This year we made a trip we've been wanting to make for a few years. Yellowstone National Park. First of all, because our kids hadn't seen it yet. The other is because it's a sort of John Colter Mecca journey for me. John Colter was the first European to explore the Yellowstone area. He spent a lot of time alone in that area in search of good trapping streams. He was not alone. There were many others like him, but his finds and his stories of endurance, physical strength and cunning made him a part of history and the subject of many campfire stories. The grand nature of his expeditions were so extraordinary, it becomes difficult to determine truth from overactive imagination. Although few believed his stories of a land where the water boils and sprays in the air, it's still there. And it's an amazing place.
Living in Washington can sort of spoil a person. It's so rich with pristine old growth rainforest that you start to not notice it any more. It's hard to maintain that sense of awe that nature can provide when you are surrounded by it daily. A trip to Yellowstone will quickly shake you out of any nature indifference you may be experiencing. Between the beautiful winding rivers, the roaming herds of Bison and the boiling mud pots, it all starts to feel like a trip to another place in time. If not another planet. It is easy to find yourself wondering what it would have been like to be John Colter, wandering down into this giant caldera for the first time. It's easy to feel the amazement he must have felt in seeing Old Faithful for the first time. Or finding a massive thundering waterfall carving out a vast yellow canyon. It's the kind of place that makes you feel a new respect for the planet we live on.
If you have not been to Yellowstone, please go. It will give you a chance to see nature through new eyes. And remember John Colter while you are there.
The wife and kids were out of town over a weekend last week. This is a rare thing, to not have any family responsibilities. I knew exactly what I want to do with out even having to put much thought into it. Solo backpacking trip. Don’t get me wrong. I love doing things with my family, but when you are backpacking with a 8 and 5 year old, your options are limited. So I looked over my options and decided on a lake near Snoqualmie Pass called Melakwa lake. The trail starts near the Denny Creek Campground and winds under I-90 and passes a couple nice waterfalls.
The first mile or so to Keekwulee Falls is easy trail. A hiking friend of mine once described a trail as “the kind where you get people in flip-flops, carrying tiny dogs in purses.” I literally saw both of those things on this stretch of the trail. The falls are a nice series of cascades flowing over smooth granite. You can climb all around them and enjoy the water, and makes a nice accessible spot for families with small kids.
After that the crowd thins out and the more serious hikers continue. The second waterfall is called Horseshoe Falls. It’s beautiful, but as accessible as the first.
The trail gets steeper, rockier and more demanding from there. The next few miles feel longer than they are as you climb up through Hemlock Pass. As a consolation, the trail was lined with huckleberries, thimbleberries and salmon berries. I probably took more breaks that I really needed to just to pillage a huckleberry bush that was particularly loaded.
The last half mile is down hill into the lake basin. The lakes are not large, but they are beautiful. They are surrounded on all sides by tall jagged peaks and rugged scree fields. While I was there I heard rocks tumbling down from the cliffs on at least 5 different occasions. The cliffs are literally crumbling down into the basin. It’s pretty awesome to be able to see and hear the geology changing around you.
Melakwa Lake
The clear water was just the right temperature for a refreshing swim. It felt pretty good on my sore feet. I spent most of the time on the little lake. There were far fewer people there and I liked the view better anyway.
Little Melakwa Lake
I did a little fishing while I was there. It wasn’t very productive during the afternoon, but started to pick up in the evening. They started to strike pretty regularly. I hooked a couple and managed to land a feisty rainbow that was about 12” long, which was bigger than I was expecting from such a small lake. It gave me a chance to test out some of the gear I’ll be including in an upcoming fly fishing gear box.
After about 6 pm the day hikers cleared out and the numbers at the lake went from around 60 to more like 15. There were about 6 groups that stayed the night. There were plenty of sites to accommodate everyone. My spot included a flat granite chunk right at chair height next to a table height chunk. Pretty great! In spite of the high numbers of people there the lakes were very clean and pretty close to man made garbage free.
Colter Co. is happy to announce the Know Your Knots Practice Rope Kit. The perfect, portable way to keep your knot tying skills fresh. The kit includes two 5' lengths of smooth quality climbing rope with a oiled tanned leather and brass utility strap, and a Know Your Knots bandana for reference. Throw it in your pack and practice around the campfire. Or on the bus. Or during a conference call (no one can see you over the phone.) Once you've mastered the 16 knots on the bandana you'll be able to tie your way out of just about any jam that comes your way.
This makes a great gift for a new scout, as a rank advancement gift, or to the diehard outdoorsy person in your life. I do believe there's a father's day coming up... Just saying
The internet is full of tips and tricks and gadgets. Half of which make me wonder if they really work. Some I know for a fact do not work. So before I repost anything I like to make sure it's legit. One I've been wondering about for a while is this diagram I found of a water filter tower made from 3 bandanas, and layers of grass, sand and charcoal.
On my last camping trip I decided to put it to the test. I did some modifications for my design. I wanted to limit it to one bandana, and simply layer the materials in that bandana. I did a base layer of sand, then rocks, then dry grass. MAJOR FUNCTIONALITY NOTE!!! This type of filter is NOT meant to make water safe to drink. It does not remove any kind of pathogens, or water born illness. It is meant to remove sediment making it easier to prepare for boiling or some other form of treatment.
I started by making a 4 sided "quadpod". I make this the same way I would a tripod, but with an extra pole (for those really bad at math). Start with 4 equal length branches.
Tie a clove hitch around the first branch. Then weave the rope over and under the other branches. When you get the end, weave the rope back the other way. Do this 3-4 times. You can simply wrap the rope around the outside of all the branches, but the weaving method creates better friction and will hold better.
After that wrap the rope between each of the branches vertically to cinch down on the weave and tighten the whole thing up. This is called frapping. Then finish off with another clove hitch.
Then you can stand it up and space the branches apart. Tada! You've got a quadpod. This little structure has an endless list of uses. It can be used as the beginning of a shelter, or to hang a pot over a fire, as the starting point for a latrine or a dining table (don't get those two mixed up...). I could go on for ages.
To connect the bandana to the quadpod, I tied two half hitches around a small pebble in each corner of the bandana and tie the other end of each rope to a branch.
I am using our Know Your Knots bandana for this one (it does feature the two knots used to create this contraption.) At this point I started filling the bandana with fine sand, then gravel and last a thick layer of dry grass.
Next I grabbed some excessively gross water and poured it over the top of the grass.
Here's a clip of the filter in action. You can see there's a major difference in the before and after!
The results were good. I found that I needed to run the water through a few times to get most of the sediment out, but it was certainly effective. If I were to do it again (and I probably will) I would make sure to wash the sand ahead of time. I think a lot of the first couple runs were just washing the soil from the sand out. A triple layered version of this would be more effective, but would also take more time to set up.
I would love to hear about your experiences with anything like this.
