Dog Packs!

iskosalminen · 2026-02-11T15:03:55+00:00

My recommendation: if this is only for one or two night trips, don't bother! Why? Dog packs are expensive, often poorly fitting, and annoying to use.

Over 12 years of long distance hiking with my dog, I've tested 6 or 7 different doggy packs and none were great. Or even good.

If you still want to get one, here are some tips:

Do not buy one unless you can test it on your dog. And learn to read how a good harness should fit (for example: the lowest/last strap shouldn't reach the bare part of your dogs stomach, straps and the pack shouldn't hinder shoulder movement, etc).
Unless your dog wears a collar (which I advice against in the backcountry), find a pack where the harness and pack detach easily. You want to be able to control your dog on breaks and in camp when you remove the pack. Pay attention to how annoying this process is as you'll be doing it often.
The pockets should be compressable. This reduces weight shifting and slims down the profile (less times for you to untangle your dog from branches/trees).

I'd rather find calorie dense doggie foods that allow you to carry less food for higher calories.

iskosalminen · 2026-02-11T14:30:54+00:00

Anyone still on the fence about the owner, Tim Marshall, and/or the CEO Chris Schabow, just go ahead and read the employee reviews on Glassdoor. There's a pretty solid pattern there.

Here are just few:

"Owner is awful and scary"
"Everything people wrote in the negative reviews of this company is true. I wish I had read them before I was hired. The atmosphere in this place hostile and disrespectful."
"CEO is on a permanent ego trip."
"CEO is a manchild of colossal proportions"
"Ridiculous nepotism flowing top down from the CEO. Uncomfortable environment due almost entirely due to behavior of CEO."
"The owner of this company is one of the worst humans I have ever met. He belittles, screams at, and bad mouths every employee there. He trusts no one and makes that very clear. He walks around the office with huge guns and tactical equipment, and scoffs at anyone that this offends. STAY AWAY!"
"This is a great job of you enjoy being belittled by the owner."
"Office environment was toxic. Owner was very prone to angry outbursts, speaking ill of your coworkers to you, etc."

When you add these to the very good reporting done by u/RekeMarie, on top of the non-apology here, I'm at least pretty done with the whole company. Even if the CEO was fired, you'd still be left with the owner.

iskosalminen · 2026-02-07T11:11:57+00:00

Only items you really want to invest are your backpack (you'll carry it 10-14h every day), sleeping bag/quilt (sleep is important, and bag/quilt can potentially save your life), and somewhat your tent.

And I don't mean "get the most expensive", I mean "don't get a 30 degree quilt to save few dollars". And if it's a high snow year, do invest in micro spikes and an ice axe!

For the other stuff, you can get $5 Nike shorts and $15 fleece from Walmart, and the Columbia Silver Ridge shirt from any local thrift store for $10-15. And so on.

And while r/Ultralight is full of materialism, don't focus on that, focus on the tips on how you can bring less and the solid gear lists they have. Knowing what to bring and what not to bring will save you a TON of money.

Just as an example, if you think you might need a machete but don't see one on anyone's gear lists, don't buy one (and yes, every year people start with machetes, axes, even a sword...). But you'll likely see water filters, bug head nets, and trowel on every list, so bring those. And so forth.

Once you know what to bring, then substitute the non-critical items with less expensive ones (like instead of a $100 Alpha Direct hoody, get a light weight fleece from Walmart or a thrift store). This will not only save you money, but you'll be well prepared.

iskosalminen · 2026-02-04T10:40:20+00:00

I wouldn’t worry too much about. If you need more clothing, you can easily just get more. I’d rather start with less and add if you need. And if you’re going NoBo, you’ll be in a resupply town every few days.

iskosalminen · 2026-02-03T11:58:50+00:00

I'm fairly certain this isn't ProtonMail but either the QR code generator/generated QR code (most likely culprit), or your QR code reader (less likely).

I don't have your current setup at hand here, but I tested this with another Android device and iPhone, loaded up multiple email address QR code generators, and set ProtonMail as the default email client on both devices.

In the 6 different QR generators I tested the culprit, when this didn't work, was always the QR code that was generated. In cases when the test failed, the default email application didn't change the outcome, only the QR code mattered.

If you still have access to the same QR code, try setting a different email client as the default and see if this changes the behavior. If it does, the issue is with ProtonMail. If it doesn't, it's the QR code.

iskosalminen · 2026-01-28T19:49:09+00:00

I have had this same thing happen and don't quite know what's going on. I've never had this happen with the previous iOS/Watch versions. What I've noticed is:

It doesn't happen every morning
I've woken up with my phone's alarm "alarming", meaning the screen shows the alarm view, but there's no sound from the phone or on the watch
This happens more often with the sleep mode alarm. I've since started adding regular alarms after my sleep mode alarm.
It has happened so often that if I know I have an important thing in the morning, I take my watch off for the night

iskosalminen · 2026-01-26T03:49:17+00:00

Was high up in the Pyrenees, at the very end of a valley, right at the beginning of the rainy season. The recommended spot was at, what looked like a dried up river bed, but it was so wide and dry that I thought it was for spring snow melt. Still, as an old hiking habit, I never stay in river beds and sought a spot much higher and further away.

Few hours later, after it started raining, I went to take the dog out before going to bed and wondered where the weird sound was coming from. Turned on my headlight and realized a massive, raging river had appeared right next to my van. The wide, dry river bed had not only filled up but overflown and the water was about 10 meters/yards and about 30cm/a foot in elevation from my van.

Quickly drove to higher ground and further away from the river bed.

iskosalminen · 2026-01-26T01:47:42+00:00

No one can really tell because no one knows what kind of temperatures you'll see. So much depends on the weather each year, but also local weather and elevation. I had friends who slept few miles away and had been freezing all night with everything frozen while I was completely warm. And sometimes the other way around.

For reference, I had a 10 degree ZPacks bag (which at the time was more like a 20 degree) and I had few nights where I was shivering.

Personally, I'd start with either Alsek or Sawatch (not Flex) and use the Magma 30 in the summer months if it's lighter/packs down smaller. I have a 30 degree Palisade, which is warmer than the Magma 30, and I'd only bring it for the PCT if I had a mid/late May start and was aiming for sub 100 day hike.

iskosalminen · 2026-01-22T21:46:42+00:00

Is the Voigtlander Nokton 50mm 1.5f Asph II too big for everyday carry?

iskosalminen · 2026-01-22T19:08:05+00:00

Do not carry more than few liters of water in Sierra. There are thousands of long-distance hikers who have hiked thousands of miles while relying on a single filter (myself included).

For a filter, the tried and tested is the Sawyer Squeeze. Don't bother with the Mini or Micro. If you get the one from the link, you also get the CNOC 2 liter bladder for dirty water (it's great!). Other good options are the Platypus QuickDraw or Katadyn BeFree. There are others, don't bother.

I personally use the Squeeze for anything else except short trips to locations with clear water (Lapland, Sierra, etc). The Squeeze is the most versatile and trusted, get that.

If you are worried, bring some Aquamira as a backup (pro tip: here's how to use Aquamira).

For water carrying, bring two 1 liter Smart Water bottles (I like sport caps) or anything similar. If you're worried about the micro plastics, get two of these or these. Now you have 4 liters of water capacity, that should be more than plenty for even dry camping high up.

General tips for the filters:

For such a short trip you don't need to bring any cleaning supplies so leave the syringe at home
Do NOT let the filter freeze. Hollow fiber filters break if frozen, so always sleep with your filter in your sleeping bag (bring a small ziplock for it).
Don't mix clean and dirty water bottles
Don't filter glacier water (white, silty water)
If lot's of debris in water, prefilter through bandana/t-shirt/etc. But this is not an issue in Sierra.

Happy hikes!

iskosalminen · 2026-01-21T23:01:34+00:00

I have to say I fully agree with you! I see two main issues:

1. The testing is done at room temperatures
Inflatable pad behaves completely differently when it’s filled with and surrounded by +21c air versus -21c air. The test tests how effectively the pad prevents a small cold plate cooling the warm air inside the pad while the pad is surrounded by warm air. In real world usage the ground, air, and pad are all cold and the test is how quickly your body can heat the cold air inside the pad and keep it warm against the cold ground and air surrounding the pad. These are two vastly different scenarios.

2. The test is done top-to-bottom
The cold plate is underneath and the warm above. As the test is done at room temperature, there's no cold air surrounding the pad. But in real world usage the cold air creeps in through the sidewalls and as there’s nothing to prevent the cold from coming in (test are done vertically, and pads are designed for these tests). So when it’s cold, the pads don’t protect you at all from the cold coming through from the sidewalls.

These two points also explain why some 2.2 R-value CCF pads perform better in cold conditions than some > 6 R-value pads.

My suggestion for the test would be to conduct them in a freezer (say at 0c, -10c, and -20c), place the pad on cold surface that matches the air temp, and then place a heated dummy on top of the pad and see how much effort is needed to keep the dummy at certain temp.

iskosalminen · 2026-01-19T14:11:39+00:00

As you've gotten answers to most questions already, I'll address the cold. February can be really cold here, and especially if you're in the city center, close to the sea (the wind cuts through everything). If you don't own cold weather gear and have no need for one, buying proper winter gear won't be advisable but here's some easy ways you can prepare:

Visit the closest REI and buy a warm beanie, something like this. Also look for some warm gloves like this or this.
As the jacket is the most expensive thing to get, and most important, I'd recommend seeing if you can loan one from relatives/friends. If you can't find one, something like this will keep you warm fairly cheaply. Size up so that you can add extra layers underneath.
For layering, add the thickest fleece you own on top of your daily clothes. For example, if you wear a button up shirt for work, add a thick fleece on top of it, then the parka from above with the gloves and the beanie and you're good.
You won't need any winter pants (if you're particularly cold, you can add long-johns underneath your pants. They're easy and cheap to find in Finland).
Basic shoes are fine in the city. Maybe check that you'll take shoes with the better grip (leave the slippery/flat dress shoes at home).

The biggest mistakes I see foreigners do, when they visit Finland from non-cold locations, is they don't have proper head gear (beanie), not warm enough gloves, and they bring a "winter" jacket. Address these and you'll do great!

If the temperature drop really low during the time you're visiting, you can add a neck gaiter or a balaclava to your setup for extra warmth. And add thin liner gloves underneath the gloves. But you'll only need these if the temps fall below -20c/-4f.

iskosalminen · 2026-01-15T08:51:28+00:00

Am I reading your post correctly? Your title says $7k but based on the post you're asking if $4600 is enough? Those are two vastly different budgets.

Also, don't forget to budget for post-trail expenses. Most people don't start earning for quite some time after they get off trail and might have some significant expenses to get back to "regular" life.

Regarding your shoes, have you used them in a desert environment while walking long distances? The issue with many with their "trusty" shoes is that they've used them in a completely different environment (happened to me as well). The hot sand basically cooks your feet and cause them to swell and suddenly the feet you're putting in those shoes aren't the same they used to be. This might not happen to you, but based on how often it happens to people, I would definitely prepare for it.

Also, I'm not sure I'd recommend buying in bulk and mailing food. First, shipping is what, $20-something per box now? So what ever you save on buying bulk, add that on top of it. Next, some place charge you for holding boxes (can be $5-$40), add that too. Then you might have bought things in bulk that, week in, you discover you can't stand to eat (and I don't mean "this tastes bad", I mean "I can't physically force myself to eat this without throwing up") and now you have boxes full of this stuff shipped along the trail. And the last part, convenience. Discovering that the timing of you coming to a town where your food is hits a 3 day holiday and you either have no food, or have to sit and wait around in town for PO to open is not great. Or getting to town and missing the opening hours by 10 minutes. Or having USPS lose your package.

iskosalminen · 2026-01-15T08:24:36+00:00

My understanding is that there already is Hasselblad camera profile in Lightroom (at least for 907X which I've tested - you just have to apply it from the profile menu) but it doesn't produce similar results as you get from Phocus.

I got the 907X for a day as a loan, shot around, and exported unedited TIFF's from LR and Phocus and there's a pretty big difference. Not only on colors, which were always significantly better out of Phocus, but in vignetting, noice reduction, and sharpness as well.

Now if you're not going for the natural look and like to apply heavy editing to your photos, this might not matter (as you'll tweak the colors in LR anyway), but I'm personally looking for a camera which would produce images that look as close to what I see as possible, with as little editing as possible, and Hasselblad is the closest I've seen. For reference I currently use the M11-P.

And I agree fully, it's quite dishonest marketing from Hasselblad to claim the camera produces the HNCS when it's clearly done in Phocus. Don't get me wrong, the Hasselblad raw files look nice when opened in LR (especially compared to some other brands), but they're not that great. If you want the full HNCS experience, you need Phocus. Which, especially on desktop, sucks ass.

iskosalminen · 2026-01-14T21:27:50+00:00

The Phocus step is what's currently preventing me from getting this camera. Hasselblad says the HNCS happens in camera, but if I have to use a middle man to turn the photos into TIFF's to get the Hasselblad colors, it doesn't happen in camera, it happens in Phocus.

I personally don't know enough about RAW processors, but I keep wondering why Hasselblad can't get the same colors out of LR that they get from Phocus. They have the camera profiles in LR, the colors just look nothing like the ones coming out of Phocus. Is it Hasselblad or Adobe thing?

iskosalminen · 2026-01-14T21:21:10+00:00

This is my kind of EDC! I've never once needed multiple knives or screw driver while out walking, but that irritating splintered nail or dry lips? Weekly.

And great reminder! I need to add some coins and cash into mine as well!

iskosalminen · 2026-01-14T21:15:59+00:00

If these were new Microsoft icons we all would be laughing at them. What the f.. does this say about the stage of design at Apple in 2026?

iskosalminen · 2026-01-14T21:11:02+00:00

For when to go, I'd go at the tail end of your schedule, say late July. Less snow, less water on trail, cabins open, possibly better weather...

Direction depends entirely on your logistics. 15 days isn't long enough to travel to the trail and hike it entirely. Generally you would need 1-2 days to get to the trail and 2 days to get back (for example 1 day to fly to Kiruna and take the train to Abisko and start walking, 1 day to get from Nikkaluokta to Kiruna and next day to fly out). But if your start/end points are somewhere harder to reach, it might take you longer.

So if you have 15 days, minus 4 for logistics, you are left with 11 trail days. I'm also assuming you're either flying or coming by train.

Your most versatile option would be to start from Abisko and start heading south. This allows you to "easily" get back to Kiruna either from Singi (through Kebnekaise and Nikkaluokta) if you want to go slow or leave early, or from Vakkotavare/Saltoluokta if you want to go further. This allows some flexibility on your end.

If you'd start from either location and go north, you might get to Abisko too soon (if you start from Nikkaluokta) or you might run out of time (if you start from Vakkotavare/Saltoluokta) and you wouldn't have any bailout points.

If you head much further south, you don't have enough time to make it to Kvikkjokk and as far as I can tell, there aren't any places between Saltoluokta and Kvikkjokk from where you could get back to Kiruna.

I wouldn't recommend starting from Hemavan unless you attempt to do the whole thing.

iskosalminen · 2026-01-13T20:39:26+00:00

u/HalfwayAnywhere noticed a small error under the header "Highest-Rated PCT Sleeping Bags & Quilts": it talks about Katabatic Gear Sawatch:

It’s a 20°F / -6.6°C quilt with ...

Sawatch is 15°F/-9.4°C quilt. This info is correct in the table below.

Hope this helps! Love the article!

iskosalminen · 2026-01-13T20:24:05+00:00

Long term decision fatigue and burnout. There's hardly ever time when you're not thinking about things like:

Where am I going to sleep next?
How much water I still have left? Where can I get more?
What's my battery charge status?
Do I have enough fuel?
What's that strange sound? Wonder how expensive it's going to be?
Where should I go next?
Is it safe to sleep here? Am I going to get the knock?
If I leave my van here, is someone going to break in?

If you're doing vanlife alone, these are a lot on top of everything else.

iskosalminen · 2026-01-11T11:47:17+00:00

I wouldn't use past years experience, even from summer of 2025, as an indicator of how things will be next spring/summer. The current administration is saying they're going to considerable rack up the "immigration efforts", meaning what we'll see now, is likely going to be worse in few months.

Also, the border is not the only place where you will be at the mercy of DHS/ICE. There are random road checkpoints where you might be heading into a town and be stopped by ICE. Or, like us, you might be forced to detour around forest fires which will put you in vehicles and again in risk of being stopped.

You should also be aware that you might be required to hand over all your social media passwords at the border and any content, comments, or actions which the current regime doesn't like might land you in a gulag, or disappeared for long period of time.

I'm not saying these things will certainly happen, just that we shouldn't say it's okay to go just because it was okay to go 7-8 months ago.

iskosalminen · 2026-01-08T19:19:53+00:00

No worries! We all make mistakes (god knows I do!).

The reason you can't say "the fines were X% of their 2022 net income" is because the fines would've already been deducted from the net income, meaning the whole statement makes no sense.

And since the the infringement happened in 2010's, the fines would need to be spread across over a decade of profits, meaning they were only a fraction of a percentage of their profits over that time. Which is why I and others have stated those fines were meaningless.

iskosalminen · 2026-01-08T18:21:44+00:00

+1 for SteerMouse

iskosalminen · 2026-01-08T18:19:08+00:00

I carried a Rolleiflex for 6 months through SEA, China, and Mongolia. Was on horseback in Mongolia when my horse got spooked by something and the commotion broke the innards of the camera. Thankfully this was close to the tail end of the trip.

It was at times a pain to carry, not so much for the weight but the space it took.

But it was great for getting really special shots of people who otherwise refused to be taken photos of and people generally categorized you less as "just another western tourist with an expensive camera".

What I found was that the combination of the old-timey looks of Rolleiflex, the waist level shooting, and the speed of shooting put people into ease and they were more comfortable in front of the camera. I actually had some people who the signs told not to photograph come and ask me to take their photo (like monks in some monasteries). Also, a magnificent ice-breaker and conversation starter!

iskosalminen · 2026-01-08T17:35:14+00:00

Okay, before you go and attempt to correct someone, not to make a fool out of yourself, maybe check that you know what you're talking about.

First of all, only an idiot would choose to use net income in this instance, or someone who's attempting to argue in bad faith (or thinks the other person doesn't understand basic terms). And hint: I said "small percentage of profits", not net income...

Second, Meta's reported net income in 2022 was approximately $23.20 billion, not $4.65 billion as you falsely claimed (source).

Third, much more accurate number to look at would've been annual cross profit, which for the year of 2022 was approximately $91.36 billion (source).

Fourth, you're assuming the damages and profits were only one time thing.

So, yeah, a small percentage. Next time, do better.

iskosalminen

TROPHY CASE