[at-l] Various stuff (not political ;-)

[bennettk@xxxxxxx (ken bennett)]

We got in a small local hike this weekend, and it was a beautiful day --
snow on the ground, a painfully blue sky, and temps in the low 20s to start.
Kinda different for piedmont North Carolina. Only met two people the entire
day, and this is normally a fairly crowded place (Hanging Rock State Park).
I guess the cold kept the crowds down.

While out hiking, we made final plans for our summer vacation -- almost
three weeks hiking north from Springer, starting early June with our
12-year-old daughter. I'm thinking that we'll leave the car at Amicalola
Falls State Park, hike until we're done, and get a shuttle back to the car.
Can anyone recommend a shuttle provider in that area? Our plan is to make it
to Fontana Dam, but as we'll only have 17 hiking days, we may stop in
Wesser. So it will need to be flexible.

----

Women's cheap rain shell alert:

I have a lightweight rain shell from Lowe Alpine that I have been pretty
happy with -- 10 ounces of w/b anorak with a good hood, but (alas) no pit
zips. We have been looking for something similar for my wife, and came upon
this at Campmor:

http://www.campmor.com/webapp/commerce/command/ProductDisplay?prmenbr=226&pr
rfnbr=27743005

This is the Lowe Adrenaline Jacket for women -- full zipper, pit zips, w/b
fabric, etc., for $30. Yep, thirty bucks, and they still have a full
selection of sizes, although the colors are kind of, um, ugly (personal
opinion of a guy, so you can discount it at will.)

This jacket will not be as long-term durable as a three-layer GoreTex,
because there is nothing protecting the w/b coating inside the jacket. But
it is breathable, it is very lightweight (they don't give weights, but my XL
anorak is 10 oz.), and it's a whole lot cheaper.

Campmor also has full-side-zip Marmot women's w/b pants on sale for $40:

http://www.campmor.com/webapp/commerce/command/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=276812
59&prmenbr=226

My daughter has a Precip jacket and it has been very good and very light. I
expect the pants to be just as good.


So, yeah, our credit card got a little singed (you can't just order one
thing from Campmor, can you?) last night, but it's expected to recover. And
now we get to plan a long-ish hike for June, and planning is half the fun.

Cheers,

Ken
Big Cranky