We're Sarah and Bryan Carroll, and we help you to become Adventure Ready! We share outdoor adventures, gear reviews, and fitness tips so you are ready for your own adventures.
Unlike most channels who use a piece of gear once then do a video on it, we actually consistently use our gear BEFORE giving our review. We don't want our opinions on gear to be influenced by 'how much money we can make' or 'what brands we can appease'. If the gear is awesome, we will say it, and if it isn't, we say so!
We're located in Washington State, and our favorite outdoor activities are: Hiking, Backpacking, Snowboarding, Packrafting, and Rock Climbing. We're not trying to be the best at any specific activity but we enjoy them all the same!
Bryan's been a personal trainer for over 14 years and a nutritionist for 10+ years.
Become Adventure Ready Today: summitforwellness.com/youtube
@SummitForWellness Yeah. We are at solar maximum so I suppose it could happen again, but I told my wife that will likely be the best we'll ever see them here.
You don't really need to use GPS now, the trail is really established! It was a fun one, if you like to torture yourself a little bit then I definitely recommend it. After the first 2 miles it's really nice up there
I’ve been a Gaia user for years and like you I tried OnX afteer their big discount just to see how the two premium versions compare. Quite frankly, if you’re more than just a casual hiker there’s no comparison. Yes OnX is simpler, but that’s the problem.
@@SummitForWellness Living on the east coast, I can attest to those big summer storms on the AT. They suck lol. Thanks for the video, I actually enjoyed it
Actually you are wrong. For the Olympics, which is a national park, we had to apply during the lottery period to get access to the permit system. We got lucky and got access via the lottery to pick our dates and specific campsites. So when a ranger gave away our spot to someone that doesn't have the correct permits (their permits were for south sand point, not wedding rocks) then it completely messes up the trip for those who spent months having to go through the proper channels to get the right permits for certain locations. National forest land it's first come first serve. Not national parks. In a national forest then you snooze you lose.
Chances are you don't want to top the pad all the way off anyway unless you really enjoy a super firm pad. Most people like to leave their pads a bit under-inflated to mold to and story their body better.
For us it's still under inflated to the point your hips are sitting nearly on the ground when you lay on it. It only takes a couple breaths to get it where we need it though
I'm not going to do this, I'm more the Barclay Lake camping type. BUT I wanted a general notion of what it looked like from up there. Thank you for sharing. I really enjoyed seeing this.
I don't have a galaxy watch, I have the Garmin Epix Pro 2, so the maps are different but Gaia and Garmin had the same trails on each of their maps where as OnX didn't have those trails on their maps
I have a different model. Works fin on a thin sea to summit gives it enough air to side sleep. Is it essential? No. Is it great in winter and wet weather? YES. Gear air supply to get wet wood and kindling going 🔥🔥🔥
Lost in the woods, I had a group of deer ten feet away from me all night as I slept (kinda) with my back to a tree. I took a shoestring and tied my knife to my walking stick. Just in case of something else. Know what imt saying? Bear spray is essential.
So you put your bear bin on top? We haven't tried that yet, last weekend we did a much better job attaching it to the pack but next time we'll try across the top
Wonder if we can make some kind of like connector bar like a ridgeline connector bar that goes in between the two trekking poles.You know, if you know you're gonna be crazy weather
That would be an interesting idea, it would make it way more rigid which would be great in nastier storms. We ran into an issue last weekend where we had to get setup in another storm and because the ground wasn't even close to flat, that ridgeline was collapsed in the entire time until we could reset everything after the storm. With a stiff connector there then even in an emergency/quick setup to get out of the elements it would hold up much better.
@SummitForWellness we we need to talk to Dan to create a trekking pole that has a secondary rod that swings out, that way the extra weight of the ridge connector would still be within your trekking pole. Although i'm sure he'd just tell us to stop being lazy and put the guy line's out lol
That bottom net sould really be dcf instead of bug net, the bug net draped on the ground all the time just collects dirt and gets holes , the design is fine jist needs different material there
I'm assuming the bug netting is to help with air flow but there's lots of air flow even if you took the ends out. Like you said it just collects dirt and gets ripped up.
@@SummitForWellness the netting does help with ventilation, but its primary design is to allow a place for condensation to run out off the fabric. A more solid pitch with a bit lower peak height would have helped minimize the issues you had.
I buy these every year and a half or so. Eventually, your foot wears through the foam and the valcro/elastic tensioning system gives out. They've only gotten better over the last few years. I like them much more than my old brooks and running is somewhat easier with barefoot.
I'm loving the Skyline 30! Anytime I am doing a day hike or short trip, that's my go-to bag. It fits my frame well and is very comfortable. I haven't had any experience with any newer fastbacks that have come on the market so I can't compare in the last year, so take that for what it's worth.
@@SummitForWellness most just hiking? Any running? How much weight and volume are you typically loafing it with? I plan to use this pack instead of my daypack, mountain bike camelbak, weekly running vest, ultralight backpack.
Primarily hiking, which I usually jog the flats or downhills. Usually I have camera gear with me so I'm carrying comfortably 20-25lb pack. Depending on the area, I might have camera gear + extra water if water sources are limited so it gets pretty heavy. I'd say the upper end is 30lbs, you probably don't want more than that in it. The hip belt strap is a regular strap not a normal backpacking hip belt so if you get too heavy then the strap isn't comfortable and digs in, but under 20lbs you don't even notice it! OV may have the packs on sale soon, I know they're at PCT Days this weekend and said something about Monday they have an announcement. Labor Day they might have sales too. I have a link to the fastpack if you want to use it, summitforwellness.com/outdoor-vitals-skyline-fastpack
Wow thanks, no matter if you’re 40 or whatever, after reading Dobbie Nerkstrol's guide, I ended up pleasantly surprised. Within 60 days anyone can get pregnant, feeling the changes in your body the first few weeks. After go’ogling her I understood it's not a miracle kind of thing like the title suggests, but you can bet you'll boost your chances.
What a great video! Questions. What are the tips for traversing the shale without slipping? And what are both your favorite brand of hike shoes and trek poles? Time to get hiking out here on the Peninsula!
We were just at the Ozette Triangle 2 weeks ago! For shoes we both use trail runners. I'm using Xero Mesa Trail II's, and Sarah uses La Sportiva running shoes. We both use Black Diamond Alpine Carbon trekking poles amzn.to/4dJCbG3 and have had them for about a decade. They are pricey up front but last a really long time. To not slip, it's about getting as much of the sole of your foot on the ground as possible without moving your body too far away from your feet that would create an angle where you lose traction. Having trekking poles helps too because you have more points of contact on the ground. Going downhill I'm usually slightly leaning forward over my feet. If I lean back then my feet usually slip out!
Same upgrades, 3HR - 6X Sapphire - Epix Pro Gen 2 (51mm). Garmin is a GREAT fitness tracker, but when you recieve notifications, you can realize the lack of intelligence despite efforts to have better smartwatch capabilities.
💯 the notifications are awful. The one the really annoys me right now is when I finish an activity and am scrolling through the data and the Garmin connect notification pops up and it gets in the way of me checking the data 😂 I hope their next iterations they improve the smartwatch capabilities. The battery is already pretty good, if they can make the smartwatch side of it much better and challenge the apple watches but maintain way better battery life, then I'll be extremely happy
We used a smaller canister of Shelly's, she got that ultra light expensive one that I have no idea what it's called. But so glad we had it because we ran into devil raccoons at night!!!
I was shocked we didn't see any raccoons! I'm going to have to look up that lightweight canister, Sarah complained about the one we had the entire time 😂
Super awesome video - I'm thinking of doing this one soon! What was the ledge like at around 5:10? Do you have to cross that sheer face, or was your next move to scramble up?
Honestly the ledge is the easiest part of the whole route! There's a path below the camera that you follow, it's not bad at all. I think it's worse early season when there's some snow on it but not a problem right now. The scramble after the boulder field is the sketchiest part.
Thank you for the video! Just some feedback, it was hard to hear you with the background music, consider no music when you talk :) you had a lot of good info
He has some good ideas on adrenaline for the most part but then talks about low carb diets (increases stress hormones) and just using progesterone. Why not just calm down the adrenaline with some glucose-fructose from fruits/fruit juices/milk/cane sugar based sodas/maple syrup/honey etc? He seems to be missing the obvious on that one. Progesterone may have it's place but why not just give the brain what it's looking for in the first place? He's correct about the adrenaline as a motivator to find glucose for the brain, but then skips over that dietary source entirely. lol I think he needs to re-think his ideas out. Low carb/sugar makes no sense! Sugar suppresses cortisol and adrenaline. Listen to Ray Peat!
There's no perfect approach to regulate the human body. It's been awhile since this episode came out so I don't remember the entire conversation but my guess is he is using a low carb diet for someone who consumes a lot of carbs/sugars already and the low carb diet is used to reduce the dependency on excess glucose. If you look at the standard American diet, using glucose/fructose from fruits or other sugars to give the brain what it needs isn't really the solution, everyone is already overconsuming those foods and if they are having issues with getting fuel to the brain, then doing the same thing isn't going to fix it. When there is too much sugar in the system, your body releases insulin to try and push the glucose into cells. When there is a never-ending stream of glucose in the system, then the cells become insulin-resistant because they can't take on more glucose into those cells. 2 areas of the body that become insulin-resistant the quickest are the brain, and the liver. Mind you, this isn't an overnight problem, it takes years or decades in most cases. Now if the brain is insulin-resistant, then it is tough to get glucose into the brain cells to provide fuel. Consuming more sugar isn't going to fix that problem. So the body has a secondary fuel source it can use that bypasses the insulin-resistant cells, those are ketones. There's some hypothesis that dementia/Alzheimer's is Type III Diabetes, which is an indication that glucose can't enter the cell and provide the necessary energy for those brain cells to work. There's long term studies currently in progress to see if ketones help in these situations to reduce the impact of dementia/Alzheimer's (shorter term studies have shown some benefit). Time will tell if this is an appropriate method or not. As for low carb diets increasing stress hormones, that is dependent on the person. Initially for a lot of people it will be stressful, just like any dietary change. After time, then it depends on how your body handles the macronutrients and the types of food you are consuming. This can become extremely complicated, so it is hard to say definitively that it causes increased stress hormones or not. I can tell you that I was keto for 2 years straight and did hormone testing every quarter, and I never had any issues with my stress hormones. I agree that progesterone has it's place, but it can't be the solution all the time. There's steps one can take to try and balance everything else out. But then again people like to be told that "you take this and you'll feel better" so there will be people who just want progesterone without learning everything else involved!
That's true, that would've been a better setup for how we sleep. When we originally got the Ultamid 2 we each were using our own sleeping pads and sleeping bags and we each slept on one side of the pole. But then over the years we ended up with a double sleeping bag and double sleeping pad, so we made do with what we already had which worked pretty well. Overall it's got way more than enough room for 2 people inside the tent and the Ultamid 4 would probably feel like a castle!
I had the complete opposite experience. I never felt that I had to add more air into the pad after the pump was done. During my last trip the pump became one of my favorite items since blowing up the pad manually or with a pump sack at the end of a long day was always super annoying for me even though it arguably isn't that much work. The pump (including the battery and adaptor) weights only 6g more then my pump sack and is even smaller in size. And the battery lasts over two weeks and is rechargable, so that isn't an issue either. But my opinion might be different if I had the same issue as you and felt like the pump didn't get the job done completely. And of course the price might not be worth it for everyone. For me personaly I'm super happy with the purchase.
That's interesting that your pad was pumped up just fine! What brand do you have, idk if that makes a difference but I'm really curious if somehow pad design makes a difference
@@SummitForWellness I've got the Thermarest Uberlite. I guess the uberlite might have less resistance than most pads since the material is quite thin. So that might be the reason. I'll have to test it with a different pad in the future. Or there is some batch-to-batch variation with regards to the power of the pump.
1. Wondering why you never mentioned that it is possible to use the inflation sack which comes with your sleeping pad as intended by the manufacturer. 2. Also wondering why you did not mention that the 1.2 ounces is without the included battery, and the battery weighs an ounce, so it's really a 2.2 ounce product. Since it does not work without the battery advertising it as 1.2 ounces is kind of dishonest in my opinion. The other flextail products specify the weight with the battery included. I've used flextail products before and my conclusion is: just inflate with the inflation sack included with the sleeping pad (no need to breath into it because the pump is underpowered).
1. I personally hate inflation sacks and would rather blow it up myself. After using inflation sacks to pump up packrafts, it is something I never want to do again 😂 But for those who don't mind using them, then it is a great option. 2. I'm out in the backcountry, I don't have cellphone access to look up information so I went with the 1.2oz which is what is stamped in giant letters on the front of the Flextail so I assumed that was the entire thing. Turns out it doesn't include the battery, which is pretty deceiving imo. I weighed it this morning with the battery and it was 1.83oz on my scale. That's less than 2.2oz but more than the Flextail Tiny Pump which is why I'm confused what the purpose of making the Zero was other than the form is smaller I guess? My conclusion is the Zero is a huge waste of $53 and I really don't see the purpose of it.
Also, importantly, the 1.4 ounce weight on the Flextail Zero does not include the CR 123 battery weight! The CR 123 battery weighs 0.56 ounces, making the total weight of the Flextail Zero 1.96 ounces, which is actually more than the Flextail Tiny Pump X which only weighs 1.59 oz! I just bought the Tiny Pump X using your link in the description, and even got 20% off as a prime member! The Tiny Pump X is better in every way! Thank you for saving me the money! :) :) :)
Aww I should've thrown the Flextail Zero onto my scale to see what the weight was, I didn't know it didn't include the battery! Well hopefully the tiny pump is way less disappointing than the Zero, let me know how it works for you!
Thanks for using our gear and putting this video together. Glad you're liking the tent. Here's a few notes/thoughts/tips/explanations: 1) For the zippers operating one handed, if you put the pole tips into the loops on the sides of the floor, then it will anchor the zippers there and enable them to operate one handed on the vertical part of the zipper too. 2) Regarding the 90 degree corners, there are pros and cons here. As Sarah mentions, you could get bugs in if the corner isn't quite closed. The rationale for the 90 degree corner is a few things. First, the superlight interior zippers we are using are the lightest zippers in the world but they don't come in a curved version so we can't do a curved corner while using these zippers. But also there are some nice advantages of a 90 degree corner, which are (1) you can more easily find the sliders in the dark because they are always in the same spot, (2) the zippers last longer because corners are responsible for most of the wear, and (3) they operate more reliably one handed than a curved corner (when also using the pole tip loop). So there are some pros and cons. Overall I prefer them, but opinions vary. 3) For the space/layout, you will get a better pitch on the floor if the base of the fly is tighter (snug up the corners more before adding the poles) and then also extend the poles a bit more firmly which will tighten up the canopy more and increase the headroom and length further. When sleeping with two, you can sleep opposite but I recommend sleeping the same way. To get that working well, I would slide the entire pad down and leave the lower corner as a space for gear. I can't put a link here, but the X-Mid Pro 2+ product page has a diagram showing sliding away from the lower corner to leave it as a space for gear, and then headroom on that side is better than almost all comparable tents. It is true that sleeping opposite gives even more though. So you get a ton of room sleeping opposite but should do well sleeping the same way - especially if you slide down a bit more and get the fly a bit tighter to add a few more inches of clearance. 4) For the bathtub floor, it should stand up nicer if the fly base is tighter (mentioned above). I use a 5" height because the fly comes lower than most tents. The idea is that instead of a drafty fly and then a tall bathtub to block splatter, we use a more 'full coverage' fly that extends lower to the ground, and then the vestibules are more protected and the bathtub has less need to be tall. Yeah the corner cords are on the short side of things. The main reason for that is that if we give users long cords then a small % of less experienced users will do strange things with it, like set some corners long and some short to give a wonky pitch. So they are shorter for a reason but certainly you can swap on longer cords for more flexibility. Thanks again for using our tents! Dan Durston
I rarely see a company jump on and give such detailed explanations on their products, I think that shows just how proud of your products you are and how much you appreciate the outdoors community. Thank you so much for walking through ways to improve upon the pitch! I didn't know what to set the pole length to, so I just winged it. Sounds like there's less worry about trying to get the perfect pole height and instead just lengthen it most of the way and it should be good. I definitely see the reasoning for the shorter lines in the corners, but for our area (Washington) there's a ton of rocky areas with shallow dirt patches to camp on. In this pitch, 3 corners were totally fine and I had good holds, the fourth side was on firm ground where I couldn't get a tent stake in unless I went out about 1.5 feet. So that side ended up being a little looser (probably impacts the pitch too) than I normally would like. I did order line to lengthen the corners which will help in our situations. I'm still looking forward to testing out the bathtub in downpour situations. Like you said, having the fly really low to the ground and having the bathtub away from the walls may help with rain bouncing back up into the tent. We've been in some gnarly sideways downpours with rain still bouncing into a 10" bathtub in the past, but there's more clearance on the X-Mid from the fly to the bathtub. We'll definitely try out sliding the pad further down and see how that works. Even if we moved our gear to the top instead then that should clear us of any faces in the side wall. Thanks again for responding, I appreciate and respect it!
It's crazy cool to see you engaging on such a small channel. This was the first time I've come across anyone mention the 90 degree corner. You and your crew are a step above the rest.
@@SummitForWellness You're welcome! For the pole length, it is best not to measure but instead get the base of the fly staked out tight (snug up the corners well) and then just extend the poles until the fly is quite tight. It should wind up about 124 cm but the actual height will vary depending on uneven ground and how long the corner cords are set.
@@durstongearhey Dan I know this is a comment section but on your website it says the XMid pro 2 dyneema ships late July. I just ordered one and was wondering if it can hopefully make it by august 5 (trip starts on that date). Thank you!
