I spent a lot of money at REI today, but I stayed on my list, and pruned the list while I was there, so I did good. They didn't have the TNF jacket I wanted, but I tried on a very similar jacket. But since I like the Marmot, I probably won't order the TNF.
I now have a metal bowl and a metal plate and some metal utensils. No more plastic!
I bought some food to try eating. I plan to go camping for two nights starting May 20, so I can eat it then.
I bought the table I wanted after setting it up in the store and poking it.
I have a bug net for my hammock now.
I have a much wider collection of maps for New Mexico now.
I bought a few other sundry things as well.
And I went to Whole Foods after that and also stayed amazingly on list. They had the jarred sauce that Supermart stopped carrying, so I bought some of that off my list, and hey had buffalo tenderloin, so I bought that off the list. I suppose the chocolate covered cake bites were sort off list, since they weren't the desert I traditionally buy, but not much off list. They were sitting right next to the thing I meant to buy!
At the Salinas Pueblo Missions Visitor Center I bought a book on scenic drives in NM. It has a lot of good drives in it.
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Friday, April 29, 2016
Rain Jackets
My Goretex jacket still fits. I'd bought a smaller The North Face jacket though, not Goretex, and it doesn't really fit anymore. Surprisingly, it was just a size large. I was worried I was too fat to do the good stuff (high end brands) but TNF makes jackets all the way up to XXL in many cases. I can still zip up the size large, so an XXL should be plenty. But before I realized how small my jacket is, I'd noticed an online only sale for a Marmot Precip in XXXXL, and the price was good. Buying a gigantic jacket would leave me open to get ever fatter and still be waterproof! Realistically, since I knew I was going to REI tomorrow, I had the option to return it and only be out $10.99 for shipping. And while it looks gigantic, I kind of like the way it fits, and it has pit zips. I had been thinking I was going to buy a TNF Venture Tall in XL or XXL. Now I'm not sure I need it. The online reviews of the Marmot are often dismal because of how quickly it wears out the waterproof lining, but I live in New Mexico where rain honestly isn't much of an issue.
I also have my silnylon waterproof poncho which I really like because of how small and compact it is. I carry it with my backpack pretty much all the time every day.
I also have my silnylon waterproof poncho which I really like because of how small and compact it is. I carry it with my backpack pretty much all the time every day.
Sunday, April 24, 2016
GPS
I just went to get my GPS. I only found one though, I have two. The one I found, a Geko 201, I bought on March 7th 2005. I paid $117.99 for it. Amazon still has it for sale, with prime. They want $175.95 for it. When I bought the GPS it was the green version. The picture is still the same GPS, in the same color, but now it is yellow.
And it's a terrible GPS. At least for hiking. It isn't even that good for bicycling. It's a very low-accuracy GPS. I need to find my better GPS. But there is no telling where I put it or what I did with it. The last time I remember using it, it was in the back of Mandy's car, and that was years ago.
EDIT: and then you suddenly realize the good on is laying on the shelf in plain sight, and it's been there for a very long time.
It's a Garmin H, which I bought July 13th 2009. Based on that date, I bought it for this website! It still works despite not having been used in years. I paid $81.00 for it, and bought a $10.99 carrying case. The closest upgrade is the Garmin eTrex 10, which is $85.20, and the suggested carrying case is $10.29, but it's the same case I already have, so I can skip that.
But since it isn't broken, I'm not sure it is worth replacing.
And it's a terrible GPS. At least for hiking. It isn't even that good for bicycling. It's a very low-accuracy GPS. I need to find my better GPS. But there is no telling where I put it or what I did with it. The last time I remember using it, it was in the back of Mandy's car, and that was years ago.
EDIT: and then you suddenly realize the good on is laying on the shelf in plain sight, and it's been there for a very long time.
It's a Garmin H, which I bought July 13th 2009. Based on that date, I bought it for this website! It still works despite not having been used in years. I paid $81.00 for it, and bought a $10.99 carrying case. The closest upgrade is the Garmin eTrex 10, which is $85.20, and the suggested carrying case is $10.29, but it's the same case I already have, so I can skip that.
But since it isn't broken, I'm not sure it is worth replacing.
Vigil's Beef Jerky Co: Original
This is part of my plan to rethink my eating habits when in the wilderness. I'll be trying new products and seeing how I like them.
For yesterday's hike I tried out some "Vigil's Beef Jerky Co" original/salt beef jerky. One side of the package is labelled original, the other side is labelled salt. I suspect this is normal, as their other flavors are trendy modern flavors (green chile, teriyaki, etc), and salt is more traditional.
It was less than $9 for 85g of beef jerky. Ingredients were beef, salt, granulated garlic, and soy lecithin. This is real beef jerky, made of sliced dried beef, unlike most beef jerky which is some kind of moist beef paste pressed into sticks with lots of weird chemicals added. The only weird chemical here is soy lecithin, which is a bit mysterious as to why it is added. Perhaps to encourage the granulated garlic powder to stick to the beef.
Overall, I'm happy with it. It wasn't too salty, and tasted like beef.
For yesterday's hike I tried out some "Vigil's Beef Jerky Co" original/salt beef jerky. One side of the package is labelled original, the other side is labelled salt. I suspect this is normal, as their other flavors are trendy modern flavors (green chile, teriyaki, etc), and salt is more traditional.
It was less than $9 for 85g of beef jerky. Ingredients were beef, salt, granulated garlic, and soy lecithin. This is real beef jerky, made of sliced dried beef, unlike most beef jerky which is some kind of moist beef paste pressed into sticks with lots of weird chemicals added. The only weird chemical here is soy lecithin, which is a bit mysterious as to why it is added. Perhaps to encourage the granulated garlic powder to stick to the beef.
Overall, I'm happy with it. It wasn't too salty, and tasted like beef.
706 meter hike!
I went on a 706 meter solo hike yesterday. It was probably a little more than that, though not much. I wouldn't add more than 10 meters to my number for the fudge factor.
It was slow going, and by going slow I didn't feel like I brutalized myself too much. But by the time I made it back home I was quite sore. But I felt better than I usually do the first time I try to overexert myself after a long hiatus. This morning I felt quite sore getting out of bed, but it wasn't bad. I guess the extra walking I've been putting in on flat ground has been paying off.
I'm not entirely sure 706 meters is right though. I have this nagging suspicion that it's only 353 meters. Back in the 1990s the Socorro SAR team measured hikes in elevation. My number of 706 is assuming that elevation lost counts as much as elevation gained. The hike took a little over 10000 steps, so it was a respectable bit of walking, even if coming down didn't count.
I hammocked at the top, of course. I also tried stringing my hammock tightly, to see how it worked. I think I could sleep in a tight hammock. Saturday I plan to invest in some kind of mosquito protection for my hammock.
I also tried some store bought beef jerky. I'll make a separate post about that though.
It was slow going, and by going slow I didn't feel like I brutalized myself too much. But by the time I made it back home I was quite sore. But I felt better than I usually do the first time I try to overexert myself after a long hiatus. This morning I felt quite sore getting out of bed, but it wasn't bad. I guess the extra walking I've been putting in on flat ground has been paying off.
I'm not entirely sure 706 meters is right though. I have this nagging suspicion that it's only 353 meters. Back in the 1990s the Socorro SAR team measured hikes in elevation. My number of 706 is assuming that elevation lost counts as much as elevation gained. The hike took a little over 10000 steps, so it was a respectable bit of walking, even if coming down didn't count.
I hammocked at the top, of course. I also tried stringing my hammock tightly, to see how it worked. I think I could sleep in a tight hammock. Saturday I plan to invest in some kind of mosquito protection for my hammock.
I also tried some store bought beef jerky. I'll make a separate post about that though.
Friday, April 22, 2016
Wish List
A few places I need to find and visit.
Bridal View Falls in Lincoln National Forest near Cloudcroft.
Bluff Springs in Lincoln National Forest
Bridal View Falls in Lincoln National Forest near Cloudcroft.
Bluff Springs in Lincoln National Forest
Another frequent update!
I made my pedometer tracker update a png on the World Wide Web! Now I can view it in a meaningful manner instead of looking at a column of two numbers.
I need to start getting in shape now if I plan to survive my trip on August 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Tomorrow I think I'll do my traditional first-hike-after-being-lazy: mesa trail. It's a simple plan. I hike up it, I hammock there, I hike down. Not too long, not too hard, and it's very nice.
I need rethink how I do trail food. My views on food have changed a lot since I set my ways. I used to think packets of soup with icky sauce were good. Now I make it a rule not to eat dehydrated milk, and that's in lots of them. The Mountain House company has a lot of meals that look semi edible. I don't think anything with "modified" or "isolate" is still food, but I haven't decided to ban those things from my diet.
With my bicycle I bought Klean Kanteen stainless steel bottles. I think I really like them. I have small bike bottles, normal bike bottles, and a pair of 64oz growler type bottles. I think I should have bought the more-expensive and harder to find wide mouth bottles though. They also make an insulated version, which actually seems like an easy way to transport chilled food. Hot dogs would fit through the opening! But if I really want to do that, they make food canisters just for that. A little expensive, but packing a food canisters with sausages and freezing them would likely lead to being able to eat still-refrigerated sausages several days into a trip. Or ice cream. That would be awesome.
I plan to hit REI on the 30th, because I'll have a paycheck then. I'll buy a little bit of camping gear. I want a table. Cooking on the ground is traditional, but a table would be a luxury. The table would be for car camping. Car camping is fun. I recently replaced my Coleman green camp stove that disappeared so long ago. I replaced my camp chair that I broke as well. I still have my second Therm-A-Rest chair, and three pads from them, but for car camping a real chair seems nice. It will go with the table.
I'm going to investigate mosquito netting for my hammock. There is a hammock that is well reviewed which has netting attached, but you can't lay in it sideways to dangle your feet out. Another option is a giant net that drapes over the hammock. I might end up with both. One seems better for car camping and the other for backpacking.
I think I'll replace my lexan cutlery with some of this modern metal stuff. There is an aluminum set I like the looks of, or a simple steel set as well. There is also the want of a new bowl. My current bowl is a plastic one that someone stole from the 90s. They make titanium and stainless steel bowls.
I think I need new matches. I bought my matches, a big box, back in the early 1990s. They've lived in film cannisters since then. While still lightable, they don't seem as potent as they once did. I'll also try a real match holder that is long enough for big matches, instead of a film cannister. I seem to remember all the matches I have stored I had to manually cut down to film cannister size.
I want a duffle bag. Another really, I have two. One giant one and one normal sized one. A spare would be nice.
I found a giant waterproof jacket at REI in an online-only deal. It's a 4x. The reviews tell me it will wear out quickly, but it doesn't rain much, so I doubt I'll wear it much. So it will work while I try to be smaller.
I want to camp in that meadow past Devil's Elbow someday. That should be a plan.
I need to start getting in shape now if I plan to survive my trip on August 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Tomorrow I think I'll do my traditional first-hike-after-being-lazy: mesa trail. It's a simple plan. I hike up it, I hammock there, I hike down. Not too long, not too hard, and it's very nice.
I need rethink how I do trail food. My views on food have changed a lot since I set my ways. I used to think packets of soup with icky sauce were good. Now I make it a rule not to eat dehydrated milk, and that's in lots of them. The Mountain House company has a lot of meals that look semi edible. I don't think anything with "modified" or "isolate" is still food, but I haven't decided to ban those things from my diet.
With my bicycle I bought Klean Kanteen stainless steel bottles. I think I really like them. I have small bike bottles, normal bike bottles, and a pair of 64oz growler type bottles. I think I should have bought the more-expensive and harder to find wide mouth bottles though. They also make an insulated version, which actually seems like an easy way to transport chilled food. Hot dogs would fit through the opening! But if I really want to do that, they make food canisters just for that. A little expensive, but packing a food canisters with sausages and freezing them would likely lead to being able to eat still-refrigerated sausages several days into a trip. Or ice cream. That would be awesome.
I plan to hit REI on the 30th, because I'll have a paycheck then. I'll buy a little bit of camping gear. I want a table. Cooking on the ground is traditional, but a table would be a luxury. The table would be for car camping. Car camping is fun. I recently replaced my Coleman green camp stove that disappeared so long ago. I replaced my camp chair that I broke as well. I still have my second Therm-A-Rest chair, and three pads from them, but for car camping a real chair seems nice. It will go with the table.
I'm going to investigate mosquito netting for my hammock. There is a hammock that is well reviewed which has netting attached, but you can't lay in it sideways to dangle your feet out. Another option is a giant net that drapes over the hammock. I might end up with both. One seems better for car camping and the other for backpacking.
I think I'll replace my lexan cutlery with some of this modern metal stuff. There is an aluminum set I like the looks of, or a simple steel set as well. There is also the want of a new bowl. My current bowl is a plastic one that someone stole from the 90s. They make titanium and stainless steel bowls.
I think I need new matches. I bought my matches, a big box, back in the early 1990s. They've lived in film cannisters since then. While still lightable, they don't seem as potent as they once did. I'll also try a real match holder that is long enough for big matches, instead of a film cannister. I seem to remember all the matches I have stored I had to manually cut down to film cannister size.
I want a duffle bag. Another really, I have two. One giant one and one normal sized one. A spare would be nice.
I found a giant waterproof jacket at REI in an online-only deal. It's a 4x. The reviews tell me it will wear out quickly, but it doesn't rain much, so I doubt I'll wear it much. So it will work while I try to be smaller.
I want to camp in that meadow past Devil's Elbow someday. That should be a plan.
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
A Frequent Update!
It's been a while since I had my ankle fixed. All those years of walking, but having hives and pain are all behind me. I'm not entirely sure when it stopped hurting, but it has stopped now. If my cat walks on me I don't wince in pain and jump up!
I've set a date of August 2-4 for a return to Turkey Creek. I broke my ankle there. I need to go back. So far I've mentioned it to five people, most of whom I suspect might be motivated to go. It's a Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday kind of trip. I don't have anyone to cat-sit, so I'll need to start training my cats to be more self sufficient. I doubt that will work, so instead I'll plan on putting out extra water and extra food for them. They'll get by.
Right now my pedometer reads 239025. That translates to 1859353 steps. I could actually go back further I think, if I mine data out of this so-called "blog". I was careful to post here when I reset the trip counter, so I have numbers and dates.
I've gotten much better about not eating chocolate. :(
Supermart had USDA organic strawberries today, so I bought a box.
I've set a date of August 2-4 for a return to Turkey Creek. I broke my ankle there. I need to go back. So far I've mentioned it to five people, most of whom I suspect might be motivated to go. It's a Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday kind of trip. I don't have anyone to cat-sit, so I'll need to start training my cats to be more self sufficient. I doubt that will work, so instead I'll plan on putting out extra water and extra food for them. They'll get by.
Right now my pedometer reads 239025. That translates to 1859353 steps. I could actually go back further I think, if I mine data out of this so-called "blog". I was careful to post here when I reset the trip counter, so I have numbers and dates.
I've gotten much better about not eating chocolate. :(
Supermart had USDA organic strawberries today, so I bought a box.
Monday, April 11, 2016
Another infrequent update!
On July 20th of last year my pedometer read 390247. Today, earlier in the day, it read 145064. But I've kept careful track of resets, and written a program to the math for me. so my real number since the reset before July 20th is 1765392. That looks like 6638 steps per day on average. I need to do better.
I have a new bicycle. It's nice. The junkyard near San Acaia is the longest ride I've taken it on. I have a new car too.
I messed up my right toe pretty bad trying out new boots. The toenail got torn off and the resulting infection was pretty epic. The kind of infection that people died from before antibiotics.
I need to shape up, and get myself back to Turkey Creek for my birthday. It's a Wednesday this year. Also, I need to make it all the way to the hot springs this time, and not cripple myself hundreds of yards short of my destination.
My weight is up. High. I'm stupidly fat. I shouldn't even record my number.
I'm also fighting athletes foot. I suspect I got it the last time I had surgery. At the very least, that's when it really made itself known. It could be I had a little before surgery. My most recent attempt at visiting a doctor diagnosed it and gave advice and medicine. The one before that, when I complained about the weird growth on my foot, told me I needed lotion. The one before that thought that it was great I was worrying about it. So this newm one is much better. A few simple things and it's all much better. Still not cured, but I'm getting there.
I outfitted my new car with a shovel, and a saw, and two maps of New Mexico, and a pair of hammocks. It needs a GPS still. I have a couple of those I can throw in as well. At the very least I should ease into car camping as a way to get out more. Fenton Lake, up in the Jemez, is a noble goal.
I should update this more often too!
I have a new bicycle. It's nice. The junkyard near San Acaia is the longest ride I've taken it on. I have a new car too.
I messed up my right toe pretty bad trying out new boots. The toenail got torn off and the resulting infection was pretty epic. The kind of infection that people died from before antibiotics.
I need to shape up, and get myself back to Turkey Creek for my birthday. It's a Wednesday this year. Also, I need to make it all the way to the hot springs this time, and not cripple myself hundreds of yards short of my destination.
My weight is up. High. I'm stupidly fat. I shouldn't even record my number.
I'm also fighting athletes foot. I suspect I got it the last time I had surgery. At the very least, that's when it really made itself known. It could be I had a little before surgery. My most recent attempt at visiting a doctor diagnosed it and gave advice and medicine. The one before that, when I complained about the weird growth on my foot, told me I needed lotion. The one before that thought that it was great I was worrying about it. So this newm one is much better. A few simple things and it's all much better. Still not cured, but I'm getting there.
I outfitted my new car with a shovel, and a saw, and two maps of New Mexico, and a pair of hammocks. It needs a GPS still. I have a couple of those I can throw in as well. At the very least I should ease into car camping as a way to get out more. Fenton Lake, up in the Jemez, is a noble goal.
I should update this more often too!
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