For hikers who want to go into the wild on there own, or want a back up system for a group of hikers this is a great solution and it is low cost too.
Spot is a GPS device that also has a messenger system built in although this is limited to "Help", "OK", or "911". Although for a week hiking or longer it is an excellent solution that only costs $150, plus an annual subscription of $99 per year.
For an additional fee of $50 a year you can also have the device send you a location update every 10 minutes which could be an extremley low cost "child-tracker" or stick it in your car boot as a anti-theift device.
Labels: Gear
Our major gear buying is at last finished we both picked up an Osprey backpack each over in Glasgow, Scotland at the
Ellis Brigham store which is great for outdoor gear.
I got an
Osprey Crescent 70 and Louise picked up an
Osprey Luna 70 which is designed for women. We just need to adjust them and go on a hike to break them in for the USA.
Labels: Gear
Boots, ideally wanted summer hiking boots but since only a handful of manufactures make boots in size UK13 (USA14) my choice was limited. The last resort for getting a good fit pair of boots was Kayland, they make up to 13 and are well regarded in the hiking world. I wanted their Vertigo High boot, but no look finding a size 13 in the Ireland or the UK. So after reading some
reviews I got the
Kayland Contact 1000 three season boots, they arrived in the mail on Monday from England I purchased them online at
OutdoorWorldLtd as I was unable to source them here.
After trying them on they fit great, just need to go on a mini hike now to break them in and soften them up a bit, but not much is needed. Louise has a pair of three season
Scarpa boots which fit her great and are great for long hikes.
Now I just need to find some size 13 socks! I have found it difficult to get 12+ Bridgedale socks in stores here but should be able to buy online. For the long hikes we plan on doing we need two pairs of socks, a liner which wicks moisture away from your foot to stop blisters, and an outer layer to reduce friction to also stop blisters.
Labels: Gear
A good camera is essential for the trip and after much hesitation I decided to go for the Nikon D40. It's the cheapest DSLR camera around and after trying it out for the past few days it's really cool and the photo quality is amazing and much better than my old CyberShot.
I am happy with the 18-55 lens that came with it, but in the future I may get the 55-200 or 18-200 Nikon len which would be well worth it.
Labels: Gear
Before Christmas I ordered all the maps for each National Park we will be visiting, the maps are great and include all the trails. Then I decided should I get GPS, or not. Price was a consideration but after much searching I found the Garmin GPSmap 60 at an eBay store and it does the job for a low price, 24 hour battery life and waterproof. This is great for peace of mind when hiking and will come in extremely handy.
Labels: Gear
We received our new
MSR Mutha Hubba Tent in the mail on Wednesday so we decided to camp out Wednesday night to give it a test. It was extremely easy to set up and only took a few minutes.
As for space, I am 6ft 3" and there is more than enough room for me, I can even sit up without incident. Also the entire tent only weighs 7lb or 3.3kg perfect for hiking.
Labels: Gear
