Tayson: Hey everybody welcome back to the Live Ultralight podcast powered by Outdoor Vitals today we have a very special guest on uh we've got Francisca Weinheimer um who is an outdoors woman from Germany who lived uh for over a quarter of a century in the state of Oregon since 2014 she's been sharing her adventures in the mountains with backpacking Community through her blogs guides videos on our hike Oregon YouTube channel some of you may have heard of it it's got quite a good following there um you're from Oregon specifically you're from Oregon specific Trail guides to gear reviews trip videos you cover it all so there's a little intro to if you haven't heard of Francisco but you've got an awesome YouTube channel um and you've been doing it for a while it sounds like since. 2014 is that correct.
Franziska: Uh uh 2016 is when the YouTube channel started okay on the 2013 is when I started um the hike Oregon website so.
Tayson: Okay okay and if I'm if I've got my facts right which apparently I'm not sure that I do now I'm gonna have to question everything that's here in front of me um you got started in the outdoors um kind of out of out of I don't know like like maybe you're going through like a a darker part of time or something in life and you you got outside and got a taste of something and it it seemed like it changed the whole trajectory of your life is that accurate.
Franziska: Yeah um I did start in the outdoors actually when I was a kid my dad would take me hiking and backpacking all over the world I guess um backed in Europe and um been to Alaska and done all sorts of like epic trips and then I kind of fell out of you know going hiking and stuff for a while during college and then yeah you are correct I was having some life challenges trying to find my way going through some depression and decided to go on a hike one day really randomly and it I just fell in love and I felt amazing and just kind of became addicted to it from there and uh basically went every single week from that time on and just fell in love so yeah.
Tayson: So that's pretty incredible that you've hiked all over the world um as as you said with as a kid you're kind of doing that so from from like what ages did you start doing like International hikes.
Franziska: Um so I mean we've always had family in Germany and I was born in Germany so we um you know hiked in Europe quite a bit my family has always been quite outdoorsy so even as a small baby they would take me on like bike packing trips and stuff like that um where we'd uh stay in like hostels you know we'd ride to the next town stay in hostels that kind of thing so from a you know toddler age I would be doing stuff like that and then I actually summited my first um volcano here in Oregon at the age of six so.
Tayson: Which is crazy to think about because when I Summit it now I'm like wow this is really difficult I don't know how I did that that that's way incredible I I don't know how kids can do it sometimes too it seems like and maybe it's something to do with with females you know but we had a girl who just did was a part of our 100 Mile Challenge that we did through the summer and her and her dad did a 100 miles like total through different hikes but the one that they ended on was hiking King's Peak which is it's not a it's not a joke like if you're not like a hiker like it's a it's a decent Peak if you're a hiker maybe there's harder ones for sure but like it was way.
Tayson: Impressive and I had him on a podcast I don't think it's live just yet but I was like astounded by it so I don't know maybe you guys just have she was she was yeah she was like nine years old blonde you know you guys haven't figured out so that's that's incredible I'm also gonna have to hit you up on uh maybe a hike near Germany we are headed to me Munich for ISPO for a show it'll be my first time to Germany so amazing I'll have to maybe pick your brain after but yeah well that's fascinating that's that's really incredible you're a hearty hiking summoning Peaks six years old um and then at some point you you kind of fell out of it right like you quit.
Franziska: Quit hiking yeah I would say um After High School so every summer my dad would um he's a professor so he had Summers off and we would go on like epic trips together and so once I ended school basically I didn't have that summer break anymore and so um I was working and doing things like that and we no longer went on our like yearly backpacking trips so that's kind of when I fell out of it um I would say for like four-ish years or so four or five years until I got back into hiking.
Tayson: Okay so I think that's pretty interesting that you went on like one hike and that it like changed your life right because so many times when when life's not going well things are down you know or whatever it is like it takes really consistent pressure and life changes and a lot of times it's it's like little things maybe just over and over again whereas like hiking's like a bigger event you're getting out there it's something but like so so what happened on that hike like what what was it that changed it did you start like hiking every day or like what how did how did it have such an impact you know I'm I'm really not sure.
Franziska: Um I think it was just something so different to what I was doing in my daily life um that it just we also jumped into really cold water that day so maybe the combination of like the exercise and being outside and then jumping into this like 42 degree like freezing water just gave me this High almost um and it just it got me hooked I wanted to experience that feeling again and so I just continued going hiking um not sure that I've ever matched that specific feeling but I've come close for sure yeah and did you start hiking like.
Tayson: Weekly after that or yeah okay as often.
Franziska: As I could I would peruse my guidebooks and just like make a list of all the hikes I wanted to do and I would just get out as often as I could yeah.
Tayson: Yeah um you mentioned guidebooks I um I spent a little bit of time on your website and that seems to be something that that you.
Franziska: Put together as well is that correct yes yep yep I've always wanted to be an author of some sort um my dad is an author my grandpa's an author so kind of runs in the family and so as a little child I knew I wanted to write books of some sort didn't know what kind of books I wanted to write and then when I had been doing the website for a couple of years I was like oh why not write hiking God books as well as the website so um I put my first book together um 2019 I think it was published 20 end of 2018 it was published um and then I published another one in 2020 and so forth yeah.
Tayson: So um these guidebooks tell me a little bit about them like I'll be honest like I I don't know how many guidebooks I have but it's it's not many you know I don't know that I've spent a lot of time in guidebooks um so like you get a guidebook like what's the fascinating thing to you about a guidebook is it The Insider knowledge or like are you talking like pamphlets are you talking like.
Franziska: Um I have one right here I can show you yeah so it's like you know it's like wow you know and they're all kind of like this they all have like a similar um format but yeah I mean like this one is 245 pages so wow um I guess I I got started in hiking um perusing the guidebooks um this was what 2014 so um like things like all Trails didn't exist like all these hiking apps and numerous websites that we can peruse now didn't really exist um and so I just had some old guy books that my husband had laying around and I just picked them up and looked at them and um I guess I like the way things are described in the guidebook it's really really detailed description of the trail um.
Franziska: The Flora and you know what what things you're gonna see what types of trees you're walking through um the names of the mountains that you might be seeing uh you know at the peak or the upcoming Viewpoint um there's just a lot of information in like like two pages and you can carry it with you when you go hiking if you want to um so just having that resource um was beneficial to me and so then I got started with the website and I found that a lot of people also wanted something tangible and not just hey it's on the website but what are you gonna do with that if you're out backpacking or on the trail or something so um I decided to put together the guidebooks.
Tayson: I I think that's there's some real value in that so I I have looked at like a few Guy books and stuff and um my problem is I'm going like everywhere right so like your your books are are uh like 52 hikes in Oregon I think was the title of that one right right for 52 weeks and yeah um so oftentimes I get like too spread out I'm like I need one hike in order for this day and so then I get onto these online tools yeah and they really can they like overwhelm you with information and underwhelm you with detail I guess this is a way to say that where yeah you can find five million Trails but you're like oh which one is good and then you try to like dig deeper.
Franziska: And you just get lost right exactly so.
Tayson: So in your books I mean I think that that's probably a big factor of it but like is there anything that you specifically feel like you do different or unique in in like your guides.
Franziska: Um yeah so mine are I would say very themed um besides the 52 hikes for 52 weeks this one I think is unique just because it takes you um through the year uh Oregon has such different seasons a lot of people really only hike during the summer and are kind of lost at what to do you know in the spring winter and you know a fall is kind of nice too but the spring and the winter is kind of when people have trouble finding places to hike so this book really just like takes you through the entire year starts at week one and it's like the perfect hike for that week of the year and takes you through the year if you want to do it that way and then my other two books um. They're themed so it's um uh Oregon's best views because I love Viewpoint hikes I love you know climbing up to that Viewpoint seeing the views it's just some of my favorite hiking.
Tayson: Since you're six you've been you've been summoning so you're addicted at that point I want the views give me the views.
Franziska: And then um Lakes of the Cascades is my most recent book and it's all Lake hikes so it's pretty themed um so if you if you love the views you know pick up the views book if you love The the Lakes the Lakes one has a lot of like backpacking options as well um just because a lot of the lake hikes here are great for backpacking so yeah and then I guess something unique about my books is um so I have like colored topographical maps and then um in the corner there's a QR code on the map that you can scan with your phone and so then you have the map on your phone and you don't have to take the book with you so I have not seen that in any other guidebook so. I think that's pretty unique yeah yeah that's.
Tayson: Super handy for sure because yeah I've I kind of care about what stuff weighs a little bit it's kind of my job exactly and uh books are pretty heavy I uh I know whenever I go like like traveling traveling like on an airplane I love to bring a book and I'm like yeah between my laptop and the book those things are so heavy I don't know why I do this too though but yeah I haven't gone on to like the e-reader system I can't do like a camera read on my phone well in that way if you have the map on.
Franziska: Your phone you can zoom in and out too because sometimes in the book If I you know have the whole map the elevation lines can be really small and hard to see so this way you can zoom in and actually see a lot of detail as well well so yeah yeah now that for sure.
Tayson: Makes sense 52 hikes in 52 weeks kind of sounds like like your own journey through a year like is that like your first year back of hiking it's like you just like researched 52 hikes and did that or is that like a culmination of just years it was a culmination for sure.
Franziska: Um I came up with the idea because so many people were doing what's known as the 52 hike Challenge and I was like why not kind of make a a book kind of based on that just because it's such a popular Challenge and people love doing it um yeah so I just kind of took years of going hiking in different seasons and kind of picking the best of of each season and month and whatnot.
Tayson: So you've man I don't know if I started in the beginning here or just now like you've got so much hiking knowledge now but it wasn't always that way first you're kind of looking at guidebooks um what what do you like when you set out to to go find a trail now like what are you what are you looking for are you looking for something new something exciting are you looking for like just a specific um you know I'm I want to get to a Viewpoint today or I want to get to a lake today like what do you what are you doing like this I don't know if you're going out next week or something like that what are what are you going to do to figure out where you're gonna go um that's. A good question.
Franziska: Uh I well it depends on if I'm doing it for work or not I'll I would say 90 of my hiking is for work like research purposes um so it's either are you saying.
Tayson: YouTube's a job is it a job now you tell your parents that just well YouTube is such a small.
Franziska: Snippet of what I do that I actually don't consider myself a YouTuber whatsoever really that's interesting.
Tayson: I've been doing it for a long time and have a good size following so yeah but the guidebooks is home to you yeah.
Franziska: The website and the and the books is kind of where I would like to concentrate my time um but YouTube kind of pays the bills as well so I can't really so so now that.
Tayson: This is all about to you yeah yeah now this has all worked to you is it is it still enjoyable um 90 you said of your trips or our work.
Franziska: I would say 90 our work uh yes it's enjoyable it can get I would say especially in the summer months it can get to be a lot um there's just a lot of traveling and so I look forward to a little bit of downtime in the winter but um but I know that summer here is just it's so short that I know like come November December I'll be like wishing I was out on the trail so I try to think about that when I'm getting overwhelmed um but yeah if I'm just going out for fun hiking I would say I look for it depends on the season if it's like winter time I really love going to the coast where it's like foggy and Moody and just beautiful lush green and then the ocean it's. Just gorgeous here um if it's summertime I I love wildflowers and Views so if it's not um if there's no wild fire smoke or something you know I'll go for because.
Tayson: You gotta deal with that um and then I'll look for like a.
Franziska: Wildflower Meadow hike I love that kind of thing so.
Tayson: Gotcha gotcha yeah that's a big if anymore there's been so much smoke I was I was just in Montana last week and uh it was it was pretty bad it was it was wild so um and it's kind of been that way like I was at the Montana last summer kind of the same thing it's just such a pattern now that's yeah it's it's rough but um yeah on your website you've I spent some time you know going through that I like the Wildflower section I thought that was really unique so um kudos to that that's really um it shows the detail I guess that you like to go into in all of this which I think is is really cool but um so I want to back up just for a second and maybe.
Tayson: Just like it's I I was watching some of your your videos right and um you talk about gear right and you talk a little bit about like you kind of do like some Vlogs where you kind of take people through the trails that you're doing and stuff um do you have much out there that you've talked about just like your experience with the outdoors or like how it's impacted your life or or anything like that that you ever talk about on YouTube specifically.
Franziska: Um I go into more details about stuff like that on like my q a videos um but generally no generally I stick to like I lately I've been really loving just not doing the Vlogs but doing just Scenic trip videos where I just pair the beautiful scenery with some nice music those are my favorite they definitely don't get watched much but these are my favorite videos to make and film um and then yeah the gear videos of course are the most popular on YouTube yeah.
Tayson: Um so maybe I'm trying to figure out how to how to best ask you this but I'd love to hear more I guess on just like doing YouTube doing these guidebooks the underlying theme Here is that you'd like to get people Outdoors that you want to help people get outdoors and have a personal experience out there a good experience out there what do you think drives you to to do that like what are you hoping to share or give people oh.
Franziska: That's a deep question um so the whole reason behind why I started hike Orion like the website was because I was perusing these old guide books um I wanted more detail as far as like driving directions what does the trailhead look like I feel like because I was doing a lot of these things solo I feel like as a solo female traveler having those like knowing what the trailhead looks like knowing certain things it's just a safety thing did you have a lot of fear getting started back into hiking like meaning I say fear but really what I mean is just like unknowns that kind of created anxieties for you or or things like that to get back out there and that's for sure I've seen that like everywhere right and that's that's.
Tayson: One of the things that I love to talk about is trying to eliminate those unknowns but that was a big factor.
Franziska: Exactly yeah yeah exactly because I would Google these hikes that I found in my guidebook from I think the guidebook was published in like 1990 or 1989 or something like it was an older guide book and so I tried Googling some of these hikes couldn't find any information I wanted pictures I wanted you know things like that couldn't find anything and I I figured okay I can't be the only one having these problems I can't be the only one wanting more information and pictures and stuff like that knowing what I'm getting into and um so that's why I started the website with I mean I have so many pictures of every single hike so that people really know like this is what the trail head looks like this is what the actual Trail tread looks.
Franziska: Like these are kind you know the shoes you should wear because it's Rocky um that kind of thing there's a drop off cliff drop off on one side stuff like that is really important to know if you're hiking with kids or dogs or by yourself so um yeah having that kind of detail is important I think for safety um and then yeah it just kind of went from there and I started getting just really good feedback from people and I think that's mostly what fuels me is I get a lot of emails and you know messages on social media from people saying hey you saved my life hiking saved my life and I found hiking through you know your YouTube channel or through Googling whatever and I found your website and stuff like that so. Just just knowing that I can help people by getting them outside is really just everything to me.
Tayson: Yeah I don't know how you uh I mean how do you respond to that when someone you know emails you and says you know hiking saved my life right like it's a pretty.
Franziska: Big topic yeah oh yeah it's amazing for sure yeah.
Tayson: So so you get that like you you have this problem right of of you want to get out there you see this impact it's having on your life and then you you kind of realize this Gap right of just people need more detail it's it helps people get out there not everyone's a go-getter like you you know so some people they do want to wait and have all the details before they ever act right and so um so you're helping these people get out there through these guidebooks through your your website um which is really well done and then so like what's what's the progression of it I mean you've got a three guidebooks now is that correct so three guide books and then you continue to to update your website as well it seems. And so I mean is the future look like you know continuing to release guidebooks or or what's what's the next step in continuing to help people with this this deeper problem that you're hoping to.
Franziska: Help them with yeah I think I think guidebooks and just you know releasing more information on the website all the time um putting together something I started working on this summer was putting together like um PCT Trail guides like just for the Oregon section because a lot of people want to do the PCT or like a section of it but only have like long weekends so I decided to cut the Oregon section into like bite-sized pieces and so I'm gonna release little Trail guides for like you know just a long weekend little pieces that people can do um just make hiking and backpacking more palatable to just the everyday person you know not everyone can go ultra light not everyone can do a through hike and I I found especially through my YouTube Journey that.
Franziska: There's a lot of that kind of content out there and it's unless you're a through hiker it's not relatable um to the weekend Backpacker so I kind of was steering away from like doing the super ultra light and because there's so much of that content already out there so I'm more of an in-between like yes I try to go kind of lightweight you know I I don't carry all the things but I also make it so that it's like oh yeah this is what a weekend Backpacker would carry so.
Tayson: Okay you've caught my interest now so um I can't let you just get away with you know throwing that out there not a little more detail so so like what's your typical base weight do you measure your base weight.
Franziska: Um I used to I don't really anymore I just weigh the backpack before I head out the door.
Tayson: So if you're going for like a three-day weekend and no water like what do you think it weighs a three day weekend no water would be like.
Franziska: 22 pounds okay what's that what's like.
Tayson: Your favorite things that you take that an ultralight guy would never take oh my DSLR camera.
Franziska: Okay most YouTubers are not counting.
Tayson: That you know I guess so that's that is a chunk of weight for sure it's like two and a half pounds and easy to carry right I mean I don't have to protect it or keep it dry you know so what else I mean do you take like a I imagine you're taking a seat.
Franziska: No I don't have a chair I do carry my my um Therm-a-Rest z-light that I've cut in half so it's like half of the Z light and so it's like it sounds like an ultralight thing to do but it's a it's like a big sit pad so I love that it's super lightweight so right okay.
Tayson: What what I mean any other luxury items that people need to hear that are just well worth taken.
Franziska: Gosh I don't know oh boy I mean my tent is pretty heavy okay got like a big Four Season you know stove it's not four season but it's it's not an ultra light Tint by any means neither is my my sleeping bag or my sleeping pad.
Tayson: It just it all adds up you know yeah yeah oh so so speaking with this demographic you're you're really targeting you know long weekends getting them out on the PCT yeah um yeah I think that's it's it's interesting in a lot of ways we've kind of been talking and doing a lot of the same things here in the office but in a slightly different direction and maybe this is indicative of like uh some of the personalities around the office here but like instead of being like all right we got like a like a long weekend what should we do that fits a long weekend we're like was like been getting into things like Fast packing like how can we go farther in three days instead of like just plan like a regular typical three-day thing.
Tayson: And so right um that's that's like more of an extremist case I would say I mean after doing backpacking a couple or fast packing a couple Seasons now um there's some real pros and cons to it and there's definitely times where it's like I would love to be able to slow down and enjoy this particular section you know more right um we just did the The High Line we didn't fast pack The High Line but we were doing about 25 miles a day and uh it's just beautiful country but it's like man we went through it so fast today you know yeah type of thing so.
Franziska: Yeah that's interesting because I've actually been kind of doing the opposite where I used to be all about like getting in as many miles as I can per day and like doing so much mileage and I've really kind of slowed down I would say the past two years um and like this summer I really I only did one backpacking trip which was by myself so I just naturally hiked further but like when I go with my friends we never there was not a day we did over like 13 14 miles which is so unlike me usually you know we go 15 plus um but this this summer last summer we really just like slowed down wanted to enjoy the scenery and the lakes and camp and just have a little more relaxing time.
Tayson: Right right um are you riding on the trail or is that like purposeful like are you slowing down ever to ride on trail or I guess I mean you have to slow down to document things with your camera and stuff too but.
Franziska: I don't write I Journal when I'm on the trail um just so I remember the the daily things um but I don't like writes specifically for like my books or anything you know when I'm out there I I feel like I'm on vacation I try to be on vacation even though I'm working yes um yeah but I try to have a little bit of down time.
Tayson: Gotcha um I'm gonna I'm gonna lose the thought here off the switch gears um so well I was gonna ask this when you kind of mentioned that like there's a lot of content on ultra light backpacking or through hiking a lot of content right um it was interesting we went out to Trail Days in Damascus this year for the at and uh there's these people like that that would they were just so in tune with like the YouTubers right so this one lady came up and um she she had me sign her backpack right so but she had signatures all over and she started listing off all of these YouTubers how come I don't know these people like I feel like I'm in this Niche I don't know these people right and then I like.
Tayson: Talked to another guy and kind of the same conversation he's talking to me and then he's like have you seen this guy I knew this guy so I started to look some of them up and there's like a it seems like there's a ton of channels that are like maybe below 10 000 subscribers um up and coming yeah up and coming or they're or it's just so narrow and Niche focused that like maybe that's it for those particular um YouTubers I don't know but it really surprised me and and then I see guys like um you know I'm a friend of mine Dan Becker who's like really speaking to the masses and he's having phenomenal success and so I'm curious you know sometimes I think we I I sometimes I might create a lot of.
Tayson: Content or just around the office we might create a lot of content that's like focused on what we're focused on at the time and it can be really hard to like back up to being full in beginner mode again I guess you know like I don't know like why I would buy a down sleeping bag versus a synthetic sleep I don't know why I would like what's a freestanding tent you know what I mean like what is it instead of like the pros and cons it's like no just just what is it that's that one that would help me right now right so wow yeah did you did you ever like back up your content it kind of sounded like you might have to um broaden it I guess is how you said it more. Like and did you find that you got more comments or feedback when you when you changed or pivoted a little bit.
Franziska: Yeah I would say so when I started the channel in 2016 I would say the first two or three years I really did just a whole gamut of things so I did like backpacking for beginners series I did you know the the whole tent thing how to pick your sleep system I I really did it all um just to kind of get people into it and because I I know I was struggling with it when I restarted backpacking there was all this new gear and I just kind of like bought whatever I wasn't really doing a ton of research and then I went on a couple trips with that gear and I was like oh crap I should have done more research because there's all this stuff out here and this stuff is not working. For me so that's when I started doing more research and that's when I was like okay I can put this on YouTube because of my experience and I can hopefully help some people so they don't waste their money like I did.
Tayson: It's true it's really easy to uh to get the wrong stuff in the beginning I mean I think everyone has done it I don't know if it's like a rite of passage or if there's a way around it but um I definitely have done it and I feel like just about everyone has but yeah I mean I probably still do it I just don't look at it that way like meaning I I'm always like cycling out gear you know what I mean it doesn't really change right um it feels like it changes because like those first moves that you do are so.
Franziska: Substantial but exactly yeah and expensive like the tent the sleeping bag the sleeping pet I don't know how many sleeping pads I went through before I found my like okay this is perfect and even then it's like it's not perfect because it's actually so bulky that when I take um my outdoor vinyls backpack I can't actually fit all my stuff in there and so when I take that backpack I have to take my smaller sleeping pad so it's like it's yeah it changes like with every trip these are these are.
Tayson: Legitimate concerns that need to get addressed here um well let me let me ask you this we saw us recently on a trip and there was uh a new Backpacker on the trip with us and you know I was kind of talking about sleep and we we'd set him up pretty good like he had a good system good bad good good pad and you know at the end of the then the trip we I just asked him like you know so how did you sleep on this trip and he's like you know it was it was good it was better but not great not great you know and so like we're kind of like I was probing and eventually I was just like you know like you're not gonna sleep like your home on your. Mattress right like you're gonna Wake Up You're Gonna Roll Over you're gonna toss and turn like that's that's a hundred percent to be expected and if you're thinking it's.
Franziska: Gonna be like that you're gonna be.
Tayson: Disappointed every night right yeah and uh I I honestly feel like the light bulb kind of turned on for him like oh like I was expecting to be able to sleep like eight hours straight like I do at home in my bed right so I don't know if you uh also have that that had had to um say adjust to that in the beginning but I wonder how many new Backpackers do.
Franziska: Think that like right I think that they're gonna have like a six straight hour sleep cycle uh on a mat in the woods you know I'm lucky if I get four consecutive hours I mean that's like I got a good sleep yeah yeah honestly I probably sleep the best in the winter and that's just because the the sound is so deadening from the snow right like.
Tayson: Interesting I've never slept in the snow so I just don't know oh man well there's another one to add to the list for your next uh guidebook so so I saw a video that said that you did 77 hikes in one year right and it was like this quick recap um is that an average year for you to do 77 hikes.
Franziska: Yeah uh I would say that's that's yeah that's pretty average like 70 to 100 depending on if I'm doing book research.
Tayson: That year yeah okay yeah yeah so that's that's incredible I mean I mean you've just done hundreds of hikes all in Oregon correct like crazy are you gonna move one day are you gonna be like the biggest expert that ever lived in Oregon I would prefer not to.
Franziska: Move away from the state um uh I hike a lot in California too I really I love California so um yeah I do a lot in the Sierras um my dream is to hike the JMT so that's kind of in the works for a couple years from now and.
Tayson: Um what does it take to be able to hike that for someone who doesn't know like the process of getting onto the GMT the John Muir Trail for for those that might not even know what JMT is.
Franziska: I mean it's difficult it's hard it's it's not easy hiking so I would recommend training um and then is there a lottery system and yeah and the permit is pretty.
Tayson: Competitive you've got to get around yeah exactly how how difficult is it to get the permit do you know I don't know.
Franziska: Wait we haven't tried yet so our plan is to do it in 2024 so we have a little time to plan and we're also I'm gonna need a guidebook on that we're also going Southbound so I have a feeling that's going to better our chances for getting permits because most people prefer to go Northbound so um but we want to end at Mount Whitney and kind of end the trip that way I think that would be epic so we're gonna go southbound well.
Tayson: Um I think we're slightly different in the sense that you're like trying to promote hiking in Oregon and like hiking in your backyard and I'm like stay away Utah is full I was kidding don't come here so I do I do get a lot.
Franziska: Of backlash from other oregonians um I would say those are my most occurring negative comments on all social media platforms is you are ruining Oregon it's people like you that make this you know like just horrible things um yeah I get that a lot it's tough to be a Creator you can't I always say this you can't create anything without putting your neck out there to to get the backlash right especially in today's day of just keyboard Warriors and right people that'll say anything behind a computer screen or their phone screen um and I understand I'm having an impact on you know the the nature the Wilderness and whatnot and and you know I I do bring more people out onto the Trails um but I think what makes me feel okay about it is.
Franziska: That I'm doing it in a way that also promotes you know leave no trace and I'm you know I always try at least once a week on social media platforms to you know spread some kind of leave no Trace message educate you know make videos about it stuff like that so um I feel like that's the way to do it versus just being like hey go out there and and then what those people have no idea so.
Tayson: I think I think that's great that you're you're trying to spread the leave no Trace message as well it's honestly something that I'd like to see us get better at here Outdoor Vitals um but I I think I was also raised in that like uh from uh from from the background of like hey we've got our tiny little rural town you know I grew up in a very rural situation and um you know my all right I won't call anyone out but like my family members would be like they'd see like a California license plate up on the mountain and they'd be like mad about it you know what I mean like mad about it and then like um you know and it just kind of escalates from there and I think as I grew.
Tayson: Up I did a lot more traveling than most people in my family and saw a lot more I think broadened my horizons a little bit more and I think coming back it was just like and you can't think that way like that's an impossible way to think and what makes us different from being born in Utah versus California versus you know Malaysia versus United States whatever it is you know and so it's like um I really think that's a terrible way to go about it because there's just no matter like there's more people more people are getting out more people are exploring and and that's that's the right you know and so all we can really do is is try to embrace it and adapt right because nothing will ever stay the same forever and. So um yeah I think you're you're messaging behind that I think is is really good and like I said I think that's something that that we honestly need to to try to get better at is just the educational side of leaving no Trace as much as anything else um.
Franziska: Our land at all we really don't you know the people that are like I was born here and this is my back here it's it's really not it's belongs to the natives so it's like and before that you know what I mean it's like everyone is a blip in the bucket you know right so no one really has any say and yeah yeah we can all we can do is take care of it and you know enjoy it and take care of of the land as we are enjoying it.
Tayson: Totally yep I I totally agree and back to to hiking the trail backwards uh the GMT so we we did the you went to Highline Trail um and we did it I guess apparently we did it backwards this year so we started last year going east to west and we got um like 70 or 80 miles in and had to get off Trail due to snow and and conditions and so we went back this year and we're like well let's do it the other way and uh at first we like thought it was amazing we did like this this you know the first 50 60 miles was amazing and then we got to like the last 40 miles and um it's funny because we had people on trail telling us like like one guy was.
Tayson: Kind of grumpy and he's like you're doing it backwards we're just like all right like see ya you know and but like no one we'd ask people after a while we sort of ask people like have you seen anyone going down the trail this way and they're like no no one's doing it that direction and wow um anyways we got like the last 40 miles and the last like day and a half especially you like drop out of the High Country and you're just in the trees for like 30 plus miles and um we realized like there's a reason to do it the other way so I think your way of like ending at Mount Whitney seems pretty like you're ending it like this really high point in the trail and there's some benefit to.
Tayson: That the last day of our Trail was just nothing but like uh get down the trail get off the trail think about every piece of pizza and hamburger you could you could think of and um whereas if we'd done it the other way you would have ended in like some of the most beautiful scenery in Utah so wow um I think that's a good way good way to to plan that trip out so um all right let me we're we've turned up some time here so I don't want to go over on time but I do want to still ask a few uh questions here um when I say favorite backpacking trip what pops into your head.
Franziska: Uh I would say the three sisters Loop um is here in Central Oregon and it's a loop that circumnavigates the three sisters which are three volcanoes um hope faith and charity and they are spectacular mountains people Summit them but you can also go around them so we did 60 miles and when I think back on this trip I mean it has everything it has views it has creeks and rivers wildflowers lava it has like some snow fields like it really has everything and um when I think back on it there's very very few backpacking trips that I go on that are like perfect in the sense where like nothing goes wrong there's nothing like absolutely you know there's always something on a backpacking trip where you're like uh this was like absolutely perfect in every. Single way and so to this day it's like my favorite trip.
Tayson: You go back and do it or is it like.
Franziska: Sacred like you don't go back yeah I haven't done it since um yeah yeah I have no need to at this point it's just that was the perfect.
Tayson: Trip yeah now that sounds spectacular how many like how big of a trip is that it's like a like a two-night trip or two miles.
Franziska: Um I think we did four nights yeah it's.
Tayson: A pretty good Loop that's awesome um so let's flip that backwards then if that's kind of like your best trip ever like what's what's the opposite of that like what's the worst experience you've had.
Franziska: Um the worst backpacking trip was quite recently actually in July and it was I had picked a loop in the wallawa mountains and there's like a popular area of the wallawas and then a I guess not so much used area of the walawas I was not aware of this I thought the wallawas were just like so many trails and they get a ton of use and all of them are amazing not the case I we did a loop that before we even got to the trailhead we were on like plan C or D I mean that's how the trip started just trying to get to the trailhead was so hard and so it just went downhill from there this trail that was on a map like a physical map that I had um should never. Be on this map it was it basically was no longer a trail so much root finding people had not hiked here in years I'm assuming um yeah we came across just sketchy snow embankments and just downed trees all over the place and it was kind of a.
Tayson: Nightmare so yeah yeah that's that'll turn a trip fast um we've got some kind of rolling jokes around the office here that like we don't like to go through like any burned areas right um but I think I took Brigham through like one burn one time that was too much for him and now he he can't handle it but um yeah I know it it'll absolutely just derail plans and it adopts your energy when you have to climb over those downed trees or find a way around with the backpacking backpack it just kills you we had like a certain amount of mileage planned every single day and we just weren't gonna be able to do that just because of the time it was taking us to hike and just the energies app it was crazy.
Tayson: Yeah I had to I had to learn pretty early in life that like I grew up hiking a lot not on Trails just just hiking kind of wherever and and uh so when I started hiking on trails and there's like those opportunities where you're like well I could drop all the way down and climb all the way back up this or I could just cut across right here right and this isn't like really rural areas Utah but and every time I tried to like shortcut anything I'll do a mile here instead of two miles over here right it was the worst ideas I've ever had like every time because it does like every step you have to like watch where you're placing your foot you got to climb over this you gotta you know make. Your own switchbacks or or whatever it is and it it absolutely um stops energy and zaps you mentally and um sounds pretty bad I thought you're gonna say you like forgot something really important you know but no you.
Franziska: Know that's never happened to me thank God yeah yeah I almost no I did leave my house a couple years ago to do like a 40 mile Loop um I was already on the highway like just driving and somehow miraculously it popped in my head I had sprayed a bunch of gear with Permethrin and had left it hanging so I didn't take it it wasn't in my bag so like my puffy coat my backpacking Sun shirt um just like a bunch of things I had left hanging so that would have been really bad had I forgotten that would.
Tayson: Have felt good you know you would have had like five less pounds in your pack for a little bit and yeah I would have been freezing without the vital puffy coat um so I think one thing that just that like is still fascinating to me is just that you got started backpacking so early in life and maybe it's just top of mind for me and maybe it's just the theme that I've got going on for my life in my life but like going and summiting at six years old and doing some of these hikes at that age um it's really it's really unique and I'm curious if you have any insight on what made you even like want to go hiking at that age or care about hiking right or like right I mean we.
Tayson: Live one of the one of my drivers I would say is is I think we live in a day and age where there's so much technology there's so much grabbing our attention all the time and and you know that's that's just sucking Us in and then you know the Ying to that Ying the the the opposite there that you need is that disconnect getting outdoors and into nature and and being able to sit with with nothing happening and being able to to disconnect in that way and so as I see you know my own kids are getting older I've got a five-year-old and a two-year-old and uh excuse me she's three years old three-year-old and uh and I just see that and I'm like when I see these kids doing these things at such a.
Tayson: Young age and I take my boy out you know it's it's it's very interesting to put those pieces together and see what would really drive him to to want to do that more often you know like I know he loves to come and spend time with me and I'll usually try to like make it about going to a lake or something like that that he's going to care about but I'm curious if there's anything that you can remember that that stood out to you as a kid.
Franziska: Uh honestly what stands out is that I didn't really enjoy it when I was a kid.
Tayson: Oh no no.
Franziska: Um I think it was I mean I'm so happy that my dad like took me on these trips of course it was amazing the experiences I had um but I don't recall loving it um.
Tayson: Yeah I I really don't more his idea than than what you wanted to be doing maybe.
Franziska: Right right um of course it's always great when you like get to a lake and you can relax and swim and do fun things like that um but yeah I Don't Remember Loving being there at the moment I always liked it at the end like hey I did that that was cool um or you'd go back to school as a kid and like talk about your summer and it was like by far the coolest thing that anyone else did you know everyone would be like oh yeah I went to summer camp well I went to Austria and backpacked in the Alps right like that's pretty cool to brag about as a kid um but yeah at the time just it wasn't super my thing yeah until like high school or so that's kind of when. I started liking it more.
Tayson: Yeah yeah it's interesting how that just came full circle for you in such a way right yeah I know I kind of had some of those experiences too where um was until I got into college and and started to I don't know experience the outdoors how I wanted to experience them instead of being the youngest in a family and everyone else had ideas that were they were higher up the food chain you know what I mean and that that really made a difference for me when I was like no I'm gonna I'm gonna call the shots I'm gonna go where I wanna go and do it how I want to do it and then um man it was just like a light bulb I think clicked on and in my experience of how it how.
Tayson: It kind of shifted but um it also got a new perspective I guess on um how how much work my dad went through to plan these trip itineraries yeah because for me it was just like oh yeah we went on this trip looking back on it I mean we went for weeks at a time to these different places I like that's a lot of trip planning that I know now takes so much time and effort and research and wow yeah yeah and you gotta like plan I would feel like I'd need to plan even more if I'm taking kids right like right exactly so much more probably more contingency plans in place and things like that yeah that's that's really incredible um bucket list hike if you could go anywhere and hike.
Franziska: I would love to hike in New Zealand.
Tayson: List area to go to for sure I can't wait to do that yes yes that'll be that'll be awesome um biggest thing you've seen change in your backpacking gear biggest thing that has changed is it could be one piece of gear or like an overall theme.
Franziska: I mean I would say my my weight just because like when I first got into backpacking again you know from being a child to rebuying all the gear when like 2016 2017 um I mean I was hiking out with like 45 pounds on my back so now to go from that for your ultralight at 20. To me yeah to me that's like that's a huge thing so yeah I would say my weight just like knowing what's necessary but also feeling like I can be comfortable.
Tayson: Yeah why why has that mattered to you why have you kind of like changed that what's the biggest benefit you've seen to to that gear adaptation.
Franziska: Oh just I can hike longer miles it's not uncomfortable don't get blisters on my feet I mean when I had the 45 pounds on my back I got blisters like on the bottoms of my feet from like so much yeah and it's so I mean you can't walk it's so painful so yeah getting rid of that weight is amazing I can't imagine what a 12 pound base weight feels like that sounds incredible but I know personally I would not be comfortable um so I've kind of I meet in the middle somewhere.
Tayson: That's good that's good at least you've I mean you've got the experience to have dialed in your system right and it's really not about you know because even me right I mean I we make ultralight backpacking gear and whatnot but like there's guys who would look at my base weight and say that's way too heavy right but I think people judge way too harshly with sometimes that stuff because it matters where you're at matters heck I'm I'm six two like everything I own is long wide you know what I mean like it's it's I don't have the you know just different things like that instead of a 30 degree or a 50 degree setup I'm usually a 15 degree setup because it can freeze at any moment in time here we can get snowed off.
Tayson: A trail in August apparently and um so there's there's all those considerations so for me I'm typically sitting you know base weight between 10 and 12 pounds and I feel good about that but other guys be like well I'm down to seven you know so it's it's really finding what you're comfortable with and what you love and um so I hope people uh recognize that for for what it is but yeah I've I last thing here I've been told that you're writing a new book.
Franziska: Is that correct no I've Maybe started some research for a book down the line.
Tayson: Okay.
Franziska: What I am working on is just um not a full book but like a little ten hike pamphlet uh for like local towns so like 10 best hikes near Eugene 10 best hikes near bend that kind of thing so just like little pamphlets that people can pick up if they're you know traveling to that town or if they're tourists or something like that so because I know tourists aren't going to pick up a full guidebook so a year-long guidebook I don't know I have to kind of cater to a different audience if I want to cater to people traveling here.
Tayson: Right right um so where's the best place for people to find you do you want them to go check out your website that's I think it's hikeoregon.net right yeah.com is for sale for like fifteen thousand dollars fifteen thousand you're probably just driving that price up every year by not.
Franziska: Buying it you know for sure oh yeah because when I first started hike Oregon it was for sale I think for like 2500 and I should I should like looking back I should have bought it um but obviously I was just starting a website and you know um but yeah every year it gets more and more and they keep trying to call me do you want to buy this do you want I'm like no and I know no one else is gonna buy it so I know I'm safe like no one's ever gonna spend that money on hikeoregon.com so I know I'm.
Tayson: Safe and yeah it's obviously they're just trying to wait you out but all right go check out go check out our website um it's really well done I think there's a little bit of something for anyone on there um whether you want to just look at her you know her section on wildflowers different things to see out there whether it's to to pick up the guidebooks um I think you even had an option on there to have you plan an itinerary and Trail.
Franziska: For people that is correct that's.
Tayson: Something you're looking for you're either flying into Oregon or you're um you know you're from Oregon area and want a a very well planned itinerary you know it's I imagine you could put together a phenomenal itinerary but um hey go check out obviously we've talked a little bit too she's got a YouTube channel and Iota guests probably some other social media channels like on Instagram so go check her out we really appreciate you coming on um it's been my pleasure to to interview you and to get to know you a little bit better I know Derek has has talked with you for for quite a while and worked with you a little bit but um it's always nice to be able to learn a little bit more about your backstory and I'm sure that our.
Tayson: Listeners will will find some value in this so um one other thing just quickly to before we close up the podcast here for those of you that have not yet reviewed the podcast I really appreciate you guys going and reviewing that um obviously that helps us in developing what content helps us get seen and reviewed so if you enjoyed this content please go review it we did have a um five star iTunes review come in it just says love the Deep Dives enjoyed hearing how different pieces of gear have been developed fabricated and tested and filled you can definitely tell that OV puts a lot of effort uh to getting quality and results keep it up so I appreciate that uh review if you haven't reviewed the podcast go check it out but with that. We'll go ahead and close this up thanks again for being here make sure you're subscribed and we'll catch you guys on the next episode.
