A thread for backpackers

For me it was always my Speedy or GMT, they really can take anything you throw at them if you keep the seals fresh- the last part is the caveat.

Living a hour from Kakadu National Park.


Spending most of my weekends on trips in a boat in some pristine rivers full of saltwater crocodiles


After a week of travelling across Northern Australia for work with only a work backpack with a spare pair of underpants, t-shirt and shorts.

I think the last 12 years has been a never ending adventure.

Mrs STANDY being a entomologist gets it even better ridding airboats across the flood plains of Kakadu, to flying out to remote communities and islands of Arnhem Land then getting helicopters onto remote untouched archipelagos.

I chuckle every time I read a “ will this watch fit under a cuff “

Well, I'd love to hear more about this.

Just one question ... what is this spare pair of underpants of which you speak? Sorry, TMI.

Not sure if your going to make it home every time you leave the front door.
Light plane breaks down, stuck on a oil rig overnight, 4x4 gets bogged for two days in the wet season.


A typical day of work in one of @Faz s great threads

https://omegaforums.net/threads/scenes-from-the-dirty-windshield.79222/

Looks like a great hike, and a perfect example of how you get such beautiful wildflowers in burn areas.

Unfortunately, I could not get out this weekend because of upcoming travel, so I am going to post some photos from a two-nighter that I did last year around this time. It was in the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness in south-central Colorado, an impressive range that is more "craggy" than most of the Colorado Rockies, with several 14ers. The wilderness is just adjacent to the Great Sand Dunes National Park, and is actually responsible for the weather patterns that formed the dunes. This particular hike was a loop from the East side of the range, up the Venable Lake drainage, over Venable Pass, and back via the Phantom Terrace.

After a nearly 4,000 foot climb past the Venable Lakes, we reached a very windy Venable Pass at nearly 13,000 ft. This view is looking West towards the drainage where we set up camp later that afternoon. This day was harder than I had expected.


The next morning we continued down a pretty valley.


A view back up the valley. I don't have a photo, but it was around here that I stopped to look around, glanced down, and saw a fawn nearly right at my feet curled up into a tiny ball, completely still. Zelda didn't even notice it, and I quickly moved away. Apparently fawns are born without scent, so that predators don't find them when their mothers leave them alone.


These distinctive boulders are known as Sangre de Cristo conglomerate.


Marmots (aka whistlepigs) are extremely common in the Colorado high country. Zelda has a strong prey drive, but fortunately she is getting a bit too old to catch them. And I have a bell on her pack to warn the little animals.


If you look closely, you can see the Phantom Terrace trail traversing this slope. From below, it's completely invisible, hence its name.


A mediocre campsite with a nice view at a small lake above the main Venable Lake.

True, I guess it sounds like a no-brainer. 😀

But my fitness really wasn't where I would have liked it to be, and I had to descend much further than I expected to find a decent campsite. So in retrospect, I just recall being really wiped out.

That's awesome.

Post this on TRF and the Gucci guys will cry thinking about a potential scratch or ding in the bezel. Sometimes we all take hard to the face.

I spent a few days in one of my favorite places this past weekend, the Flat Tops Wilderness in NW Colorado. It has unique terrain in that instead of mountains, the high areas (separated by valleys) look like they have been cropped flat. That, coupled with the fact that the wilderness is quite large and full of lakes and creeks, makes it a fantastic place to explore off-trail. I have been to this wilderness at least 20 times, and I don't think I will ever tire of it. Picture-heavy post to follow.

A view from a Trapper's Lake trailhead looking up a valley to the plateau.


Half-way up the trail, looking down on the trailhead area.


The last part of the pack trail to the plateau gets steep with some exposure.


On the plateau at Twin Lakes, with Big Marvine and the Little Marvine Peaks in the background.


Big Marvine Peak. If you look closely, you can see switchbacks on the left side of the slope above the snowfield. To summit, you climb up those switchbacks, and then once on top, just walk up the slope to the summit.


Campsite in the shadow of Big Marvine Peak.


The next morning, we climbed Big Marvine. This view is looking down on our previous campsite, on the left side of the image.


On the sloping plateau atop Big Marvine, one finds alpine tundra and stunted Engelmann Spruce.


Scree field near the summit.


Ah, it looks like someone has been here before. 😉


From the top, looking down the slope on top of Big Marvine and onto part of the wilderness, one really gets a sense of the gently rolling terrain. Strange to think it's all at ~11,000 feet.


Zelda doesn't look super happy on the scree.


Many of the trails above timberline (except for pack trails) are very lightly traveled, and there is often no noticeable "tread" to follow. Fortunately, the Forest Service built cairns to mark the trails. Some are still very well-preserved, even after decades, but often they are spread pretty thin along the trail. So the best strategy is to follow a bearing, and use the cairns as confirmation that you are still on track.


A view from the ascent of Trapper's Peak, looking back at Big Marvine.


Many off-trail lakes like this one were stocked by air a long time ago, and are excellent places to fish since they receive very little pressure from visitors. The flowers in the foreground are Columbine, Colorado's state flower. One generally has to work to see them, and when you find them, they are often growing in really unlikely spots.


Nice campsite in the middle of nowhere.


Even above timberline on flat terrain, there can be obstacles to progress. These willows are some of our least favorite. Here, we were following a well-established trail, but it was still work to get through. Sometimes, it can seemingly take forever to go a mile.


We passed the heavily fished Wall Lake on the way out, a popular day-hike.