Date: 2012-10-12
To: Gear Review: Some final odds and ends
Miles today: 0.0

We have previously covered most of the ¢big ticket¢ items, but here are a few more thoughts on gear, within the overall caveat that ¢less is better.¢ Petzl head lamp with red option - Our initial plan was to be in our tent 75% of the time, but as you can see on our stats page, it didn¢t work out quite that way:tent 30%shelter 22%hotel 20%house 19%hostel/ B&B 9%The biggest surprise is that we stayed in people¢s homes (including folks we¢d never previously met!) a full month. But the second biggest surprise was how much time we spent in shelters. When the weather forecast got to be 40% rain or higher, it was so easy to get sucked into a shelter, and be able to guarantee an early dry start the next morning. Which brings us to our little can¢t do without Petzl headlamps. If you¢re senior citizens who are going to be up and down frequently during the night (and N certainly is one), it is really bad manners not to have a red light to minimize your disturbing your neighbors. It didn¢t take us long to figure this one out, and this was our first gear replacement purchase on the trail.2-expandable 12"x12" cloths (also pictured here) - We picked these up as an impulse purchase, stuck them in the little bag with the tent stakes and never used them for 1,800+ miles. But they were so light we never bothered to get rid of them. Then the one night we had rainwater in the tent, we went digging these out quickly, and, low and behold, they really work! Great for mopping up and keeping the rest of the gear dry. Glad we had ¢em.Battery powered sensor thermometer - This item was pictured on our original gear list, but was a disappointment. Seemed to be slow to react to temperature changes, and useless in and out of the tent which is where we needed it the most. So we sent it home. Would have liked to had an accurate lightweight thermometer, but this wasn¢t it¢¦Gloves, Playtex rubber - N talked X out of carrying these before we started. ¢Nuff said¢¦Gloves, 180s - These were N¢s high tech gloves with a metal button on the finger tips to use with a touch screen phone. Great idea, but¢¦ Also, these were tough to get on and off when wet. N sent them home after the Smokies and relied on his third pair of socks on the rare occasion he needed gloves. That is until he got to Maine and started borrowing X¢s glove liners on a regular basis first thing in the morning.Hat ¢ Tilly - We both loved our Tilly¢s! We didn¢t wear them as much as expected in dry weather, as much of the time in the woods, a hat was just too hot, but they usually made an appearance right after the rain covers for our packs came out. N also used his inverted as a great organizer in the tent or shelter, being a great place to store glasses, light, bandana, etc., at night.Foot Powder, Gold Bond Medicated - After a full day of wet shoes, this was great at night inside a clean dry pair of socks.Desitin ointment - During hot humid weather, this was a blessing on rashes brought on by packs rubbing hips or shoulders.tiny Swiss army knife ¢ 3.55 oz. - Just a note to say this is all the knife you need on the trail. We probably used the scissors to cut duct tape more than any other tool.Wet ones - When you need ¢em, you need ¢em; but we also used them to clean dishes when water was in short supply. In Maine when it got too chilly to wash feet, these sent us into our sleeping bags clean. NewTrent Mobile charger - If you enjoyed our daily journal updates when we were out of town for four days or more, thank this little baby right here. It promised three full recharges of our cell phones and it always delivered. [That being said, any time we were close to electricity, we became adept at scrounging an outlet for our phones. This skill is right up there in importance with scrounging half rolls of TP, which of course are lighter than brand new full rolls¢¦]Camera - Now that we¢re home, there is a tinge of regret we don¢t have pictures with larger .jpg files, so we can make clearer enlargements, but if we did it again, we¢d still rely on our camera phones and save the weight of a separate camera.Phone card - On the rare occasion when we had access to a land line and no cell service, this was a critical item.Insect headnet and Deet - We think these got left off our original list, but we carried them all the way to Maine, however, never had to use either. How fortunate we were! The only two times N wound up with mosquito bites were at water sources with a fair amount of standing water. The few times bugs would have been a problem, we made sure we were zipped up in our tent by dark.AWOL's AT Guide/Maps (no more than 300 miles worth at a time) ¢ After reading a few disparaging comments about his guide in our journal [we did get the feeling that north of the Whites his listing of landmarks was not as complete as it could be (very disconcerting to cross a major logging road and find it not be listed!)], AWOL emailed us seeking details so he could make corrections/ improvements in the next addition. We¢ll try to do that but we wish we¢d have kept better notes when we found a mistake or omission. The main thing here is his obvious interest in making the best guide available even better. How did people thru hike this trail before it came along???