Lacks Creek: return

Lacks Creek Management Area, Aracata BLM

(Map link. Red line for day 3.)

DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3

I only had to hike out, except stay within the lines. I could have popped down the Faulkner Trail to see all of the prairie, which is just a mile long, but decided against. I didn't want to get back late. I retraced the route back on the trail. The puddles and trickles were smaller on the way.

The ground cones are looking a bit like pine cones now that they are well past their sell by date.

A sort of bird's nest fungus.

Some sort of pixie cup or trumpet lichen.

Then I still had to walk the road to the junction above. It might get a little rutted on the hill, but it isn't any worse than some spots getting to the junction. The first hundred plus feet just happen to be the least graveled and narrow feet with puddles after a rain. I could certainly drive this road with my Scion.

Road up. It's not so bad. This is about its worst.

A tall Douglas fir and some view of the east side of Lacks Creek.

I was tempted to head up the track near the top and go around the peaks on the other side. It would have been a more difficult walk. That higher part of the road is practically flat. I packed up once more and headed off in plenty of time.

*photo album*

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I had a few new items along with me, so I went ahead and made a LighterPack list and thought I'd say something about the gear. The gear list was done after the trip, so food weights are highly approximate. Pack with everything not worn and water plus camera were 21-22 pounds at the start.

Mountain Equipment Goblin Plus 33 is a climber's pack and lots of things are removable. For me, that's a bit of a gimmick. I always want my hip belt. I went for it because of the pockets. My Greggory Jade 28, which has ever growing holes in the top, includes a big opening on the front that you can shove all sorts of things down. I call it the debris scoop. I am constantly pulling random organic crud out of it. This pocket has become standard, except as a stretchy thing. Perhaps it grabs less crud with a stretchy top. It gives up the zippered pocket I actually use and changes materials to something that rips up much more quickly. It's really super popular and I want absolutely nothing to do with it. The "plus" models of the Goblin have a nice, zippered pocket. They also lack the very popular side pockets. What I use side pockets for: second lens for the DSLR (but currently using a superzoom again) and collecting Mylar balloons. It's been a long time since I could trust the garbage to stay in the pockets I have because they're made out of a material that ripped out years ago. So I can live without those. The Goblin doesn't have hip pockets. I rather like hip pockets, but have to admit that the only thing I really, really want in there is lip balm. Incidentally, they've ripped out on my current pack anyway. The Goblin also has a top pocket, which I really like for organizing certain things. This is the only size with load lifters, which I quite like. I've been known to feel my pack being loose and reach up and tighten them. I classify them as strongly desirable.

The Goblin also has some oddities I wasn't sure about. The hip belt is a bit of webbing with, on this size only, movable hip pads. They seem to work. There's a cup in them to set against my hip and it seems to keep them in place. One side is longer and mine came with that to the front instead of the side, which seems like it is probably backwards. I seem to have enough natural padding right now that it doesn't matter. (Meanwhile, I stopped by a store and tried on the Osprey and Greggory that were there and found that the padding on the belts isn't wrapping all the way to the front of my hips where padding is most needed. That wouldn't work.) The pack is "unisex", so I was worried about the strap shape. Climber packs usually go for a more curved strap than is typical for a men's pack, and they seem to be almost enough. They're as much enough as my old pack. It has a very lightweight framing system. It's quite flexible, but enough to keep my water from becoming a bulge into the middle of my back and did seem to do the load transfer. The fact that it puts this together into an under 2 pound package ultimately sold me on trying it.

So, in the case of loaded down with about 20 pounds of stuff that fills it, it seems to work. Straps are sufficient and comfortable. Hip belt does what it's supposed to. It has the pockets I prefer and none of the ones I am ambivalent and worse about. (Well... a hip pocket might get added.) Everything was where I needed it to be when I needed it, except my drink tube. I've been routing it over my left shoulder and this is only set up for right handed drinking. It's a Change. And it's all nicely streamlined for those brushy spots, even if it's all brushy spot whenever I try again for Mary Blaine. Bears? Well, I still only own a bear canister and some Kevlar rope I don't seem to have remembered. There is a daisy chain that could get the canister (empty) stropped on. Then it won't be quite so streamlined. An Ursack could help. (Golly, they're expensive.) Still have to see how it is when compressed down as far as it goes for day hiking purposes.

Big Agnes Insulated AXL Air Pad, regular wide is a quilted style pad with rather atrocious reviews. Lots of people say they don't even last the night. A few people can be bothered to come back after a year and say theirs actually lasted quite a few nights. Mine held air perfectly for the two nights, so it's already outperformed half the reviews. They didn't actually give it an R rating, but do call it a "three season pad". Blowing it up with the pump bag was much nicer than the old pad for the simple reason that it has a one-way valve. More air went in with half the time and effort. Trouble is, it isn't any warmer than the old one. I would not call this a three season mat. The model replacing this one gets a R=3 rating, so I was expecting to still need one of Gossamer Gear's thin mats with it. (Those, and all similar, have been sold out for months.) The wide really helped keep my knees on the mat and I didn't feel balanced on top. The quilting pattern wasn't really any better than horizontal baffles for comfort to me.

So the pack gets a "so far, so good" along with "what a difference 5L makes". I'm not very sure about the pad.




©2021 Valerie Norton
Written 16 Oct 2021