A couple comments over at GoBlog reveal an interesting pissing match between light-backpacking visionary Ray Jardine and the founder of GoLite, who went to some length to put out some fires Jardine was spreading because the two guys had a…
Pacific Crest Trail, Through-hiking
A thruhiker’s tale
by tmangan • January 14, 2006 • 4 Comments
I’ve been thinking about picking a hiker at random at TrailJournals and just following him/her along as the trip progresses, with posts here grabbing snippets of journal entries. This morning I found an intriguing prospect: A guy named Eric Yakel,…
Backpacking
On doing it yourself
by tmangan • January 14, 2006 • 2 Comments
Must Be This Way laments the lack of lightweight backpacking gear sold in the UK. Back before there was Go Lite, people just made their own stuff. Heck, Ray Jardine built a business around it. I spent an hour or…
Blogs
Way-cool canyoneering video
by tmangan • January 14, 2006 • 0 Comments
UT Outdoors has a very nifty video of a slot-canyoneering trip near Lake Powell. Extra credit for the Jack Johnson soundtrack. (Not recommended for the highly claustrophobic.)
Blogs
Short and sweet blog roll
by tmangan • January 13, 2006 • 0 Comments
Sun’s a comin’ up, skies looking clear, which means I’m hiking this morning, but I plucked these notable links from the predawn gloom: Must Be This Way is a UK-based walking & trekking blog I found the other day. Latest…
Gear
Go not so Lite
by tmangan • January 12, 2006 • 3 Comments
GoLite seems to have had a big role in popularizing lightweight backpacking. Its frameless packs weigh next to nothing (pound and a half, max), which is inviting to all those who sleep under tarps and trim their sleeping pads to…
Hiking
Bare your naked sole
by tmangan • January 11, 2006 • 0 Comments
Here’s a whole site devoted to leaving your shoes behind.
Fitness
Shape up for that Big Hike
by tmangan • January 11, 2006 • 0 Comments
Backpacker magazine has three workout regimens for three kinds of hikes: a killer day hike, a weeklong trek and a mountain ascent. I suppose if you were into maximum efficiency you’d just train for the mountain ascent and you’d have…
Gear
Finding the cheap stuff
by tmangan • January 11, 2006 • 1 Comment
I’ve been tracking HikerDeals.com for the past couple weeks. I wanted to see if it was legit or some kind of automated spamblog. Seems to be on the level — the discounts are pretty good and the site commentary looks…