Winter Gloves for Backpacking

There is no gear choice more agonizing to backpackers than choosing gloves. Most backpackers end up with many pair, none of which is totally satisfactory to them.  I've recently changed my glove strategy and so far I'm cautiously optimistic.

My previous pair of gloves were glove/mittens that I picked up for cheap somewhere.  Mittens are warmer than gloves but don't allow you to do anything that requires much dexterity.  The idea of this system is that you get the best of both worlds.  You can fold back the part of the mitten that covers your fingers. Velcro on the back of the glove holds this top part in place.  When in glove mode they are fingerless.

My Old Glove/Mittens

This seems like a great idea. The problem here was that the execution wasn't that great. Notice that in either mode your thumb is still encased. It turns out to be surprisingly hard to do things like use a lighter or tie a knot while your thumb is covered.

The other weakness of this is that it isn't waterproof. The material doesn't absorb water but snow or water can easily get under the flap.

SealSkinz Waterproof Gloves

I have a pair waterproof gloves also. They are SealSkinz gloves. These gloves are completely waterproof but the inner membrane is one-way breathable. I think they are probably designed for fisherman or paddlers rather than hikers. However they are nice for spring hikes when there might be cold rain or you might have to mop the frost off your tarp in the morning. They are windproof as well of course so they keep the chill off a bit. But there is no insulating layer so if it gets down near freezing your hands will be cold.


Backpackers tend to prefer a layering system with a waterproof outer mitten and an insulating liner glove inside. If you get too warm you can use either the liner by itself or the mitt by itself. I've looked at many such models and finally found one which I think will do well: Outdoor Research Meteor Mitts. Initially I had trouble finding these because REI's site has these under women's gloves. However if you start searching for Outdoor Research mittens and then select Unisex then you find these.

Meteor Mitt liners

What's cool about these is that the liner is a glove/mitten, like my old ones.  In fact these are much better because the thumb can be uncovered also.  The fingers are not separated underneath like my old gloves but that was kind of a useless feature.  This provides so much dexterity that I really can tie knots without getting down to bare hands.

Liners with digits exposed

The covers for fingers and thumb have little magnets in them that stick to tiny magnets on the back of the gloves to keep them out of the way.  Nice touch I think.  Since the liner is fleece velcro would be a pain.









The outer mitts are well designed also.  The gauntlets come up quite far on your arm and can be cinched down to keep out snow.  I've held them under running water and they seem to be highly water-resistant.

Meteor Mitt Shells

At the bottom of the picture the the left you can see part of a long loop of cord with a simple cord-lock.  This puzzled me at first and then I realized that if I put this around my wrist I could take the mitt off and let it dangle without worrying about losing it.  This means you can take off the outer layer without stopping to undo your pack.  Very nice.

My one gripe -- velcro which makes the shell difficult to remove

After using these gloves on two outings this winter I have concluded there is one minor design error.  The mitt and the liner stay attached to eachother due to matching strips of velcro.  This makes is surprisingly hard to get the mitt off.  I found myself just removing the whole thing when I needed to use my fingers.  I think I'll remove this velcro.  I imagine the idea was to keep you from losing the liner.  But the difficulty it imposes partly negates the advantage of having a liner which allows for finger dexterity.  This is an easy modification so I don't mind having to do it.


I've used these gloves in very cold temps and I would say these gloves are good down to 10 F (-12 Celcius).  Below this temperature I found my fingers getting cold if I were standing still.  While walking I could keep my fingers warm down to somewhere around 0 F.  If you are going to spend significant time below 10 F then I would recommend something like the Black Diamond Mercury Mitten. I considered these initially but decided they were overkill for my purposes and would provide only minor dexterity.

A Winter Hang

This past weekend I went the to a "hang", a gathering of hammock enthusiasts, in NW Pennsylvania. It was held at Moshannon State Forest near the Marion Brooks natural area at a place called "Beaver Run". Nearby we found plenty of evidence that beavers are indeed active in the area.

One of the reasons for a hang is to test your gear and to take a look at other people's gear and get ideas. When we first planned the hang it looked like it might be very cold and that worried me. Then on the day of the hang it got amazingly warm, but was forecast to be cold and gusty that night. Setting up in warm weather with melting snow all around reminded me of one of the best things about hammocking -- staying above the mud!

Here you can see my bridge hammock (with green underquilt) suspended above a slush pond that formed from my footprints while I was setting up. Because I knew it would get down to about 20F that night I added a second underquilt that my wife had recently made for me. I figured that would keep me warm. But my big concern was the wind. Gusts of 40 mph were called for and the ground was muddy so I was afraid that stakes would not hold.

Enter my new favorite piece of gear. I just got these guys for my birthday. They are REI Snow and Sand Tent Anchors; just simple squares of material with cords connecting to a common point where you tie to. They are lighter than stakes but work great in snow. The picture shows a rock but what you really do is put a bunch of snow in the center and then bury that in more snow and stamp it down. I put these on the windward side of my tarp and hoped for the best. They worked great! Didn't budge an inch and the tarp stood firm all night. In fact in the morning I had significant difficulty getting them out. I had to pound on the ice with the back of a hatchet I borrowed.


The other reason for a hang is to meet people. The people on hammockforums.net are some of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet. The hang was organized by medicjimr who documented the trip with this youtube video.  Below are some of the other hangers.

Because Pennsylvania is colder than Missouri I'm finding I need to beef up my winter gear.  In the next few posts I'll describe some of the gear I've been testing out his winter.

Enhancing the Golite Ultra 20

(Note: In this post I describe a DIY project that several people online have talked about doing but I have never heard of anyone who actually did it. So I decided to share my experience.)

I have written in a previous post about my Golite Ultra 20 down quilt. This has been a good quilt for me but, as others have noted, the temperature rating of 20 degrees was optimistic. I have read that the weight of down used was about 9.5 ounces (270 grams) of high quality (800 fill power) down. The Nunatak Arc Alpinist, a very well respected down quilt, has a 20 degree temperature rating with 11 ounces of down so I do think the people at Golite went a little cheap on the fill. (Because of widespread complaints the newer version of the quilt has more down I understand. The new version doesn't have the "20" in the name and is rated a 3-season quilt.).

This hadn't bothered me very much when sleeping on the ground but in a hammock it was a problem. The reason is that on the ground I put my ccf pad inside the quilt such that it forms a U-shape inside the footbox of the quilt such that my feet don't actually touch the quilt. In the hammock I don't do that and my feet were always cold. After investigating I realized that the baffles in the footbox were only partially filled with down. Here's a picture of my hand inside the footbox. You can clearly see the shape of my finger.



So I decided to buy some down from Thru-Hiker. He sells excellent quality down (900 fill power). The smallest bag you can get has 3.1 ounces in it. Here is the bag next to the quilt.



The mission was to put the down into the quilt. My wife was surprisingly willing to take on this project. She is a very competent seamstress. The first task was too pick open some seams with a "seam ripper" tool.



Once we had made a small hole we tried several methods of inserting the down. A funnel and a pencil worked pretty well but soon we realized that we could go even faster just using our fingers.



For those unfamiliar with the terminology of down sleeping bags and quilts you need to know that inside the quilt are "baffles" made of very fine mesh material. This keeps the down from shifting around too much and leaving cold spots. The areas between baffles, where the down is, are called "chambers". Most of the apparent "seams" you see in a down quilt aren't seams at all. They are just where you see the stitching that holds the baffles to the shell material of the quilt.

We filled the two chambers at the foot end (the part with black fabric) with extra down and then turned to the very bottom of the quilt, where the soles of you feet touch. This was somewhat laborious because there are three small chambers down there.



The quilt was definitely underfilled before. But I worried a bit about putting too much down in each chamber. At the foot end we certainly got close to doing that. If you overstuff the chambers then the down will not be able to fully loft and the insulating value of the down will be compromised. But afterward as I compare the feel of it to well-constructed winter down bags (such as those sold by Western Mountaineering) that I have handled it seems comparable.

The foot end was certainly the high priority. But after stuffing those chambers as full as we dared we still had at least half the down left. So we decided to continue on up the quilt and fill in the chambers that go across the body. This is made a little more difficult than you might think by one of the nice features of the Golite Ultra 20. Many quilts and bags have baffles only running across the body. But of course this means the down can shift to either side of you. The Golite Ultra 20 has additional baffles that run the length of the quilt and keep the down on top of you. This means that we couldn't open the seems at the very edge of the quilt and have access to those important top chambers. So we picked apart the seams where the lengthwise baffles meet the horizontal baffles.

The result is very nice looking. Because of the comparative emptiness of the quilt beforehand the "enhanced" quilt looks like the chambers are full without being overly full.



Inside the quilt feels positively luxurious. The material that Golite uses is very soft to the touch and now that the chambers are bulging with down your feet in particular feel like they are nestled in warmth. I'm really looking forward to trying the improved quilt this winter!

For those interested in tackling this project I will add two points.

1. Thru-hiker's down is REALLY excellent. The tufts of down are huge and fluffy and there are very few feathers to be seen. I highly recommend it. And the quantity (3 ounces) is just right for this project.

2. Working with down involves some clean up, as you can see from the pictures above. However I was surprised how easy it was. We have a Dyson, bagless vacuum cleaner and I was stunned at how well it worked. In just a few minutes the room was completely clean.

A Very Rocky Trail

Last week I returned to the Mid-State trail with my brother. We intended to follow it from the Jo Hays vista trailhead to Laurel Run Road. Since I had previously hiked a few miles of this before and the trail had run more or less along the ridge and since both trailheads are located along the ridge I reasoned that the trail must follow the ridge for the whole distance. That's basically the hike we took but when I returned home I found that my copy of the Mid-State Trail guide had arrived and a quick perusal showed me that we had actually done a combination of the Mid-State trail and the Jackson trail. The Jackson trail ends at Jo Hays vista on PA26 near where the Mid-State trailhead is so I guess it's an easy mistake to make.

The Jackson trail is extremely rocky. It follows the ridge of the mountain even when that ridge becomes very sharp and so rocky that no trees will grow. But this means that there are spectacular views of the surrounding valleys. Here are some photos to give you an idea.




There was very little elevation gain or loss on this trip. But as you can imagine the hiking was hard because the ground was so rocky. Afterward my ankles were sore from being twisted at each step.

It was a beautiful hike and we really enjoyed it. When it got dark we stopped for dinner. I was reminded how much I enjoy my DIY woodgas stove. If you haven't made one yet then you really should. You can follow the directions I give in the link above. This time of year it's one of my favorite pieces of gear. It's just so simple and reliable. A full load (about a handful) of twigs boil about 2.5 to 3 cups of water just perfectly. We fired it up three times that evening. The first time was to make some chili mac for dinner and then later (since we were still hungry) we made some Ramen. Then as it got late we made a big batch of hot cocoa. I didn't use a lighter or matches this time. I found that vaseline soaked cotton ball could be easily lit with a firesteel striker.

Since I hadn't been out for a while I was really struck with how much I enjoy being out in the woods. The beauty of nature is soothing to the soul.

Rothrock Forest, First Looks

When I first considered moving to Pennsylvania I wondered about hiking on the Appalachian Trail. But then my wife read in a book that hikers consider the Pennsylvania section of the AT to be their least favorite section. Apparently the reason is that the trail misses some of the prettiest parts of the state. So I did a little research and found that the Great Eastern Trail, which parallels the AT for much of its length, runs right through State College and was more carefully designed to hit the nicer areas of Pennsylvania. In fact the Pennsylvania section of the GET was the first section finished and it's called the Mid-State Trail. Ever since then I've been interested to find out where this trail starts and do some miles on it.

I have learned most of what I know about hikes in this area from the website PAhikes.com. The site is apparently run by someone here in State College. From this site I learned that the MST is not the only trail nearby. The nearby Rothrock State Forest is crisscrossed with many trails. Below is a topographical map of the forest near State College.

View Larger Map

On Saturday I followed some directions from PAhikes.com and found the MST. If you look at the northeast quadrant of the map you will see a road called Laurel Run Road. I followed this road up the mountain to where it crosses anther road called Little Shingleton Road. This road is not really a road as it has a gate. I parked my car at the gate. The MST is marked with orange blazes on the trees and follows this road for a hundred yards or so before forking off.

Last post I mentioned the differences in the foliage I have noticed. In the picture you can see one of the main differences along the side of the road -- ferns. There are ferns in the Ozarks but here the numbers and density of the ferns is really impressive. Here's another patch of ferns further on.


After 100 yards or so the MST forks off to run along the ridge of the mountain. The trail is rocky but the hiking is easy because there are no ups and down. Occasionally there are nice views of the valley far below and the next ridge. This picture doesn't really capture the view but it was the best I could do.

I followed the trail for a mile or so and then came this intersection.

Rather than continuing on the MST I took a side trail called the Sand Spring trail. which heads down the mountain. It's very steep in this direction. I found myself huffing and puffing on the way back up. I then continued on the MST until I came to the highest point on the mountain (you can see it in the map). At that point I returned back to my car.

In short I'm enthusiastic. I plan to return for a hike in this location and spend a day or two along the MST -- the first of many I hope!

Mount Nittany

Since settling down here in State College, PA I haven't yet taken an opportunity for an overnight trip. But I have spent some time examining the territory. It's beautiful country around here for anyone who enjoys the outdoors.

State College is nestled in the Allegheny mountains of central Pennsylvania. Because it's such a small town you really feel close to the woods. Biking around town I notice that it smells like being out in the woods. My house is right near a forested area. In fact I'm surrounded by trees on 3 sides. At the bottom of the hill my house is located on is a creek called Spring Creek where the local kids go to play in the water on warm days. On the other side of Spring Creek rises Mount Nittany, the largest mountain in the area.

Recently we took a little hike up Mount Nittany. The trailhead is just a mile from my house. There are many trails on the mountain and some fine views of the town from the top.

I'm trying to figure out what is different about Pennsylvania as compared with the hardwood forests of the Ozarks. In some ways it is very similar. But there are differences that I can't quite put my finger on yet. Some of it has to do with the plants. The trees seem to grow taller here and the undergrowth is entirely different.

The topography is also different. The hills aren't that much bigger than they are in the Ozarks but they seem bigger. That's because of the way they are shaped. Imagine laying a hand towel flat on a countertop and putting your hands down on the towel about 6 inches apart. Now if you were to slide one hand toward another folds would rise up between your hands. That's how the mountains around here look. They are quite steep on the sides and very long, just like the ground had been folded.

Hikers often talk about how rocky Pennsylvania is and I was curious to see for myself. It certainly is very rocky. There are few places where the trail is smooth. There aren't that many very large boulders or very small stones either. Either would make the hiking a little easier. Most of the rocks you see scattered about are about the size of a typical desktop printer.

I talked to a geologist who told me that we have an inverted topography here. The stones are sandstone from some ancient ocean shore that has been raised up to become the surrounding mountains.

I'll write more soon about some other areas I've explored.

Missouri Hiking Gems

Recently I blogged about my remembrances of the Ozark Trail. The OT takes in some of the nicest spots in the state. But of course there are some great hikes that aren't on the OT. Some of these I have hiked and I thought I should mention them. Especially since one of them turned out to be my favorite spot to hike in all of Missouri.

Last post I mentioned Bell Mountain and Council Bluff lake. These aren't on the OT per se but are both loop trails that intersect the OT. So I count them as part of the OT. I'm going to talk about places that aren't on the OT.

The other thing I will exclude is the Katy Trail. Some people do hike this I understand but it's really for biking. This is a MUST DO if you are in Missouri. It's just spectacular! But I'm going to only consider hiking spots in this post.

I'll rank three such hikes according to how beautiful the hike is. They are all good but not equal in my mind.

Bronze Medal
Sam A. Baker State Park
Some may say that the Mudlick trail in Sam A Baker State Park should be included as a loop trail that intersects the OT because the Wappapello section dead ends into it. However I've never hiked the Wappapello section and so I didn't count it as part of the OT. This park is mostly for people who want to get away from it all and rent a cabin for a few days. There are many cabins in the park near the River. There's even a little convenience store that's open in season. I went in the winter so I had the park to myself. The Mudlick trail goes around the park and is about 15 miles long. If you start at the trailhead and hike counterclockwise then you soon come to the two best spots along the trail. The first is a great bluff view. Here it is in the morning in winter.

The great thing about this bluff view is that you can camp right there in a stone 3-walled shelter -- the only place in Missouri that I'm aware of where there are such shelters for hikers.

A little further on is Mudlick hollow. This hollow has waterfalls and cascades and is really gorgeous. A photo opportunity in any season I would think.

The reason this trail only gets the Bronze is that these two spots are within the first 2 miles of the trailhead. The rest of the hike is pleasant but not spectacular.

Silver Medal
Big Piney Trail -- Paddy Creek Wilderness
The Paddy Creek Wilderness is in Southcentral Missouri, just South of Fort Leonard Wood. It starts at Roby Lake near the town of Roby.

I'm not sure what it is about this place. I just found that I kept going back to it in my mind months after I'd hiked it. The creeks are great and the forest is beautiful. I went right after a big storm so many trees were down and the creeks were running very high (crossing Paddy Creek itself was a challenge, I was wet up to my hips) but I still loved it. The highlight of the hike is the canyon in the middle of the loop trail. The views from the bluffs are incredible and you can camp right at the top if you like.



This is really a first class hike all around. It might have won the gold if it weren't that the competition was so incredible.

Gold Medal Winner
Hawn State Park -- Whispering Pine Trail

I didn't discover this park until quite late. But it's actually one of the closest to St Louis. The camping area near Pickle Creek is full of RVs in season. But you get good solitude on the trail. There are great backcountry camp spots along the trail also. The forest has more pine than most forests in the Ozarks and I think that adds to the beauty. There are two creeks that border this park and both are unusually beautiful. Words don't really suffice so I'll let pictures do the talking for me.

The trail also hits some high spots and from the boulder-strewn peaks you get great views of the surrounding country.


And there are great bluffs overlooking the creeks which provide great pictures from either the top or the bottom.



If someone could only go on one hike in Missouri I'd recommend this one!