary
Spare AAA
Battery
(12)
Unnecessary
rechargeable
Torch
(24)
2 x Rechargeable Torches
Spare Sat
Phone
battery
(65)
Spare camera
battery (camera not
taken!)
(28)
2 spare phone
batteries (one
used)
66 (33)
2 spare
camera batteries (flat – altitude,
unused)
26 (26)
Sub-Total: 562 (329)
Other:
Toilet Bag inc 17
gram trowel & all wipes needed for
trip
267
(4 dry 2 wet)
plus nano head net and insect repellent)
Chemicals
Repairs
Spare Glasses inc
container)
59
First Aid
Bag
297
Chewing Gum
Bag (inc hearing aid safety and glasses
cleaner)
35 (17)
(Sore Throat)
Lollies (unused! Available on
track)
(175)
2 Unnecessary
Knives (1 used) 36 +
45
(81)
Knife Sharpener Micra
Combination
Padlock
(39)
Sub-Total: 1183 (322)
Total: 9499 inc 2547 worn so: 6962 grams inc
unnecessary (981); Needed: 5981
As you can
see I ‘needed’ a 6 kg pack weight though it included things others might not
carry (eg a sat phone plus a Sat Messenger (378 grams right there), a shelter
(253 grams), glasses, a camera, etc.
If I had been
going on from Dingboche to Base Camp (at this time of the year), I might have
carried an extra pair of Longjohns/ Down Trous (Della took hers – she feels the
cold more = not enough adopose!) and a woolen T-shirt. It gets colder (and
nastier) up there, but you can put all your clothes on when necessary. You get
quite a good enough view though from the top of the hill at Dingboche and along
the way.
Della’s pack
was substantially lighter (around 5 kg). Between us we had under
12 kg to walk the EBC.
As you can
see, I accidentally had on board a pile of junk I usually carry (hunting etc)
which I had forgotten (in the rush) to leave behind. Still, I am still young
and fit enough (at 70) to carry this and more, and to walk 7 hours a day a few
kilometres in the sky – and I am overjoyed to say, so is Della – who had a
simply swell time. Cheers.
BTW: The (sub
US$20) Amazon Packs Backpack Tricks ‘!
See Also:
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/09/25/riding-on-the-sheepss-back/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/11/25/camo-merino-wool-for-deer-hunting/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/10/21/guaranteed-for-life/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/05/03/keen-shoes/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2014/11/13/watch-bands-for-hikingbushwalking/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/08/09/4-gram-string-reverse-tripod/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/01/01/stick-pic/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/11/03/ultralight-compact-hiking-pole/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/07/03/down-socks/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/11/07/i-just-love-hats/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/06/29/the-poor-mans-satellite-phone/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/06/04/gotenna/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/03/24/budget-pack-mods/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2015/05/14/dry-bags-sea-to-summit-ultra-sil-nano/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/01/25/gossamer-gear-air-flow-sitlight-camp-seat/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/03/11/adding-down-to-a-sleeping-bag/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/08/23/a-tardis-folding-space/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/08/15/womens-are-great-in-bed/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2014/10/19/survival-shelter/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/06/12/thermoplastics-101/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/03/27/new-ultralight-survival-shelter/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/11/17/preventing-batteries-from-going-flat-at-high-altitudes/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/03/20/lightest-cheapest-powerbank/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/11/23/ultralight-charging-cable/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/04/29/ultralight-rain-gear/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/02/17/ultralight-mitts-and-gaiters/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/09/21/montbell/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/08/22/smallest-rechargeable-flashlight/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2015/11/20/ultralight-personal-hygiene/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/10/16/small-is-beautiful/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2015/06/12/cuben-tape/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/03/21/ultralight-glasses-case/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/06/12/ultralight-knife-sharpener/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2014/11/14/leatherman-micra-multitool/
For more
about the EBC See:
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/11/20/ebc-4-5-and-so-onwards-and-upwards/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/11/19/dos-and-donts-on-the-ebc-and-elsewhere/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/11/18/ebc-3-and-onward-to-xanadu/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/11/17/preventing-batteries-from-going-flat-at-high-altitudes/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/11/16/ebc-starting-out-kathmandu-to-lukla/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/11/15/9-days-trekking-the-ebc/
For my
previous trip, see:
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/to-the-roof-of-the-world/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/i-followed-my-footsteps/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/i-saw-below-me-that-golden-valley/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/thatendlessskyway/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/the-diamond-desert-everest-base-camp-trek-8/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/everest-base-camp-three-passes-trek/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/cold-weather-face-masks/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/my-life-was-wide-and-wild-and-who-can-know-my-heart/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/12/26/the-diamond-desert-everest-base-camp-trek-8/
01/12/2019: The Myth of Aboriginal Agriculture - Dark
Emu Exposed: https://www.dark-emu-exposed.org/
01/12/2019: Is vaping bad for you? Only if you vape cannabis: http://catallaxyfiles.com/2019/11/29/truth-gets-in-the-way-of-another-good-story/
01/12/2019: The Same Thing Could Happen at Home -
A Bike Ride Through the Garden of Good and Evil: In 2017, two Americans set off
on a round-the-world bike trip. They believed people all over the world are
inherently good at heart. They never made it home: https://www.outsideonline.com/2405861/tajikistan-bike-murders-jay-austin-lauren-geoghegan
30/11/2019: Clive Again: ‘I love a sunburnt country’
too. I remember the 1956 Maitland floods. From Bolwarra Heights we could
look across the vast sea which had swallowed Maitland (Australia’s oldest
city), East Maitland, Woodville and Largs and see just the odd rooftop of
two-storey buildings peeping through it – the ground floor buildings were all
underwater. There has never been a flood like it since along the East Coast. My
older cousins can still remember the heat waves of the late 1930s, the tiny
babies and the elderly dying from it; again which nothing since has come close
to. Clive James sums up these reflections better than me, here: https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/doomed-planet/2019/11/well-versed-in-warmisms-folly/ http://joannenova.com.au/2019/11/class-action-win-2011-floods-were-man-made-seemingly-managed-as-if-the-dams-would-never-fill/
30/11/2019: Colin Dowler Fought Off a Grizzly with a
Small Pocketknife: https://neveryetmelted.com/2019/11/26/49489/
30/11/2019: The Gillard-Wilson Crimeline – in case
you have been sleep-walking: https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2019/11/timeline-in-the-gillardawu-slush-fund-saga.html https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2019/11/statement-from-kathy-sherriff-shorten-rape-complainant-victoria-police-speaking-to-more-witnesses.html
29/11/2019: Clive at his best; seriously funny. His
conclusion: ‘For as long as the climate change fad lasted, it always depended
on poppycock; and it would surely be unwise to believe that mankind’s capacity
to believe in fashionable nonsense can be cured by the disproportionately high
cost of a temporary embarrassment. I’malmost sorry that I won’t be here for the
ceremonial unveiling of the next threat. Almost certainly the opening feast
will take place in Paris, with a happy sample of all the world’s young
scientists facing the fragrant remains of their first ever plate of foie gras,
while vowing that it will not be the last.’ https://www.thegwpf.org/content/uploads/2017/07/Clive-James.pdf
29/11/2019: Can Europe be saved – Hungary shows the
way: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/can-europe-be-saved-from-demographic-doom/
29/11/2019: Go Liz Storer, my new heroine: https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/advance-australias-new-boss-liz-storer-on-mobilising-the-centre-right-to-end-political-correctness/news-story/d6b2f8097b4ffba473cfaa79f0ae76e6
28/11/2019: We certainly will miss you Clive: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/blogs/andrew-bolt/clive-james-writes-his-obituary/news-story/3fff9b154470ee9fc24e718433c1aba9
28/11/2019: The Destruction of Our Forests by Labor
and the Greens is Amongst Their Most Reprehensible Evils. Alas they have
many more. Nonetheless we must oppose them with every ounce of our strength: https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/doomed-planet/2019/11/sacrificed-on-victorias-green-altar/
28/11/2019: Thanksgiving - It’s a Wonderful Time to Be
Alive: https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/11/thanksgiving-wonderful-time-to-be-alive/
28/11/2019: Thinking of a 12 Gauge for Deer Hunting?
The Maximum Practical Range of Slugs & Buckshot: https://www.shootingillustrated.com/articles/2019/2/15/the-maximum-practical-range-of-slugs-buckshot/
27/11/2019: The new Gulags or ‘Vocational Training
centres’. Chilling stuff: https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-cables/exposed-chinas-operating-manuals-for-mass-internment-and-arrest-by-algorithm/
27/11/2019: Some folks who changed from being warmists
to climate skeptics after looking at the evidence : http://www.warwickhughes.com/blog/?p=6372 & https://medium.com/@pullnews/what-i-learned-about-climate-change-the-science-is-not-settled-1e3ae4712ace http://www.populartechnology.net/2009/10/peer-reviewed-papers-supporting.html
27/11/2019: Sondland; In case you missed it: ‘in
the biggest testamentary turn-around in a congressional hearing since Frankie
Five Angels changed his tune – Sondland clarified what he had meant. What he
meant was Donald Trump had explicitly ruled out any quid pro quo but only
wanted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to “do the right thing.”
Sondland said he had merely presumed there was a link between the Bidens and
aid. In a long and idiotic series of hoaxes, this cruel disappointment for
Democrats was no different to any of the other letdowns but may as well be
considered the fat songstress of the era. In the words of Harry Reid, this war
is lost’. A triumph of ‘fake news’. http://catallaxyfiles.com/2019/11/22/last-sugar-rush-for-adams-ants/
25/11/2019: Willis at his brilliant best: The
warmists’ models are nuts: ‘we are using these models, with mean errors
from -15 W/m2 to +23 W/m2, in a quixotic attempt to diagnose and understand a
global radiation imbalance which is claimed to be less than one single solitary
watt per square metre (1 W/m2), and to diagnose and understand a claimed trend
in TOA downwelling radiation of a third to half of a W/m2 per decade …’ https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/11/23/how-much-sun-could-a-sunshine-shine/
25/11/2019: ‘Land of the free: in shock decision, US
allows citizens to choose whatever light globe they want.
Incandescent-light-globes. In a rare move for consumers, US citizens will not
be forced to buy LED soul-and-body-clock destroying globes next year as was
planned. Instead they can frivolously continue to buy incandescent globes if
they so choose. Despite the Democrats best efforts to stop droughts and
bushfires with indoor lighting, no US citizen will be denied the chance to save
their own money and enjoy a more natural spectrum of lighting in the privacy of
their own home’. http://joannenova.com.au/2019/11/land-of-the-free-us-allows-citizens-to-choose-whatever-light-globe-they-want/
24/11/2019: The G4 is Back: An updated version of
this iconic pack is now available in 70D & 100D (as in the Gorilla) DWR
coated Robic Nylon in three sizes from 578 grams & US$153 (Nov 2019),
the G4-20 Ultralight 42 Backpack
Features
include: 'Extendable roll-top with dual closure options, Waterproof zippers,
Removable molded cushy sitpad, Fixed hip belt with
unique hip belt pocket design'.
The 'new' G4
is up approx 100 grams from the original which was mostly a much less durable 2
oz nylon) and down about 10 litres in size (from 60 to 50) NB There are approx
8 litres inside the extension collar – the spec. of 42 litres doesn’t include
this (nor does it on any other of GG's packs).
It has a roll -top closure which you might modify if you don’t
like them (I don't) – they do reduce the storage of the pack (compared with the
simple draw string of the original) but their intention (along with the side
compression) is to ensure that the contents exactly fill the volume of the pack
so that you don’t need a frame. The contents of the pack are the frame. I would
prefer to have 2-3 draw strings going down so that you could shrink the pack to
achieve this 'frame effect' but without reducing its volume when full. This
would also be (fractionally) lighter
This is a mod
I will be adding to the Amazon packs we used on the EBC. They lack an extension
collar altogether. I will be able to increase their volume (eg up from 42 to 50
litres) by adding this small rectangle of material. A few minutes work at most.
At about 1-1.5 Ft2 it will only add 5-10 grams to the pack (eg 5 in silnylon or
closer to 10 eg in 3.5 oz/yd2 Dyneema) but make them more suitable for
multi-day trips. 8 litres of dry food is quite a lot.
If you like
this type of wide hip belt, then you won’t be unhappy with it – but I would
probably cut it off and add a 12 grams gross-grain strap and buckle as I did on
the Amazon packs as I think that hip belts that are wide and start at the side
really make load transfer more difficult and unnecessarily inhibit the natural
movements of the wearer - however neat they may look..
You really only need to make the pack swing into the small of your back
(with a waist belt). The pack weight actually sits on your bum, not on
the strap. A too wide strap starting from the sides of the pack will never
achieve this comfortably as it never does up around your torso properly - if
you try to tighten it, it only cuts in. Bad design.
But practically everyone does it! If you keep it make sure you don't quite fill
the pack across this point of attachment so that the belt can better pull in
and conform to your waist. And make sure it is at your waist and not lower.
The mods I
would make to the new G4 would take probably 100 grams off the pack. Lids are
just a waste of material as far as I am concerned. Then I would perhaps
substitute an Air Flow Sit Light Pad but including
some dry padding along the back,
The straps
and buckles on the lid (there are three where there only needs to be one - as
on the original) are also about twice the weight they need to be. If there are
going to be three, 1/2" wide is adequate (and if the pack had a draw
string closure) the three straps could be used to attach another item to the
top (a compression bag, a pack raft or a bear
canister perhaps). I do not see that these three straps achieve anything other
than the effort of carrying them, though perhaps like many things in 'pack
design' they 'look nice'! (Just like the inappropriate and heavier than
necessary hip belt folks are always attaching to packs nowadays.
I like the
asymmetric sizing of the side pockets – one can carry your shelter, which is a
good idea. I long ago modified all my packs for this purpose. Usually you only
need to add a light strap less than 5 grams to achieve this. I run an
ultralight carabiner through the draw string of the tent and this strap so you
never lose your tent!
The
waterproof zip compartment will probably attract a lot of people, but I would
have put this compartment's entry inside the pack (because I just don’t trust
zippers at all; when they go where are you ?) – and if you really want waterproof, go for Sea to Summit
Ultrasil liner bags or Aloksaks.
I would
prefer a ring of small pockets heading downwards inside the pack from the
extension collar join for quick access to small things on the trail if you
can’t cope with having a drawstring ‘possibles’ bag at the top of your pack
inside the liner bag (where nothing gets wet). Frankly this is a much better
idea. You can build too many 'gimmicks' into a pack. Keeping
it simple is best.
The shoulder
straps on Gossamer Gear’s new (Robic) line of packs all seem to be about ¾”
narrower than on the old G4s, Mariposas etc though they are softer and lined
with a wicking material. In general though I think narrower is a backwards step
even though they are now better shaped than they once were.
The greater the 'bearing' surface area, the easier it will be to carry the
pack. I would extend this bearing area rather than reduce it.
I would have
made the straps wider even though the pack is only intended for relatively
light loads (well under 15 kg). If the straps are wider and the pack only
carries under 10 kg, then I think you can dispense with the chest and waist/hip
straps altogether as they only impede walking anyway - and add weight.
I would have
aimed for a pack under the weight of the old G4 (460 grams) rather than over it
but made with the improved materials. Robic is about 50% stronger than an
equivalent weight standard nylon. Reducing the pack to nearer 50 litres than 60
is not such a bad move either, but maybe a compromise would have been to have
reduced the dimensions of the pack (which they have done) but gone for a
slightly longer extension collar (say nearer 12 litres - or a 54 litre pack),
but with the aim being sub 400 grams. I know this is possible because I own
such a 52 litre 390 gram by 4.8 oz/yd2 Dyneema pack - and am about to make it a
little lighter still in one direction and a little heavier (and bigger) in
another. Always tinkering...
Incidentally
they have eliminated the distinctive bulge at the bottom of the old G4 pack. I
found this quite an attractive feature. It also possessed a certain utility. It
was intended that you could allow your sleeping bag to spread out there and
form a cushion or shock absorber for other contents in the pack - though some
folks think you should load the heaviest items at the bottom. Strictly the most
important loading decision you make with a frameless pack is putting everything
soft towards the front of the pack so you don't have hard objects jabbing into
your back.
I have a
Medium Gorilla which is exactly 18” from bottom of the shoulder strap
attachment points to the bottom of the hip belt) which I removed and replaced.
18” is just about right for me (though 17” would be
better) but is much too long for Della who is better under 17".
The Specs for
this pack say that the length of the Small is 19 ¼” to the extension collar
seam (which I am assuming is about 2” above the shoulder strap attachment point
- as on my Gorilla) making the pack approx 17 ¼” long. Gosssamer Gear needs to provide
more precise detail on sizing to fit different hikers. I would probably want a
'Small' which (if the above is true) would be far be
too long for Della (who is only 5' tall). As I say, more precise buying
information necessary. I know there are lots of bigger people than us! The pack
comes in three sizes but it would be good if one of these was for 'little'
people and children.
I do not like
the stretchy material in the back pocket (though it is a lot more robust than
that used by most hiking pack manufacturers). I would prefer a solid material
here. I know the intention is to dry socks in the pocket (which does not work
well under compression anyway). You are much better to add a clothesline to the
pack and peg your washing to that.
The stretchy
material tears (especially) in blackberry patches and you then have to worry
about losing the pocket’s contents (or attempting a trail repair). I own
several packs with torn stretchy material pockets awaiting
‘repair'. The difficulty is that the material is almost always caught up in the
seam so that a very elaborate unpicking and resewing is necessary. Might as well just about make a new pack.
I note that
the Silverback
See Also:
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/02/24/the-silverback/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/08/20/a-gorilla-in-the-hand/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/08/30/a-gorilla-in-the-bush/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/11/27/pimping-a-gorilla/
PS: You can
still make your own (original) G4:
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2015/06/14/diy-hiking-gear/
23/11/2019: Ultralight Charging Cable: Tired of
lugging around that long (heavy) charging cable – which maybe weighs all of an
ounce? Ouch! You can do better than that. For example:
Anker 2-Pack Powerline Micro USB (4 Inches) – Durable Charging Cable, with Aramid Fiber and
5000+ Bend Lifespan (Approx) 11.3 grams A$11.48 (x2) Nov 2019
USB (Male) to Micro USB adaptor (approx ) 7 grams A$ 2.49 (Nov 2019) May not be
suitably flexible for your purpose.
Urbo Keyring Charger with USB-A to Micro-USB Connector .16 oz = 4.56 grams
A$14.99 (Nov 2019)
You just have
to have 1-2 of these for Xmas.
23/11/2019: The Current Inter-Glacial: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene
23/11/2019: Your ABC predicting the end of civilization (now) way back in 1973. A
really lot of money wasted on Auntie’s propaganda since then: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=250&v=cCxPOqwCr1I&feature=emb_title
23/11/2019: Bertold Brecht: ‘The Solution: After
the uprising of the 17th of June The Secretary of the Writers' Union Had
leaflets distributed on the Stalinallee Stating that the people Had forfeited
the confidence of the government And could only win it back By increased work
quotas. Would it not in that case be simpler for the government To dissolve the people And elect another?’
22/11/2019: One of the ‘great escape’ stories:
‘Balloon’ is a German thriller that deals with the crossing of the inner German
border of the families Strelzyk and Wetzel from the GDR to West Germany with a
homemade hot-air balloon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95LBIwTOR7Q&feature=emb_title
22/11/2019: Sexual Assault - How to make <3% into
> 51%: http://catallaxyfiles.com/2019/11/22/a-frauds-finale/
22/11/2019: A Real Invisibility Cloak: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZMyWEWHCTM&feature=emb_title http://joannenova.com.au/2019/11/an-unpowered-invisibility-cloak/
21/11/2019: More Time Travelers: https://10daily.com.au/shows/theproject/a191120qakny/photo-from-1898-convinces-people-greta-thunberg-is-a-time-traveler-20191120 What is even more puzzling is what is
the mystery creature lying on the ground just behind ‘Greta’ in 1898. Is this
the first ever photograph a ‘Luck Dragon’ (from ‘The Neverending Story’?
21/11/2019: Amazingly the far-Left Saturday paper now
also thinks Pell is innocent: https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2019/11/16/george-pells-appeal-the-high-court/15738228009096
21/11/2019: The Democrats (the Left generally?) have
decided to spend more money than actually exists on their socialist policies.
Check Pocahontas’ plans for health spending for eg: US$60K per year per family
on health care alone: https://rosebyanyothernameblog.wordpress.com/2019/11/09/she-thinks-were-not-taxed-enough/
20/11/2019: Dos and Don’ts on the EBC (and Elsewhere):
I intend this post to apply to lots of other hiking destinations, but at least
it should improve your experience and expectations on this iconic walk. ‘You
live and learn – or you don’t live long’ – as the man said (ie Lazarus Long,
‘Time Enough For Love’).
I have lived
long, and intend to live even longer. In contrast, both times I undertook the
EBC I witnessed dead bodies being unloaded from helicopters! I also saw many
folks much younger than myself getting themselves into serious difficulties
which might well have led to just the same outcomes if I had hung around being
a fly on their walls. I have seen young folks dead many times before
Setting out
from Lukla:
Should you
carry your own gear &/or should you employ a guide? If you are into ‘virtue signalling’ – as about
half the population seems to be nowadays, (Myself – as Red said – ‘I couldn’t
give a damn!’) you will have lots of reasons why you should employ someone
else. Delegate responsibility for your life to someone else
if you don’t value it overmuch. Myself I value my own hide too highly to
trust someone else with its responsibility.
Crows will be
into your pack if you leave it unattended:
If you want
that important piece of gear (without which you are just a frozen corpse) when
you need it, best make sure it is in the pack on your own back ,
not perhaps many miles away on someone else’s, no matter how much more
comfortable that may seem to be. Most people on the trail had off-loaded
everything (looked like the kitchen sink too) onto someone else. Certainly all
the (few) older people such as ourselves had. I have direct experience on both
trips of numbers of folk who regretted it!
About that
Pack: We both took the Amazon packs I wrote about back here with some further
mods I will detail later. The packs each weighed around 350 grams (for 40
litres – quite enough!) Della’s cost A$ 10.90 from
Amazon. She bought four so she would never run out! She likes purple! Fully
loaded they weighed 6-7 kg at most.
Della loves
that purple pack:
Aside: I have discovered that hip belts are in the wrong place (ie not at the
waist – your narrowest part) and should not weigh more than 12 grams (including
clip/buckle) and should be sewn on to the pack only at the middle (approx) six
inches of your back – so they do up all around your waist. The belt will then
cinch up comfortably all around your waist, your narrowest part, making it
impossible for your pack to move down from the small of your back, and so its weight
will be supported by your bum instead of your shoulders even though the waist
belt (and shoulder straps) are quite loose as they should be – by comparison
with whatever you are doing now. More about this later…
The Sit Light Air Pad not weigh more than 400
grams. If yours does, you are just wrong, wrong, wrong !
I have
further decided that you ought not need a hip/waist belt or a chest belt at all
if the pack is well-designed (which I suspect
none are!) and not too heavy – shouldn’t be. These extra straps and other
gee-gaws just restrict your body’s natural walking movement and rhythm and tire
you out unnecessarily without adding one jot of comfort! As I said, more about
this later….
The way
ahead:
Shelter? I would always carry an emergency
shelter/tent anywhere you might get caught outside in the rain/wind/snow, ie
practically everywhere. Most places I go I usually carry one of my ultralight DIY tents or a hammock and fly (or sometimes both – my new tarp doubles ). Even on day trips I will have a space blanket bag or poncho. Just something to save your life if you get caught out – yet I am proficient at constructing emergency
shelters from found materials and lighting fires in the wet – are you?
Of course I
would recommend that like most that you visit the EBC at the most (weather)
opportune time (late Oct-Early Nov for example). Temperatures, wind and
precipitation are then at their best. Even so (just like anywhere) disastrous
‘weather’ can strike – and don’t forget the awful earthquake of just a few
years back (which flattened whole towns – Think Thame) where you may have been
intending to stay!
People have
put considerable thought into the design of these ultralight shelters (which
are not dependent on soft ground (not much of it around on the EBC) to drive
tent pegs into). This one (from Terra Nova
In an
emergency both of us could cram into this shelter, inflate our mats (good to
‘Comfort’ at -10-20C), climb into our -10-20C sleeping bags (plus all our down
clothes) and ‘enjoy’ a safe night out in the most extreme conditions if
necessary. You just don’t know when/whether such an emergency will occur. Be
warned: the ground is often frozen, or nearly so!
I already
mentioned earthquakes. Everywhere on the trail there is evidence of (immense)
earlier landslides. (There are warning signs everywhere that) glacial lakes can
burst and cause inundations which would sweep whole villages away. You might
simply lose the trail, be beaten by darkness arriving earlier than you
expected, be sick, twist your ankle and be unable to complete your day’s
journey, and so on…Prepare for the worst and be grateful when it does not
occur. Even after a lifetime of experience in the bush we can sometimes be caught out
First view of Everest as you ascend the Namche Hill:
Sleeping? Should you take an insulated mat and sleeping bag? Again, if you want to
live – and this survival equipment should be on your person at all times . Wherever you are, go nowhere without your pack (and its essentials).
Many (inexperienced) folk meet with disaster because they put their pack down
on a trail just to step off it a few metres eg to answer a ‘call of nature’, an
interesting euphemism.
Separated
from their pack and alone in the wilderness…not long before things can start to
really unwind! Not everyone has the ability eg to lose one of their hearing aids yet be able to backtrack
themselves through several hours of the trackless bush until they find it each, and our
(warmest) sleeping bags around 800 grams.
You need a
mat anyway even when staying in tea/guest houses and ‘hotels. Particularly as you travel higher up the (provided) mattresses will
‘strike’ colder and colder. Probably this is because of condensation
which has not had a chance to evaporate away (actually at this altitude
water/ice does not evaporate; it ‘sublimes’ –
there’s a new use of that word for you). If your body (heat) is trying to warm
up (perhaps several kilos) of sub zero ice/water in your (quite likely
uncomfortable) mattress, it will not matter if you have a minus 100C sleeping
bag; you will be cold! An ultralight inflatable mat such as the Thermarest NeoAir X-Lite Women’s superb Exped Synmat
Rain Gear? Yes, it might rain/snow etc, though
it is unlikely at this time of year, but you never know . We carried both coats, pants, gaiters and waterproof shoes, though I
(but not Della) usually do not bother with more than just a coat. Adipose is
good insulation! If you get wet at this altitude (and night-time temperature/s)
you are likely to be miserable (at best). Frostbite is not much fun either. We
did not need them, but an extra layer is good insurance. We are looking at
something like 300 grams (each) for the three waterproof clothing items (plus a
bit for Keen Targhees instead of Voyageurs). Safety first.
Food and Water. You really don’t need to
carry either. There is somewhere you can buy either every few hundred yards on
average, though there are some longer sections where you might get a bit
thirsty if you started out without a full water bottle – climbing the hill up
to Tengboche for example on a warm day. ‘Safe’ bottled water is available from (approx)
US$1-2 per litre. We also carried a Sawyer Mini filter and squeeze bottle in
case we needed to drink from other sources, etc. This is just sensible
insurance.
You will
inevitably meet with (very ill) folks who think they can (safely) drink the
water or that water purification tabs ( iodine etc)
work. There is one born every minute. Disinfection takes time (more than an
hour) and only removes a handful of the pathogens which your Sawyer with <1
micron filter) automatically removes. It can/should regularly
be backflushed like this (2 grams Worth it for safety. In an emergency supplies of potable water will dry up fast!
NB: Do not clean your teeth or wash you mouth out with the water. Also carry
antiseptic wipes (or similar) and use them religiously. There are lots of
invisible nasties you do not want to succumb to. Do not pat animals!
When you contract diarrhea from bad water/food you will need Imodium and
probably Stemetil for vomiting. If it persists (Typhoid perhaps?) you will need
Cipro (antibiotic). It has saved my life! (from Pneumonia ) I gave some of
my supplies to a young British backpacker at the bottom of the hill at
Tengboche. He was leaking badly at both ends. His guide was completely
unprepared (common) and insisted he continue (to gain altitude) when his
symptoms (I was trying to alleviate) might well prove to be the beginning of
altitude sickness as well – in which case he needed to descend (fast!) or
maybe die! Be warned! I hope he survived.
You should
also have a prescription for Amoxycillin for pneumonia. There is a pharmacy in
Namche and also one at the French Bakery/Snow Lions in Dingboche where you can
obtain these things. There is a small hospital in Pariche (near Dingboche).
Your first aid kit should also contain blister pads – you will likely need
them!
I suggest you
do not eat meat after you leave Lukla. Even in Lukla not everyone has a (working) refrigerator. Animals cannot be slaughtered
within the National Park so all meat is carried in on someone’s back (perhaps
in the hot sun for days)! Eggs or beans are good alternative protein. Food
poisoning is not much holiday fun really. Be warned!
You can buy
Snickers/Mars/ Bounty bars pretty much everywhere (US$1-2). Most/all of the
food on the trail is just absolutely awful. I would never pay for such food
anywhere else. Expect to lose weight! There is very little variety, but even
with the few ingredients they mysteriously seem to be able to grow/carry in
Della or I could make many delicious meals. Instead expect every meal to lean
towards inedibility. It is possible too that you may not like oily.
If you carry
your own food in (or decide to eat elsewhere than where you are staying) your
accommodation costs will be bumped up – and the quality of the food will not be
very different. The Dal Bhat, Momos ‘Tuna Burgers’ and fried eggs on chips
appear to be about the height of fine dining Nepali style. I could just about
choke down two slices of ‘toast’ with ‘butter’ and honey for breakfast. If you
are a ‘coffee snob’ forget it! They do sell sore throat
lollies practically everywhere. You will likely need them. If you have a preference maybe bring your own. Butter Menthols are great
(and Werthers caramels – you will lust after these before you return to
Australia. You can buy them in Kathmandu airport!)
Do look
forward to having ‘Black Forest Cake’ at Hermen’s Bakery (Northern outskirts of
Phakding). It will not be anything like Black Forest Cake, but it will probably
be the best thing you eat on the trip. You would not look at it elsewhere. (Tip:
When you are back in Kathmandu, do try the Yak and Yeti Our
thanks to Guillaume Maurel of Maurituius for a memorable night).
Lots of people (most?) get diarrhea
or pneumonia (or both) above Dingboche. And of course
Altitude Sickness. Lots of very expensive helicopter evacuations. There
is also much less accommodation. You may (even/likely) end up sleeping on the
(forzen) floor – where you really wish you had that minus 20C mat! One reason why Della and I decided before we left Australia that
the Nagarshang Hill, Dingboche would be our destination. This is as high as Everest Base Camp but can be climbed on a
pleasant sunny morning with tea and cake in the French Bakery Dingboche
afterwards. (They also have rooms for rent with their own toilets!) Even in
Dingboche all the water freezes overnight. Above that hardly anything thaws ot , so if you venture there be on the lookout (eg) or
toiletry fiascos you had never imagined possible.
French Bakery Dingboche:
It has pretty
much as good a view (of Everest, etc) as you are going to get elsewhere without
venturing into the permanent sub-zero regions where there is not a single
living thing to break the dismalness and monotony of the view. It will shorten
your trip by 3-4 days too and enormously reduce the chances of your getting
sick and/or dying.
View from the
Hill, Dingboche: NB: Behind that grey hill on he left
is just such a one of those glacial lakes
perched up there held in pace only by scree and ready to let go and drown towns
downstream like Phariche (below) immediately. Della os enjoying
herself anyway. Steroids and being alive again, when last time I was
there she was just so flat with he poor old heart
(seemingly) all played out. She is good as new (almost) now – as you can see!
Altitude
Sickness and Acclimatisation: Pay attention Everywhere we met (even fit young) people who had gone up
the same day as us (or before) coming back down with Altitude Sickness, and
looking very unhappy and worried. If you are going to enjoy the walk you must
do everything you can too avoid this nemesis. You need to increase oxygen
transfer in a much lower oxygen environment. Get a prescription from your
doctor before you leave home for either Diamox or Dexamethasone (Steroid Della
needed instead because of her heart condition – it seemed to work somewhat
better).
Take the time
to enjoy the donkeys:
And the yaks:
These guys
were making heavy going of it:
I took half a
tab of Diamox twice per day from when I was leaving Kathmandu to when I arrived
back there. This was as a preventative. It is normally carried as a treatment
for Altitude Sickness, but if you wait till you have symptoms it is too late
for this trip: you will have to go down, fast!
You also need
to take the time to acclimatise. If you don’t you will very likely get sick
(and you can even die suddenly eg from an embolism! Be warned)! You will have
come up from 1`400 metres at Kathmandu to 2900 metres at Lukla. That is quite
enough stress for the body in one day. Stay the night in Lukla. Spend the day
on some little acclimatisation walks around the town. For example, walk around
the airport, or go down to the hydro plant in the valley below and back, climb
up the hill above the town (past the army base and the school) into the
wonderful rhododendron forests etc. Over 3,000 metres when you have ascendeded
500 metres you need a day to acclimatise. You can spend this day climbing
higher so long as you sleep lower. You need an acclimatisatiion day at Namche
and again at Dingboche.
Take a break
in Namche:
If you skip
these days you are risking your life. All the people we saw who were sick from
the altitude had skipped one of these pieces of advice – or both. It has
probably cost you at least A$ 1500 just to get yourself
to Lukla (return) plus insurance. It is foolish to just waste that investment.
You get a odd view of Everest during your acclimatisation day at
Namche:
Vaccines? Yes you should. Everything available eg Triple Antigen, Hepatitus, Typhoid,
Cholera… and Rabies? Yes. It is 100% fatal. look
at the photo of Della (above) to see just how easy it would be to contract it
by such an innocuous thing as feeding the monkeys! Get the best advice from
your country’s foreign affairs department about what might be required in Nepal
and have yourself protected against them all. There are quite enough other
dangers as well. (Untreated) eg cholera can rob you of your entire body weight
in fluid in a single day! That must be something to see, but I will eschew it!
Doesn’t sound like much fun, does it? And it is preventable.
Don’t feed
the monkeys:
More About Guides/Outfitters: I already
stressed why we would determine to carry our own (at least essential) gear. In
fact we carried all our own gear – but this only came to 5-6 kg each for a ten
day trip! This is more than we would normally carry, because it was colder. We
would normally begin a 10 day (unsupported) hike where we camped out the entire
way with pack weights including food of well less than 10 kg each.
I would
normally wash my clothes and dry them on a line across the back of my pack (and
then in front of the night fire) on such a trip but this is not possible on the
EBC because it is too dusty. In half an hour your clothes will be coated in
mud! You can have your dirty clothes washed and dried (eg) in Namche and
Dingboche during your rest days. This way you only need one change of clothes
to be quite clean enough.
I have often
enough gone for ten days at a time in the past without washing my (wool)
clothing without becoming offensively smelly. Of course I usually go where
there is no-one else about. There are lots and lots of people on the EBC. You
have to wait for them all the time eg to cross bridges or at narrow points in
the trail, or just because the large groups are just bloody rude and want to
take up the whole width of the trail. There is no credo of ‘age before beauty’
amongst them I assure you! The donkeys and yaks are more polite, believe me.
Still they should not be challenged for passage on bridges, and you should
always pass them on the uphill side in case they accidentally bump you off.
The ‘give
way’ rule in action:
No doubt
there are competent guides and outfitters, but you really don’t need to spend
the money. Nor do you have to pre-book the accommodation. You can just pretty
much walk into any guest hose unannounced and there will be a vacancy – at
least as far as Dingboche anyway. It is incredible just how much building has
been going on there in the last three years since I was there before. Then you
were lucky to see two helicopters a day but now there are usually 2-3
helicopters in the sky above you from dawn to dusk. Mostly they are ferrying
building supplies up the valley. They are too impatient (etc) to wait for
porters to carry the supplies up, so why should you feel guilty if you chose to
carry your own (survival) gear? You will have to eat the food etc that the
porters have carried up from Phaplu anyway.
The
outfitters can add A$ 5-6,000 to a couple of weeks’
trek. You do not need them. Nor do you need guides. You can download maps and
save instructions on ‘Pocket’ etc. Besides most everyone is going the same
place and you can always ask a local: ‘Namchi?’ That way.
Last time I
rescued’ a woman (from Pangboche to Lukla) who had been deserted by her
outfitters, guides and porters. She had become sick above Dingboche (where I
first started noticing her and saying ‘Hello’) and she had just been left on
the side of the track to fend for herself. Presumably the many wild( -ish) dogs would have cleaned her up quickly enough if
she had succumbed. I hate to think. In Kathmandu there is a temple you can
visit (This is a tourist attraction – we avoided) where they are openly burning
50-100 human beings all the time. Not to be missed! This is the Third World.
Guides are
more like US$25 a day. No doubt there are good ones – but how to tell? I have
seen them desert their customers. For example leaving a man
who was clearly beginning to suffer from Altitude Sickness struggling up the
hill into Tengboche in the dark. Then asking me as I
arrived in Tengboche, ‘Have you seen him?’ ‘Not since you left,’ No
doubt he will be along in a little while’…Or letting someone decide to walk to
EBC and back in three days (next to impossible – and suicidal to boot) yet not
being prepared with the necessary medicines, telephone numbers, a satellite
phone or epirb. Or even adequate local knowledge. Wow!
If you go
with a group you will see less wildlife. Musk deer (below) are in plague
proportions in the forest along the way. Soon their
predators (snow leopards and wolves) will be too. Then there will be another
interesting risk associated with the EBC!
And miss lots
of fascinating wild birds:
And
Acccommodation: Most ‘guides’ obviously have some
sort of ‘cumshaw’ deal with a hotel up front if they take you there (regardless
of the cost to you)! It is just not possible for them to switch you to a closer
hotel etc if you are not traveling quite so fast as
they had planned. They will chivvy you along. Myself I like to just make my own
way at my own pace, stopping when I am tired or when I want to. I am an old
bushman and could easily have found my way to the EBC and back again by myself
even if there were no road or buildings along the way – and I would prefer that
sort of trip in any case. Mind you there are probably very few places you can
go where the scenery is quite so stunning though!
We had no
trouble walking into the first piece of accommodation we came to and securing a
room for the night (usually at between US$0-2 at most) providing we ate in – we
always did. Some of these guest houses were a bit ordinary but most now have solar showers (which was not the case three years ago) so
you can get decently clean anytime you want to. One night coming back from
Pangboche towards Tengboche we stayed (for free) at the first place we came to,
the Evergreen Lodge Milinggo (Debuche). The company was pretty much all sherpas . This was the most enjoyable night of the whole trip
(despite the pretty daunting toilet facilities!)
Entering
Pangboche:
And of course
if you chose to go with a guide or an outfitter you are going to have their
company (and that of the rest of the awful company) all day every day for such
a long time. If you are some sort of lonely misfit this might suit you, but it
does not suit me. I have said many times in these pages, ‘No company is better
than bad company’. Anyway, I have/had Della for company, (these last nearly
fifty years) and there is no better than that!
Can you tell
whether we are enjoying ourselves?
Buffs: One to wash.
Tip: Though you can’t hang your clothes on a line on the back of your pack, you
can squeeze the wet item out as much as possible and every time you stop (lots
for us) you can take it out from where you have shoved it (between your pack
liner bag and your pack) and sit it in the sun while you have your break –
maybe a Snickers bar? The oranges seem safe enough, but who knows what the
apples have been washed in?
There is lots
to see – Is Ama Dablam the most beautiful (if
not the worst named of) of mountains?
This time of
year there is lots of bright sunshine (too much probably – take lots of
sunscreen). They will dry quite quickly in this was – or if they are not
finished you can hang them over the back of a chair in front of the fire in the
guest house where you stay to finish off. This works well with towels,
handkerchiefs and undies, for example – even when it is only a dung fire
(common).
Take a break
every now and then and smell the flowers:
There are
other devices you can use to heat up the air your are
breathing it (and hydrate it). The Cold Avenger
Warm Clothes:
No doubt you can underdo or overdo it in this department.
I have mentioned the wonderful Montbell down garments many times before. They are our ultralight standby for warmth on the
trail. I took a down vest and jacket. (Never needed the vest – but it could
have been colder). Della also took her down pants. Used sometimes of a night or
when she felt cold. (Not enough adipose). We both had (light) woolen shirts and
Icebreaker or Kathmandu long underwear (top and bottoms). I took one bottom and
two tops. Bottoms only worn (some) nights so could wash on rest days. Tops worn (sometimes) during day) and as pyjamas at night. Two pairs of Icebreaker woolen undies (one in the wash). Two pairs of medium wool socks (Darn Tough) and one pair of down
socks (cold nights). I had my dyneema moccasins a dry change.
Shoes get a bot sweaty by the end of the day. Most toilet trips (nights) needed
shoes on again. Water hazard! I used a Montbell sleeping bag to which we had added 9 ounces of down .
Bits and
Pieces: There is mobile phone coverage pretty much all along
the EBC now. You can buy a Nepalii telecom card with data for approx US$20
before you leave Kathmandu Or probably at Lukla and
Namche where they sell most everything. Most guest houses etc have Wifi
available for maybe US$1-2 a night. Free at Hermens Bakery Phakding where you
can call your beloved on What’s App – or chat to her
across the rable if you are as lucky as me!
Permits: You can buy the necessary permits on the way (providing you fly in to
Lukla. One permit as you exit Lukla (Approx US$20) and one when you get to
Monjo (Approx US$30). it will be checked lots of
times. The Nepalis are keen as mustard on bureaucracy. It is all they seem to
have mastered. Otherwise they are mostly like children playing at ‘real life’.
Nothing is ever organised the way you expect it would be. But the army do have some pretty fancy guns and I suspect know how
to use them – and they are everywhere. Don’t know when the open season on
tourists is – not when we were there anyway!
To Avoid
Batteries Going Flat at High Altitude , do this. https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/11/17/preventing-batteries-from-going-flat-at-high-altitudes/
Yet another use for Aloksaks!
Toilet Facts: You need to get yourself prepared for the toilets – or the lack of them.
Be prepared to squat. They will (likely) freeze above Dingboche. Carry handy
(12) packs of tissues instead of toilet paper (and antiseptic wipes for your APC – a very important precaution ). You can buy them at every town. You can clean yourself up well after a
toilet stop with only 1-2 tissues. Wipe and fold, wipe and fold. You can get
5-6 wipes from a single tissue. Saves a lot of paper, weight – and does not get
wet and disintegrate in the rain, etc. Carry an ultralight trowel.
What’s For
Sale? You could begin the trek in a pair of thongs and a T
shirt and buy everything you need along the way. Lots of
shopping in Lukla and Namche, and lots of other shops with nick-nacks and
groceries along the way. You can buy cans of tuna and canned ‘Spam’ in
every town – if you are craving protein.
Lots and lots
to see:
So we
continue our journey through life:
See Also:
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/05/23/the-ultimate-hunting-trip/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/03/27/new-ultralight-survival-shelter/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/08/18/raincoat-shelter/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/07/31/if-you-could-only-carry-two-things-in-the-bush-what-would-they-be/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/09/24/10-by-10-tarp-update/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/03/24/budget-pack-mods/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/01/25/gossamer-gear-air-flow-sitlight-camp-seat/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/06/09/cold-season-pads/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2015/10/21/sawyer-water-filter/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/10/07/cold-weather-face-masks/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/09/07/are-you-beautiful-in-the-buff/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/08/10/the-pocket-poncho-tent/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/04/14/19-gram-dyneema-camp-shoes/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/09/21/montbell/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/03/11/adding-down-to-a-sleeping-bag/
20/11/2019: EBC 4 & 5: And So Onwards and Upwards:
‘Tengboche, Pangboche and finally Dingboche – the end of our ascent. 4,410
metres at Dingboche, but we climbed higher to look down the valley to Everest
Base Camp, 2 more days ahead. These 2 days of cold and hardship were not on our
agenda. A medley of pics following, some with explanatory
notes.’ (Della Again)
‘Sherpa baby
chewing on a 100 rupee note
Dung patties
drying in the sun for cooking fires
Yaks becoming
more prevalent
A welcome
stretch of newly made road
Entering
Pangboche
Between
Pangboche and Dingboche
Just one more
corner before Dingboche:
Our
accommodation at Dingboche: The Snow Lions Lodge
View from our
window in the morning
Such
organised and tidy lives!
Gotta love a
yak
Dining room,
Dingboche
Mission
accomplished!
A view up the valley towards Base Camp.
Some solid
climbs!
Leaving Dinfboche’.
19/11/2019: EBC 3: And Onward to Xanadu: ‘I
confess to having bored countless Eng Lit students of mine with my passion for
Coleridge’s poem “Kubla Khan”. Little did I suspect that I would one day
discover Coleridge’s Xanadu in the Sherpa capital of Namche Bazar.
I saw so many parallels to the poem, but perhaps the most relevant is the fact
that Coleridge was writing about an opium dream he had just awakened from,
whilst I felt as if I had stepped into a waking dream’. (Della again)
‘Nestled on
the sides of a hill, Namche is reached after a fairly tough climb. At over
3,400 feet, sensible trekkers spend an extra acclimatisation day there,
climbing higher the next day and then returning to Namche to sleep, thus hoping
to prevent altitude sickness. So we had plenty of time to enjoy this amazing
town as well as wander over the nearby hillsides and villages.
Entering
Namche Bazar after a day of solid climbing
One of those
“stately pleasure dome”(s) that Coleridge rattles on about! It also looks
like “Alph, the sacred river” has been put into service here!
View from our
bedroom
More pleasure
dome stuff
I love a busy
bazaar
My “local” hairdresser in Namche. A shampoo and dry sure beats the
discomfort of wet hair in a cold climate. Melanie Cardillo , they will
never replace you, though!
‘Caverns
measureless to man…Oh that deep romantic chasm”
19/11/2019: Section 100 of the Constitution deals
specifically with Commonwealth power in relation to water, and states: ‘The Commonwealth shall not, by any law or
regulation of trade or commerce, abridge the right of a State or of the
residents therein to the reasonable use of the waters of rivers for
conservation or irrigation’. The Constitution also forbids Government from
(making laws which) confiscate private property without just compensation – yet
this is just what ‘Native Vegetation’ laws have done for the last 20 years.
19/11/2019: 10 Years Since Climategate exposed the
global warming fraud, yet this $1.5 trillion scam still continues: https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/doomed-planet/2019/11/ten-years-after-climategate/ & http://www.drroyspencer.com/2019/11/climate-extremism-in-the-age-of-disinformation/
19/11/2019: Report of the 1939 Black Friday fires
Royal Commission. Not enough has changed since then: https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2019/11/dear-greta-the-climate-child-please-read-this-1939-royal-commission-report-into-the-real-cause-of-ca.html
18/11/2019: Everest – Days 1 & 2: Lukla to Namche
Bazar with overnight stop at Benkar’. (Della)
‘Main street of Lukla
The road out
of town
Other trekkers: The person in front is carrying a largish day
pack whilst the hired porter behind is carrying the rest of his/her gear. This
was normal procedure for almost all trekkers. We, in contrast, proudly carried
our own packs with everything we would need for the 9 days apart from food.
Not such a
large pack: all bedding, warm clothing, wet weather gear, change of clothes,
toiletries, medication, communication, safety.
The first of
many road trains: Donkeys, cows, yaks…these were constant and colourful
traffic. These donkeys are carrying empty fuel drums back to Lukla to be
refilled with aviation fuel and carried back to Base Camp again.
Such a
sweetheart! You could always hear the bells as the animals approached, so that
you had time to stand out of the way. I had to bring a yak bell home with me so
that I can be transported to Nepal every time the wind blows in the garden.
A proud Sherpa woman selling her produce outside her home.
Despite the
shortage of good, cultivable land, almost all houses devoted space to flowers.
Our first night in Benkar with the hospitable Neema Sherpa. We were her
only guests.
Suspension
bridges everywhere.
Approaching our lunch stop at Jorsalle’.
17/11/2019: Preventing Batteries From Going Flat at
High Altitudes: This is my ‘Poor Man’s Satellite Phone recent EBC trek my first time on the EBC
That time I
also had a 5 watt solar charger which was supposed to be charging Nicads or
Nickel-Metal-Hydrides pretty much all day. The days were perfect sunshine all
the time but the batteries just went slowly flatter as they lost charge to the
air more quickly than the solar could replace it – something I had never
experienced before.
Pretty much
everyone who hikes this trail (or that elevation) finds the same phenomenon
many blaming it (incorrectly) on the cold – but it was not cold. I wore just a
simple light short sleeved wool jersey polo shirt pretty much all day every day
and placed all my batteries in my sleeping bag of a night though it never got
so cold of a night as I am used to winter camping in the Victorian mountains
where my batteries never go unnaturally flat.
I reasoned
that it must be the altitude, but Googling it found that no-one had a solution.
Extraordinary! First I thought up lots of elaborate ways to place the phone in
a space which would emulate sea level air pressure (no doubt dreaming of
receiving millions for such a clever invention,,,) when I realised that Aloksak
had already beaten me to it/them!
They make
waterproof and airproof zip-lock bags – much superior quality to the
supermarket variety (which will not suffice for this purpose – they leak). If
you place your phone/battery in the Aloksak bag (they come in a variety of
sizes/shapes) and inflate them slightly as you seal them, then place them
(gently) in your pocket or pack so that they are under ever such slight
pressure all the time the battery/phone just stops going flat. Simple as that –
but you can send money if you so desire:
https://www.paypal.me/theultralighthiker
Beware too much pressure or you will
burst the bag at the seams. They can be repaired eg with cuben tape whose
seam split. They went completely flat overnight. Fortunately I was able to
charge the camera up from the two red power bank batteries
A Note on
Charging on the EBC: Since I was there three years ago
they have installed many micro hydro systems along the trail so that most of
the small villages now have A/C power but it is often not enough to charge any
larger battery than the single cell ones I took (in the photo below – 18650
batteries of approx 3.5 amp hours). Be warned.
Aloksak also
make waterproof ‘gun bags’ which are very handy for canoeing/hunting trips: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/11/17/aloksak/
Here in
Australia I bought mine from Injinji
A selection of bags below. The two at the bottom are the small
and large phone size.
17/11/2019: 170 Years of Earth Surface Temperature
Data Show No Evidence of Significant Warming: The results show the average
rate of warming of the surface of earth for the past 170 years is less than
0.07 degrees C per decade. The rate of
warming of the surface of the earth does not correlate with the rate of
increase of CO2 in the atmosphere’ https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/11/14/170-years-of-earth-surface-temperature-data-show-no-evidence-of-significant-warming/
17/11/2019: EBC Starting out: Kathmandu to Lukla.
Flying to Lukla is the adrenaline-filled beginning to the Everest Base Camp
Trek. Reputedly the most dangerous airport in the world, Lukla Airport has a
landing strip just 500 metres long, with a sheer cliff on one end and a brick
wall on the other. We took videos of both our landing and takeoff to share. The
flight only takes 30 minutes, but believe me, Nepali
disorganization manages to make the waiting last almost all day. And seats at
the airport? Why would you need those? When they finally decide that it is time
to fly, you have less than 5 minutes between frenzied waves towards the plane
and being launched into space! Who needs to bungy jump for thrills?’ (Della
Continued)
Aside: The cover photo was taken at Phaplu Nepal. Tara dropped us off there to
wait for 4-5 hours instead of flying straight to Lukla. Our return flight was
delayed by the same amount. Even so it was much better than the 4-5 hour each
way bus trip to Ramechhap (from Kathmandu) which most visitors are having to endure ‘at the moment’. In Nepal nothing
happens according to schedule!
Lukla
Landing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uzYeZiyNVc&feature=emb_title
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qKs7znCRL0&feature=emb_title
Lukla Take
Off:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVdPoT5fSiQ&feature=emb_title
16/11/2019: Register with the Spectator now and get
three free articles per week. If there is a single thing in this
publication you disagree with, you probably need your head read:. The tribute
to our greatest PM, Tony Abbott, Pauline Hanson’s critique of the BOM, Jacinta
Price’s caution about the death of her cousin…All the news you missed
elsewhere, eg ‘an armed man had lunged at two officers who had attended a
residence with an arrest warrant to apprehend him for breaching his parole
conditions, stabbing one of them on the shoulder. One officer fired two or
three shots: https://www.spectator.com.au/
16/11/2019: Waterloo Teeth. The dentures made from the teeth of dead soldiers
at Waterloo https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33085031 & http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/57020
16/11/2019: Dr Jennifer Marohasy presents this short
film which allows Australians to see for themselves that claims that the Great
Barrier Reef is in crisis are not true: https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=HqFFqBuFVqU&feature=youtu.be
16/11/2019: 9 Days Trekking the EBC: Della: ‘And
so we are back! 9 days trekking along the Everest Base Camp trail, Lukla to
Dingboche. Our final climb above Dingboche was as high aa
Everest Base Camp, but I never wanted to experience the cold and privation of
the last 2 days of the trail, so we were happy to call Dingboche our goal. And
it was beyond amazing: I never expected it to be the journey of a lifetime, but
it was… The soaring beauty? The time, whilst walking,
to contemplate my life…? I only know that I felt more energy and happiness than
one small, imperfect heart can hold, and each day that heart swelled further
with gratitude for all the people whose loving support put me there: my husband
and lifelong guide, my family support-crew back home who kept our home base
running amidst their already busy lives, my friends who cheer me from these Facebook
pages daily, and my outstanding cardiologist who saved me just moments from
death exactly a year ago and then solved (though not quite “cured”) my heart
problem. So many people – giving so much: No wonder my heart soared. The cynic
that usually inhabits my soul might suggest that all this emotion was a
side-effect of the steroids that I was prescribed to help prevent altitude
sickness.. Who knows?! Nepal was certainly a fitting
place for such a spiritual experience, whatever the trigger, and my gratitude
will be a golden nugget that I treasure for the rest of my life.
I will bore
you all further with some more pics over the next few days, but feel free to
flick on past if holiday snaps are not your thing!’
Lukla-Chheplung:
Pangboche to
Dingboche:
Nagarzhang
Peak Dingboche:
15/11/2019: Global Tree Cover Has Expanded More Than 7
Percent Since 1982: https://reason.com/2018/09/04/global-tree-cover-has-expanded-more-than/?fbclid=IwAR2CZ1K4FpCZ0uS5ZpsC5w9zm0Zo_vxvP0aq1yuD2mDV21W-VP9HnJbQyR4
15/11/2019: So, the High Court will intervene because
the Pell decision goes against one of its long-standing legal principles ie
that one person’s unsupported evidence cannot override the collateral (ie real
world) evidence – – in this case the impossibility of Pell (and his
accuser) both (either?) being in two places at the one time! In this case the
‘difficulty’ is that the choir boys needed to be in the sacristy during a
different five minutes than Pell could possibly have been there – and remember
we are supposed to ignore the eyes-on eye-witness statements (from a number of
witnesses) that Pell was out the front of the cathedral all the time that the
offending was supposed to have been occurring. Boys being able to pass through
locked doors (at least twice) and Pell running away from the front of the
church to rape two choir boys he had no reason to think would be there and then
running back without being seen to leave in the first place… The Pell case will
go down in Australia’s jurisprudence history as our greatest travesty of
justice: https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2019/09/where-the-pell-judgment-went-fatally-wrong
13/11/2019:
13/11/2019: 1932. The Invention of the Ford V8 engine: Will we ever see anything like
this again? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RB3z1er9Sw&feature=emb_title
13/11/2019: Man In Critical Condition After Hearing Slightly
Differing Viewpoint: https://babylonbee.com/news/man-in-critical-condition-after-hearing-slightly-differing-viewpoint
30/10/2019: Namaste from Kathmandu! We were unaware
that Nepal would be in the middle of a religious holiday festival when we got
here, but it sure adds a little extra colour and mayhem! Local
sightseeing today, then flying out to Lukla at first light tomorrow to begin
our 9 day trek along the Everest Base Camp trekking route.
28/10/2019: Face Painting one day, tree planting with
Dad the next. Another 20+ trees down today! Now they just need to hurry up
and grow!
28/10/2019: A Visionary Vegan: https://babylonbee.com/news/extreme-vegan-has-all-meat-removed-from-body
28/10/2019: A cheap way of removing CO2 from the air
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/10/26/mit-engineers-develop-a-new-way-to-remove-carbon-dioxide-from-air/ and an artificial leaf for turning it
into synthetic gas: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/10/25/artificial-leaf-successfully-produces-clean-gas/
28/10/2019: If all the warmists at the BOM can give us
is fraud, they should be sacked: http://joannenova.com.au/2019/10/the-australian-bureau-of-met-hides-50-years-of-very-hot-days/
26/10/2019: Never Get Lost – With Google Offline Maps:
So long as you have a smart phone (with GPS and Compass – be sure it does
before you buy it!) you don’t need a Garmin or any other GPS device, and you
don’t need to pay for any maps. You can organise your phone so that you
need never get lost.
However you
do need to download the particular area you want to explore onto your phone as
an offline map before you venture out into the wilderness . You
should try this with your home area first so that you are sure you know how it
works, then with a different area you are also familiar with. You need to be
sure of yourself and your phone.
Tap
on that. A map of the world will open. (probably
it will already be centred on the area you re in now). You can navigate to any
area of the world you want to download. Google will tell you how much space on your phone the download will take up. Obviously
you need to have the available storage. Click ‘Download’ to transfer the map
selected to your phone. It will stay on your phone for a year. You have to
refresh or ‘Update’ it before it expires.
Now you can
go offline. So you can turn off your Wifi or data and be in flight mode and
still view the downloaded map. You just open the App, go to Offline Maps (as
you did before) and select the appropriate map you want the phone to display.
It will open. With ‘location’ selected, by pulling down the menu at the top of
the phone, the phone’s GPS will locate your position on the offline map (by
tapping on the round ‘location question mark’ icon below right. , so you should never be lost again. You can view the Map
as ‘default, satellite, Terrain’ etc by selecting from the menu icon on the op
right hand corner of the map. You can tell your phone to default its ‘Location’
service to the phone’s GPS (rather than towers etc if you are in a remote
locale. This will save some battery usage.
I use this
App all the time to navigate my way around the bush both in Victoria and in
distant countries. It works brilliantly when you have the map open (in offline
mode).
It will even
speak and tell you how to get ‘Home’ or to any described point just like Google
online maps which you probably use in your car.
Enjoy your
journey.
PS: Be sure
to close the App and turn off ‘Location’ and put your phone in ‘Flight Mode’
when you are not navigating as it will eat through your battery.
Please tell
your friends.
TIP : You need to be sure that you have opened all
the bits (they are technically called ’tiles) of the map you want before you
download it then after you have downloaded it you need to check
(offline) that it is all there in the detail you want and need before you head off into the wilds. It takes a bit of practice.
26/10/2019: The Welfare Industrial Complex - Where does
the money go? We are spending upwards of A$100,000 eg per ‘aboriginal’
person. ‘President Nixon proposed that welfare programs be replaced by a
guaranteed income in the form of a “negative income tax.” His idea was to
eliminate the middlemen and women–social workers, among others–and simply give
the money to poor people. For obvious reasons, Nixon’s idea went nowhere’. https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/10/the-welfare-industrial-complex.php
26/10/2019: 39 people found dead in freezer truck – and
not one of them on my list! Obviously the folk who did this had been doing
so on an industrial scale for a while. 35,000 pounds was paid by just one of
the deceased for a ‘quick’ trip from Belgium to the UK. That’s nearly A$ 2 million per lorry load! What people won’t do for that
sort of profit! Obviously too the truck driver knew what his load was or he
would just have delivered the sealed container instead of stopping and opening
it. You really have to admire Scott even more for having stopped the boats!
26/10/2019: Stopped: ‘You have to admire someone who takes his own pulse and pronounces
himself dead. Now that’s cool’ http://bytesdaily.blogspot.com/2012/03/last-words-joseph-henry-green.html?m=1
25/10/2019: This has gone too far: https://hotair.com/archives/ed-morrissey/2019/10/22/texas-jury-father-cant-stop-chemical-castration-gender-change-seven-year-old-son/
25/10/2019: BOM up to more fraud, 1952 deleted: http://joannenova.com.au/2019/10/the-bureau-of-met-disappears-very-hot-days-graph-showing-the-most-hot-days-in-1952/
25/10/2019: ‘Maybe their (two) honours on the Victorian
appeal court should have a look and either show that Keith is indeed mistaken
or reconvene and reverse their verdict’ (Peter Smith). Keith Winschuttle’s
timeline of the Pell case is a wonderful exercise in formal logic. It is indeed
inconceivable that Pell rushed back from the entrance to the sacristy and then
rushed back (4 minutes taken out of eight available) to molest the two boys
(three minutes available) in a sacristy which multiple witnesses swear was ‘a
hive of activity’ at that time (and without anyone else seeing him do so - and
this despite witnesses who saw him remain out the front of the church all that
time – but ignored by the courts): https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2019/10/pells-new-appeal-and-this-hiatus-this-gp/
24/10/2019: Cooking for Two: My wife, Della and I
used to carry two complete cook sets but we have shrunk that down a bit. Mostly
we carried two pots because it simplified heating water for a shower a sponge bath
Another
reason we carried two cook sets were in case we became separated in some accident
or disaster each would still be able to cook his/her own food. For the same
reason we used to have two shelters, a fly and a poncho for example and two
satellite communicators ( a phone and a messenger).
We think it
is essential to have two utensils (spoons/sporks, two cups and two receptacles
for eating out of. The first two were easy enough to just double up on but we
have done some experimenting with the dish/plate. Quite a bit of shopping went
in to getting one which came in at an acceptable weight.
These are the
best three we have come up with. The aluminium one on the left is a plate which
came in a cookset I bought back in the early 1960’s and which I rescued from
one of my hunting camps recently (See: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/07/30/the-seventieth-birthday-platypus/
So the
(Della) addition to my cook set now weighs 8 grams for the spoon/spork the Wildo cup 15 grams for the
bowl. My pack weight is up 48 grams but hers is down around a quarter of a
kilo.
I should
mention that I have also started to carry an ultralight titanium pot lid (13
grams) to use as a stable base for my burner. It is much better (and safer)
than a spilled meal, and handy for doing some food preparation on too if you
need to. It is from Trail Designs, the Evernew Multi Dish Vargo’s wonderful mug I have talked about before
See
Also:
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/01/26/cookset-woes/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/05/22/the-egg-ring-ultralight-wood-burner-stove/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/06/03/ultralight-cutlery/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/10/20/ultralight-folding-coffee-cup/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/05/23/bathtime-on-the-trail-the-one-gram-platypus-shower/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/08/17/the-apc-and-the-sponge-bath/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2015/11/20/ultralight-personal-hygiene/
23/10/2019: 'Fleabag' is the funnest thing I have seen
in years , probably since 'Fawlty Towers': https://iview.abc.net.au/show/fleabag
23/10/2019: Whatever it is I'm against it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHash5takWU
20/10/2019: Light from Heat: Although they are not
(at present) ultralight, I really like the concepts behind these wonderful
lamps. Lumir-k: Cooking oil fueled LED lamp Lumir-C Candle Powered Led lamp
Lumir C:
Lumir K:
This is a
similar concept, power from heat: https://drop.com/buy/biolite-campstove-bundle#overview https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2015/07/20/power-from-heat/
PS: You
should be able to make this system work with a Peltier on a chimney as in: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/05/29/tim-tinker/
20/10/2019: Ultralight Folding Coffee Cup: This cup
has been officially classified as a work of art in its home country, Sweden –
which it certainly is. It is a folding coffee cup which folds down to
just 1″ (2.5cm) high but it weighs just 25 gram (which is well-nigh
impossible to beat for hiking). It holds 237 mls just shy of a ‘regular’ cupful
(250 mls) If this is a bit small for you it does have a ‘big brother’ (or
sister) which holds nearly two cups full (591 mls = 46 grams). It costs less than A$5 Comes
in a variety of colours. I liked this one = desert. Wildo also make many
other useful hiking utensils. You should take a look at their range
It would make
a great companion piece to those showcased in my last two posts: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/10/19/best-coffee-on-the-trail/ https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/10/19/most-beautiful-ultralight-windscreen/
And of course
you need something to boil the water in such as https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/01/26/cookset-woes/ https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/09/18/ultralight-cookpot/
20/10/2019: Best Coffee on the Trail: While you are
over at Tier Gear https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/09/29/the-ultralight-barista/ Wildo’s famous 24 gram folding cups
Available in Polypropylene at Tier Gear
Over at
Munieq it also comes in Stainless Steel or Titanium (and in two sizes: 1 1/2
and 3/1/2 cups) Titanium is heavier (16 grams) a mere nothiong if you have a
fetish for this remarkable metal!
20/10/2019: Most Beautiful Ultralight Windscreen:
This brilliant 14 gram windscreen by Munieq of Japan (and available at Tier Gear Tasmania here
‘Flame
visible ultra light outdoor stove windscreen and pot stand from Munieq in
Japan.
Micro meshed
0.2mm thin stainless steel sheet.
Assembles in
a cylindrical shape
Alcohol stove
or solid fuel compatible
Only 14g
Can be stacked in a mug or cup.
Multiple
connect system – connect two for bigger pots or stoves
Single
Diameter: 62mm x H:67mm for alcohol stove with
diameter smaller than 55mm
Double
Diameter:124 x H:67mm for alcohol stove or solid fuel’
It looks like
it would also work well (and beautifully) with an ultralight esbit stove 11.5
grams.
See Also:
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/07/23/tinnys-gnomes/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2015/07/09/windscreens/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/09/22/ultralight-windscreen/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/06/27/clever-titanium-windscreen/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/09/21/ultralight-esbit-stove/
18/10/2019: Take that Erdogan: Trump says it as it is: https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2019/10/president-trumps-letter-to-turkeys-president-erdogan.html
18/10/2019: Well past time we took back the Bush from
the pollies and the activists. Perhaps we should secede from Australia: https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2019/10/109925/
18/10/2019: Folks in London know how to deal with
Extinction rebellion demagogues. Treating them as ‘speed bump’s seems spot
on: http://joannenova.com.au/2019/10/furious-commuters-drag-extinction-rebellion-protestors-off-train/
17/10/2019: Floods in the midst of drought – how the
bureaucrats are destroying Australia: https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2019/10/scandal-murray-river-water-overflows-as-nsw-farms-go-bone-dry.html
17/10/2019: Does Trieste have the solution to
homelessness: https://nypost.com/2019/10/14/the-right-way-to-handle-homeless-mental-illness/
17/10/2019: We would have had faster internet without
the NBN. Who knew? Hats off to socialism: https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2019/10/telstra-chairman-australia-would-have-been-much-better-off-without-the-ruddconroyturnbull-nbn.html
16/10/2019:
16/10/2019: Year Zero and The End of History: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/will-of-the-people-be-damned-as-the-virtuous-elite-browbeats-all/news-story/d62918e475b3c6aa2505d908d002807c?fbclid=IwAR1UxET2edgz9V_p_rqZ7X-v0djeLQoBm_qpi36JF4HN6b8lfkcdSSc3F5U
16/10/2019: We must oppose this new apartheid: https://www.spectator.com.au/2019/10/brown-study-144/
12/10/2019:
12/10/2019: Flocking to climb Ayer’s Rock for the last
time (What a crock) – how many tourists will come when it closes: https://www.news.com.au/travel/australian-holidays/northern-territory/australians-flock-to-climb-uluru-ahead-of-climbing-ban-on-october-26/news-story/7102d5778e8c2b57c6ed5a12dc2acbef
12/10/2019:
11/10/2019: A Radio Controlled Paper Aeroplane: (from
US$49 – Oct 2019) https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/393053146/powerup-40-smartphone-controlled-paper-airplane/?utm_content=TRS_82&utm_term=e2337218-6860-47a1-8369-e3ed1b20ecc0&utm_campaign=TRS&utm_source=TRS_82&utm_medium=FB
11/10/2019: 120 years of Chicken Little: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/07/29/a-brief-history-of-climate-panic-and-crisis-both-warming-and-cooling/
11/10/2019: ‘The Industrial Decalogue’ by William J. H. Boetcker from 1916: (BTW: I particularly like
the tenth)
‘You cannot
bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
10/10/2019: Proven reserves in the Marcellus shale gas
deposits in the US have gone from 2 trillion (barrels) to 214 trillion in just
20 years. The US is now energy independent thanks to new (fracking)
technology. Where is Australia in this energy revolution: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/10/08/usgs-marcellus-utica-recoverable-natural-gas-resource-doubled-since-2012/
09/10/2019: Extinction Rebellion = Dictatorship, eg:
Instead of an elected government we
should be ruled by a ‘Citizen’s Assembly’: https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2019/10/climate-clowns-extinction-rebellion-lists-their-demands-along-with-warning-of-their-latest-stunt.html
09/10/2019: ‘Everyone knows’ that the Arctic sea ice
extent was much less c 1930, but satellite photography also shows it less than
today in the 1970’s. Who knew? Of course, the Vikings used the North-West
passage through the Arctic for five hundred years during the Medieval Warm
Period (they always sailed East to and from Greenland) – the Passage is only
accessible to icebreakers today! http://joannenova.com.au/2019/09/how-to-create-panic-by-cherry-picking-the-start-date-lessons-from-noaa-and-nasa/ No trend in sea ice data: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/09/30/water-behaving-badly/
06/10/2019: More perils of post-modernism:
Anthropologists behaving badly: https://quillette.com/2019/10/05/the-dangerous-life-of-an-anthropologist/
06/10/2019: New hypersonic engine poised to cut
London-Sydney flight times to just four hours by 2030s: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/technology/new-hypersonic-engine-poised-to-cut-london-sydney-flight-times-to-just-four-hours-by-2030s/ar-AAHNcMR?li=BBoPRmx
06/10/2019: More good news: Half of people now survive
advanced melanoma (compared with less then 5% 10 years ago): https://www.bbc.com/news/health-49853878
05/10/2019: Treasury (and the Reserve Bank) should be sacked. They haven’t a clue.
Seems like all they want to do is bankrupt workers and savers: http://catallaxyfiles.com/2019/10/03/classical-inflation/
05/10/2019: What comes after transgender? Transabling
– the deliberate creation of ‘disabled’ individuals who seek eg to be blinded
or paralysed: https://spectator.org/what-comes-after-transgender/
05/10/2019: Cannibalism for climate change? Of
course if you have already advocated murdering 2/3rds of humanity as Greens
have, it is a simple step really: http://joannenova.com.au/2019/09/cannibal-for-the-planet-save-the-world-eat-human-flesh/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/09/05/now-this-is-legitimate-graph/?noredirect=on
As in so many
things Jonathan Swift was a forerunner. Here’s his Modest Proposal
‘I have
reckoned upon a medium, that a child just born will weigh 12 pounds, and in a
solar year, if tolerably nursed, encreaseth to 28 pounds.
I grant this
food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper
for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to
have the best title to the children.
Infant’s
flesh will be in season throughout the year, but more plentiful in March, and a
little before and after; for we are told by a grave author, an eminent French
physician, that fish being a prolifick dyet, there are more children born in
Roman Catholick countries about nine months after Lent, the markets will be
more glutted than usual, because the number of Popish infants, is at least
three to one in this kingdom, and therefore it will have one other collateral
advantage, by lessening the number of Papists among us.
I have
already computed the charge of nursing a beggar’s child (in which list I reckon
all cottagers, labourers, and four-fifths of the farmers) to be about two
shillings per annum, rags included; and I believe no gentleman would repine to
give ten shillings for the carcass of a good fat child, which, as I have said,
will make four dishes of excellent nutritive meat, when he hath only some
particular friend, or his own family to dine with him. Thus the squire will
learn to be a good landlord, and grow popular among his tenants, the mother
will have eight shillings neat profit, and be fit for work till she produces
another child.
Those who are
more thrifty (as I must confess the times require) may
flea the carcass; the skin of which, artificially dressed, will make admirable
gloves for ladies, and summer boots for fine gentlemen’.
03/10/2019: Canoeing the Macalister Again:
Yesterday was the first decent day of Spring: 28C and with enough water (1.73
at Licola – ideal) for a decent trip down from Basin Flat to Cheyne’s Bridge.
This is one of the few sections of river that you can canoe alone (as you can
readily hitch a lift back to your canoe after dropping it off at Basin Flat.
Aother is Hernes’s Spur to Eaglevale ont the Wonnagatta – but you will want a
pack raft for that (See: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/11/20/pack-rafting-the-remote-wonnangatta/
I made the
trip in 3 3/4 hours allowing a quarter hour for lunch and three small portages
(a small log jam and the two grade 3 rapids where I am loathe to come to grief
alone at my age – though I have shot them a hundred times in the past. The
first one just below Burgoyne’s Track still has a log stuck in it but is now
canoeable. The second one has a (hidden) rock in the chute which has had me out
a few times. Once I spilled my old Mauser 30:06 into the river there and it
stuck between two rocks right in the middle of the rapid. It was some trick to
recover it! You can try and imagine diving in this. (I was younger then!)
I was very
pleased with my sub 4 hour time. I was not racing though. I used to complete
the trip in under four hours when I was in my late
30’s so it is good to see that my upper body strength is still OK at 70. Now to
get that knee fixed!
The riuver
starts out sun-drenched, flat and wide. You just know you are going to enjoy
this trip!
Could have avoided this log jam by taking the left fork. Many people
have drowned side on to logs like this in shallow water. The canoe tips
upriver, fills with a tonne of water and you are trapped in it (particularly if
it is a kayak) with your nose two inches under the water! If in doubt, get out!
I always have an open canoe, either (the current Old Town Pack Angler)
Canadians or kayaks with holes which are open to below your knees (like the
Perception Minnow). Inflatables may be safer. We have a couple of Alpacka pack
rafts which we love.
A real Huck Finn day.
Lunch stop. There are dozens of delightful spots where you can
camp for the night. The river abounds with of deer, trout and red-fin
perch.
The only
thing I needed to make the day perfect were Della (away crafting) and the dogs
– need a second person to look after them through the car shuttle. There will
be another day!
It is a great
section of river for white water training purposes (for folks who already have
some experience in canoes). It begins with wide slow flat water and the
occasional pebble race, then gradually moves on to
Grade 2. Some of these are tricky and require you to develop navigation skills.
Then there are the two Grade 3 rapids (below Burgoyne’s) which can be shot
again and again on a lovely fine day such as yesterday was.
Things to
remember:
Stay in the
centre of the current.
Lean in
towards rocks (plastic boats – the reverse for inflatables).
Never get
side on to the current (or logs).
Beware of
overhangs, logs etc – stick to the slower edge of (such) bends.
If in doubt
get out and check first.
Don’t be
worried about portaging. Better to be a live mouse than a dead lion – better
still to be a live lion! If you hurt yourself badly alone in the wilderness you
will be sorry! Why you should not do silly things like take your shoes off in a
river or cross on logs! And never jump! Softly,
softly, catchee monkey.
I only took a
few snaps. You can view more detailed pics and instructions eg here:
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/10/18/silver-river-endless-sky/
See Also:
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2014/11/01/canoeing-the-macalister-river/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2014/11/02/canoeing-the-macalister/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2015/01/07/macalister-river/
02/10/2019: Mungo Man is lost to humanity again. (42,000 years old and 6 foot five inches!) What secrets might
yet have been learned from him: ‘ This skeleton rewrote history. It is one
of the best preserved ancient skeletons ever found. Scientists knew the man’s
age, about fifty, his height, 6’5″, and that he had arthritis in his
right elbow from throwing a spear.
His teeth
were worn to the pulp, and at a distinctive slant, perhaps from stripping reeds
for twine. Mungo Man remains had been laid out in what appeared to be a
ceremonial manner, his interlocking fingers placed over his groin, a fire
nearby, and red ocher sprinkled over the corpse.
This is one
of the oldest ceremonial burials ever found. Mungo Man is further significant
in that his age pushes back the length of time humans have lived in Australia,
and also pushes back the time period when modern humans left Africa’. https://www.pickeringpost.com/2019/10/01/12824/
02/10/2019: Goodbye Mr Chips; Whine:
02/10/2019: ‘Here are a bunch of charts that prove the
world is better than ever’ https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/here-are-a-bunch-of-charts-that-prove-the-world-is-better-than-ever/
02/10/2019: Mungo Man is lost to humanity again. (42,000 years old and 6 foot five inches!) What secrets might
yet have been learned from him: ‘ This skeleton rewrote history. It is one
of the best preserved ancient skeletons ever found. Scientists knew the man’s
age, about fifty, his height, 6’5″, and that he had arthritis in his
right elbow from throwing a spear.
His teeth
were worn to the pulp, and at a distinctive slant, perhaps from stripping reeds
for twine. Mungo Man remains had been laid out in what appeared to be a
ceremonial manner, his interlocking fingers placed over his groin, a fire
nearby, and red ocher sprinkled over the corpse.
This is one
of the oldest ceremonial burials ever found. Mungo Man is further significant
in that his age pushes back the length of time humans have lived in Australia,
and also pushes back the time period when modern humans left Africa’. https://www.pickeringpost.com/2019/10/01/12824/
01/10/2019: If you worry (too much) about getting your
meat from the supermarket: https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/09/hunting-feral-hogs-confronting-nature-death/
01/10/2019: ‘Imagine being forced to pay for your own
children to be brainwashed by an evil force that made you pay to give up your
own freedoms and property . Now
envision being forced at the point of a gun to make all of this violence, both
actual and implied– including the destruction of your own nation and
culture–come to pass. If you live in America, the U.K., Australia, Canada, or
New Zealand, you don’t really have to imagine or envision this, because you’ve
already done it for at least one generation’. https://www.pickeringpost.com/2019/09/30/finally-our-revolution-begins-trump-is-bringing-back-mr-chips/
01/10/2019:The Apocalypse Business: Doom is hard
to sell. People just want to be happy. It is even harder when it doesn’t happen
(as various evangelicals have found out). When your lived experience is that
the world just keeps getting better and better, it’s hard work staying gloomy.
You have to counter: Life expectancies rising. Incomes rising (everywhere). Air
and water cleaner. More forest cover. Cures for all sorts of things. Better
housing., transport, education etc. Meaningful employment. Cheap holidays. New
toys. Loving families…See: https://humanprogress.org/ylin
30/09/2019: In today’s Australian, Tess Livingstone
reports:
Two former
teachers who were metres from George Pell in Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral
at the time he has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two choir boys
support his application for leave to appeal to the High Court.
Jean Cornish
and Lil Sinozic, who worked in the cathedral in late 1996, said the application
lodged last week correctly cast doubt on whether he had the opportunity to
commit the offences for which he is serving three years and eight months in
jail.
Ms Cornish, a
former principal of Good Shepherd Catholic school , at
Gladstone Park in Melbourne’s northwest, which had about 1000 students, and Ms
Sinozic say they wish they had been called to give evidence…
…Victoria
Police knew about Ms Cornish’s role. Under cross-examination from Robert
Richter QC during the cardinal’s committal trial in March 2018, Monsignor
Portelli gave evidence that the door of Ms Cornish’s office, which looked out
on to the corridor of the sacristies, was “always open’’ on Sunday mornings. He
said Ms Cornish would be “patrolling the corridor’’ for tourists and others who
were not allowed in that part of the cathedral.
30/09/2019: I had altogether forgotten Greta’s role
model, Samantha Smith. Poor kid: https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/doomed-planet/2019/09/poor-ignorant-exploited-scoldilocks/
30/09/2019: This is about the most intelligent essay on
jurisprudence (or pretty much anything else) I have read in a long while.
‘It is obvious that where there is both a demand and a reward for expressions
of remorse, there will be a supply. Where such expressions are rewarded, it is
impossible to know whether or not they are sincere’ https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2019/09/the-regrettable-emphasis-on-remorse/
29/09/2019: Ultralight Waterproof Fabric: I am
after some light waterproof fabric to make one of my new 10 x 10 Tarps Pocket Poncho Tent my
Deer Hunter’s Tent
If I can
purchase it cheaply enough (eg for less than US$2/metre) I will then see
whether I can have some whipped up (eg by someone in Vietnam) into tents etc to
sell on the website…In the meantime I will source some eg from the suppliers
below, possibly using a shipping agent to save on freight.
I will make
the silpoly version of the 10 x 10 Tarp out of some of the .93/yd2 (above) or
the 1.06/yd2 4000PU (but I will certainly use this for a groundsheet – for its
extra waterproofness). As I will need 9 metres to build the tarp the material
for the tarp will weigh 284/326 grams. I expect the tie-outs and guys to add
less than another 50 grams to this, so I should have a very light tarp (approx
330 grams).
The Tyvek
model was made out of 1.85/yd2 Homewrap (ie 2.21oz/m2 or 63 gsm) so the Tyvek
must have weighed 568 grams of this, therefore my tie-outs and guys only added
44 grams.
I like the
‘Dark Olive’ colour. I made my Pocket Poncho and Siligloo
I will
probably make a simple 7′ x 4′ (2.1 x 1.2 m) groundsheet for it
(for Della and me) – as I say out of the 1.06/yd2 material. It should weigh 87
grams. 330 + 87 + approx 10 x 6 gram stakes = 447 grams for the complete tent/shelter!
Not bad for the size and flexibility this has. It can also be used as a hammock
tarp.
Because this
fabric has polyester on one side ( instead of
silnylon) you can tape or glue to it, so that I will finally be able to make my
inflatable bathtub groundsheet raham pillows use
for a start. If these do not work, the DIY Pack raft
I am going to
make a slightly bigger Poncho Tent (one which will accommodate taller people – and
in a pinch two; at least Dell and me!) I will use the .7 oz/yd2 fabric for
this. As the original weighed 185 grams (complete), I expect the new one
will weigh somewhere above .7 times this – somewhere between 130-150 grams
perhaps. Quite a spectacular weight for a completely enclosed shelter, (nearly)
big enough for two! Of course I have to add a space blanket or piece of polycro
to that (<50 grams) for an ultralight groundsheet
The Deer
Hunter’s Tent should come in at under 400 grams in the .93 oz/yd2 fabric,
including floor.It is a lovely little tent.I have really enjoyed the Tyvek
model. Time to finish it off in a lighter material.
Below are
some of the waterproof fabric products I am looking at:
1.4
oz/yd 47.46gsm 1 silpoly https://ripstopbytheroll.com/collections/waterproof-polyester-fabric/products/1-1-oz-silpoly-pu4000?variant=11054730177
1.3 oz/yd2
silnylon https://www.questoutfitters.com/Coated_2.htm#SILNYLON%201.1%20OZ%20RIPSTOP
72”
wide 1.3 oz/yd2 44gsm silpoly https://ripstopbytheroll.com/collections/waterproof-xl-wide-fabrics/products/1-1-oz-silpoly-xl?variant=35045467469
1.24 oz/yd2
42gsm silnylonhttps://ripstopbytheroll.com/collections/waterproof-nylon-fabric/products/1-1-oz-silnylon?variant=11168938177
1.06 oz/yd2
36 gsm: https://www.extremtextil.de/en/ripstop-nylon-tentfabric-silicone-coated-20den-36g-sqm.html?number=70777.SAND
1.07 oz/yd2
36.28gsm https://ripstopbytheroll.com/collections/waterproof-polyester-fabric/products/membrane-silpoly-pu4000?variant=10662993601
.93 oz/yd2
31.5gpm US$7.50/yd: https://ripstopbytheroll.com/collections/waterproof-polyester-fabric/products/membrane-silpoly?variant=21841469185
.7 oz: http://rockywoods.com/7D-Ultralight-Coated-Ripstop-Nylon-Fabric
.51oz/yd2
17.29gsm cuben https://ripstopbytheroll.com/products/0-51-oz-dyneema-composite-fabric-ct1e-08?variant=1030734849
See Also:
10 by 10 Tarp Update
The Pocket Poncho Tent
The Deer Hunter’s Tent:
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/11/22/ultralight-ground-sheet/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/02/25/inflatable-bathtub-groundsheet/
29/09/2019: Don’t the Left want to know whether Biden is a crook? https://www.scottadamssays.com/2019/09/27/everything-the-press-gets-wrong-about-the-ukraine-call/
29/09/2019: Declaring a ‘climate emergency’ is a ‘get
out of gaol free’ card to break the law: http://joannenova.com.au/2019/09/the-unseen-danger-of-declaring-fake-climate-emergencies/
29/09/2019: Cut James Cook’s funding. Who knew a
vice chancellor was paid a million bucks to spend two million bucks to suppress
free speech? This is not what a university should be about. Dam Tehan should
stop their funding until they stop wasting money - both on this legal nonsense
and on paying VCs three times more than the Prime Minister: http://joannenova.com.au/2019/09/jcu-appeals-ridd-decision-james-cook-uni-vows-to-waste-more-funds-in-quest-to-stamp-out-opinions/
28/09/2019: Choose a good death: https://quillette.com/2019/07/28/choosing-a-good-death/
28/09/2019: If the world’s ending
in 12 years, why even go to college? ‘All’s for the best in the best of all
possible worlds’ (Liebnitz, Candide) . https://www.thecollegefix.com/if-the-worlds-ending-in-12-years-why-even-go-to-college/
28/09/2019: Feels a lot safer with her in charge?
27/09/2019: Do you remember Koestler’s ‘Darkness at
Noon’ ? “The party cannot be wrong,” Rubashov says. “You and I can make
mistakes—but not the party.” Anyone who disagrees with the Party’s dictates is
on the wrong side of history, and so deserves to be eliminated’. The
eco-fascists want the dictatorship of the proletariat, the secret police and
the gulags and the mass murder back. They will not stop until they achieve it.
Do not give an inch! https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/30/the-desperate-plight-behind-darkness-at-noon
27/09/2019: Two great posts over at Catallaxy: http://catallaxyfiles.com/2019/09/26/epistemic-humility/
Fibre to the home for $20.
100% renewable energy.
Increased taxes
to fund increased government spending will increase economic growth.
Perpetual
economic growth requires the government sector growing faster than the private
sector.
Government
spending can fix everything and anything can be fixed with just a few more
billion tax payer dollars.
Perpetual and
large immigration can fix every social and economy ill’. & http://catallaxyfiles.com/2019/09/26/free-speech-as-an-economic-principle/
27/09/2019: Greta is the eco-terrorist's human shield.
So true. We must not argue back or vilify someone who is clearly seriously
deranged and ‘vulnerable’ or we will seem to be the villains. Therefore we must
simply submit:
http://joannenova.com.au/2019/09/eco-worriers-new-strategy-use-greta-as-a-human-shield-against-debate/
However, here is A Line-By-Line Response to Greta Thunberg’s UN Speech:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/09/24/a-line-by-line-response-to-greta-thunbergs-un-speech/
& https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/09/20/ok-climate-kids-go-on-strike-but-not-till-youve-done-this-quiz/
26/09/2019: No Climate Emergency - 500 eminent climate
scientists present declaration to the UN:
- and the CV
of just one of the 500: https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2019/09/this-is-the-cv-of-just-one-of-500-scientists-whove-today-told-the-un-there-is-no-climate-emergency.html
26/09/2019: The Reserve Bank (run by Keynesians) looks
set to reduce interest rates again (to punish savers yet again - and reward
spendthrifts). This is just the opposite of what classical economics
suggests is the right decision. Has Keynesian ‘pump-priming’ ever worked? In
all the countries where it has been tried (think Japan for the last 30 years
for example) and at all times it has been an abject failure. It continues only
because of the Marxists’ success at ‘marching through the institutions’ (https://www.conservapedia.com/Long_march_through_the_institutions
26/09/2019: Inventions we use every day that were
actually created for space exploration: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/07/08/space-race-inventions-we-use-every-day-were-created-for-space-exploration/39580591/?fbclid=IwAR17mR37fwKbs0y8huCSbG6QdFqet7xeMd_-1oId9rxvckKD5wgIerZdYqw
25/09/2019: Bayesian Reasoning for Intelligent People: https://wiki.santafe.edu/images/2/2e/Bayesian-Reasoning-for-Intelligent-People-DeDeo.pdf
25/09/2019: The next ‘climate emergency’ will be
‘global cooling’ – and a warming photosynthesis in C3 crops which sustain
the world’s population would cease completely at just below ‘pre-industrial’
levels of CO2 (150ppm): https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/09/01/the-next-great-extinction-event-will-not-be-global-warming-it-will-be-global-cooling/
25/09/2019: Andrew Bolt nails the Grunberg
‘phenomenon’: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/blogs/andrew-bolt/child-abuse-shame-on-the-fearmongers-who-made-greta-thunberg-cry/news-story/194471d03b32b9c99cfedd40c173c666
24/09/2019: The Valley of the Deer: I guess every
hunter dreams of some secluded valley where it feels like you are the first
person to have ever trod – at least where the deer are as plentiful and tame as
rabbits and there is no competition from other hunters. Where you can arrive at
your camp after a couple of day’s hard slog getting in and notice at once that
no-one else had been there. For years this was ‘my’ such valley deep in the
Gippsland mountains . I guess it is a wonder I had it
for so long undisturbed.
But, one
should be very careful who you tell about such a magical spot. And perhaps even
more careful of making a path in which is easier for you to follow without
stooping with a pack on. I confess my bad back has made me guilty over the
years of breaking a branch off here and there so that I can smoothly thread my
way through the tall timber.
Other sharp
eyes are ever looking out for such give-a ways, so that one day I arrived to
find my usual pile of wood burned (I always leave a pile against a late
arrival), rubbish strewn everywhere, bones left near camp. Toilet paper! Some
people really annoy me. Can’t they carry a 12 gram trowel
My new spot
is way down that very steep hill. Nearly a kilometre vertically in only about
the same distance horizontally! There are very few ways through the tangle of
precipices. I want to hunt the other side of the valley, and you can’t get to
it from the other side – or from this side without a pack raft.
There I go
again leaving signs to show me the cleft in the rocks where I can clamber down.
At 70 I don’t think I will have many more years I can make it there and back
again anyway really.
I have always
chosen steep country (because others eschew it), but this country is steep by
even my (young) standards, and a hard fall at my age could be very nasty
indeed! Still, I think I would rather someone find my beached bones underneath
some grass tree on a steep mountainside somewhere in the Victorian mountains
than die in bed incontinent and incoherent.
Stupidly (I
know) I have broken off the odd branch to ease my passage. This time I found my
way down in half the time because of it, and annoyingly where I have been
others are bound to follow. This (along the river) stood out to me like a
beacon – because I did not carry a machete either time. It could have been
canoeists. I will hope so. No other sign of hunters.
This time
Della could not come and I did not get bluffed out (like last time
At least
no-one else had come along and shared our precarious camping spot (below) since
I was there before. Does Spot remember? Of course he does.
I carried this little raft now US$110 – Sept 2019 this half kg paddle 282 gram life vest https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/01/02/new-diy-pack-raft/
There were a
couple of swans at camp to greet me – the first I have ever seen on a
white-water river. Migrating perhaps?
I set up camp
for the night. My new tarp arrangement (610 grams) needed no pegs or a pole to
erect. Spot and I were as snug as bugs in there,
and so cosy with that delicious warm fire out the front.
Right behind
my camp was this beautiful brachychiton – with pittosporum understory. There
are some beautiful sights in the Victorian bush. These Brachychitons are
hundreds of kilometres from where they are supposed to grow. Don’t they know? Climate change perhaps? Get real. I have had a rare enough
resident of the Northern territory travel all the way to my back fence to die
Next morning
all we had to do was paddle across to where that creek joined the main river. Over there. Downstream of the confluence the creek had
changed its course over the years creating a flat nearly a
kilometre long and as much as 300 metres wide. Further up that very long
remote creek are other magnificent flats – to be explored on a later trip. As I
mentioned it is just about impossible to access from the other side of the
river.
We are across
the river and looking back (upstream) at our tent amongst the manuka opposite.
I can just make it out – but I know where it is. You would never spot it from
the river. I like to have my camp invisible from the river, as you never know
what kinds of two-legged snakes will came along and maybe even steal your
paddle (as happened to me once!) I had found a way down between the two cliffs
centre. As you can see it is extremely steep, such that you can only just stand
up on it.
The view downstream from the same spot. That ridge
looks much better and leads to the other end of the flat (and another flat
downstream). I will explore it on a future trip. I could not find where the
ridge started at the top on this trip. You can get around that vast precipice
near the top (I think), but there may be others!
This shot
shows better just how far this flat extends along the river.
There is lots
of grass to eat. If I was sheep farming there I would ‘carry’ about 3-4 ewes
per acre – and this flat is at least a couple of hundred acres! A sambar deer
eats 2-3 times what a mature ewe needs, but you get the point. There are lots
of deer here. Hundreds!
It is a very
beautiful creek – and has trout.
With its own
small grassy flats
Well grazed
pasture on the main flat here.
And here.
A high traffic area.
Along the
back of the flat is a string of billabongs, each containing many wallows as in
the foreground. I was able to see this from Google
Earth – and the deer tracks going to and from them. Spot sees something at the
far right end of the photo.
He knows not
to go for these fellows. We have blue tongue lizards in the garden he was
trained not to chase, and then moved on to not chasing red-bellied black snakes
(as shown here). I have not trained him not to chase sambar deer – quite the
reverse. Hence the shortage of photos of deer. He sees
them off before I notice them usually – but we are here to both have fun! And I
prefer eating lamb anyway. My sheep farmer prejudices showing there.
The
billabongs are quite extensive – and beautiful.
Stretching downstream underneath that ridge. I naturally
expected that the deer would be bedded along the ridge and not on the flat
itself, but I was quite wrong about that. The deer here are quite undisturbed
and have no reason not to be lazy. Spot and I may give them reason in the
future to be a bit more wary!
Lots of ‘preaching trees’ along the flat. Lots of
thrashing, rubs etc. Lots of stags hereabouts.
This is the
bottom end of the flat looking across at another flat downriver. If I can get down the gentler ridge (right) to here this will make
a better base and camp. It is also easier and closer to get across the
river here. There is a good screen of bushes opposite behind which I can set up
a camp.
That is the
same precipice seen from the bottom of the flat. As you can see there is a way
down the ridge behind it. There may be other unseen precipices as one ascends. One foot after another and I shall find out in the future.
And where are
the deer, you ask. The flat positively reeked of deer. I have never smelled
such a strong scent of many deer except where there is a plague of red deer in
the leatherwood fringes of the snowgrass tops in Fiordland (where I go sometimes
to hunt moose
A dozen times
Spot put up groups of deer who leapt up, honked at him and crashed off – with
him yapping in pursuit. No time to get a photo. Precious
little time to even get off a shot – had I wanted to anyway. I will need
to clear a few walking trails though the flat so that I can creep along without
stooping under thick vegetation or making a noise if I want to shoot any. The
grassy clearings here and there and wallows would be fine places for ambush
hunting (if you did not have a dog with you!) but which I prefer not to do.
Unsporting for the deer I feel. As I said earlier I prefer lamb anyway. And i
really prefer to just see the deer nowadays. I would not enjoy hauling bits of
them up those steep ridges anyway. Perhaps if i make a permanent camp down here
– a drum with an Intex , paddle shelter
The only
other thing to report was that as I was driving down the precipitous 4WD track
my rear brakes let go. I had spat out a brake pad as one of the pistons in the
caliper had seized. You should never drive in such a manner that you cannot
stop without brakes. I had a long drive back (over 50 km) without any other
brakes than the hand brake (and engine) to somewhere my lovely Della could
bring me a spare part to fix it. 50 years yet she never ceases to delight me!
See Also:
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/05/23/the-ultimate-hunting-trip/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2018/03/05/the-lure-of-the-moose/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/09/24/10-by-10-tarp-update/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2011/12/15/faux-packraft-vs-alpacka-raft/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/09/04/the-intex-double-paddle/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/09/06/two-great-poly-tarp-configurations/
24/09/2019: The Bradfield Scheme – let’s just get on
and build it: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/sep/24/nsw-secretly-exploring-long-dismissed-plan-to-turn-coastal-rivers-inland
24/09/2019: What is the ‘normal CO2 level for planet
earth and how can we make it so (again)? Not the miserable 3-400 ppm we
have today. Around 20,000 ppm is the answer. That level applied for more than a
billion years when life was enormously more abundant than it is today (the
dinosaur era for example). We now live on an earth where life has been close to
disappearing altogether for the last few million years (during all those ice ages)
due to a shortage of CO2. It got so low during the Little Ice Age (only a
couple of centuries back) that C3 plants (think grain crops) were in danger of
disappearing. More than a third of the populations of the Scandinavian
countries (and elsewhere) perished from starvation – too cold and not enough
CO2 for crops to thrive. Just adding the 50 or so ppm we (may) have added since
WW2 (but most of it was natural caused probably by outgassing following the
Medieval Warm Period) has increased the total covered by forest by twice the
area of the USA or Australia in just the last 25 years according to NASA
photography (https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/carbon-dioxide-fertilization-greening-earth
24/09/2019: 10 by 10 Tarp Update: I sewed the
tie-outs onto the Tyvek tarp on Friday night and headed up the bush to give it
a try-out on Saturday morning. Completed it weighed 610 grams. An acceptable weight for such a commodious and versatile shelter.
In silnylon it would weigh under 350 grams.
To reiterate
(just in case you have not read my earlier post
I am using a
piece of Polycro here as a ground sheet under 500 grams!
You can also
pitch the tarp as a simple floorless diagonal which will span 14 feet and have
edge cover of 10′ either pegged out from from a pole or tree to the
ground (as shown) or as hammock tarps between two trees. Or it can be pitched
as a completely enclosed hammock shelter spanning 10′). If you are using
it as an open shelter pitched much as above except from the corners instead of
half way along the sides (as shown) it will accommodate several people. I would
use a ridge pole with such a span. (You can get away without one to 10′).
Anyway plenty of room for me and Spot (who is hiding under my sleeping
bag).
Spot has come
along simply to smell the flowers.
Looks good
down (a very steep kilometre vertically) by the river, doesn’t it?
You don’t
need to bring pegs or a pole. The bush is full of sticks which can be used
instead. A foot long forked stick like this will give the tent better purchase
especially in sand than any bought peg anyway.
And it is a
simple matter to tie the shelter to a tall stick.
It always
looks even better with a fire out the front I think.
Especially at night.
See Also:
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/09/06/two-great-poly-tarp-configurations/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/11/22/ultralight-ground-sheet/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2019/09/07/60-diy-ultralight-hiker-ideas/
20/09/2019: A Magical Day: (Della) ‘yesterday
revisiting Tongue Point and Fairy Cove at Wilson’s Promontory with friends. The
beautiful spring weather, the good company and the 8 km walk were all very
pleasant indeed, and we were warmly welcomed by the appearance of some winged
luncheon guests at Fairy Cove (not actual fairies) as well as a killer whale
surfacing just below the cliffs of Tongue Point’.
20/09/2019: So much stupider than the ‘great
generation’ . When Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, our parents understood
that they would have to see the course of that war until Hitler and Nazism were
utterly defeated, no matter the cost - and it was horrific. When Islamists
destroyed the Twin Towers George W Bush understood that this was the beginning
of a war which might last generations. Duh! Yet in the ensuing 17 years the
West has admitted a huge cohort of Fifth Columnists and bent over backwards to ‘appease’ the enemy (Islam) instead of
understanding that this war (The Fifth Crusade) would have to be pursued until
Islam was totally annihilated – or we were! France for example is gone. Looks
to me as if we are losing, and working very hard at doing so! Please try to
understand this: Islam is totally evil – far worse indeed than Nazism and even
communism. It will never give up its efforts to conquer, enslave and utterly
destroy us. There can be no appeasement, no let up in our struggle with it.
Instead we need to redouble our efforts!
20/09/2019: ‘Deconstruction’ is an ‘intellectual
phenomenon which ‘informs’ almost all Leftist ‘thought’ in this country
(and others). It is the ‘intellectual’ heir of Hegelianism and Marxism, and
ultimately traces its roots to Plato’s ‘sophists’ (Those whose task was ‘to
make the worst appear the better reason’ as Socrates puts it). It is in my view
the greatest evil of the modern age: its every intent is to invert everything,
to turn good into evil, evil into good & etc…to destroy every tradition, every established truth - and replace it
with its own perverted creeds. Every ‘issue’ it battens upon becomes weirdly
distorted. It attacks time-tested traditional views, describing them as the
‘orthodoxy’, shortening the phrase to the ‘doxy’, so as to conflate them with a
common word for a cheap prostitute, and thereby further debase them. It does
not take them on intellectually; it just seeks to bury those views as somehow
‘no longer fashionable’. For example: hunting has been seen as a good for the
majority of time and for the vast majority of people alive today or who have
ever lived. (You can substitute for the word, ‘hunting’ in the previous
sentence other long recognised ‘goods’: ‘marriage’, ‘honesty’, ‘thrift’,
‘honour’, ‘truth’, ‘patriotism’…you get the point!) Today, the
‘deconstructionists’ in the guise of ‘Greens’, ‘Animal Liberationists’,
‘vegetarians’, ‘Whole Earthers’…want us to perceive hunting as generally evil,
cruel, unnecessary, unwholesome, barbaric…It is a strange and monstrous
inversion of values. Most people who have ever lived have valued hunting
highly, not only the many wholesome skills involved but the ethos of providing
for oneself and one’s family, independence, oneness with nature, the continuity
of a tradition and a sense of belonging in a tradition of one’s forebears.
16/09/2019: ‘We
will fight, we will win. Put the foetus in the bin’ Poorly chosen campaign
material. https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2019/09/we-will-fight-we-will-win-put-the-foetus-in-the-bin-pro-abortion-mob-in-sydney.html
15/09/2019: In the Dark All Cats Are Grey : http://www.drroyspencer.com/2019/09/on-the-different-shades-of-grey-block-illusion/
14/09/2019: ‘The Queensland bush fires are being
“exploited” and “preyed upon by the vultures” of the global warming movement …Back
in 2011, the Greens blamed man-made warming not for causing fires in
Queensland, but floods’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7C_2Z2DCS8
13/09/2019: Taking the ‘Ham’ out of ‘Hamburger’ is like
taking the ‘sand’ out of ‘sandwich’ What is it folks do not understand
about the word, ‘eponymous’ – the opposite of ‘anonymous’? All mice surely? : https://moonbattery.com/taking-the-ham-out-of-hamburger/
13/09/2019: No reason to go back and move your victims
yourself then: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-12/dead-bodies-move-while-decomposing-significant-find-for-police/11492330?fbclid=IwAR1cAS30gOvq4R8hJeI2KvguPW4cBSnQ2wF9nEE1nMgNyFhUSj1qqLvMPuY
13/09/2019: If Labor had to sack Dastyari (they did)
then the Libs need to sack Liu . Yes, Australian voters rightly expect their
politicians to be loyal to Australia.
12/09/2019: Happy 89th Clint: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=120&v=yc5AWImplfE
12/09/2019: What I Saw: Notes Made on September 11,
2001 from Brooklyn Heights: https://americandigest.org/wp/saw-notes-made-september-11-2001-brooklyn-heights/
12/09/2019: ‘In reality, there was a whopping 25 percent
decrease in the area burned (globally) from 2003 to 2019, according to NASA.
Between 2003 and 2015, the area burned in Africa declined by an area the size
of Texas (700,000 square kilometers or 270,000 square miles.https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2019/08/30/forget-the-hype-forest-fires-have-declined-25-since-2003-thanks-to-economic-growth/#1dae96fd163d
12/09/2019: ‘Skeptics think we should stop firestorms
by reducing fuel loads, and clearing firebreaks. Unskeptical scientists on
the other hand are talking about going vegan, swapping light globes, installing
windmills and photovoltaic panels and of course…. planting more trees. Oh the
dilemma? Should we stop fires with firebreaks or wave some solar panels?’ http://joannenova.com.au/2019/09/its-a-science-emergency-how-many-fires-can-australia-stop-with-solar-panels-and-windfarms/ Even Captain Cook noted many fires in
Eastern Australia in 1770 , long before the era of “global warming”
hysteria. ’ https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2019/09/viv-forbes-with-uncommon-common-sense-on-queensland-bushfires.html
11/09/2019: Not much chance of his reoffending – unlike
in Australia where the Pit Bull would be banned but the rapist would be free to
reoffend: https://www.news.com.au/world/south-america/man-castrated-by-pit-bull-terrier-after-mexico-city-gang-stripped-him-for-being-a-suspected-rapist/news-story/542009273624d5268b874e52c21d7d95
11/09/2019: People are always dragging out this old
chestnut. Don’t I think We (?) should share with 'The Disadvantaged’, or ‘The Unfortunate’. There are all sorts of words which conceal
an incipient theology. I might also call such folks ‘improvident’ but that
would reveal just the same assumption ie that it is not their fault, but (they)
are victims of some sort, as we would all be if we could not bear to ‘get off
our arses’. They could not be eg ‘lazy’, ‘spendthrift’, bone idle’, ‘undeserving’…could they? This fellow said to me the other
day, ‘Oh, I don’t mind sharing with such folk…’ I said to him, ‘Look mate, you
share your money with whomever you like, – as we all do (or don’t!). Go right
ahead! I would be interested to see your tax returns showing evidence of your
impressive charity though. Just don’t try to legislate to make me do the same’.
Unfortunately such folk do want to force us to do so. ‘Stand and deliver’ rings
out from every street corner from these eternal ‘Robin Hoods’, but when they
are stealing from the hard-working 50% to give to the indolent 50%, I rather
resent it. Especially as the recipients have often (over time) received rather
more without any effort on their behalf, for doing nothing - than I have from
my earnings, but they have just frittered it all away…
11/09/2019: Climate change is just a religion. There is
no science behind it at all. For example, ‘ We do not know the quantitative average amounts of absorbed sunlight and
emitted infrared energy across the Earth, either observationally or from first
physical principles, to the accuracy necessary to blame most recent warming on
humans rather than nature .’
http://www.drroyspencer.com/2019/09/the-faith-component-of-global-warming-predictions/ Pat Frank’s paper showing the complete
failure of ‘climate science is even more damning, ‘ In short, climate models
cannot predict future global air temperatures; not for one year and not for 100
years. Climate model air temperature projections are physically meaningless.
They say nothing at all about the impact of CO ₂ emissions, if any, on global air
temperatures…The unavoidable conclusion is that whatever impact CO ₂ emissions may have on the
climate cannot have been detected in the past and cannot be detected now.’https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/09/07/propagation-of-error-and-the-reliability-of-global-air-temperature-projections-mark-ii/
10/09/2019: John Finnis a more eminent jurist than any
of the judges in the Pell case forensically dissects the judgement: The
defence definitely proved that the crime could not have happened at the time
and place or perpetrator claimed (which was not for the defence to prove). The
prosecution failed to prove that there was no possibility of doubt that the
offence took place. In consequence this case is a monstrous miscarriage of
justice which I hope the High Court dismisses quickly: https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2019/09/where-the-pell-judgment-went-fatally-wrong/
10/09/2019: The Central England temperature record goes
right back to 1660 – and is also affected by the Urban Heat Island Effect,
but… https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2019/08/01/english-summer-failing-to-meet-alarmist-expectations-again/
10/09/2019: Tarantino’s new film sounds great, but the
prospect of having to put up with a zoo on a plane does not . Let me say
unequivocally, I do not want to share an airline seat with a horse or an
aardvark: https://nypost.com/2019/09/04/wokerati-slams-of-once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-is-worse-than-mccarthyism/
09/09/2019: 60 DIY Ultralight Hiker Ideas: It has
been quite a while (over two years) since I first posted this. Time for an update. There are now over 100 ‘ideas’ to try
out. Most will save you money or at least improve your outdoors experience;
nearly all of them are my own ‘inventions’. Hope you find something useful to
you.
99. Two Great Poly Tarp Configurations
98. The Intex Double Paddl e
97. A Hiking Bidet
96. Thermoplastics #101
95. A Wider Lighter DIY Sleeping Pad
94. Even More Free Stuff for Hiking
Seamless Tyvek Tipi
The Ultimate Camp Shoe
Extempore Hiking Poles
Embryo Wire
Stop Losing Your Pillow
More Free Stuff for Hiking
Free Stuff for Hiking
Best $5 Spent on Camping Ever
Fire Umbrella
DIY Dry Back Pack
How to Carry a Saw
Make Your Sleeping Pad Warmer
Whoopie Sling Guy Line Tensioner
Electric Drill Earth Auger
DIY Air Frame Pack
New Fancy Feast Stove
Budget Pack Mods
Self-Cleaning Pet Water Bowl
More Bird-Brained Things
Trees and Tree Guards
Ultralight Bathtub Floor
Convert a Car to a Camper for $50
Nightcore Tube Hat Clip
A Cure for Slippery Mats
The Siligloo
Simple Hammock Double Up
The Pocket Poncho Tent
Raincoat Shelter
Ultralight Hiking on a Budget
Ultralight Cups
Knee Pillow
Bathtub Groundsheet Chair
Ultralight Poncho Tent
Simple Hearing Aid Safety Clip
Fun With Sticky Tape – Mylar Poncho
A Ball of String and a Feed of Cray
Repurposing Camping Gear
More Fun With Sticky Tape – Mylar Vest
Fishing With Floss
Securing Hearing Aids
Four Gram Fishing Handlines
Hammock Side Insulation
An Open Shelter
4 Gram String Reverse Tripod
Linelock Tie Downs
Attaching Tie Downs to Your Pack
DIY Head Torches
Impregnable Gun Safe
Toughened Foam Flip Flop
The Ultralight Fisherman
Hand Line Fly Fishing
Cold Weather Booties
Pimping a Gorilla
Adding Down to a Sleeping Bag
Windscreens
How to Avoid Being Wet and Cold While Camping
World’s Lightest Tarp Clip
15 Gram Blue Foam Flip Flop
Tyvek Jack Russell Rain Coat – 13 Grams
Ultralight Trail Baker
Folding Staircase for Camper
11 Gram Rechargeable Head Torch
Enginesaver – Low Engine Water Alarm
Ultralight Glasses Case
Hole-less Poncho Shelter
The Ultralight Bush Chair
Pitching the Poncho – This May Save Your Life
Faux Packraft Vs Alpacka Raft
Fire Tent
Honey I Shrank the Tent
Tyvek Twin Fire Shelter
New Decagon-Octagon Igloo Tent
Home made Pack Raft
Poly Tent by the Ultralighthiker on the Cheap
DIY Hiking Desalinator
No Sew sandals
New Tyvek Forester Tent Design
Tray Top Camper
How to Light a Fire in the Wet
Catenary Curves
Bathtime on the Trail – the 1 Gram Platypus Shower
Ultralight Clothes Pegs
Tarp Bathtub Groundsheet
The Egg-Ring Ultralight Wood Burner Stove
Inflatable Bathtub Groundsheet
Tyvek Tent Designs
Tyvek Bivy
The Deer Hunter’s Tent
Tyvek Solo Fire Shelter
Ultralight Chair – Groundsheet
Mobile Phone Antenna
Trowel Peg
Some other
people’s great DIYs:
Tim Tinker
Transparent Tent Instructions
Brawny’s Tarptent
DIY Crampons
DIY PFD 114 Grams
The DIY Gunsmith
DIY Stun Gun
DIY Netless Hammock
DIY Side Burner Metho Stove
08/09/2019: The Rapid Raft: Cheap, light, quick,
simple and tough – and almost self-inflating. What’s not to like? Here are the
two most outstanding features.
Wonderful.
15″ x 5″
when deflated. 33″ x 72″ inflated. 3 lbs. Tubes 200 denier. Floor
400 denier. The nearest competition I guess is the Ultralight version of this
one: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/01/02/new-diy-pack-raft/ https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/04/23/klymit-packraft/
Winner Best
New Gear Outdoor Retailer Summer 2019: Buy now from A$365 (Sept 2019)
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/uncharted-rapid-raft-world-s-lightest-pack-raft#/
08/09/2019: Real Hope for Conservatism: If you have
been noting the recent events in Britain with bemusement, perhaps you should
pay more attention. Events there are
cataclysmic for the Left ! For far too long they have been winning the
‘march through the institutions’ even though if we had been ‘allowed’ real
referenda on any important issues the will of the people would have echoed
resoundingly. What we have had in Britain is a die-hard political class
essaying to thwart the will of the people, just as we have here. But no more!
One way or another there will be a Brexit. The people of Britain will wrest
control of their country (back- and Yes I do hate the explosion of superfluous
prepositions too, but this one seems necessary somehow) from faceless socialist
foreign bureaucrats and regain the chance to shape their own destinies (once
more – there I go again!) We need that process here as well. For far too long
conservatives have been of the ‘dog shit yoghurt’ type - as Delingpole has it,
bending over forwards to ‘admire’ the ‘golden rivet’ instead of standing up
resoundingly for what most of us actually believe in: far less government, the
supremacy of private property, free markets, personal responsibility and
self-reliance, the primacy of the family, the importance of social order,
national sovereignty and the defence of the realm, a truly independent
bureaucracy supervising what few public efforts we actually need, lower taxes,
liberty, free speech…’ Whatever legal and constitutional theory has said
throughout the ages – often in a desperate attempt to catch up with events – it
is popular consent that has always conferred legitimacy, whether symbolically
(as in the acclamation of monarchs at their coronation) or really, as in the
landmark upheavals of our history…It has
never been legitimate for parliament to overrule the popular will’ . Read
Delingpole’s articles. Do: https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/09/06/boris-has-drained-the-swamp-saved-the-conservatives/ https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/09/04/delingpole-brexiteers-are-on-the-right-side-of-history/ http://www.aei.org/publication/shock-and-awe-the-financial-times-meets-the-real-jeremy-corbyn/ https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/joe-hildebrand-the-one-thing-everybody-missed-in-brexit-chaos/news-story/4e62a5b15189e4dbd4693eab4dc0f03e
08/09/2019: This is how crooked the Labor Party is: https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2019/09/lying-for-labors-pretty-profitable-nsw-boss-lady-kaila-in-line-for-305k-payout.html
08/09/2019: Hundreds of
Professors of Climate Science say there is no climate emergency: https://www.newsmax.com/larrybell/eu-ipcc-carbon/2019/08/19/id/929031/ & Dr. Roy W. Spencer of the University of
Alabama in Huntsville: ‘There is no climate crisis. Even if all the warming we’ve
seen in any observational dataset is due to increasing CO2 (carbon dioxide),
which I don’t believe it is, it’s probably too small for any person to feel in
their lifetime.’ https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/09/07/there-is-no-climate-emergency/
07/09/2019: Harbingers of Spring at Jeeralang Junction:
‘Snapped late yesterday as the cold front approached!’
(Della)
In other
developments the Ring-Tailed Possum I thought a victim to Brer Fox has
moved his house from the plum tree (too wet) to a Macadamia behind it:
07/09/2019: Still only two swallows. They are now
over a fortnight late, but I am heartened by this old post: 13/12/2016: Swallow
Update: The missing birds have at last returned. them back though! Welcome home for the summer little guys!
07/09/2019: One fewer monster: Mugabe is gone, but
how many went with him? Many thousands at least. I
know our gentle old friend Andrew McEwen-Coplans was one of them. I would hope
that Mugabe would burn in Hell!
07/09/2019: Australia shows no warming since 1876.
These are the real BOM records: https://realclimatescience.com/2019/09/australia-shows-no-warming-since-1876/
06/09/2019: Two Great Poly Tarp Configurations: I
know most people can’t sew (and probably don’t have much money either) so I
suggest either of these two simple poly tarp ‘hacks’ for en excellent dry
shelter (which you can also enjoy a fire out front with). They both also feature
‘stand-up’ room (at least if you are shorter than 6′) which I think is so
much more comfortable than crawling around on your hands and knees on wet
ground entering and exiting (eg to put another log on the fire).
Both can be
closed in case rain decides to come from every direction at once. I recommend
(if you can sew) sewing gross-grain tie-outs to them and cutting off any excess
material. You don’t need the hems or useless grommets for example (and
especially if they have rope in them as some do). If you can’t sew I suggest
you buy some tarp clips. These ones are
really good and light I find the smallest ones fine. You may even make a kayak
The 8 by 8: This can be made from a 12 ‘by 12′ tarp. When I began this post I
own that I intended to dig out a 12′ x 12’ model I used to use for years
while waiting for hounds to wander back in from sambar deer hunting. It i s hidden in the shed somewhere. I rediscovered a couple
of them I had made in my drums along the river where I went recently and spent a couple of delightful nights camped in them – I only regret I
did not take any photos!
Well, I did
find one:
While we were
waiting for hounds, cooking our sausages etc (Brett Irving shows how) I would set it up like this (in the rain). When I
went to bed, I would drop it down, fold the back flaps under to make a ground
sheet and bring the front ‘wings’ across a bit so I stayed dry all night. Of
course I could also keep the fire going so I stayed toasty warm. Half a dozen
could shelter safely under it during our ‘cook-up’ at day’s end.
As it
eventuated I was keen enough to try out a smaller model (& in Tyvek!) that
I went ahead and made it instead of continuing my search through the labyrinth
of the shed:
This diagram
below is for the smaller one therefore and is in feet but I actually cut the
tarp out of a 3 metre roll of Tyvek, so the intermediate points are actually
1.5 metres. If you are making the 8′ x 8′ above instead you will
begin with approximately a 12′ x 12′ tarp. Halving the sides will
give you a 8′ by 8′ diamond in the middle
with 12′ diagonals and the flaps will be approx 6′ long. The size
below is likely all you will need – unless you have lots of friends!
Once I used
to carry just a 7′ by 7′ nylon tarp (and my raincoat). I had a few
uneasy rainy nights when the wind wanted to shift a bit, but I never got wet. I
even used it quite successfully as a hammock tarp many times – and again never
got wet. You can get too excitable about size and ‘making sure’. Most nights it
doesn’t rain anyway – and how often do you go camping when it is going to?
This 10 x 10
tarp can also be pitched as a hammock tarp (and with closed ends on both
sides!) It will definitely keep you dry under the most extreme conditions. I
may add a couple of extra pieces of Tyvek to the floor (with some Tyvek sticky
tape) instead of the 6 x 4′ blue poly tarp you see in the pictures below
– or I will use a piece of Polycro instead. I will post the dimensions of the
floor pieces when I have cut them out.
And here it
is:
There will be
more tie-outs.
The front
flaps can be configured in a variety of ways depending on conditions. I have
only altered one side in the photos. I will take it down (tonight?) and sew all
the tie-outs on as I am intending a (return) trip to a new spot fire umbrella ultralight saw A$40 Intex raft paddle out, and on future
trips I will be able to travel more lightly.
I also need
to work out a way to fire-proof my drums (as I lost so many in the summer
fires). My initial idea is to bury them standing up so that the top of their
lids is level with the ground (in a grassy spot). The deer will keep the grass
short in the warmer months. I will then peg out a 1 metre by one metre fire
blanket over it. I will have a go at dyeing it. I know that the white fire
blanket will attract attention, but I am hoping that folk who get to such
remote places will be civilised enough to simply use the shelter etc if they
need or wish and put it/them back in the drum. When there is a bushfire it
should go out at the edge of the fire blanket and not be hot enough to melt the
drum.
On this trip
I will see if I can find a small cave in a rocky cliff to stow it. I may take a
makeshift piton and some string to secure it there.
The front
opening is an equilateral triangle 7′ on a side, meaning its height is
approx 6′ . You can either tie to a piece of
wood (as shown) or to a small tree (if available) – which obviates the need for
front guys. You could pitch it lower (and so wider) but the flaps at the front
would not join.
My grandson
enjoyed it.
As well as
his mother and our dogs, Spot and Honey.
PS: I usually
have two guys at the front instead of the one shown so that I can peg out to
the ground at the side front thus making room for a fire immediately in front
of the shelter (say about 5′ away).
In Tyvek the
tent in the photos above will weigh about 650 grams in the 1.85 oz/yd2 Tyvek
Homewrap. A lightweight blue poly tarp I bought locally yesterday had a stated
fabric weight of 90 Grams Per Square Meter ie 2.6544 Ounces Per Square Yard (or
43% more) The 12 x 12 model is 44% heavier than the 10 x 10 model, so you might
want to reserve it (in poly) for car camping, as I used to. Nonetheless I think
you should give one a try. If I made the one above out of 1 oz silnylon it
would weigh under 450 grams (under a pound) including
pegs and guy lines! Pretty good for a tent with a floor you can stand in which
can double as a hammock tarp.
It will cost
you very little, and I’m sure you will be mightily pleased with it particularly
when you want to sit in front of a warm fire out of the wind, and especially on
rainy days. One advantage of such a shelter is that your back does not get cold
when you are sitting in front of the fire as the heat is reflected off the back
walls. I usually find that I am sitting around when the temperatures are below
freezing in just my shirtsleeves!
The Forester
Tarp: I haven’t got time to finish the second section of
this post just now so it will become a future post. I must finish the tent
above and get a few other jobs done around the farm or else I will never get
away up the bush. What I have in mind is to add ‘wings’ to the front and back of
this basic Forester design (cut down a little in size as in the second link
below) so that the front will close (as in the tent above) and the back will
also close with overlapping flaps from either side – so that the whole tent can
be cut from a single piece (Tyvek is not quite wide enough – I think). This
design will make a roomier tent than either the 12 x 12 or the 10 x 10 models
above with more stand up room.
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2015/05/11/col-townsend-whelens-forester-tent/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/02/12/new-tyvek-forestertent-design/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/07/01/the-dawn-of-ultralight/
Note on
Tie-Outs: I would sew a piece of reinforcing material at the
front tie-out (which takes all the weight of the fabric -and any flap) and also
at the rear one (particularly on the Forester – for the same reason). Otherwise
I have found that simply hemming the material then sewing the gross-grain
ribbon for the tie outs along the hem for 2’3 inches then forming an approx 2″
loop, giving the material 180 degree twist (like a Mobius strip) – so it is
easier to get the pegs through, then sewing along the hem for a for a further
2-3″ on the other side works well. As this one may also be used as a
hammock tarp I might also reinforce the corners.
BTW: You can pitch either of these tarps as simple floorless diagonals where
the smaller of the two will span 14 feet and have edge cover of 10′
either pegged out from from a pole or tree to the ground (as shown) or as
hammock tarps between two trees. (Obviously if you were going to use it like
this, you would need to carry a piece of Polycro as an
ultralight groundsheet You can buy a piece 5′ x 9′ from Amazon.com.au for A$11.46).
So, something
like this (or the photo of the blue tarp at the top):
Here
we are enjoying ourselves, none the worse for wear from our trek (or rickshaw
ride).
If this
doesn’t work, try this:
Everest View Namche:
You need
the Google Maps App from the Play Store installed on your phone and when you
are downloading the map you need to be connected to the internet. . When you
open the Maps App you will see three parallel lines on the top left hand corner.
Click on them. A menu will open. Scroll down to ‘Offline Maps’ and select that.
At the top of the page you will see ‘Select Your Own Map’. 
