G.A.D.: Gear Aquisition Disorder. Symptoms: owning multiple examples of a single type of gear. If you have more than three backpacks or four pairs of ourtdoor-related footwear, or tend to stop by REI because it’s, you know, on the way,…
Hiking
A thruhiker’s hunger
by tmangan • February 16, 2006 • 2 Comments
From a San Francisco Chronicle article on a seven-time Pacific Crest Trail thruhiker. One weight-saving move came from rejecting a stove. He says he missed it only if the weather turned cold, and finding snowmelt water became a problem. For…
Take good care of your tootsies
by tmangan • February 15, 2006 • 3 Comments
Simplehiker posts 11 essentials for the health of your feet. 7. Wear Gaiters Gaiters can be a love hate relationship with hikers. Most people will say only use them in wet weather or poor terrain. But the author of this…
Stuff they left out of the guidebooks
by tmangan • February 15, 2006 • 3 Comments
This thread at Whiteblaze has a long list of tips from people who spend weeks and months on the trail. On packing tents: There are two thoughts on packing tents when breaking camp. One, fold and roll as the factory…
Land of the impulse buys
by tmangan • February 14, 2006 • 0 Comments
Steepandcheep.com has a new deal every 24 hours. Each product has a discussion thread for folks to weigh the merits of the doo-dad in question. It has an RSS feed so you can check it every day. Worth a look…
More on hiking poles
by tmangan • February 13, 2006 • 3 Comments
Here’s another article on the benefits of hiking with a pair of poles. It covers all the basics at the beginning but gets into an area we don’t hear much about in the U.S.: Nordic walking, which is all the…
Breaking in some new shoes
by tmangan • February 7, 2006 • 0 Comments
This morning I’m heading out to the dirt/mud at the park down the road in new Montrail trail-runners I picked up on sale at Backcountryoutlet.com. Somebody recommended them for snowshoeing because they come with ankle-high rubber gaiters and are sewn…
Why don’t we do it in the snow
by tmangan • February 6, 2006 • 0 Comments
Impressions of snow camping: Snow is wetter than it looks: It’s like being in a rainforest where the rain doesn’t go away — it just hangs around in another form. All that beautiful flaked goodness adorning trees and hilltops is…
Bagging rights: Synthetic vs. down
by tmangan • February 3, 2006 • 3 Comments
You get a sense of Mac-vs-PC, Pepsi-vs-Coke, Israelis-vs-Palestinians in the great debate about whether the best sleeping bag should have down or synthetic fill. This thread at Whiteblaze.net covers the controversy in pretty good detail. If you listened to the…