The truly inspired need no patterns, but sane owners of sewing machines often go to places like butterick.com for guidance (my mom sewed reams of stuff from those patterns). Today Melissa bumped into this page: Butterick Green Pepper, which has three pages of such gems as zip-leg pants, balaclavas, vests, socks and the all-important ear warmers (a must-have when the mercury’s hitting 100 today). You go first.
Yeah, I should’ve been out hiking yesterday but instead I spent the afternoon gawking at the clever creations at Make Faire, where wacky do-it-yourselfers get their ya-yas out every year at the San Mateo County Fairgrounds. While there’s a smattering of annoying Burning Man types using sculpture to make political points you already know by heart, quite a bit of it is frolicsome and zany, and much of it is downright ingenious and practical, like this no-frills fold-down camper, called the Quickup.
Here’s a peek through the back door, and the view from the front. The table folds down and a 7-foot by 4.5-foot bed folds out. It has a little sink, stove and nook for a porta-potty.
I head the guy who made it bragging that it stood up to 80-mph winds. His site’s here (more pictures of how it works are there, too).
This blog post has much more on the designer, Jay Baldwin, who is quite the pioneer on things like this.
More of my Maker Faire pictures are here.
The one thing I never, ever hike without is a wide-brimmed floppy hat. I need the brim to keep the glare out of my eyes and the top to keep my bald spot from getting scalded.
This is approximately the model I have, from Outdoor Research. It’s light, packable, reasonably rugged and easily laundered back into a condition worthy of leaving in the house.
OR also makes a “Seattle Sombrero” that I happen to own as well. The Seattle version is a Gore-Tex-lined rain hat that does kinda/sorta keep the head dry until you work up any kind of a sweat — which is inevitable because it doesn’t breathe worth a hoot. But it is handy to have around during the rainy season as long as you don’t do anything athletic.
I see a lot of backpackers wearing those hats that drape down to your shoulders — I can see how they’d be more practical than slathering on sunscreen constantly. I admire the folks who don’t mind spending big bucks for a cowboy hat they’re going to get all sweaty and nasty on the trail, but I guess I’m too practical to go that route. But they do look dashing.
There’s not a whole lot more to say about hats, I suppose, but whatever you’ve got, be sure to share with the group.
The number 7 is unlucky if you find it stamped in the bottom of your water bottle — it means the bottle contains may contain Bisphenol A, a component in lots of plastic bottles.
Nalgene insists there’s no evidence that it’s dangerous, but it’s pulling all BSP bottles because of customer requests (such as, “I request you stop selling bottles that cause my 6-year-old daughter to grow pubic hair”). The furor over BSP is mainly over evidence that it causes strange things to happen in lab rats … the chemicals industry insists humans are in the clear (despite our many ratlike qualities), but the industry kinda/sorta has a vested interest in believing that.
I rounded up some links to help y’all make up your minds:
One thing I noticed about some plastic bottles I use regularly: I filled them with a Gatorade-clone sports drink, and I still taste vague hints of that drink in my water months later. Other bottles have imparted a taste that has made me wonder how much of the plastics are getting into my water.
I’ll definitely be looking into the metal alternatives. Your thoughts are welcome.
UPDATE: This thread has lots of good info on SIGG and Klean Kanteen bottles.
UPDATE II: Gear Junkie Stephen Regenold notes metal bottles are very slippery compared to plastics.
I’m overcoming my almost genetic aversion to typing the word “panties” because, well, some jobs, though grim, must be done. A hiker at tribe.net’s Bay Area Hiking Group laments her undies aren’t getting it done when she hits the trail.
I am looking for a good pair a panties to wear when hiking… (After trekking several miles in pairs that just are not living up to my expectations, I am desperate… One’s undergarments should not be able to climb better than the person wearing them…)
The rest of the post treads a bit to close to the TMI zone, but anyway: all feedback is welcome.
(Some folks at REI like this model.)
Back in January I posted some advice about how to get your soggy shoes dry again. Since then it’s been an enduring fave of wet-footed googlers. Yesterday this comment showed up on the post:
I have an innovative product that will effectively dry wet shoes and boots. They’re called Stuffitts. They are 100% cedar-filled sachets that you simply stick in your shoes/boots when you’re not wearing them, and the product removes moisture and eliminates odor. I’m a triathlete and have only been selling this product for a few months– having attended race expos and placing a few ads (see Triathlete mag). Great response thus far. Give them a shot. www.stuffitts.com.
Normally I delete such posts without a thought, but on a lark I checked out the link. Turns out it’s this guy named Mark Huebner making these shoe inserts on his own as a solo start-up, so I figured “what the heck, another for the ’boutique manufacturer’ list” so I let it stand. This morning, Mike realized his transgression against the Blogger Code (which is: no spamming your commercial interests in a community-of-interest site) and sent me a note of apology so I could remove the post. I thought that was cool enough to leave the post in place.
Mike also asked if I’d be interested in testing his product, but I declined, because I’m not really all that interested in filling my site up with gear posts (which would make Two-Heel Drive commercially viable and I simply can’t have that). I did recommended he contact the folks at backpackgeartest.org, though.
If you’d like to test ‘em out, however, drop me a line and I’ll put you in contact with Mike.
A PR rep for Coughlan’s, the Canadian company that makes a bunch of little camping accessories you always see at the outdoor stores, has been trying to get me to post something about this gadget from their new spring lineup: an LED lantern. It works on the same principle as those little LED keyring spotlights, but instead of sending a spot of light, it broadcasts a sphere of it, supposedly about six feet wide. Weighs about an ounce, costs under $10 bucks.
Might be handy for reading, cooking after dark, attracting your favorite stinging insects.
(Coughlin’s has a remarkable product catalog, it’s like an object lesson in the potential of niche manufacturing and marketing.)
I’ve been putting off looking into the SPOT Satellite Messenger, but I noticed this morning that the company is based in Milpitas, so it seems like a local connection obliges me to say something.
First, how it works: It tracks your location via GPS signals from GlobalStar satellites. It differs from GPS devices, though, because it has limited talk-back capability: you can send three kinds of messages: 911 for life-in-danger situations, “help” for when you need some kind of assistance but there’s no need to call in the cavalry, and “I’m OK” to check in with folks back home. The unit weighs about seven ounces, costs $150 plus $100 a year to subscribe to the online tracking service. Works in a lot of places with no cell phone coverage. A few choice links:
For an extra $50, you can sign up for a real-time tracking service that sends your location to the FindMe website and integrates it into a Google map. Cool, perhaps, but it sucks battery life bigtime, which is a major issue because the unit requires lithium batteries (alkalines will work, but they drain very quickly).
Many reviewers noted that the unit does a solid job of receiving GPS signals from satellites in varied terrain, including under forest canopy, but sending messages is another matter altogether — you need clear line of sight to the sky (a 30 degree arc, according to the folks at Backpacker magazine, which lavished Editor’s Choice status on it). Transmission is far more iffy in, say, canyons, ravines, or deep forest canopy — in other words, the places hikers most prefer to hike.
Bottom line: can it save your fanny if you’re in a tough scrape? My take: It depends. At the very least it can send rescuers to the last place where you’ve successfully sent an “I’m OK” message. That narrows a search considerably. If you’re out backpacking for a week, a simple “I’m OK” message can help the folks back home sleep at night.
I’m undecided but leaning toward getting one since I don’t own a cellphone — though the fact that I’ve hiked every weekend for the last four years without incident makes me wonder if I’d ever use it. This is a new product in a new market, and many more will arrive in the next couple years, doubtless with far more sexy features. Of course none of them will be any use to you if you slide down a canyon and break both legs next weekend.
A blog called Source to Sea offers step-by-step guidance for making a pot cozy. A pot cozy saves fuel and creates and alternative to simmering when you’re using, say, a one-burn, one-setting alcohol stove, but I’d take one along even I had the snazziest new Jetboil just to keep my oatmeal warm on cold mornings, when the slightest breeze can turn everything tepid before I’m done eating.
If you’re not feeling industrious and don’t mind sending a few bucks to a boutique retailer, AntiGravity Gear will do the gluing for you and custom-fit one to your pot. Once you have one it’s a snap to reverse engineer it and figure out how to make your own to fit various pots.
My REI dividend (all $11 of it — see what a careful consumer I was last year?) was burning a hole in my pocket, and the added incentive of the annual 20 percent off sale was enough to get me off the couch in search of a new pair of hiking treads … turns out the the shoes I mentioned last month are no good for long distance on hard ground, though they’d be fine for standing in line 12 hours for Stones tickets.
I headed over to the new Mountain View REI with the idea of getting some over-the-ankle boots because all the discussion we had the other day convinced me boots are worth a look even if they are a bit heavier.
I had my sights set on the Montrail Torre — a really rugged boot with a rubber lining around the bottom — but I couldn’t find a size I liked; either they were too tight around the toes or too floppy. While I was trying on about a half-dozen of these things I overheard the shoe salesman telling some folks they really should avoid Gore-Tex and other so-called waterproofers if they planned to hike in temperatures over 80 degrees, which is about half the year in the Bay Area. Hearing that got me thinking the big tough Torres were overkill for 99 percent of the hikes I go on.
I went back to the salesman and explained as much; he disappeared into the back and showed up several minutes later with a shoe I hadn’t asked for: the Keen Targhee Mid II. These shoes look a bit odd because the toes are almost square, but the fit is superb: no rubbing on the sides, nice arch support, just-right cushion. Also: EVent, which is supposed to be more breathable than Gore-Tex. Note: my normal size is 9 EEE; these were a 10.5 regular. I did the standard two laps around the store to check the fit and the clambering over the fake rocks. It took me at least an hour, and I was fortunate that the salesman seemed to understand the shape of my feet.
Take-away lessons: hold out for the right fit, no matter how long it takes; keep an ear out for useful information; and go on a weekday when the crowds are small and the most veteran sales people are working — they’re the ones who have the “don’t wear these in the tropics” tips you might not get from the college kids working nights and weekends.
One of the nice things about REI — which almost makes up for the high brand-name prices — is that they take back just about anything if you don’t like it. Much less chance of buyer’s remorse. I’m no longer moved by the dividend deal; these days I pride myself on keeping it small, because there are almost always better prices somewhere else and besides, we should throw at least some of our money at home-grown retailers.
Two-Heel Drive is updated most days with news, commentary and links documenting the experience of hiking in the the hills, forests and coastline near San Francisco Bay and Silicon Valley in Northern California. I also write the twice-monthly Hikes column in the Eye section of the San Jose Mercury News.