Cheaha Freezing Out and Back Loop FAIL

[Wesley]

My first attempt at vlogging a backpacking trip. I cut this one short due to the cold getting to me, but figured I’d go through with making the video anyways. Would love any feedback regarding the content / editing. Thanks all!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[fossana]

You did a great job of covering your gear/setup and yay to Asian instant coffee for backpacking. The 2 small suggestions I would have are:

• Outlining your intended trip on a map at the start of the video, potentially some background on why you chose that location
• For this kind of post, a summary of lessons learned at the end would really help out newer backpackers

I don't blame you for bailing. I would be miserable bivying in 20F temps with the long winter nights.

 

[OldBill]

Nice first attempt for sure! Found the video of the feet on the trail making me a bit dizzy. Having something to anchor the view helps. Those are cold sustained temps, especially when not hiking hard and certainly for AL.

Some excellent trail videos to refer to are from MyOwnFrontier Ross L/Bear Basin and just posted recently WasachWill's TR's; eg, WHHR, Day 3 Not easy putting together a good video.

 

[wsp_scott]

I generally don't watch videos because they are almost always too long (17 minutes is too long). If you are going to post a video, I think you should also post a couple photos as well, if nothing else the photos might encourage me to watch the video

 

[Wanderlust073]

I wouldn’t call it a fail - you spent the night in the woods in winter…

Fossana’s recs are good ones. Also if you are trying to attract subs, brutally edit yourself under 8-10 minutes (or less). Personally I regularly watch hour long vids on youtube but you will see in your stats most people only stick around a few minutes hopping through the footage.

I liked it - subscriber #3

 

[Tim Valentine]

I think you did a good job Wes. Particularly with the editing. Maybe next trip you will have more scenery in your raw footage to work with. The big mistake we usually see with new videographers is too much camera movement...either panning or tilting or zooming in an effort to show us everything by moving the camera. That tends to make the viewer a little dizzy. You seemed to have avoided that. During your first hike in when you cut away to show us the flowing water I could have watched that for a lot longer. I was hoping you would have lingered the water a bit longer to let it sink in more.
I liked it when you put the camera down for the coffee session. That made me fee like I was in camp with you.
Looking forward to your next trip.
tv

 

[Jackson]

I generally don't watch videos because they are almost always too long (17 minutes is too long). If you are going to post a video, I think you should also post a couple photos as well, if nothing else the photos might encourage me to watch the video

Also, another benefit of posting some photos is that it makes it so we can feature it on the home page!

 

[OwenM]

Fun loop. I've done it in every season and every which way from all 3 THs(used to be able to park overnight at Lake Chinnabee) as a dayhike, nighthike, and quickie overnighter. Still do it a couple times per year, because I always enjoy it.
Need to do some hiking to make a hiking video, though!

Merino doesn't fare well with our humidity(socks only for me), and hiking in a shell here is likewise a no-go, as the B in WPB is mostly wishful thinking.
Combining the two, your clothing has about zero chance of transporting moisure away, so you get wet and stay that way.
While "testing" merino on a short hike here in AL, I wet out a 150wt top under an OR Ferrosi jacket that's much more breathable than a shell in ~3 miles of uphill at 32F.
"Dry is warm", as the saying goes.

btw, if you want to split up the Skyway/South Cheaha Loop, I particularly like parking at Turnipseed Hunter's Camp when the temps are lower, hiking up to the Pinhoti, down that to Adam's Gap, then taking Skyway to the first creek crossing, where there's a good campsite.
If it's warmer, I'll press on to camp on the Chinnabee above Devil's Den. Skyway is the worst for bugs in warm weather, IMO.
Couldn't find a pic to show you the site, but it's a pretty nice one, with several level spots to choose from, and a nice sized fire ring with places to sit around it.

 

[Wesley]

Fun loop. I've done it in every season and every which way from all 3 THs(used to be able to park overnight at Lake Chinnabee) as a dayhike, nighthike, and quickie overnighter. Still do it a couple times per year, because I always enjoy it.
Need to do some hiking to make a hiking video, though!

Merino doesn't fare well with our humidity(socks only for me), and hiking in a shell here is likewise a no-go, as the B in WPB is mostly wishful thinking.
Combining the two, your clothing has about zero chance of transporting moisure away, so you get wet and stay that way.
While "testing" merino on a short hike here in AL, I wet out a 150wt top under an OR Ferrosi jacket that's much more breathable than a shell in ~3 miles of uphill at 32F.
"Dry is warm", as the saying goes.

btw, if you want to split up the Skyway/South Cheaha Loop, I particularly like parking at Turnipseed Hunter's Camp when the temps are lower, hiking up to the Pinhoti, down that to Adam's Gap, then taking Skyway to the first creek crossing, where there's a good campsite.
If it's warmer, I'll press on to camp on the Chinnabee above Devil's Den. Skyway is the worst for bugs in warm weather, IMO.
Couldn't find a pic to show you the site, but it's a pretty nice one, with several level spots to choose from, and a nice sized fire ring with places to sit around it.

I wasn't aware of humidity issues with merino. Is there a specific material you like for humid weather for base layers?

 

[Wesley]

Fun loop. I've done it in every season and every which way from all 3 THs(used to be able to park overnight at Lake Chinnabee) as a dayhike, nighthike, and quickie overnighter. Still do it a couple times per year, because I always enjoy it.
Need to do some hiking to make a hiking video, though!

Merino doesn't fare well with our humidity(socks only for me), and hiking in a shell here is likewise a no-go, as the B in WPB is mostly wishful thinking.
Combining the two, your clothing has about zero chance of transporting moisure away, so you get wet and stay that way.
While "testing" merino on a short hike here in AL, I wet out a 150wt top under an OR Ferrosi jacket that's much more breathable than a shell in ~3 miles of uphill at 32F.
"Dry is warm", as the saying goes.

btw, if you want to split up the Skyway/South Cheaha Loop, I particularly like parking at Turnipseed Hunter's Camp when the temps are lower, hiking up to the Pinhoti, down that to Adam's Gap, then taking Skyway to the first creek crossing, where there's a good campsite.
If it's warmer, I'll press on to camp on the Chinnabee above Devil's Den. Skyway is the worst for bugs in warm weather, IMO.
Couldn't find a pic to show you the site, but it's a pretty nice one, with several level spots to choose from, and a nice sized fire ring with places to sit around it.

Thanks so much for the suggestion! I've always parked at Adams Gap and gone one way or the other. Never thought to start at Turnipseed. Thanks!

 

[OwenM]

Merino is a discussion unto itself, and quite a can of worms.
The shortest version I can come up without turning this into a wall of text:

Merino initially "wicks" very well because it absorbs a lot of moisture.
Much like we do not get the benefits evaporative cooling to the same extent as in low humidity, when the humidity is very high, it's much harder to "push" moisture from one moisture-rich environment to another than from a moist one to a drier one, so merino is more easily overwhelmed(wets out) the higher the humidty(this is true regardless of material, as synthetic clothing, rain shells and windshirts perform much better in low humidity, too). It also takes a lot longer to dry once it gets wet.
One of merino's claims to fame is that it can absorb ~1/3 its weight in water before even feeling wet. That's great if you're wet, but you don't want to be wet *because* you're wearing it.
By contrast, polyester absorbs a fraction of a percent of moisure, and allows it to escape more readily.
BUT, that moisture has to have somewhere to go.
If you're wearing a non-breathable, or relatively less so, material over either, you've pretty much rendered the argument moot, because no matter how well or not your underlayers move that moisture away, even the best shell materials can't get rid of moisture as fast as you produce it if you're actively sweating. That's why I was down on wearing a rain jacket. A thin, unlined softshell, or fleece of appropriate weight for the temperature, will allow a lot more moisture to escape.


Many of the folks on here are from the Southwest, and I'm sure have gotten better overall performance from merino than I have, but our average year-round humidity in the Deep South is 3-8x as high as Moab's, for example.
I actually love merino, it's just that sometimes what works there flops here, while what works here just works even better there(which is why I personally stick with Patagonia Capilene for a baselayer no matter where I am).
I hope that helped a little, and wasn't clear as mud...

 

[Wanderlust073]

Yes it's wonderfully not humid out west

Layers are your friend when it is cold and you are exerting yourself. In your video you are wearing the same thing hiking as you are chilling around camp. No good - need to add/remove clothing to suit the need. Remember that preventing/minimizing the sweating in the first place is more effective than trying to wick a bunch of it away.

Gearing up, standing around chatting, getting cold. Brrr! Bundled up:



Miles and thousands of feet higher (and much colder temp). Down to my cheap-o Target synthetic workout t-shirt. And wearing bloomers?? No - pant vents fully unzipped - I don't want to get sweaty while moving because eventually I'll be standing around and I don't want to turn into a popsicle!



Super cold, ripping ridgeline winds, have to stand around messing with gear again - everything back on including a second jacket:



Bit of an extreme example but you get the idea. Bring lots of layers and (even though you won't want to) take a few minutes to stop and add/remove as needed to suit your level of exertion and circumstance. ALSO - move slower and sweat less. Again, it's always better sweat less to begin with.

 

[Wesley]

In your video you are wearing the same thing hiking as you are chilling around camp. No good - need to add/remove clothing to suit the need. Remember that preventing/minimizing the sweating in the first place is more effective than trying to wick a bunch of it away.

When I was hiking in, I literally had on a merino T-shirt underneath the rain shell. When I got to camp, I put on a long sleeve merino baselayer, and a merido mid-weight hoodie, and a northface thermoball puffy. I just had the shell on to help with the wind. Only sweat I experienced was in my socks - which I changed when I got to camp. Now the next day, I did start to hike in all of that, but it lasted all of 10 minutes - which I did on purpose. I was freezing my tail off, so I wanted to build up heat fast, and planned to shed the layers as I heated up. I shed the rain shell, and when I did I could instantly feel tiny bit of moisture start evaporating. I almost shed the mid-weigh, but was headed to the car, so I wasn't really worried about moisture on the way out as much as I would have been.