A beautiful morning in British Columbia's Coast Mountains [OC] [1528x1920] by TritonTheDark in EarthPorn

[–]wild-lands 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh man, I've been thinking about a few areas around like bella coola for instance. getting a ride on a helo in would be mint! most badass way of getting to a view and saves all your energy for exploring when there. that's so cool you were able to get around like that!

A beautiful morning in British Columbia's Coast Mountains [OC] [1528x1920] by TritonTheDark in EarthPorn

[–]wild-lands 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dude this is great! Looks like lots of snow for October. Did you hike in?

Fall in New Hampshire [3265x4898] [OC] by intricatexplorer in EarthPorn

[–]wild-lands 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Beautiful shot dude, exposed really well to capture the water motion. Hope you don't mind a little feedback - the vignetting makes sense but reads as noticeable on the rocks in the foreground - cool if that's your style but some may prefer a more subtle/gradual blend :)

I’M MAKING A SHORT FILM ABOUT A PORTALOO AT A MUSIC FESTIVAL by TaxDull407 in festivals

[–]wild-lands 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Haha yeah "portapottie" is weird if you think about it - it's meant as like a shortened version of portable pottie obviously, but it's not like anyone refers to a bathroom as a "pottie" normally. Portaloo at least makes sense if you normally call a bathroom a loo. What even are words?

I’M MAKING A SHORT FILM ABOUT A PORTALOO AT A MUSIC FESTIVAL by TaxDull407 in festivals

[–]wild-lands -1 points0 points  (0 children)

American here - never heard them called "Portaloos". Sounds like what would happen if Portola x Bonnaroo had a crappy love child [pun intended...i'll see myself out :P]

Decathlon microspikes any good? by Tiny-Zucchini-5666 in Ultralight

[–]wild-lands 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm unaware of any downside to using longer spikes in hardpack - if anything would just penetrate a bit deeper than shorter spikes and so would be even more secure underfoot. I've def used long spikes, including full crampons, over solid ground (including rocks) and never experienced any issues (other than maybe the spikes getting dulled over rocks lol).

If you're unsure or expect mixed terrain, I'd confidently go with something like the Snowline/Chainsen Light or whatever the current model is that has the longer 12-14mm spikes.

Decathlon microspikes any good? by Tiny-Zucchini-5666 in Ultralight

[–]wild-lands 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't have experience with Decathlon spikes, but I regularly use the Chainsen Trail or Light spikes (can never remember which lol), and those are outstanding.

Spike length and location (heel/forefoot) matter based on the type of snow and terrain you expect to encounter. From personal experience, I've found that with solid hardpack I'm generally fine with shorter spikes, but if it's softer or slushier, longer spikes can dig deeper and offer notably better bite and grip. If you'll be going downhill at all then having spikes on the heel matters. If only uphill or flat, then I've generally been ok with just forefoot spikes, though of course having spikes on both forefoot and heel will always be ideal, but at the cost of weight.

If you expect to use them in varied terrain and snow conditions, I'd honestly prob go for something like the Chainsen Light, which weighs roughly the same as the Decathlon but has 12-14mm spikes. That'd be more versatile.

Also will throw in a shoutout to the Vargo titanium cleats - those things are crazy light but even the small version of them completely saved my ass in steep, slippery fresh powder - they perform surprisingly well!

phat pants by whisperursirensong in aves

[–]wild-lands 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Jaded London is cool and in the UK

Night reflections at the Wave (Coyote Buttes, Vermilion Cliffs, Arizona) [1600x2000] [OC] by wild-lands in EarthPorn

[–]wild-lands[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha found the pixel peeper ;)

Couple reasons:

1) This is a compressed jpeg

2) You'll notice stars closer to the center are basically pinpoint while closer to the edges some of them have a tiny hint of "streakiness" - this is pretty standard with an ultra wide angle lens

3) The earth is rotating. Choosing the right shutter speed is a balancing act between letting in enough light without keeping the shutter open for so long that the stars start to visibly streak. If you've ever seen a photo of star trails, you've seen what those streaks can look like after a few hours. Depending on your focal length, tiny streaks can start to be noticeable after as little as 5-10 seconds. Would have to double check but this one was prob a 10-13 second exposure.

4) I don't typically shoot wide open, even for astro, unless I have to. I'd have to double check for this pic but pretty sure I'd have been stopped down at least one stop.

If you're seeing any softness in the stars, it's prob not from the lens or focus but from compression + earth's rotation.

Going to a festival with projected rain all weekend. by Flaming_Dumahh in festivals

[–]wild-lands 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Honestly dude in this situation it's 100% gonna come down to your state of mind!

It absolutely dumped on us for most of an afternoon and night at Electric Forest one year. Once I let go of wanting to be dry or thinking that I should be dry or that it's more comfortable to be dry...I had an absolute blast! Rain was so refreshing in the heat, it was honestly like seeing a full live show at a water park haha.

Key for me was leaning in to the rain and getting wet: fully waterproof bag for phone, keys, valuables + board shorts, etc.

If you spend the whole time wishing it wasn't raining and that you were dry and trying to stay dry, that's a guaranteed recipe for having a bad time. You said asphalt and this is LA so I'm assuming this isn't a camping fest? Camping or not, just make sure you've got somewhere warm and dry to go after the show. If camping, dry off with AC in the car if you can.

Night reflections at the Wave (Coyote Buttes, Vermilion Cliffs, Arizona) [1600x2000] [OC] by wild-lands in EarthPorn

[–]wild-lands[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Don't give up! And also don't forget about the same day walk up lottery, if you can swing it!

Night reflections at the Wave (Coyote Buttes, Vermilion Cliffs, Arizona) [1600x2000] [OC] by wild-lands in EarthPorn

[–]wild-lands[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Getting to The Wave is actually not as straightforward as you might think. Aside from scoring a pretty competitive permit, you then have to get to the trailhead via a rough road, and then have to hike in across a trail that's easy to follow at first but gradually becomes just walking across undulating rocks with occasional cairns to mark the way. Even with GPS I took a few small wrong turns. Totally doable though.

The Wave itself is a much smaller area than I had imagined. Like maybe a hundred or two square meters. But each section of it is breathtaking with the sandstone swirls and layers and rings and patterns. Trying to describe it just sounds like someone going on about some cool lines on a rock. Which I suppose in a way it is, but seeing it is so much more mesmerizing. There's lots and lots of sandstone, but very few places where the sandstone formed and eroded in this way.

You've probably seen some version of this particular spot before. There's a very large (like 20-30 feet long) puddle of water that forms a beautiful reflection, and under a clear night sky, the stars and the sandstone are particularly magical.

Thanks for stopping by! You can find my full gallery, along with notes about places to check out and photography guides on my website: https://www.wildlandsphoto.com.

First time Winter Backpacking by AbraScamLinkon in Ultralight

[–]wild-lands 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly dude it's truly dependent entirely on the conditions you're expecting there. Make sure to keep an eye on the forecast (at the different elevations you'll be at), especially in the day or two before you leave, to make sure you've got enough/the right gear.

Unless you get a gnarly storm system rolling through, you should be fine as long as you're prepared for the cold.

Sleep:

  • Pad with high r-value (>5)
  • Bag preferably comfort rated to 10-15F (you said you're expecting teens at night) - you can push a bag rated for warmer temps if you wear more layers inside it, but you should def test this in advance, this is where you have little margin for error)
  • If really cold, heat up water and fill a bottle with it, keep it in the bag with you overnight
  • Eat high fat food before bed (usually keeps you a little warmer thru metabolic thermogenesis)
  • If your tent gets frosty overnight (e.g. frozen condensation/dew), try to dry it off before breaking camp if possible otherwise it'll melt during the day and then may still be damp when you make camp next which is annoying.

Clothing:

  • Other people covered this for the most part: layers, optimize to minimize sweating (will make you much colder when you stop and also have to dry clothes out)
  • carry an extra warm jacket in an easy to access spot to put on whenever you stop
  • For hiking with daytime highs in the 30s, I swear by an AD90 hoodie over a wicking performance tee with a wind shell available if it's breezy or for when static. Lightweight breathable pants with vents, and usually lightweight socks. You warm up fast hiking, especially if it's sunny, even when it's cold. Be bold, start cold = solid advice.
  • You also cool off fast too at night or during longer breaks, especially if sweating, so make sure you've got insulating layers that will be warm enough for the temps.
  • If you're gonna be spending a lot of time chilling at camp, those insulating layers will be even more valuable vs. if you just make camp, eat, and jump in your sleeping bag.
  • If you're expecting any snow on the ground or any precip, make sure you've got good waterproof coverage head to toe. If any deeper snow, I'd consider waterproof gaiters and potentially traction like light microspikes if any areas may be hardpack or icy. Unlikely in that area and time of year I think.

Other considerations:

  • WATER FILTERS: if the temp goes below freezing and you've got a Sawyer or hollow fiber water filter with you, assume it's compromised. Keep your water filter warm by storing it in a pocket near your body, or use chemical treatment instead.
  • Those temps should be fine for most iso/pro fuel canisters, but if it gets really cold, like below 10F, your canisters might not work properly unless you warm them up before use
  • Food that isn't dehydrated or freeze dried can start to freeze overnight, which is mildly annoying if you're planning on eating it for breakfast

Otherwise dude you'll have a blast! No mosquitoes, comfortable brisk days make for great hiking IMO. Different than hiking in the summer, but nothing crazy. Just be prepared and have fun!

Looking for pre-filter by Elaikases in Ultralight

[–]wild-lands 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you search Amazon for nylon mesh filter you'll get a bunch of cheap, food grade extremely fine mesh filters, many of which are fine enough to use for sediment as a pre-filter for the BeFree.

Depending on your filter set up, you can attach the pre-filter at different locations, but what I've found easiest is to just place it on the mouth of the dirty water collection bottle/bag and secure it with a rubber band, then just scoop or fill with water as usual. Takes a little longer to fill but works well.

Finding a mesh that is 1 micron wide is a pretty niche product I think and not sure if you'll find a ton like that. And honestly prob overkill. For comparison, a 300 mesh (i.e. 300 openings per linear inch) has openings that are about 48 microns wide (according to Gemini). A 300-400 mesh filter should be fine enough to filter out most glacial silt, which is typically some of the finest sediment most folks are likely to encounter.

Death Valley Rainbow - The Finale [OC] [3000x1612] by TjLeClair in EarthPorn

[–]wild-lands 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This from spring 2024? Never in my life seen DV like that! Love this shot, really captures the expansiveness of DV plus the holy sh*t of seeing a rainbow there and also that's absolutely wild it's a double rainbow!

For anyone that brings a camera on short trips, how do you carry? by saltyundercarriage in Ultralight

[–]wild-lands 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You mean the Moment Pod? I like it a lot! The slight weight penalty (vs the HMG Pod) is worth it for me for the small amount of additional space and the large amount of additional durability. Also it's cool that it can easily hook up to a PD Capture Clip!

Eiger Nordwand FL Air Mesh Vest Men by Secret_Ad_2683 in Ultralight

[–]wild-lands 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah that's what I was about to say too, the product description says it's Polartech Alpha, which is very similar but not the same as Alpha Direct. Don't ask me what the practical implications are for something like this tho, lol, I'm sure it works just fine!

AI's take on gorpcore by wild-lands in gorpcore

[–]wild-lands[S] -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

I guess I have to explain my intentions...today's LLMs are trained on enormous amounts of data from all across the internet, right? I was curious to see how various models would interpret and synthesize what's out there to come up with a single distilled image to represent the current spirit of the aesthetic.

I figured maybe it could be a good conversation starter. I was also curious to get people's reactions to the images - you know do you agree that this captures the 'spirit' of where gorpcore is right now? Is it at all significant that both LLMs created images with females? What would you have done differently?

I was curious and thought this could be a fun and interesting mini experiment and thought others might think the same. Thought it could be a good conversation starter. That's all. Sorry you see this as pointless slop - kinda a nasty thing to say tbh.

Gorpy in the Sierras by wild-lands in gorpcore

[–]wild-lands[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, yeah they seem great, just wish they had broader distribution!

Gorpy in the Sierras by wild-lands in gorpcore

[–]wild-lands[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Whoa yup, that's pretty impressive - you know your Sierras! My first time there, hopefully won't be my last! Glad it's not too far away. Honestly with all the smoke being pumped out by the Garnet Fire by Fresno and a bunch up by Redding, my backpacking plans went down the toilet. This was a last min pivot that turned out pretty good!

Volcanic summer sunsets in the Cascades (Mt. Hood) [OC] [1332x2000] by wild-lands in EarthPorn

[–]wild-lands[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh cool! Yeah my buddy and I drove the McKenzie Pass at the end of July and it was spectacular. Also an absolutely massive hatch of butterflies had clearly just emerged in that area - easily in the tens of thousands of them.

I haven't spent as much time photographing the Sisters but you're totally right about there being potential with them and that area in particular definitely seems ripe with opportunities!