[Allison]

Dogman and I headed over east of Stevens Pass after settling on Minotaur and Theseus Lakes for the weekend's objective. Arrived at the TH around noon, maybe a little surprised to see a bunch of cars at the TH. I'd never heard of these lakes, but Dogman tells me they are in one of the guidebooks. Romped (slogged) up a couple of steep and dusty, but shady, miles to Minotaur Lake, to find the place crawling with people. Minotaur is a lovely lake, and not far from the car, so it's to be expected I suppose. Chilled out for a bit, and then decided to cruise down to Theseus for a little peace and quiet. A very steep and slippery descent gained the lake, and after another half-hour of picking our way along the shoreline, we camped near the outfall. It was just us down at Theseus, versus the teeming hordes at Minotaur. We agreed that the extra work was worth it. Theseus Lake feels like a place that time forgot, maybe it was a popular place to visit in another time, but not so much now. Had a great dinner, watched the stars until our eyes got heavy and the wine was gone, and got a good night's rest despite another leak in my inflatable pad. Time to get a foam one. I've got a bad habit of dragging my inflatable all over the place, and it keeps getting holes in it from the abuse. Dogman did a little fishing this morning, and then we headed over to the tarn near the outfall. We saw a couple of marmots, not sure if they were the hoary kind or not, but they were definitely friendly and flirtatious. Retreated by traversing the boulder field on the W shore of the lake, which was nearly as tedious as the E shore, but for different reasons. Avoided the messy excuse for a trail, instead opting to climb a steep treed heather field between the rockslides. It was a little easier but no less steep. From Minotaur's outlet, we were back to the car in less than an hour.

[ajgoodkids]

Inflatable pads contain heavy air. That's why your air keeps falling out. That's also why foam pads are so much lighter. Also, thanks for the report, Allison. We were just wondering about those lakes.

[Allison]

Don, Is there a way to lighten the air from my lungs? One would think that it would all be light up there above 5K, but my sea-level lungs keep packing the T-Rest with the bad kind of heavy air that leaks. I thought I was getting leaks from abuse, but maybe some new sort of water aerobics or whatever could make things right. What if I smoked something with Revivex in it? Would I have, like, Goretex lungs? Or I could just break down and get a dumb foam thing, since I seem unable to be nice to my inflatable.

[AlpineSam]

I recommend filling with helium or nitrogen. Just keep it away from spark or open flame.

[Mike Collins]

Helium and nitrogen are virtually inert. For the first gagillion years of earths existence nitrogen (N2) was only broken apart into nitrate (NO3) by two events, lightning strikes and the impact of meteors. The chemical bond holding the two atoms of nitrogen together is incredibly strong. Most chemical reactions take place in millionths of a second. For the enzyme nitrogenase found in nitrogen-fixing bacteria to break the N2 bond takes an unheard of 1.2 seconds. Even today the only commercially viable way of manufacturing ammonia (NH3) for fertilizer is done by the Haber process discovered in 1909. It involves temperatures of 930 degrees F and several hundred atmospheres of pressure. Helium has the lowest molecular weight of the inert gas group of elements. You are confusing helium with hydrogen which is extremely reactive as the Hindenberg (before my time) disaster showed to the world. So feel free to put a blowtorch to either nitrogen or helium once they are out of the tanks.

[Malachai Constant]

Hydrogen or Helium are poor choices in spite of low weight. Both diffuse through membraines quite quickley. A better choice is Carbon Dioxide CO2 available in cartridges used to fit seltzer bottles, berhaps you could make an adapter. You could also carry a pellet gun and shoot blanks into it. On a more serious note the older inflatable pads are subject to a fungus that grows incide and eats the menbraine. cascade designs will fix or replace for free. The problem we have is cats like to chew on the area near the valve. This makes it hard to store inflated with the valve open as recomended.

[Allison]

The pad's down at CD getting fixed right now. That's not the problem, the problem is when you have to sleep on a flat pad!! now don't get lippy on me, or I'll shoot you!

[Bushwacker]

Allison,it's obvious you do have a sense of humor Makes my day! BW

[Dogman]

Are you kiddin' Bushwacker? Allison's sweeter en' Maddog wine and purtier than a plate of catfish. I knowed it cuz I seen er.

[MtnGoat]

ditch the therma and get a solid pad, I got tired of holes and babying after leaks every few trips on a couple different therma's. As tent babies they're OK, if one wants something to plop down on, anywhere, anytime, and then still sleep on it later, they blow. And so do you, only to find out, yet again, there's another tiny hole somewhere.

[Allison]

Yep that's the ting. I want to abuse the pad by laying out under the night sky on it, and it doesn't like being thrashed around like that. Foam pads have gotten a lot better in recent years, and they don't get holes in them or if they do, well that's OK too. Prettier than a plate of catfish? Oh, my!

[Mike Collins]

You can avoid the drive to the shop to fix the leak. Put the pad in the bathtub to let see where the bubbles appear from the leak. Then put seam sealer used for tents onto the leak once it is dry (you circle it with a pen). I use both the ThermaRest and the blue pad depending on my mood.

[Allison]

I know how to repair a pad. Matter of fact I wrote about how to do it in WT last year. Thing is they have fancy diagnostic tools at the shop so they'll do a little better job. I perfer HotBond to Seam Grip for pad repairs, and it's way easier to use in the field! Sets up in minutes! Plus my MSR water filter was being poopy, and I broke another set of trekking poles. I thought they were going to kill me when I showed up but everything was fixed with a smile and no guff. Thanks to the repair desks of MSR and CD. BTW they are all one company now but repairs still go to whichever place the gear came from, at least for now.

[Tom]

Where exactly do you take your MSR gear for warranty repair? I have a some snowshoes that need some work done. Do they require a receipt, etc.?

[Allison]

Nope, no receipt or nuttin'. They are S of Spokane on 1st. Call for directions or mail them in. MSR rocks!