New Gear

Thursday of last week I went to REI to pick up some new shorts and a titanium cooking pot. Both had been on sale, so it was a good deal.

While at REI, I picked up an MSR nano pack towel because I felt I needed it, and browsed the sale racks in the store. I found a button down shirt that I can use at work for those rare days that a customer comes, and a The North Face t-shirt that was only about $20 instead of $30. The regular cotton t-shirts I wear have proven to be hot and sweaty. The North Face t-shirt was horrendously over priced, even on sale, but the promise of superior materials lured me into it. It also had the benefit that the shirt was cut so that there wasn't a seam on the shoulder, which should make it more comfortable to wear with a pack.

I wore the t-shirt yesterday for Copper Canyon, and it was well worth it. I wasn't sweaty, I felt cooler, and it was more comfortable. I still think it is horrendously overpriced for what it is, but I don't regret buying it. I may even buy another, and pay full price if I can't get it on sale.

I also put the nano pack towel to use. This new towel is vast improvement over the pack towels I owned in the 1990s. I bought it to clip to my shoulder straps so that I could use it to wipe sweat off my face. I've had trouble with sweat dripping into my sunglasses, and my only recourse had been to squeegee my face off with my fingers, which isn't effective. The new pack towel worked well. I might need a slightly bigger one though.