Hiking and Backpacking

Photo Credit: Amy Forinash
See, I love new gear...this is me in
Tom Hennessy's fabulous hat at Trail Days!
Everyone wanted one!
Ok so y'all are going to have to put up with me learning how to use modern technology.  I know that other people who use blogger have pages behind their main blog but I cannot figure out how to do it right now...apologies...I am not happy as I suppose this may mean I have to learn how to use HTML...not sure my brain can handle that!  Any blog angels out there who might know how to add posts to pages like one does on the front page?  Well, will see how this works...and guess you'll have to put up with my smiling mug in Tom's hat for a while. 

Expect the stove blog soon!







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On this page, let's talk about backpacking, hiking, walking even in our neighborhood, how it makes us feel and why we do it.  I invite comments and discussion and not sure how this will work except that y'all are going to have to leave me comments and questions about what I post.  I will answer. 

One of the best jobs I've ever had which I would still be doing if they were still in business was work for Galyans Outdoors & Sports.  At this lovely store, I worked with a bunch of guys in a crazy camping department.  We all loved what we did, we were professionals, we knew our stuff and up on that second floor housed with similarly motivated sales people who sold guns, bikes, fishing gear and outdoor clothing, we reveled in our sports and in the camaraderie that loving the outdoors brought to all of us.  We were a family and online, we all are still mourning the demise of this great company.  There is a hole in the outdoor world.  Our motive was to help anyone, newbie or Nepal trekker, to achieve their goals.  We were gear experts and as part of this elite team where I was the only girl in the 5th highest money making store, I felt powerful.

After Galyans was bought, moving to work at a small, high end gear store was a no brainer.  Again, this store sought to outfit people for a variety of outdoor adventures and I learned to fit boots, sell kayaks and outdoor clothing.  Thus was born my passion for supporting small gear stores.  With the advent of online gear stores, we constantly had people come in use us for our knowledge, yeah EXPECT us to divulge our knowledge to them and then they would thank us, turn and go buy at an online store.  They'd come back when they had issues, again use us and go away.  After a while, we got to the point where we'd not talk to them.  And yes both those stores are now closed.

So, enough of my rant about this but maybe it'll help all y'all understand why I am passionate about small businesses.  Without them, their will be no human connections anymore and they need our support!

Expect in a day or two a discussion about stoves.  I love new gear and hope to find new things in the gear world and yes I have a fancy new alcohol stove I'm going to talk about. If you find some new piece of gear you'd like me to look at our you want to talk about, email me or leave me a note. 

2 comments:

  1. In 2004 I bought a new stove (I'd had an old one since the 70s)... the famous pocket rocket canister stove. It was wonderful and I used it for four years. My only problem was the weight of the canisters and occasionally finding canisters on the trail.

    In an effort to go lighter in 2008, I switched to a tiny alcohol stove made by a hiker friend. I loved it, too. (especially the light part) Unfortunately, I never really got a windscreen part or stability worked out.

    So, in 2010, I discovered the Caldera Cone from Antigravity Gear. This windscreen/pot stand fit my old .9L Evernew pot and came with a small alcohol stove. It wasn't as small as my previous alcohol stove, but the problems were resolved. Best kitchen ever! Carried all the way on the AT and the JMT.

    A few weeks ago, I purchased a smaller .6L Evernew pot and a new Caldera Cone to fit it. This should be my kitchen for years to come.

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  2. Thanks, Redhat for this great info...I will probably pull some of your comments into the Stove discussion. Good stuff!!

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