Date: 2004-06-02
From: Paerisburg still

To: Loaf City, Pearisburg, Virginny
Miles today: 0.0

okay it is still raining... (rainy day, dream away... lay back and groove on a rainy day, lay back and dream on a rainy day...)It is time for ASWAH's 600 Mile Gear Review!!!Granite Gear Vapeur Trail score A-Excellent light weight pack. If you are only carrying 20 to 30 pounds than this is the pack for you. The pack fits me well. I find it very comfortable to wear on long days. It rides well over rough terrain. My only complaint is that this pack gave me the worst case of pack rash I have ever gotten. The guys from GG who were at Trail Days were completely awesome. I would HIGHLY recommend buying one.Leki Super Makula Trekking Poles score A+With all my broken bones in my body I would not ever think of owning another pair. I got 3,800 miles of abuse on my first pair and am well on the way of abusing my new pair. Excellent Poles from a very excellent company!!! The Leki crew is so helpful to the hiker communityIntegral Designs Sil Shelter score DI used to be a huge fan of the Sil Shelter. After I got converted to tarping, I have been looking for the ultimate tarp. I bought my sil shelter and used it for a while. Going out this year I finally woke up to it's many flaws. I do not like the location where they want you to stick your trekking poles. It makes an already small tarp even smaller. This is NOT big enough for two people, even a couple. Lisa and I switched to a jumbo 10X12 rectangle and haven't looked back.Equinox 10X12 Sil Tarp score AThe Chateau! Holy crap, we need a damned intercom system to talk to someone in the far reaches of this immense tarp. If there is rain on one side of the tarp it is probably sunny on the other side. At 18 ounces it is lightweight and a great value. You can fit four people with room to spare.Frontier Labs Nex iA MP3 Player score BI love this MP3 player. It is lightweight, batteries last a fair amount of time. The remote control is very useful on rainy days. My complaints are the FM tuner is almost worthless. I don't listen to a lot of radio so I do not care. And since I camp out usually on top of rock formations I can pick up my favorite NPR stations regularily. Other complaints: they need to write better program for shuffling songs. And they need to make the format disk option a little harder to get to. Lisa, by accident, formatted one of her two disks. Their support has been awesome.Montrail TRS Comps score AExcellent shoe! I have been using these for 3600 miles on the AT and love them. I have a wider foot and they are comfortable.   Only copmplaint, they take a year to dry out. The longest I had a pair last was 607 miles. After 400 miles they seem to get a little slick of rock and roots.The FREIGHT TRAIN Jet Propulsion Denatured Alcohol Stove score A+++Good Lord this thing cooks hotter and faster than my stoves at any professional kitchen I have worked in! Freight train is awesome and I love his stoves! I highly recommend these to anyone. DON'T ACCEPT SUBSTITUTES!!!Pentax Optio S4 Digital Camera score AAA+++Worth every single penny it costs! An unbelievable camera with so many damned features it is unreal! On a 256 card I get about ten movies and 150 pictures at very high resolution. If you use lithium batteries they last forever. I switched my batteries out in Pearisburg after filling three cards. My only complaint is that the clock feature does not keep time if you shoot a movie. Forget box cameras. By the time you buy a box camera ($7) and develop it ($10). You have spent $17 for 24 pictures. In 2000 I took 80 rolls of film. It cost me and my mother (bless her wonderful soul) a fortune in developing fees. The Pentax cost 380 with two memory cards and shipping. Plus I can create more effects with the camera... shoot movies (like us playing with the wild ponies on the grayson highlands, record sounds thunderstorms in the tarp, etc.). Every hiker ought to carry one!!!Well, I hope my review has been helpful... Peace and Love to both readers... Now I have to talk Lisa into a third zero day in Pearisburg...ONE LOVE ASWAH and the GOLDEN PIMP BOOTS