Maah Daah Hey Part I

63 miles in 5 days through the Badlands with the sun pounding 90 to 100 degrees each day. It was great but hard. The heat kept me from being able to hike through the day like I wanted especally after getting sick the third day, I almost threw up but didn't. I was suppose to do 90 miles in 8 days with a buddy but my buddy couldn't go and 5 days of hiding in the shade by myself was enough. I got through all the things I wanted to (China Wall, Devils Pass, the trail mid point, and crossing the Little Missouri River) and had my fill of the trail for one trip so when an opportunity presented itself and I was offered a I ride I took it. I will return to finish it though. I did make it to and past mile 42 so I'm good there. The Badlands is a hell of a place.

Food Journal

I just got back from a weekend trip to the Superior Hiking Trial. It was about a 30 mile weekend. I wrote a journal on the trip, so at some point in the future it will be posted here. In the meantime, here is my food journal that I just completed:

Friday Supper
· Two flour tortillas
· Two Spam Lite Singles
· Two packets Miracle Whip
· 4oz M&Ms
· 1 Propel

Saturday Breakfast
· Granola & Dried Fruit Bag

Saturday Lunch
· Little less than 3.65 oz of Beef Jerky
· 4oz Peanut M&Ms
· Three Cliff Bars

Saturday Supper
· Two flour tortillas
· Two Tuna Singles
· Two packets Miracle Whip
· 2 Propel

Sunday Breakfast
· Granola & Dried Fruit (did not finish)

Sunday Lunch (left the trail at 2:00, would have eaten more had I stayed on trail)
· 2 Cliff Bars
· 4oz Peanut M&Ms (less 7 peanut M&Ms)
· Remainder of the Beef Jerky

NOTES:
· Cannot stand to eat the granola anymore, I never liked it much to begin with. For next trip I will try peanut butter & jelly wraps with dried fruit. For peanut butter & Jelly I will use the little containers that they have at restaurants for toast.
· I’m happy with the wraps for dinner. I’m going to branch out and try ham and salmon. I am also going to try to find a way to add cheese (do they make cheese that comes in the little containers?) and see if there are any options for vegetables.

UPDATE: wildernessdining.com has peanut butter & Jelly as well as jalapeño or cheddar cheese spread in the little McDonalds ketchup like pouches. According to the reviews these items are staples at Philmont and are hugely popular. The catch is the price, $1.25 for the peanut butter & jelly and $0.95 for the cheese packet. For a weekend trip, this would add $6.30 to my food cost; it seems like a lot considering I get free mayo packets from the grocery store just down the road. I’m going to keep looking, but at least I know it’s out there!

RE: Alaska

I've been doing some extensive research on National Parks in Alaska. The Northern part of Denali National Park (the Park that Zach wants to go to) is by far our best choice. The park can be accessed by train from either Anchorage or Fairbanks. Upon arrival at the park we will take a shuttle bus out to where ever we choose. The road that the bus takes goes through the middle of the Park. The park has a headquarters, and a few campgrounds. It appears to be the most visited because of it's location between the two cities.
Other Parks cannot be accessed so easily, some require us to take an air taxi (a puddle jumper) to the entrance of the park because there are no roads that go to the park. I researched this and realized that it will cost about $200 per person to take this taxi. Plus we will probably have to take two of them givin our group size.
Other Parks that are accessable are not recomended for backpacking / hiking because the terrain is too rugged. Other Parks are above the Artic Circle and access to them is contigent upon the weather. Before you take your air taxi to the Park you have to call the Park Service to see if it is even possible to land because there might be a blizzard going on or something like that. (Same with your return, there is no guarentee that an air taxi will be able to come get you).
Other Parks require you to take an air taxi to the park entrance and then get on another air taxi to fly into the backcountry.
There are other Parks that do allow for backpacking but you must make an arrangement with the Park Ranger ahead of time to drop you off and pick you up before you take an air taxi to the park entrance.
After looking at all of these, Denali is the only park that we can get to without spending a fortune just to get to the front entrance. It is also the park that has Mount McKinley. The Northern part of the park looks like it's good for backpacking. Not too rugged. There are no permits required ahead of time because not enough people visit the area. We just sign up when we get there.
NONE of the National Parks in Alaska have trails for a multi-day backpacking trip. Some of the Parks have what they call "routes". These are directions that you can get online from the NPS for popular areas that people sometimes travel; or they are traditional routes that the pioneers took many years ago. I have read some of these and they are pretty vague and I do not think I want to trust any of them. They have directions such as "turn left at the river and walk south for 4.3 miles). I feel that doing one of these will only get us lost.
I understand that some of you are uncomfortable with the idea of a no trail trip. The NPS has a very good FAQs section about this. They claim that it is fairly easy to know where you are at all times even with no trail. However if some of you are still not comfortable with this, then we will have to change our trip to something else. A few of the parks offer canoe / kayak trips, this would be one of our only other options for a high adventure trip in Alaska. Well, that's about all I can think of for now. I hope this info helps!

This Weekend

Sarge and I are planning on heading up to the Superior Hiking Trail this weekend. We'll be leaving Friday after work (around 4?) and camping at the County Road 7 trail head. On Saturday we'll hike from County Road 7 to the campsites on Kennedy Creek. Sunday we'll do the same hike back, two fourteen mile days.

Anyone that wants to join us is welcome!

Alaska?

Is Team 42 really going to Alaska? Because if we are we really have to do some planning. More than BSing at Hooters.