Gear

I am planning an overnight hike soon and it is pretty cold in Southeast PA. I decided to make my own sleeping bag liner to help me not die. A little research brought me to this article. I mentioned the project on the Facebook Page for Brian’s Backpacking Blog, and Brian asked me for some details, so I decided to write it up for him, his readers, and for all of you. I did follow the recommendation in the article and bought micro fleece.

Divergence from the method in the article:

1) My fabric was 58″ wide. I experimented before starting by folding the fabric in half and laying the resulting long rectangle on the floor. I laid my sleeping bag on top to get an idea of how much “extra” material there would be if I did not trim the foot end to more closely match the dimensions of my mummy bag. I also got inside the fabric to see how it felt. I folded the foot end a little and folded the open side a little to mimic space “lost” in the hemming/sewing phase. Everything seemed fine to me and I decided not to cut open the natural seam made by folding the material length-wise, nor did I cut the end section down to create that tapered look/reduce weight/increase the warmth factor by removing “dead space”.

2) I bought 7 feet of fabric instead of 2 meters. I was not sure what I would do at the top, but wanted to have enough fabric to mess about with a hood of some kind. And at 6 feet tall, I was not sure that 6 ½ linear feet of fabric would leave enough to cover my head once my body was involved, messing up that distance with its 3 dimensions and all.

3) I did not baste stitch the whole length of the fabric on the seam-side before installing the zipper. This seemed like extra work that would have to be undone, for little gain. I am sure they have their reasons, and I bet that their liners look much nicer than mine, but it worked just fine for me to only do the basting stitches for the exact area where the zipper would be installed.

4*) I am not sure if this is different or not. Perhaps because, while I can and do sew, I know very little about it or sewing-specific terminology. I was not very clear on what they were talking about with the “right side”. I could not tell if they meant the side with the pattern that they wanted to face out at the end, or the side that they wanted to have next to their skin when all was finished. I was building mine for comfort, so I determined which side I wanted next to my skin and did the project so that all the seams and the zipper fabric would be on the outside of the liner and I would have a smooth unobstructed liner inside against my skin.

My method:

I wanted to be able to close the top somehow and decided to install a little tunnel for a drawstring. Micro fleece is not the strongest material out there, so first I made about a ½ inch fold and ran a seam along the top edge of the material. Then I folded the same area again, about 1 inch this time and ran another seam. This is when I thanked the Lords of Kobol that I did not cut the opposite side lengthwise. It turns out micro fleece is really difficult to sew! You can do it – I did. But it is trickier than cotton/poly/blends or any other fabrics I have worked with in the past. It really wants to “wander”, bunch, or have the upper and lower sections pass through the machine at different rates. You can combat this by going slowly and careful hand placement/fabric feeding.

I laid the fabric out full length and folded in half on the floor again and measured 12 inches from the top and put in a straight pin to mark this as the upper terminus for the zipper. I set the zipper aside and put straight pins in every 4 inches or so until placing the final pin at the lower terminus of the zipper.

I used a basting stitch (the longest distance between stitches that one’s machine can make) to put in a temporary seam along the section I just pinned together corresponding to the length of the zipper. Consider your seam allowances and leave enough room to attach the zipper. Note – do not lock in this seam at either end with the customary reversal stitching, that just makes it harder to take these stitches out later. I did it out of habit and had extra seam ripping to do.

Butterfly open the new seam and pin one side of the zipper to one of the newly created “wings”. This is the most important moment to think about which side of the bag you want to be in and which side you want the zipper to be on – which way the zipper moves and whether or not you want to be able to operate the zipper pull tab from inside or outside of your bag liner. I bought a 42 inch coat/parka zipper that has a pull on each end so I could not mess that part up. It did take a little visualization to make sure that I would be able to access the zipper pull from inside the bag liner.

Remember to change your sewing machine settings from a basting stitch to a more normal setting. I went with something in the middle of the range offered by my machine. Sew the zipper side you just pinned. It was only tricky at the two ends where the bulge from the zipper pull fought against the sewing machine foot. I did (eventually) figure out how to move the zipper pull out the way, sew a little, then move the pull again. You do want to do the reversal lock stitch thingy at each end of the zipper seam.

Repeat the pinning and sewing for the other side of the zipper.

Lay the material out flat on the floor again and from the bottom of the zipper, throw some pins in the fabric down to the foot and then across the foot end and sew it up.

Feed a drawstring through the tunnel you made at the top. I used some 2 mm para cord and an extra spring clip I had in my extra gear bag. Turn it inside out and remove the basting stitches from the zipper area. Turn it inside in, pull down the zipper and get in that sucker to see how you did!

That is where I am at with it now. It turns out that the 12” allowance I made above the zipper provides plenty of space for ventilation, so I have planned a further adjustment. I am going to bust out my trusty seam ripper and undo all the stitching for the drawstring. Then I am going to lay down in the liner and determine if I will need to keep all 7 feet of material or if there is any room to trim further.

Then I am going to follow the same procedure used to create the original drawstring tunnel – but do it along the short section above the zipper (see photo) and pre-install the drawstring before stitching the top end closed. I will let you know how that works once I get around to it. For now, the liner works great as-is.

If you are really ounce conscious, you may think it is worth it to trim off as much unnecessary material as possible. That is a great idea. If you do not have much proficiency at the sewing machine, or in working with micro fleece, I would recommend that you try the whole procedure first with an easier material – like an old bed sheet – to work out all the kinks before moving to micro fleece.

Resumption/Fill In/Conclusion – missing details from the Colorado River up to the Bright Angel Trail Head.

When you first hit the tunnel and emerge onto the black suspension bridge there is a swirl of emotion and sensation. Your body is thrilled because you are walking ON LEVEL GROUND!! And you know about the water spigot in 200 yards or so. You have accomplished ½ of your goal. And the views are really something. Not that they were not special on the way down. But these are views you don’t get anywhere else. You have to earn them – and it feels nice.

There are some placards with information about the bridges and some ruins and a few other things. We did not spend time on these on this trip because we have a 3 night 4 day hike planned in September that gives us two nights at the Bright Angel Campground (close to these signs) and there will be plenty of time to explore more then.

We were both pleased with our planning, water/food consumption, and general handling of the descent. By the time we hit the spigot, we had both finished our Camelbak supply, and one of our gatorades. I had an untouched liter of gatorade, and Jake would have also had he not shared with those in need. I had one cliff bar on the descent. I am not sure, but I think Jake had one 7-layer burrito and one cookie.

After drinking a few liters each, wetting heads, washing hands and faces, wetting hats, and re-supplying to carry to 2 liters each, we decided to move on down a ways to a better spot to take a real break and eat some food.

The silver suspension bridge has a lot more sway and give than the black, and not all the panels seemed to be firmly attached, which made for a more thrilling crossing! The remaining 2 miles or so to River Resthouse were smooth sailing. There was some rise and fall, but all very gentle and at several points, the trail turned to sand and it was like walking on the beach for 50 yards at a stretch. I cannot over stress the degree of gratitude and joy our muscles shared with us for doing something other than walking straight downhill.

Near River Resthouse, we did a short rock hop to the Colorado River and I touched that sucker for the first time. We took off our shoes and socks and plunged our feet into the ice-cold water. While enjoying that sensation we each had a 7-layer burrito and a chocolate chip cookie from the Bell that Jake humped in for us to have this exact moment. The Bell has never tasted so good.

After drinking a liter each and having a rest, we got back into hike mode and ascended. This ascent trail was also lovely, and different from other sites I had seen so far. Different color rocks, different formations and a different kind of path followed by the trail. About a mile or so in, the trail got steep quickly. The trail was still nice – even from side to side, not many obstacles on the trail itself – but it was much steeper than we had been prepared for. I learned later that this is called “The Devil’s Corkscrew” – both for the look of the switchbacks and because this area traps heat better than other areas and can often reach 130 in the summer. We both felt a huge change in temperature and started to feel adverse effects. My head was throbbing in a way that I know is related to the initial signs of heat exhaustion and dehydration. We were going as slowly as we could, stopping often and sipping on our meager 1 liter each.

It is only 3.2 miles from the River Resthouse to the spigot at Indian Garden – but it was a tough there for a while. We could both tell when we cleared the corkscrew (not that we knew that name at the time). We probably had at least 1.5 miles left, but the heat broke, the trail smoothed out a bit and we both felt better and stronger.

Looking back, we both had the same three thoughts. 1) Had we decided to eat at Indian Garden instead of at the River, we would have filled up to at least 3 liters each if not more, and with how awesome our bodies felt, had we not stopped at the river, we would have plowed through that ascent and been at Indian Garden in no time at all and feeling fine probably with extra water. 2) Had we filled to max water capacity (me 5, Jake 4-5 liters) at the spigot between the bridges and still had our break at the river, we would have had ample water for that ascent and felt fine the whole way. 3) Option 1 is no good unless there is some overarching reason for such behavior. We are not marathoners, we are there to enjoy the moments and soak it in. From all we have both learned about the Canyon, wherever it is physically possible without overburdening to do so, one should probably fill to max capacity for one’s own safety and to be able to help the multitudes of underprepared folks one meets out there.

We hit Indian Garden and made it to the benches at the spigot at the absolute last possible moment one could do that without turning on a headlamp. I stayed there for 15-20 minutes. In that time I drank three liters of water and filled my Camelbak to 2 liters for the next section. I ate my second of 4 Cliff Bars. I was not really hungry, but it had been a long day and there were about 5 miles of ascent ahead of me and I was looking at someone temporarily crippled by lack of intake – I wasn’t taking chances.

I drank almost a liter over the next 1.5 or so miles to Three Mile Resthouse and drank a half liter there, filled back up to 2 liters, and repeated that pattern over the next two legs of the ascent. At the 1.5 Mile Resthouse, I ate one more Cliff bar.

When we reached the top, my legs were sore, but overall I felt good. Jake drank less at Indian Garden, and less on the ascent. I don’t know if he ate anything from the River to the Rim. It is a grueling day – no question. But I think that maintaining fluids and some body fuel makes a big difference on that final ascent, and in how you feel later.

Bottom line – this was a fantastic trip! I am so thrilled to have done it for so many reasons. I got to see things I had only imagined. I conquered a few internal fears and added to the well of good experiences to draw upon in hard times. I re-learned how much hiking (like any other pursuit) is at least 90% a mental game. And I gained some good mental fodder for the upcoming backpacking trip into the Canyon. Having done the 17 mile trip that we did, I know I can hump my full pack the 7 or 8 miles from the Rim to the campground.

Exercise is good. Getting back out into nature is good. And who would have known – talking to strangers ain’t that bad either.

Hope y’all enjoyed it. I may or may not have time to write anything else between now and departing for California and the John Muir Trail. But I will get back to you when I can.

Be well.

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Go To Part 2

Go To Part 3

Interlude 2 – Bipeds

It seems to us both that we can’t go anywhere in AZ without meeting folks from PA. Jake is from York and while I am kinda from nowhere, my permanent address since October of 2003 has been Millersville. I stopped to encourage two gals having a difficult ascent, and we chatted for about 5 minutes. They were from Juniata College in PA, and said the rest of their group was still below. I did see more of that group as I descended. There were several strings of 2-3 folks and two larger groups. The first large group was 10 kids taking a break in the shade of an outcropping talking loudly about which kind of television set was the best and who could or could not tell the difference. The second group was larger and I could hear them from at least a half mile out talking loudly about degree paths and other programs at their school.

That is what I am saying about the first 1.5. I love tech and degree programs and talk about that stuff often. I have even become heated in discussion and/or debate and raised my decibel levels. I am fine with people enjoying their own passions and interests. However, I don’t come to the GRAND CANYON to hear you talk about this stuff. It gets a lot better below Cedar Ridge.

We met a few hikers climbing out after longer day hikes. (I don’t know why anyone would plan an ascent of South Kaibab, especially a daytime ascent.) Jake and I met up at least once an hour if not more, but we did our descents on our own. This turned out to be unfortunate for one group of travelers. They were ascending and came upon Jake first as I was about a ¼ mile uphill yet. One of them made a joke about buying some water and Jake stopped them and filled up their bottles from one of his gatorades. I saw the same group a bit later and they just said, “Hello Sir” and jumped of the trail to give me room before I could do anything else, so I simply said hello and walked on. If they had said anything, I also had at least 1 liter to spare and would have gladly. It wasn’t upsetting or anything, but their behavior was just kinda weird so I moved on quicker without attempting to engage in the same way I had with other groups.

Next there was a string of about 14 Japanese youngsters, maybe teenagers, maybe twenty-somethings, spread out over 300 yards. I talked with the 4 in the Vanguard for 2 minutes, then saw the string of folks behind them approaching. Lots of hellos as these folks passed. The guy in the rear looked beat and like he was about to shout to his friends but didn’t. I noticed he had stopped in the meager shade of a tiny tree. I told him that where their lead walker was now, just 150 yards or so up the path there was a very wide cool section of trail in full shade. He thanked me and said in about ¼ mile, turn around and I would see a big turtle. I took no chances and stopped every 50-100 feet, but I never saw that turtle. It was still an awesome piece of advice that I bet I would not have been given if I had simply passed him by, even with a friendly wave.

At the privies at the Tipoff, I met a group of three hikers, one of whom seemed to be in bad shape. They were setting up a sparse rest zone in the shade of the privy station and getting that dude resting on a sleeping pad. I checked on them and offered of my gear, but they had plenty of water and food, just needed a break from the sun. As I was leaving I heard them say that they would wait there until around 6 PM before moving on, which sounded like a wise plan.

While Jake and I were resting and hydrating at the spigot by the river in between the two suspension bridges, one hiker approached. We asked if he needed water and he said he was fine and started to move off. Something clicked in my brain and I said, “There is a spigot. We would gladly give you ours, but this is piped in.” And he came back and filled up. I realized it was one of the guys from the Tipoff rest-house group.

We learned that his friend was more tired from lack of sleep the night before than anything sun or hiking related. After a few minutes of chit-chat, turns out that this guy is from State College, PA. Not but a moment from the hunting camp J. Piper and I lived on in Lewistown during the summer of 93. The guy knew the CVS where we worked on the demo/remodeling crew. The guy’s good friend was from York – actually Dallastown, which is of course exactly where Jake is from. And the guy’s friend went to the same high school. He was 10 years younger, but still – there is some kind of weird AZ/PA thing happening.

We met Rosy and her companion at Indian Garden. Rosy was the one suffering from bad dehydration and muscle fatigue. They had 9 total in their group but friend X had stayed behind with Rosy while everyone else went ahead. We were sitting on the benches right at the water spigot, so offering water was no good. We had no Gatorade or other source of electrolytes. We offered her what we did have left, Cliff bars or a 7-layer burrito from the Bell. But it was all a no go. If this had been anywhere else on the trail, if Rosy had been alone instead of with a friend, if Rosy had been with a friend who was also hurting, or who did not know about backcountry hiking, I would have stayed longer – maybe even all night. But, this is Indian Garden on a pleasant night in May. The lowest expected overnight temp at that elevation was 50-60. There is good endless treated water, a privy, 15-30 hikers camped within 50-100 yards, and a manned Ranger Station 200 yards up the trail. I told her she was going to be OK, listen to her friend, drink up – slowly, and that if she needed to stay right there all night, that would be just fine and she would be ok. Then I headed out. Jake stayed a while longer. Another guy came up the moment I left who was some sort of adventure tour guide fella and gave more advice about damp cloths and getting electrolytes and talked more about the Ranger Station and gave firmer advice about “stay here for the night”. Jake felt better about leaving after that and headed up also.

About 1.5 miles from the Bright Angel Trailhead, we stopped and talked with one Rim-to-Rim dude who was just getting started then, about 11 PM. Granted, we just finished talking about Dehydration Girl, but this is what I am saying about the danger levels of the corridor trails at night. You will still not be alone, and in many ways, you are in less danger than during the day (as long as you have a good headlamp!) After dark, you are more likely to meet the runners, marathoners, and rim-to-rim, or rim-to-rim-to-rim crowd, who are less likely to be carrying much in the way of extra supplies, but will help you out and at a minimum be able to send backup to your location. The reason these folks carry so little is that on Bright Angel there is water and a privy roughly every 1.5 miles!

I was still feeling good and rocking well in the last mile. I did have sore muscles, but it was nowhere near the 08 levels of pain. Suddenly, I saw a person about 10 yards ahead of me and stopped to also catch my breath and take in the stars. When they moved on I noted what should have been obvious before, they had no light – which is why I came upon them so suddenly. I started up after them trying to keep my light aimed at their feet and when I got within 10 yards I yelled out, “Is this helping or hurting you?”

The person turned and I saw that it was a man, he looked tired and a little scared, and he had little to no english. He let me catch up and I pantomimed to ask if he needed food or water and he waved those off. He stood aside for me to go ahead. At first I think he thought I just wanted to go on past, but quickly we found a decent enough pace and method for light sharing. I wanted to ask him if we were going too fast or too slow or if he needed to stop and rest, but I think that just everyone being tired and it being some time between 11 and midnight, it came across that we both just wanted to get up out of the Canyon.

Jake had been trailing on the ascent both from getting a later start than I did and from being tired and feeling run down. I waited for him at both of the rest houses and at several other locations, and we did a good job of having almost constant contact with one another via headlamp. I knew that he would be able to figure out what was happening with me and the new guy and he did and kicked it into another gear to first catch us and then keep the guy pinned between us in cones of light.

When we did get to the top I pantomimed again about the food and water and obviously feeling much better now that he was safe, he said, “I have hotel” and he pointed. He thanked us both many times and said, “No power. Electric go out.” So he had been prepared, sorta, just ran out of batteries for his light. And he proved the universal rule: whatever other country you are from – your English is much better than our XXXXXX (your native language).

He started off down this kinda dangerous rocky hill towards the road that I was not super comfortable with when we did it at 11:30 AM, and Jake and I jumped into action and followed him so he would not fall here in the home stretch. Once he made it to the sidewalk, he thanked us again and we went back to our car.

Next Up: Resumption/Fill In/Conclusion – missing details from the Colorado River up the Bright Angel Trail Head.

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Go To Part 2

Video from the Colorado River

Audio from Indian Garden

Interlude 1 – Critters!

Once we were inside the park and on our way to drop off the car at the Bright Angel Trailhead, we saw a mule by the side of the road eating a tree. A bit further on, we saw what I believe was a mule deer, also eating a tree.

The first 3-4 miles of descent I saw many squirrels and what I am going to call crows. I don’t know much about ornithology, but these were crows or ravens, or maybe blackbirds – but I am sticking with crows. One group of 3-4 crows were having either a game or a battle, but they stayed close knit, often beaks together rising and falling in turning circles. Further down, I saw birds too distant to identify riding thermals and currents off of the cliff faces. I also had a few encounters with either a hawk or a small eagle right above my head doing the same. It came out of no where and was gone too quickly to identify, but I saw the individual “fingers” at the ends of the wings.

Did not see any fish or otters at the river, but we did hear an awesome chorus of frogs all the way up the Bright Angel. At Indian Garden, crickets, frogs and a few other insects were serenading the night sky and cheering us on our way.

Ascending Bright Angel in the dark, I saw two baby scorpions (my people) a few miles apart. There were 8-10 centipedes over the 5 or so miles up from Indian Garden. The biggest was about the diameter of a McD’s straw for milkshakes and 10 inches long. The smallest about the diameter of the cylinder that holds the ink inside a standard plastic Bic pen and 4 inches long.

There were a ton of tiny-to-1 inch beetles and many small spiders. However, at 3 mile rest-house there was a very big spider. It looked like the same or similar species as the little ones, but it was big and freaky. I know it was not a Black Widow because I researched those bad ladies in 08. Of course its body was smallish compared to its “wingspan” – maybe the size of a walnut – but with those long bendy legs it looked as big as a tennis ball. And its eye glowed! I don’t know if it had two, or one, or one tightly knit cluster, but it looked like one glowing eye. I got up and out of there!! I saw one baby snake I could not identify either.

On the drive back home there was serious deer activity. The most dangerous time there were 5-8 holding court in the middle of the road. Jake saw them in time because they hid the double yellow. Until then we had been scanning the sides of the road not looking for a hootenanny in the middle of the road!

Next Up: Part 3 – Interlude 2 – Bipeds!

Go to Part 1