My Chicago Garden

Trip Report

for

Yellow River State Forest, Iowa (5/16/2008)

 

Location: Yellow River State Forest, Iowa  (Paint Creek Trails)

Date: May 16 thru May 18, 2008 (cut short due to multiple issues, see below)

Reason/Goal: Equipment shake-down / first backpacking trip with kids (3 and 4 year old) and our dog

Theme of the trip: “What could go wrong, will go wrong”

Miles traveled to location: 250

Days/Nights at location: 2 Days / 1 Night

Miles traveled at location: 4 miles (estimated)

Would we go again?: Absolutely, but we would pick a different campsite (see below)

Weather Forecast: Partly cloudy, high in the upper 60s, lows in the lower 40s, no forecast of rain or wind

Lessons Learned:

• I love my Mountain Hardware convertible pants
• Don’t buy an Osprey ventilated backpack if you intend to carry a bear canister
• Always bring extra clothes with kids…always
• Boots/Shoes fit different people different ways. Shoes matter. Oh yeah…I still love mine, Timberland - Waterproof Cadion Hiking Boots (Mid)
• The Platypus hydration tip (the part you suck on) works better than the generic REI brand.

Narrative:

We left our house in Wheaton, IL around noon time on Friday.  I planned to spend a couple hours working on my laptop during the drive to finish up a report that was due (my wife always drives, she says my driving makes her sick).  About 5 minutes into the trip I realized the cigarette plug I had for my power inverter didn’t work (#1). So much for working on my laptop for more than an hour.  I decided to break out my new Garmin Colorado 300 and get a route going so Melissa would know how to get there.  The 300 didn’t want to auto-route even though I have loaded detailed street maps (#2).  It seems Garmin, in their infinite wisdom..or is that greed?…disables auto-routing unless you purchase their City Navigator software for an extra $100. Nevermind if you already own an auto-routing version of MapSource (I do). After I got home from this trip I found $8 worth of “shareware” that enables auto-routing on the Garmin Colorado. Out comes my Motorola Q phone with Google Maps to plot a route.  Amazing! Free auto-routing…hey Garmin…you listening? Jerks.  Dang it! I left my phone power cord in the other car. (#3)  Good thing I have the extended battery and extra battery in my laptop bag.  Getting to the park is uneventful, but beautiful. We had no idea that southern Wisconsin was this gorgeous. Wonderful rolling hills and farms all up and running now that the rain has stopped for a few days.  Time to get the seeds in the ground!

We roll into the park around 5pm hoping to catch the ranger at HQ before it closes. We’ve never been to the park and have no idea which trails are hard or easy, and which campsites are the best, and what the water situation is like.  Doh! HQ is closed. (#4) I noticed they have a water tap labeled “drinkable”. Tucker (our 10 year old dog) gets a quick drink. Okay….grab a couple extra maps from the self-registration area and a quick pow-wow and trip plan with the wife and off we go….after a last stop at the drop toilet at the start of the trail head.  Fire up the Garmin into topographic mode.  Wait a second! That’s shaded relief not the typical lines.  Dang it! How do I get lines? Shaded relief  is useless (#5). (note: found out later lines are drawn in Geocaching mode, not Recreational…brilliant Garmin…just brilliant)

Sierra (4) and Teagan (3) are real troopers. Tucker seems to help them be distracted. They trade off holding our hands and holding Tucker’s leash and exploring the trail for snails, slugs and flowers.  While we hike Melissa and I adjust our packs and talk about load distribution for the Mt. Lyell hike later in the summer. With a bear canister on the top of each of our packs it forces our heads to be down straining the neck muscles. (#6) (bear canister’s are not needed in the Yellow River State Forest, but this is a shake-down trip so we took everything we plan on using in Yosemite). It’s decided that I’ll try carrying both bear canisters inside my GoLite Pinnacle pack while Melissa carries all the other gear in her Osprey Aura 65. The Osprey pack has a back arch that precludes traditional packing techniques, but you gain a webbing area that keeps your back from sweating and supposedly distributes the weight better. We can redistribute weight as we eat through the food.

A little over a mile and we arrive at Camp John Schultz.  Big problem though.  The entire camp site is sloped a good 10 degrees or more (#7), which causes Therma-Rests and sleeping bags to slide down to one end of the tent.  I walk around a bit to try and find the water that is depicted on the map.  Found the hole in the ground where the water is supposed to be. No water. (#8)  Good thing I filled all water containers we have including my 3L Platypus hydration unit.  New plan is for me to hike out tomorrow morning with all the water containers and refill before we move to another, less sloped we hope, camp site.  Ticks! Melissa has informed me that she found a tick on the back of her neck.(#9)  Oh great! Tucker hasn’t had his flea and tick medicine in a while. Melissa informs me her boots are hurting her little toe and she’ll need to buy a different pair before the Yosemite trip. (#10)

Melissa works on getting all the gear unpacked and dinner started while I get the tents pitched. Oh no!  I don’t have the right poles for our new Rainshadow 2 TarpTent. (#11) I brought the optional front poles not the back arch pole. I pitched the tent anyway figuring Teagan and I can sleep at the front of the tent.  Our tried and true, but heavier, Mountain Hardware “Room-with-a-view” tent goes up easy as usual.  Sierra, Melissa and Tucker will be in this tent. Dinner goes off without a hitch and everyone has a successful bathroom break in the woods.  I break out my harmonica for a bit of fun and the girls grab for it immediately.  I give up and let them play.  I find it the next morning broken in the tall grass.  I think one of them dropped it in the dark and then one of us stepped on it while wandering around the tent (#12).

The girls are quickly off to sleep while I toss and turn trying to fight to keep Teagan and myself from sliding down the hill in the tent.  Oh no….wind has picked up.  I know that’s a sign of change in weather.  Is that rain?  NO! I’m not setup for rain! (#13) I listen to the rain on the tent. It’s pretty and I really don’t mind the rain.  But wait…with no back arch pole the tarp will be resting against our sleeping bags and gear and will transfer moisture too them. I better fix that.  I get out of the sleeping bag and head down to the bottom of the tent.  I find a puddle of water that has come into the tent due to the poor pitching job of mine.  I grab my hiking boots and hiking poles and create a makeshift back support.  That keeps the rain out and allows me to sleep knowing that even if we do slide to the bottom we wont end up laying in water.

Morning comes with little fanfare. Melissa says she heard coyote’s and an owl last night, and Sierra was talking in her sleep about ticks. I heard nothing. Teagan needs a potty break and Melissa isn’t out of the tent yet so I head off to help her squat.  She doesn’t wait long enough for me to situate her and ends up peeing all over her underwear and pants. (#14) Stupid dad! Melissa informs me she did not bring spare pants for either child. (#15) Melissa is now up and Sierra needs to go potty. Melissa takes her because I’m obviously inept at women bathroom issues. I hear a scream in the woods and Melissa informs me that Sierra has peed all over her pants. (#16) With the rain last night, the water situation, the clothing situation and the other 13 issues we have encountered I announce that we are going home a day early and that we have had a successful shakedown trip.  Everyone is still in good spirits as we talk about all the things that went wrong.

Since it’s early in the day still, and the girls have tights (long underwear) they can wear, we decide to hike to the fire tower which is only about 10 minutes away (for an adult) to give our tents time to dry out before we have to pack them.  When we get back from the fire tower, the tent’s are still not dry so we pack everything else up, me with both bear canisters this time, and head down to the car.  We can drive up a dirt road near the fire tower and then I can run back to the campsite and get the tents. The should have dried by then.

An uneventful, unless you consider collecting 43,827 snails eventful, trip back to the car and everyone is loaded up ready to head up the dirt road.  I’m actually excited about this short part, since I’ve not been able to stretch my legs with my pack and hiking poles and I’ll be able to go at my own pace to get the tents.  At 6′-2″ I can out walk the kids and Melissa (5′-2″) on each stride so I literally have to walk about 4 steps and stop, then walk about 4 steps and stop, the entire hike up and down. Not a real test of what Mt. Lyell is going to be like with a 14 mile first day.  I make it from the fire tower to the tents in about 4 minutes using a nordic walk.  My right knee (I think slightly twisted on the hike down) and right hip are hurting though…not a good sign. I need more exercise before Mt. Lyell.  I knew that already, but this confirms it. Anyway, the tents are dry and everything is packed up and ready to go in about 10 minutes.

We decided to head down to a picnic area near the Mississippi river (which none of us have been to before)  for lunch before heading home.

With the 16 problems encountered on this trip I have to say this was a stunning success for a shake-down trip.  Everyone remained in good spirits and Sierra and Teagan were completely unaware of the issues. All they know was that we had fun. 

Pictures: