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TrailGroove Blog

A Blog by the TrailGroove Team

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Contributors to this blog

  • Aaron Zagrodnick 240
  • Mark Wetherington 76
  • PaulMags 27
  • Susan Dragoo 26
  • Steve Ancik 17
  • tmountainnut 12
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  • DustyD 7
  • Karen Garmire 6
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Gear | Trips | Food | Technique | Reading

Entries in this blog

Trips

Sandstone Paradise: Hiking to the Wave in Arizona

Winning the lottery. Enduring 108 degree desert heat. Taking in the most amazing sandstone formation on the planet. What do all of these seemingly unrelated experiences have in common? A hike to the Wave. The Wave or more officially, North Coyote Buttes, is an almost mythical place that has captured the imagination of hikers and photographers from around the world. Impossible to describe with words, the Wave really has to be experienced and photographed to be fully understood. As a landscape pho
DustyD

DustyD in Trips

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Technique

Trail Tip: Biking Access Roads & Self-Shuttle by Bicycle

Roads that lead to trailheads, particularly in the West, can vary greatly in their suitability for passenger vehicles. Some roads are passable by sedans with minimal clearance, while others are more suited for 4WD and high-clearance. Many fall somewhere in between – a carefully driven car can make it, but a small SUV would make the experience less nerve-wracking. Information about road conditions can usually be found online, in guidebooks or by calling a nearby ranger station and can
Mark Wetherington

Mark Wetherington in Technique

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Technique

Backpacking and Hiking Jargon: Mud Season

Spring comes slowly to the high country of the Rockies and other mountain ranges in the western United States. As the days get longer and temperatures rise, summer backpacking season seems tantalizingly close. But between the snow melting and the summer wildflowers blooming is a period of time colloquially referred to as "mud season". Depending on elevation and latitude, mud season might last from mid-March to late May, give or take a few weeks. With snow melting and spring rains mixed in, many
Mark Wetherington

Mark Wetherington in Technique

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Trips

Backpacking Kungsleden: Jewel of the Swedish Arctic

If there is such a thing as a backpacker’s paradise then look no further than the Kungsleden, Sweden’s Royal Trail above the Arctic Circle near the border of Norway. If you can hike just one section of the 240-mile long trail, start with the world-class hike between Nikkaluokta and Abisko. Imagine wide Arctic valleys, stunning northern lights, reindeer, and, if you go in September, incredible fall colors covering the landscape. The 80-mile hike from Nikkaluokta to Abisko can work for all skill l
DustyD

DustyD in Trips

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Trips

Into the Great White: Snow Camping on Mount Rainier

The Paradise area (5400') sits on the southern flank of Mount Rainier National Park in the direct path of winter storms coming off the Pacific. At 5,400 feet, it receives an average of 53 feet of snowfall a year, and a snowpack at the height of winter that can exceed 15 feet. A road is maintained to the Sunrise area throughout the winter, allowing direct access for day trippers, but also those wishing to snow camp. The road closes each night at 5 PM requiring an earlier departure from Paradise t
JimG

JimG in Trips

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Gear

Uniqlo Ultralight Down Parka for Backpacking: A Review

In the outdoor industry, there is often a cycle: A well-known manufacturer will create an outdoor garment. The garment is combination of being stylish, functional and practical. The garment becomes a de facto standard of outdoor wear. Mid-range manufacturers make a similar garment. The outdoor gear becomes mainstream fashion and becomes ubiquitous. What was once meant for the outdoors is now seen not only in the backcountry but in town as well. One brand of this trend of “outdoor clot
PaulMags

PaulMags in Gear

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Technique

Backpacking and Hiking Jargon: Ice Out and Ice In

For hikers in mountainous and / or northern areas, and especially for hikers that also bring along a fishing rod on their trips, there are two milestones that fairly reliably mark the start and end of the summer and fall seasons. Ice out is when lakes are free of winter ice and ice in is when they freeze over again. Ice in and ice out dates vary regionally, and in mountainous areas there are also significant variations even within the same range. Elevation and aspect are the biggest c
Mark Wetherington

Mark Wetherington in Technique

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Trips

Backpacking to the Summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado

Pikes Peak soared above Colorado Springs as we drove towards the downtown area. As an ultra prominent peak, and one of the easternmost peaks in Colorado, it is easily visible for hundreds of miles on a clear day. The east face of the peak is massive, and the east face route of Pikes Peak, known as the Barr Trail, was our objective this weekend. The weather looked great except for the wind, which fortunately was coming out of the west, meaning the mountain would be our wind-block most of the trip
tmountainnut

tmountainnut in Trips

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Food

Backcountry Cuisine: Pumpkin Curry Backpacking Recipe

The pumpkin might be the hardest part about this recipe. Prepare it freshly at home and make this meal your first night out. If you have time beforehand, use a dehydrator to save the most weight. If you really want to go old school, take the canned version and a P-38 can opener. You can try this with butternut squash too...which can be purchased freeze-dried. Serves 2. This pumpkin curry recipe is a great option for when you have a little more time to prepare before a trip and cook on
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Food

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Trips

Backpacking & Hiking in Wilderness Study Areas

A backcountry traveler often has their own criteria for what may be considered a desired area for backpacking. This criteria often includes scenic beauty, memorable vistas, and a place where a person is immersed in the backcountry. For some backcountry travelers there are some additional criteria sought, however: Remoteness, unknown areas, lightly traveled, and wildness. In many of our designated Wilderness lands the last set of criteria is sometimes hard to find. Well known area
PaulMags

PaulMags in Trips

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Trips

The New Hardest Thing: The Trek to Everest Base Camp

Strong men and women are laid low by this place. Acute mountain sickness, the “Khumbu cough" (also known as the high altitude hack), gastroenteritis, the cold, the food...what makes them want to come here? What made me want to come here? Our friend Paul walks down the hall of tonight’s tea house, remarking on the sounds of hacking and coughing emitting from the guest rooms. “This place is full of crazy people.” And I can’t argue otherwise. I wondered, before I came to Nepal to hike to
Susan Dragoo

Susan Dragoo in Trips

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Technique

How to Photograph the Slot Canyons of the Southwest

Imagine hiking through a dark and narrow slot canyon. So narrow that you’re moving sideways as your chest and shoulder blades are touching the canyon walls as you go. Just around the corner you can see a glow that looks like molten lava pouring down the wall. That’s what the slot canyons of Southern Utah and Northern Arizona can offer. Slot canyons provide some unique hiking challenges and extraordinary beauty as other worldly landscapes unfold right before your eyes. The wild colors, textures a
DustyD

DustyD in Technique

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Trips

Backpacking and Hiking Jargon: Permits and Passes

When the caveat “but you’ll need a permit” follows a glowing recommendation for a backpacking trip, or is noted in a guidebook description or online trip report, what it actually means can vary significantly. In this article we'll detail the types of permits and passes that are typically required in National Parks, National Forests, and in other management areas where your next hiking trip may take you. Hiking & Backpacking Permits & Passes Explained For some trips, like backpa
Mark Wetherington

Mark Wetherington in Trips

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Trips

Hiking Gray Wolf Ridge in the Olympics: A Long History

I can claim a history with Gray Wolf Ridge. Twenty years ago, fresh on my moving to the Pacific Northwest, I set the goal of a full Gray Wolf run – three peaks to bag and a double-digit mile loop hike to complete – only to be ignominiously bogged down in thigh-deep June snow and chased off by a blizzard rolling off Mount Olympus. Since that initial attempt, I have taken the ridge in bits and pieces. Last September marked my first time completing the route I had first imagined those lo
Doug Emory

Doug Emory in Trips

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Technique

Snow Water Equivalent (SWE): Hiking & Backpacking Jargon

Snow Water Equivalent is a measurement used to determine the total amount of water mass contained within the snowpack of a specific geographical area, usually expressed in inches of water (if the entire snowpack were to melt, this would in turn = X inches of water). SWE is a particularly useful way to measure potential spring and early summer runoff as well as a good way to predict year to year when trails will start to become free of snow. Since snow and snowpack contains a substanti
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Technique

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Reading

Wildlike Movie Review from a Backpacking Perspective

In the recent past, many an art-house or independent film would receive only a small release. And where would this movie be released? Perhaps some college towns and major metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, New York or Chicago. And maybe a DVD release marketed to independent rental stores that specialize in more obscure movies. But today the media landscape is much different. Video rental stores are an artifact of earlier technological times in all but a very few and obscure cases
PaulMags

PaulMags in Reading

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Trips

Hiking & Photographing in Death Valley National Park

I didn’t know what to expect, the first time I drove into Death Valley. Such a foreboding name. Are they trying to warn you? It certainly put intrigue in my heart while driving through the flat, nearly featureless Nevada desert back in 2005. The black roads seem to stretch on forever as you wonder if the mountains on the horizon will ever get bigger. With Vegas long since vanished in the rear view mirror, the sporadic towns surrounding the park bear no resemblance to the decadent city
SparbaniePhoto

SparbaniePhoto in Trips

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Gear

Dyneema Composite Fabric / Cuben Fiber and Backpacking

Dyneema Composite Fabric, often shortened to DCF and previously referred to as Cuben Fiber, is a fabric made from Dyneema fibers that are embedded in a polyester film to form a single material or fabric. Due to the high strength to weight ratio of the Dyneema fibers and its low stretch combined with inherent waterproofness, DCF and Cuben Fiber has proven to be a popular option for lightweight and ultralight backpacking gear over the past several years, and usage continues to grow in popularity f
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Gear

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Trips

Section Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail: A 40 Year Hike

It was 105 in the shade at my brother's house near East Los Angeles. Smoke from a foothills fire browned the sky while rolling blackouts swept through the city, defeating the air conditioning, closing restaurants, leaving us to swelter without benefit of even a fan. Darkened traffic lights made the already horrible traffic impossible. We left LA at dawn, escaping north on US395, heading to the southern terminus of the Sierra Nevada at Walker Pass. We had taken this road forty years ag
HappyHour

HappyHour in Trips

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Trips

Hiking and Photographing the Zion Narrows

Words fail and even photographs fall short of doing justice to the incredible Narrows hike in Zion National Park, especially in the fall. The Southwest US is a treasure trove of world-class locations to hike and photograph, but the Narrows has to be at or near the top of that list. It’s hard to imagine a blue-green river lined with golden cottonwood trees and soaring canyon walls glowing fiery red all around you. Surreal and otherworldly are about the only words that come close to describing the
DustyD

DustyD in Trips

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Trips

Hiking the Grand Canyon: Hermit's Rest to South Kaibab

Winter had been especially harsh, even while living in the mild climate of Colorado’s Front Range. Multiple subzero nights had made me tired of the cold, longing for a warm retreat. As good as a tropical vacation with white sandy beaches sounded, I felt the need to get out and get dirty in the desert. I had backpacked into the Grand Canyon a year before in the spring of 2013, but it was an unplanned trip, and I had been very lucky, grabbing a walk-in permit for Bright Angel Campground.
tmountainnut

tmountainnut in Trips

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Technique

Backpacking & Hiking Jargon: Contour Interval (Mapping)

On a topographic map, the contour interval is the physical elevation difference between each contour line, usually expressed in feet or meters. The smaller the contour interval, the more accurately landscape features and any elevation changes will be represented. Understanding contour lines and the interval when performing map and compass navigation are key skills to have, and especially useful for offtrail travel, though be aware that micro features are not always well reflected – a slope that
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Technique

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Trips

Desert Paradise: Backpacking Capitol Reef National Park

I have never been inspired to do a multi-day trip from an overlook, but that was before Capitol Reef. In May of 2013, I took my dad to southern Utah for a road trip. I was still recovering from surgery, limiting myself to merely driving. On our way home, we drove the Burr Trail, a scenic backway through the heart of Capitol Reef National Park, and on the map I saw a point called Halls Creek Overlook. We decided to drive out of our way to see it, and I was blown away by the scale that could be se
tmountainnut

tmountainnut in Trips

0
Technique

Backpacking & Hiking Jargon: Topographic Map Scale

On every decent map, a map scale should be provided near the legend. Map scale can be used to determine the level of detail a map will possess and is expressed as a fraction formula, such as 1:100,000. What this means is that every 1 unit (inch, foot, etc.) is representative of 100,000 of the same unit on the ground. For example, 1 inch in this case is representative of 100,000 inches in real life. Map scale can get a bit confusing. A small scale map will have a larger fraction and a large scale
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Technique

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Technique

Mountain Pass Terminology: Backpacking & Hiking Jargon

Humans have long sought routes through mountains for travel, trade, and warfare. Archaeologists recently unearthed evidence that suggests that in 218 B.C., Hannibal and his army crossed the Alps at a pass now called Col de Traversette. While we're less likely to travel with 30,000 soldiers, 37 elephants, and 15,000 horses and mules these days, we still seek low spots when moving through mountains. Mountain Pass in the Rockies Passes and Saddles In simplest terms, a pass is t
AndreaL

AndreaL in Technique

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