Tar Jacket Ridge Hike 14-16 September 2012 Trip Report and Random Thoughts

I’ve been pretty lax on blogging since we returned from Colorado Maroon Bells 4 Pass Loop.  It was warmer than expected, probably reached 80F, maybe low 80′s and the trip seemed to really take it out of me for a while.  It was a few weeks before the urge to hit the trail started hitting me once again.

Those temps don’t sound like much, but when coupled with the altitude and a no shade situation, I was just a little more tired at the end of each day than in years past (at least from what I remember).  I’m sure it has nothing to do with getting older each year.

This is weird because I think that this year I was in better shape than ever before.  I was able to shorten my stride going up the passes, walked slower, and NEVER HAD TO STOP! (Yeah).  In past years, I would huff and puff and stop every 20 paces to catch my breath and “take pictures”, I wound up taking a LOT of pictures in the past just below the passes!

Hmm, I shouldn’t complain, and I’m not, about the “no shade situation”, the best part of hiking in Colorado VS Virginia is the 360 degree, jaw-dropping views, not the fucking tree tunnels that I have to suffer with here in Virginia.

Ok, now it sounds like I’m complaining about Virginia, I’m not really, we are BLESSED to have the George Washington and Thomas Jefferson National Forests, and the tree tunnel known as the Appalachian Trail, and the dozens and dozens of loops off the AT which make for FANTASTIC backpacking weekends.

If anybody cares, here’s what I did to get in shape for Maroon Bells;  I started walking all year, about 2.2 miles at lunch at work, then 5 miles, just walking, normal stride, about 3 times a week.  About 2 times a week, I would hit the treadmill at my gym, crank it up to 15degrees elevation with a 2.5 mph speed, and try to hang on for 60 minutes, this is a 2000’ elevation gain.  About 2 months out I started carrying a 30lb pack 2-3 times a week on my after work walk.

Now, to the purpose of this post;

My good hiking buddy ‘Sherpa’s  husband “Le Dutch” joined us on the Tar Jacket Ridge hike last week and wrote up the follow trip report.

But first…I gotta say I had a blast!  Bill is just as hilarious as Meg!  I absolutely enjoy hiking with witty, intelligent and thought provoking beer drinkers!  You better have your wit and conversation skills sharpened when walking (or driving for hours) with this crew.  There is nothing better on the trail than a good natured, spirited discussion to pass the time!  And of course, the occasional on the trail beer break!  They’ll probably say that I monopolize the conversations, that’s only because I’m older and have all this bullshit bottled up because my wife won’t let me get started with camping stories…but see how I’ve rambled on now?

This post was for “Le Dutch”

So here it is…

Bill Lamoreaux originally shared this post:

Trip Report: Tar Jacket Ridge 14 – 16 September 2012

Trip URL: http://www.hikingupward.com/GWNF/TarJacketRidge/

Friday:
The drive from Williamsburg to the camping spot was uneventful and easy going with Phil telling stories from times of yore. We stopped in Staunton for dinner at The Mill. The stop was longer than planned (the place apparently is packed on a Friday night!), but we got to visit a game store (containing every stereotype imaginable in a comic / game store), and saw some great old cars. Once we were seated, Meghan ordered like she was going to not eat for the weekend (Soup, salad AND a crab cake sandwich; really?!), I ordered like I had no nutritional care in the world (chicken wings, BBQ ribs and steamed shrimp), and Phil ordered sensibly (nachos and beer 4TW). We made it to base camp in the dark, got our stuff and proceeded to make camp. The camp is a mowed sloped field, which made for easy camping. Phil, Meghan and I plopped our stuff down, and Will, Mark and Kitty showed up. Once set up, a beer was had and conversations about the constellations ensued. The night was very clear, and no moon in the sky. The talk did get a little loud at times, but thankfully (and unbeknownst to us…) it was only Paul next to us losing sleep. And speaking of losing sleep, some sorry chap was stranded at the edge of the field with no flashlight. After about 5 minutes of listening to him call for help to some non-existent friends, Mark finally headed over to see if he could help. Mr. Sorry Chap had a sleeping bag, but no tent or flashlight; so apparently, he slept in his car. We all called it a night shortly afterwards, and made for our huts. But not before an Italian Greyhound made the rounds wearing an audible collar and a ones’ie. Yes, the dog had a wardrobe. . .

Saturday:
We all woke at our own pace, but by the time breakfasts were being cooked, we were all “up and at ‘em”. Phil made some biscuits double-boiler method and shared with the group. I kept it light with fruit and nuts. Will decided to eat his dinner for the day for breakfast, adding too much water to his dehydrated chicken meal — made a tolerable meal — crappy. Poor fella. We discovered the Italian Greyhound in the ones’ie was part of our group, and owned by Diane. Our tour had a mascot; Victor. We met up with the rest of the group (Paul & Stephanie) and started to make our plans for the trail. Folks broke camp at their own pace and hit the trail in smaller groups. Meghan, Phil and I made a pod about 9:30, and mosey’d at a casual pace. By 10AM, I decided it was foolish to carry a bottled beer the whole way (it wasn’t getting any colder), so I started to enjoy it while waiting for Phil and Meghan. I think Phil thought it was irresponsible for the new guy to have a beer on the trail — so he took one for the team — and drank half of it. Thanks, Phil!

Trail conversations are what they are (I learned, don’t let Phil cook your mashed potatoes. . ) and we made camp in about 5 hours. The weather was beautiful, partly cloudy and mostly cool. We passed a group of folks going on horseback, and a single AT hiker. Once at camp, we setup and relaxed in the afternoon sun. Paul was enjoying a fine beverage out of a little silver cup that reminded me of the ones they use for sauces at Outback Steakhouse (Five finger discount, Paul?). Mark and Kitty ventured out to Spy Rock where they encountered a friendly drum circle of sorts; making it back just as the rest of the group were finishing dinner, about dusk. Will was having beef jerky for dinner (because he ate his planned meal 10 hours earlier), Phil made muffins for any takers, and Paul and Stephanie made some rice, chicken and (rehydrated) veggies. Meghan successfully packed in 3 fresh eggs and bacon. I was laden with half a dozen homemade biscuits, and we made egg sandwiches. Will had this puppy dog look on his face, so he got bacon and biscuits as well. I suppose it was the least we could do since he made a pretty nice fire. Paul rehydrated some fancy-high-dollar meal that looked pretty good, Diane did the same, and Victor had stew, peanuts, and whatever else he found to eat that was scattered around camp. Good boy!

After dinner conversations were lively and Phil only swore twice. Something about asking Meghan if she was going to burn down the whole forrest. . .

Sunday:
Meghan and I were the last ones up and out of camp, hitting the trail about 10:30AM. Instead of making the loop, we backtracked the same way we came in. Not wanting to hold anyone up at the cars, Meghan turned on the afterburners and we completed the first 5.5 miles of the trail in just under two hours. As we closed in on the last mile, we came upon the rest of the group (sans Paul and Stephanie, who were waiting for us by the cars); which, to my surprise backtracked as well. We all high-fived and made plans to meet up at Dr. Ho’s Humble Pie for some pizza (except Paul). Delicious pizza was had, and we all split our ways to head home. More tales of yore from Phil shortened the car ride and we were in Williamsburg before we knew it.

A great trip with super people, expertly coordinated. Great memories and new things learned (like, you wearing deodorant isn’t for you, it’s for everyone else).

Like — for God’s sake — don’t let Phil cook your mashed potatoes.

Tar Jacket Ridge Hike »

The beautiful views on Tar Jacket Ridge are often overlooked with the spectacular vistas from Mount Pleasant and Cold Mountain just next door. The vista from Tar Jacket Ridge offers views of The Cardi…

Maroon Bells 4 Pass Loop 29 Jul -5 Aug 2012 Trip Report; Obsessive Compulsive Backpackers

Click here for additional images:

There were 8 of us on this epic trip from the Hampton/Richmond/Roanoke/VA Beach areas of Virginia and Washington State. (Chupa, Sherpa, Scout, Hardrock, Joe, Sandi, Geardog, Biscuit).  Seven of us flew into Denver, 1 drove, so we only had to rent 1 additional car.

We all linked up at the Hertz rental pavillion at Denver International Airport around noon on Sunday 29 July, 2012.

Here was our plan:

Sunday 29 Jul – Arrived Denver Airport, rented car, drove to Difficult campsite near Aspen, Co. CAMP Zero

Monday 30 Jul – Drove to Trail Head at Maroon Lake (9580), Hiked approx 4 miles to elevation approx 10,600 to acclimatize. CAMP 1

Tuesday 31 Jul – Crossed West Maroon Pass (12,500), Frigid Air Pass (12,415), into Fravert Basin, camped above waterfalls, North Fork Crystal River, approx 6 miles (10,400). CAMP 2.

Wednesday 1 Aug – Hiked to Geneva Lake (10,936), approx 4 miles. CAMP 3.

Thursday 2 Aug – Cross Trail Rider Pass (12,420) Hiked to Snowmass Lake (10,980), approx 5 miles. CAMP 4.

Friday 3 Aug – Cross Buckskin Pass (12,500), hiked down to Crater Lake(10,060), approx 6 miles. CAMP 5.

Saturday 4 Aug – Hiked down to Trail Head at Maroon Lake (9580), approx 1.5 miles, into Aspen, ate at the “Hickory House”. Drove to Denver.

Sunday 5 Aug – Return Flights/Return drive

From Denver we drove to the Wal-Mart in Glenwood Springs to purchase fuel and extra munchies for the hike.  We ate a late lunch at a greasy mexican restaurant about 1 block north of Wal-Mart, it was pretty good; the place was packed with local latino’s, a great sign!

From Glenwood Springs we drove to the ‘Difficult Campground’ outside Aspen, with a brief stop at Maroon lake to take some pictures and get our first ‘gasp’ view of West Maroon Basin and the Maroon Bells.

Sunday morning we skipped breakfast in order to beat the toll booth on the road to Maroon lake.  However, the booth did have a ranger, who only took our $5 per vehicle and waived us through.  The overnight lot was already full so we parked in the overflow lot.

We spent about an hour with final pack arranging and were off.  About a full 10 minutes later we were having breakfast on the shore of Maroon Lake.  It had rained briefly that night so we had a chance to unpack and layout the tents to dry in the early morning sun.

In the overflow parking lot, getting ready to Hike!

Around 9 or 10 we took off towards Crater Lake, took a break there, then headed up the trail to find a campsite.  This was our “acclimatization” day so we weren’t in any rush.  Most of us were really feeling the difference in altitude, huffing and puffing up the trail.

Notes:

- no bears – anywhere on actual hike (old reports of bears in minihaha gulch, but we didn’t camp there.)

- There is (was) a current bear warning at Difficult Campground, with a threat of a $350 fine if food was left out; we stayed there 1 night, thank god no bears!

- hiked above crater lake to about 10,600 for acclimatization day, visited by a porcupine at night, each tent was visted, apparently just visiting, no issues. note: Joe left his hiking poles out and apparently the porcupine chewed on the handled (we speculated for the salt?).  This same type of incident was also relayed to us by another hiker later in the trip.

Rich at Camp 1, above Crater Lake; Joe approaching top of West Maroon Pass.

- Frigid air pass is really worn down and slick with tough footing, but is pretty short. Watch out if wet. We were really huffing and puffing at this point due to the altitude (we came from sea level)

  Sherpa on Frigid Air Pass (I think); view descending from Frigid Air Pass into Fravert Basin; the tree line were making for is barely visible center-right.

- No water sources after going over frigid air pass into fravert basin, creeks dry, almost up until the lower forest treeline, but everyone had water, we only needed to carry a little over the 2 passes into fravert’s.  Plenty of streams in West Maroon Basin, however,  headed towards West Maroon Pass; I counted at least 10 (from crater lake).

- Once into fravert basin we were pretty beat (at least I was) due to the higher than expected heat (low 80′s ?) and camped in a good flat spot about a quarter mile before the tree line, next to the stream (Chrystal River). We had to bushwhack from the trail thru scrup brush to get to the creek.  Kudo’s to Sherpa for making the initial recon.  Next morning all the tents were soaked outside from a small rain shower and inside from the humidity from the stream. Sun hit over the ridge line by 0800 and tents were dry by 0830-0900.

North Fork Chrystal River;  I got a visit from “Mr. Tent”

- Once we hit the tree line we found 2-3 excellent designated sites we could have stayed in had we walked on for 20 more minutes.  So we followed the switchbacks down below King Falls and thru the 2010 blow down area, destination Geneva lake.

- the 2010 tree blow down just past King Falls has a new path cleared thru the debris.

- The water crossing just past the Hasley basin trail cutoff was low, could have crossed by jumping rocks, most of us changed shoes to wade across the freezing water for the relief. Further, the creek in W Maroon Basin was pretty low and the crossing easy.

Note: I thought it was interesting that the trail sign in this area did not point back to what I call the Hasley Basin ‘cutoff’ trail.  When you’re on the trail from W. Maroon Pass going towards Frigid Air Pass, the there is a trail junction and a sign where you take a right turn off the trail onto  a well defined trail going to to Frigid Air Pass.  The first trail continues on, a little fainter than the main trail, and is clearly indicated on maps as going into Hasley Basin, and linking up with the mail trail coming over Frigid Air with both trails crossing about in the area of the ford.

 

- (above)  Geneva lake

 

Biscuit and Scout on way to Trail Rider Pass.  Biscuit on Trail Rider Pass looking back towards Hasley Basin.

Sherpa on Trail Rider Pass, looking down at Snow Mass Lake; Biscuit taking the plunge in Snow Mass Lake.

Eating dinner on the shore; Early morning photo at Snow Mass Lake.

Biscuit signals VICTORY on Buckskin Pass, the final pass.  Sandi looking AWESOME!

- Morning temps in my tent fell to 39F for 3 nights, 41F for 3 nights, between 5-6 am.

- Daytime low 80′s, which felt VERY warm and impacted our energy levels. BTW we had one gal carrying a 53lb pack (we weighed in in the parking lot) she made it the entire trip, no problems, though lagging a little behind the group, I thought for sure she might bail out before the first pass. She gets the award for shear determination and awesomeness! Anyway, sunscreen and a hat and sunglasses HIGHLY recommended.

- Unfortunately very few wildflowers.

- About 11 designated sites just at crater lake if a party needs to stay there.

- We stayed at crater lake day 6 for an early exit and drive to breakfast in Aspen, ate at the hickory house, just on the left on the highway into town – YOU MUST STOP THERE FOR BREAKFAST -OMG, a highlight of the entire trip, ENORMOUS portions, great price and atmosphere, perfect for a post-trip victory celebration!

- We also stopped 1 night at Geneva lake, great call, was beautiful, if you do that, from Fravert basin, take the lower (to the left) trail junction which is a flat beautiful walk but with a 900′ up the last mile, but excellent views so you don’t have to re-cover that same walk when heading for trail rider pass;

Three Ridges Trip Report, Applachian Trail Virginia 22-24 June 2012

Just back from hiking the “Three Ridges”, Friday 22 June to Sunday 24 June 2012, per the description found in Hikingupward.com.

See all the photos at http://www.meetup.com/OCBackpackers/photos/9415752/

Backpacked this with our hiking group “Obsessive Compulsive Backpackers”, which has members from Richmond to Virginia Beach.

I drove up to Sherpa’s house in Williamsburg where we linked up with Mukta (Ashley). While we were waiting for Mukta, Sherpa and her husband laid out a totally fantastic European buffet complete with Caprice Salad, grilled Brussels sprouts, spiced humus, tuna salad, brie, crackers and other stuff I can’t remember. But what a feast!

After Mukta arrived, we drove up to Charlottesville where we linked up with Biscuit, Evenstar, Longshanks, Mark and Mark.

We arrived at the trailhead at Reed’s Gap on the Blue Ridge Parkway about 11pm, thank god it wasn’t raining. We saddled up and started the 1.6 mile walk to the campsite located in front of the Maupin Field Shelter on the Appalachian Trail. The trailhead starts out about about 2600’ goes up over 3100’ then back down to about 2700’.

 

Here we linked up with Tom who had brought his dog ‘stretch’ who is a Scottish Deer Hound (or something like this), this is the biggest breed I have ever seen! Bigger than any Great Dane, more like a small pony, OMG!

Anyway, it was – or seemed – warm and muggy that night as we all settled in.

Saturday was a leisurely start with a late breakfast, we didn’t start walking until almost 10am.

 

Saturday was another hot one and unfortunately Stretch, who is about 7, was struggling so he and Tom turned around and headed back to the trail head.

 

The hike was pretty uneventful, we made a couple of breaks, hiked up and over the three ridges, getting up to 3900’ and stopped for lunch at the last flat rock overlook before the trail dives back into the forest and begins a very steep downhill section.

  

  

We arrived at the area of the Harper’s Creek Shelter (about 1800’) around 4pm. We were the only ones there so I was pretty psyched; normally the place is pretty popular with boy scouts who can hike in from a forest road only about 2 miles from a parking lot.

 

I was beat from the long hot downhill and very glad to reach the shelter.

We were very lucky to have a group of closely located campsites all to ourselves, and pretty close to the stream for water and cooling off. The ONLY drawback was the place was covered with poison ivy so you had to be careful to stay on the paths.

After we set up, a group of us went down to filter some water. Shadeau, Biscuit’s dog, was playing in the stream, so I started up-stream where the water wasn’t disturbed and almost latched onto a 4’ rattle snake moving in and around the rocks! YIKES! Needing to change my pants, I slowly backed away to where the others where resting, we watched the snake for a minute or three, as it slowly starting winding its way down to where we were – Time to go!

 

Needless to say, subsequent water trips were in groups where we could have a look out for the thing. We didn’t have any more encounters.

We made a campfire around which we all made our dinners. I had instant mashed potatoes and made some ‘brown gravy’ on the side. After dinner I made a Banana Muffin in my ‘bake-packer’ and shared it with everybody.

That night, Mark who was ‘backpacking lite’, returned to his sleeping bag laid out on a tarp on the ground and encountered a snake in the dark near his area and decided to relocate elsewhere!

 

 The next morning, Sunday, we had intended to break camp around eight, but that was wishful thinking. I think we hit the trail about 9, taking the AT to the Mar-har trail where we turned north on it heading back up to the parkway. We reached the Campbell creek campsite about 11, took a break and some of us jumped into the creek to cool off. It WAS SWEET!!

 

From Harper’s shelter the trail very steeply goes up from about 1800’ to about 3200’ and then loses all of that elevation gain, going back to about 1700’ when you pick up the trail at Campbell’s creek! So you’re already hot and beat, and then have to re-gain all that elevation on the steep rugged trail back to the Maupin Field shelter! Jeeesuz! What a long hot bitch of a hike. This hike is rated difficult, but since I’ve done it basically 3 times in the past 12 months, I knew, being the second oldest in the group, that it would be ok if I just take my time…so I rated it “easy(?)”, kind of tongue in cheek rating. But then I started feeling really bad when others where huffing and puffing because they trusted my “easy(?)” description. (in fairness, I did refer to the hikingupward.com description of the hike for detailed trip analysis and maps.)

We finally reached the Maupin field shelter around 1pm and everybody was pretty beat. Biscuit almost stepped on another RATTLE SNAKE on a path next to the shelter and almost jumped out of his boots. When I asked him if he took a picture, he looked at me kind of weird , so together we went back to find it, where it posed for several photos!

So the last phase was back up and over the 3200’ hill back to the parking lot. Not really much to write about, it went pretty well, no surprises or events to write about. The snakes, the poison ivy, the night hike, but everything went very very smooth. But it was hot and tiring. I call every hike a ‘training hike’ and this one was no different, I’m training for Maroon Bells in 4 weeks and was a little tester for me. Sherpa and Biscuit are also going to Colorado, and both looked to be in pretty good shape.

On the way back we stopped in for a little pizza in a great place Mark recommended, next the University of Virginia campus. It was great, “the mushroom” I think.

Anyway, not much else to report.

One good note, this was a little bit of a challenge for us, and everybody did fantastic, and as far as I’m concerned everybody earned some bone-fide bragging rights for completing a kick-ass hike! It’s all downhill from here (yuk yuk)

Still Daydreaming about the Grand Canyon Trip

These are a couple of photo’s Geardog took of Sherpa (Meghan) and myself descending from the South Rim on Bright Angel Trail and while at plateau point.

I will probably plan another trip next March or April, and hopefully make it a group trip for my backpacking meetup “obsessive compulsive backpackers”.  Geardog will be hiking the A.T. next March/April and won’t be able to make it.

T-70 Days Until Departure for Maroon Bells Wilderness, Colorado

 

Take off for Maroon Bells 4 Pass Loop is only 10 weeks out.  Need to start serious training (I’m talking to myself).

We have some slots left, so still time to sign up.  Photos of almost every step of the last trip 2010 can be viewed at the Maroon Bells Web Album (link on top banner here).

Looks like the snow is already melting fast, that is good news.  Hope we are can catch the wildflowers in max bloom.  Looking at the amount of this year’s snowfall, the wildflowers will probably start blooming before we get there.

Once again, the plan is to link up in Denver and convoy to Aspen (206 miles), with a stop at Wal-Mart in Glendale Springs (157 miles) for fuel, snacks, or whatever.

It won’t bother me if other drivers chose to leave Denver at different times, dependant upon arrivals, etc. we just need to link up at the campground or ultimately at the trailhead monday morning.

Monday, we’re only hiking to just above Crater Lake or where ever we can find a good campsite and spend the rest of the day acclimatizing to the altitude.

I recommend we pick a restaurant to eat at before we get to the campsite.  I know for sure we pass a Subway before we get to Aspen and I know there are many places to eat in Glendale Springs.  Last time Geardog and I drove through Aspen, we couldn’t find a place to park so we said screw it and hit the road and ate at Subway.

We will overnight Sunday at a campground near Aspen, get up early and get through the Maroon Bells Gate before it opens at around 0800, else we have to pay a day fee, regardless of it supposedly being free to park for overnight backpacking.

I’ll try to make the reservations for the campground today.

Coming off the trail on Saturday 25 Aug, I would like to drive back to Denver so I don’t have to kill myself to get to the airport for a 10 am flight on sunday morning.

Here’s a screen shot of the area from google maps if you want to locate it and  check out the terrain.

What Do You Think Are The Most Important Skills For Backpacking?

Let’s get our own forum debate going here.  Please go ahead, get your wordpress account, so you can be like someone in the above picture and tell me how bad my blog sucks or just make a comment to share your experiences.

What do you think are the most important backpacking skills? 

Forget about water weight, tent weight, favorite menus, hating to clean up, etc. etc., etc, some of our favorite fire side chat material.

Note:  these blogs really take a lot of time to write, jeeeez!  And when you let your words “cool off”, then you keep thinking of more elaboration; it’s a vicious circle my friends.  Now I need to go and find a good topic photo, wait, am I thinking out loud again?

Off the top of my head, I’m thinking, …..wait, crap, maybe there are different categories of skills sets? 

Maybe a set for a group/trip leader?  Maybe a set for solo hiking?  Wow, I’m complicating this after only 74 words!

Is there a general skill set?  Ok, here goes, real fast…no particular order…

• Problem solving. 
• Navigation. 
• First Aid.  Is that different from wilderness first aid? 
• Survival? (maybe my sleeping bag finally gets wet, and it’s cold, very cold, and I can’t get a fire stated). 
•  Ability to start a fire?
• Ability to keep calm in an emergency/provide leadership?  Ability to keep out of an emergency situation?  Ability to recognize when you are in or near an emergency situation?  (I personally think some people lack ‘personal situational awareness’ and just follow along blindly)
• Leadership?  (rant:  sometimes a group needs somebody to just make a decision!  Like, where to  camp that day?  If you break camp, start walking and it’s not clear where the group is to camp, you have all sorts of problems.  How far are we going to walk?  Where are we camping?  How much water do we carry?  Does the fast group wait for the the slower group – and/or where?  And if you’re already up and walking, it’s pretty clear  or murky that a leader is going to be needed to make that decision or at least lead the group into a concensus – or you just have backpacking anarchy! (JK- I jest)
• Ability to tell jokes or play the harmonica at the campfire?  (these traits will be discussed next!)

Ok, your turn, what are your most important skills!

Backpacking Heroes! A Shout Out to a Few Budding ‘Mountaineers’ Who Inspire Me!

This is a ‘shout out’ to some wonderful people I’ve had the great pleasure to hike with during the past few months.  We’ve had some extremely cold weather, darkness, longer than expected days, steep trails, rain, and more rain, water crossings, and hot weather etc.; but these folks have made it a real pleasure and have unknowingly motivated me if ever I was feeling tired and down.

Biscuit – Always happy. Experienced.  Willing to share.  Great companion on the trail! Oh, almost forgot, makes fantastic sausage and egg biscuits and will actually bring them to your tent to get you to wake up!  My Hero!

 

Sherpa – Always happy, super strong hiker, shares knowledge, willing to learn, buys beer!

 

Crockett – Great trail companion, always happy, shares experiences, super strong hiker.

 

Trail Surfer – fantastic trail logic, wise, helpful, tells great stories.

 

Condor – Super hiker, very wise, shares experience, always helpful!

And last but not least,

Squirrel!  Great trail companion, fantastic attitude, always helpful, great compassion, willing to learn!