Beauty around every turn:
Breaking into the alpine:
FISH ON!
Arctic Grayling:
Home sweet home:
Bitterroot Spike said it was the best trip ever, and didn't have any trouble with the 15ish miles of total hiking. The GoLite Shangrila 5 was an excellent family shelter, and supplied excellent bug protection with the full nest. I still think next time the nest will stay home and it will be floorless for us.
My new Hanwag Mountain Lights were exceptional. I simply have never had boots so new perform so well. I think these are winners for sure, and Lathrop and Sons have their stuff together for getting a guy fitted. Bitterroot Spike was rollin' in Columbia low hikers, and was clear that traction was excellent.
The Icon 6000 seems to get a bad wrap on some forums, including Rokslide. There is no doubt that some pack designs fit some folks better than others. They are kind of like boots that way. Without a doubt the Icon fits me very, very well, and I don't just want to ditch it after hard hiking like my other packs. It is holding up just fine for me. I have no strap slippage, no floppy loads, and no pinching belt issues. I am very satisfied with this pack so far. It does occasionally squeek, the hydration port is too small, and there is no webbing for belt accessories.
The Nikon J1 is quickly becoming a favorite. It is compact, easy to use, and has phenomenal results.
Kuiu Attack pants rok.
My REI (Komperdell) poles are suitable, but I am really thinking fliplocks are in my future.
The Sawyer inline filter worked so slick. We pretty much stole Luke and Becca's system, but it works great!
Finally, I also spent a lot of time behind the 20-75 eyepiece of a Zeiss Diascope 85FL. More testing is needed, but so far, it makes things far away look MUCH closer.
