Wild Blackberries!

[cjsmith]

LOVELY backpacking trip this past weekend. Very short trail - 1.3 miles at the longest estimate (there was a sign at each end of the trail, but the two signs disagreed about its length). So we hiked a bunch of extra connecting trail for fun. Wildflowers were everywhere: sticky monkey, Indian paintbrush, morning glory, lots of things I couldn't identify. Maybe Douglas iris, mactavish, I'd have to show you the picture. And wild blackberries! Along the first half mile of trail were thick blackberry brambles. It's a bit early in the season for those, but I found a few ripe ones nonetheless. I ate every one I found. (Well, except the ones too tangled in poison oak; there was a lot of that as well.)

Got to use several items I bought late last season: a new water filter, a new sleeping bag, and (YES!!!) a new Therma-Rest. That old Therma-Rest should be taken out and SHOT, it's so far gone. The valve on the new one is a bit flaky but who cares, I love it.

Tried the windscreen for my Snow Peak stove. When the windscreen's on, the igniter doesn't work. Talk about buttheaded design! What do they want you to do, stick your fingers in there to put the thing on while the stove's lit? I don't think so. Grr.

Went by REI on the way out to replenish consumables. I also picked up a copy of The Ultralight Backpacker. I don't want to go as ultralight as the author does -- for example, he doesn't recommend boots -- but I'm sure I'll find many good ideas to adapt for my own use.

Yay backpacking! The season is ON! (Wish I'd started earlier!)

Comments

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

If it looked like an iris, it was probably douglas. The last few are blooming right now.

Pacific Designs, who makes Thermarest, has a lifetime guarantee, right? You might find out whether they're repair or replace your old one, too.

Thermarest is one of my all time favorite products.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It looked MOSTLY like an iris. The petals pointing upwards were not nearly so vertical as the ones shown in your userpic. It was sort of like an iris in Jupiter gravity. Very pale, too. Whatever it is, it's also something I see in median strips of roads around here.

A Therma-Rest is a truly excellent object. Lightweight, portable, excellent insulation, and comfy besides! :-)

I thought about that lifetime guarantee. The old one doesn't resemble any of the current products... in fact, I seem to recall looking for the Pacific Designs (Cascade Designs?) logo and not finding it. I think I concluded that mine predated the parent company buying Therma-Rest. It's easily twenty years old. It's been through a lot. Those things are great.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

If it's identical to median flowers, it's not douglas iris. It might be something introduced by outsiders, like the blackberries, or like the daffodils up near Warm Springs at Lake Sonoma.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

If I had a scanner I'd put the pic online so you could tell me what it is. Now I'm curious. :-)

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

Sounds absolutely dreamy, dear!!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It was fabster! I loved it!

[joedecker.livejournal.com]

Cool! (Did I miss where you went?)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I didn't say. Alder Camp in Big Basin (enter by Waddell Creek side).