Old guys aren't that smart.......

[AKDoc]

You guys are really great examples of keeping at it!!

I try as well. I'll be out remote moose hunting again in September with my son...and turning 74.

That said, I get my first partial knee-replacement next week, and my second knee will be right after the moose hunt...both waaaay over-due .

I've been stubbornly (stupidly?) determined and pushing myself bone on bone for the past couple of years to keep moving and hunting every year. Also enjoying retirement trips with my wife...we were camping for several weeks in New Zealand in January this year, and a couple months ago we were cruising the Amazon River and walking the rain forests.

Keep moving, guys!

 

[Beendare]

I don't think it's stupidity or insanity.

We know the pleasure we get from these activities....and the pain is an unfortunate part- it's still worth it.

 

[TheGDog]

I don't know... y'day (Sunday, Memorial Day wknd '26).. in trying to look for an easier, more trail-line way of getting up into this one ridge I want to focus upon. Was not fun.

In previous years I just did a frontal assault on the buckthorn covered mountain straight up, pioneering up there.

But with the issues I was having, that reqd Hiatal hernia repair surgery, and now the resultant after-effects/after-concerns... I'm starting to think I may end-up needing to forego attempting hunts like this in the steep Alpine stuff.

Essentially, seems like, when having to cinch up the packbelt properly, to have the pads grip your hipcrests... the resulting pressure that causes in the abdomen, seems to aggravate my stomach, getting to the point where it's hard for it to even keep down water very well.

So then... regurgitation happens, and some acids come with it. So a lil bit of burn, and in general "Ugh" feeling. And then... I end up loosening up the belt to ease-up the stressors on the gut, but then that in-turn, punishes your shoulders and trapezius.

And I HAVE to constantly combat the pack sliding down and allowing the packbelt to ride across my area of injury with the 3 bulging vertebral discs.

and also loosening up of the packbelt, as you know, wants to allow that belt to dropdown to that area below the hipcrests. So if you're not on top of that.. it causes pain in your hip sockets.

So to help try to offset the pack wanting to slide down and allow the weight to press down upon my lower-back area of injury. I end up leaning forward, and also tightening up the shoulder straps in a particular way, such that doing that.. together with the leaning, and also a small amount of hunching the shoulders forward... can lift up the bottom of the pack so as to no longer put pressure on the area of injury (bulging discs).

And.. I didn't put on liner socks this time, didn't think I'd need them since trying to find a more trail-friendly way to get up there. So by the time I got up to 10K... on one boot was coming close to a blister on heel.

So... by the time I'm coming back down... I'm famished and thirsty, since nervous about putting much in my stomach, and the conditions which lead to the regurgitation. (One of them also possibly being inside of my water bladder and drinking tube maybe needed even more cleaning, like with a brush. I'd just done Dawn Platinum, vigorously shaken, then rinsed. I kinda started thinking maybe it wasn't as cleanly rinse as I thought or something? Or it could solely be from the packbelt pressure.

Also.. when went down the rabbit-hole w/ AI re: my Hiatal Hernia repair surgery, and the issue of the packbelt... it found info stating that yeah.. the increase to the abdominal pressure could potentially cause the repair work to be compromised. Possibly even requiring a redo on the repair.

I NEVER... wanna have to go thru THAT isht ever again, especially the liquid diet part.

So I dunno... thinking I may have to get realistic with myself and stop trying to hunt these Alpine places. I already put in for that zone though, so if they give me my Preferred Zone pick... I'm gonna give it a shot. But I think this'd be the last one in that zone... until I can learn about other places to go to for success that don't require climbing ginormous mountains.

 

[TheGDog]

Hrmm.. hit up AI about what might be the symptoms if.. when cleaning a water-bladder you didn't get all the Dawn Paltinum out of the container.

One of the things they mentioned was "foamy vomiting". And now that I think about it... yeah.. there were several times where even though the amount was minor, it was somewhat frothey/foamy.

I also think the tube needed a good brushing as well. did the thing of cleaning inside of it with the fizzy tablet and 15min of warm water. Followed it up with brushing everything, all parts, pulling the tubes off and brushign within them with the pipe-brushes in this kit the wife has.

So... I'm gonna run on the assumption that maybe... the regurgitation... had more to do with the water bladder's internal not-optimal bio-cleanliness condition.

We'll see what happens on the next outing. This outing... because of that un-fun state I was in, and where I ended up at taking this one trail a lil too far past my goal area, I didn't bother hanging the ttrailcam... I'd have needed to exit that trail and pioneer over to at a certain other point much earlier on, in that trail, rather than taking it all the way up to this one saddle as I did the other day.

So I'm gonna cross my fingers, and get better about the follow-up details such as immediately cleaning otu the water bladder upon return home... NOT allowing it to remain in my pack for multiple days before I attend to it after returning home tired and sore from the outing.

So... Gonna cross my fingers, and give it another few tries before I determine if it's just not a good choice for me now post-surgery.

Per AI, talking about the role the Tight Packbelt plays in all this:

[Tight Hipbelt Compression]
│
├───► Decreases available space for gastrointestinal gas expansion
├───► Forces acidic, soapy water upward ──► Triggers severe acid reflux
└───► Restricts natural gut motility ────► Magnifies sharp, trapped cramping

 

[nm.otter]

Skanky biofilm, ick.

I dump and rinse as soon as possible, even mid-trip. Warm water with salt works quite well.

Once home, clean properly with hot water and a bit of detergent -- then rinse with RO water and peroxide. Pull all the pieces apart and hang them to dry, with the bladder propped open so none of the surfaces touch. Mouthpiece gets a longer soak in H2O2 and RO water plus careful brushing.

 

[TheGDog]

H202 is Hydrogen Peroxide. What's "RO Water"?

 

[Q_Sertorius]

H202 is Hydrogen Peroxide. What's "RO Water"?

Reverse Osmosis

 

[TheGDog]

Skanky biofilm, ick.

I dump and rinse as soon as possible, even mid-trip. Warm water with salt works quite well.

Once home, clean properly with hot water and a bit of detergent -- then rinse with RO water and peroxide. Pull all the pieces apart and hang them to dry, with the bladder propped open so none of the surfaces touch. Mouthpiece gets a longer soak in H2O2 and RO water plus careful brushing.

Salt Water! There ya go! Bet that'd be the ticket. You could tell/perceive if you didn't rinse it all out! (via taste receptors)

 

[nm.otter]

You could tell/perceive if you didn't rinse it all out! (via taste receptors)

...and a little residual won't hurt at all.

Water with little or no minerals (reverse osmosis, distilled, deionized) makes detergent more effective and doesn't leave a residue when it dries out. If you see a spot, it's potentially suspect.

I'm already carrying salt for cooking (and first aid: sore throat gargle, rinsing pollen/dust out of nose, emergency electrolyte fix). 24 grams/tbsp for table salt.