Hello and a question

Questions about equipment and supplies to bring on a trip (including reviews).

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Wiconi
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Hello and a question

Post by Wiconi »

HI! New here, and just about to embark on my first trip to ISRO. This trip has been in the "planning stage" for about 2 years, and it's finally going to happen! YAY!

I hike with my 8-year old daughter (who is the entire reason I picked up backpacking altogether....we went car camping, and she HATED it, because "there's too many people mom, and they are too noisy") We'll be on the island for the 9 days preceding labor day. We'll be mostly hiking the East end of the island, but plan to practice her LNT skills in at least one "backcountry" overnight. She has a 18 lb pack (once the water bladders are full) and can hike up to 7 miles a day (she likes time to "putter") - so we won't be ever really far from the Rock Harbor. The 2 of us have hiked all over Yellowstone, Tetons, and lot sof state parks in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa.

For the most part, I"m pretty comfortable with my gear choices and such. We've been backpacking together for about 3 years, and have hundreds of miles on. The only real question I have about my gear is how much stove fuel to cary. I knew with my old stove, but it finally fried, and I had to replace it (thank god! it was ancient - some handmedown from dad - and it weighed a TON!). I have an Optimus Nova now. I've used it on half a dozen trips, but most of them have been weekend-only. We won't need to boil drinking water, but we will be eating freeze-dried backpacking meals (call it 2-3 per day between the 2 of us) plus coffee/oatmeal in the mornings and so on. I have the 15 oz fuel bottle with it. So, if I start with that full, how much (if any) extra fuel should I bring? Anyone out there have any experience with this stove or a smiliar one? ANy suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!!

Wiconi
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Ingo
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Re: Hello and a question

Post by Ingo »

I've used a white gas stove on a 9 day trip with my daughter. We cooked mostly rice and pasta, only 1 freeze dried supper, oatmeal/grits/pancakes for breakfasts, and used 40 oz. That's probably at least twice what we could have got by with if we had done just freeze dried. The Optimus site says you should have approx 2.5 hrs burn time on the one fuel bottle, which translates to about 16 min/day. You may make that work, but I'd bring another small bottle given the inexactness of it--temp, wind, etc. all come into play.
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Re: Hello and a question

Post by Redbad »

Have fun on ISRO. Keep in mind that the way the Park Service uses "back country" on ISRO is a little different that the way they use it at say Yellowstone: at Yellowstone a back country campsite is any campsite that cannot be accessed from a road; on ISRO ALL campsites are back county but if you want to camp at a location other than an established campground you will need a zone permit. The Rangers will explain it more when you fill out your itinerary.

Since you will be hiking with your daughter, I would recommend the Tobin Harbor trail when leaving Rock Harbor (it is much less technical than the Rock Harbor Trail). You can get to Suzy's Cave from the TH trail. You will be in wilderness 100 yards or so from the dock, so you will not have a lot of people to compete with. The 3 mile and Daisy Farm campgrounds fill up and on holiday weekends like Labor Day they seem to attract noisier folks (although any campground with shelters does have the potential for slamming doors which are VERY noticeable). Most campgrounds on the east end are not more than a 7 mile hike from each other, so you and your daughter will have plenty of options.

I use the assumption that I will use 5 oz or around 200ml of fuel per day for heating water and cooking food. A 15oz container will get you 3 days at that rate. For 9 days you would need around 45oz or 1.8l of fuel. However, this assumption is based on cooking food (making soups, stews, fish, trail pizza, etc.), which may require 20 or more minutes of stove use per day. If you will only be heating water you will use much less fuel (say 2-3oz per day). This still puts you over 15oz, so you might want a second container of fuel (while Coleman markets a 32oz container of white gas, this container does NOT seal as well as a MSR or Optima fuel bottle and you may get white gas fumes in your backpack which is not pleasant, so I would not recommend this as a second container based on my experience).
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Re: Hello and a question

Post by DonNewcomb »

Also, about zone permits. If you are in campgrounds, the officialdom is not too picky about your schedule, itinerary, etc. As long as they are on the your list, it seems OK. If you go off-trail they get really OCD and want to know where you will be and the exact days you will be there. It's a strict schedule. Also, the east half of the island tends to be very thick with undergrowth and not easy to navigate off-trail in the summer. Some of the camp sites are pretty primitive; no shelters or out houses, just marked sites.

As for fuel, they do sell white gas, by the ounce, at Rock Harbor. So, if you are not getting far from RH you probably don't need to carry a lot.
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Re: Hello and a question

Post by IncaRoads »

Don - I had the exact opposite experience that you had. On my recent trip in May 2012, I expressed to the rangers that I would like some leeway in the arrival date to one of my backcountry zone campsites, especially if weather delayed me. They were more than happy to oblige and wrote a note of the potential delay on my permit.
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Re: Hello and a question

Post by drobarge »

They seem a little OCD because they want the best chance of finding you should the need arise.
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Re: Hello and a question

Post by DonNewcomb »

IncaRoads wrote:Don - I had the exact opposite experience that you had. On my recent trip in May 2012, I expressed to the rangers that I would like some leeway in the arrival date to one of my backcountry zone campsites, especially if weather delayed me. They were more than happy to oblige and wrote a note of the potential delay on my permit.
I don't think this is quite "the exact opposite". What I'm saying is that if you stay on-trail you can just give them a list of the campgrounds you plan to visit and if you decide to go around the loop in the other direction, bypass campgrounds, stay an extra day at one because of weather, etc., it's no big deal. But if you plan to be off-trail, then you are on a schedule. If they approve specific dates then it has to be those dates. If you go outside whatever they've approved then you have to get a ranger to re-approve it. Our problem was that the ranger on Ranger III essentially signed off on what we gave him without looking at it and without advising us as to the real situation. We got read the riot act when when checked out. Our only sin was that while we technically had zone approval, we didn't have specific dates listed.
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Re: Hello and a question

Post by slsail »

Wiconi has already went on her trip.
As fuel goes. Understand your stove and fuel consumption.
If you are using all dehydrated food you typical burn time is 3.5 minutes to boil water. Before you go do test burns.
Weigh a full fuel canister. Simulate cooking a meal or two .
Weigh you fuel canister again. Then start doing math and calculate exactly how much you used. Then look at your meals and how many minutes you need to burn for your trip. I did a week on isro came back with 8 minutes of fuel enough for 2 mountain house meals I had for emergency extended stay.
With that being said you can't spill fuel, roast marshmallows, use it for lighting unless you plan it in you fuel consumption plan.
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