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If you have any questions or comments relating to a specific post, please post them as a comment on that page. Otherwise, feel free to contact me using the form below.
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My name is Benjamin Eaton and I represent a handful of brands and would like to talk to you about doing some gear reviews.
As the exclusive wholesale distributor in the U.S. of the following brands, I will be your main contact for testing and reviewing gear from these brands:
-Beal (climbing equipment)
-Cypher (climbing equipment)
-Peregrine (camping equipment)
-Olicamp (camping equipment)
-Outdoor Designs (gloves, headwear, gaiters)
-Vaude (backpacks, sleeping bags, tents)
-Grivel (climbing equipment)
-Edelweiss (climbing equipment)
-Singing Rock (climbing equipment)
-Movement (backcountry skis)
Thanks,
Benjamin Eaton
Liberty Mountain – Communications Specialist
March 25, 2015 at 2:37 pm
When I click on the link for the Black Forest GPX file, it responds with a message that it cannot find it.
Thanks
Parrot
August 10, 2015 at 4:08 pm
When you did your 7 day solo of the Superstition Wilderness,where did you park your car???
Thanks, Rich N Pismo….
December 28, 2015 at 3:28 pm
Ha, great question! I got dropped off at the first water trail head and picked up at Lost Dutchman State Park.
December 29, 2015 at 5:22 pm
Hey.. Happy camper here from Colorado…I love what your doing… I watched your superstition hike and would like to do the same or similiar in a couple weeks.. Could you recommend a trail map or book? I have the trails West book by Jack Carlson….and also I wasn’t clear was this a 97 Mile loop? Thanks so much for any info you can help with..cheers ~ Happycamper
January 14, 2016 at 11:54 am
Hi, sorry to just get back to you. I was out on a weeklong hike in Big Ben National Park last week, just getting back home.
For maps, I used this free 24k Arizona topo mapset on my Garmin Oregon 450 GPS:
http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/1/
If you have this map set you can just download the gpx file of my hike and use that to navigate with. The other resource that was really helpful for the Supes was http://hikearizona.com/map.php. I just used the hikearizona site (and their great forum) along with the above maps to plan my trip, didn’t pick up any books. Nowadays I use caltopo.com for my route planning. You can export your created route to a gpx file as well as printout maps. Free to use it too.
The total was 92 miles. Not a loop though, since I started at First Water Trailhead, and ended the hike at Lost Dutchman State Park. I had a ride to and form the trailheads from a cousin who lives in the area. But, you could easily make this a loop by adding a few extra miles, hiking back to first water from Lost Dutchman. I think it’s only like 3-4 miles, but it might be some road walking.
Let me know if you need any other help planning the trip. Should be a great hike, it was for me.
January 22, 2016 at 6:17 pm
We’re from SE MI too! Wondering if you have thoughts for a bigger capacity tent. We’re trying to fit 2 adults, 2 kids, and 2 medium dogs (plus gear.. vestibule?) in one tent. Looking at the BA Three Island, but I think we need more space and we just can’t find anything so far.
March 7, 2016 at 7:16 am
Hi Jenny, thanks for commenting! Unfortunately I don’t have any recommendations for a tent of that size, as I have only slept in 1 or 2 person tents.
March 12, 2016 at 2:23 pm
Hi! I’m a writer for MLive and I’ve been trying to track down a good photo to run with a story about the sinkholes in Pigeon River State Forest. Wondering if you’d consider letting us use your photo of Section Four Lake, with attribution and a link back? Let me know, thanks for your consideration!
Emily
May 18, 2016 at 12:49 pm
Hey i read your trip summary, my roommates and i are planning a weekend in the winds and a week summitting in colorado. We will be leaving the second week of August and im just wondering a few questions i couldn’t get great answers to online; how long did the drive to Big Sandy Trailhead take, how bad were the bugs ive read they shouldnt be bad this time of year but your story said otherwise, and how crowded were the trails or trail head in from Big sandy. Thanks again for all your info!
July 24, 2016 at 10:11 pm
How long, from where? We started from Lander, and it was probably about 2 hours. The dirt road to Big Sandy took a while, it was like 40 miles. So that’ll be an hour, given the condition of that road. It wasn’t bad but you will definitely have to take your time in a few spots. The bugs were pretty bad most of the trip. Some sections were horrendous, like near Glacier Lake. There were many biting black flies that would bite even when you are walking your fastest. Maybe I got unlucky with the bugs. Big Sandy trailhead was almost completely packed when I arrived to drop off my car and wait for my shuttle ride to Green Lakes. That was on a Thursday (August 14th) late morning or midday. Green Lakes was a lot less crowded, but there were a couple other hikers passing through. I saw the most people within a day’s hike of Green Lakes and Big Sandy, where I probably saw 90% of all the people I encountered during the whole hike. I didn’t see anyone between Titcomb Basin and Rainbow Lake, a solid 2.5 days hike. Even Titcomb Basin had few people, a supposedly popular area. Overall I was really impressed at how few people I encountered. The further you are from those trailheads, the more solitude you’ll find.
July 25, 2016 at 5:27 pm
Hello,
Can you please provide me more info on your use of OpenStreet Map? What is the process like for you to upload GPS to OpenStreet and then post on your webpage? Any help would be great as we would like to try and have a similar map feature on our backpack blog page but the program does not seem to create an interactive map like you have created. Thanks!
August 6, 2016 at 7:38 pm
Hi Brent, I am using the “WP GPX Maps” plugin for wordpress. Within the settings screen for WP GPX Maps, I simply upload my GPX file and the plugin outputs a shortcode that I can insert into my post. Hope that helps!
August 7, 2016 at 7:23 pm
Neat video, accidently ran into it. Your Superstition Hike of 2014. Whether you knew it or not you photographed and hiked right past many Spanish Monuments. There’s a ancient science to these things of which you may not be aware of or aware of the Lost Dutchman Mine which actually could be just a Treasure Trove by the Peralta’s that the Dutchman found. In any case, Yes there is Spanish Monuments in Your Video. I certainly enjoyed watching it, I’m too old to re-visit the Supers but I’d been in there in the 1970’s when there was lot’s of activity in there. I live in Paso Robles California and our local mountains here of La Panza has a lot of these Spanish Monuments to Lost Mines too.
October 18, 2016 at 8:28 pm
Good hikes. I just watched your Superstition hike. Some of those trails are brutal. With higher day temps and chilly nights. I am curious as to the total weight of your pack. And how many ‘meals’ you are consuming a day and how much water you carry. 7 days seems pretty heavy.
Any advice to keep the weight down over such duration?
March 27, 2017 at 6:01 pm
Hi MetalBackpacker,
I very much enjoyed your beautiful High Sierra Solo Hike Video! I love that area. Thank you for sharing your fun experiences and for giving me good insights into key areas I plan to explore in the future such as Carol Col, Alpine Col and Dancing Bear pass. Also thanks for making the GPX track available. I used it plan my September trip.
http://caltopo.com/m/U0PT
I think I noticed a pack strap mount for your GoPro on your pack. If so what kind do you use? Do you use a gimbal or plan to use one?
Is the Metal just heavy or death?
Thanks again for sharing your stuff , Phil
July 1, 2017 at 4:57 pm
Hey Phil,
You read my description of Alpine Col and still wanna do it? Man that was a rough one. It was suggested to me to do The Keyhole instead of Alpine Col, but I was stubborn and wanted to do it anyway. Glad I did now looking back on it, but if I were to pass through that area again I’d probably take The Keyhole. Your route looks like a good one. I really liked Granite Park and Bear Basin, any loop that combines those two is going to be good.
I was using the GoPro chest harness and/or head band for a while, but I switched to the PolarPro StrapMount. It’s a a mount that is meant to fit over the a backpack strap, like a sandwich. I really like it. My only complaint is that sometimes it’s tough to slide the camera mount out of the main body of the StrapMount.
I have been eyeing a 3 axis gimbal, just not sure how I’d use it yet. Most are made for selfie stick use, which I almost never do. Seems like I’d be pretty bulky hanging off my pack somewhere and I’d be worried about breaking it. Plus the extra weight. But other than that, yeah I want one!
Death metal is the best metal! Not too many backpacking metalheads out there!
July 26, 2017 at 10:04 pm