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Gear good to go?

PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2019 7:46 am
by balzaccom
My wife and I have hiked something more than 2500 miles in the Sierra Nevada and other parts of the West. We've backpacked for years and years, and we are as experienced a pair as you are likely to find on any given day on the trail. So what could possibly go wrong?

Well, on our last trip, just as an example, we had a few misfortunes. My toothbrush broke. It was a source of some amusement to see me trying to brush my teeth holding the stub of the brush with both hands and still reach the teeth in the back of my mouth.

And my sunglasses also snapped above the ear. No worries, we had packed duct tape--except that for some reason I had switched lip balms, and the supply of duct tape was wrapped around the old lip balm tube, not the new one. That's OK. We also have adhesive tape in the first aid kit. In fact, that tape came from my parents' first aid kit...and let's see...my mom passed away how many years ago?

So It was tape, but it wasn't adhesive. hmm. Luckily, we still had a few small band-aids, and a couple of them, wrapped around a twig as a splint, fixed the sunglasses at least enough to get him home. Just a reminder that it pays to make sure all your gear is newish...and that you've also got a back up!

Re: Gear good to go?

PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2019 9:27 am
by AlmostThere
I've had a number of those kinds of "glitches" myself over the past year. I got everything out last weekend and looked at everything - picked it up and assessed its utility. Time just keeps on slipping by, and tape isn't forever. Or band aid adhesive, for that matter.

Re: Gear good to go?

PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2019 10:02 am
by balzaccom
AlmostThere wrote:...Time just keeps on slipping by, and tape isn't forever. Or band aid adhesive, for that matter.


I think they wrote a song about that...as time goes by.

Re: Gear good to go?

PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2019 12:01 pm
by Phil
Duct tape, zip ties, WD-40....along with good ole Yankee ingenuity, nothing is beyond hope.

Remember when sawing your toothbrush in half was the thing? Then drill a whole bunch of holes in it. If we were all Bear Grylls, we would just grab a manzanita leaf, brush, say a few word to our viewers and production crew about solitude, then retire to the hotel bar.

Re: Gear good to go?

PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2019 12:22 pm
by AlmostThere
Yeah, WD 40 would definitely improve a Mountain House meal!

Re: Gear good to go?

PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2019 4:24 pm
by Phil
Sriracha and a liter of water are Mountain House must-haves.

...and an extremely big knife.