Toiyabe Crest - Backpacking

Toiyabe Crest - Backpacking - summary and links

wildernessvagabond.com/toiyabe09/toiyabe09.htm

Overview:. This is a report about a mostly solo hike along the Toiyabe Crest - A National Recreation "Trail." I hiked from the Kingston Canyon TH to the South Twin Rivers TH, a distance somewhere in excess of 70 miles. The effort required to hike this sometimes a trail is estimated by calculating Energy Required Miles (ERM).
Note that there are seven (7) tracks that comprise this route along the crest trail.
*ERM - Energy Required Miles - was initially used in Trails of the Tetons (long out of print) by Paul Petzold, founder of NOLS. It's a wonderfully useful concept and application. Add one mile for each 500' up AND down to distance = ERM. I use ERMs to calculate what the actual day is like.
I teamed up with Wes H from Friends of Nevada Wilderness and David K, a trail man from the FS during the first two days of the adventure. They were the only hikers or people I saw over my 7-day adventure.

See the full report at: http://wildernessvagabond.com/reports.htm

notes

Note: There is little in-depth information about the Toiyabe Crest. For many, this is part of the attraction of this National Recreation "Trail." It's part of how come I chose the title, "Tempting Toiyabe" for the WV web report. The book by Bruce Grubbs includes little information beyond that which can be obtained from the FS (Forest Service - see FS site). In addition, the Grubbs book lists incorrect mileages, no reference to effort required (as in ERMs), and is written as if the trail was not hiked in preparation for the guide because it contains no information about absent trail sections, alternative routes (as in the section near Tierney Creek), feasible camping areas, etc.
My advice - get to know the fine people at Friends of Nevada Wilderness (click here for link), study the maps of the Toiyabe (a starter map is in this report), and go out there on a volunteer activity with Friends to get a feel for the area. Then, start hiking while you continue your wild activism. If you want resources - get some USGS topo quads and the FS area map. Leave the Grubbs book on the shelf. If you really want a reference book, I suggest you consider Nevada Wilderness Areas, 1997, by Michael C. White (Wilderness Press). It is superior, yet covers only the portion of the Crest in the Arc Dome Wilderness.
Mileages listed in this report are given with rumsfeldian caveat -- Distances are estimated rumsfeldian fashion, not accounting for known knowns or unknown knowns or unknown unknowns, yet knowing that brush and poor signal reception (GPS) attenuates GPS accuracy. This said, my estimates were very close to those obtained from Wes' GPS and an entirely different method used by David K. - meticulously measuring the trail on the topo using a string, with a correction for altitude (maps are two-dimensional, after all). My use of a map wheel (+ adding a percentage for 3-dimensional and uncaptured wiggles) on the USGS quads produced similar results - none of which compared to those by Grubbs.

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