… is another guy’s nice try. So says Ryan Jordan of BackpackingLight.com in a piece he calls “State of the Market for Backpacking Gear: Innovation, Broken Promises, and Hope.” Ryan’s trying to be a call-’em-like-he-sees-’em guy in deflating just about…
Author Archive for tmangan
What annoying hikers do
by tmangan • January 30, 2006 • 1 Comment
Here’s an impressive list at whiteblaze.net. A fave: Phony intellectuals, who try to impress others with their erudition, choice of reading matter, etc. Clue to someone being a jerk: If their trail name is that of a Great Western Philosopher,…
A rant about BMI
by tmangan • January 30, 2006 • 0 Comments
Joe Miller of the Raleigh News and Observer has been chronicling his fitness activities of late. The other day he had this choice complaint: Yesterday, I had a story in the paper about 10 things you could do to lead…
Enough URLs to make you hurl
by tmangan • January 30, 2006 • 0 Comments
We’re swimming in links today, so let’s get at ’em. Creatures featured Don’s Musings remarks upon a vist to a wolf sanctuary in Washington State. Don’t miss the howling video (dogs in our neighborhood do the same thing: one starts…
Gearing up for snow camping
by tmangan • January 29, 2006 • 0 Comments
No new pictures this weekend, I’m sorry to report. But I’ll have some doozies next weekend, when I make my first stab at snowshoeing and winter backpacking. I’ve had the itch to try snowshoeing because it’s so much like hiking.…
Sierra Trading Post hiking-tips site
by tmangan • January 27, 2006 • 0 Comments
This post is honor of the hundred bucks I saved buying gear from the Wyoming-based outdoors outlet. The retailer has partnered with a publisher of tips-related Web sites to amass a large trove of hiking tips. It even as a…
Follow the leader
by tmangan • January 27, 2006 • 1 Comment
Little Po, who is leading a winter-camping/peak-bagging mission to the Catskills this weekend, offers an indepth look at taking a group in to the woods. One of the questions she ask herself: how hard is the hike? The difficulty of…
Missing links
by tmangan • January 27, 2006 • 1 Comment
Stuff I missed over the past two days while I was shopping for gear (yeah, my new year’s resolution lasted a solid three weeks.). Treknologies points to chlorine-dioxide water-purification tablets from Katadyn, the filter company. Update: Jesse insists we check…
The hikingest, picture-takingest guy
in Mountain View, California
by tmangan • January 26, 2006 • 1 Comment
That honor has to go to John Fedak, who has a Web site full of photo albums from hikes around the Bay Area and the Sierra. John sent me an e-mail yesterday with a link to an awesome online gadget…