Date: 2013-12-25
To: More gear reviews
Miles today: 0.0

To all who have been waiting the promised gear reviews and lessons learned...our apologies, but the Christmas holidays and all have diverted our attention from finishing our work...The attached picture was taken of Crunchmaster and his two hiking buddies, Cerveza and Milkrun. Trevor got word from "Fives" that they were probably going to summit Springer on Thursday, 12/19. He left home in the early morning and drove the 2.5 hours to the Springer parking lot at Big Stamp Gap and they showed up 45 minutes later. He walked the mile up to the summit and the attached photo was taken. Conditions were much nicer than when Trevor finished 5 days earlier.Trevor has 4 goals loosely defined but firmly placed on his timeline for the future.Goal #1 is get a job to earn money for goals #2, #3, and #4 goals.Goal #2 is a 5-6 week tour of Europe via foot, train, trail, and and other means in late June through early August. Plans include Italy, Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, England and possibly Ireland, Holland and Belgium. Many details must be worked out. Expect a journal. We'll not journal on TJ but will post a link here on where to go.#3 goal is to complete his first year of college for the 2014 Fall and 2015 Spring Semesters. General required classes towards a 4 year BS degree are on the menu for the first year.Goal # 4 is to hike the PCT from April through September of 2015.During our exploring here in CO we have crossed the CDT and will not rule out a thru-hike of it after completion of the PCT. That's really too far out at this point, but certainly an intriguing trail that would give him the Triple Crown of Hiking.Crunchmaster's Tarptent, the 'Notch' model, served him very well. It was a 3 season tent and there was question from the very beginning on how well it would hold up to stormy (as in windy) conditions. There wasn't high expectations that it would keep out the rain if the winds were strong, and it didn't, though not to an extent that it caused much to get wet. Overall it performed up to expectations, which was lightweight, durable, kept bugs out, and set up quickly. It even functioned well in cold weather (single digits), though a 4 season tent would have held in more heat and been a little better. Again, the tent met all stated deliverables and held up very well. The PCT requires much more tenting and potentially under much more rigorous conditions. More study will be done prior to purchasing a tent for the PCT, which will include requirements that it be able to withstand strong winds, keep occupant dry through the storm, be easy to set up, and be lightweight.Trevor's two hiking poles, Leki Summit AS Trekking Poles, were part of the tent system. They did not hold up to the weather and constant beating. The twist locking feature is what failed towards the end of the hike. Leki makes good poles but we would never get twist locks again but would instead go with the lever locks. The twist locks 'froze' and could not be loosened. As a result, the last 2 weeks of the hike were without poles, which were sent home along with the tent. This lightened his load but required that he stay in shelters. Having a tent provides many more options at the end of the day, keeps you out of mice-infested shelters, and away from snoring sleepers.More gear reviews coming soon...Here are a few photos of Crunchmaster's views from beautiful Colorado. The last photo is of Crunchmaster, Happy, Thomas, & Lauren. Many thanks to Thomas and Lauren for putting us up and showing us around the Denver area and the mountains and ski areas west of Denver.