Where: La Cloche Silhouette trail in Ontario Canada
When: 28/04/2023-30/04/2023
Distance: ~78km, ~3000m elevation
Conditions: 10 degrees and sunny/overcast on Friday, 7 degrees and rain on Saturday and Sunday
Lighterpack: https://lighterpack.com/r/if9l4j
The Report:
Honestly this trip wasn’t much fun. Probably wouldn’t do it again in similar weather, especially with similar distances
Friday April 28th Start to H22 (supposed to be H21) 32km (map kilometres)Beautiful warm day with mostly easy hiking. With the forecast showing Saturday and Sunday having substantial amounts of rain, I wanted to put an extra hour or so of hiking behind me and shorten my day on Saturday. I particularly wanted to get the waterfall section between H21 and H22 over with as it could be quite treacherous when wet.
Lots of wet areas from recent snowmelt, and lots of fallen trees. A surprising number of which had the trail blases on them which made routefinding tricky at times. I definitely went the wrong way a couple times, and am so thankful for my watch beeping at me to let me know I was off the trail. There’s still a decent bit of snow in valleys and shaded areas, including on a couple lakes. H22 is a lovely site when there’s no bugs. It is right on the trail though, so there is no privacy. Nobody past my site after I arrived at around 6pm though.
Saturday H22 to H38 18.8km (map kilometres)To sum it up in a word: Rain. It rained all day, not particularly hard, but constantly. It made everything rather slow going and any hiking on the quartzite rather treacherous. I did not have fun, and didn’t even have anyone to share the misery with. I was very thankful to have a short day, although once I got to my site, there was nothing to do other than setup the tent and have a nap.
SundayH38 to Finish 22.1km (map kilometres)I got a bit of a late start (left camp at 8:30) which was a mistake. It was wet all day but it didn’t rain a ton in the morning. Around noon the rain started to pick up and increased until I finished the trail at 4:30. Slow going again, particularly over the crack section. I always forget how many false summits there are on the way up to the crack when traveling clockwise. Not fun, particularly in the rain.
Gear Notes: I think I’m long past the point of diminishing returns here. For this trip my total pack weight with food and 1l of water was under 14 pounds. That’s like 7.5% of my body weight. Even with a frameless pack without a hip belt, my shoulders weren’t sore at the end of the day. I’m not going to chase any further weight savings unless it also comes with increased functionality (we all know this is a lie, but just go with it).
New Stuff
Food – This might be the thing I’m happiest about. I nailed the food. I used Skurka’s recipes for breakfast and dinner (Cheesy potatoes for breakfast, and beans + rice or peanut noodles for dinner) and had junk food (skittles, Oreos, beef jerky, Twix bars, granola bars, skor bars) for snacks. Overall, lighter, cheaper and better tasting than store bought freeze dried meals. My total food weight was 1500g and I ate all of it.
Altaplex – I bought this over the winter so this was my first real trip with it. It’s been really good. The first tent I’ve had that’s actually long enough for me without sleeping diagonally. I’m pretty much at the height limit though and would love a version that was even a couple inches longer. Lots of width in the inner, can definitely bring all your stuff inside if you wanted, and plenty of vestibule space as well. I’m not a fan of trekking poles, so I made an adjustable 3 section pole that weights 114g.
Vapcell P2150A – Also great. I refined my 3d printed case for it a bit and I’m really happy with it. Feels solid and adds ~3g. The vapcell is the perfect size for a 3-4 day trip for me. I could make it though 3 days without charging, but this lets me not worry about it and read a book during a rainy day in the tent.
CCF Pads – (GG Thinlight+Cut down xlite – 8 panels) – I slept really well the first night and really terribly the second. I’m guessing it was a lack of effort I put into site selection the second night that made the difference. I need to use these more before I come to a conclusion.
Arcteryx Gamma Quick Dry pants – My favorite hiking pants to date. Comfortable, quick drying, and available in a 32/35. My only issue is that they’re a bit tight in the thigh and butt. If anyone has any suggestions (or experience with getting custom pants made), please let me know. Ideally, I want hiking pants in 31/36 with a more athletic cut. These are the closest I’ve come so far.
Rain skirt – Might be the best new piece of gear. Cheap, reasonably light and functional. Nothing to complain about.
Victorinox Classic SD Alox – Misplaced my regular classic at the end of last season and the alox is a couple grams lighter and feels nicer overall. You do forgo the toothpick and tweezers though. Unreasonably expensive though compared to the regular classic. For any Canadians, Canadian Tire sells them for $26 which is as cheap as I’ve seen a classic recently.
Old stuff
Garmin Fenix 6 – Absolutely essential. I’m not sure if I could go back to hiking without having access to a map and route on my wrist. Especially this time of year when route finding can be a little more difficult and there’s lots of missing trail markers, having the watch beep at me when I was off course made a huge difference.
Cook kit – Toaks 550 light, MYOG Carbon fiber lid, BRS 3000, Air horn canister+ 3d printed stand – There’s nothing left to tweak here, for me there are really no compromises with this kit, and saving any more weight would undoubtedly introduce some. It just works really well and I had lots of extra fuel this trip.
Dandee Packs Custom 40l – Still awesome, It’s light, comfortable, the right size and reasonably waterproof. Not sure what else to say. I did break the hip belt buckle sometime over the winter and only noticed the day before leaving. I’ve ordered a replacement from Quest Outfitters, but I removed the hip belt for this trip and it was fine.
Katabatic Alsek – I debated taking this or my western mountaineering nanolight, and I made the right call. It was cold and damp really the entire trip and while I probably could have squeaked by with the nanolite, having a decent safety margin is more important than saving 250g. The pad attachment system really is awesome, I need to see if I can replicate something similar for the nanolite.