Marmot Hole Sniffing and Cross Cultural Relations

After months of working on serious affairs, I had to get back to my roots. In college I wrote a comic opera and conducted a brass choir in white gloves, also using my feet. Humor is part of my makeup and some things never change. This short is exerpted from a film festival entry that never made it into any film festival, but required weeks of work to animate, with no animation software. At a minute and a half, I hope it provides some entertainment.

Filming the Wonderland Trail: The Experience

Yes, this year it took me 15 days to hike the Wonderland. Of course if you've read the complete account, you know why. But I just want to touch on the experience itself, beyond the technical aspects of filming the trail or the logistical parts, and get to it's core....this was one amazing season of hiking. In truth, probably one of the reasons I did this film project was that it gave me an excuse to go to the park. I got to tell my wife, "Oh, I have to cover A and then do B and I have to get up to C before the snow levels drop." My ever patient spouse went along with these flimsy excuses and indulged me, and I got to skip some days of potentially working on the house to do fair weather hiking. And was it ever fair weather. Not once did I don a pair of gloves, very unusual for me as I tend to get cold hands. Only once did I don a poncho due to brief minutes of squall activity very early as I trotted my way out to the start film point. Only on my last foray, on October 4th, did I wear a jacket through most of the day. As I review the stills and video I amassed, it was unusual to have any clouds in the frames, and I came to welcome this "anomaly" and the variety it bestowed on the usually clear skies. 

the rare clouds over Silver Forest on Sep 13, 2012

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Filming the Wonderland Trail: Equipment

For complete background on this project, please reference the section on Filming the Wonderland. There you'll find a complete chronicle of every day that I was on the trail and the sections covered. Over the course of filming I spent 15 days (including filming the West Side road on bike), hiked 238 miles and amassed over 316,000 still photos and 19 hours of video from 3 cameras. However, I want to cover the equipment I used in this labor of love.

3 camera setup on custom mountCAMERAS

Panasonic GH2: for my first two outings I carried my GH2, along with a tripod, to specifically film the water sources and take photos of interesting features. However, I soon pared my system and equipment down to leave the bulky GH2 and the tripod at home as I found that the other 3 cameras could get the job done.

GOPRO Helmet Hero2: this was my primary camera, mounted facing forward. I took advantage of the cameras myriad time lapse functions and ended up using the 2 per second setting for recording the entire trail. Once stitched into video, the viewer will essentially see motion about 5 times faster than my hiking pace, or the equivalent of running about 8 miles per hour.

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Gossamer Gear in action and gear integration

loaded Mariposa packsUltralight is great, hyperlight is cool and megalight is risky but each trip has different requirements. The Olympic National Park marmot survey is one such trip for my 17 year old daughter and myself where we were base camping for 5 days and day tripping off trail to survey sites. Now I'm a Murmur fan and I use my Gorilla quite often when I'm carrying camera gear for projects (including a tripod) but what to do when you throw in a bear canister, radio and spare batteries, 5 days of food, 4 cameras and spare batteries, ice axes, paperwork folders and myriad other things we wouldn't normally take on a fastpacking trip? Thank goodness we had the new Mariposa. Last year on this same trip (but to a different area) we had to make do with a couple of my older packs that had enough volume but made us suffer mightily under the load.
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Flexibility in Rain Gear

A soggy day in the Pacific NorthwestThe pacific northwest is soggy. If I wanted to do hikes or trail runs only on good days I wouldn't get much done before July, so I've been exploring options for dealing with various forms of wet. Like most people I usually rely on some form of jacket for rain protection, but I've recently been rethinking this approach and dusting off a few older but tried and true techniques. Before I go into these I should mention that there is an excellent article at backpackinglight.com that addresses the efficacy of air permeable membranes and the marketing hype that accompanies many of the claims. This multipart series is worth the annual membership fee of $25 in and of itself.
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Barefoot Training and Hiking: Observations and Experiences

As an older runner and fastpacker (57) I share my thoughts on my transition to barefoot running, it's relationship to Kendo and hiking in barefoot shoes. I plug Luna sandals as my choice in barefoot running, biking and hiking (I purchased my sandals and have no relationship with the company). Hopefully these observations and experiences can help anyone who is considering transitioning or trying barefoot technique; however, understand I am no expert and this video is not meant to dispense advice. Advice seekers would do well to scope out qualified trainers. My background includes multiple marathons, ultras and over 25 years of fastpacking (hiking more than 20 miles per day).

Fastpacker's Notebook: 10 oz. Shelter System

This is the second in a series I will produce on my quest to find the best techniques, equipment, people or anything else that enhances swift light movement on or off the trail. If I can't find it, I'll build it.

Most of the time I do the Wonderland Trail solo as a fastpack: 3 days or less. In fact, I decided to challenge my old 36 hour trip I did over a decade ago. I may spend up to 20 hours on the trail. When it's time to catch some Z's, I just want to lie down and get on with it. My energy is at a low, and I don't want to spend the time setting up a tent, unpacking my stuff and generally sprawling out in a campsite. Beyond hiking the Wonderland specifically, I want a shelter system where I can catch some Z's just about anywhere, even propped up against a log or rock.

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Fastpacker's Notebook: Packing Cameras

lids open away from the body

 

I ran around with the pack/camera chest pack configuration and I can say it is much more comfortable and stable than any of the other configurations I've used in the past. It balances nicely and doesn't flop forward. I don't need a waist belt to use it. It doesn't obstruct my vision too much when looking down. It's sturdy, light, and waterproof. If I'm not carrying larger cameras, I can simply remove the insert and use the chest pack for food, maps, other electronics, clothing or water (multiuse is always good).

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