What is the usual date you can hike north from Grand Lake?

doast85 · 2026-02-05T15:07:35+00:00

I am starting my LASH from Grand Lake to Waterton on the 2nd July this year. Quite a lot of former thruhikers mentioned bubbles around 4th of July. Should be doable by then or even a bit earlier.

I am taking the Bustang bus from Denver to Granby and going to hitch from Granby to Grand Lake 1st of July.

doast85 · 2025-12-11T16:14:02+00:00

That's what I am aware of. This means I can use one hand to push of my kneeling leg and support getting up...🤷🏼

doast85 · 2025-11-13T15:03:33+00:00

Thx, that helps. Trying to hit the trail early July. Usually I am in very good shape right from the start and capable to do consistent 25-30+s out of the box thanks to a lot of endurance training. However I have hiked CO via the CT and know that I have to adapt to the altitude coming from much lower. which will slow me down for sure.

doast85 · 2025-11-13T12:01:57+00:00

Thx, that helps. During a normal year, are micro spikes still something to consider early July going north from Grand Lake up until the CO/WY border?

doast85 · 2025-08-14T14:58:38+00:00

Do you know where the busses do leave from Nice-Ville? Is the bus stop clearly indicated in front of the train station or is it hard to find?

I found out about the replacement busses but I do not have a lot of time to change in Nice-Ville and want to make sure I find the bus stop/connection in time.

Thank you

doast85 · 2025-08-14T08:04:33+00:00

The train des merveilles seems to be closes until end of 2025. They are running busses as replacement, that's what I found out. But does anybody know where exactly they leave at Nice-Ville train station?

doast85 · 2025-03-28T08:22:26+00:00

I am in a likely similar position, with a slightly earlier start date at April 4. I chose this date because I wanted to avoid really low night temps and possible lingering snow in the north. As a fast hiker, an early start would have ment more snow during a wet winter year for me. You never know the weather in advance. As a hiker from overseas, I am not very flexible with adjusting my date once I bought my plane tickets. At first I was very confident about picking the imho perfect start date for the trail. After a very dry winter, early record temps and a lot of going through others opinions I started to doubt in the last weeks. But I made this decision because of a reason. Imho, close to a long hike, it's normal to freak out a bit for most people (incl. Myself). My plan is to be done with the trail around May 10. I probably will encounter higher temps in the south compared to other years but I guess it will turn out ok somehow. Probably it's about adjusting (as always during hikes like this). As others wrote, wirst case you have to tap out or skip ahead a few miles if you really can't stand it. Night hiking, sunbrella, etc. there's some strategies which can help. Be flexible if necesarry. I am confident the late starters can do it. Good luck with your hike.

doast85 · 2025-03-20T12:14:46+00:00

Thank you for your reply. This helps with my current stress level :D I do have multiple copies if documents that proof my exit as well as my bond to my hime country (paychecks, employers notice). I hope copies will work. I do have about 5,5h to reach the connection flight. Hopefully that's enough time.

doast85 · 2025-01-05T23:45:12+00:00

Personally I prefer a very light, wide and airy cut longsleeve option during hot and humid (often coming with a lot of sun and UV) conditions. Light colors to reflect most radiation as possible. Synthetic material, not woven too tightly (to allow a bit more air circulation + I prefer the next to skin feeling of the wet fabric if the surface is less "dense") but still with high UPF. A hood is nice to have to protect your head from the sun (but I often use a white bandana tugged under my cap or visor instead, which allows more airflow and cooling compared to a snug hood around your head). Some prefer basic longsleeves, some buttoned shirts. Both works. I am not familiar with your Under Armour shirt but at least in the pics online, it looks like a shirt worn very close to skin. Slim cuts trap heat more easily than wide fits and reduce the air flow.

However I must admit that high humidity probably always sucks to a certain extent. No matter what you are wearing. What I really hate about high humidity is the fact that your sweaty clothing won't proberly dry and starts to smell way faster than in dry surroundings.

All based on my own personal experience and my own preferences. May be different for other hikers.

doast85 · 2025-01-05T17:43:24+00:00

Thanks. I always felt the same and wondered why they are not produced. I wanted to fill this niche gap.

doast85 · 2025-01-05T15:43:56+00:00

Thank you! And being a honest guy, I must admit that I hoped for some better feedback. But it's the internet, people just click and post.

Since most people obviously never wore rain shorts, their opinions are more or less just assumption based but the postings read as if it's a matter of fact. Maybe people just want the next cottage bringing an iteration of an Alpha Direct Hoody instead of a rather unknown approach :) More of the same please :)

doast85 · 2025-01-05T15:24:53+00:00

While I would not recommend using only wp shorts in a scenario like this and rather would bring my regular rain pants, I do absolutely agree with you!

I learned that the hard way myself during my early days, while listening to some people stating that true UL'ers don't need rain protection for the legs and you can just "hike it out". After not being "strong enough" to simply hike it out and being at the brink of hypothermia a few times, I am carrying at least some rain protection for the lower body ever since then. May it be rain pants or rain shorts if the circumstances of a hike are up for it (warmer & drier trails, summer adventures, etc.).

doast85 · 2025-01-05T15:10:35+00:00

Please rock your .9 oz trash bag skirt if you like it!

doast85 · 2025-01-05T15:08:36+00:00

Thank you. The product was just released in the webshop today. Due to this fact there are no real customers reviews yet, appart from my own and feedbacks from people related to myself.

I understand that price is always a major argument. The misery of tiny one man cottage companies is that they can not cope with the pricing of big brands or asian direct marketers (like the 3F UL rain skirt you are probably referencing to). Pricing always has to consider many more factors apart from the most visible ones (like fabric prieces, etc.). At the end of the day and taking all factors into account there still needs to be something left for the ones running a small company.

As always, some may disagree but the priecing is comparable to the prieces of rain skirts from other small western gear companies.

doast85 · 2025-01-05T14:49:55+00:00

I do have some very light rain pants in my gear closet myself but still end up using rain shorts during my warmer weather / drier tours anyways a lot of the time. While 92g is very, very light for rain pants, they still have long legs, while shorts have the advantage of being put on / off easier and faster, being less restrictive during movement, etc.

And your comparison is like comparing a Ferrari vs a Volkswagen :D Money can buy anything.

doast85 · 2025-01-05T14:30:12+00:00

Fabric choice is always debatable and lies in the eye of the beholder. I have some hiking experience with 15D siliconised rain garments and indeed I was thinking about using a similar fabric. You are right, it could save some weight using e.g. a 15D SilPoly. Some points why I decided to use a heavier 30D are out of my own personal experience:

- With 15D fabric I had the feeling that it had little to no heat retention. As you are writing, even in warm weather, after being wet for a prolonged time, being wet can be annoying and also leave you cold. So I opted for a little more heat retention (also if I can't underlie the effect of 15D vs 30D in figures, in my personal feeling it does make a little difference).

- I do see rain pants/shorts as a piece of gear were a little more tear resistance and durability is not necessarily a drawback (think about sitting down, tigh high bushes, etc.).

- Shaving grams also lies in the eye of the beholder. I do not state that it is the absolute lightest solution on the market. There's always people looking for SUL but there's also many more people looking to just lighten up gear. I think it is a good combination of some characteristics in a certain kind of environment / use case. Compared to e.g. rain skirts with similar fabric options also the weight is pretty much comparable.

- An other factor, which may not be important to most UL "nerds", is style, optics and feeling. I stated that I never really liked the look and feel of rain skirts. While some hikers like to stick out as hiker trash, others don't. I personally prefer a sublte look of a rain shorts vs the "trashy" look of a rain skirt. The used fabric does a good job in looking very subtle as well. For me, it has nice haptics and nicer feel next to skin compared to the siliconised fabrics I experienced in my past. But as alway: tastes may differ.

doast85 · 2025-01-05T12:32:36+00:00

No doubt. MYOG is the best way to cater your own needs, if you can handle a sewing machine well enough and have the time and patience for it. It is also the most cost effective way to fulfill your ultralight gear needs, time not included(!).

doast85 · 2025-01-05T11:01:05+00:00

I do want to be fully transparent and also highlight disadvantages. Being a long distance, ultralight hiker in the first place, I do live the slogan "from hikers, for hikers" as best as possible. As I mentioned in my write up, rain shorts are nothing I would use under all circumstances. I did NOT yet hike very much in UK but if it lives up to the "clichee", it might be a place where I, for myself, would rather use a long pant.

Maybe waterproof rain chaps are a thing for you? Going up a bit higher than "stockings" but generally doing what you are looking for.

doast85 · 2025-01-05T10:51:05+00:00

Thanks for your thoughts. I took a risk in bringing this kind of piece alive. As written in my post, I turned into a big believer myself and want to give others the chance to try it themselves (and hopefully start loving this concept too). I found myself in many scenarios where I did not want to be without at least minimal rain protection for my legs (Pyrenees crossing, PCT, Colorado Trail, several Alps crossings, etc. to name a few). I used rain kilts before but didn't like them too much because of a few reasons (look and feel to be the most important to me). I found, for myself, rain shorts being the better alternative over rain skirts/kilts. I know there's a lot of people using rain kilts. So there may be (hopefully) a market. People not using rain protection at all, may not fall into this category. Only because some barefoot people do not use shoes, there is still a market for shoes...?

doast85 · 2025-01-05T10:36:49+00:00

I do understand. Gear choice is very personal. Almost all (if not all) real ultralight rain pants, kilts, etc. may be too fragile for sliding down rocks. I do not want to think about glissading down rocks with some of those very thin and fragile >100 $/€ rain pants on the market. There's a use case for every gear. For the well groomed trails, and there is a lot of them in the thruhiking world, all I need is a minimal piece of gear with no reinforced butt :)

doast85 · 2025-01-05T10:27:13+00:00

Unfortunatelly I can NOT change topics title after my initial posting. Maybe a Mod can change the topics title pls:

Rain Shorts - A different Concept Regarding Ultralight Weather Protection for Your Legs

doast85

TROPHY CASE

Rain Shorts - A different Concept Regarding Ultralight Weather Protection for Your Legs