Ruby Crest Trail Gear Review

rjs34

FNG
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Sep 1, 2012
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48
Location
Eastern Oregon
My wife and I just completed the 35 mile Ruby Crest Trail hike in northern Nevada last week and thought I would post some of my thoughts on the gear I used. Most of it will be a brief overview so if you have any specific questions or want more in depth information let me know.

Packs:
His: KU5200 - First use of the pack in the back country. My pack was roughly 52 lbs and performed wonderfully. Very comfortable. Did have the top cover seem thread start to come apart but that was the only negative to the pack. I had a couple of long pockets and bags that worked very well.
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Hers: Osprey Exos - She really liked the pack. She hasn't done much backpacking before so she doesn't have much to compare it to but it was very comfortable. Her pack was roughly 28 lbs

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Water Filtration:
Sawyer inline with quick disconnects into Platypus reservoir 4l system. I had a 3l platypus bladder and she had a 3l camelbak bladder. I loved this system. I didn't keep the filter hooked into my bladder but kept it with the platypus system. I loved the ability to filter water at the end of every day at camp or strait into the bladders while in the packs eliminating the need to remove them on the trail. I also loved filling up the dirty bag with water and having it filter while doing other things at camp. Sometimes the flow would slow down on it and I would back flush occasionally which seemed to help. Sure beats pumping for 20 minutes!

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Delorme InReach SE: Part of the deal with talking my wife into going on the trip was to be able to be in touch with the babysitters. I had used a SPOT with success but needed something with 2 way communication. I didn't feel the need for a sat phone and the SE seemed just right. It was a little spendy up front ($299) and the service plan is more expensive than spot but I signed up for the seasonal plan (4 months for $39/month). The SE worked very well. We could send and receive texts with ease. It was nice to have updated weather forecasts from my mom every night. The tracking worked well also. It isn't that much different than Spots. Battery life was great, DeLorme claims 100 hours and I believe it, we had plenty of battery power left after 5 days (turning it off at night).



Big Agnes UL3: Ive had the tent for a while and had no problems with it and the same was true for this trip. Fast to set up and fairly light weight.

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Other Gear:

REI Flex Lite Chairs: Good little chair for around a pound. Definitely didn't need to bring these but they were nice to have.

JebBoil Sol: Have used it for a while but worked like it always does. Was able to do all breakfast and dinner mountain house along with coffee in the morning on one can for 5 days. I also got the Jetboil coffee press which was a nice little addition. Also used jetboil forks and spoons and spatula for fish in a frying pan. Kept everything in a Maxpedition 12x5 bag. It fit perfect. It added a little weight but it was very nice to have all of the cooking stuff packed away in one case which in turn fit nicely in a KU long pocket.

ALPS Mountaineering Razor Sleeping Bag Liner: This was about the only fail of the trip. I thought I could get us by with these if the temps stayed above 50 at night. Well the temps did but these didn't keep us warm enough. Even with double layer tops and bottoms we were still too cold.

Black Diamond Apollo Lantern: Great little lantern. Very bright and not very heavy.

Black Diamond Alpine Carbon Cork Trekking Poles: I have never used poles while hiking or hunting but after this trip that will change. I loved them, especially down hill. I really liked the cork handles.

GSI Outdoors Ultralight Nesting Bowl and Mug: Great little bowl mug set for eating and drinking coffee. Another luxury I guess.

Pad/Pillow. My wife used a Thermarest NeoAir pad and I used the Thermarest NeoAir Xlite pad. Even though I a repair kit I was afraid of puncturing them. So I put them in the Thermarest Trekker Lounge cover. This is normally used so you can convert your pad into a chair, but I pulled the rods out. This made a good (albeit heavy) cover for the sleeping pads. We used the EXPED air pillow and one very nice and unexpected positive about the trekker cover is that the pillow fits perfectly in it so that it doesn't move. Obviously there are other pillow options but I really liked having a pillow that wouldn't move.

Fishing Poles: I picked up an Emmrod Packer and Emmrod Pack-Rod for my wife and I and I have to say I love these little poles but a little spendy. They break down pretty small and are easy to pack. Very tough little pole. We just used some lures for some brookies.


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Here are a few more pics.

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Cool pictures and gear review. Took My parents on a 30 mile ride through the Winds in Wyoming last week and we talked about doing something in the Rubies next Summer. The Rubies are a day closer to home.


How was the traffic on the trails?
Any Bugs?
What Frying pan did you have for the SOL?
Care to mention any Trailheads? (PM is ok)
Did you do any Layover Days or travel every day?
Did you eat at The Star in Elko?
 
Im assuming harrison pass to lamoille? What was the longest stretch w/o water? And how much time did the whole trail take to complete? Thanks for the gear lookout!
 
Cool pictures and gear review. Took My parents on a 30 mile ride through the Winds in Wyoming last week and we talked about doing something in the Rubies next Summer. The Rubies are a day closer to home.


How was the traffic on the trails?
Any Bugs?
What Frying pan did you have for the SOL?
Care to mention any Trailheads? (PM is ok)
Did you do any Layover Days or travel every day?
Did you eat at The Star in Elko?

Lots of people for some reason. Our third day from Overland to Favre (14.5 miles) we hiked at the same time as some locals who had done the trip 6 or 7 times and that was the most people they had ever seen (didn't help that there was 10 boy scouts at Overland :)

Bugs weren't too bad at Overland lake but there were a few, mosquito's were bad at Favre lake. On the trail I didn't notice any.

I just bought a cheap MSR Flex skillet. It cost like $30 from amazon.

There are several trails that hit the main crest trail but we just went from Harrison Pass to Lamoille. One of the main trails was the Overland trail that hits the crest trail at Overland Lake.

You can reasonably do the whole crest trail in 4 days but we spent an extra day at Overland Lake.
Day 1. Harrison Kiosk to S Fork Smith Creek (8.5 miles)
Day 2. S Fork Smith Creek to Overland (6 miles)
Day 3. Fishing and Rest
Day 4. Overland to Favre (14.5 miles). Other options are N Furlong which is a couple miles shorter and Liberty which is a mile or so longer. If I did it again I would rest up at N Furlong a couple hours then push on to Liberty Lake (only downside is there is a lot more traffic at Liberty).
Day 5. Favre to Car (5 miles). So whole trip is roughly 35 miles when you access lakes atc.

Didn't get a chance, had to get to Jackpot for a concert :)
 
Im assuming harrison pass to lamoille? What was the longest stretch w/o water? And how much time did the whole trail take to complete? Thanks for the gear lookout!


Yep Harrison to Lamoille (there is a jeep road that takes you a couple miles toward green mountain from Harrison pass.

The longest stretch is from Overland to North Furlong. There is a creek a mile or so north of Overland but then it is roughly 10 miles without any water. It was a hot day when we did it and had 3l bladders and conserved water pretty good and made it with water to spare but not much.

We started around 2:30 pm the first afternoon and camped at around 7:30pm that night. The next morning took us about 4 hours to go 6 miles. The long day took us 8 or 9 hours and the final day wasn't anymore than 3 or 4 (could have done it much faster, but that last day was very beautiful and had lots of picture opportunities with all the lakes).
 
Very cool! I plan on doing it next summer for sure now that I'm a teacher with summers off. I've always wanted to do it, it sounds fun.
Maybe we can rally up some people from here on the Rok and put some names to faces and do this hike together. Congrats on a great hike!
 
Thanks for the pics. Want to do the trail next year a buddy of mine just moved to spring creek and we both have muzzle loader deer tags for there this year my son also has a junior tag for there . The rubies are awesome I really like climbing around them.
 
Overland is what sparked my interest in the backcountry. First I rode in horse back at age 13. After that I hiked to it every time I drew a 10 tag. Used to be a great area! Last time I went in there I counted 3 wall tents during a muzzy hunt and had to find some new stomping grounds. If you wandered around in the cabin at overland im sure you noticed an old cast iron pan and a few condiments in plastic baggies ( unless people took them) my father and I would pack up a splash of oil and fry trout straight out of the lake yearly! Good stuff.
 
Very cool! I plan on doing it next summer for sure now that I'm a teacher with summers off. I've always wanted to do it, it sounds fun.
Maybe we can rally up some people from here on the Rok and put some names to faces and do this hike together. Congrats on a great hike!

Landed the woodshop job?
 
Overland is what sparked my interest in the backcountry. First I rode in horse back at age 13. After that I hiked to it every time I drew a 10 tag. Used to be a great area! Last time I went in there I counted 3 wall tents during a muzzy hunt and had to find some new stomping grounds. If you wandered around in the cabin at overland im sure you noticed an old cast iron pan and a few condiments in plastic baggies ( unless people took them) my father and I would pack up a splash of oil and fry trout straight out of the lake yearly! Good stuff.


Very cool. We didn't spend much time around the cabin as that is where the cub scouts were camping :)
 
That looks like a great trip, I hope to do it some day.
I like those flex chairs, do you think you will be packing those again or while hunting?
To do a thru hike like that, how did you get back to your vehicle at the end of the trip?
 
That looks like a great trip, I hope to do it some day.
I like those flex chairs, do you think you will be packing those again or while hunting?
To do a thru hike like that, how did you get back to your vehicle at the end of the trip?

It depends on the situation. If I am back country hunting I doubt I will but for this hike they were great especially for the rest day. We had a friend in Elko that took us to Harrison and shuttled our car to Lamoille.
 
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