T-Minus 52 hours and counting

Good evening friends. I apologize for the delay in posting but again, life gets in the way. This is just a quick note before I go on a trip this weekend to the Cranberry Wilderness in Pocahontas County, West Virginia. I'm planning to hike for four days and I cannot be more excited.

I was reflecting upon all of the gear I have acquired in the past two years and I have come to realize that I am married to a wonderful woman.  She has patiently walked around backpacking and outdoor stores from Cleveland, Ohio to Wheeling, West Virginia while I spent our money on my hobby.  It's hard to find a good understanding woman and I feel blessed to have her.

So, gear. Yes, I have updated nearly all of the gear I had before I returned to backpacking in 2009. My sleeping bag and tent are the only items I have not replaced.

There's something about 'going lighter' that is sort of infectious. I suppose it is similar to buying a new television. You think about getting a new, bigger television, you don't really need one, but you start looking. You find an advertisement at some electronics store for a really good price that you could afford, say $800. Hey, that's not bad, you can afford that. So you buy the new Hi-Def 3D Super View television get it home and realize that your old DVD player and DVD collection just doesn't do the new screen justice. So you go out and upgrade to a BlueRay or whatever is newest. Then, of course you need new movies.  So you start watching your new movies in your new player on your new television and you realize that the old stereo receiver isn't Dolby compatible and all of your movies feature surround sound, so you upgrade the receiver... and on and on.

This is how an $800 deal on a new television ends up costing you $10,000. Deciding to go lighter with your equipment is very similar.

So I'll soon set out on a backpacking trip with a new backpack, a hydration bladder, GPS, new sleeping pad, new boots... the list keeps going.

The loop I'm taking is similar to the loop found on MidAtlanticHikes.com for the Cranberry. I modified it a bit and depending upon trail and weather conditions when we get there, I may modify it some more. Of course I'll be taking along the old digital camera and I will try to take as many pictures as possible to incorporate into a trail report when I get back.

I hope you all have a good Memorial Day weekend, I know I plan on it! Talk to you soon.

~Occasional Hyker

Updating My Gear and Transitioning from Traditional Thought.

I recently bought a new backpack. I didn't 'intend' to buy a new one but I had been browsing backpacks on Campmor.com ( which is exactly opposite what someone who is not 'intending' to buy a new backpack should be doing ) and they had a great deal on a 60 liter pack. I made another mistake by posting on my Facebook wall about this great deal I had found. One of my friends saw my post and we ended up colluding to buy two packs at the same time to save on shipping costs. So much for intentions.

So I now have a new 60L internal frame pack. It is a Jansport Big Bear 63. ( If you notice, Jansport has the Big Bear 83 pictured on this webpage instead of the 63. It is fairly similar in design. ) I will admit, even though this was on sale for an excellent price, I was hesitant about this purchase.

I consider myself an experienced backpacker.  ( Note: Experienced. Nothing close to expert though. )  I have carried a pack on countless hikes through the woods of Western PA and Southern Ohio. I have hiked part of the Northville-Placid Trail, the part through the Adirondack High Peaks, and I've done a section of the River-to-River Trail in southern Illinois. I first started backpacking as a Boy Scout and my first backpack was a Jansport which I still have. This is possibly why, to me, Jansport is an "entry brand" and I believe this is why I had some trepidation about this new backpack.

Please continue reading after the jump!

"Fun with Gear" or "Playing with your Junk"

Ok, the title is a bit 'tongue in cheek', to be sure, but I find tinkering with my backpacking gear very enjoyable. There is something about taking your gear out of storage, making sure everything is clean and in working order, then putting it all together into a better configuration than was before which I find extremely satisfying.

This past weekend I did a bit of pack maintenance. I removed the pack from the frame (yes, I'm still using an ancient external frame pack) and I used some silicone water repellant spray on the nylon bag. After the bag dried, I put it back on the frame, then went through my gear and refined it, cutting out whatever weight I could. (When you have a pack that weighs in at 10# empty, it helps to have a light gear list.)

Please continue reading after the jump

Backpacking Gear - An Introduction

Like all popular hobbies, backpacking has a whole industry grown up around it. Gone are the days of handmade wooden frame packs and old army surplus rucksacks (though the latter are seeing a revival). Today the avid backpacker has much more variety to choose from. Internal or external frame (if you can find one)? Boots or trail shoes? Trail sandals?!? Titanium or aluminum? Backpacking Espresso maker?!?!

There are so many options out there with respect to gear and so much marketing involved muddling the waters that it is near impossible, in my opinion, to find the "right" gear to have. I have read articles, endless forum threads, countless blogs and the one overriding conclusion that I have come to with regard to finding the "right" gear to have is: There is no "right" gear to have, there is only the "right" gear for you.