What!? No Internet!?

“Housing is basic, cell phone reception is limited, and it does not have internet.”

What!?  No internet!

For three months, I’ve lived with no wifi at home and limited phone service.  There is slow McDonald’s wifi 45 minutes away.  And… Life has been amazing without regular, constant acess to the internet.

One of the few times I went into town for internet, it took two hours to upload two blog posts.  Not a good use of time.

Without internet, there is so much time.  Time for the world outside my door.  Time for the people I interact with face to face.

There were initial frustrations, of course.  I ran out of podcast episodes.   I failed to download my library book on tape in time—after I finally got it after three months of waiting on hold, so now I’ll have to wait another round.  I miss being able to keep up with photos from my friend’s hiking adventures. 

But I’ve found huge benefits of the no internet life.  Amazing things happen to your brain.  The clarity of mind and peacefulness remind me of the mental state that happens when going backpacking.  I notice more around me.  I can dive into reading book after book, and that can open up whole new ways of thinking.  Every sunrise and sunset is a whole new event to be enjoyed. It feels like I get to live more.  That moments are overflowing with intentionality and appreciation. 

I realize how I used to reach for my phone as a way to distract myself from momentary discomfort.  Maybe I’d be trying to write an article, and I’d get stuck.  Instead of just sitting with it, I impulsively open up instagram to escape.

I’ve enjoyed slow ways to get information.  When I have questions that I would normally google answers for, instead I ask the people around me, or search for answers in books.  Slower, but when I actually have to work for the answers, I end up learning more.

Not as fast as google.  But you'll find a fascinating world here.

News comes, but not via the usual channels.  It’s direct observations and word of mouth here.  We take out the ruler and measure how much snow fell in the last 24 hours.  The peregrine falcons are nesting, and we know because a visitor brought in a photo. Instead of traffic reports on the radio, we find out how the roads are by asking our coworkers or the visitors.

"It snowed last night."

It’s not entirely true that I’m completely cut off.  Via my smartphone, I can do email if I wave my phone around and wait… and wait…  If I try pressing upload for a few hours, sometimes I can get a post through to instagram, if the weather is right.  Because the internet is not instantaneous, I have to consider WHY time should be invested in whatever I’m doing.  Is it just wanting to be “liked”? Most of the time I can’t download comments and once I can actually read them, comments have lost their immediacy.  Posting becomes less about wanting responses, and more about the desire to share something with the universe that has nothing to do with any sort of return.  It makes you think about sharing in this whole other time scale.  That is the opposite of clicking and clicking and the super fast way that the wifi can make your brain not able to focus at all. 

What!? No facebook!?  Yes, I gave up it was just too slow.

Reading blog posts takes a while.  In the time they take to load, I ask, “Does reading this article help me learn something new, does it inspire me, or provoke creativity?” I have discovered that there are maybe five blogs that are worth the time to download.  It makes me wonder why I used to waste so much time reading things that didn’t make a positive impact on my life.

In reading less online, I value personal interactions more.  My mind doesn’t wander to some fb post I’ve been meaning to write.  The people in front of me are the ones that matter.  Their stories are my reality. 

As I prepare to head back to the land of internet and 4G, I wonder if I will just instantly revert back to my old ways.  I hope I can take some of what I learned back with me, and be more present and less distracted.  I want to remember to use the internet as a tool, and with thought, not as a means of distraction.

Ten Steps to Hiking in Grizzly Country

I arrived in northwestern Montana this April thinking I was an experienced solo backpacker.  Because I’d dealt with black bears in “problem areas” like the Smokies and Yosemite, I thought I would easily adjust to hiking solo in grizzly country.  I thought that fears of grizzlies were overblown. 

Trailhead sign in Glaicer NP.

Turned out, it was more complicated than I'd assummed. 

After eight months, I’m certainly no expert.  Learning the best practices for hiking in grizzly country was straitforward: make noise, be constantly alert, take care with food, keep food and food smells away from camp, carry bear spray.  But the mental aspects required significant adjustment.

I found little information about solo hiking around grizzlies.  Signs and guidebooks simply say don’t do it. The vast majority of locals say don’t do it.  "Why?" I kept asking.  "Is it really that much more dangerous than going with a partner?" 

I am not making any recommendations here.  Its best to follow the official advice.  Or avoid Montana.

But here is my story of the ten steps that I took to hike here, alone:

1. Study reports of grizzly attacks.  Realize that the risk of death is low, but maulings happen more frequently.  Statistically, drownings and falls present a more serious danger.  Try (and fail) to identify patterns in the attacks.  Did the victims make obvious errors? Which areas have problem bears and the highest bear concentrations?  Listen to some people say that the Bob is safer because bears are more wild, while others say Glacier because it’s heavily monitored and bears are sort-of habituated.  Realize that bears are unpredictable, that they could be anywhere.  Even experienced hikers taking all the precautions have been attacked. 

2. Practice skills for hiking in grizzly country;
    -  How to make noise especially around blind corners.
    -  How to distinguish black bears and grizzlies, and how to respond to each.  
    -  How to carry bear spray on a belt so it says with you when you take off your pack, and doesn’t fall down a cliff and roll into a freezing cold lake.
    -  How to keep the safety on the bear spray covered so it doesn’t break in your car, and then accidentally fire into a fellow hiker’s face at the trailhead, causing all sorts of pain and leaving you feeling totally mortified and too embarrassed to ever hike with that group again, even though they were probably your best hope to find hiking buddies.

3. Practice wildlife avoidance tactics.  Choose popular trails.  Wait at empty trailheads for other hikers to arrive.   Avoid trails with grizzly signs.  Avoid hiking at dawn and dusk.  Inquire about bear activity at the backcountry ranger office.  Question everyone you pass about what wildlife they’ve seen.  Hike 10 miles to a campsite where you have a permit, only to hear about a grizzly in the area when you arrive, and hike the 10 miles out again so you don’t have to camp there alone.

Do I really want to camp here?

4.  Seek guidance from experienced solo hikers.  Discover that most of the badass female backpackers did not go through Montana alone when they were on the CDT.  Identify two superheros of backpacking and get up enough courage to ask how they went solo.  Listen carefully as they emphasize that mental state is key.   “Know your place on the food chain."  "Accept the risks you are taking."  "It’s complex,” they say. 

What does that even mean?

5. See grizzlies up close with other people.  Walk by a grizzly that you could reach out and touch with your hiking pole.  Camp in a place where a grizzly walks past the tents.  Feel what it is like to know your place on the food chain.

Notice that there is a risk to hiking with other people because you are less cautious, less aware.  Discover that hiking with other people doesn't feel that safe either. Especially when other people run from bears, or do other stupid things.

Two women running from the grizzly bear towards us on the Highline Trail.

Roadside grizzly at Logan Pass, Glacier Nationa Park.  This makes me uncomfortable for a number of reasons.  People think they are at a zoo.

6. Go solo hiking, and experience the discomfort.  Drive yourself crazy shouting and clapping and making noise.   Lie awake at night, startling at the smallest rustling.  Question whether you are cut out for Montana.  Cry at the incredible beauty.  Wish this place could feel like home.

Solo trip to Lincoln Lake.

7. Decide to stay home.  Have a backcountry camping permit and your backpack packed for the weekend, but then read the day’s news reports of a bear mauling and the FWP press release saying that bear activity is on the rise.  Call the backcountry permit office and cancel the reservation.  Try to think of something else to do, but fail to come up with anything to do at 5 AM but hike.  Face the reality that you are a hiker and your heart longs for the woods.  Spend the day lying in bed feeling depressed.

Learn that there is a measurable risk to staying home, to NOT hiking solo.

8. Feel the fear.  Have a solo bear encounter.  Feel the clarity of mind when you know danger is that close and make those smart decisions.  Have everything go well- the bear stands up on two feet to get a good look at you, then you realize it's only a black bear as it runs off.  

Completely realistic likeness of the solo black bear encounter in Glaicer.

 9. Watch Night of the Grizzlies and the next morning hike to one of the sites of the maulings.  Sit at the edge of Trout Lake for an hour in a hail storm by yourself.  Think about death.  Feel what it is like to be completely alive.

Trout Lake-- site of one of the 1967 grizzly attacks that changed attitudes towards bears and led to our modern managment system.

10. Accept the risk of going solo.  Feel the mental shift that has happened.  Measure the risks, find ways to mitigate the risks.  Feel the fear but also the even stronger drive to be out in this beautiful grizzly country.  Value the wildness of this place.  Respect that you are traveling through the home for these endangered creatures.  Realize that you probably shouldn’t even be here, but that having this experience is powerful and is challenging you in ways you had never imagined, certainly would never have asked for.  Be grateful for all of this.

Solo trip to Dawson Pass, near Two Medicine.

Again, I'm not saying I recommend going solo.  But as someone who previously backpacked solo for many years, and as someone who had trouble finding available hiking buddies, this is what I did.  Because I weighted the risk of hiking solo with the risks of staying home.

I hope this will give you some idea of what they mean when they tell you not to hike solo in grizzly country.

If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.  My email address is listed on my "about me" page.

For more information:

Night of the Grizzlies -watch the documentary or read the book

Good article on food protection by Andrew Skurka

Glacier National Park's bear advice and video

Bear biology and research

Major shakedown hike

Will I be ready for my big three week long backpacking vacation next week?  Time for a shakedown!

First, gear testing.  I’ve got the same stuff I took on the PCT and AZT, due to my AmeriCorps budget (i.e. no new gear).  So I had to test out if the fresh superglue and patches will hold my old gear together.  So far, so good.

Did you really want gear photos when there are views like this?  Didn't think so.  You're welcome.

I did pull the trigger on a replacement toothbrush and new plastic ziplocks.  The new ziplocks were sort of shiny and smelled too clean, but hopefully I will adjust.  And they will get dirty soon enough. 

I next turned to assessing my physical fitness.  Actually, that’s a lie.  I really didn’t pay any attention because the scenery was too beautifully distracting.  I climbed up a mountain just to have somewhere to go and didn’t calculate elevation change until after the trip (4000 feet). I like climbing uphill. It felt good. I hope I get to climb some more.

Evidence that I do sometimes end up peakbagging, if only by mistake.

Without gear or fitness worries, I focused on practicing my skills.  My upcoming backpacking trip will take me to new and challenging terrain, so I want to be sure I am well versed in the techniques that will get me through.

Went for a swim to practice my cooling off and floating around skills.  Then worked on sitting by the side of the lake and watching water striders.

I tend to get overconfident in my botanizing and take unnessary risks like thinking I will see a plant a second time and not stopping to take photos if I think the lighting could be better in a little while.  This shakedown hike really made me dig deep and revise my posey bagging priorities.  Because really it's the mental challenges that are the biggest.

Huckleberry pickin and eatin.  Definitely need more practice.

Think I have the cloudwatching down.  Still not good at cloudwalking.  But will keep trying.

I will not be blogging from the trail and I’m not telling you where I’m going.  But I will say that I’m super duper excited that my friend Arizona that I hiked with on the PCT will be flying out to join me.  Yippee!

Trip notes
This was a solo dayhike in the Swan Range of northwestern Montana.  Not gonna specify where exactly because I only saw 2 other people and really appreciated the solitude.  Huge thanks to C. for telling me about this spot!

Water skills on the Arizona Trail

Water was a challenge on the Arizona Trail.  Jan and I developed skills in finding and planning for water, and learned to appreciate water in a new way.   Water sources included natural springs, seeps, streams, and rivers, or man-made tanks, faucets, or troughs.  Water came in all colors and aromas, with algae and cowpies, with floating dead things.  But we drank up.  What choice did we have?

Yes, I'm drinking this water from a cowpie-lined stream.

Finding water

Water Report
The water report for the Arizona Trail, maintained by Fred Gaudet, was our main source of information.  Similar to the Pacific Crest Trail water report for Southern California, it lists mileages, type of water source, and the name and date of the last hiker to report on each source.

Water report for Passage 14.  We were there in March 2015.  Can you believe no one had updated most of them for so long?

Water sources are rated 0-4 for reliability.  If you hike in a dry year, only the 3s and 4s will have water.  Last year my friend Brian (Arizona) said many sources were dry—he hiked for miles without water.  But in a wet year, like we had all the 1s had water.  But I never did trust the 1s and always carried enough water so that if a source rated 1 ended up not having water, I would have enough water to get to the next source. 

Think we should drink this, or go to the next water source?

When we started our hike, most of the water sources on the water report hadn’t been updated for over 6 months!  Even after the southbounders started hiking, the vast majority still hadn’t provided updates.  Perhaps this lack of reporting was because it was a high rain year.  But information about water clarity and flow is useful for other hikers, so please do your part to keep the water report current.   Sending in reports is easy-all you have to do is email Fred at fwgaz@yahoo.com.   Special thanks to Fred for maintaining the water report!

Example of a dirt tank.

Word of mouth
We were always really happy to cross northbound backpackers, because they were reliable source of water source information.  Other hikers took the time to explain how the stock tanks and systems of pipes worked, and how the float balls functioned.  We learned which sources to skip because they were really disgusting, and which had clear water.

A natural water source with clear water.

Once we started getting water information from the northbound hikers, Jan and I could carry significantly less water because we knew which sources we could count on.  We we thrilled when other hikers started updating the water report too.  Thank you!

Other information sources
The Grand Enchantment Trail and Sky Islands Traverse both run concurrent with the Arizona Trail for large stretches, and the water source descriptions for these routes are really helpful. 

Topo maps
Water sources including springs and stock tanks are shown on the topo maps I downloaded on my iphone using Gaia GPS.  It was really helpful to have these on my GPS for locating off-trail sources.

Topo maps downloaded onto my smartphone using Gaia GPS show wells, tanks, and springs..

Keeping your eyes peeled
Ephemeral water sources like potholes are not listed.  But you can spot them once you know where to look.  You’ll develop a keen search image for water.  You’ll spot the bright green of cottonwoods from miles away, see the rock formations that tend to gather pothole water, and even start to believe you can smell the scent of water. 

Potential water source?

Water caches

While it is best to use natural water sources, the reality on the Arizona Trail is that there are long stretches without water where caches are important.  There are several established metal, public cache boxes, and people also do their own water caches before they hike, especially in Passages 6, 7 and 14 and 15.

Retrieving water I'd cached before the trip.

The rule of thumb is to never rely on water caches.  Public water caches are unreliable because they could easily and quickly be emptied out by other people.  A good practice is to arrive at the caches with enough water so that you wouldn’t die if they were empty and had to hike to the next water source.

Public water cache.

The three public water caches (called “resupply box” on the databook and water reports)
are all in Passage 14 and 15.  These were at the Florence-Kelvin Road Trailhead, Freeman Road, Tiger Mine Road Trailhead.  These metal containers with locks were located down the trail but close to trailheads.  You can put your own water in the boxes (label them with your name and date), and we also found that there were several gallons available for public use.  Whoever maintains these caches provides an incredible service!

Some people cache their own water in areas besides the metal boxes, either by leaving it near trailheads or burying their water jugs.  If you do this, please label your bottles with your name and expected date of use, and clean up your caches after your hike.  Follow leave no trace and either pack out your bottles or pick them up quickly after your hike!

Digging up my water cache.

Packing out the empties.

Cattle troughs and stock tanks
When there are no natural water sources, ranches use wells and windmills to bring water to the surface for their cattle.  Backpackers can get water from these sources too, as long as they are respectful and take only what they need.   

Climbing the ladder of a stock tank...

...to get water strait from the pipe.

At troughs, we'd follow the pipes to the water source to see if we could find cleaner water.

I was apprehensive when we saw these signs at the trailheads warning us about taking water on private property, but we were told we could get water as long as we only took what we needed and followed good Leave No Trace practices.

These signs are meant to remind hikers to be respectful.

Water management
Carrying larger quantities of water required a different system than what I’ve used on trails where I only have to carry a liter or two.  With so much water, you could easily get confused which water is clean and which is dirty. Water processing efficiency also needs to be considered, and it all must be able to fit into your pack. 

My water system- 2 L dirty bag, water scoop, two clean bags, sawyer squeeze and aquamira.

I have higher capacity for clean water and only one 2 L bottle for dirty water.  We frequently filled up with clean water for long water carries, like when we headed out from a trailhead, town, or cache. 

Filling up with water at a spigot.

I drink most of my water from my platypus hose, so I carry two 3 Liter platypus bottles, and usually only fill them partially full.  As I empty one, I can easily switch out to the other.

Powered drink mixes masks the taste of gross water sources.  A gatorade bottle has a slightly larger opening for mixing drink powders.  When I used my sawyer squeeze, it was much easier to squeeze water into the gatorade bottle and it didn’t tip over.  Then I would pour the filtered water from the gatorade bottle into the platypus 3 liter bottles (with their small openings, and soft sides, they were more difficult to squeeze into.)

Water purification
A prefilter in the water scoop gets the floaties and chunks out, and helped prevent the water filter from clogging up.

Did you bring your pre-filter?

For really fowl water, I treated with both a sawyer squeeze and aquamira drops.  I switched from the sawyer mini to the regular sized sawyer for this trip after finding that the mini clogged easily and the flow was slow.

Scooping water from a shallow source.

Conclusions

Time spent developing water skills pays off.  Finding and carrying water on Arizona Trail is challenging, but it's worth it to traverse these incredible landscapes.  We really learned to appreciate that “water is life. 

Precious water down a wash.

For more information

Fred Gaudet's Water Report
Grand Enchantment Trail's Water Charts

Never fear! We've got UMBRELLAS!

Jan and I had a lot of fears going into our hike of the Arizona Trail.  We worried about border problems and drug runners, angry bulls, mountain lions, spiny vegetation, and ranches who didn’t want us on their land.  We started out feeling scared and vulnerable.

However, during our hike, we discovered we had powerful defense of our own.  There was no need to fear, because we wielded CHROME DOME UMBRELLAS!

I am a powerful warrior, with my trusty umbrella at my side. Photo by Jan.

In all circumstances, our umbrellas provided us the protection we needed to safely traverse the Arizona Trail unharmed.  When deployed, the shiny, silver reflective properties of the umbrella and it’s unique-deflecting dome shape shielded us from harm.

No mountain lions would dare attack us when we had giant chrome dome sized heads.

I can safely take a rest break under the protection of my umbrella.  Plus my knees won't get sunburned.

When rolled up, the chrome dome umbrella turns into a magical sword that can slay any foe, animal or vegetable.

Fighting the fierce jumping cholla cactus. Photo by Jan.

Slashing my way through thick vegetation that fought back with vicious spines.

Water tanks would sometimes spray us with water when we ventured too close.  But we survived the attacks with our umbrellas.

I slept soundly knowing my trusty umbrella was within easy reach under my hammock.

If any situation got out of control, we knew we could always use the umbrella’s capacities for flight to escape just like Mary Poppins.

Just about ready to take off. Photo by Jan.

Our umbrellas were by far our most important gear items on the Arizona Trail.  We never would have made it through alive if it weren't for our chrome domes.

***Several alert readers have written to me and suggested that our success on the Arizona Trail was because the trail is actually quite safe, and our fears were overblown.  While this is a viable hypothesis, I still wouldn't recommend hiking the Arizona Trail without an umbrella.***

For more information

Umbrella rigging- how to rig your umbrella hands-free to your pack

Golite no longer sells umbrellas, but Gossamer Gear does here.

(Disclaimer- I am a Gossamer Gear Trail Ambassador.  But I bought this umbrella from Golite).