Gear

I have had this cut, lesion or what have you on on my left cheek for months.  I really thought nothing of it except that it would not heal and I normally heal cuts pretty darn quick.  So I finally got it looked at earlier this week.  A lovely biopsy, or however you spell that.  A core was taken, blood was spilt, an electro-cauterizer was involved.  Damn I love the smell of burning flesh in the afternoon.  It smells like...cancer.  Yep, that's right.  Its skin cancer, I found out today.

New to the market, Band-Aid® Single-Step™ Liquid Bandage, is a better take on liquid bandages. I started using it awhile back and have found for sealing normal cuts on the trail not much is better. The liquid bandage is "painted" on and seals it, giving it a water proof seal. No bandages to get filthy or stick to your gear. It is great on your feet as you don't have the bulk of bandages to cause blisters or worse, stick to your socks.

Last year Kirk surprised me with a Garmin Foretrex 201 GPS unit for my Christmas present. Well, maybe it wasn't really a surprise, I had been wanting one for a long time. I have been using it now for nearly a year and have had a long time to test it and get a feeling of it's best parts and it's limitations.

A couple of weeks ago I desperately needed new rain pants before a trip that was going to be in either snow or rain for 2 days straight. I hadn't had a decent pair of rain pants in a couple years, and I really didn't want to hike in my back up rain pants - a pair of Frog Toggs that belong to my husband....who is a foot taller than me! (Which work but are really, really ugly and sound like a trash bag is walking with you)

So you decide you want to take up hiking.  That means it’s time to buy the proper gear.  With countless outdoor companies all vying for your dollar, buying the right gear to suit your needs can be an enormous undertaking.

Backpacking can be as simple as you want, to as much gear as you can lift and carry on your back. Besides a simple list of essentials for safety and comfort there isn't much more a person needs to make the jump from day hiking to backpacking. What it comes down to is personal comfort levels and how many luxury items you want to carry.

Weight: 1lbs, 14 oz

MSRP: $129 USD

Weight: 16oz bowl, 3.3oz,

6oz cup, 1.7oz

Retail price: $15.95 USD

You can squish and squash them into the smallest corner of your pack, and when you're ready to eat, they snap back into shape. Made of food grade silicone, these bowls are temperature safe to 400F, making them handle boiling water easily.

That is a subject you see often on outdoor forums. Be it a man asking does he need to get his female partner a special backpack, or a woman asking can she use unisex gear...it is an open ended subject.  In the past 3 years or so, there has been a massive boom in women's only gear. The majority of the major players in the outdoor gear industry have at least made a token gesture in producing gear.  Now the whole pink color issue?

I bought a ladies Celia daypack by LLBean in Spring 2006. I had been looking for something to replace my Marmot Diva daypack. It was at that point I was going back to water bottles and leaving my hydration bladders behind. I needed a pack that fit well, could haul gear round, fit snowshoes on the back, and had pockets for bottles. And yes, I did get it in Powder Blue: