Sometime last year Pastor Mohelke came to my brother and I asked if we would head up a group at the church and plan activities to get fathers and sons together. Brad and I decided that we would take one Saturday a month leading up to the summer to share what we know about backpacking and the outdoors. Each month we highlighted a skill and worked towards bringing families outdoors, with the end goal being a backpacking trip the end of July into the Sawtooth Recreational Area.
This specific trip was a preliminary trip to judge distance for the littler kids that would be going, and also to find an appropriate camp site. Those that were in attendance were my brother Brad, brother-in-law Jay, as well as Dennis Brandt and Adam Dick.
The proposed hike started in Grandjean and made it's way into the wilderness towards Baron Creek.
We got a bit of a late start on Friday as we had to wait for Brad to get done with some work errands. On the way to pick up Adam in Meridian I made a mistake with my phone's navigation and took a side trip to Boise that added an extra half hour of delay. We finally made it out of Boise after grabbing some food at Quiznos and made it to Grandjean around 5:00 p.m.
We decided that despite the very short trip to Baron's Creek that we would stay the night in the campground (site #7, Dennis' favorite site). It began to drizzle a bit so we pitched our tents and hammock and then made our way down to Sawtooth lodge for dinner. Maui Waui burgers almost all the way around, Jay had a grilled cheese.
Trip report:
New Gear: As always there were new toys to try out. First, I acquired a new app for my Samsung Incredible called Gram Weenie. The app was still in it's beta form, but it allowed me to track all my items in the gear closet, and then create trip gear lists to determine weight. Great app, all the weights however have to be in grams which added some extra calculations on another app. The gear weight for this trip with all the new goodies (minus food and water, and whisky) was 18.9#. I was pretty happy with this weight, especially since I brought everything I wanted.
Tools: I brought my Gransfor Bruks Hatchet, Bahco folding saw, and Mora Classic. I loved the GB hatchet and used it quite a bit on this trip. The edge stayed extremely sharp and I found a lot of uses for it. It will continue to come with me on future trips. I never got a chance to use the Bahco which I am really found of, it compliments that hatchet well. The Mora will continue to be my good to knife for future trips, although I am still looking for a better sheath.
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| First night's hang was a poor one. Several attempts throughout the night to make adjustments didn't work and I spent the last few hours on the ground. Too much sag, and not equally hung between the two trees. |
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| Dennis brought along some shrimp wrapped in bacon. The looked and smelled fantastic, unfortunatly they were also very hot and Dennis and I lost ours in the fire. |
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| New Four Dogs LT1 wood burning stove with Heineken cup and homemade cozy. Making morning Starbucks. |
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| Adam's first backpacking trip. Adam's dad was suppose to accompany us on this trip but fell ill just a couple of days before. |
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| Brad thought it would be a good idea to photo my arse. Notice the Mora in the right pants pocket? |
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| Brad, myself, Adam, Dennis, and Jay. |
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| A storm filled spring left the area full of down trees. No shortage of fire wood on this trip. |
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| Winter is still holding on to the upper peaks. |
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| The first of many river crossings. |
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| As always Jay was in the lead and broke trail for us through Baron's Creek. It should be noted that it was probably one of the coldest crossings I have ever done. |
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| I learned on this trip that Dennis refuses to cross in his boots. |
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| Dennis making his way across. |
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| I think I was the last to go across. I have crossed this Creek several times before. I remember how cold it was. |
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| Staple crossing photo. |
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| Unbelievable pain to sit for this photo. Once you exit the creek your feet continue to hurt for several minutes. Very, very, very cold water. |
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| Crossing number two. |
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| Despite deciding that we would camp at the crossing with the kids in July, we decided to venture further in hopes of good fishing on the South Fork of the Payette. |
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| Bushwhacking through to find the South Fork, fishing, and a good campsite. |
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| South Fork of the Payette. Not known for it's good fishery. |
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| This may or may not be the area that I lost my new Montana Fly Company hemostats and nippers. Sigh. |
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| Adam watching us and our poor attempt to catch dinner. |
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| Purifying our nights water. |
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| New Cabelas Stowaway 6 pc. rod, and G. Loomis Venture 5 reel. |
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| We all took a Siesta after an afternoon of fishing. |
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| Night two's hang was much more successful. Hammock was pitched equally between the two trees, took the slack out. Slept very well, the new Arrowhead Equipment Underquilt and Down Booties worked great. |
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| Perfect pitch of the Double Rainbow by Brad and Jay. |
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| We really lucked out with weather. Got rained on both nights, but during the day and afternoons nothing more than a drizzle. |
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| On our way back home. |
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| This was a very scary crossing over a rotten log. My heart was beating very hard on my way across. |
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| This was not an easy crossing and in about ten more feet Adam takes a fall and gets pretty wet. |
