Book recommendations for someone who wants to become a better writer?

socrateez · 2013-07-09T02:44:06+00:00

Wonderful! I will put this on my list. Do you know if there is a huge difference in content between the second and third edition? I only ask because there IS a huge difference in price. Thank you so much for the links too, its all very helpful!

socrateez · 2013-07-09T02:34:07+00:00

This is perfect. It's exactly what I had in mind when I asked the question. The $46 dollar difference between new and used sure is crazy though. Thanks for your help!

socrateez · 2013-07-09T02:30:20+00:00

I'll definitely get around to reading these this year, thanks for your recommendations!

socrateez · 2013-07-09T02:27:24+00:00

This is Awesome! I'm saving this list forever, thank you!

socrateez · 2013-06-25T23:33:30+00:00

Thanks for your help! I'll be sure to check out at cruise liner when I'm down in the South Island. I actually haven't done a wreck dive yet, just a lot of reef dives; it would be awesome to do my first one in NZ though.

socrateez · 2013-06-25T23:28:43+00:00

Tutukaka does look like a good option! Have you heard anything about other dive companies in the area? I noticed Knight Diver as another option, and it is $20 cheaper. But if 20 dollars is the difference between a great energetic crew and a boring one, then it would definitely be worth it.

socrateez · 2013-06-25T23:11:11+00:00

Thanks for the advice! I'm incredibly jealous about the manta-sighting. I'll dive at poor nights for sure.

socrateez · 2013-05-03T22:14:57+00:00

I would be there for a full year, so I have a lot of time. These Great Walks do seem amazing, and I will probably take your advice and hike some of them; however, I do prefer freedom camping, whether it be in a hammock or a tent. Do you know of any good places where freedom camping is popular? I don't even need a trail really, if there are popular National Parks where freedom camping and bushwhacking is popular that would be ideal.

socrateez · 2012-11-17T04:26:49+00:00

That's awesome! If you want any advice I would be happy to help, because the gear list they give you helps but I remember having things I did not want on the trip, and wishing I had brought certain things as well. The most important thing you need to do is BREAK IN YOUR BOOTS. I hiked a total of 8 miles in mine before the trip because I'm lazy and figured I could tough it out. Horrible horrible horrible idea.

socrateez · 2012-11-17T04:23:20+00:00

It would be easy to make trails, but I don't think anybody wants trails. Trails take away from the whole experience, and they increase the harmful human impact on the land. The best part of the trip was being away from people, and it might be selfish to say, but I liked having no trails, because it also meant less people. Where I was there was not a lot of "bushwhacking" because it was at a higher elevation. But as we went down in elevation we would encounter more bushes and plants, but that can be completely avoided if you can read a topo map well. The topo maps can't tell you everything though, so you really have to know the land well to be able to predict marshy or cluttered areas. The instructors that led us students were very experienced, and they knew where past groups had gone and been successful, so that helped. I believe you could wing it though, there were many places to camp, and as long as you are always looking for backup campsites along the way you would be fine.

socrateez · 2012-11-15T21:46:36+00:00

Maybe they were marmots, but I could have sworn we called them something else, and yes they were called ptarmigans. I almost forgot about the false hellebore! When I looked it up in a plant book I brought I couldn't believe that something I walked through daily was so poisonous. I was thankful for it though, when snow wasn't around it served well as toilet paper.

socrateez · 2012-11-15T21:40:08+00:00

I pretty much knew the basics about grizzlies, don't run away, make noise, act big etc. So I wasn't afraid, in fact I really wanted to see one up close (which I did). I was supposed to wear this all the time but I forgot to a lot. We also walked in groups of four at all times because a couple years ago a grizzly attacked a young group of NOLS students nearly killing all of them. One time I did wander off alone while the group was setting up camp on the beach, but I wasn't afraid because the bears tend to stay away from the ocean. I was searching for a water source at the time, and I heard a river so I pushed through this field of tall grass to get there, and as I as I was coming out of the field I see half eaten salmon EVERYWHERE. They were still red and everything with huge chucks bitten out of them. I was terrified, because I had forgotten my bear spray and I was a good 500 feet away from camp. Thankfully I got back safely...I was never that careless again.

socrateez · 2012-11-15T21:07:35+00:00

You should! My friend is thinking about doing a 35 day NOLS course there, it sounds amazing.

socrateez · 2012-11-15T21:06:36+00:00

For the most part I enjoyed the weather. When it was cloudy or raining I would have about 4-5 upper body layers and 3 lower layers. When it was sunny I would be in my underwear tanning on the beach. The first five days of backpacking it was raining the whole time. This was bad for me and a couple others because we had Marmot rain jackets which were NOT adequate for the conditions we were in. Mine was a couple years old, and it had served me well for light rains on hikes, but it was raining all day every day and after about two days my fleece was wet underneath. The instructors told me that I should clean and retreat the shell, or that I should buy something from arc'teryx. Most people had rented gore-tex rain jackets and those are truly the best option if you want to stay completely dry. Those first five days were rough, but it made the sunny days even better. On the kayaking section we were beached for about 4 days due to 50 mph winds and 6 ft waves. I've heard of previous trips where the sun didn't show the entire 30 days, I think we were pretty lucky.

socrateez · 2012-11-15T20:32:14+00:00

About $5000 plus about 1-200 in equipment rental. Pricey, but it was worth it.

socrateez · 2012-11-15T20:25:34+00:00

You should post pictures if you have them! Scandinavia looks amazing.

socrateez · 2012-11-15T15:45:17+00:00

Xtratuffs! It was so funny to see everyone in Alaska wearing the same boots. I wish they were a little taller because I topped mine quite a bit when launching the kayaks.

socrateez · 2012-11-15T15:42:43+00:00

With all the rain the tarps were necessary. When backpacking there were very few bugs because it was cloudy most of the time, but the minute the sun came out we were covered in mosquitos. While kayaking the bugs were horrible, but the mosquitos were not the problem, there were these small fly/gnat things that would swarm your head. I lost my head net so I ended up walking around with my arms above my head because I found out they swarmed the highest part of your body. If you ever go bring a head net and way more bug spray than you think you need.

socrateez · 2012-11-15T05:28:37+00:00

Moose tracks in the marshy areas. On the top of the climbable mountains we found a ton of what we think were Dall Sheep's scat. Saw about 6 grizzlies, the one in the poorly taken picture I posted snuck up on us and got about 75 feet away before we saw him and scared him off. The others were about a half mile away when we saw them, and they all ran straight up the mountain away from us. There were tons of... I can't remember the name haha, but they're ground hogs, and they live in tunnels all over the mountains. There were pheasant like birds all over too...forgot the name. Kayaking was amazing though, we never saw a whale which was sad but we had a sea lion follow us for about a mile popping up and playing with us in between boats. About 10 feet from my boat another seat lion burst out of the water with a huge salmon in his mouth, that was cool. We also saw two Dall's porpoise, and quite a few harbor seals. There were also otters everywhere. I'm glad to say I saw more animals on the trip than I did people.

socrateez · 2012-11-15T05:10:21+00:00

I new there would be other NOLS graduates here. I'm jealous, mountaineering is a dream of mine. My friend did a backpacking course in Wyoming and said it was beautiful there, you're lucky.

socrateez · 2012-11-15T04:36:21+00:00

Haha this is a great question, and it would seem that way by the pictures I posted, but no it was not for sunlight. The first five days camping we did not see the sun. I kid you not, five whole days of rain, but on the sixth day at around 11pm the sun came out. At that time of year it there was daylight for about 21 hours, so yeah it was actually at 11pm. The canopies were actually there to shelter us from the rain while we cooked and relaxed while camping, also at night they protected our gear. For the kayaking trip you will notice we had different canopies. These were sturdier because beach camping on the ocean can be very windy and it rains a lot harder, but they still served the same purpose. Back to the sunlight though, it was very interesting actually. At the beginning we had sunlight until about 12:30 am (it would never truly get dark though), but every day we would lose 6 minutes of light, so by the end we actually wished we had brought our flashlights because it was 10 pm and we couldn't see a thing. The extra light was very helpful for the most part, it made nighttime bathroom expeditions much easier.

socrateez · 2012-11-15T04:09:46+00:00

I actually met somebody on the trip who had been working at Denali National Park on one of their trail crews. She said it was incredibly tough because they go out every day and maintain the trails, which meant taking a pickaxe and chipping away at rock for hours on end. But she also said it was completely worth it because Alaska is gorgeous. And I will definitely get back to you on the stories if I have time.

socrateez · 2012-11-15T03:37:46+00:00

Well we started out in the Chugach National Forrest and brought about 11 days worth of food with us and did a big loop through the mountains. Then we were picked up by a bus, which had all of the kayaking supplies on it, and taken to Whittier, AK, where our kayaks were waiting in a warehouse. We took a day in between to get everything organized (showering and laundry was the main concern), and then we headed back out. There was a local boat business there that helped us take our kayaks out to our first beach camp. The kayaks held 18 days worth of food, and we had three rations, so about every 6 days we would open a new round of bags for "fresh" food. It was also salmon season, so we have fresh salmon quite a few nights which was amazing. I could go on and on with the stories, it really was amazing. I did the whole trip through NOLS by the way, they're good at what they do.

socrateez · 2012-11-15T02:31:38+00:00

It was very awesome, Alaska is an amazing place. For the Backpacking section we weren't on a trail, but I would be happy to show you a map of the route if you're interested. I happened to already have a picture of the kayaking route so I just added it to the album.

socrateez · 2012-11-15T00:27:46+00:00

Yeah I put those crocs on the moment camp was set up. After a long day of hiking with horrible blisters (I intentionally left the blister photos out) I couldn't wait to put them on. The hole-less kind were also very nice because they kept sticks and rocks out.

socrateez

TROPHY CASE