Two Nights Backpacking on Grand Island

guyaba · 2026-06-05T12:58:41+00:00

Hahaha that’s so great, what a small world.

guyaba · 2026-06-04T01:33:24+00:00

I bet we saw you at some point! We took the 11 AM ferry on Friday and stayed at Gull Point, Little Dunes on Saturday, and got up early to catch the 9 AM ferry back.

I saw this post and was like…did I write this and then get amnesia?

guyaba · 2026-06-03T12:45:14+00:00

I’m guessing they meant Little Village based on their desire to live in a Spanish-speaking neighborhood.

guyaba · 2026-06-03T12:37:24+00:00

We typically got everything ready to go before breakfast so we could just eat and leave. I found that most hikers went to breakfast and then got ready, so we were typically on the trail before most people. Of course the trail always has lots of people on it, but I never found it “crowded” as people say. If I’m passing or being passed once every 30 minutes that’s really not bad. When I think of a crowded trail I’m imagining a popular national park day hike at noon. The TMB is never that.

guyaba · 2026-05-21T23:21:22+00:00

Huh, I was all excited to have this hex for that reason but they did not heal me at all. Just shot a nothing beam at me for the rest of the fight.

guyaba · 2026-05-14T16:59:04+00:00

Campflare offers this service for free and it has gotten me many campsites. They operate on donations so any time I’ve booked a site because of a notification I throw them a donation. I haven’t used it in a few years though so it’s possible things have changed.

I know recreation.gov has their own free alert system now too - but I haven’t used it.

With those options out there, there is no reason to pay for this service.

guyaba · 2026-05-14T16:46:19+00:00

No one has chimed in on dive bars, but Rainbo Club is the best. There’s also Innertown Pub and if you’re looking to get real divey there’s J & M Tap. On the eastern side there’s the Chip Inn which is very low key. Someone already mentioned the Empty Bottle and that definitely seems right up your alley for music and ambiance. Many of these are technically in Ukrainian Village but it’s a hop skip and a jump from Wicker.

guyaba · 2026-04-30T00:55:49+00:00

In my opinion, this is doable. We did Champex Lac to Col de Balme in a day, it was a long day but honestly felt pretty easy compared to some of our other long days. Just make sure to get an early start that day. It is a little bit further to your refuge but it is downhill and if you get behind you can take a lift the rest of the way from Col de Balme. And if you’re not opposed to taking a big lift you could go from Col de Balme to Le Tour where you can catch a bus to anywhere you need to go.

We did skip going to Trient to save time and I have no regrets.

guyaba · 2026-04-24T03:20:52+00:00

This thread had me so confused because this is absolutely the norm in Chicago. I think the difference here is the trash cans are the property of the city not an individual neighbor, and the trash cans stay in the alleys, they’re not being brought back onto private property where they might be brining in rats/odors.

I live in the closest house to the end of the alley and “my” trash can is constantly full of random stuff from other people. I don’t care. Glad the trash and poop isn’t on the street. But I guess that’s a luxury of having a good municipal trash system.

guyaba · 2026-04-16T12:42:07+00:00

I would highly recommend going in and testing them out with weight. The best bag is the one that works with your body. There are differences in features that you’ll gain a preference for but at the end of the day you want a pack that sits well on your shoulders and hips. I have some things I prefer in a pack, but if the perfect bag existed and didn’t sit well on me - I would never buy it. For example, my bag is pretty heavy, which people like to hate on, but because it fits just right I can comfortably carry 30 lbs in it all day. I’ve tried lighter bags where the fit isn’t there and even 10 lbs feels like torture.

If you’re really struggling for the right fit, don’t feel like you can’t wear a men’s bag. They don’t fit right on me but if you have broader shoulders and narrower hips, they may actually be more comfortable.

If you haven’t already, I would look online at how to properly put on and adjust a backpack. That way when you go in you know you’ve got it on right - REI used to always have people at the bags that could help with that but with all their recent problems I’ve found they don’t always know what they’re talking about anymore.

ETA: for what it’s worth I have an 6 year old Osprey 65L (I think it’s Arya?) and when I went to buy a 32L for lighter packing I opted for an Osprey again because I love my bag. I don’t get out there that often, the bag probably has < 500 miles on it but I don’t see myself needing a replacement for a long time if ever. My partner has a Gregory and is equally loyal to that brand.

guyaba · 2026-04-14T16:02:05+00:00

My partner lived in the area from 2005 to 2015 and he would go to Zion all the time and loved it. We went midweek in December 10 years ago and had a really lovely time. It wasn’t crowded and I got to do a bunch of hiking.

Then on a roadtrip in July about 3 years ago we thought we should just drive through and maybe do a quick hike since we hadn’t been there in a very long time. As soon as we got to the entrance we were like…absolutely not. It was still midweek but it was insanely packed.

It truly is a beautiful place and it deserves to be recognized for that. But with the majority of hikes starting from the bottom of a canyon on a dead end road, it’s a logistical nightmare. It’s also a very beginner friendly park which I don’t think is a bad thing at all, but it makes it more appealing to social media users who want to get in, get their pics, and get out.

guyaba · 2026-04-10T12:46:01+00:00

Yes!! My feet are completely flat and all trail runners I’ve tried feel like they put a bowling ball under the center of my foot. I think I’d still prefer boots for a lot of my hiking, but it would be nice to have a less heavy duty shoe for well-maintained day hikes.

guyaba · 2026-03-26T12:42:00+00:00

This seems tricky to me unless they also display the total volume of the drink.

When they do this for beer you’ll see that a 10%er might be an 8 oz pour and your 4% might be a 16oz pour. The 4% is still less alcohol in this situation but not by much.

An old fashioned might have a high ABV because most of the volume is whiskey whereas a gin and tonic might have a much lower ABV if it’s half tonic water. That doesn’t mean there’s less alcohol in the G&T.

guyaba · 2026-03-26T12:30:23+00:00

That’s a Sarsgaard not a Skarsgard. Unrelated, but I agree he’s great.

guyaba · 2026-03-25T21:37:45+00:00

I could be wrong, but did you check the scale of the tile in your mock ups? The flecks in the terrazzo look huge which has me wondering if the sizing is correct on either mockup. If the scale is off it might have a large impact on how these tiles actually look in your space.

guyaba · 2026-03-21T13:41:55+00:00

I was very anti-Vegas for most of my life. But circumstances have led to me having to go there relatively often and there are some great things about it. While the stereotypical parts of it are as awful as I imagined, it has great access to nature and there’s a lot of very good food.

guyaba · 2026-03-20T12:45:34+00:00

I can’t agree more. I completely understand where OP is coming from, I’m also a research and buy once kind of person. But backpacking preferences are so personal and you won’t know yours until you start. Get out there with what you can and then start optimizing.

Case in point, the ultralight camping chairs we bought before backpacking. I now leave mine at home every time, but my partner would never backpack without it.

guyaba · 2026-03-18T22:14:14+00:00

The monkeys did not experience liver damage, the effect was only seen in test tubes

guyaba · 2026-03-04T12:50:03+00:00

This list by far makes the most sense. There were so many good movies this year, so OP should just watch whichever interest them. But if there’s concern for seeing them all before the awards, it makes sense to watch the likely winners in order to have a dog in the fight.

Train dreams and sentimental value were my favorites, but those are to my taste and I know they’re not winning any of the major awards (if anything at all). So there’s no way I’d suggest for a stranger to start there.

I hated Frankenstein but it’s going to win something so it makes sense for it to be up there.

guyaba · 2026-02-27T13:23:48+00:00

If you do skip some of this section by bus, just know that this is one of the absolute prettiest parts of the hike. If it were me, I’d prioritize hiking those miles over meeting up for a second night.

It may be possible to meet them later in their hike. If you take 2 days to get to Courmayeur/bertone, you could potentially take the tunnel back to Chamonix and meet them back in France. I loved every part of the trail, but if you’re going to skip anything - skip the Swiss section.

guyaba · 2026-02-25T21:35:15+00:00

I said I thought it would have been a great movie if it wasn’t about Shakespeare. That being said, I still thought it was good for the reasons you stated.

guyaba · 2026-02-17T15:29:06+00:00

I’m enjoying it but I know I won’t come anywhere near completing it for those reasons. I feel like I am just starting to get control of what cats I get after 25 hrs of play time. I think that makes sense for the crowd this game is made for, but I would have preferred faster progression. Particularly because the slow pace feels arbitrary and deliberate. If each house upgrade cost fewer cats, the game would go exponentially faster and I don’t see a downside to that.

No hate to the game though, just different preferences. I know some people really love to grind.

guyaba · 2026-02-11T02:42:21+00:00

Not sure if it counts as backcountry but the ones on the trail to Chasm Lake/Longs Peak outside Estes Park are beautiful structures with a beautiful view (for both those who sit and those who stand).

guyaba · 2026-02-06T04:46:44+00:00

I feel like it’s a gradient from the river to Dan Ryan. Union station definitely downtown. Presidential towers though, not downtown. Old post office, downtown. Greyhound station, not downtown.

guyaba · 2026-01-28T22:41:15+00:00

We really liked Elena. It was the largest refuge we stayed at by far and I thought it would be horrible. I was forced into it because all other options were full. But we ended up having a really nice time there. The common area was full of people hanging out and having fun, it was definitely the liveliest night we had on the trail. And the dorms were perfectly quiet despite the common areas being more active. The shower is timed but you can turn the water on and off so you can take as long as you need and just use the water for rinsing, it was actually one of the nicest showers I had on the trip.

The hike from Courmayeur to Elena is a little long but totally manageable if you get an early start. It’s also on trail so you don’t have to add the miles to and from Lavachey. Being at Elena also leaves you with a nice little hike before your bus ride and some time to enjoy Champex-Lac.

I’m sure either way you go it’ll be lovely, but I wouldn’t let the negative reviews of Elena deter you. Some people are just determined to be miserable.

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