2013 Golite Jam First Impressions

Just got my Medium GoLite Jam 50L (2013) today! Its a pretty sweet, comfortable pack.
I knew the foam framesheet thing was going to be pretty hard/rigid, but I was surprised just how dense/hard it was. More like a foamed plastic than ccf foam.

Specs can be found on GoLite's Site. I'm really liking the hip belt, as it's nice and big with large pockets, and has full wrap around my hips. I also really like the center strip of 3D Spacer Mesh down the back and on the hip belts, as I get swamp back like nobody's business and the mesh should help with that some. Also, the pouch on the front is roomy, and can fit several items even when the main pack is full. The stretch mesh water bottle pockets are nice and large.

The Jam is a frameless pack, and should be fine as is for our normal overnight/weekend trips where my packweight is ~17 lbs with food and water. However, I love to mess around with my gear so...
Added some minor mods right off the bat.
Sewed on some fabric with grommets to the seam just on the other side of the load lifter straps on the inside, and on the sides and tied shock cord to keep a sheet of coroplast (corrugated sign board, pretty much plastic cardboard) in place. The corrugation is oriented so that the board can bend/flex vertically along the curves of my spine, but is rigid horizontally, so the pack won't barrel out when full. The reinforced seam area now comes over the top of the coroplast and securely holds it in place. This allows the load lifters to actually do their job.

Tossed in my quilt (no stuff sack), random cans of soup/broth, water bottles, sleeping pads, etc for a total weight of ~ 22 lbs.

Load lifter straps relaxed, pack pulling back on shoulders

 Load lifters tightened, weight off of shoulders, transferred to hips (although, at this weight, removing the coroplast would allow the pack to conform to my back and carry just as well, don't really even need to use the hip belts for that little weight).

Also added some shock cord to the bottom to have some control of bottom compression instead of the all or none Kompactor system (for reducing volume when using as day pack or carrying less). The side compression straps have opposite male/female buckles, so the left and right straps can be crossed around the front to reduce volume even more, a pretty cool feature

At a load of 20-25 lbs and the stock foam is plenty for me, but the coroplast does make it carry a little nicer, I think (I'll decide after hiking some miles in it). I might hit up Tap Plastics and get some foamed PVC and form it to the shape of my back and see how that works for weights >25-30 lbs. I suppose I don't really need it since I did buy a frameless pack, but it's fun to tinker so, why not?

I'll add final weights, etc. once I cut off excess webbing/straps, etc. and update the review once I take it out on a trip.

Marmot Pass - Upper Big Quilcene

July 6 - 7, 2013

For the glorious 4th of July weekend, an overnight hike was in order. Andy, equipped with his new camera and skills, was inspired by Coleman's trip report and beautiful pictures. So that's where we (and a bunch of other hikers) decided to go!

The trail head was nearly full when we arrived Saturday morning around 9:30 am. Certainly a steady and gradual climb up to the top. It was our first time at the pass and it sounded like most of the people who where already camped out make it a point to come regularly. I now know why and maybe we will be regulars, too. Who would expect a lush meadow at the top of the ridge? We found a nice flat spot to pitch our tent. Other than the large flies, bees and ants, there were no other annoying bugs around. I think a few mosquitoes because I have one bite, but not bad at all. There were still some patches of snow at the top and that's how we got our water - let the ice melt in the sun, filter, then boil. There appeared to be red sediments on the surface of the snow, so we just dug a little deeper to get some fresh snow.

It's awesome up there - especially at 6,100' on a clear, not too cool night. The stars made a spectacular show and Andy took some cool pictures. Oh my gosh! And we saw our first large, male goat. Mild mannered, but he was getting too comfortable around our sites so some of us had to throw rocks at him to scare him away. He was grazing and following people as they went pee. Looking for urine, that guy.

When we come back next time, we will make it a point to climb up to Buckhorn. It must be spectacular up there.

Walking along the ridge at the top of the pass.

Waiting for the sunset with Andy, camp neighbors, and goat.

Baker Lake

May 5, 2013

This was a relaxing day hike on a gorgeous 75-80° day. The trail is nothing spectacular - relatively flat with the lake just out of reach, but the views of Mt. Baker were amazing. Too bad I have a crappy camera. We ended up using the camera on our phones.

After 4.5 miles, we stopped to have lunch at a campground. There were a few people there (and an adorable corgi), but we found a spot by the lake. On our hike out, we were planning on which beach to head to and started dreading the traffic to anywhere in Seattle on a sunny day. Then, Andy remembered seeing a washout area earlier in the hike that would make a nice spot to lay out in the sun. Good thing I brought my swim top. We ended up taking a detour to that spot right on the lake and laid out for an hour or so. Happy Angela.






Posing at our lunch spot.

Ozette to Norwegian Memorial

March 28 - 29, 2013

To be honest, this was not the beach/coast hike I expected. The hike into Toleak Point is mostly in the woods, so we decided to try a different beach hike that was along the coast the whole way. I don't think the hike from Ozette to Norwegian Memorial is very popular, though, because it's not really a beach hike..

From the Ozette Ranger Station we took Sand Point Trail down to Sand Point. Sand Point Trail is 2.8 miles along well maintained boardwalk. Careful, it's slick when wet.


Boardwalk
SP Trail spit us out at Sand Point on the sandy beach.


Tiny human.
After 1-1.5 miles of walking on along the beach, the remainder of hike was rocks, rocks, rocks. A tide chart is essential because there are four areas that will be impassable at high tide. The 9.3 mile hike took us longer than expected because most of the time we were navigating and scrambling over wet, slippery rocks and fallen trees. Actually, we started our hike around medium tide since the Wilderness Information Center in Port Angeles didn't open until 8 am. I think you're able to get permits at the Ozette Ranger station.. Something to remember in the future.


The weather was nice for us. There were both times of fog and bright sunshine.




Seastack


The best part of the trip for me was seeing all the eagles. So many eagles! What a cool national bird.




Took a lunch break while waiting for the tide to go out. We made our own meal this trip!! So exciting :) We dehydrated rice, ham, acorn squash, roasted tomatoes and onions. I don't recommend dehydrating ham. It doesn't fully rehydrate and can either be chewy or slightly crunchy. But, it was still delicious and filled us up.

So cool


Low tide rocks and sun.

We had the ENTIRE beach to ourselves and chose an awesome camp site.


Heading out to get water at a nearby stream.


Sunset dinner on the beach <3


I didn't take a picture of the memorial, but it appears to be in good shape :)
Our hike out was much easier than our hike in. We packed up and left camp at 7:45 am. Low tide was at 7:50 am. We still had to navigate slippery rocks, but much less climbing over and under trees and over large rocks. The hike back took 5 hours versus the 7 hours in.

Columbia TreadLite 22L Pack Review

AN's Review of the Columbia TreadLite 22L Pack.
Specs can be found:
TreadLite 22 at Sierra Trading Post












  

Originally submitted at Sierra Trading Post

Excellent day/overnight pack!

By AN | AL on the Trail from PNW on 2/12/2013

5out of 5

Pros: Spacious, Light, Comfortable
Cons: Straps Are Way Too Long
Best Uses: Overnights, Dayhikes

This is a really awesome pack. I get swamp back really easily, and the trampoline back of this pack kept me nice and cool during a 4 mile up, 4 mile down, 3200' gain day hike. Plenty of organization in the pack. It has mesh organizers in the main compartment, as well as a zippered pocket up top. As a lightweight backpacker, I can easily get 1-2 nights worth of gear in this pack.

The only "negative" of this pack is the extemely long straps. I'm 5'6", 155lbs and a 32" waist and I had the waist belt sinched nearly all the way. The shoulder straps are extremely long as well, too long for the recommended torso length (even for thicker individual). However, I'm used to cutting off extra straps to shave the grams, so not too big a deal.

The extra webbing I cut off.

(legalese)

Mount Si

February 10, 2013

First (day) hike of the year!!!

I'm glad Andy read trip reports before we left. Our micro spikes and trekking poles came in handy for the last snowy/icy stretch to the top and back down. Good elevation gain for a four mile hike up to the top. Luckily Andy and I reached the top during a nice clearing in the fog/clouds. Lovely views. Bonus! It ended up being warm at the top :D. Double bonus! We brought a yummy lunch - a thermos of piping hot tomato soup and half a deli sandwich each. The birds were super friendly, even when you're not eating. Got to see a beautiful blue jay, too. Thick fog finally rolled while we were drinking our coffee, though, and covered the views for the rest of the day. A bunch more hikers showed up on our way down - some slipping on their way up with only tennis shoes. We took pictures with our phones so the formatting is a bit off.


View from the top

Bird pics - Pretending to punch a bird. Go away, PETA.

Model Andy and getting ready to make coffee