Ask Darwin Q&A #33 (Answers)

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** Stuff/Gear I Mention in this Video **

Mt Hardware Ghost Whisperer - http://amzn.to/2y8Gs3g

EE Torid APEX Jacket – https://enlightenedequipment.com/torrid-apex-jacket/

Bugs On the Trail - https://youtu.be/3vm21i4UmgI

DIY Cook Pouch & Cozy - https://youtu.be/1RjviJ0AlVI

BD Alpine Ergo Cork Poles - http://amzn.to/2xwh2iP

Cnoc Vertex Carbon Cork - http://amzn.to/2y9JVi1

AZT Section Gear List - https://darwinonthetrail.com/2017/09/22/darwins-2017-azt-section-hike/

AT Gear List - https://darwinonthetrail.com/2016/05/03/darwins-2016-at-gear-list/

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Tags: Appalachian Trail,AT,AT Thru Hike,Thru Hike,PCT,Pacific Crest Trail,CDT,PCT Thru Hike,Backpacking,UL Hiking,UL Backpacking,UL Gear,Hiking,Hiker Trash,Camping,Adventure,Arizona Trail,AZT,Zpacks,Enlightened Equipment

Video Transcription

hey guys it's Darwin here with my weekly Q&A to answer more of your questions if you want to ask a question for next week's Q&A you can either leave it in the comment box below or send me a video question over to Darwin on the trail at yahoo.com

and then next week I'll answer as many as I possibly can all right so let's go ahead and get into this week's first question can you describe stealth camping a little you just get off the trail a little or do you actually try to hide your tent from view so that's a good question and whenever people say stealth camping they don't necessarily mean getting stealthy stealth camping is pretty much anywhere that's not an actual designated camp spot so it doesn't have a fire ring there's no shelter there's no place where someone has really camped before a lot of people will also stealth camp like right outside of towns now for that you are getting a little more stealthy so when ever snuggles and I or whenever I personally have ever stealth camped we just kind of go past a designated campsite and it's usually because it's kind of overcrowded with other hikers sometimes maybe Boy Scout groups or weekend families and then we just find a stealth spot so stealth camping isn't exactly as stealthy as it sounds it's really just you making another camp spot that's not a designated Kasbah do trekking poles with peugeot grips like the Black Diamond ones work well with ultralight tents which use trekking poles as supports so good question Richard and yes I have set up my duplex and any of the other trekking pole tents that I've had with my Argo grip poles so aside from the knot poles that I've been using a lot lately I also use the Black Diamond

ergo carbon cork poles and that is what I use to set up my tent now the tent that I currently have is AZ packs duplex and it sets up great with that tent and then when I also had my six moves designed skyscape trucker it's set up with that tent too there might be some tents out on the market that need more of a straight handle but all the ones that I've had so far yeah the ergos work great what is your favorite lighter down jacket so david i actually lately have been kind of switching back and forth for a long time now I've been using the amount Hardware Ghost Whisperer jacket which is a Down Jacket so it has the down inside of it it's hooded in only weighs a little over eight ounces I absolutely loved that jacket and like I said I've been using it for about two years now not too long ago I actually picked up one of these which is the enlightened equipment torrid apex jacket and this has become my new favorite jacket so as much as I love down and I've always been a down person this was a jacket that I picked up because I had never really experimented with synthetic insulation and this thing has blown me away now the one that I'm currently wearing is a 7d version so it's actually a prototype and lightened equipment usually only makes a ten and a 20d but this guy actually weighs much less than my ghost whisperer jacket and as far as I knew that was the lightest down jacket on the market that you could get but if you're looking for down in specific I would say definitely check out the mount Hardware but if you do want synthetic you want something that's super warm something that's super light and really comfortable definitely check out one of these and light and equipment jackets because this thing is awesome

Darwyn my name is Jason and I'm a den leader in Branson Missouri and working with wolves which are seven and eight year old kids right now and my question to you is how do you get kids more interested in hiking especially more long-distance hiking I know they can't carry very much but I would like to take my boys out so they enjoy the outdoors a lot more and with your experience on the trail what would be some of your suggestions on getting them more interested in more into enjoying the outdoors thank you and I look forward to hearing your answer so that is a really good question and that's actually how I got into backpacking and hiking was in Boy Scouts now we never did any really long-distance hiking but I would suggest getting your scouts into hiking maybe one of the best things to do is show them some YouTube videos maybe get some documentaries on like the 80 or the PCT definitely screen them before you show them because you never know what hiker trash are gonna say in those things but get them inspired with that show them all the cool gear maybe showing some videos of some awesome ultralight gear breaking down how to use it maybe by making some DIY gear like my cook pouch that I did not too long ago or my mic up koozie get them into things like that and I guarantee they'll get hooked on it like I said that's how I got hooked on hiking and just being in the outdoors in general and I'm sure if they're already Boy Scouts they're gonna be into that anyways that's awesome that you're trying to get them into longer distance hiking and thank you for raising a new generation of hikers I know it has given you trouble in the past what advice could you give on tick prevention on the 80 there's obviously lots of things that you can do to treat your clothes to spray yourself with check in for ticks all the time which are all great ideas permethrin is a really good chemical to actually treat all your gear with before you hit the trail and then maybe treat your gear with it every three to four weeks using something like DEET or maybe even a natural bug spray is always a great idea I personally use a hundred percent DEET which isn't exactly the most friendly for your skin but it does help keep the ticks away and then just staying super vigilant and making sure that you're checking yourself every day when you get to camp and making sure that you're just looking all over through your hair maybe through your beard and everywhere on your legs to make sure that you're not getting one that's burrowing into you now a few months ago I did a video called bugs on the trail where I talked about some different Prevention's on ticks mosquitoes and all of that I'll actually put a link up here in the corner if you want to check that video out but something to always keep in mind even though I use permethrin even though I used eat even though I wore gaiters I still got bit by a tick and still contracted Aliki osis so it is really really hard to kind of a hundred percent eradicate and prevent ticks from happening out on the 80 but our really bad out there so just make sure that you're checking yourself as much as possible and hopefully you won't get in the same situation as I did how do you feel about the movie wild with Reese Witherspoon that depicts a woman hiking the PCT

I have actually touched on this in the past for a movie it's a good movie the way I kind of feel about any of those Hollywood movies that are made about thru-hikers

or anyone that has an extreme outdoor experience is it's Hollywood and a lot of times they romanticize things like a thru-hike you know if you watch something like wild or a walk in the woods it's nothing like a thru-hike even though they're out on the trail and they're carrying a pack it is a Hollywood movie so they're going to romanticize it as much as possible movies will never encapsulate what it's like to actually do it through hike so again as a movie it's good as a guideline or inspiration for someone that wants to do it through hike or any type of long distance hiking I don't think that it's it's good for that now if you've ever read the book while the book is much much better than the movie so I definitely suggest that if you've seen the movie and you haven't read the book but in general is it a good movie sure is it good inspiration or good way to show someone what it thru-hike is like not at all if you want to experience more of what a thru-hike is like and get inspired to do that I definitely suggest watching some documentaries there's tons of different documentaries that are made by hikers every single year some you can find right here on YouTube some are on like Netflix on Amazon there's tons of really great documentaries that really encapsulate what it's like to spend four to six months on a trail slowly section hiking there's on a trail and I was just wondering what passages did you do last week and how was the water situation so I don't know exactly what passages that I hiked I can tell you that I hiked from Flagstaff Arizona down to Pine which was about a hundred miles and then my plan was to hike past pine into that wilderness but because it was such a big wilderness I

didn't want to be out for another 150 miles until I could get off the trail so I actually got off in pine got a ride north of Flagstaff and then hiked 60 miles back into Flagstaff so it's kind of a weird section again I don't know what passage numbers that they were but that is the section that I hiked as far as the water situation I was actually pretty surprised at how much water there was on the trail between Flagstaff and pine last year whenever I was bike packing the Arizona Trail there was like no water at all from the Utah border all the way to Flagstaff I never really seen water there might have only been like one or two cattle tanks that actually had a little bit of water left in that and that was in October this year I was super surprised how much water were in the cattle tanks and how much water was just left out and cached for hikers in the entire time I was out on the trail I only ever carried two liters at a time and that done me pretty well now I'm a bit of a camel so whenever I do get to a water source I drank as much water as I possibly can camo up fill up my two liters and then I hiked for about eight to ten miles without getting water again so everyone's different and your water consumption is definitely going to be different than mine but I never had a problem that entire section that I was out all right guys last question of the week most hiking I do is in the High Sierra where there is almost always a creek or a lake to take a swim or do laundry

nobody likes feeling sticky inside their bed what is personal hygiene like on the ATAC T or first 700 miles of the PCT that is a good question and there's not I've went like ten days without taking any type of shower without washing my clothes without washing my hair or my beard whenever you're doing long distance hiking hygiene is kind of not a thing you know as long as you're brushing your teeth every once in a while like every day that is about the best hygiene that you can do aside from that you're just gonna stink you're gonna be gross you're gonna be sticky you're gonna be sweaty it just kind of comes with long distance hiking now in the summer months on the Appalachian Trail both back in 2015 and 2016 I did take my buff and at times at camp I would actually take my buff soak it in water at a water source and then I would just wipe myself down wipe my legs and my arms down before I went to sleep at night just because I didn't want my leis to stick together because yeah you're right that's gross aside from that there's not really any other hygiene that you can do now obviously if you do come to some sort of a lake or a pond yeah it's a great idea to jump in and wash yourself off and I would do that regardless but you know the reality is especially this first 700 miles of the PCT and then the Arizona Trail you never have that opportunity so you just kind of have to deal with being gross being sticky stinky and weighty get to town get a good shower and get ready to get stinky and sticky again alright guys so if you want to leave a question for next week's Q&A you can either leave it in the comment box below or send me a video question over to Darwin on the trail at yahoo.com and then next week I'll answer as many as I possibly can so just to give you guys a little bit of an update on what snuggles and I have going on we have actually left Flagstaff

hence the desert East stuff again and we are now in Joshua Tree California we'll be out here for a couple weeks hanging out in the park hanging out with some good friends then we're gonna be heading further west towards the coast and Sequoia National Park so we should be doing some videos up in there so keep an eye out for that and then our plan has pretty much spin the winter out here and then starting in April I'll be starting my hike of the PCT if you haven't had a chance yet go over and check me out on Instagram I've been posting a lot of new photos lately of some of the things that snuggles and I have going on throughout the week plus some pictures from some past hikes if you found any value in this video go ahead and hit that like button subscribe to my channel if you haven't already and as always guys thanks for watching [Music]

[Applause]

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