Goodbye, Colvin...

 

9/1/2009-1/14/2023

 

I always dreaded this day. You were everything I ever wanted in a dog and so much more. Obedient, loyal, protective, endlessly patient, and the most trusting companion imaginable. 

 

I remember vividly when I didn't think you were trainable. Later on I doubted you'd ever be a good trail dog. You lived up to your namesake -Verplanck Colvin-surveying every corner of the Adirondacks and 38 states. 

 

You were so well trained -even things I didn't teach you- like waiting for your family at trail intersections. A puppy that couldn't swim, couldn't scramble and absolutely hated the wind and water, you ended up loving the mountains more than I ever thought possible. You were perfectly made to be out there, right down to your weatherproof coat. Anytime I took up a new activity you adapted to be the best X dog I could imagine. Trail dog, crag dog, canyoneering dog, paddling dog, swimming dog, mountain biking dog, traveling dog, and anything else I threw at you. 

 

There were days I didn't want to be out there that you made it fun for me. Your shepherds lantern got me up mountains when I wanted to just call it a day. I hated trips without you and I always appreciated how grateful you were for everything we did. You were so positive, you were "just" a dog but you made me laugh all the time. 

 

The thing I loved most, beyond you being my best adventure buddy, was how you just loved being close to us and how much you loved and trusted us. We loved you every bit as much. I'm grateful we found you 13 years ago and most grateful you chose to make me your person. I'll never forget the loyalty, appreciation and love you showed me and everyone else who's lives you touched.

 

Colvin: The End Is Near

 

 

Having to make the decision to euthanize your dog before it looks like they are truly ready to go is the hardest decision in the world. But as I think about it, Colvin has always lived for two things, me (and the rest of his family) and the trail. His trail days are officially done as of a week ago. Now it's hard to tell if his apparent desire to live and endure is just an extension of his overwhelming desire to work for me and please me. If it's not and he is still as happy and alive as he appears than I feel like I'm just killing him. But if he's suffering than it's time for him to stop thinking of me, and me to think of his needs first.

HEET: It's not just for cars! - Fueling an alcohol stove while bikepacking-

HEET it's not just for cars. If you're bikepacking in Vermont or the Adirondacks finding stove fuel might not be easy due to lack of towns, stores and service hours in the Adirondacks and the bucolic nature of Vermont just not having many large towns that you generally plan to bikepack through.  Isobutane (MSR, Snow peak, Jetboil, etc) also are often out of stock even in sprawling metropolitan areas and suburban big box stores. 

It's also tough to cook like a gourmet chef while bikepacking because it's essentially ultralight backpacking. Just add water is about as gourmet as it gets if you aren't eating at a restaurant or -more often usually- a gas station or hopefully fast food. For this reason an alcohol stove makes the most sense. Just one setting: high. Six minutes to boil a half liter. Super compact, light, cheap (you can even make one yourself from a soda can) nothing to break. 

Most importantly (and the reason for this post) is fuel is easy to find at any gas station in America. HEET is always available at gas stations, convenience stores, big box stores, grocery stores, hardware stores. HEET is cheap, burns clean, and it's sold in a size you can manage to use on a route. It only takes 1 minute more to boil 16oz using HEET over denatured alcohol but every Stewarts shop in Vermont and the Adirondacks stocks it. You'll always have a hot meal and coffee or a cuppa.

 

Tarps are Integral to Camping Enjoyment

Independence weekend camping setup

The lowly polyethylene tarp, not as popular as an Ez-up or as cool as a nylon parawing. But on a rainy weekend absolutely dry and makes rain nothing more than an afterthought. The plastic tarp is a perfect example of function over form. I used to think these were trashy but it's really all in the setup. I noticed most people using poly tarps sort of last minute buy them with no knowledge, plan, poles or sometimes even proper line. I own a nice wing and a nice rectangular silnylon tarp that I take backpacking and canoe camping, but I realized that nice nylon (and don't even think about silnylon) aren't really designed for the rigors of car camping or even paddle in and camp (vs paddle and portage) canoe camping.  Rigors? Being packed wet, sitting in the sun for days on end, and just generally no need for a light packable tarp unless you are using Smart car as your vehicle. 

Colvin in Dolly Sods Wilderness. It mostly rained overnight on us, but the gear pile was completely dry under the well setup silnylon tarp. We only had to spend about an hour under it over 3 days. 

You will miss out on your friends commenting how nice your MSR or even Kelty Noah's tarp is compared to the brown heavy duty polyethylene (every time I pull out the Noah's Parawing, people comment on it and it's all of $70 new), but unless they are paying you to replace it every year (depending how often your camp, and if you camp infrequently enough it doesn't matter save the money and buy a plastic tarp), just shell out $50 for 2 polys once every 5-10 years. In fact, you can buy enough polys, high strength/low stretch cord, and tarp poles to cover the biggest site in the world for less than the cost of one big backcountry tarp (before poles). 

Enjoying the fire from the cover of the tarp. In total we had 22x10ft of coverage. Including access to the fire. 

While I am a big fan of the ridge line for a lot of reasons, it's not the only setup. The big advantage of the ridge line is its like a cordalette/webolette in climbing, it gives you a master point to work off. With proper line you can hang clothes, lanterns and even multiple tarps stacked (shingled) across a site or multiple tarps separate. I highly recommend learning about climbing pulley systems. Sure you can buy some cam straps or some friction devices. But a 2:1 or 3:1 system or even a simple munter with MMO will get your ridgeline ultra tight. You can do all this with some quick links or the cheapest (real) caribiners you can find. No need for a ton of gear. You don't need pulleys or progress capture devices.