Mile High Mountaineer The newsletter of the Denver Group of the Colorado Mountain Club May 2014 www.hikingdenver.net Volume 46, No.5 www.cmc.org OUR MOUNTAIN LEADERS DAYPACK BASICS: Joe Leahy TIPS FOR PURCHASING Versatile outdoorsman hikes, bikes, THE PERFECT PaCK snowshoes, fly fishes and skis By Sandi Bianchi By John Walters Whether you’re new to the Colorado If you haven’t joined a trip with Joe Mountain Club or a lifetime member, you Leahy, you have missed one of the most need a good daypack to hold your outdoor knowledgeable and experienced mountain essentials. Your pockets won’t do the job, leaders and one of the most prolific nor will that ten-year-old dusty pack, volunteers of our time. hanging on a hook in the basement. Resist Joe joined CMC in 2005. He then the urge to pick up someone else’s outdated completed CMC courses in backcountry pack at a garage sale. Resign yourself to set skiing, wilderness trekking, wilderness aside a couple of hours to shop a reputable first aid, trip-leader training and avalanche store specializing in outdoor gear. These awareness. Joe went on to instruct stores offer trained staff to educate and Wilderness Trekking School, becoming fit you with the pack that is right for your senior instructor and then master instructor, gender, frame and height. a title reserved for the very few. Joe Leahy. Packs come in two different loading Joe also led more Denver trips than He is a member of the Colorado Native styles: top loaders and panel loaders. Some almost anyone, including hikes, snowshoes, Plant Society, participates in the Wildlands packs offer dual access points, a very handy backcountry skiing and biking. In 2012 Joe Restoration Volunteers project, and assists option. If you like organization, you might was recognized at the CMC Denver 100th with both the Front Range Pika Project and want side pockets and compartments. Look Annual Dinner with a volunteer Service the Colorado Natural Heritage Program’s for easy access and the ability to locate Award for his exemplary commitment to the Adopt-A-Rare-Plant project. an item inside the pack with minimal Denver Group. The Front Range Pika project is a searching. You’ll want a pack that holds 30 Joe grew up in Denver, started hiking citizen science conservation program in liters or approximately 1,800 cubic inches. Rocky Mountain National Park while in which volunteers collect data about pikas For comfort, choose a pack with high school, worked while in college as a and their habitat in high-altitude field sites padded shoulder straps and padded seasonal park ranger naturalist for RMNP, located, in Joe’s words, “way off trail.” The waistband. Some waistbands offer zippered and graduated CSU with a degree in forest Adopt-A-Rare-Plant project identifies rare pockets on each side of the band—a great recreation. Joe has hiked every trail in plant locations across the state. Joe adopted place to store Kleenex, lip balm and hand RMNP, several more than 50 times. two rare plants that are found only in a few sanitizer. A chest strap across the front of Joe served 20 years as a naval officer, locations on the western slope. Last year the pack is another nice feature. When in where he earned an MS in systems he found over 500 Jones’ Bluestars and use, the strap takes some of the weight off management at USC. He then lived and thousands of Payne’s Lupines, which were your shoulders and back. Many packs are worked in the DC area for 25 years as an IT previously undiscovered. designed to hang about a half an inch away consultant and project manager. While in To retain his fitness, Joe bikes a lot. In from the middle of your back. This design the DC area, he was an active member of the July 2012 he completed the Register’s Annual is especially nice in warm weather as it lets Potomac Appalachian Mountain Club and Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa a seven-day, air circulate between the pack and body. hiked the Appalachian Trail from southern 471-mile ride across Iowa. The RAGBRAI is (continued on page 2) Virginia to western Pennsylvania. the oldest, largest and longest bicycle-touring Joe is also an avid fly fisherman and has event in the world. fished from Alaska to the tributaries of Lake Joe Leahy is a treasure trove of outdoor Ontario in New York where in one week he knowledge and skills. We are lucky to caught more than 50 brown trout weighing have him among us. Thanks, Joe, for your more than five pounds each! dedication and service. (Tips for the Perfect Pack, continued from page 1) CMC CLUB-WIDE TRAIL-REPAIR EFFort Most packs come with hydration- SUMMIT- MAY 3 system capability. Some packs will provide FACING CRISIS Don’t miss our inaugural annual event at the By Jean Motzer the hydration system, while others simply AMC in Golden with members from across provide a pocket to hold the hydration the state. The theme is membership! We will bladder, which is purchased separately. convene at 10 a.m. for a special presentation Not ready for a hydration system? No on national membership trends, followed problem, BPA-free water bottles work by break-out groups on CMC membership perfectly well. topics (tentative: Appealing to Younger Pick out a couple of pack styles Members, Bringing in more Baby Boomers, that you like and try them on. Have the Breaking CMC Barriers to Engagement). salesperson fit them to your body. Load Enjoy lunch with members from across the them with 10 to 20 pounds of weight state. Afternoon will feature meetings for because this is what you’ll carry on a state Safety and Leadership, Group Chairs, Trail work on Square Top Trail. day hike. Walk around the store with the Adventure Travel and more. loaded packs for 15 to 20 minutes each. If stairs are available, climb them once HELP !!!! CMC is the largest or twice. Colorado non-profit group that organizes Notice how each pack feels when and leads trail maintenance day trips each wearing it. Do the straps dig into your summer. We are also the largest organized shoulders? Does the pack gouge your group using Front Range trails. However, lower back? You may have to try on each interest has deteriorated to the point we one several times before making a final RAM PART RANGE may not be able to continue. decision. Don’t slight yourself on time as Because funding for state parks and the this is a decision that will serve you for WILDLANDS BIOBLITZ Forest Service has been severely cut, there years to come. JUNE 21-22 are no longer seasonal employees who used With any luck, you’ll soon be the to do much of this work. They need us The Conservation Committee is hosting proud owner of a new daypack. Be sure more than ever. a BioBlitz for the Rampart Range Wildlands to save the receipt. Most reputable stores CMC schedules approximately 25 trips project June 21-22. We will be leading hikes have a generous return policy in case a year, April – October, every Saturday. We into this area near Palmer Lake and counting you decide you don’t like the pack or if work with the Clear Creek Ranger District and documenting all the species we can find. something breaks. Take your new daypack (Mt. Evans area) and the South Platte Scientists will help us identify the critters for a hike as soon as possible—the only Ranger District (with whom we put in and plants. sure test for perfection. those nifty steps on the Square Top Lakes We hope to Trail and log bridges on the Three Mile develop a biological Creek Trail). inventory of the area We also work for use in protecting with Denver this area and to raise Mountain Parks interest and awareness and Jeffco Open among local students Space and will be and citizens. We are part of the Apex looking for a great Park project on turnout of CMC May 17. The Sandi Bianchi, members and leaders Denver Group a member of the who want to explore partners with Denver Group, has this area, and sharpen Pikes Peak in been a CMC trip their naturalist skills. monthly work at leader for more than Save the date! More Palmer Lake. ten years. She lives in Chicago Creek in Mt. Evans information to come. Contact: Joshuakuhn@ No prior Boulder. Wilderness 2012 by Jean Motzer cmc.org or 303-996-2759. experience is needed. We provide tools. Non-members are welcome, as are ages over 16 (great LONG-distanCE HIKER TO SPEAK MAY 7 opportunity for those needing volunteer World-class, long-distance backpacker Andrew Skurka hours for a college application!) will present an “Ultimate Lightweight Hiking Skills” clinic, The camaraderie is delightful, you 7 p.m., May 7 at the AMC. Skurka covers gear, supplies and are in the beautiful outdoors and you skills necessary to make hiking more fun and less work, are making a difference! We aim to keep without compromising safety or comfort. Topics include trails sustainable by improving drainage; defining trip objectives, assessing environmental and route removing social trails; installing retaining conditions, campsite choice, footwear, shelter and food. walls, water bars, water dams, natural Skurka is known for his 4,700-mile, 6-month Alaska-Yukon expedition, the 7-month stone steps, blow down removal, etc. See Great Western Loop (6,875 miles) and the 11-month Sea to Sea Route (7,775 miles).