Gear Review & Trip Report: Flume Slide Trail (T25) With ParaVival's Paracord Survival Bracelet.

Jennifer Miller of the unique and inspiring blog UNCOMMON CHILDHOOD recently interviewed Alex and Sage about their Camino experiences.  The girls loved answering Jennifer's questions; you can read the interview here.

*****

 

Flume Slide Trail, Franconia Ridge Trail, Liberty Springs Trail.  Around 8.5 miles with about 2800 feet of elevation gain.

What a crazy week!  A few days ago, New Hampshire experienced a (very!) late spring snowstorm that blanketed the higher summits with six+ inches of snow.  The day of our Flume Slide hike, however, we had extreme heat and an air quality advisory.  That's mountain weather for you...

Hugh joined us on this one, as did our friend Mike C.  Alex and I first met Mike outside Lakes of the Clouds Hut in March 2012, the day Alex and I bagged Washington and Monroe for our winter 4Ks.  Mike's a kind fellow and excellent company; we were happy to share this Terrifying 25 trail with him.


Got my Paracord Survival Bracelet.

Before we left the parking lot, I fastened my Paracord Survival Bracelet.  I don't usually don jewelery, but I've heard a lot about this particular piece of gear and I wanted to see if it could be of use on the slide.







The Paracord Survival Bracelet

We set off down Franconia Bike Path...

Alex enjoyed chatting up Mike...

Mike knew of a bushwhack we could use that would allow us to bypass the paved path.  He pointed the way into the woods...

We were slightly off with the entrance point, but we got to the main 'whack within a few minutes of tromping.

The 'whack led us to the lower portion of Liberty Springs Trail, just a tenth of a mile or so beneath the intersection with Flume Slide Trail.

 

 

The Flume Slide Trail starts flat, then climbs moderately to the base of the slide.

 

 

There are a few stream crossings here and there (all were rock-hoppable)...

 

 

 

Love this picture of Sage!

 

Getting a little steeper and rougher...

 

 

 

The fun began with this slab.  Alex walked right up the boulders.  Sage followed suit.  I had to climb cautiously.

 

 

More wet ledges...

 

 I'd been keeping an eye out for ways to test my new bracelet.  We weren't going to be hunting, fishing, hanging a tarp, or anything like that, but I thought I might be able to rig the paracord in such a way as to be of use on the more difficult ledges.

 

Soon after we began climbing the slide, I saw a ledge with a tree at the top.  Perfect, I thought, for testing ParaVival's Paracord Survival Bracelet.  I climbed the ledge, took off my bracelet, and unraveled the 550 parachute cord.

 

The bracelet was easy to unravel.  All one has to do is pull down on that loop just under the buckle.  The others waited while I took a minute to unweave the two cords. 

 

 

 

Once the cords were unraveled, I knotted them together, end-to-end (ParaVival provides a tutorial on making knots).  I then tried to toss the cord down to the Mike, Hugh, and the girls...but that didn't work out.

 

 

One can see that the cord is far too short for my chosen ledge.  That is not the fault of ParaVival, however...they clearly state on their website that they provide 8-16 feet of cord.  I simply hadn't been thinking.  I apologized to the others for being a goober and we continued on our way.  I stuffed the unraveled cord into a front pocket...and I'm glad I did, because that cord came in handy a mere ten minutes later.

 

As we climbed, we began to get some views...

 

 

 

Up up up...



 

 

More slabs to scamper....

 

 

 

I followed the girls up that last stretch and got stuck near the top.  Way up high, just out of clear sight in the above pictures, is a ledge with few footholds.  I've no idea how Alex and Sage managed to make climbing that thing look easy, but I ended up suspended without much to step or hold onto.  Just out of my reach, a solid-looking tree trunk beckoned...if I could grab onto it, then I'd be able to haul myself the rest of the way without fear of falling.

 

This is when the bracelet came in handy.  While stuck on that troublesome section, I carefully reached into my front pocket with my right hand (while clinging to granite with my left), grabbed the unraveled paracord, and flung one end around the nearby trunk.  That end went around the tree and swung back toward me.  I then held both ends of the cord and hauled myself up.  The tree held and I was genuinely happy I'd brought the bracelet with me. 

 

A few more slabs...

 

 

Sage slowed down near the top of the slide.  The heat was getting to her.  Alex and I went ahead, but we kept her in our sights.  Here, we look down a steep stretch toward Sage, Hugh, and Mike (who were also feeling the heat).

 

 

Not long after I took the above picture, Alex reached the top.  I rounded a bend and there she was, happy as a climbing clam.  

 

 

A few short minutes later, Sage joined us.

 

 

 Next came Hugh and Mike.

 

 

 Family shot...

 

 

 We trekked the remaining tenth of a mile to the summit....and enjoyed the spectacular views.

 

 

 

Heading up to Mt. Flume's summit. Mt. Liberty is in the background.

 

 

Summit!

 

 

Views from the top of Mt. Flume...

 

 

 

 

 

Hugh and the girls on Mt. Flume...

 

 

Mike on Flume...Liberty's right behind him....

 

 

 

We lounged, we ate, we moved on. 

 

The mile and a half between Flume and Liberty went by quickly.  Before we knew it, we were approaching Liberty's summit.

 

Forgive the smudges in the photos below.  They're the result of taking pictures with sunblock-covered fingers (oops).

 

 

 

 

Looking back at Flume...

 

 

Onward, to Liberty's peak...

 

 

 

Summit!

 

 

We lounged, we ate, we moved on. 

 

Looking back at Liberty's summit as we descended toward Liberty Springs Trail...

 

 

The way down was hot, but uneventful.  We reached the entrance to the bushwhack (go straight in a northwest direction when the trail takes a sharp turn southwest toward the bike path) without any troubles.

 

On the 'whack (which looks like a maintained trail)...

 

 

On the bike path, looking back toward the entrance of the bushwhack (on the left, up around the bend...enter the woods, cross the small stream, and find the well-developed herd path).

 

This was a fun hike and we're grateful to Mike C. for his enjoyable company.  Looking forward to doing another Terrifying 25 hike this Friday (provided the weather behaves).

 

EDIT -- afternoon of 6/4/2013 -- Forgot to add that ParaVival's site contains a video on how to reweave your bracelet.  Though I liked the look of mine, I think I'm going to keep the cords unraveled for now.  Since the girls and I plan to tackle many "scrambly" trails this summer, I think those unraveled cords will come in handy over the next few months.  I'll reweave the bracelet when winter rolls around.

 

Coming soon...Keeping Calm in the Presence of Truly Annoying People (Part Two of Making the Post-Camino Changes Last).

Making the Changes Last, Part One: Keeping the Buns at Bay

Tanya Koob of "Family Adventures in the Canadian Rockies" recently posted a fun review of my memoir, Up: A Mother and Daughter's Peakbagging Adventure.  Thanks for the lovely write-up, Tanya -- glad you enjoyed Up!

*****

Making the Changes Last

 

The girls and I returned from Spain a month ago.  On May 2, the day after we removed our shells from our packs, I posted my Ten Truths of el Camino de Santiago.

The Camino changed me, no doubt.  Those truths resonate with me each and every day.  However, it's not enough to allow feelings to bounce freely around one's psyche; one must put forth effort to transform those truths into actions.  During our first week home, I realized it would take a lot of effort on my part to hold my truths close and make the recent positive changes permanent.  My outlook on life, the way I live each and every day, and my level of physical fitness all require constant and thoughtful maintenance if I am to prevent lapsing into old and unhealthy patterns.

I'll therefore post weekly updates on my efforts to stay true to my inner peregrina.  I hope these posts will resonate not only with past and current long-distance trekkers, but with everyone who strives to better themselves.

Today's subject -- Physical Fitness: Keeping the Buns at Bay
Today's post will regard physical fitness.  Staying fit on the Camino wasn't a problem.  Walking 10-20 miles each and every day does wonders for the body and mind; getting from Point A to Point B is all that's required -- no gym membership, daily weighing, or calorie-counting needed.

Actions Required for Maintenance
One of the challenges of a post-Camino lifestyle is to maintain an advanced level of fitness.  Like most of us, I have a fulltime and challenging job (homeschooling) and therefore don't have the time to walk 10-20 miles each and every day.  However, I've been able to squeeze in two 10-mile hikes and five 60-minutes exercise sessions a week.  There have been times when that exercise seemed ridiculous (midnight sessions of Wii's "Just Dance," five-mile roadwalks in the pouring rain, etc.), but I feel good about having made fitness a priority.  The girls do their own sixty-minute exercise sessions (they take karate twice a week, they go swimming once a week, we hike together once a week, etc.).

Healthy eating goes hand-in-hand with exercise.  I am not talking organic-everything, no alcohol, whole grains only, etc.  That would be terribly boring and no fun whatsoever.  I am talking balanced, homemade meals.  Few, if any, prepackaged, chemically-laden foods.  Locally-grown fruits and vegetables.  Bread made from the local bakery.  And...wine!  I still drink two glasses of wine each and every day (the cheaper the better).  I also eat chocolate whenever I want.  I emphatically DO NOT count calories.

So far, I'm the same weight and shape as I was when I first returned from the Camino.  The kids look and feel great too.  I think the daily exercise is key -- it's affected our appetites.  We rarely want to eat anything our bodies aren't truly hungry for.  There is no binging-on-chocolate-because-it's-there.  Instead, we eat the chocolate only when we truly desire something sugary...and we usually only want a tiny bit of it.

Pros of Maintenance

• We feel strong and healthy.
• Our stamina has increased (we can hike longer and tougher trails, and we can hike them quickly).
• It's nice to be able to fit into smaller-sized clothes (for me...the girls are, of course, growing).
• My daily outlook is almost always positive (exercise is a mood booster).

Cons of Maintenance

• A commitment to daily exercise means grabbing those sixty minutes whenever I can.  I therefore sometimes find myself doing Wii in the middle of the night or walking a busy highway while my kids are in their karate class.  In other words, fitting in the exercise sometimes means working out in less-than-optimal conditions.
• My dog can no longer keep up with me.  This means I now need to carry him the last few miles down the mountain, limit my choice of trails, or board him when I hike.  I've done all three during the past four weeks.

The pros obviously outweigh the cons, so I'll continue fitting in the exercise however I'm able.  I can dodge highway traffic and I can walk in the pouring rain...I would like to eliminate the midnight Wii sessions, though.  Sleep is important...and I'm not getting enough of it...but that's a topic for another post.

***

Coming soon -- a Terrifying 25 trip report (we're hiking tomorrow), a review of ParaVival's paracord survival bracelet, and more news on our next long-distance fundraising hike.

Marcy Light's TIMID NO MORE

Happy Memorial Day, fellow Americans. Make sure you take the time to honor those who have died in the name of our country.

Thank you, Great-uncle Alan, our brave hero of World War I.

*****

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday weekend.  I wanted to post a trip report of an awesome, breath-taking hike the girls and I accomplished this past week, but...that hike didn't happen.  It rained (and snowed!) heavily for five straight days here in the Whites.  Stream crossings became swollen and dangerous, and ice covered the higher rocks.  Not exactly the best conditions to tackle granite ledges.  In addition, I caught the 24-hour bug that's been going around (Alex and Sage are fine).

Arg.

The forced break from trekking did have a silver lining, however; I got to finish the excellent e-book by Marcy Light, Timid No More.   Marcy's the woman behind the inspirational site, (Don't Be) Too Timid and Squeamish. 

Image copied from amazon.com

Timid No More is Light's account of her 101 Things in 1001 Days.  101 Things is a list of challenges the author made for herself; her goal was to break out of her comfort zone by accomplishing things she had always wanted to do (or, felt she should do), but, for whatever reason, hadn't.  Light's list was inspired by Michael Green's Day Zero Project -- visit his site to join the online community of people "who love creating lists, setting challenges, and making positive changes in their lives."   

Light's 101 Things include both the bold and the mundane, therefore her account has a refreshing "everywoman" feel.  Many of the items are endeavors most folks can probably tackle...though that's not to say any one of them is easy.  For example, number 47, "Jump off a cliff," scares the bejeesus out of me...I'd need a few glasses of wine and a hardy shove to accomplish something like that.  I also don't see myself getting a pedicure (number 60) anytime soon, since I don't like strange or sharp objects touching my toes.  Most of the other items, however, are things I now want to do myself.  Riding a mechanical bull (number 19) and getting a makeover (65) sound like fun.  Visiting five Roadside America attractions (number 82) is right up my alley (I love visiting strange and offbeat places!).  Attending a wine tasting (48)...well, YES, of course.  And so on.

Light's book does not include all her 101 Things, since she's still working on her list (follow her progress here).  Only forty-five of her accomplishments are described -- but they're an excellent forty-five.  Her piece on not complaining for an entire week had me riveted, as did her description of visiting the Parthenon.  "Attend a UU church meeting" resonated with me, as I too am not a fan of organized religion (and I applaud Light's declaration of atheism...that was brave...it's not easy being a public agnostic or atheist in this country).  I smiled at her experience in the Trash Museum, and her less-than-optimal performance in "World of Warcraft" made me laugh out loud.

Light's an excellent writer.  She's descriptive, witty, and to-the-point.  Her text is punctuated with photographs and links to interesting websites (an advantage of the e-book format).  Timid No More is a quick and entertaining read, and it'll inspire you to create and tackle your own list of interesting challenges.

Off to look up what bizarre Roadside America attractions New Hampshire has to offer...oh look, there's a four-legged chicken in Dover...

Image copied from http://www.flux-boston.com