Reading a hiking trail for your skill level

The hubs and I just returned from our annual vacation aka hike-a-thon. This time, we went out on a limb to Switzerland to visit the Bernese Oberland. It was GORGEOUS!!!

Ricky on the Eiger Trail

As an event coordinator, it was a scary leap of faith to leave the planning to a tour company to book our hotels and plan our hikes. We were provided a rough topographic map and detailed description of our hike, but we quickly found out this was not enough to prepare us. Hence today's post is about how to read a hiking trail for YOU.

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We live in Georgia where what we call mountains are considered small hills to people who live in the Rockies. For example, Arabia Mountain is typically considered a moderate trail.
Distance one way: 1.29 miles
Approx. elevation gain:150 ft

The slightly longer Panther Creek Falls trail is classified as a difficult trail.
Distance one way: 4.71 miles
Approx. elevation gain: 600 ft

Compare these two hikes to a difficult trail out west like Mono Pass in Yosemite:
Distance one way: 3.7 miles
Approx. elevation gain: 900 feet

The average elevation gain of Panther Creek is 127ft per mile while Mono Pass clocks in at 243ft per mile. Both rated as 'difficult', but offering very different experiences.

Once hikes hit the level of difficult to strenuous, it's a crap shoot. Here's a great example two hikes rated as strenuous with very different feels:

	VS
Vernal Falls in Yosemite		Iceberg Lake in Glacier
Top of Vernal distance RT: 2.4 miles Elevation gain: 1000 ft		Iceberg Lake distance RT: 9.7 miles Elevation gain: 1275 feet

The average elevation gain for to Vernal Falls is 833ft per mile, a drastically different hike than the average elevation gain of 262ft per mile for Iceberg Lake.  What am I getting at here? My point is that you need to look beyond a hike's rating to determine if it's right for you.

Know Your Distance vs Elevation
I lead with those numbers so you understand my thoughts when I say this: hike ratings are meaningless. I don't consider walking 9 miles flat a strenuous hike. I can do distance all day. When you start to sprinkle in some elevation, you have my attention. But that's me! I've gotten moderate hike suggestions from people who causally mention a 2,000ft climb as a small challenge because that is their normal.

The hardest and most critical lesson in hiking is to learn your distance vs elevation max. No one can tell you but yourself. That baseline is critical for knowing what kind of hike you're about to get into.

Find the Elevation Profile

The most important piece of hiking information to me is now the elevation profile that illustrates how steep that climb is and how long it lasts. Topographic maps are another great option, if you have a good one and are skilled at reading it (I'm meh). See for yourself in these two examples from Jagat Jora Jaal.

Topographic map of Half Dome hike

Elevation profile of Half Dome hike

For our last vacation, we had the distance and elevation gain listed on all of our hikes if we didn't take any shortcuts, an okay topographic map, and the amount of time estimated for the hike. It's a start, but not the whole picture. Here's what I mean.  So one day we have great hike with a few small climbs spread out and the next day we're hiking straight up the side of a mountain face when I could have taken the train that's only 20 feet away. Be better than me; demand an elevation profile. 

Know Your Audience

If you can't find any information on a hike before tackling it (a rare event in the internet age), take a moment to reflect on who is providing you the information. Us Georgia folks are not use to mountains. Our trail ratings reflect that with almost any elevation gain on a trail earning it at least a moderate rating. I saw children running up mountains in Switzerland that I struggled to crawl up. Locals compare to what they know so its your job to scale a local's perspective to your experience. 

Light it up! - Color changing wig flower for Princess Serenity

Blogging has taken a back-seat to cosplay construction this spring. I have a lofty goal of completing my Princesss Serenity cosplay (that fully lights up) by July 1. I'm a few days from goal and feeling on-track enough to take a break to blog a bit about it.

I hope to cover all aspects of this dress creation, but for now I'm starting with the simplest part. Sailor Moon's Princess Serenity often has a flower in her hair in manga and fan art. I wanted lots of lights and saw the flower as another opportunity.

Project Materials used:

• Big fake flower
• Flexible wire 
• My pick was this thin 30AWG wire that is flexible like cooked pasta 
• Gemma from Adafruit
• 1 Neopixel from Adafruit
• You can get the Gemma and neopixel in this handy starter pack

Supplies needed:

• Alligator clips
• Soldering iron
• Solder
• Vice
• Wire cutter
• Wire stripper

New to electronics? I got my gear from Adafruit in Ladyada's Electronics Toolkit. Gave me everything I need for a great price.

The Build
Essentially, I sewed a neopixel attached to a Gemma into a flower. I'm not an electronics expert so I'm going to drop yet another link back to Adafruit. To learn all about neopixels, read their full guide.

I started by hooking up my gemma and neopixel via clips to work out the coding on the lights.

Wires everywhere! The neopixel hooked up to the gemma.

There's plenty of resource code in the Arduino library for color changing. I had to work out (with the help of my computer science husband) what colors I wanted to cycle and how fast to cycle them. I went with a six color rotation: blue, pink, purple, green, orange, white. Each color stays for around 5-7 second before taking another 5 seconds to shift to the next color.

The colors and timing is completely by feel. I spent around an hour tweaking both until I had a combination that I liked. I wanted it to shift fast enough that someone passing by would see the change, but slow enough that it doesn't look like a rave on my head. 

Flower color and placement testing.

Next, I started to sew/pin things into place. I knew I wanted the gemma on an outside petal so I could easily turn it on/off. The neopixel placement required more finesse. It can't go directly in the middle and shot out as that would just blind people. I conclude to put it towards the 'bottom' of the flower and shoot up through the petals. I sewed and cut the inside petals into better positions for the light. 

With positions marked, I took it all apart to solder the neopixel and gemma together. I ran the wire from my marked positions to get an idea for length, then added an inch. I don't want the wire too tight; I want it to flow.  

Flower with neopixel sewn in and gemma outside. Those are the thin, flexible wires from Adafruit.

The perk of using gemma and neopixels is that they are made for wearables, so you have these large pads you can sew though. I sewed the gemma and neopixel into place using the holes I did not solder. 

Gemma - sewable and small!

The gemma unit is on the 'top' of the flower. To hold down the petal hiding it, I used a small strip of velcro. The neopixel sits on the bottom of the flower. The wire to the pixel is all white so I can run it through the flower petals without bring attention to it. It meant for keeping careful track of things when soldering!

Wig Attachment

I feel like it's cheating on a Usagi wig as I knew I had buns that I could wrap the unit around. Another cheat was a lot of fan art with pearls wrapped around the buns. My theory was to make the flower a chain in a bracelet. I would hide a side release buckle behind smaller flowers to allow the unit to clip around the bun. 

The hair bracelet is embroidery floss with pearls and two small pink flowers, each near the larger white flower. One of the pink flowers hides the buckle I use to snap it in place.

My original plan was to make the battery unit a part of the bracelet with more flowers hiding it. However, I underestimated the weight of the coin batteries and had to make it a separate piece (but still attached because of wires and power - duh!)

I glued two more pink flowers on the top of coin battery pack to disguise it, then did a sew/glue combo on the bottom to attach a hair clip. The batteries now clip into my hair as extra decoration.

From the back, battery pack  helps to hide my natural hair color while powering the flower. 

The final result is a hairpiece that is sure to light up the night!

Trail Hydration - An expanding market

Living in Georgia, I know the importance of hydration. Double that on the trail. Triple that when you're backpacking. When I'm hiking, I love water. But as soon as I make camp, I'm desperate for a different beverage. Lucky for me, the market in instant drinks has exploded to my nearby Kroger.

Some like it HOT

I remember my fascination with the first instant coffee packs I saw years ago. We took them on our next backpacking trip and I never looked back. Now the market has expanded to have almost every variety of coffee-drink in small instant form.

Need to have cream and sugar in your coffee? Instead of stealing packets of sugar from your office, I like to bring a salt and pepper shake. This is my personal favorite from container store:

Of course, if you're not a fan of coffee, there are still plenty of options. I've been known to pack a hot chocolate packet and my husband enjoys tea. 

Ice Ice Baby

Prefer chiller beverages? I saw instant iced coffee the other day!

The market has also grown on flavoring your water. From Mio to Crystal Light (my personal favorite), you have plenty of options. Sport stores like REI and Dicks carry additional options in the form of fizzy tablets. Don't know which one to get? REI did an article about it.

Which drinks do you prefer?

Expanding Foam and You: Wrap it up

After a long break due to events season, I am back in the blogger seat. I'm breaking my rhythm to start with a cosplaying blog to wrap up my expanding foam cliff hanger. As we've learned, a lot of this project is based on feel. There is not a formula for how much to carve or where to paint. I can only hope to provide tips to help.

When we last left off, I had finished carving the staff and wrapped it in masking tape. (You can catch up with part one and part two.) We are only losing detail from this step forward so work hard to retain what you have.
When wrapping the staff in tape, make sure to use smaller pieces to help you retain that detail you have carved in. Take your time with this step! Push it into your gaps and massage the tape around the edges.

Half tape -- Half paper mache staff

When you finish wrapping the foam in tape, then you start to cover it in paper mache. Same rules-- use smaller pieces when necessary, push into gaps, and massage around edges to keep the rounded and pointed details. I used good ol' fashion newsprint and watered down some elmer's school glue for this step. The final product was one layer of tape and two layers of paper mache.

Let your staff dry between each layer. Especially let it dry after your final layer. Paint and wet glue mix poorly. 

** Here is where I skipped a step the professionals do. I did not cover the paper mache layer in something like clay to smooth the project out. Depending on your time, budget, and level of scrutiny, you may want to add that step in.

I spent my drying time buying multiple shades of brown to get started -- dark brown, light brown, normal brown, tan, cooper. The first layer of paint was brown everywhere to give it a base. 

After that, most the staff received a second layer of brown because the newsprint was still showing through. But after that I got into using the different colors. Working with slightly wet paint on the second layer helped me blend in other colors, especially the lighter ones. 

The final finished product! I was very proud of how it turned out.  From a distance and even a conversational distance, it is hard to tell this is made from foam and paper mache. Up close with a LOT of light, you can see the outline of the strips of newspaper. For my use though, it works great!

Missed a part? Go back and read:
Part 1 - Foam Art
Part 2 - The Carving

Expanding foam and You: The Carving

Welcome back! To recap, I covered how I created my expanding foam monstrosity in part one.  Now we go on to what I found to be the fun part-- carving the staff out!

Here's what I had to start with. A large and in charge piece of foam that looks like a horror show.

This is a messy process. Be sure to lay down a well anchored tarp to control your shavings as your cut foam off. You can see the start of my work at the bottom of the staff where it is smoother than the rest.

This is also a risky process because you are working with sharp blades.  Using Kami Cosplay's example, I used a box cutter to widdle it down.  She used a cutter with some weight but I really preferred the lighter and cheaper version. You want a sharp blade, which also made the cheaper cutter easier to work with and then discard as it dulled.

This is a whole $1 at home depot.

I've had knife accidents before so I was careful to ALWAYS carve away from myself, not towards me. It is too easy to slip up and slice yourself.

I would gradually bring the staff down the size. My first go around was taking off the first quarter to half inch to start to see the shape of the staff. I continued to do a pass through from top to bottom, taking off 1/4 to 1/2 inch each time. By the third pass, some areas lost more and others lost less as I worked out the thickness. My vision was to have a skinny bottom that expanded into a thicker head.

For the divots and dips, I used sharpies to draw out where I wanted dips to be. As long as I could see the sharpie, the dip wasn't deep enough.

I messed up several times, but you'll see later those errors added character to make the piece look more natural. If I really messed up, would stuff discarded foam into a gap.

Remember in my first post where I glued green foam to the staff? You can see it showing through as the green lines running up the staff. When I hit the foam, I knew I was 1 inch away from the wooden center and need to slow down the shaving. It also helped me gage circumference. I cut down and into the foam at the bottom of the staff but barely scraped it at the top.

The final step was to shaved off a bit more than I wanted because it will be getting covered in paper mache to bulk it back up.

To celebrate being done with carving, I covered the staff in masking tape to prep it for part three - painting. Be sure to really pressed the tape in and around the staff, otherwise you lose those details you made.

Smooth tapped up staff. 

Part 3 will be our final segment. I'll cover the prep and painting of the staff for the final outcome.

** This is a multiple-post article on creating a mage staff for a final fantasy white mage out of expanding foam.  Be sure to catch them all pokemon style!**

Planning a Hiking Vacation: Family Edition

Last year's vacation was a first for us - we went on a hiking vacation with my family. Granted we're an older bunch with the youngest at 24 and we've vacationed with family before, but not like this. We never had to test our nerves together after miles of heat, blisters, and uphill and I was nervous. But I'm a planner at heart and I issued instructions as I tend to do with most things to help make it a better trip.

1) I was a drill sergeant about training
I brought up hiking training in every conversation. I would ask them how many miles they are walking each day, how many or how tall were the hills, and how winded they felt afterwards. I would make comparisons to landmarks they know ("Hiking up Highline trail will be like going up Kennesaw Mountain 3 times in a row.") so they could hopefully train more.  I started the training conversation before we even booked the flights. I didn't want anyone unprepared.

Trail signs are better with funny faces.

2) I assigned gear lists
I'm a list keeper. When we booked this trip, I sent them my copy of lists from previous hiking trips to show them the gear they would need. Good news is they didn't have to buy a lot more, but I knew before I sent the the lists what they were missing. I made sure everyone had their own pack and water. We addressed clothing to bring like jackets, convertible pants, HATS! For the love of god always hike with a hat! There was even a first-aid briefing so at least each pair of hikers had basic items for blister care.

We also discovered we are a family who loves puzzles.

3) I listened to their needs
After the first hike, I learned a lot. I hurried us on a 5 mile hike in mid-afternoon in the crowds and heat. We did not perform well. My husband's pace was too fast for the group, my mom liked to break at different points than me, and my sister wanted lots of photos. At the end of the hike we were exhausted in more than one way and it was just day one. I was worried the entire vacation was going to already be a bust.

So at dinner time, we talked it over. I asked how they felt on the hike and what they wanted to change. When we hiked as a family again on Day 3, we made lots of changes. I became line leader as my pace was the right balance. I made sure to stop at the bottom and top of hills, instead of just the top like I was use to.  We communicated more about stopping for photos or changing pace. It was a much better hike!


Hiking with family presents a new set of challenges, but it was rewarding to share the memories together after the trip. Don't get a few bumps prevent you from the same!

Expanding Foam and You: Creating a Mage Staff with Expanding Foam

Do you sense a theme with my latest cosplay posts? That would be prop making. I like to pick one things I want to learn that year and commit to making cosplays that help me learn it. Last year, it was props so I can now share what I have learned with the masses!

My big prop last year (literally!) was a mage's staff. After lots of research, the best material choice for me to follow my three tenets of prop making was going to be expanding foam. Two tutorials sold me on the idea:

• Kamui Cosplay, a goddess of prop making
• MyCuteBow's Etwahl Making

Each project is different so while these served as good guides for me, I still ran into unique issues I had to battle. 

I nailed the first step to create my prop core and outline. 

I got a wood pole from Home Depot to serve as the core for the staff and drew a lot on a piece of craft foam until I found the approximate size and shape of the staff head. I would constantly hold the piece up to myself in a mirror to ensure I liked the scale. (Note: There are a lot of tutorials about using a lot of math to scale props online. At the end of the day, I go with what looks right on me.)

 I went outside with a tarp to start step 2-- attaching foam to my core. 

Expanding foam should be handled with care. Lay down a tarp to protect surfaces and be sure to wear at gloves to protect your skin. Outside application is best for large amounts because you will want the ventilation. 

Look Ma! I even made some guides to 1) help give the foam something to attach to and 2) give me a stopping point in carving.

 From my handy dandy sketch, I knew I wanted the staff to have an approximately two inch diameter. I cut and hot glued on foam pieces that are two inches. When carving, if I saw green I would know I have gone far enough. 

You'll see most people use cardboard in other tutorials. I chose craft foam because it was easier for me to see and glue to my core. I was cutting a lot of pieces out and craft foam is way easier for that than cardboard. 

The expanding foam quickly rebelled against me. 

You see, it is very sticky when it meets cloth or plastic. It does not like to stick to itself after a certain point. The foam would start to build, then slide off the pole as it settled. After one bottle of foam, I was left with a half-covered mess of a staff. 

The solution was more cowbell and more guides. I hot glued craft foam everywhere to create 'V' channels the the foam could rest in.

Now I'm guessing you could also show more patience than me and wait for a smaller amount of foam to dry before applying the next.  However, this method totally worked. Sometimes I would jam a piece of craft foam between hunks of expanding foam - no glue needed. 

It still took several layers and some patience to create the necessary bulk on the staff.

The good thing about bright green guides is I knew to cover the staff until they were not visible. If I could see them or guess where they are, I would add more foam. 

It took between 3-4 bottles of foam to create the staff. Or rather the hunk of foam that would become the staff.  Next post will be about the carving and covering process!

Part II is live! Click here to ead the next steps.