Best hikes, treks, tramps in the world.
I’m taking my new hiking boots to be “stretched”. Which of these foot problems is motivating my radical action (which might shorten the life of my expensive footwear)?
Answer? ….
Bunions. Mine are not genetic, rather built up after injuries.
Bunion pain is my biggest problem as a hiker. Any advice for me? (Leave a comment below.)
If you suffer from chaffing, check out this product. Runner Trish Monks swears by it.
I have used Bodyglide Skin Formula on my lower back (when I wear my water belt over long distances it prevents my skin being worn away), on my feet to help prevent blisters, on my inner thighs to prevent skin on skin chafing and on my chest around where my sports bra rubs sometimes. It works miracles, and has prevented many a painful abrasion ‘injury’ – unfortunately it’s only when I forget to put it on, that I realise just how great it is!
… I have only had only moderate success with it protecting my feet.
We love the new Exped mattresses despite the one with the leaky valve that failed on Mt. Whitney last summer.
One of our few (minor) complaints, they’ve answered:
Exped’s down-filled mattresses are ingenious, but they took so long to inflate that you always end up just calling it good enough when you’re halfway done.
Now Exped is making a pillow filled with open cell foam that makes blowing up your sleeping pad a lot easier. From this angle the pillow looks like it would be as comfy as sleeping on a piece of firewood, but you’ll have to trust me that it’s not too bad.
Written by Rocky Thompson
I’ve been looking for a light-weight voice recorder for use on the trail. Ideally it would be built into my camera tagging each photo with “voice notes”. (I have done this with video, of course.)
But since I carry an MP3 player anyway (for podcasts and books on tape) the Griffin iTalk might be worth a try. It works with an Apple 2 GB iPod Nano – Amazon.
iTalk Pro is perfect for capturing how the world around you really sounds.
Whether you’re taking lecture notes, conducting an interview, or just want to bring the sounds of the great outdoors indoors, your only limitations are your iPod’s capacity, and your own imagination.
iTalk’s twin built-in mics record directly to your iPod, and adjustable gain settings give you control over the volume. You can even use external microphones with iTalk Pro.
Griffin Technology: iTalk Pro – Stereo Mic for iPod – Griffin
Griffin Technology 4020-TALK iTalk Voice Recorder for iPod – Amazon
My legs ached with cold, like a swarm of angry hornets had stung me with freezing venom they throbbed. Jen sobbed as our weary group of five sloshed through the turbid Paria River on the start of day 3. I stretched a nervous hand behind to feel how much the holes abraded by the red sandstone in my pack had grown since the day before. I swallowed hard when I felt my gear poking through.
“Once the sun gets into the canyon it is going to be a beautiful day,” I said almost convincingly. In truth, it was the lowest point of our five-day hike in the S. Utah and N. Arizona Paria Wilderness.
Paria – VenturingOutdoors.com
Wow.
Now this is a trip report!
Certainly the best we’ve seen for Paria Canyon.
They detail problems with JetBoil stoves. and critique the rest of their gear. A new GoLite Infinity pack (made of lightweight silicone impregnated fabric) get holes in it the first day from rubbing against canyon walls and has a large tear by the end of the hike.
Paul Grube’s Buckskin and Paria trip report is a fascinating, honest look at the challenges and rewards of canyon hiking.
We’ve linked to the report in a number of places from Paria Canyon – on besthike.
Hard to believe, but here’s a food bag a bear cannot penetrate. Amazing.
No worries at all about rodents and other pesky varmints.
Ursack – bear-resistant containers
A 10.5 litre Ursack is now in stock in a gear shop in my town for about US$65. Price seems a tad steep. But I’ll likely get one before my next major hike. This is a big improvement over the sturdy kayak bag I use now to hold food.
You can also buy an aluminum liner for extra protection, but the weight is prohibitive, I feel. (For example, “the Ursack TKO 2.0 weighs 6.2 ounces. The aluminum liner adds 14.2 ounces.”)
The Ursack alone sounds like it will turn away all but the most persistent bear.
It’s tiny (although bigger than a PDA), it looks great for expedition blogging. Connect it up to a solar panel and a satphone/3G/GPRS/WiFi connection and you’re away. I like it and I like it allot!
There are no firm details yet other than it having a finger print reader for security.
Geared Up includes a video clip of how it works.
Team Geared Up Blog » Expedition Gadget: The Folding Laptop
For the second time in two days I hear raves for Oregon Scientific products.
Very nice new gadget for the holidays. The ATC2K is waterproof to 3 meters, shock resistant, and easily clips to your helmet, head or handlebars via an accessory kit made for action sports. So you can surf with this. Ski with it. Climb with it. Whatever, and you don’t have to worry about sweat, rain, snow, or water. It takes full color digital video in 640 X 480 VGA at 30 frames per second, which is fine for the web, because really where does anyone watch video any more? And at $130 retail …, it’s good value, especially compared to the only competitor it has, the Samsung SC-X205L Sports Digital Camcorder.
Get Outdoors – Oregon Scientific ATC2K Waterproof Camcorder – Getoutdoors.com Outdoor Blog
Oregon Scientific ATC-1000 Hands-Free Video Action Camera – Play Hard, Record Everything!
Today, satellite phone manufacturer Globalstar just announced the GSP-1700, the company’s smallest satphone to date, weighing just 7.1oz (203gm) and 43 percent smaller by volume. In addition, this Qualcomm handset packs an EV-DO modem, so you can get high-speed data access from “virtually anywhere you can see sky,” according to the company’s website. The GSP-1700 also stays loaded for four hours of talk time and 36 hours of standby time on a single charge. We’re not sure on the price of this handset, but given that its predecessor, the GSP-1600 goes for $750 (without a service plan), it’s a safe bet that this one will go for at least that much when it’s released “in the coming months.”
Globalstar GSP-1700 satphone also loaded with EV-DO – Engadget
UPDATE: “Decathlon, manufacturer of the 2 Second tent … is shuttering its U.S. operations. They’ve also issued a product safety recall for all their 2006 tents due to extreme fire hazard.”
2 Second Tent Recalled U.S. Operations Shuttered – GetOutdoors.com
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original post – Oct. 11th, 2006
Years ago I saw one of these tents that accordion into a bundle.
It did not work at all.
But the latest generation from Quechua looks like the real deal: “when thrown in the air, it deploys into full form before reaching the ground.”
Repacking takes much longer.
(via Tech Blog – Top 10 Strangest Camping Gadgets)
photos on Flickr – Warren Long
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