Gear, Food, New Gear

I'm just about organized for this hike. The gear shuffle is a little challenging because there is going to be both basecamping and backpacking, and we are only taking one car to NY. Here is part of the small gear and food.

That paper under the scissors is my spreadsheet. I've been using it for decades, updating as necessary. It has every piece of camping gear I own on it. There are also pages for clothes, first aid, biking gear (I did a few bikepack trips back when), and dog gear (also used to have a hiker dog). So every time I pack for a trip, I have to consider every single item. I rarely make any big mistakes, because I either check that I'm taking it or write NO if I decide it's not needed.

Some of the gear is not shown because it's already packed in Teeny. I never unpacked it after the backpacking trip in May.

My small backpacking tarp hasn't been deployed since I don't know when, so I waterproofed it. We'll probably be in a shelter one of our nights, but a couple of our nights don't have shelters at good spacing for us, so a tarp may be needed.

The food is 100% ready to go. I didn't have to buy much at all. I had some dehydrated meals in the freezer, still some stuff left over from the big hike. It's getting a little stale, but I'll eat it. This is putting a good dent in it. In the mesh bag is all the food for the 3-day backpack. In front of that in the ziploc is for the 2-day backpack. The other two trays are basecamp and day hike food.

I got two new pieces of gear that were more pricey. The first is something I considered for the big hike but decided I really didn't need it then because everyone let me connect to electric at the places I parked my trailer. I think I only spent one night without electric on the whole trip (well, except when backpacking).

This is a 300-watt power pack (often ridiculously called a solar generator). This is a perfect size for my needs. Can charge phones, camera batteries, small power packs, power the computer, or anything under 300 watts. By not needing it on the spur of the moment I was able to get a good sale price. I've been fooling with it for a couple of weeks to get used to how it works. It can be charged via solar panels (not pictured, but they work- I did charge it up that way), 120V outlet, or 12V outlet. Output options are standard plug, 12V plug, or USB ports.

It's about half the size I expected. Very portable. So far, I'm really happy with this. And if you know the percentage of times I'm really happy with a new purchase, you understand that this is a big deal.

I suspect this would drain it rather quickly, but it has a really bright light (including blink option) if you need to seriously see something after dark, or signal someone.

The other new purchase needs explanation. Last year at the NCTA conference, Marie and I were lying in our basecamping tent (more room than a backpacking tent, but also heavier which doesn't matter if you get to the campsite by car.) that we've had for 30+ years. We looked up at the nylon and were seeing numerous pinholes. Oh, oh. That spells death for a tent. The nylon eventually gives up. So we knew we needed a new tent. Marie seriously wanted a tent she could stand up in. That has always been a major complaint of hers while tenting, and age dictates more conveniences. But we didn't want a tent that was as big as a house.

So I started looking at options. One had bad reviews (poor ventilation and leaking corners), two had no rainfly (seriously?), another had a really goofy rainfly.

Backtrack to that same NCTA conference. We shared a tent site with my new-old friend Diane (who has easily become the third member of our gang- she just fits right in!). She had just purchased a Core tent that she really liked. She had purchased it for the same reason- she wanted to be able to stand inside it.

I had never heard of Core Equipment, but she's really happy with hers. She has a blue-green one. We now have an orange one. Easy to tell them apart for when we are camped together, as we will be a couple of times this summer.

It was a test, but I checked for all the pieces, and set it up today. By not following the directions, I managed to do it solo. Next time will be better because I won't struggle to do it their way!

It seems HUGE to me, but looks like good ventilation, has gear loft, storage pockets, electric cord port. The rainfly seems barely adequate, but it's better than the other options I looked at. One really good thing is that people can easily sit inside in the evenings out of the bugs and/or rain without being cramped at all.

It probably won't last 30 years, but then... I probably won't be camping for 30 more years. Haha! (If I'm still camping at 107 call the Guiness Book.)

I made a huge dent in my almost final to-do list today. SPW hike and meeting tomorrow. Sunday for last-minute items. Monday this all starts to be real.

See Letting You In on the Plan

And She's Off...

 Remember Modestine? Nickname Teeny. She and I, and friend David Snoek are heading out in just a bit for a one-overnight backpack. This is still part of my regimen to get in shape for the summer.

Also, I have to keep up my reputation for "what is she up to now?"

The bad news is that the only sun we are going to see is from that little pillow that was a gift from blogger friend Lin. The good news is we won't be too hot. We may get wet, or not... the rain is supposed to stop around noon which is about the time we should start hiking.

I'll be back tomorrow with pictures from our hike. And some more NCT miles for the year, of course.

Link below will explain her name if you care.

See Meet Modestine

The Knife I Take Hiking

 I had a question posed about the knife I hike with. This is the knife that I keep in my belt pack while hiking and backpacking. It's the Leatherman Squirt ps4.

I had been looking at this knife, but then my sister-in-law gave it to me as a gift. The two primary reasons I wanted it were its size and the fact that its best feature is a sturdy pair of pliers. If you need pliers, there is really nothing you can substitute. And repairs to tent poles and various other fittings usually require pliers.

Let's back up and talk about what I previously carried. For decades, I had used a Boy Scout knife with four tools. It has a blade, a screwdrver/bottle opener, an awl, and a can opener. I used all of these regularly- well maybe not the bottle opener any more, but it's just a part of the screwdriver. However, this wonderful knife weighs 3.9 ounces. In addition to that I had to carry a small pair of pliers. I'm not sure where they are now, but they probably weighed another 3 ounces.

Now, let's see what else the Leatherman has. This is the blade. Instead of 3 inches long, it's not even two inches long. The length isn't all that big of an issue, but the problem is that the cutting edge is the curved one, and the flat edge is the spine. I find this both counter-intuitive and awkward to use.

In between the Boy Scout knife and this one was a Leatherman knockoff, very similar to this ps4, but it was a piece of junk. I actually bent it using the pliers.

This knife also includes a file. It seems good enough, but I've never used it.

The other tools are a pair of scissors- somewhat useful, but we have to carry a small but better pair that will cut moleskin. There is a regular screwdriver with a bottle opener (not very much needed any more), and a pointed one which you can use in phillips-head screws.

This knife weighs 2.3 ounces. So, that's a savings of about 4.6 ounces, and some space. There's a big plus.

Things I do not like. I don't like the shape of the blade, as mentioned above. I really miss the can opener. I don't carry cans while backpacking, so that's not a big deal, but I did use it basecamping fairly often. I also miss having the awl.

I've had this for over ten years and it's held up well, although I don't use it anything like every day. This model is still available for under $50, which is pretty reasonable.

If you are going to do hunting or fishing, or think you need a knife for protection against large animals, of course this isn't going to do the job. But I don't think the weight of a large knife is a reasonable tradeoff for the value of something larger.

See Hiking Gear

First Snowshoe Day this Winter

Went for two short snowshoe walks today. The first one I did on my traditional snowshoes.

I really prefer the way those feel on my feet, but since I hadn't really compared them in the same space, in the afternoon I walked with the Luna foam snowshoes that I took on the big hike.



Here's where I walk out back. The deer also like to use the trail where I got the grass whacked down. It was well-traveled before I went outside.

But when I get farther from the house, then I'm using a trail the deer made. This is harder walking because the grass isn't cleared.

Here's what I was walking on my first day in snowshoes a year ago. A little more "romantic." A lot harder.



So, now that I've worn them both on the same day, what do I think? Well, I really still like my wooden ones. However, they never would have been useable on the big hike. Sometimes I needed to take the snowshoes off and strap them to my backpack. The longer shoes wouldn't have been as easy to get over rocky terrain (where snow may not have completely covered things) or fallen logs.

However, I had to learn to be careful to get the velcro straps fully engaged with each other, and even then, they were sometimes a problem. As the day went on the velcro would clog with snow and ice, shortening the length where it was making contact and holding. Also, there is no left or right to these shoes. They are exactly the same except for the way the straps are mounted. Actually, this is also true of my wooden ones. However, the foam ones always seemed to be on the wrong feet no matter which way I wore them. Once again, they are made for bigger feet than mine and the ends of the velcro straps caught on things which led to the first problem mentioned above.

The wooden ones need new bindings. I was not able to make the military bindings work. I'm sure I can made bindings, but it's just added to the huge list of things I could/should do.

I will tell you that I must have been in great shape a year ago. I did a total of about a mile on them today and that was plenty!

In other news: client work in the morning. Pantry, research and writing. Vacation from DMS is up to 17,960 words.

See First Snowshoe Day Last Winter

Review of Luci Light

  This is an inflatable solar LED light. I kept it hanging on my pack for the entire year and a month. I used it twice for hiking in twilight (more to be seen than to be able to see), and for light to get through the few tunnels the trail goes through. I also used it almost every night while backpacking to read in my tent. These are all new pictures so you can see how it held up to being bashed around for a year.

You can use it flat as seen above, or you can inflate it and sit it on a table so it's more like a lantern. Actually, I never used it this way, because I had no need to. I either kept it clipped on my pack, held in my hand, or hung from a loop inside the top of my tent.

The only thing that became a problem with mine is that the plastic strap that is the only way to clip it to something eventually tore away. See where it's no longer attached on the right side? That also means it's no longer sealed from getting wet inside.

My solution was to slip it inside an onion bag. The solar panel could still recharge and light get out, and I could easily push the buttons. One is the switch to cycle through low, med, high, blink, and off. The other shows you if it is charged.

The actual light continues to work perfectly for me. I have to tell you that my friend Cathy ordered a couple and both of those never charged completely so she was not satisfied. It cost $20, and I consider that well spent.

I give it 8 out of 10, but I'm sure Cathy would not.

In other news. I was going to do store and errands, but I didn't, so tomorrow I must. I did get the trash bagged up and down for collection. And I caught two more mice. More tiny steps of cleanup, and I did some minimal writing stuff. However, I am feeling better physically. Maybe I'm recovering.

See Luci Light when New

Review of Lorpen Hike and City Light Socks

  This is the other pair of wool socks I got on sale. They are Merino Wool, nylon and Lycra, unless they are nylon, wool and polyester. There are two listings, supposedly in order of percent, of the composition on the package. One is labeled "legal" and one is labeled "technical." Seems weird.

These are a little heavier than the Smartwool socks I reviewed yesterday. I wore these a lot with trail runners when it was between 30 and 40 degrees and damp. My feet were never cold when I was wearing them. As I said yesterday, the flip side of that is that if it was above 35-40 degrees, my feet were too hot. That said, I'm sure I walked at least 450 miles in these.

These do have some additional padding on the inside, but it is a consistent thickness and there is no bulging at the toe seam, so it wasn't really a problem.

The problem comes with how well these held up. The only actual number of miles I found associated with a hiking sock was about 1000 miles for a pair of Darn Tough. So these might have done half of that. Maybe that's reasonable. But I think they should last better. You can see the top right sock in the upper picture is mended in the back where the ankle meets the foot. I'll keep wearing and mending these until it becomse a problem

I give them 7 out of 10 stars.

In other news: I worked on my new play in the morning, then I did other sorting and fixing tasks in the afternoon. I'm still dedicated to sitting and reading as much as I want to. I did catch two mice- one of which ate the middle out of an entire loaf of expensive bread that I bought myself for a treat. They paid for that guilty pleasure and I bought another loaf of bread. The house has been empty too much lately, so I need to be diligent with the mousetraps. Not to mention all the cleaning. They also ate 3 bars of soap! I'm not sure what the attraction was there, but I found a funny little tooth-marked lozenge of something waxy in the living room, and it took me a while, but when I realized it was soap, I checked under the sink. Empty wrappers and another soap lozenge.

See Smartwool Socks

Review of Hike Light Smartwool Socks

  To be honest, I'm not positive these are Hike Light. They are definitely made by Smartwool. I got them at a teriffic sale price, and they fit. They are small. They do not have thick and thin places that are supposed to provide padding.

My sock woes are even more troublesome than the shoe woes. You can see the link below for part of the saga that has been going on for 30 years to find socks I can hike in. That said, I found these and one other pair by Lepon I will also review another day, and I did use them quite a lot in colder weather but not under the boots.

These are fairly lightweight. They are slightly less warm than the Lepon pair I will review tomorrow. In general, I found that I could not wear wool socks when the temperature was much above 35. The forever problem with my feet getting too hot made either wool pair intolerable at anything much higher than freezing. You may recall that we stopped all my former problems with blisters by keeping my feet cooler. I like that a lot.

I can't really say how many days I hiked in these. At least 30, which translates to maybe 450 miles. I don't know what the expected life of a sock is, but these have no holes yet.

When I wore them, I put the Fox River liners underneath. I could not wear wool socks with the boots (too hot), but with the trail runners, even if my feet got damp/wet (which they usually did), my feet were warm enough. Most people don't seem to have the hot feet that I do. But I thought these did a good job.

1. They fit me. 2. They don't have lumpy padding that annoys me or bunches against my orthotics. 3. They held up. 4. They are warm even when wet. 5. I got them at a fantastic clearance price. I can't think of a single negative to say.

I give them 10 out of 10.

In other news: I did some writing. I did some cleaning , sorting and laundry. I made a phone call (eg. I purposely started a conversation with a human.) I went to the store and did errands- that in itself gives me points for the day. Of course, I'm not doing these good things at any kind of speed that is going to work me out of this dumpster hole.

See The Evolution of the Sock

Review of Salewa Trail Running Shoes

  You've heard it all before- how I have so much trouble finding shoes that fit me. I will say again that I never tell people what kind of shoes/boots are the "best." You have to find the brand(s) that your own feet will be happy with. Several of the major brands make my feet scream. I'd appreciate it if you don't tell me what kind of shoes I should be wearing.

For the most part, I'm not going to bother to review the shoes I wore on this hike. Most were fairly inexpensive (New Balance, Fila, and Walmart Avia which fit so well that I bought 3 pairs even though they are really cheap and didn't last too long), and they all did fairly well.. In the spring of 2020, I went on a shoe-shopping spree when I learned that I was not going to be able to get any of my favorite trail runners, which are New Balance 610s.

I spent a whole day in Grand Rapids and came home with 4 pairs of shoes that fit me and a major case of the shopping grumpies. Before the warm weather ended, I bought 6 more pairs of shoes on the hike. Having shoes that fit trumped having shoes that lasted a long time.

The Salawa running shoes were the only ones that cost more than $40. They were $100 even on clearance. I thought they'd be great given their full price and the reputation of the brand.

I didn't start wearing them, other than breaking them in a bit, until the summer of 2022. Because of their price tag, I didn't want to destroy them in the mud of Pennsylvania and New York. Three pairs of shoes totally disintegrated in that slop. So when the trails dried out a bit, I started wearing these.

First of all, I'll say that I don't like this kind of laces. They are that skinny elastic that you pull, then slide the plastic fitting down to hold it and tuck the elastic ends behind a flap on the tongue. I just can't imagine that this system holds up the same way a lace would, but I figured I could replace it with laces if necessary.

The shoes are lightweight and balanced well. They have good traction. They fit. They are high enough in the heel (one of my issues is nerves close to the skin that won't tolerate the heel counter rubbing on them.)

But here's the thing. They are stiff. They never softened up a bit. I can't say that they actually made my feet hurt, but neither were they ever comfortable. I ended up wearing them from time to time, but only for a few days in a row. I finally gave up hoping they would get better. I'm not sure if I'll even keep them.

I'll give them 5 out of 10.

In other news: I spent the morning writing the first draft of a different play that will definitely be under 10 minutes. I got an idea early this morning, turned on the computer and started writing. After lunch took some more stuff out of the car and started putting it away. Cleaned up some more space in the house. Contemplated a store run, but I have managed to put that off. I'll probably really have to do that tomorrow.

See Oboz Mt. Rainier Boots

Review of Black Diamond Tall Gaiters

  I started out with using the short gaiters that I adapted as noted in the link at the end. However, as the snow deepened, I realized that I really needed tall gaiters. My pants kept pulling out of the short ones, and yes, the gumby suit is waterproof, but water can seep up under them from the bottom at the cuffs.

I wanted to get tall gaiters quickly, rather than ordering them. I went to an outdoor store and there was exactly one choice, so I bought them. They are pretty good. These are Black Diamond tall gaiters, size small.

The lower half is Gore-Tex and the upper half is nylon. The foot strap is hard plastic which I suspect will wear through, but so far it seems to be holding up. The velcro that fastens them around your leg is 2 inches wide for security. There is an elastic at the top with a cord-loc to pull it tight. They fit, so I think the sizing is accurate. I also tried on a medium pair, and they were a little too big.

I wore them every hiking day after I bought them, which is about a month. I never had wet pants cuffs after that. Success!

There are only two things about these that I do not like. The first is that they don't come up high enough to rest above the top of your calf muscle. That elastic at the top has to be cinched around the muscle. It's not enough to hurt or anything, but it annoys me constantly. I have to work to mentally block out the feel of that elastic. Bill's gaiters come to just under his knee and have a flat strap. I would much rather have that kind of top.

The other thing is that the center front has a hook that you would think is meant to fasten into the metal loop on your boots below the laces that is made for that purpose. Nope. For some reason, these don't come down far enough, so you have to just hook them on the shoe laces. Phooey. They don't always stay hooked, and you can already see visible wear on the boot laces from the hook. You can see in the top picture that they don't come down to the bottom of the laces.

Given the price of these, I wanted to be happier with them, but they did do the job of keeping my legs dry.

I give them 7 of 10 stars.

In other news: I actually did enough around the house today that there is a little bit more open floor space. I also replaced burned out light bulbs so I can see in the pantry and porch. But one other room with no light may need a new fixture. I may have said more than 4 words out loud, but I was only talking to myself, so it wasn't too stressful. Of course, the floor space means I can unload part of the car. But the light in the pantry means I can put some of that stuff away.

I also finished formatting the play I was going to submit to the Arts Center contest. But it's too long (15 minutes instead of 10). I don't think I can cut it by that much and have it be meaningful. Sigh- I really would like to see that one produced. Maybe I'll get an idea and write a new one. I'm not feeling inspired tonight. We shall see.

See Fixing the Gaiters

Review of True Blue Gumby II

  Some of you may remember that I made a new rain suit in 2018. (Links below for the blow by blow) I've used it quite a bit since then, but not to the extent that I've worn it this past year. I don't have an exact count of the days, but I suspect I had it on for about 200 of the 385 days I was out. Overall, I've been extremely happy with it. But, trust me, it does not look pristine and shiny any more!


Other than the fact that I knew it would fit, this was a bit of an experiment. I made the pattern from a previous rain suit I owned which I was unable to replace with anything light weight and water proof in my size.

The part that was experimental is that the suit was made from silnylon. This is nylon impregnated with silicone, so it is absolutly impervious to water. It's used for tents and tarps, but not usually recommended for clothing because this also means it does not breathe. You'll get wet from the inside as you sweat.

However, I decided to try it. I seem to sweat no matter what kind of layer I have on top anyway. I can't wear some of the magic synthetics next to my skin because they itch like crazy and give me a rash. Since I wasn't planning to backpack very much, I knew I could dry my clothes out at night in the trailer.

As far as being waterproof, Gumby II (Gumby I was green and got nicknamed the Gumby suit by a friend) worked very well except for one day when we hiked in a real downpour all day long. I never did seal the seams, and they leaked. That day, I got soaked. I think maybe my shoulders got damp a couple of times other than that day. I do have to say that in the spring, I found a poncho that fit me, and that also kept my pack dry. So after I added the poncho, I wasn't asking quite as much of the rain suit in really bad rain.

I do get pretty wet from the inside out when it's not very cold outside. I don't know if this would be a good jacket for winter backpacking. But usually when it's cold enough (I'll define that as below 30 degrees), I haven't gotten wetter than I would with any other jacket.

The only other fault is that the pants didn't hold up to all the brush and berry bushes in Ohio very well. The pants now have patches on top of patches. But that's OK, they continued to work.

I put slash front pockets in the pants. If I make another of these suits, I'll probably add zippers. I'm tired of losing things out of pockets, although I only lost one thing from these pants. But zippers are good security.

Because I made this suit, the hood fits- it does not fall in front of my eyes. I made the sleeves long enough that I can roll them back, or roll them down so water runs off over my hands instead of wetting my cuffs or gloves. It has a kangaroo pocket and a full width hand warmer pocket behind that. The one design error is that I can't get the pants off over shoes. I'd have to make the legs pretty baggy to do that, particularly over boots, so maybe that's not something I'll change anyway.

This was quite lightweight silnylon. It actually held up a little better than I had hoped given the hard use it's seen this year. I paid $6/yard, and it was pretty wide- 54 inches I think. Excellent value.

I give this 9 out of 10 stars.

Decompression progress: I did indeed go to the post office and the library. I got lucky. Nobody recognized me, so I didn't have to talk beyond saying "Media mail," and giving someone my name to check out more books. That's four words for the day. Seems about right. I did a bit of organization of the home front dumpster, but you can't tell. Ha.

See True Blue Gumby II See Gumby Progress See Half of Gumby Turns Blue

Updated Review of Enlightened Equipment Revelation Quilt

  I reviewed this "sleep system" over a year ago, and expressed being very unhappy with it. That has not changed. I took a lot of flack from some in the hiking community for saying how I feel about it, but it's my right to have an opinion.

You should read the original review in the link below. That details the specific problems I find with this product.



I did add a zipper to turn this into a sleeping bag instead of the quilt. It helps. However, even with a liner this product does not keep me warm at 30 degrees, and I am a warm sleeper, usually needing fewer covers than any of my friends. This is barely a 3-season "bag."

It cost around $300- a major expense. I don't think I've ever been as disgusted with a piece of equipment as I am with this Enlightened Equipment Revelation Quilt.

I give it a rating of 2 out of 10 stars.

See Enlightened Equipment Revelation

Review of Oboz Mt. Ranier Boots

  I managed to get some work done (sorting through stuff) today at a very moderate pace. I'm in no rush and the mess is impressive. The house doesn't smell like it, but it pretty much looks like a dumpster.

So, I'm going to start reviewing some of my gear. On a scale of 10 stars, I give these 8. Pretty good. Very good, in fact, since I'm a real grump about expensive gear that doesn't perform as promised. These are Oboz Mt. Ranier boots. Of course, they've already tinkered with the design a bit, so I suppose my comments might not be pertinent to the new design. But perhaps the overall design from Oboz is still good.

I got these for Christmas 2020. Here they are brand new. The link below was my initial reaction.


It's difficult to say exactly how many hiking days I've worn these. They were too hot to wear if the temperature was about 35 or above. I also tried not to wear them for a whole lot of days in a row- see below why I knocked off one star. But they've probably got about 500 miles on them.

These are winter boots. They would be much too warm to wear year round. In fact, my feet are usually too hot, and I found I could not even wear wool socks with these boots or my feet were boiling. This probably means they are just warm enough for a lot of people.

Here's how they look now. They've still got lots of use in them.

The first negative comment is that my left foot never got used to the boot. This finally got a little better after loosening the laces a LOT. But the ball of that foot hurts most of the time when I'm wearing the boot. I have no particular explanation for this. It's not a place I usually experience foot pain. But I tried to switch back to trail runners for a day after wearing the boots for about 3 days. When the snow was deep, this wasn't an option and I just had to put up with the sore foot. The boots were especially troublesome doing road walks.

The second star got knocked off because these are supposed to be waterproof, but that feature didn't last long. I had to keep spraying them with silicone every other day. They aren't really suede, but neither are they really smooth leather, so I didn't think something like mink oil was a good option. Plus, I didn't want to deal with the mess of that product inside the trailer.

One of the reasons I gave up on boots for 3-season use was that they kept irritating my Achilles tendon. These boots threatened to do this a couple of times, but it never became a problem.

Overall, given how much difficulty I have finding shoes/boots that my feet will tolerate, I am quite pleased with these. Footwear is a very subjective topic. You may not find these comfortable at all, and I will always tell people they should wear whatever makes their feet happy. However, these boots are a quality product and if they fit, I think they are worth the price. I paid $175 for them in 2020. (Actually they were a gift, but that's what they cost.)

8 of 10 stars.

See Maybe I've Grown Up

Simple Insomnia or Providence?

  One night last week I couldn't sleep. One of the things going through my mind was the problem of the belt pack. I haven't had one that worked right for over a year. This is how I had modified a fishing pack for use with Shamu (my previous backpack).

And here's a picture of how I had added clips to Shamu so the belt pack didn't awkwardly slide down over my belly or otherwise drive me insane. You can see my little time/temp dangler, and pace counter beads in those pics too.

Here's the belt pack backstory. Years and years ago, I found a fishing belt pack, made by Eagle Claw, that had pockets that were exactly what I wanted. I adapted it as shown above and wore it for about 10 years. With two sets of the same clips, I could either wear it with the backpack, or by itself without changing anything. This eliminated the annoying need to transfer my stuff (and possibly lose things) if I was slackpacking.

Finally, the fabric began to wear through. Got lucky, and found another one. By then, the company had made some changes, and did not include some of the pockets, so I made the desired pockets and sewed them on. They are the blue ones in the pictures of the old pack.

But over a year ago, the main zipper in the second one broke. I could replace the zipper easily enough, but the fabric had again worn through in several places, and it really wasn't repairable. I've been making do with other packs I already owned, but didn't like any of them. This spring, I found a small one that was OK, but it was really too small, and the zippers didn't stay shut when I walked.

I've been hunting and hunting for anything that was similar with no success. Eagle Claw makes nothing even similar any more. These are now all called "tactical packs." I like that name, so I'm using it. My plan for this trip was to make a replacement tactical pack using the old one as a pattern. Totally do-able, but it was going to take some time.

So, while I was not sleeping, I thought maybe I'd just look at packs one more time. I scrolled through pages and pages of packs for fishing, hunting, hiking, general use. Didn't like any of them. On a sudden whim, I decided to look on eBay, and there it was! A "vintage," unopened Eagle Claw pack of my style. You better believe I ordered it without a second thought. So was I simply filling in a sleepless night, or do you think I was meant to find that pack? I know what I think.

Old and new. The great news is that this is the original design with all the pockets. I don't have to add any. The slightly not-so-good news is that this pack is bigger. Weird. But it works anyway; it just wraps farther around little old me.

Here's how I use the pockets: Big one holds a water bottle, situpon, knife, plastic bag to cover the camera when needed, cough drops, and whatever else I need to deal with in a hurry.

This is the feature I've always loved about this pack. It comes with a tiny tackle box tucked in this flap pocket, but I use it for maps. The daily map packet goes in here, in plastic, with a pen.

On the other side, the small pockets hold compass, chapstick, and bug repellant.

The larger zip pocket on that side holds my songbook, a small notebook, ID and money.

The small front pocket is for my snack. (Spare safety pins on the flap.)

Teeny is constructed differently from Shamu, and this is when I discovered this tactical pack is bigger, so I had to move the clips back farther. Also had to sew them on by hand. Hmmm. But, I got it done.

And, how does it work? Just like it's supposed to. Knowing my gear is where I want it to be, in the familiar places is calming. So, however I managed to solve the tactical pack problem, that was a BIG ITEM. Done.

In other news: This was my morning project. Then I worked on the trailer. Got the two remaining construction jobs to the point where I know they will be done tomorrow. Just waiting for paint to dry, and I need one more trim piece. Then the only remaining trailer items (except cushions) are what I'm calling "details." After I post this, I'll go back to working on cushions.

15 BIG ITEMS to complete or drop (5 definitely in danger of dropping out)- (47 done). Tons of small ones to do (46 done). 7 days to go. Yes, panic is setting in, but tomorrow I should be able to clear out the tools and start putting things in the trailer. That will help.

See Earth Day and Birthday Shenanigans