[at-l] Quick Gear Report

[rafe.bustin@verizon.net (Raphael Bustin)]

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Quick notes on some of the gear I was using on my
section hike thru Vermont these last couple of weeks.

Zip Stove:  Worked like a champ.  Still on its first
battery.  As suggested by Shane and others, birch
bark makes a great fire starter.  The only place where
the Zip wasn't useful was at the barn on Vt. Rte. 12.
In a "civilized" setting like that, where are you going to
scrounge wood for the stove?

I can report that Zip Stoves are *not* being used by
through-hikers, however.  Most of them were very
curious about the thing, and had never seen one.
Thru hikers seem mainly to be using alcohol stoves
or Whisperlites (mostly the former.)

Must say I was just a bit nervous using it at Stratton
Pond Shelter, with a big "No Fires" sign in my face.
Fortunately, the caretaker didn't show while I was
cooking dinner.

I saw no other Zip stoves in use on my hike.  In
almost every case, it was a great conversation piece.

Petzl Tikka headlamp:  Great.  Still waiting for the
first set of batteries to show signs of fading.

Canon G2 digital camera:  Gotta love it.  I took
along a total of 1 GB of memory cards, and
carried a spare battery, but never needed it.
Took about 200 pictures.  It was fun reviewing
the hike occasionally at camp, or showing
NOBOs pictures of the terrain they were about
to walk.  This is a 4 Megapixel digicam; I was
saving images in "RAW" mode at full resolution.
I got 180 images onto a 512M CF card, and
another 20 or so on a 256M card from work.

(If the math seems incorrect, see Canon's
website for a description of their "RAW" storage
format.)

MSR Water Filter:  Kind of annoying.  It seems
the filter needed scrubbing down at least once a
day.  Once scrubbed, it worked fine, but this was
a significant pain in the butt.

New Balance/Dunham "Green Mountain Plus"
lightweight boots:  Mail-ordered from Campmor
as this was a model that seemed built for very
wide feet.  A couple of blisters near the start of
the trip, subdued with moleskin.  Other than that,
worked fine.  Beats leather boots, anyway.

1990 Trail Maps:  Mostly OK, but of course a
few shelters have come and gone and Bear
Mountain wasn't part of the AT in 1990.
Carrying this map, I was able to ascend Pico
SOBO via the "old" AT with a clear conscience <g>.

1990 Eureka Gossamer Tent:  the tent is still
fine, good as new.  The stuff sack has more or
less disintegrated.


rafe b.
aka terrapin
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