[pct-l] Pct-L To waterproof or not to waterproof (ye old sleeping

[Jill Russell]

I think that those of us fortunate enough to have found UL gear that works
well have the luxury of forgetting about it on the trail.  I remember,
however, when I was a new convert to UL hiking.  Like all converts, I
wanted to talk about it with everyone and make sure they had seen the
light.  So, yes, after a bit, the gear novelty will wear off and food will
become the absolute priority, but for now, the converts can preach to the
choir.




>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2014 11:34:04 -0800
> From: Diane Soini <dianesoini at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] To waterproof or not to waterproof (ye old
>         sleeping
> To: pct-l at backcountry.net
> Message-ID: <699E7762-B5D8-454D-89F1-9572FF739020 at gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
>
> To you and everyone thinking as you have been (and as I had also as I was
> prepping) you all really just need to get out on the trail and go already!
> All these crazy schemes you are coming up with will go home as soon you get
> to a post office.
>
> Seriously, gear is good enough the way it comes out of the box. A little
> seam-sealer on your tent and you?re good to go.
>
> The awesome part of hiking the trail is how you really don?t need that
> much. Whatever you have doesn?t even need to be that fancy. Whatever you
> don?t have is rarely missed and if it is missed, you?ll figure out how to
> acquire it. Believe it or not, you can hike for several weeks feeling a
> little too cold all the time or getting rained on with piss-poor rain gear
> or whatever other thing you haven?t done the best job setting yourself up
> with. You aren?t going to the moon. There?s a store or the Internet and a
> post office coming up soon.
>
> I remember a day in Oregon when I met a hiker just starting out on a
> backpack trip. He was so excited to see someone with lightweight gear. He
> really wanted to discuss gear with me. This brand, that brand, all these
> numbers. I really didn?t care anymore. I hadn?t cared about gear for a
> really long time. It held absolutely no interest for me. All I cared about
> were the flowers and my feet and my food fantasies. If he?d wanted to
> discuss lunch with me, that would have been a totally different story. I
> could have discussed lunch all day long. In fact, I bumped into Billy Goat
> on the trail once and forget about the view, we talked at length about
> which meal is better to eat at Drakesbad.
>
> (He votes for lunch, I vote for breakfast. The best is dinner, camp
> nearby, and then breakfast so you get two of the best meals on the trail in
> a row.)
>
>