Oregon Hikers

The chair Susan carried weighs 3 1/4 lbs. She rigs it up so that she can unfold the chair and sit in it without removing it from the pack.
In comparison, I carried an expedition sized carbon fiber bear cannister at 2 1/4 lbs. It is the right height for creaky knees to sit on, but has no back rest. It is OK for meal prep, but not great for BS'ing around the fire ring afterwards. In the weight trade off between chair and bear canister, the canister is getting the nod because it gives food security 24/7 against all critters from ants and mice up to deer and bears. Since we frequently base camp, which leaves the food unattended, this is important to us.

We periodically try out the back packer chairs at REI. Generally they are too low, and have you seated in a position that is awkward to get up from--the tortoise on its back syndrome. Chairs that are the same height weigh considerably more than the old standbys.

Burnside

When I went through Main Eagle in mid-summer a few years back, it was packed. I thought it was just a small level less packed than the Lakes Basin.

I actually saw those 3 old gents packing those lawn chairs years back, it might have been my post. Also, I have visited Pop Lake and thought I was picking up the initial trail (by Cached Lake) only to have it fade away after a few hundred yards. I just kept working my way uphill and again picked up the trail. I have also heard one can access Pop from the Hidden Lake side but that would be all cross country.

Nice report.

Webfoot wrote: ↑

August 6th, 2019, 9:38 am

Pack not heavy enough? Add a lawn chair.

It's simply impossible for me to sit on a rock or a log, even with a pad, unless it is the right shape and height, which is extremely rare. 15 minutes and I am in agony. I do use a lightweight backpacking chair, and while it is lower than I would prefer, it works okay for me, and it weighs one pound.

Most backpackers whine about the weight of their pack. For me that is nothing compared to getting up off the ground from my tent. Difficulty getting up will be what finally ends my backpacking one of these years, not the effort of carrying a pack. For both my chair and my tent, the key is to place the trekking pole in the ground next to it, to assist in getting up.

All of you (who aren't already) are going to get old some day and will have to deal with some version of this. Except Don, who apparently is not actually aging.

BurnsideBob's Wife here,

In defense of that 1960 lawnchair, I was born with a slightly malformed spine which can make my life miserable at times. I could not consider the backcountry w/o my chair. As I age, my spine and entire body are getting less tolerant. So, yes, Have-Chair-Will-Travel as long as the body allows. I am finding that I may have entered the 5-8 mile club. Embarrassing to admit, however, this still allows me to outpace the grandkids!

Susan

Susan, you have nothing to defend; really I was just impressed at the size of the pack plus a chair. I have a spinal deformity myself and recently I have been carrying a chair up trails too. I'm only a 3–5 mile day hiker however, so you're outpacing more than your grandkids!

The odd thing for me is that my back and sitting issues are strictly in camp. I can still do 15 mile days and big hills, though not too steep. That sorta says I should become a dayhiker. But sitting there at night in the forest or in the alpine, waking up and having coffee as the sun rises. Even laying in a mesh tent where I can see the silhouette of the trees or landscape in the dark - pitch black dark I hope. That's an essential part for me. If I just go on dayhikes, I'm going to go home and watch TV?

yeah, as long as I drive there and hike around, may as well camp overnight

otherwise, the waste of a good backpack

Nice TR. Did a similar trip and camped two nights at Pop Lake a few years ago (inspired by a Just Peachy's post). Lots of old detritus at the illegal campsite where the trail comes down - is it still there?

And Little Pop Lake beckons... someday.

Hi all. A few responses with photos.

TwoPaw, nice to hear from you. I wasn't able to view your photos of the way in to the lake on your old trip report. The detritus is gone but the fire ring remains--did not appear to have been used this season.

Backcracker, you may well be correct about my seeing your post re the three lawn chair packing fishermen. This photo gives an over-view of the south side portion of the route. May it bring back memories of your trip.
retired jerry I know what you mean about staying the night once you invest the time to hike around. With a 7 hour drive time to the Eagle Cap, we aren't going for a day hike.

DRM and Webfoot, everyone has bought in to their personal gear selections, and I'm no different. One of the things I appreciate about the lawn chair is it has two sturdy armrests which are most useful in getting the corpus upright. So the chair is really useful. We've even talked about having inside the tent to assist in both getting up and getting boots on, although I'm not sure the tent is real on board with that idea.
And I want everone to know no beers were harmed in the chair/bear canister photo shoot. Later on that afternoon it was a different story!