yes. i was in the Sequoia National wilderness. amazing place. we saw only 6 other humans back there. the 3 crazy ass elfin thru hikers, a husband and wife team. the husband looked like he was gonna die. she was kicking butt! some solo hiker, he looked Scandanavian, had an accent. we named him Bjork. he was fast! and then Mr 170lbs. 6 total. opps..i think that is Seven total!
you know what? we were fast too. i had a great time this outing because i prepped for this trip. my lungs and legs were healthy. my knee swelled up on the drive out of the park. maybe the hard labor, followed by a fast extended sitting down session was the cause. i limped for a day! we were doing better than 2mph for the most part.
out at the furthest reaches, there were ZERO other humans. no human footprints, no used fire-rings. no recent sign. we were the first team in.
surprisingly very little animal sightings as well. no deer, no bear. lots of bear poop and prints. we saw that beaver, my first bald eagle. we caught lots of trout with eagle claw holes in the back. one fist was very injured but still bit my brothers lure. it was bleeding from the wounds and died shortly afterwards. a huge trout.
backpack food is gross. it is much better coupling it with some real processed food like instant mash potatoes. or instant couscous. wild trout is very good, for the first 10 times. after that, you wish for can of tuna!
our Mora knives were amazing. cheap $15 knives that were our only knives. (i did take a leatherman to bend down fishhook barbs). the knives are sharp and easy to resharpen. cleaning fish was easy.
ticks! yup. small reddish ticks. deer ticks i think. we kept vigilant on self inspection. (seque) wool underwear!! on my to-buy list. a must have. all my wool i could wash and dry very quickly. we kept relatively clean. jumping in near freezing water is easy when you can smell yourself. and you itch in places that shouldnt itch!
more pics.
