Does it fit?

With my new Watershed Colorado dry bag, a pile of clothes, and a new sleeping bag, I was eager to find out how well the bag swallowed it all. Tried it today. Not bad! Ordered up some compression sacks, booties and neoprene socks and will bring the Patagonia wading pants back very soon!

My "house" in the arctic

Tom Brown extolls that the "Sacred Order" of survival is Shelter-Water-Fire-Food. "Shelter" includes clothes and other means that prevent heat and/or water loss (or gain) from the environment that the person's biology needs to expend energy and/or water to counteract. This is my training. This is the topic of this entry.

I'm renting what I expect to be a very fine tent from Arctic Treks. Jim and Carol have been at this a long time and I am leaving my first line of defense in their hands. (It likely will result in a purchase before I do this again!) I had to face double trouble with my current "primo" sleeping bag. First, it is on the bottom end of what was recommended in terms of comfort (15F with a 0F bag for "cold sleepers" like me suggested). Second, it uses down, vs. synthetic, insulation. This is a rafting trip, in a potentially very wet season. Down offers NO insulation when it is wet. REI's 20% off members coupon came just in time. I now have a 0F Mountain Hardware bag that is rated to 0F.

So, the top and sides of "me" are taken care of. What about the "earth side"? I have a 10+ year old self-inflating air mattress but it is 2.5 pounds and doesn't compress well. It'd be fine with me but will it fit into the weight and size limits of the trip? I've availed myself upon Jim and Carol, as well as Bill Thompson, to see what they think.

Waterproof Bags

The weather is supposed to be wet in August on the North Slope. In fact, it could be very wet. One thing for certain: we will get from one place to another in a raft. There is a lot of water around rafts and that water can get inside the raft, where the gear bags are. Wet gear makes for a big mess and can be downright dangerous. I wanted to get as "bombproof" a main bag as I could find and I am very please I found Watershed Dry Bags. I ordered up the 105L Colorado duffle model in "Foliage". (There's more, and a video demo here. ) You can see similar one here on their web site:

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I have an Ortlieb Velocity waterproof messenger bag, PVC coated, with a roll top that I've used back and forth to UMN. I'll use that for my "day pack" and it should do well. The only thing missing is some lashing points for wet rain gear if the nozzle in the sky turns on, and then turns off, before the hike ends.

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Finally, I have an Ortlieb waterproof hip pack with a TIZIP (tizip_waterseal.jpg) and a camera insert. This will be in front, on my belly instead of my "hip" or "fanny", if I take my Canon DSLR along.

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:)

Arctic Activities: Ham Radio?

Aside from simply "being there", photography and fishing are high on my list of things to equip for in August. What about ham radio? Perhaps...but only if it is very minimal. I'm thinking the ATS-3A (already built) or an ATS-3B (to be built), the T1 auto-tuner, and a BuddiStick-type vertical with an elevated radial. Would my fly rod work as the "whip", holding a wire parallel to it and a coil held into the reel seat? A hiking staff could provide the base mast and "something" could hold up the end of the counterpoise.

A possibility...

Patagonia gear: the Cancellation

So, after twelve hours or so, I had buyer's remorse and cancelled the order for all the gear I describe yesterday -- except the lightweight waders. The Keen river shoes are still coming. I need to check out the wading pants when they come to see if they are really worth the bucks.

As far as clothing goes: I have a lot of good winter clothing already, from my association with BSA years ago and outdoor activities in general here in Minnesota. Some pieces might shows some signs of use but generally they've been well cared for. Not to say I won't order something later, just not before I completely review what I have and options besides Patagonia. And, if I want to look, I should visit the local retail store near Macalaster College here in St. Paul first.

Gear fest: Patagonia

So, I know from Tracker School that "shelter" is first in the Sacred Order of survival. I'm putting my fate in Arctic Treks hands regarding the tent. (I'm renting one from them. They know the area and weather, what can go wrong, and will put me in a tent that will more likely make it than anything that I can pick out.

"Shelter", though, includes clothing. My clothes are "OK" but not good enough to be "the only X" when I might need each piece of clothing in some pretty bad circumstances. Patagonia.com had some things on sale. One thing led to another and I placed an order (after checking their return policy!) Check out what I found!

The long underwear base layers were absolutely necessary. The waterproof shells were a very good idea. The rain pants might go back but they were on sale! The orange upper and the down sweater were really cool and will keep me nice and toasty.

The big puzzle on this trip has been equipment to keep me dry during fishing/rafting/hiking while minimizing weight/bulk and piece count. So, this is where I am at the moment: Rain pants and hiking boots for hiking. Wading pants and Keen Wading Shoes for fishing and rafting. Keen Wading Shoes for camp, with wool socks. Plenty of room in Keen's (+1 to +1.5 size) and waders (+1 size) to accommodate insulation layers.

Patagonia wading pants were lighter than those from Orvis and about the same price.

It's real!

I just went to the mailbox this afternoon to pick up yesterday's deliveries. My information pack from Arctic Treks and the receipt for my deposit arrived! In August of this year, I'll be rafting for 10 days on the Nigu River on the North Slope of the Brooks Range in Alaska. How did this happen? It's a strange story to tell (but short). What's happened since? It's stranger still...

My mom received an invitation a couple of years ago to the 80th birthday party of her childhood friend, Margaret Schlickman. She had given up driving some time before and was somewhat sad she couldn't go. I offered to take her and she was delighted. I hadn't seen Margaret, who was my godmother, for over a decade and it would be good for the two of them to visit. (Both were showing signs of memory problems even then.) Margaret's oldest son, Andy, was at the party and we visited a bit as well. We thought it would be good for the two of us to help our moms stay in contact and exchanged e-mail addresses.

Andy and I exchanged a couple of e-mails over the intervening time and then in a more in-depth way over the first couple of months of 2011. In one of my "introduction to my kids" paragraphs, I mentioned a trip in 2009 with my son Chris to New Zealand for fishing and sightseeing. Andy then picked up on that, let me know he'd been flyfishing for trout in Wisconsin for years, and the two of us decided to get together at least twice this summer, once on one of his home streams and one on mine. He sent me a list of "bad dates" to start off the discussion and mentioned that the last 3-week period in August was when he was going to be fishing and rafting in the Arctic. He mentioned he had a spot left on the trip and wondered if I was interested.

This dovetailed nicely into another plan-gone-sour to repeat a trip with my buddy Lyth. For my 40th, Cindy sent us on a 10 day trip to Yellowstone NP and Montana to flyfish. The initial plan was to go to British Columbia to fish for Steelhead together. However, Lyth had a fair number of professional conflicts right over the time the Steelie's were running so the whole thing kinda petered out. However, this seemed like a most excellent substitute, albeit without Lyth, so I broached the possibility here at home.

Cindy graciously dubbed it my 60th birthday trip and I let Andy know, sent off a deposit to Arctic treks, made air reservations on Delta, and booked nights at a B & B before and after the trip departed from Fairbanks.

Today I have the receipt in my hand for my spot. It's real!