You have really hit The Sweet Spot balancing introspection with appropriate chattiness. These past few videos have been the best ever. And this is my favorite part of the trail
Those BRS stoves.... I had one and loved it until it could no longer draw fuel while hiking. It was odd, suddenly I could not light it. When I got back down to lower altitudes and warmer temps it worked, but for 2 days on the TST I was without hot food (and a popped mattress but that's another story). But the great thing about the BRS's is that they are so light and cheap you can take 3 with you! LOL The bigger problem is that they are not fuel efficient. The BRS was my first canister stove since ditching my whisper lite, so I didn't know it. But I swapped for a cheap version of a Jetboil and it used far less fuel than the BRS. So I did further research and found that a jetboil itself would use even less than that. So the BRS is really a false economy. It is amazingly light, but you are going to have to carry more (heavy) fuel to make use of it.
I am now retired, but lived and worked for about a decade in the general area of NM you are currently hiking through. It is indeed beautiful and good for the soul. I always enjoy following your adventures, but watching this section has me pining for a good mesa hike! I would just hike the NM portion of the CDT just to see all that once more. Stay safe, enjoy, and keep that gorgeous footage coming! ( spoken whistfully and finished with a big sigh!)
Years ago, as an experiment, I heated a pint of water to boiling using my old Army canteen cup and stove with 4 tealight candles. It was slow but, worked. You could probably use your cup and 3 tealights to warm up a cup for coffee. I like tealights for many uses around camp(light, drying tinder and kindling, and hot poncho). The 1/2 hour visit with the couple was probably a rest your body needed. Happy Trails. Good Luck, Rick
I really loved this stretch after Cuba. Mostly cuz it was great to FINALLY be out of the cold and snow. Of course I didn't know what laid ahead of me just north of Grants but, whatevs, we were finally in the DESERT. And I have a strong love for hiking in the American SW deserts. Also thanks for flipping through some pages of the log. I always appreciate the opportunity to see who else is on trail.
I always take pictures of them out of habit, but I normally don’t post them anywhere. It can be nice towards the end of the through hike when you know a lot of people around you to look back and see where everybody was when
I always love seeing Cabezon peak. You can look up the valley north and see more volcanic plugs.. it’s the same valley that leads to Chaco canyon. Very mystical to me
Last year I camped at about the same place looking out at Cabezon Peak. What a great campsite. Tomorrow you'll head up onto the Mount Taylor plateau...it is really long.
The Optimus stove I bought in 2019 continues to work whereas others (5 in total) have failed. Maybe I just got a really well made stove and it will fail eventually but not so far.
Man that same thing happened to me last Sunday with the time change. I was able to squeeze a day hike in last minute and let's just say I'm glad I brought my headlamp 😅
Apparently, that trail maintainer has never met a rock cairn he didn't like. I can see them for route finding over unclear terrain or to mark an important place, e.g. the way down over rim rock, but every 40 feet seems a bit excessive, particularly when the trail is obvious. I'm looking forward to seeing that field of volcanic plugs up ahead.
They did look a little bit excessive at times but that section was actually very rough and winding. So in a lot of sections if they didn’t have them constantly, I would’ve ended up off track wandering across the desert floor.
11:45 Two months later and that RU-vidr is still milking her fake helicopter evacuation for everything it's worth, and there's no end in sight. It will be interesting to see how many more months she can go on with it. It's like a soap opera.
looks like serious lion territory but no wonder they have vast ranges - not much to eat out there, you are in nuke testing territory too - pretty areas should get even nicer as you keep venturing south
You mean the pack rash? I have used a variety of different Sun hoodies, but I’ve never found that the material has much of an effect. I really think it’s the salt from excessive sweating and it drying out.
@@FirstChurchofTheMasochistHikes yes, pack rash. As a long-distance cyclist, I had horrible lower rash problems until I discovered bike shorts with the chamois. I thought, given the way you are, you may be had tried a bunch of things, and it would be interesting to hear. I have never done anything close to what you’re doing so……
@@paulstevens4178 when I did bike centuries I used to use udder butter quite heavily. While hiking I think I collect dust and dirt a lot more which has some additional challenges as far as smearing cream around. The best thing I found is actually preventative, and that is when I’m doing my morning cat hole routine I try and wipe up down there with the wet wipes I use for toilet paper. Beyond that, I have tried a few products for when chafing crops up but I don’t really have something that has been a silver bullet
Greetings from across the pond, Manchester UK. (you must be famous?) Why not carry a spare BRS stove. It weighs about the same as a Bic lighter and i bet you always carry a spare one of those? Rock on bro' !
I might look into them, but I try and avoid carrying replacement gear since it adds up. Most of the time you are a few days away from the next town where you can always replace something.
The Nemo has a fairly durable zipper. Though I do think I might try and grease it after I get back in town. One side has been catching in one particular spot.
