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Here is what I posted on a dating site:
I’m not looking for makeup and hairdos. Personally I think you’re foolish to post your photo on a free, open-access dating site that most likely attracts not only legitimate daters but also men and women from the slinky side of shady (if you know what I mean). I don’t want my photo mixed in with theirs.
If you join a hiking group you will, of course, meet people from a variety of places and backgrounds. And you will usually meet them early in the morning and then carpool to the trailhead, which is fine when your fellow passengers are courteous enough to refrain from riding along when they have bad colds or bacterial bronchitis. The morning doesn’t seem quite right when the stranger in the backseat shakes your hand, coughs repeatedly, talks about the antibiotics he’s taking and about how his live-in girlfriend died last month after a very prolonged illness that required multiple hospitalizations, how he is looking for a job because he has spent his savings after buying a 2700-square-foot foreclosed home and because his dead girlfriend’s social security checks have stopped coming.
Then later, on the trail, when he keeps sliding on loose rock (you don’t want walk below him), you see that the soles on his 20-year-old hiking boots are worn smooth — there’s no tread.
If your local news stations announce that H1N1 vaccinations are available at special clinics in your area, make sure you double check the facts.
This last weekend in the Phoenix, Arizona, area one news station stated that H1N1 vaccinations were available for children and pregnant women at about 15 clinics. Another evening news program provided the same information and added that individuals with underlying health conditions were also eligible.
Long line-ups at the flu clinics ensued.
But if you were able to talk to the H1N1 clinics before you took half a day to stand in line, you discovered that only children and pregnant women were eligible to receive H1N1 vaccinations. The clinics were not dispensing vaccinations to individuals with underlying health conditions (unless, of course, they were children or pregnant women).
Double check the TV news. Phone the health clinics.
A hiking acquaintance asked me, “A friend of mine just emailed and asked who else, other than Merrell, makes a sturdy hiking boot. Since you seemed to know all the brands, what would be your advice?”
I emailed her my answer:
Boots: I like Merrell, Danner, Vasque, and Columbia brands (and maybe Lowa).
I have found that Danner makes the sturdiest boots (which often weigh more than others), and hunters often say that Danners are the best. Lowas are made in Eastern Europe (rather than in China). Vasque makes quite a few light-weight models.
The REI-brand boots are made by Merrell and Vasque. So it seems that REI likes Merrell and Vasque. But one long-time REI employee says that he likes Lowa best (that they are “made in Slovakia, not China”).
One friend of mine wears only Montrail boots. Asolo makes sturdy boots, too. The sturdiest boots are made for backpacking (day hikers buy the lighter boots and shoes).
In summary, I like Merrell and Danner boots and I want to buy some Lowa boots. (And I like low-top Columbia hiking shoes for short hikes up and down hills and low peaks.)
Here is a link to all the various boots at Campmor (which is known for its very competitive prices): Hiking Boots at Campmor
Here is the link to Danner Boots: http://www.danner.com
And here is the link to Lowa: http://www.lowaboots.com/home/
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I also recommended the following products and services:
insulated sleeping pad: Big Agnes Insulated Air Core Sleeping Pad
good pack cover (for rain); get the size thast fits your pack: Sea to Summit SN240 Ultra-Light Siliconized Cordura Pack Cover
extremely lightweight 2mm cord (buy 50 ft): http://www.rei.com/product/716685
REI equipment rentals: http://www.rei.com/stores/rentals.html
Don’t Forget the Duct Tape by Kristin Hostetter — how to repair your hiking and camping gear: Don’t Forget the Duct Tape: Tips & Tricks for Repairing & Maintaining Outdoor & Travel Gear (Don’t Series)
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You should read these related posts:
Beware of Advice from Meetup.com Members
If you join a Meetup.com activity, let’s say a hiking group, and you hear the members giving out impromptu advice regarding survival, health, injury, etc., make sure you consult a professional, too, or at least do some reading.
You might find that at a monthly hikers’ meeting, an attractive know-it-all is showing you a stretching exercise for your sore knee. But if you go to a good physiotherapist, you might learn that the stretching will only exacerbate your knee or hip injury, that what you really need to do is build muscle strength in the injured area.
Here’s couple of good (but brief) desert survival books:
Desert Survival Tips, Tricks, & Skills
The Ultimate Desert Handbook : A Manual for Desert Hikers, Campers and Travelers
98.6 Degrees: The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive
In a previous post I talked about wearing cotton in hot deserts (see Cotton for the Grand Canyon). Now I would like to point out that in the Arizona desert beginning in September, you should carry a survival blanket and a lightweight polyester fleece shirt or jacket (and maybe even some silk-weight long underwear) if you expect the nights to be cool or if you are hiking to higher elevations. Then if you are unexpectedly delayed or caught out after dark, you can switch out of your cotton shirt and/or wrap yourself in the emergency blanket. Or you might want to dispense with the cotton and wear nylon shorts or pants and a short-sleeve polyester shirt, but when you expect the nights to be cool always carry an emergency blanket and an extra layer of clothing.
In the Phoenix, Arizona, area the nights can cool down substantially even in May, especially out in the desert, away from the city asphalt and hot cement.
In his book, The Presence of the Past. Morphic Resonance & the Habits of Nature, Rupert Sheldrake presents a valuable review of the science, religion, and philosophy of origins and change, and he gives us a promising twist on the theory of evolution. He makes field theory and the all-pervading power of habit come alive in our minds and in our views of nature. But his repetitiveness and his repeated lists of examples and possibilities makes reading his book similar to watching someone beat a senseless dog.
AOL Travel has an interesting short article about how tart cherries may help fight jet lag. The cherries contain small amounts of melatonin, a hormone that co-regulates sleep patterns.
Quit spending money sitting down. Everybody wants your dollars and cents, and they want you to spend it in a chair–at concerts, movies, restaurants, ballets, musicals, coffee shops, meditation groups . . .
Stay on your feet. Go for a walk or a hike. Lift weights while you watch the news. Find a good deal at a gym (the best deals usually appear when a gym first opens for business and offers a contract that stipulates that they can only raise your fees by, lets say, 1 percent every 3 years).
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In order to get indexed by the Technorati web site and search engine, I must place the code shown above in a post on the front page of this blog. Once they have properly indexed my blog, I can remove this post. However, their spider/software seems slow to respond in a correct and productive manner.
