Date: 2013-03-29
To: Initial Gear Assessment
Miles today: 0.0

Unfortunately, the CPE Nationals draw was required but the results will NOT be published until April 10th. Once I know the results I will have less than 60 days to organize my trip. Rather than wait for April 10th, I've decided to go ahead and start going over my gear and making sure all will be ready to go when needed. Nothing more stressful than still having to look for gear just days before departing.So the first gear item I've tackled is Bandit's hiking boots. Baby dog Jackson chewed up one of Bandit's hiking boots last summer. My bad! I will need to replace it. Ruffwear thankfully sells the boots one at a time. Now these boots are specialized boots with fantastic rubber bottoms to help him grip wet, slippery rocks while climbing (I mean hiking). I typically only use them when his pads get worn thin from the miles of rock scrambles but he has used them with other paw injuries as well. They are great to wear when you hit a long stretch of wet weather also because the dog's paws get soft and can tear when packing on the miles stomping through water for days. The set of four boots I did have (now three) were all medium in size, but Bandit's back feet should really have a size small. Yes, dog's feet can vary in size from front to back. Baby dog Jackson will also someday be my hiking partner instead of Bandit so his feet got measured tonight too. He will be needing a set of four small sometime in the future. Thus, I will replace the one destroyed MEDIUM boot with TWO size small boots for Bandit's back feet. Then those can be a hand-me-down to Jackson.The second gear item tackled today was the annual subscription for my SPOT, my emergency rescue GPS system. There had been talk a few months ago about possibly replacing my SPOT with a SPOT Connect GPS system. My SPOT only allows me to send out a generic thumbs up/thumbs down message to up to 10 people. I use it at the end of each day to send a message to close family and friends to let them know that I'm ok. I do this because more often than not you cannot get enough of a cell phone signal to even send a text from the trail. The SPOT also has an emergency feature where if I press the HELP button, the International Search & Rescue people will come to my aid, no questions asked. The SPOT sends them information on where I am. With this device, you NEVER press the HELP button unless it is a life or death situation or you would get a very big bill for their rescue. But fall off a cliff all by yourself in some remote location and not see someone for a very long time, you press HELP.The SPOT Connect that we were discussing replacing the basic SPOT with, would allow my iPhone to connect to the internet via Satellite only to send text messages. Cool idea but reviews seem to indicate that the feature is not yet fully developed and is quite complicated to configure and use. So we stick with the SPOT for this year. Both devices require a $149 annual subscription. But it seems that the SPOT Connect might have additional charges for the texting. Always something right?With those two current gear item issues resolved, I will now need to turn my attention to new items that I need to purchase. I have been carrying around a 4 lb mummy sleeping bag for the past four years. It is a synthetic 20 degree bag that doesn't seem to keep me warm anymore below freezing temps. Time to replace it. Rumor has it that a Western Mountaineering 20 degree down sleeping bag only weighs in at 2 lbs. I will have to purse further research on that one.I haven't decided yet if a new 3-man tent will be in order or not. Per the end of last year, I refuse to carry that 8 lb 3-man tent anymore when I hike with Fat Grandma. But Fat Grandma bought a 2-man tent of his own last fall. We could each carry our own 2-man tents. Also, my just graduated from college son Matthew is considering a possible 3 week hike with us this year on the AT and if he comes for sure I'll be needing that 3-man tent. More itinerary planning will be needed here before making a purchase.The final purchase I'll be needing is a new pair of hiking pants that convert to shorts and I'd like two new tee-shirts as well. I've lost enough weight now that my old ones are starting to hang on me.... oh darn, right?