sustainably minded design and development: Not Thru Hiking, but taking a weekend to go Camping at Thorton Lakes.

Hiking has changed dramatically for me in the last two years. It wasn't long ago that I too, attracted by all the crap for sale at REI, consistently carried a 45 plus pound pack and thought that 12 miles was a very long day.

from L 2 R
Joe Green, Vaughn Fischer, Jeffery Huntington and Tim Black

That all changed, bit by bit. It took hiking 300 miles south on the PCT with a slim pack of 35 pounds struggling to get 15 miles a day in, before I understood that camping and thru hiking cannot be done together. It's one or the other.

dbGreen and Joe Freestyle

Gear is part of it, and initially there is value to all the trinkets, safety and comfort products for campers. But eventually, as your skills increase and experience provides confidence in choosing to leave items behind, a lighter trimmer pack can be employed. It takes more than spending money and purchasing all the newest and lightest products. It requires making decisions to 'do without'.

Jeff brought a tarp which served us well since it rained almost the entire time we were there. I scoffed at the extra weight and the idea of so much shelter, but it was little old light weight me who was getting soaked under his own lightweight tarp. Sometimes it's possible to give up too much and this trip was a great way to combine what I learned in a year of thru hiking with the gear and experience of almost 100 combined years (between the 4 of them) of camping.

The reason to do without is because when you spend 2/3 of the day hiking, 1/3 sleeping, you realize you don't need items typically reserved for 'campers' Why carry an object 8 hours a day only to use it for one simple function. Believe me, it doesn't take many days of walking with a too heavy back pack before you will begin to consider a new valuation of 'needed' items.

Vaughn was new to camping, but clearly he feels right at home along an alpine lake perched on a rock!

I've even reduced my 10 essentials, but only after 20 years of carrying a full first aid kit and never using it got the better of me. One shouldn't sacrifice safety or comfort, but re evaluating to what extent these are needed is the only way you'll get a sub 20lb pack.

Tim turned out to be quite the outdoors man and a far better climber than myself.

Thru hiking/long distance hiking also requires constant progress in your direction of travel, from sun up to sun down. It's not how fast you walk, though that helps, but how long you walk. Few people realize that to hike 25 miles you should allow 8-10 hours of moving time. This is actually much harder to do than one realizes. Not hard physically, but hard from a discipline and efficiency standpoint. You must minimize time cooking, setting up camp and keep breaks to a minimum, all day, every day. I personally think getting 6 hours of move time in a day is difficult.

dbFreestyle all over the place. It's fun to just roam, to know your going up but to pick your own coarse. Watching others it seems that everyone chooses their own coarse even if there is no need. It's like moving a chair before you sit in it, it's just something you do.

No cup, only a spoon, no tent, no bug screen, no rope for hanging, minimal sunscreen and few cloths. So few clothes that when it gets really cold, there is nothing else to wear. But is it worth being slightly cold for one or two nights to not carry that extra garment from Mexico to Canada?

Joe Green takes nothing for "Granite", except this climb.

But, there is something to be said for camping. For keeping the hike to a half day (5-10 miles), having a fire and cooking better food. Sleeping in a tent staying totally dry, fishing in the lake, exploring a ridge or circumnavigating a lake. Or just to sleep in as long as you want and then get up and spend an hour picking huckleberries for your oatmeal. This is fun and I realized though I've seen amazing sights in my 6000 miles of hiking the last two years, I've missed out on what it means to camp.

Tim Black inspired great confidence in me with his outdoor skills and his easy demeanor.

So, what I'm finally getting too, is that I decided to take time off from my thru hiking and go camping. I joined a party of 4 including Jeff Huntington and Joe Green, long time hiking/climbing pals. We were also joined by (damn, I forgot his name) who though soft spoken and inquisitive about others gear and techniques, had very solid outdoor camping and navigating skills. And then there was Vaughn, a fly tying fish loving guy who'd never been camping before but clearly had spent some time perched on steep rocks on the side of a lake.

Joe Green, Lake Blue, Hat Orange

The destination was off Hwy 20, about 10 minutes out of Marblemount, called Thorton Lake. I must admit when I looked at the map and the short trail, I felt above such a minor outing. But camping is fun and I was sure I'd find something to do and besides, meeting new friends and participating in some one else's trip is fun too.

All in all, I'm glad I trusted my partners, because even though Thorton Lake was a very accessible and fairly simple hike, it was an amazing place. And the mountains above and the ridges surrounding are all accessible providing wonderful day excursions and climbing options for those so inclined.

dbBrad at Lake Thorton, not on a trail, not getting paid, not going anywhere in particular, and loving getting back to backpacking basics and doing it 'just because'.

And though I don't fish, I eat fish and they were good. Jeff, Joe and Vaughn all fished, catching dozens each. Most of them went back in the lake, but some went in the pan. Eating butter fried trout reminds me of camping with my dad as a kid, and I've probably fished 3 times since. Nostalgic to say the least.