I purchased this Kinto SCS-S02 in July 2019 and have been using it daily for the past 7 years. I have tried other brewers, such as the Cilio Ceramic Dripper #4, Hario Switch, and Kalita Wave 185 but I always return to the Kinto. Sometimes I use the included small “4 cups” (2 mugs) pitcher, but typically I brew it straight into a mug as shown.

Every morning I use a conical burr grinder to grind light roasted coffee beans in a 1:17 ratio. I used to roast my own green coffee beans that I sourced from Sweet Maria’s, but now I’ve taken the easy route and am subscribed to Trade, which does an amazing job combining freshness, my preferred roast profile, and variety.

My ideal cup of coffee doesn’t include an oily mouth feel, so rather than using the metal filter it comes with I use a Hario V60 02 paper filter. I find this setup makes an excellent cup of coffee and appreciate that all the water must flow through the grinds (unlike the Hario Switch which allows water to bypass the grind stack once released). I also appreciate the thin glass doesn’t have significant thermal mass, which allows the water to stay hot as it brews the coffee and negates a significant pre-heating process, such as that required by the Hario Switch.

I first learned about Kinto from a Blue Bottle coffee shop in Oakland that served their to-stay coffee in strikingly beautiful Kinta 8290 Unita mugs. I purchased a set of four that same day. A few years later I noticed Kinto had released the SCS-S02 and decided to give it a shot. I still believe it is the best pour over on the market for both taste and countertop refinement. I now have over 20 pieces of Kinto glass wear, including their water glasses and insulated whiskey glasses. For maintenance I use a little cutting board oil on the walnut base every 6 to 12 months.

I purchased my first Fellow Stagg Electric Gooseneck Kettle in November 2022, my second in August 2025, and have gifted it to my mom and good friends. Gooseneck kettles serve one purpose (or maybe two if you’re like me and also water your house plants with it) and that’s to make pour over coffee. If you just want hot water for tea you should go with a kettle that pours much faster. That said I do enjoy how I can easily lower the target temperature when I am making tea.

My first Fellow Stagg Kettle was the base model and I actually prefer its handle—it is unbranded and a bit more matte. That kettle also has a nice simplicity to it, the control knob only presses in and twists for on/off and temperature target. The benefit of my newer “pro” kettle, pictured here, is the ability to schedule it to be boiling by the time I arrive to the kitchen on early mornings—a critical feature for early morning dawn patrols. The pro also has a new lid design that helps it attach and detach more easily, a clock, and max boil temperatures based on elevation, which is helpful for house guests so they don’t crank it to 212F and find the kettle nearly jumping from boiling so hard. For maintenance I (A) do an overnight diluted vinegar soak every 3-6 months since we have very hard water and the deposits build up fairly rapidly and (B) oil the maple lid and handle at the same time to ensure they don’t dry out and crack.

All in all I believe this is the ultimate morning pour over setup that maximizes both the quality of your coffee and the aesthetic of your countertop.

1. At 6,961m (22,838 ft), Aconcagua is far from an 8,000m peak, but it is definitely better to err on the side of warmth for the key items that could thwart your summit bid: parka, mittens, socks+boots, hand & toe warmers. See the full gear list below.
2. Bring your own WAG Bags. The High Camps don’t have pit toilets and the park only provides two low-quality plastic bags to use for up to 5 days–and some of our bags started with holes in them due to manufacturing defects–much better to just bring your own supply of high quality wag bags to stay clean and sanitary.
3. Group dynamics are critical and on a guided trip you often don’t have the ability to pick the other clients in the group. As such, it is always worth a group discussion near the beginning of the trip to reinforce and align on what you might take for granted in normal life: collective success hinges on psychological safety, respect, communication, teamwork, and a growth mindset such that everyone is excited to learn new skills and no one feels insecure if there are things they don’t know.
4. Join the American Alpine Club for reasonably priced rescue insurance and great discounts on gear.
5. Pre-acclimating with normobaric hypoxia via a nitrogen dilution tent prior to the trip will increase your chance of summiting without AMS symptoms. Particularly the lower you live from the starting elevation of 9,000 ft. Source: Uphill Athlete
6. Since this is an exercise in acclimation there is a huge amount of down time. Bring cards, games, & a kindle!

Day-by-Day

It was a 12 day trip trailhead to trailhead, each day and GPS tracks:

• Day 1, Dec 7th (Strava) Hike from the trailhead to Confluencia
• Day 2, Dec 8th (Strava) Acclimation Hike to Plaza de Francia
• Day 3, Dec 9th (Strava) Confluencia to Base Camp: Plaza de Mulas
• Day 4, Dec 10th (Strava) Acclimation Hike to Camp 1: Canada
• Day 5, Dec 11th (Strava) Acclimation Hike to Camp 2: Nido de Condores
• Day 6, Dec 12th (Strava) Rest day to abandoned hotel
• Day 7, Dec 13th (Strava) Up to Camp 1: Plaza Canada (16,400 ft)
• Day 8, Dec 14th (Strava) Up to Camp 2: Nido de Condores (18,000 ft)
• Day 9, Dec 15th (Strava) Acclimation Hike to Camp 3: Cholera (19,600 ft)
• Day 10, Dec 16th (Strava) Summit Day! (22,837 ft)
• Day 11, Dec 17th (Strava) Camp 2: Nido de Condores down to Base Camp: Plaza de Mulas
• Day 12, Dec 18th (Strava) Base Camp: Plaza de Mulas to trailhead

Camps

How it works

Your guide (or you) contract with logistics providers on the mountain who provide bunkbeds inside steel frame tents, restrooms, prepared meals, and bag transport via mule trains. Miguel hired Inka Expediciones as our logistics provider for the two primary base camps of Confluencia and Plaza de Mulas.

Confluencia – 2 Nights

Faku, the camp manager, ran a tight ship at the Confluencia Inka camp with a great team of friendly staff. It was well organized, clean, and they were always happy to help us with any needs.

Base Camp: Plaza de Mulas – 5 Nights

The primary base camp. A larger, but less organized village with an abandoned hotel a short walk away that provided some good entertainment for our rest day.

Camp 1: Canada (16,400 ft)

A small camp on a significant slope behind a visible pinnacle above Plaza de Mulas. We found some previously leveled off tent placements and did our best to further level them for our tents.

Camp 2: Nido de Condores (18,000 ft)

A beautiful camp in a wide gravel saddle from which many groups including ours made their summit bid.

Camp 3: Cholera

I cannot speak to camping at this camp, as we did not stay here, but we did stop by twice, once for our acclimation hike and once on our summit bid. There was another Inka Expediciones dome that proved crucial for our team’s success that we used for shelter to warm up our toes on summit day.

Team

Note
I didn’t decide to write this until after the trip, so I’ve anonymized the names of my fellow 4 climbers, only sharing our guide’s full name as he did a great job and with any luck will get some future business from this post.

Miguel Martinez of Ande Consultants
Our guide from Cusco, Peru (11,000’ elevation) with over 20 years of experience whose favorite mountains are the Cordillera Blanca in Peru. His extensive experience enabled him to confidently navigate our group’s issues and lead the full party to the summit.

B – An up-and-coming content creator with Raynauds, who was thus constantly suffering from cold toes/hands/body. This trip was her first solo international trip and she was quickly learning how to navigate her newly found independence.

W – A military medic now working a civilian job. A very smart, kind, funny, athletic, and humble team player. New to the world of mountaineering, but a quick study.

T – From the UK, extremely funny, loves travel, has been nearly everywhere, planning to climb Mont Blanc this summer. Goes to Iceland 2x per year and will be running the Reykjavik marathon this summer with his girlfriend. Pre-acclimated by renting a normobaric hypoxia setup and while not the most fit, experienced the least altitude sickness symptoms of our group likely due to this preparation.

J – An extremely loud and insecure Alaskan bush pilot that drove everyone crazy and was lucky none of his gear blew away after ignoring our advice and repeatedly placing it on the ground. Without question J was the most challenging part of the trip.

Key Moments

Summit Day

Launch
Alarms jolted us awake at 2am. We slowly bundled up head-to-toe in our full summit gear and upon emerging from the tent found Miguel had already started boiling water. We had oats and coffee under a clear sky with a one-day-past-full moon, double checked the contents of our packs, and at 3:30am began our journey to the summit.

Cold Feet
By 5:05am B’s toes were cold and numb. This was a problem for her, but also for the group as T’s feet were cold and I had been alternatingly balling up and swinging my hands all morning to keep them warm. After spending 20 minutes struggling to warm up B’s feet on the side of the trail we pushed on to Camp 3, where Inka Expeditions had an unoccupied dome and M, W, and J set about warming B’s toes with massage and additional toe warmers. After 40 minutes, T’s toes were going numb and he wiggled and swung them without being able to regain much warmth–we needed to resume our ascent. Fortunately the weather was beautiful and the sun was beginning to rise and in the next 45 minutes the warm rays combined with the uphill effort had warmed everyone up.

The Traverse
After Camp 3 there is a consistent climb up to a ridge that you cross and then there’s a long traverse across the huge scree field that you can see from above Camp 2. It had the strongest steady wind of the day and had it been a colder day it would have been very cold. There was a group of Germans that we met at Plaza de Mulas who got mild frostbite on their hands and faces while crossing this cold section–fortunately we had warmer weather. Midway across there is a rest spot for about 5 people to warm up behind a pinnacle wind break.

Cave to Summit
Acute Mountain Sickness. From The Cave to the summit I had the coordination of being drunk. I also noticed my speech sounded distant to myself. The terrain was loose rocks in dirt such that it was often two steps forward with one slide back. When the steps were big I was taking a step, counting to 8, and then taking another step. Miguel saw this and taught me to take more smaller steps for better consistent progress forward with less exertion. Instead of going straight up he would snake his way back and forth along short made up switchbacks. J had bursts of energy and charged ahead with another group up onto the ridge where he waited 45 min for the rest of us. T methodically put one foot in front of the other–not feeling AMS, but feeling the exhaustion of the big effort. B was nauseous, wobbly and struggling to eat or drink. W kept telling me he felt like he was going to pass out. When we got to The Cave, B immediately laid face down on the ground.

Funniest Moment

On Day 5 we needed to haul 4 days worth of food and some of our summit-day-only items up to Camp 2. We had split up the group gear haphazardly before ascending and it turned out the hike to 18,000 ft was quite challenging. At around 17,850 ft B started wobbling while walking and Miguel carried her pack the final distance up to an Inka Expeditions support tent. Once inside the tent and resting we started taking inventory of the group gear. Miguel opened B’s backpack and discovered that, of the pounds and pounds of group gear that needed to be hauled up, B had only carried 3 candy bars, and all the gear in her bag was her personal gear (extra changes of clothes, etc). Miguel looked at me with the most hilarious expression of “there’s not even any group gear in this bag!”. We gave her a hard time about this until it was W’s birthday. It turned out B had secretly been carrying 6 cupcakes up the mountain so each of us had one when it came time to celebrate W’s birthday at 18,000’! It made for quite a nice surprise :)

Idle Time

Aconcagua is all about acclimating to the elevation. We played 20+ hours of Uno, wandered around the base camps, sunbathed, laid in bed, drank coffee, ate multicourse meals, and generally waited for our bodies to build more hemoglobin. Because of this, renting an oxygen deprivation chamber/device is probably a good idea to get a jump start on the process and hopefully feel better for summit day.

Gear Notes

Parka

After reading the reddit post below I went with the Rab Positron Pro (300g of 800 FP down), but was then nervous that the parka was going to be too light because the temperatures were cold and the winds were high in the weather forecast. It was also the lightest weight parka of my group. However I asked Miguel and the gear outfitters at “Shelter” El Refugio Aconcagua, and they all agreed that it’d be okay as long as I wore sufficient layers underneath.

Summit Day Outfit

Upper body

• Icebreaker shortsleeve wool t-shirt
• BD Alpenglo Sunshirt
• Icebreaker Merino microgrid hoody
• Patagonia R1 Air
• Mountain Hardware Ghost Whisperer
• Rab Positron Pro

Lower body

• Smartwool base layer
• Mammut softshell pants
• Arcteryx hardshell pants
• [Carried and not used] Feathered Friends Helios down pants

Feet

• Smartwool liner socks
• Smartwool expedition socks
• Ignik air activated toe warmers
• La Sportiva G2 Evo Boot w/ Boa
• [Carried and not used] Petzle Vasak 12-point toe-bail crampons

Hands

• BD Patrol Gloves
• OR Alti Mitt shell

Head

• Petzle Actik Core 600 lumen headlamp
• Buff with mouth and nose hole cutouts
• Smith Pursuit photochromatic glasses w/ nose piece (these are amazing for backcountry skiing and worked great for this as well).
• Path Projects running hat
• Petzle Sirocco helmet

Resources I found useful in my research:

• Inka Expediciones Aconcagua gear list
• Max Neale’s Denali gear list
• Uphill Athlete Denali gear list
• Reddit: Rab Positron Pro vs Mountain Hardwear Absolute Zero parka
• RMI Aconcagua Gear List

Mendoza

In order to work remote in the days leading up to the trip, I arrived in Mendoza early and booked my own lodging at the Park Hyatt for $208/night. There was a good desk in the room and the internet was perfect for video meetings.

Once the guided trip began with Ande Consultants I moved to the Raices Hotel, which they had booked for the first and last night of the trip. This hotel was perfectly fine, but if the prices remain low when you’re booking your trip I’d recommend staying at The Park Hyatt, which has an incredible outdoor terrace above the street for wonderful outdoor breakfast and dinner dining. The hotels were near each other, so both were in a great location in town to easily walk to many excellent restaurants.

Speaking of restaurants, since our trip ended a couple days early we had a bit of downtime before departing Mendoza. I had been to a few restaurants for lunch prior to the trip beginning, and returned to my favorite after the trip to enjoy an excellent bottle of cabernet under their beautifully trellised ivy at Paisana Cantina. After such a big trip it was awesome to sit outside and enjoy a truly delicious (and affordable) cabernet under the canopy while watching a sliver of the world go by. Be sure to try their empanadas and vegetable plate!

• Allen Edmonds Higgins Mill in 7563 Natural (size 13D). Wisconsin, USA. $550. Purchase.
• Truman Boot Co Marrone Horse Rump Pull Up (size 13D). Colorado, USA. $530. Purchase.
• Alden 5 Eyelet Plain Toe Commando in Brown Chromexcel (size 12D). Massachusetts, USA. $593. Purchase.

The third installment of the Lithic Goods Boot Shoot is under way with three premium pairs of Made in the USA boots. The first Boot Shoot featured: Alden, Oak Street, Red Wing, Wolverine, and Timberland and the second shoot: Eastland, Frye, Woolrich, & Chippewa.

Selection
Truman Boot Co is a charging young company based out of Eugene, Oregon. They’ve been gaining traction through word of mouth and social media, where they enjoy sharing behind the scenes photos of their boot production, material selection, and experimental designs. Their boots caught my eye last year and I’ve been itching to review them ever since.

Allen Edmonds has been around since 1922, but didn’t put forth a worthy contender to the casual boot market until 2016 with the Higgins Mill.

Alden of New England has been in the casual boot market a long time with their cult classic indy boot and various permutations of boots built on the Barrie last such as this plain toe 5-eyelet design.

Allen Edmonds Higgins Mill Boot

Allen Edmonds Higgins Mill Boot in Natural (size 13). USA. $550. Purchase.

General
The Allen Edmonds Higgins Mill Boot fits true to size, but it’s a looser fit than the Allen Edmonds Strand, which in 13D fits my foot perfectly; this is likely because as a boot they allow for a thicker winter sock.

Upper
The upper on this boot is the ‘Natural’ color, which I quite like and appears as expected. Unfortunately this pair arrived with quite a blemish on the right boot’s toe. I’m fairly forgiving when it comes to leather “character” defects, but this is pretty bad. For example the left boot has some small scrapes and a bit of color variation and spots, but that’s to be expected and it would disappear with use. The toe spot I wasn’t convinced would ever go away, mostly because it was three dimensional and appears to have been caused by some kind of compression on the toe. My amateur guess would be it occurred while applying the sole or when the last was removed. The left boot also has a very minor spot like this, but it’s small enough to be of no concern.
One other negative is the suede tongue. For a “rugged” boot like this (not really that rugged, but more casual than a dress boot), I prefer a gusseted tongue made of thin supple leather. This is comfortable, functional, and my aesthetic preference; it keeps snow and rain out and doesn’t fall to one side or another. The tongue could also be a bit longer. The Alden’s tongue is just a few mm longer and I think it provides a superior aesthetic.
The interior of this boot is lined, which is unexpected for a boot at this price range, and really makes this boot a good deal.

Sole
A full 360 degree goodyear welt finished with a Dainite sole and a block heel is a very clean and attractive look. It’s also very comfortable. My AE Strand’s are super comfortable and this footbed feels the same, which is to say, way better than my Red Wing Iron Ranger. My big surprise with the Dainite sole is how slippery is it on wet wood or metal. It’s like a slip and slide. Given that there are rubbers that don’t slip on man hole covers and metal grates, I would have thought for such a popular sole they would have used a non-slip rubber.

Bottom Line
$300-350 (mine were on sale for $300) for a fully lined, well crafted, comfortable goodyear boot made in the USA is a steal. I’d definitely recommend these over the Red Wing Iron Ranger, since both soles are in my opinion sub par. If you want them in Natural (also offered in brown), I recommend buying them in person so you can handle the toe blemish QC inspection yourself. Allen Edmonds has terrific customer service.

Truman Boot Co Service Boot

Truman Boot Co Service Boot in Marrone Pull-Up (size 13). USA. $530. Purchase.

General
The Truman Service Boots fit true to size and, like the Allen Edmonds Higgins, they’re roomier than a dress shoe. Again I believe this is to accommodate warm winter socks. I typically wear them with mid-weight smart wool phd socks, which provides a perfect fit for a boot you can walk in all day.

Upper
The vegetable tanned Marrone horse rump pull up leather is among the best I’ve ever seen, with great depth and variation. In the photos you can see that the left and right boots don’t match perfectly (the left boot is slightly darker), but after taking the initial photos I conditioned them with a little coconut oil on the vamps and they darkened and then lightened back up to nearly identical; the right boot’s leather was just a touch less conditioned. This also eliminated the slight grid/dot pattern from the right boot. The color is even better in person than in the photos. The tongue is made of thin, supple leather as I prefer and is gusseted for weather protection. The toes are unstructured, so there isn’t any extra material (celastic) providing support for the toe shape, which means over time it collapses a bit around your foot. I’ve never had a boot like this and so far I really like it. Combined with the shape of the last it creates more of a dress shoe style toe, but through wear will show your foots shape a bit. There are no speed hooks, but with the long leather laces I never need to rethread them, and they work and look great with a full wrap at the top (as seen in the photos). These boots are lined in the vamp only.

Sole
Unlike the goodyear welts used by Allen Edmonds and Alden, Truman uses a stitch-down welt, which is similarly weather resistant, but results in a slightly different style, with the vamp flaring out and being stitched to the sole with a second row of stitches. Truman also has a very slight forward cut on the heel that I hadn’t noticed until I received them in person, but I think it’s a great example of their attention to detail. It’s very subtle and does a good job of reducing the clunkiness of a block heel, without going full western/PNW.
Unlike other companies, Truman has used a black piece of leather for the insole, I’m not sure why they’ve done this, but the footbed is smooth and the boots are very comfortable. At the time of writing this I’ve worn these boots for about a month and they’ve broken in wonderfully fast. I’ve worn them on hour+ hikes in the snow in the backwoods of Pennsylvania and around NYC and they never became uncomfortable. That said, I wouldn’t recommend walking in the snowy woods with Dainite soles, since they’re far too slick for that kind of use. The Truman’s kept my feet nice and dry, so if configured with a lugged sole they would be very capable for winter walks in the snow. The Dainite sole is really my only qualm; they’re just too slippery for me. Thankfully Truman also offers these boots in a commando sole. (I’d never tried a Dainite sole, so I thought it would be worth it to investigate the trend. Live and learn. If I were to order them again I’d get them with a commando sole.)

Bottom Line
The Truman’s are damn near perfect for what I want out of a pair of boots: beautiful leather with character, comfortable for long walks (12+ miles) in all types of weather, capable of being dressed up or down (they come with rawhide and waxed laces as shown in the photos), fully customizable (sole, cap-toe, eyelet material, speed hooks, heel tab, etc), and made in the USA.

Note: these boots were provided for review and I have provided my honest opinion.

Alden Plain Toe 5-Eyelet Boot

Alden Plain Toe 5-Eyelet Boot in Brown Chromexcel (size 12). USA. $595. Purchase.

General
I sized down to a 12D for these and they were snug, but still very comfortable. Made on the Barrie last, these fit similarly to an Indy Boot, but without the toe stitching. They have a bit more refinement than the other boots with more eyelets/speedhooks and no contrast stitching.

Upper
The brown chromexcel on these Alden’s was quite a bit darker and redder than I was expecting and lacks the character of Truman’s pull-up leather, but it’s still good, just more of a uniform dying. It almost felt like it had been applied as a coating, rather than a dye. One of the speed hooks was also crushed all the way closed, so I had to open it with my leatherman and another eyelet (outside top eyelet of the right boot) was punched in a bit low and close to the previous speed hook, so it doesn’t quite line up with the speed hook across from it. These are minor cosmetic issues that probably wouldn’t bother most people, but I like perfect products, so I feel compelled to point it out. These boots are fully lined and supremely comfortable.

Sole
Goodyear welt with a commando sole is a great combination. The lugs are shallow so, similar to the dainite sole, they’re not going to provide great traction in snow, but the rest of the time they’re great. As seen in the ‘top view’ photo below the goodyear welt stitching on the left toe becomes very tight. Again, this isn’t a big deal, but it isn’t perfect.

Bottom Line
The Alden Plain Toe Boot on Barrie last is a timeless creation, but be aware of how dark ‘brown chromexcel’ can be. It’s probably best to buy this shoe in person for fit and finish.

Seiko SKX007 Dive Watch

Seiko SKX007 Automatic Diving Watch (Rubber Dive Band). Malaysia. $175. Purchase.

BEZEL

CRYSTAL

FACE & HANDS

CASE & CROWN

CASE BACK

BAND

Wrist And Style 22mm Dark Grey Perlon Strap. $15. Purchase.
Clockwork Synergy 22mm Black Nato Strap. $12. Purchase.
Clockwork Synergy 22mm Black & Grey Nato Strap. $12. Purchase.
Spring Bar Tool (not pictured, but useful for switching bands). $5. Purchase.

Seiko SNK809 Military Watch

Seiko SNK809 Automatic Stainless Steel Watch. Malaysia. $60. Purchase.

BEZEL

CRYSTAL

FACE

CASE & CROWN

CASE BACK

BAND

Gear used on the 220 mile John Muir Trail, 165 mile Tahoe Rim Trail, and 93 mile Wonderland Trail. It turns out I don’t photograph my gear on the trail, so I don’t have photos for lots of items. This is also a fairly extensive list for a single post, but for now it’s pretty lightweight without photos. I’ll continue to update this post as I use more gear (such as the terrific 49g Olicamp Ultra Titanium Stove I brought along on Tahoe Rim Trail).

Index

• Big Three
• Clothing
• Shoes
• Food

The Big Three: Pack, Tarp, & Sleeping System

Pack | Gossamer Gear Mariposa Pack. $255. Purchase.
This pack worked well, and everything found it’s place, but I did encounter a few frustrations that I’ve since been able to resolve: 1) Access to either water or camera, but not both, and 2) bear canister pressure causing rubbing on my vertebrae through the foam back pad.

With only the single lower side pocket accessible while wearing the backpack, I had to choose between being able to reach my DSLR or my water bottle. Fearing missing a fleeting photo opportunity, I kept my camera in the lower side pocket, but this meant taking off my backpack for water. Thankfully this problem has been solved by the Bottle Rocket. And for that matter, a mirrorless camera can now be hung off your shoulder strap as well with the Peak Design Capture Camera Clip.

I also had an issue with the seam on the edge of the stretchy mesh that captures the back foam pad. It rubbed on my vertebrae until it was raw and I had to unhook the pad from the bottom capture. I realized the rubbing was caused by the bear canister’s truncated-football shape, which created a pressure point against my back. This was resolved by packing some clothing between my back and the bear canister.

Besides that, the design of the pack was good, the waist belt and shoulder straps were comfortable, with the pockets in the waste belt lending themselves well to snacks or AquaMura. The outer mesh pocket was great for quick layer adjustments or drying socks and the ‘head’ pocket built into the flip-down flap also worked reasonably well – a bit annoying, when the pack wouldn’t stay open because the weight of the pocket was too much, but it’s a good combination for weight savings.

Pack Liner | Garbage bag. $0.25
I used a normal trash bag, but a trash compactor bag is more durable.

Tarp | Discontinued Gossamer Gear Q-Twinn Cuben Tarp. $315. Purchase.
This 47 sqft catenary Cuben Fiber tarp has an incredible coverage/weight ratio. It can be self-supporting with poles and has lineloc adjustment buckles that work really well to adjust the tension of the guy lines. That said, it suffers from the fact that it’s a tarp made of fabric that does not stretch, this is great for sailing, but for a shelter it’s a pain to pitch and makes a f**k ton of noise in the wind. If it’s too windy it’ll begin to flap like a flag, both making a racket as well as tugging on the stakes, eventually pulling them out if the soil is weak. It’ll also move rocks the size of bowling balls which adds slack in the pitch, only making it louder and the tugging stronger. It’s just not great above tree line if it’s windy, which it frequently was. On calm nights in the forest, it created a dreamy, ultralight, large, waterproof lair. When the gable guy lines are attached to tree trunks it’s super secure, but I wouldn’t use this above tree line and Gossamer Gear discontinued the product. It includes reflective orange guy line & a small stuff sack.

Tarp Stakes | 4 Gossamer Gear Titanium V-Stakes. $12 ($3 per). Purchase.
I got four v-stakes for the center gable-peak guy lines as well as the corners near the larger opening (which theoretically might catch more wind and benefit from larger stakes). I also had four generic round stakes found on a previous trip for the remaining guy lines. If I were to do it again I’d get 8 v-stakes for the added staying power, but even those might not always hold. It’s likely that the Fatty’s would be better in such poor soil, but frequently I’d just resort to tying the lines to rocks, although even that didn’t always hold down the sail of a tarp. I highly recommend the V’s rather than the round stakes if you’ll be in sandy soil like the decomposed granite on the JMT.

Sleeping Bag / Quilt | Enlightened Equipment Enigma 20F. $390. Purchase.
A simple and highly customizable 850-fill quilt with sewn foot-box. X-Long is great for my lanky 6’6″ body. I also highly recommend their accomplice 2-person quilt for camping with a romanic partner.

Sleeping Pad | Regular Z-Lite & Large NeoAir Xlite NXT. $43 & $160.
This combo is usually reserved for winter camping, and is probably the least ultralight aspect of my gear choices, but it provides great comfort by allowing for back or side sleeping, which I switch between throughout the night. The combination is also still lighter than my previous XL Prolite4. And the Z-Lite protects the NeoAir, so the setup is durable and redundant.

Clothing

Some people say to only bring clothing that, in your coldest moment, you could don all at once. This is a good trick to help remove redundant, unnecessary clothing. The one exception to the rule is socks, so I’ve started the list with base layers, working up from socks. No matter what, you’ll want to bring two pairs as one will always be getting wet on your feet and you’ll be drying your other pair on your pack. Dry socks are critical to good foot care and if you’re extremely prone to blisters, test out a pair of liner socks as well, which relocate the friction from skin-sock to sock-sock (this saved my feet on Aconcagua).

Base Layers

2 Pairs of Socks | SmartWool Phd Medium Crew. $24 per pair. Purchase.
These socks are the best, I have a couple pairs that are 3 years old and still in my daily sock rotation. For this trip I bought two new pairs and wore each pair once to ensure no defects (both pairs were perfect) before the trip. What’s so great about these socks? Their design very effectively prevents bunching or wrinkles, while they still have plenty of cushion in the toebox and heel area. I’ve tried many other brands of socks, but always use SmartWool socks if I’m going into the backcountry.

1 Pair of Underwear | Exofficio boxer brief. $25. Purchase.
A good pair of underwear for traveling. They’re very comfortable and dry quickly, so it’s easy to wash them on the trail. I’ve tried others, and want to find a good merino wool pair, but thus far I’ve come up empty handed. Let me know in the comments if you have a favorite wool boxer brief.

1 T-Shirt | Icebreaker merino t-shirt. $95. Purchase.
Merino wool is my favorite base layer fabric since it’s odor resistant and incredibly comfortable. I generally stick with Smartwool or Icebreaker due to their superior construction quality and fabrics. Pay attention to the seam location if you’re going to be wearing a heavy pack.

1 Long Underwear Top | Ice Breaker Everyday Long Sleeve Crewe. $90. Purchase.
Again, same as the short sleeve shirt, buy a merino wool shirt with raglan sleeve construction. I’ve had this Icebreaker shirt since 2009 and it’s still the shirt I bring on every trip. In fact, I’m going fly-fishing south of Lake Tahoe tomorrow and I’m already wearing this shirt in anticipation.

1 Long Underwear Bottom | Smartwool. $115. Purchase.
Use 150 GSM weight (“All Season”) for warmer pursuits and 250 GSM weight (“Classic Thermal”) for colder days.

1 Buff. $23. Purchase.
Buff’s are thin, stretchy, seamless, polyester neck gaiters that can be worn scrunched as a single layer, doubled over, or pulled up for a full face balaclava. Lightweight and versatile. I originally purchased this balaclava during my gear up for climbing Mt. Rainier in 2009, but continue to use it on any trip that’ll involve snow.

Mid & Outer Layers

1 Pair of Shorts | REI Co-op Swiftland 7″. $60. Purchase.
I’ve converted to wearing running shorts and no longer bring a normal pair of pants. I have my long underwear bottoms and rain pants, which provide all the warmth required. These shorts don’t stink after you wear them like the On Lightweight 7″ Shorts, which I find to be terrible.

Wool Pullover Sweater | Ice Breaker 320. $200. Purchase.
For the weather on my trip this layer wasn’t necessary, so I only wore it on the ascent of Mt. Whitney during the final morning to at least wear it once before the trip ended. I really like this sweater, it’s actually the only sweater I ever wear, because it’s both stylish and high performing. Be careful though, they seemed to have changed the sizing in their latest batch.

Insulating Jacket & Pillow | Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer w/ Hood. $320. Purchase.
I wore this excellent jacket almost every evening and morning while setting up and breaking down camp. If packed into it’s sleeve it also turns into a great pillow. It also packs into its pocket, but that ends up too firm to sleep on. When I first bought it I thought it was impractically delicate and was going to rip immediately, but I’ve now worn it all over, and have only torn it twice: once with a zipper snag and once hooking myself fly-fishing. I’m certainly cognizant while wearing it that I should be careful, but that doesn’t impede my abilities or actions. If I’m going through thick brush I layer my hard shell on top as protection.

Rain Jacket | OR Helium II. $170.
There was some form of precipitation (rain, snow, sleet) on 7 of the 10 days I was on the JMT so, while I didn’t expect to use my rain coat much, it was in constant rotation. My original raincoat was made by GoLite, but I’ve replaced it with the OR Helium II for significant weight savings.

Rain Pants | Outdoor Research Helium. $130. Purchase.
Basic rain pants. Not very breathable, but only worn when it’s cold.

Gloves | OR Catalyzer Liner Glove. $30. Purchase.
These are super light weight. I originally purchased them to wear as liners while taking photographs in the alpine environment, but they also turned out to be perfect for this trip. They’re a little hard to put on and take off, and feel like they might rip, but thus far have held up for my purposes. Note that they aren’t very warm, especially if it’s windy, but they worked well when my hands began to go numb from cold rain on the south side of Mather Pass and were also useful for the alpine start on Whitney.

Shoes | Altra Lone Peak ($140) or Topo Athletic MTN Racer ($150)
I learned a lesson about footwear hiking the JMT in a pair of La Sportiva’s that destroyed my feet. Since then I’ve been wearing Altra’s to run 50ks, summit Mt Kilimanjaro, among other pursuits, however there is now a new player that is resolving some of the long standing issues with Altras. Topo Athletic’s have better traction and durability than the Lone Peaks, which always wear out in about 200 miles of trail running.

Gators | Dirty Girl. $20. Purchase.
PCTers swear by these. I didn’t know about them before I started the JMT, but I now wear them on long runs and hikes. While on the JMT without them there were sections of trail so gritty and sandy I had to empty my shoes of debris every 2 hours. This becomes wildly frustrating and leads to blisters, that could have been prevented. They have a hundred different fun colors and patterns to choose from.

The Rest of the Gear

Poles | Black Diamond Alpine Carbon Cork. $195. Purchase.
2025 Update: I upgraded to the BD Alpine Carbon poles for my hike up Aconcagua and after that trip have retired by old Ergo Cork. I gave in and upgraded because (1) BD was out of stock of the lower two sections for my old Ergo Cork which are too bent to telescope and (2) it’s pretty annoying to constantly be bending poles. These new poles don’t have that issue, with carbon it’s either shatter or stay straight and continue to telescope and so far these have proven to be burly enough to survive when trapped and leveraged between two rocks. It’s also worth mentioning that I went with these telescoping ones rather than the lighter BD Distance Carbon FLZ because of the increased durability requirements, but I’ll likely get a folding pole in the future for running.

Water Bottles | 2 1L Smart Water Bottles (nice and light) & a 2L platypus bag (most frequently used as a knee pillow at night, but also useful for larger batches of aquamira).

Water Purification | AquaMira. $12. Purchase.
Chlorine Dioxide isn’t quite tasteless as claimed, but it is subtle, especially compared to the old iodine days. The biggest issue is that 7 drops from each bottle must be combined in the cap for 5 minutes before adding to the water for an additional 20 minutes. I ended up keeping the AquaMira in my backpacks waist belt so I could mix the drops on my approach to water, hoping to have the 5 minutes complete by the time I filled my water bottle, to skip that step and then just have to wait the 20 minutes. As long as the water is clear it’ll kill all the bacteria and virus’s (if there are dirty particles in the water it won’t be able to clean the inside of them). I’ve also used it in the tap water in Ecuador to prevent the need to buy bottled water.

Bowl | 16oz Nalgene w/ screw top lid.
Good for mixing protein and “cooking” (soaking) dinner.

Spork | Blue Vargo Titanium. $9. Purchase.
The spork is a camping classic for good reason.

Headlamp | Petzl Actik Core. $65. Purchase.
Lasts a long time on the low brightness setting, but is nice and bright at 600 lumens when needed for spotting or ski/mtb descents, has a red mode for night vision preservation and recharges with a MicroUSD.

Bear Canister | Garcia, rented from Yosemite NP for $5.
I kind of hated the bear canister due to the shape that didn’t fit very well in my pack and rubbed on my spine, but the price was right.

DSLR | Canon 760D + Canon 10-22 lens + UV Filter.
This was the perfect compromise between weight and image quality.

DSLR Neoprene case | Op/Tech USA. $23. Purchase.

Dopp Kit

Joshua Tree 18 SPF Chapstick
Copper tone 30 SPF Sunscreen for arms
Badger 35 SPF Sun Stick for face
Toothbrush & travel size Tom’s toothpaste
Purell hand sanitizer
Dr. Bronners liquid soap, 2oz travel size. Works for hands, body, and clothing.
8 J&J Bandaids. These stick like no other.
Moleskin
Metolius Cloth Tape to tape heels. Designed for climbing, this tape sticks really well.

Left At Home

Tent
Stove

Food

Meal planning is critically important for performing on the trail, however it’s probably the trickiest part of planning due to the variability between individuals and the natural tendency to bring more food than necessary. Any food left over at the end of the trip was unnecessary weight in the pack. With this in mind I still packed way too much food, having a full 3 lb of trail mix left over at the end of my 6 day stretch on the JMT (days 5-10). Thus my pack was 3lb heavier than it needed to be every day for the last six days.

I created my meal plan based on the goal of 50% Carbs, 35% Fats, and 15% protein suggested by Dr. Brenda Braaten at 5000 calories per day. I’m 6.5′ tall & 175 lbs with a very fast metabolism and couldn’t find good data on what my needs would be, but with a revised meal plan I expect it would be possible to consume 4,500 calories per day and maintain weight. Without a body-weight scale in my home it’s not clear if I maintained weight on the trail or lost weight due to the difficulty of eating so much trail mix every day. If my weight did change it was by an insignificant amount.

The biggest lesson I learned was that, as delicious as trail mix is, it’s still loose trail mix, and when compared to a Probars or Snickers bars it takes far longer to consume the equivalent calories with the combination of delivery method and excessive chewing. That might sound crazy, but I got so tired of chewing trail mix. I created an excel spreadsheet before going to determine the proper mix of ingredients, but it immediately broke down on the trail when I couldn’t eat as much coconut flakes as I thought I’d be able to and instead picked out all the chocolate and dried fruit.

Food Resources

• Muir Ranch | Resupply | $70 for 25 lb
• Vermillion Valley Resort | Resupply | $22 for basic mail pickup, but there are a few options.
• Red’s Meadow | Resupply | $40 for mail pickup or $3/day to hold a dropped off package
• Andrew Skurka | The 5,000 Calories Per Day Wilderness Diet
• Thru-Hiker | Trail Food and so much more.
• Paul Magnanti | Going Stoveless
  Thoroughly explains the assumptions, benefits, and lists quite a few meal options.
• Backpacking Light | Forum Post on No-Cooking Food Ideas. Kevin Buggie has a good looking couscous recipe at the bottom.
• Brian Green | ProBar-Heavy No-Cook Meal Plans
• Erik the Black | 5 Day Meal Plan (cooking required)

Updated 2026 – It’s already been 10 years!

Note: From the early season into July the mosquitos are ferocious on the SW & W portion of the Tahoe Rim Trail. Bring DEET bug spray and a tent with netting rather than a tarp. There are also long stretches without water: the longest on our trip, at 17 miles, was from Watson Lake to the spring at the old Western States Trail junction just East of Mud Lake.

The Tahoe Rim Trail, like the Wonderland Trail, is a circumnavigation around a popular point of interest. At 165 miles in length and a little under 62,000 ft of cumulative elevation change it’s a bit less rigorous than the John Muir Trail or Wonderland Trail, but still an excellent challenge with incredible views.¹

When first hearing about and visualizing the TRT I was near the shore of Lake Tahoe and simply looked around, imagining a trail atop all the ridges in sight. While a common assumption, this is not the case. Instead, the trail meanders around the lake to and fro, reasonably far at times in the south and north, with at least one full day in Desolation Wilderness without a view of Lake Tahoe. Of course those who have been to Desolation know that this is an incredibly beautiful section and that some of the best views end up being of lakes and vistas other than Lake Tahoe, such as Lake Aloha featured in the header image. The larger diameter of the Tahoe Rim Trail was likely chosen, at least in part, to keep a reasonable distance from the well developed shores and towns surrounding the lake. While there are certainly times when homes are near the trail, given what’s nearby, very little is visible, which helps suspend the disbelief of a trip into the “wilderness”.

The trail is maintained by the Tahoe Rim Trail Association and traverses various state parks in both California and Nevada, as well as three wilderness areas: Desolation Wilderness, Granite Chief Wilderness, and Mount Rose Wilderness.

The footing varies from powdery dust to rooty forest, swampy mud, packed scree, fire roads, to, if it’s early to mid-season, snow. The scenery surrounding these trails is also constantly in a state of flux, ranging from sparse grand forests, to scrubby brush, to meadow, to large exposed hillsides covered in the flowers of alpine shooting stars and woolly mules ears. Notable fauna include: a six-point buck, a black bear, many marmots and chipmunks, black-billed magpies, western tanagers, robins, and many other birds names unknown. Surprisingly we saw very few birds of prey, which may have been due to the unusually calm days and the Trailhead Forest Fire that began halfway through our trip and at times significantly impacted visibility in the basin.

Many portions of the trail are open to mountain biking and horseback riding, so be alert in popular areas such as near Mr. Toads Wild Ride in the southern section and near Painted Rock and Mt. Baldy in the north. Our favorite section of the trail was the north eastern area around Mt Baldy and Relay Peak, which has some of the best views of Lake Tahoe with hardly any mosquitos.

TLDR: Call 530.543.2694 for your Desolation Wilderness TRT Permit & print your passing of this Campfire Permit Quiz. Buy this map and download the FarOut app. Have enough capacity to carry 3-4 liters of water (depending on your size) and use the app to determine when this will be necessary. Drop off your resupply at the Tahoe City Post Office and then park at the Kingsbury Grade North Trailhead, check the ten day forecast at South Lake Tahoe and Tahoe City and hike clockwise.

Elevation Profile

Index

Trip Photos | Trip Planning & Logistics | Gear List, Food, & Training | Additional Resources

Trip Photos

Photos coming in 2017 2027!

Trip Planning & Logistics

Map Overview

Permits

For the majority of hikers, the Tahoe Rim Trail requires two permits: an Overnight Camping Permit for Desolation Wilderness ($20) and a Campfire Permit (free) for stove use. A permit for Desolation Wilderness typically requires interaction with the quota system to reserve a campsite on a specific day at a specific location, however those hiking the PCT or TRT can simply call the Forest Service Supervisor’s Office (530.543.2694 Monday – Friday, 8 AM – 4:30 PM) and purchase a permit that is valid for camping anywhere along the TRT/PCT in Desolation Wilderness for trips beginning in the next 14 days. Do note that it is then sent to you by USPS, so plan in advance. To obtain a Campfire Permit simply complete the online education and print it for your trip.

Planning Tools: Maps, Apps, & Guide Books

Map | Tom Harrison TRT Map. $9. Purchase.

A large single-sided, waterproof map containing the entire trail. This, like all Tom Harrison Maps, is excellent. The Tahoe Rim Trail is somewhat discontinuous, with short sections through park parking lots or other urban areas, but it marks the trail heads on both sides, so it’s easy to get to the next area. In the North East Mt. Rose Wilderness area, at Relay Peak, there is a bit of a choose your own adventure section, where multiple, parallel trails are a part of the TRT and this map shows one trail going off the map to the North, however that trail is well marked and shortly returns to the map.

Updated 2026 – TRT Specific App | Guthooks FarOut TRT Guide. $25. Purchase.

“Guthooks” rebranded to “FarOut” in October 2021. This app’s most useful feature is indicating the location of good campsites and the location of the next reliable water source in relation to your current location. Just the locations of those two items makes it worth purchasing. In addition to these critical locations, it has Lake Tahoe vista points (where the lake is visible) and random trail facts. The app has also been fully redesigned since I hiked the trail, resolving my complaints about its dated appearance and UX.

Updated 2026 – Universal Map App | Gaia GPS. $subscription. Website & Apps.

I love paper maps, however in 2026 it would be foolish to not take advantage of modern technology and use a modern mapping software. There are many options, but I’ve been using Gaia GPS for over 10 years and thus have lots of history with the app and have plotted many adventures all over the world. For the Tahoe Rim Trail I encourage you to download paper maps and enjoy the break from technology, but still have Gaia installed and the maps saved offline just in case.

Guide Book | Tahoe Rim Trail by Tim Hauserman. $9. Purchase.

Unlike Elizabeth Wenk’s incredible JMT Data Book, Tim Hauserman’s Official Guide to the Tahoe Rim Trail (endorsed by the Tahoe Rim Trail Association) is nearly useless. I couldn’t have been more disappointed in the book. It’s written as a one-book-fits-all, rather than as an actual guide for those looking to hike the entire Tahoe Rim Trail and thus there is a ton of unnecessary information. In addition to that, it’s very difficult to use, with unclear mileage (“about 1 mile past the last dirt road, you cross another dirt road…” when no previous dirt road was mentioned), long winded descriptions of non-pertinant information, no mention of suitable campsites, and very difficult to piece together descriptions. It also mentions that there is no water between Lake Watson and Brockway Summit, which is true, but there is no water at Brockway Summit either, so it should really be stated that there is a ~17 mile section from Lake Watson to the spring after Mud Lake that has no water. From water source to water source makes far more sense than water source to dry trailhead.

Start/End Point & Trail Logistics

We chose the starting point of our hike based on water supplies, how we arrive to Lake Tahoe, and where our resupply would be located. We wanted to carry the most water when we had the least food in our packs, so we chose to finish the trip at Kingsbury Grade North, south of the dry sections between Tahoe Meadows, Marlette Campground, and Spooner Lake. We also stashed water in the car, in case we needed it upon completion. We chose Tahoe City for our resupply since it’s about the halfway point from Kingsbury North and it’s a location where the trail crosses a road, so we could quickly drop off and pick up our resupply. Also, since we live in Oakland, we could easily take Interstate-80 to Tahoe City first and then south around to Kingsbury North, potentially returning to Oakland via Route 50, the southern route.

Our campsites were chosen for roughly equal mileage days and rated 1-5, where a 5/5 campsite was excellent and 1/5 was terrible:

• Kingsbury North to Star Lake (5/5) | 14.6 mi
• Star Lake to Round Lake (3/5) | 17.2 mi
• Round Lake to Tamarack Lake (4/5) | 17.4 mi
• Tamarack Lake to Desolation Swamp (1/5) | 18 mi
• Desolation Swamp to Twin Peaks Ridge (5/5) | 15.1 mi
• Twin Peaks Ridge to Slope of Mt Watson (4/5) | 20 mi
• Slope of Mt Watson to Mt Baldy (5/5) | 16.6 mi
• Mt Baldy to Nook in the Boulders (5/5) | 16.1 mi
• Nook in the Boulders to Spooner Lake (2/5) | 18.4 mi
• Spooner Lake to Kingsbury North | 12 mi

Resupply

Resupply location is obviously tied to starting location and is hopefully near the midpoint of the hike. I had trouble finding information about resupplying on the trail that wasn’t just “go grocery shopping in Tahoe City”. I had already purchased everything for the trip and thus wanted to stash a bag that I could quickly retrieve, rather than shopping in an unfamiliar store. As such I decided to pack a stuff sack lined with a trash compactor bag and hang it using the PCT method just outside Tahoe City. This turned out to be an arduous task as the 50′ 3mm cord I brought along had reflective material woven into the mix that increased the friction to the point that the bag could not be pulled over the branch. With a new cord I was able to hoist the bag, though the location was not ideal as it was near a heavy day use trail. I left a note with the bag and fortunately no mammals—humans nor bears—messed with it prior to our arrival. Our friends decided to take a safer route and left a package for themselves at the Tahoe City Post Office, adding two miles to their day.

Parking

If you own a vehicle, transportation is easy: drive to Lake Tahoe and park in the dirt patch next to the road at the Kingsbury Grade North Trailhead. There are two different parking areas, so unless you arrive midmorning on a Saturday there should be space. The official trailhead sign is located at the Northern lot. We parked our car here for 10 days without issue.

Gear List, Food & Training

Gear List & Food

I’m in the process of writing a stand alone gear, food, and training post that will be relevant to all three thruhikes I’ve completed, including my two other hiking guides: Ten Days on the John Muir Trail and Four Days on the Wonderland Trail. I have completed my footwear review, which is basically to get a pair of Altra Lone Peaks.

Training

For training read Training For The New Alpinism ($24) and get the training log ($15). These two items will allow you to easily complete the TRT through proper training methodology and time proven techniques. Additionally, they’ll get you into the habit of training that’ll be applicable for far larger pursuits.

Additional Resources

Trail & Ultralight Tips

• Yosemite National Park | Good Leave No Trace Guidelines & Yosemite Specific Bear Canister Information
• Backpacking North | Ultralight Gear Overview

TRT Resources

• Trail’s Guide | List of TRT Resources.
• Tahoe Rim Trail Association | TRT Association Maps. Don’t trust their “Current Trail Conditions” page as they don’t include an ‘updated on’ date and the information was inaccurate during out hike.
• Blackwoods Press | A Tahoe Rim Trail specific guide book with elevation profiles and trail distances.

TRT Food Resupply Resources

• Tahoe City Post Office | A resupply option | Cost depends on weight of resupply.
• PCT Style Suspended Bear Bag | The Ultimate Hang | $0 or cost of a cord, stuff sack & garbage bag.

Footnotes

1. Feet of elevation change per mile is a good way to compare hikes and get an idea of trail steepness. Having hiked these three trails, I’d definitely say that their level of difficulty is directly correlated to these numbers.

Altra Lone Peak 2.0 (size 13). China. $120. Purchase.
Altra Lone Peak 2.0 NeoShell (size 13). China. $150. Purchase.
Altra Lone Peak 2.5 (size 13). China. $120. Purchase.
Dirty Girl Gaiters (size XL). USA. $21. Purchase.

“My feet feel as though I’ve jumped off a three story building”
— My hiking partner four days after completing the Wonderland Trail

While hiking off Mt. Rainier in 2009, I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful the forest had been on the approach and descent. As I gushed about the incredible glacier to meadow to forest vegetative zones, a guide informed me of the existence of the Wonderland Trail. I immediately knew that one day I would have to return and hike around the magnificent mountain we had just summited. Fast forward to August 2015, shortly after completing the John Muir Trail (JMT), I was once again itching for another medium length trail to thruhike. The top two choices were the 165 mile Tahoe Rim Trail, for it’s proximity to my home of Oakland, and the 93 mile Wonderland Trail, for the aforementioned reason compounded by my friends’s recent move to Portland, OR. The window was closing on the Rainier permitting season, but targeting the last possible weekend, I was able to get a plane ticket and he was able to take a couple days off work, so we committed to the Wonderland Trail. Only three hours from Portland, we headed north on Thursday night, camping near Longmire for an easy, early morning visit to the Ranger Station.

HITTING THE TRAIL

It was an hour after dawn and the clouds hung low, obscuring Mt. Rainier, as we drove past Reflection Lakes with our permit in hand and descended the long switchback towards Box Canyon. The leaves were beginning to turn and, emerging from the car, the sweet, damp smell of decaying foliage invigorated our minds–the last weekend of the season was indeed going to be the perfect time to circumnavigate Mt. Rainier. We double checked our gear, double knotted our shoes, extended our poles, oriented a lost hiker, said goodbye to the subie, and set off down the trail.

The forecast had been glorious, for pure sun for the next four days, however, as is typical in the mountains, this was not what we were experiencing. Rather it was cool with moisture hanging in the air. The trail wasted no time and almost immediately we were shedding layers as we pumped uphill through switchbacks, in awe of the thick, massive, old growth forest. This was why I came back to Mount Rainier National Park.

Soon we’d gained the ridge and continued the climb along the ridgeline through short trees and beautiful, small grass meadows adorned with expansive eastern panoramas. For the first few hours we had the trail to ourselves as we climbed through a pleasantly cooling, light rain & sleet mix. We then caught up to a couple hiking the WT on their way to Indian Bar for the evening (where there is a beautiful leanto) and began leapfrogging between photo breaks with another WT hiker as we approached mid afternoon and found the Saturday day hikers at Panhandle Gap. From Panhandle Gap, there was a long descent to the steep final climb to Sunrise Camp. About 300 yards before we made it to camp we had had the amazing opportunity to see a doe nursing her two fawns. And with that, we were a quarter of the way through our hike…

CAMP SITE LOGISTICS

NOTE: Due to a technical error in the NPS registration system all Mt Rainier permits are walk-in only this season (2016).
To hike the Wonderland Trail you need a permit that accounts for your campsite every night you’re on the trail, since you can only camp in designated camps and every camp needs to be reserved. This becomes complicated when camps begin to fill up, since ideally the miles will be split equally among the days. Thankfully the Rangers at Longmire are top notch and helped us shift our proposed plan into a working plan. Longmire is also where we picked up our permit when they opened at 7:30am sharp.

We ended up traveling counter clockwise, beginning at Box Canyon.

Day 1: Box Canyon to Sunrise Camp | 22.3 miles
Day 2: Sunrise Camp to Mowich Lake | 24.8 miles
Day 3: Mowich Lake to South Puyallup River | 21.8 miles
Day 4: South Puyallup River to Box Canyon | 25.4 miles

After completing the trip I came across Wonderland Guides, who have created a fantastic trip planning calculator.

FOOD

We packed 3,900 calories per day per person. We discovered this to be too few calories when we easily finished all the day’s ration on the third day. On the fourth day we finished all our food by 3pm, when we still had 3 hours of hiking left. Thankfully it was a short 4 day trip and we both happily ate a super burrito and two doughnuts each after returning to Portland on the fourth night (probably an additional 1900 calories per person).

ELEVATION CHANGE

We were surprised by the daily elevation change due to misreading 5,500′ of elevation gain per day as 5,500′ of elevation change per day. Thus the Wonderland Trail has 11,000′ of elevation change per day, which is rather large and double what we were expecting. (For comparison when thru-hiking the John Muir Trail in ten days there was an average of 8,000′ of elevation change per day). No day is equal, so some have more climbing and others more descending, but all said and done it was 44,000′ of elevation change over four days. And it turns out that descending is the hard part, at least for our bodies; I ended up with a sore IT band causing pain every step and my friends foot bones became quite sore as well.

TRAINING

I had hiked the JMT about two months prior to this hike at a similar pace (22 miles/day + 8,000’ of elevation change), during which time I trained primarily on a stairmaster. I probably should have spent a bit more time hiking outside to help strengthen the muscles and tendons used during descent. For final prep I did a 24 mile, weighted, training hike four days before the trip just to be sure I was feeling good and all my gear was dialed in.

EXPECTATIONS, MEDITATIONS, & ESCAPING FROM CIVILIZATION

The Wonderland Trail felt similar to the first day on the JMT, where there are frequent encounters with day-hikers until the trail leaves Tuolumne up Lyell Canyon. On the WT there is no Lyell Canyon. This always brings about a sensation that could easily be misidentified as one of superiority (“I deserve to be on this trail more than them, since I’m hiking so much further”), but is rather the notion of a failed escape—looking for a vacuum and directly observing the reality of that impossibility. Especially on the Wonderland Trail, where there are trail heads on all sides of the park, providing day hikers from every angle. Of course, it doesn’t take a mirror to see that we were also hikers, diminishing the “wilderness” feel for others on the trail. And, as this was a weekend trip, of course there would be many of day hikers. I want folks to visit the national parks. I want the parks to be used. But there’s still something about being in the wilderness with just your group. I believe that level of remoteness might require a trip north, or perhaps just a little more devotion to the mid week hike on a less popular trail. And, while the WT is quite popular, the behavior and trail etiquette by those in Rainier National Park was excellent—we didn’t see a single impromptu camp or fire circle on the entire route.

TRIP PHOTOS

Initial Impressions | Sept 03, 2015

Greats Royale High in Triple Black

Greats Royale High in Triple Black (size 13). Italy. $179. Purchase.

Oliberte Bokoroo

Oliberte Bokoroo in Bold Black Full Grain (size 13). Ethiopia. $140. Purchase.

Hello,

Given the frequency of my posts, it’s unlikely many of you have been here before, but for those that have been to blindbully.com in the past I’d like to inform you that I have changed the name from Blind Bully to Lithic Goods. As is common when names change, the mission remains the same, it’s just the name that is changing.

Why change the name? Blind Bully was created with the idea of being “Blind to trends and preconceptions + Bullying for responsible consumption = BlindBully.” It was a strong assertive name, but a bit too confusing to explain all the time and also made me too aware of the possibility of reviewing a product I don’t like and feeling like I’m being a bully in some way when I critique it. With Lithic Goods I won’t have that constraint and Lithic also sounds nice and strong and is rooted in stone. My ideal products are those that are truly built to last, not unlike the first tools made of stone.

I’ve set up redirects and updated many aspects of the site, but if you find any loading errors or outdated items please let me know.

I’ve also made numerous improvements to the site for mobile users and will continue to refine the design as I find time over the next few weeks.