Andrew was kind enough to find Mountain Travel Guide and they have write ups on Mount Mitchell Trail and Higgins Bald Ground Trail.  Higgins Bald Trail is the trail that our mid mountain camp is located along.  It actually splits off of Mount Mitchell Trail for 1.3 miles before rejoining.  Nearly immediately after you cross the stream on Higgins Bald Trail is where we will camp.  Pay attention to the directions to the trail head for Mount Mitchell Trail.  Forest Service Rd 472 is also named Toe River Rd.  The GPS coordinates for the trail head are 35.75278, -82.22139.  The campground is closed in the winter, but there is parking on the left side of the road across from the campground.  There is a bulletin board at another trail head on the left as well.  Park there, jump the gate into the campground and follow the gravel road into the campground and turn left.  Follow the gravel road about .1 – .2 of a mile to where the trail enters the woods to the right.  There is a sign there. 

I have provided a picture of the map that is best to use in the area.  You should be able to find those at REI or other local hiking stores. 

I personally didn’t get any gear for Christmas.  My wife and I decided to hold off on buying any gear for Christmas.  Instead we are opting to shop the REI scratch and dent sale on this coming Thursday.  It starts at 10am and will be at the Pineville store.  Anyone else wanna join in the festivities?

So because of this I thought I would put down a couple of basic guidelines to packing your bag. 

Always do your best to start packing the items you will use last.  Example… If you are going to pack a water bottle to drink from on your hike, don’t put it at the very bottom of your pack. Instead start off with items like your sleeping pads or sleeping bag at the bottom of your bag. 

The next thing to consider when you are packing is weight distribution.  The standard distribution for backpacking is to have the lightest items (Sleeping bag, sleeping pad, etc…) at the very bottom of the bag and the farthest point behind you. The medium weight items (Stove, clothing, first aid kit, etc…) are typically put on the top of your pack.  And that leaves the heaviest items (Tent, water, fuel, etc…) to be stored closest to your back and as centered as possible.  Packing your bag like this will keep the weight on your hips and thus help you be more efficient with your hike.

Finally put all of the items you will use on your hike within an arms reach.  This includes water bottles, chap stick, whistle, compass, gels, and anything else you feel that you will use. That way you don’t have to take off the pack in order to get something. 

I hope that this helps any of you out there.  Visit this link to REI to get more in depth packing advice. And as always if you have any questions or if I missed anything… PLEASE feel free to chime in!

Merry Christmas!!

Seriously, when it comes to backpacking, one of the topics most of us want to think about is how to properly urinate and defecate without the aid of modern bathrooms.  Add to that the rough terrain and cold weather that is Mitchell Winter, and you have some issues to get through.

I will be the first to admit that guys have a definite advantage over the ladies in this department.  Being able to urinate without dropping your pants is most certainly convenient.  There are devices for the ladies that aim (no pun intended) to remedy this, but I am not one that could tell you how well they work.  REI sells the Sani-Fem Freshette F.U.D. and that might be an aid for this issue.

In the number two department, the proper way to go in the back-country is to dig a hole 6 inches deep and bury all excrement.  Ideally you would re-cover the ground with leaves or snow to leave as little trace as possible.  You can bring along bags and pack your shit out, but then you are faced with lugging around human waste, which can present several health concerns.  It can become difficult to dig a hole when the ground is frozen, so be forewarned about that.  I found a website that outlines proper techniques for disposing waste.  It is specific to the Alaskan Wilderness, but many points can be applied to Mitchell as well.

Night time on Mt Mitchell in the winter is COLD.  It almost always happens that as soon as you get comfortable in your sleeping bag, nature calls.  The two choices are to get up, get some clothes on, go outside and freeze, only for it to take forever to get warm in the sleeping bag again, or to have a dedicated “pee-bottle” that you could urinate in and store until morning.  I personally have not tried the latter method, but it has certainly crossed my mind.

As I wrap up this post, I am reminded of the song by Frank Zappa, “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow”:

“Dreamed I was an Eskimo
Frozen wind began to blow
Under my boots and around my toes
The frost that bit the ground below
It was a hundred degrees below zero…

And my mama cried
And my mama cried
Nanook, a-no-no
Nanook, a-no-no
Don’t be a naughty Eskimo
Save your money, don’t go to the show

Well I turned around and I said oh, oh oh
Well I turned around and I said oh, oh oh
Well I turned around and I said ho, ho
And the northern lights commenced to glow
And she said, with a tear in her eye
Watch out where the huskies go, and don’t you eat that yellow snow
Watch out where the huskies go, and don’t you eat that yellow snow”

Listen here.

1. Knowledge: No I am not talking about a book that comes with your kit, though not a bad idea. What I am referring to here is actually know how and when to use the items you are carrying with you. I remember learning in Boot Camp about how to treat a sucking chest woundwith the wrapping from a pack of cigarettes. Knowledge is the most powerful thing you can carry with you, and it cannot be understated.
2. Knife: bring many. Although not always directly used in first aid, a knife is the most useful tool you can have in the back country. Need to improvise a splint or a bandage? Use the knife to cut down limbs and vines. Need a fire to purify (boil) water to avoid dehydration? A fire to keep warm? Larger knives are good at splitting wood.

Now, these two items are numbered because they are always the number 1 and number 2 items on damn near every list I make. The rest of the items are listing in random order, which is to say that I have not assigned a priority to them. I figure that the highest priority item is whichever one I need at the time (and probably the one I forgot!)

• Waterproof bag / box: something to carry the kit, and keep it safe from the elements.
• Hand sanitizer: get my hands clean before touching an open wound.
• Ibuprofen: aches, pains, fever, and the list goes on. The plus here is it is an anti-inflammatory, so it works on sprains.
• Acetaminophen: not an anti-inflamatory, but it is a fever reducer. Great for a good old-fashioned headache.
• Tweezers: Ticks and splinters and scrapes, oh my.
• Sterile wipes: preferably with lidocaine, especially when you need to clean out a scrape with tweezers (see above.)
• Antibiotic ointment: kills them microscopic critters.
• Gauze and pads: sterile and soft.
• Cloth tape: let’s keep things in place, but make it comfortable and do not restrict movement, unless you need to.
• Burn gel: cools and protects all at the same time. One of the few things you should put on a burn.
• Hemostatic bandages: like the name says, it stops bleeding.
• Blistex / Chapstick: make sure it has SPF protection, as well.
• Bandana.

OK, so ther is my basic brain dump. What did I miss? What would you remove? Let the world know.

Speaking of packing, there are a couple different routes that you can take.  One would be to be a “solo-trekker”.  This basically is meaning that everything that you are going to use on this trip (clothing, food, stove, tent, etc…) will be carried by you.  A couple good things about this can be that you know EXACTLY what you have and where it is at all times.  Bad thing about this is that YOU have to carry EVERYTHING! I personally am a firm believer in “buddy-trekking”. And when you have a large group of people going on a trip like this, it can be quite simple.  You find a person of like mind to carry some of the gear for you and you carry some of the gear for them.  A great example of this is that I will be carrying the stove, fuel, potentially some of the food and a saw for myself and my nephew Chad.  In exchange he is going to be carrying the tent in his bag.  Even though he has one item to my several items the weight comes to about the same, and because of this we can lower the weight that both of us will be carrying.  ***Warning: do not do this with a person that you do not trust.  Otherwise you could end up sleeping in the snow or not eating***

I also wanted to give you a quick list of items that I have packed in my pack to give you some ideas of things to pack.

1)  Backpack. (I have this outfitted with several tubes of chap stick, first aid

kit, compass, mirror, whistle, and a few lengths of rope. All of these items are always in my pack so they have become part of my “backpack”)

2)      Two sleeping pads. (when sleeping on cold ground, I like to have two pads to help insulate me against the ground)

3)      Stove, coffee pot, fuel, utensils.  (These items are part of what I’m carrying for my buddy.)

4)      Rainfly. (this is my splurging part of the my pack.  I wanted to bring an extra rainfly that I can set up to sit under in case its snowing or a light rain while we are up there.)

5)      Sleeping bag with liner. (I have to sleep in something, right?)

6)      Extra clothing. (A full set of everything, except shell clothing. And a few pairs of extra socks)

7)      Food. (Enough for the entire trip plus one day. I chose to go with Mountain House.  The food is lightweight, good quality, even though a bit expensive.)

8)      *my tent is being carried by Chad (whom I have a lot of trust in)

All of these items in my pack came to just a few ounces over 32lbs.  I know that those ultra-light friends that I have will say that it sounds like a lot of weight.  But for me I am very comfortable carrying that much weight for a winter trip.

Happy Packing!

Last year I purchased a SteriPEN Adventurer from REI and began testing that as a more convenient method of purifying water.  So far I love the ease of use that it provides and it is very lightweight and compact.  It does run on batteries, so cold weather will affect the use.  Therefore, I would recommend carrying inside a jacket to keep the batteries warm and it will be ready when you are.  The only type of water that it is ineffective in purifying is murky or dirty water.  The dirt particles block the UV light from the microorganisms and leaves them unharmed in the water.  In that type of water, you would need some type of pre-filter, which could be a bandanna, coffee filter or anything else you may have around.  Bottom line is the SteriPEN is a very convenient tool to use to purify water in the back country.

Now, all that being said, photogs all over the world are shooting in some of the worst condition without having to replace their camera every time. Always hunting for expert advise on the subject, I got an email from Nikon the other day with just such an article:

http://www.nikonusa.com/Learn-And-Explore/Photography-Techniques/g1p064ac/all/Camera-in-the-Cold.html

The logic here is that by using a person’s first aid on them, you always have yours ready if and when you need it. In combat, the injured person gets taken away by medical personell, so you are only left with what you initially had on you. In a civilian survival situation, you just might forget to refill your kit before the next adventure. Besides, make the person with the injury pay for the supply refill!

Now, that being said, I am not condoning the withholding of aid to someone in need. If you find someone without a first aid kit, then give them aid from what you have on hand. Additionally, if there is someone designated as a medic, they should be carrying extra kit to use on those in need.

One other tip: do not put your first aid kit down in a pack somewhere. It needs to be attached to you, and easy to get to, both for you and anyone that is there to help.