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Rocko1 Posts: 601
3/9/2020
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Decided to do a quick overnight trip on Granite Mountain, south west side. Was pretty windy when we started at 1:30pm, it only got worse. Goal was to get to the peak and backtrack and find a decent spot on the ridge. Putzing around we ran out of time and had to setup short. The wind really picked up around 6pm and only got worse. It really put the tent to test. I snapped a guy line and had to readjust through out the night. I think we slept for 20 minutes total.  Wad type 2 fun for sure. Got to 35F. Woke up early in the middle of a cloud.
A few pics from the trip.
Calm before the storm. First time using the Zpacks Duplex in any real weather. Tent held up, guy lines slipped quite a bit. We stayed dry though. Not the best tent for high winds due to the design.
Next morning
As I said previously, going up this route I have seen more cactus than anywhere in the park. My favorite section.
Interesting plant with reddish berries. Parasitic?
Rodriquez Canyon
Album with a few more pics.
https://imgur.com/a/UWzYO6q
edited by Rocko1 on 3/9/2020
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tommy750 Posts: 1049
3/9/2020
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Nice TR Rocko1. Daren and I were down the mountain from you in Canebrake on Saturday and I was complaining about the wind that night in June Wash---in front of the propane fire pit. Guess you had way more type 2 fun than we did Great pics especially your 4th and 5th ones.
I have a Zpacks Altaplex (discontinued) and really like it (especially the 1.5 lb weight) but it does get pretty noisy in the wind even with all ten guylines as taut as I can make them.
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Britain Posts: 606
3/10/2020
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Cactus field is in a semi level area. There's a dig just before it. Nothing but up afterwards. Nice pics!
edited by Britain on 3/10/2020
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Cant drive 55
Britain
http://icorva.com
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Rocko1 Posts: 601
3/10/2020
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Britain wrote:
Cactus field is in a semi level area. There's a dig just before it. Nothing but up afterwards. Nice pics!
edited by Britain on 3/10/2020
Yes, we looked at the pit on the way out and joked if it didn't have a large cactus growing in the middle of it we could have set up the tent in it.
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Rocko1 Posts: 601
3/10/2020
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tommy750 wrote:
Nice TR Rocko1. Daren and I were down the mountain from you in Canebrake on Saturday and I was complaining about the wind that night in June Wash---in front of the propane fire pit. Guess you had way more type 2 fun than we did Great pics especially your 4th and 5th ones.
I have a Zpacks Altaplex (discontinued) and really like it (especially the 1.5 lb weight) but it does get pretty noisy in the wind even with all ten guylines as taut as I can make them.
Nice. Things starting to bloom in June? I saw a couple of fires on the west slope of Whale and wondered if anyone here was out camping. I wish I had a gauge to tell the true wind speed.
They just re-released the Altaplex a month or so ago. Looks like a great tent. I had to put a sort of knot behind the Lineloc to stop it from slipping through the night. Do you significant pressure changes inside your tent during wind? It was enough to rock us back and fourth like mini-sonic booms.
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Britain Posts: 606
3/10/2020
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The burned area from a fire a while back found a radio from the firefighters. It was toasted.
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Cant drive 55
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http://icorva.com
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rockhopper Posts: 668
3/10/2020
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I like your alternate route up Granite Mtn. The winds really whip up there. We got turned back by blowing snow one time. I like the Redman "gliff".
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Rocko1 Posts: 601
3/10/2020
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rockhopper wrote:
I like your alternate route up Granite Mtn. The winds really whip up there. We got turned back by blowing snow one time. I like the Redman "gliff".
It can be rough! There really are no good sheltered spots unless you bivy camp and get under some boulders near the top.
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Brian Posts: 231
3/10/2020
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I was camping in the Carrizo Creek area near Canyon Sin Nombre Saturday night. There was some wind in the evening but it stopped about 8PM. Seems like it was a popular weekend to go to the desert. Lots of cars at all the trailheads (but thankfully not where I was).
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Rocko1 Posts: 601
3/10/2020
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Brian wrote:
I was camping in the Carrizo Creek area near Canyon Sin Nombre Saturday night. There was some wind in the evening but it stopped about 8PM. Seems like it was a popular weekend to go to the desert. Lots of cars at all the trailheads (but thankfully not where I was).
I had thought about that area also. Lots of cool canyons. I thought the wind would die down, no dice it only picked up steam up there. 
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tommy750 Posts: 1049
3/10/2020
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Rocko1 wrote:
tommy750 wrote:
Nice TR Rocko1. Daren and I were down the mountain from you in Canebrake on Saturday and I was complaining about the wind that night in June Wash---in front of the propane fire pit. Guess you had way more type 2 fun than we did Great pics especially your 4th and 5th ones.
I have a Zpacks Altaplex (discontinued) and really like it (especially the 1.5 lb weight) but it does get pretty noisy in the wind even with all ten guylines as taut as I can make them.
Nice. Things starting to bloom in June? I saw a couple of fires on the west slope of Whale and wondered if anyone here was out camping. I wish I had a gauge to tell the true wind speed.
They just re-released the Altaplex a month or so ago. Looks like a great tent. I had to put a sort of knot behind the Lineloc to stop it from slipping through the night. Do you significant pressure changes inside your tent during wind? It was enough to rock us back and fourth like mini-sonic booms.
Definitely starting to bloom in Canebrake. The altaplex is back! And different colors too. Thanks for the updated info. Not sure about the sonic boom sensation but mainly noisy flapping of the dyneema in the wind. Now, I always bring earplugs when doing an overnight. Good for the wind and your snoring hiking buddies. I bought a Kestrel weather station a while back and have used it on occasion while backpacking. Never bothered to set it up outside my pack for accurate temperature tracking and haven't used it as much as I'd hoped. Still a nice unit that syncs with your phone.
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Scooter Posts: 114
3/11/2020
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Cool pictures I would like to camp at the top inside those huge boulders sometime.
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ziphius Posts: 911
3/11/2020
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Great trip report and photos! The red berries are desert mistletoe. The black birds with the pointy crest (Phainopepla) eat them and poop the seeds onto new branches, thus helping them spread.
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Rocko1 Posts: 601
3/12/2020
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ziphius wrote:
Great trip report and photos! The red berries are desert mistletoe. The black birds with the pointy crest (Phainopepla) eat them and poop the seeds onto new branches, thus helping them spread.
Awesome! Thanks for the info. I have never seen these before. I spotted the red from on the ridge and thought 'this doesn't belong here'.
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tekewin Posts: 371
3/22/2020
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Great report, thanks. It definitely doesn't sound fun to be camping in the cold during a storm. Winds in AB are the harshest I've experienced. Granite is a hard mountain, worthy of the name.
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2624
4/12/2020
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Nice pics, looks very pretty out there. I like that tent, I have a whole bunch of the "camo" dyneema fabric I ordered a couple years ago but have not made anything with it yet. It is tough fabric but not so easy to work with. I really like that pano pic of all the cactus and brush, very nice.
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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Rocko1 Posts: 601
4/13/2020
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dsefcik wrote:
Nice pics, looks very pretty out there. I like that tent, I have a whole bunch of the "camo" dyneema fabric I ordered a couple years ago but have not made anything with it yet. It is tough fabric but not so easy to work with. I really like that pano pic of all the cactus and brush, very nice.
Thanks. A couple of years ago I wouldn't have ever bought a tent that expensive. But my back has said it's not into heavy packs anymore. I was shocked at how well it held up to the wind. 2 guy lines tore but that was probably from the heavy rocks stacked on top of the stakes. In the tents defense it was one of the worst places you could pitch a tent.
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deborah Posts: 115
4/25/2020
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Nice pictures and trip report! Laughing about the "type 2 fun".
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