Tarps Tarps Tarps

With weather gradually warming after the winter solstice, it might be time to think about getting out of your tent and under a lightweight tarp. The cheapest alternative is the (usually blue colored) plastic sheet with grommets, available from hardware stores everywhere. These are actually not bad. They are waterproof and lightweight when dry. Three drawbacks are lack of durability, long drying cycles, and radically increased weight when wet.

Silnylon (silicone-impregnated polyamide) is a more expensive alternative. These tarps are lighter and quieter in the wind than urethane-covered nylon, but they take longer to dry in the sun, and suffer UV damage almost as easily. All types of nylon stretch after pitching, especially in the rain, so you need to tighten them up in the middle of the night. Suppliers say silnylon is self healing, although a general quality decline has led to "misting," in other words, they might not really be waterproof. Old-fashioned urethane-coated nylon is costly nowadays, but silnylon tarps are probably not worth the price premium if you can find coated nylon tarps in a surplus store. Better would be urethane-coated polyester, which weighs more than nylon, a reasonable trade-off for less stretchiness and greater UV resistance.

One recent development is Cuben fiber, made from Spectra or Dyneema (same thing), a polyethylene fiber with molecules directionalized for extra strength. This is half the weight of silnylon, currently at four times the cost. Another recent development is Spinnaker Ultralight, a thin polyester fiber woven ripstop-style then silicone impregnated. With more reasonable cost, this is probably the best choice now for ultralight tarps.

For interesting background reading about high-tech fabrics, see this page at Mountain Laurel Designs.

Best Traction on the River

Recently I started wearing new Chaco sandals with Pro Vibram soles, because my old Chaco sandals with 5.10 Dot soles wore out. Chaco no longer offers the 5.10 Dot soles, pictured above. The Pro Vibram traction is not as good. It is fine on dry rock, but not as good on wet rock, and nowhere near as good on algae-covered rock. Felt soles are great on wet and algae-covered rock, but not good as 5.10 Dot soles for general purpose hiking. After many years of being able to rely on sure footing with 5.10 Dots, I really miss them. When the time comes to resole my Chacos, I will try to buy the soles as a repair kit from fiveten.com and glue them on myself.

River Rookie Romps, 4-0

For more pictures, see this CA Creeks page about the South Fork American.

My friend Chris borrowed a kayak for his friend Matt, a rookie. We wanted to do the Pillsbury run of the Eel, but it was only 140 cfs, so we went to the South Fork American with scheduled release of 1400 cfs Saturday and Sunday 9:00-12:00. We camped about 1/3 way down the river and planned to run the lower 2/3 on Saturday, which starts off easy, and the upper 1/3 on Sunday. Matt had paddled a canoe back east, class 1-2, but had never held a double-bladed paddle. He quickly decided he preferred feathered to straight. In one of the first class 2 rapids, he ran over a rock, but the boat did not flip. Gradually he was gaining control and placement. Chris gave lessons, and seems to have a knack for kayak instruction.

Despite a 10:30 start, we kept getting ahead of the water, so we stopped early for an long lunch. The fall colors were beautiful, with yellow cottonwood trees and red poison oak bushes. The increased flow passed us, so we pushed off again. However by the time we got to the class 3 rapids in the Gorge, we were ahead of the flow again. I had never seen Fowler's Rock so low. Lost Hat was rocky but straightforward. Then we got to Satan's Cesspool. Holy smokes that thing is steep at low flows! It is a >1 meter waterfalls in kind of a horse-shoe arrangement, a fun creekin' style drop. I suggested we wait for the water to come up and run it again. Seeing this rapid change from 300(?) to 1400 cfs in just several minutes was my personal highlight of the trip. Chris and Matt took conservative routes, but I went into the teeth of the hole and had a nice tailstand, or as a kayaker corrected me, "stern squirt." The rest of the Gorge was the usual fun, including all the rapids down to Salmon Falls bridge, usually covered by Folsom reservoir. When we took out at Skunk Hollow, there were a few minutes of sunlight left to dry our boats.

After a great dinner at the Sierra-Nevada House and a long night of sleep, we got ready for the Chili Bar run. Matt had no flips on his first day, but the upper rapids are more difficult. He ran Meatgrinder perfectly, hit the heart of the hole in First Threat, and kept going for the big stuff in the lower Threats. Impressive balance. Lots of rafters were on the river, which seemed odd, because on the lower run there were only kayakers. We decided to scout Troublemaker, within sight of our tents, and decided to run just left of Gunsight Rock, rather than finesse it by going right. Some friendly campers took pictures including this one of Matt hitting the line perfectly. Score 3 for the hard rapids, plus 1 for running Satan's twice, 0 for the river.

Drift Boat or Dory?

My friend Doug bought a drift boat or dory recently. He won't tell me which. Here he is lining it through the Rainie Falls fish-ladder. Dories are fast! On the Grand Canyon, the dories speed past the rafts, even if the rafters are rowing hard. Dories are good for fishing because it's relatively easy to row them against the current.

Same Lame Frame

On the aforementioned Verde river trip, Brian and I took this exact same shot. He did not post it in his writeup maybe because it is soooo ugly.

Drybags Within and Without

Speaking of river gear, “Tiger” has an interesting post about compression bags on his Pray-for-Rain blog. I'll have to try one. I've been using Outdoor Research HydroSeal pack sacks inside a drybag for double protection. Over the years I've settled on two types of drybags: the red Watershed Colorado zip duffle (if sealed properly it's the only one that keeps your stuff dry during a wrap) and the green SealLine Boundary Pack (it's the only one that has straps comfortable enough for a 3 mile pack-in).

Verde, Arizona's only Wild and Scenic

I'd like to give a shout to my friend Brian Vogt, who wrote a great trip report of our spring 2009 journey down the Verde river in Arizona. The water was that color, a pleasant change in the desert southwest. Brian did not include this picture, which I think epitomizes the Verde: beautiful wilderness scenery, mostly class 2 moving water, never boring. Brian's writeup is at his RiverLog Blog near the top.

Dehydrated Beer

REI does not sell dehydrated beer. This is why I hate shopping. You know what you want, you go into a store, and they don't have it. So I thought about the next best thing: dehydrated margaritas. Stores don't have that either. Amazon.com to the rescue! BarTender's makes a margarita mix that is OK when mixed with tequila. It's not as good as a real margarita, but when you're backpacking, it's a lot easier to carry.