Saturday, March 29, 2014

A Soak on the North Fork of the Skok


I started hiking at about a quarter to 10, finished up at about 6pm.  It was wet, wet, wet.  My right boot leaked around my ankle brace but my left foot stayed dry.  I was never really warm enough on this hike.  It was cold up there!  Maybe I should pack one more layer for day hikes.



I sloshed my way to Camp Pleasant and back.  I had the trail mostly to myself. 

Hypothermia weather a high of 55F and
over an inch of rain


My new pack is great!  I like having no hip belt.  With no hip belt I can just shrug my pack off anywhere.  There is also no sternum strap.  I don't need a sternum strap because the tops of the shoulder pads are only two inches apart.  The pack fits me!  I designed it for an 18 inch torso. 

Also with no hip belt I can comfortably carry stuff in the pockets of my rain coat, so I'm not missing having hip belt pockets.

The new beefy elastic on the outside pockets did the trick and the tougher thread on the pad holder pockets is holing up well in spite of having thinner elastic.

I ate my lunch under my tarp.  Lunch would have been miserable with out the tarp today.

13.5 miles with 800 feet elevation gain 1,700 calories burned, 4 cups of tea drank.


Boiling water at lunch time under a tarp at Camp Pleasant

Kindbergia and Rhytidiadelphus loreus moss

Rhizomnium moss (Dr. Calabria's favorite)


My pack grew some Lobaria oregana lichens!

Alder bud

My hand made pack

Ranger Bruce waz here!

Moss and lichens paint a landscape  or trees and clouds on this rock

Lobaria, but what kind?  Maybe pulmonaria or maybe that other kind
that I have never seen yet?



Tea time number 4 with the river mosses


River moss with sporophytes Scouleria aquatica

Muddy and wet trail

Ranger Davis was no where in sight
so I made it across safely


Elk butt fur

Mossy rock in a tree

Tea bag to wamer.. later the right boot leaked
was the tea bag to blame?

Tea time number one

My pack

My pack

Wet trail


The start


Lunch time
Some microscopic pictures of mosses that grow on river rocks in the Olympics

Scouleria aquatica



 Scouleria aquatica



Sporophyte

Spore

Apex


Racomitrium aciculare - Codriophorus aciculare



Apex at 400x

Whole leaf at 40X

leaf tip at 100x

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