Monthly Archives: June 2014

Cuben Tech Clothing: Unintended Consequences

It seems that many folks are playing around with different kinds of Cuben Tech variants to make waterproof and breathable clothing. I guess they missed my Search for the Holy Grail article on this fallacy.

Aside from this fruitless search, many people feel that Cuben Tech clothing is not visually appealing — I think the term is aesthetically.

zPacks poncho groundsheet

I think folks are missing the positive unintended consequences of my Cuben Tech poncho.

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The Liebster Award

What’s Up With That?

Okay, I haven’t posted much during the past couple of months. I have been busy using up my inventory of recreational time by hiking and camping.

I saw a post over on backpackinglight.com that I had been “tagged” for the Liebster Award. Of course that is the only way I could find out because this website doesn’t allow comments or emails to me. I value my privacy too much to have to deal with other people who might want to communicate their thoughts here.

The fellow who “tagged” me is a nice guy who happens to live in Sweden. So I thought I would discuss this Liebster thing.

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Buckeye Trail Section Hike

Buckeye Trail Blue Blaze

My last post was a review of the book Grandma Gatewood’s Walk. Toward the end of the article I mentioned that she was a founding member of Ohio’s Buckeye Trail Organization. One of Emma’s favorite hiking places was a section of the Buckeye trail in Hocking Hills, Ohio near a place named Old Man’s Cave.

So not much more than a week after I read about Emma Gatewood, I decided to head to Ohio and do some Buckeye Trail backpacking. This, like many of my trips, was a last minute spur of the moment decision.

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Book Review: Grandma Gatewood’s Walk

A Good Read

grandma gatewood's walkIn 1955, at the age of 67, Emma Gatewood walked the entire 2,000+ mile Appalachian Trail (AT). This is a quick review of the book, Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman who Saved the Appalachian Trail, by Ben Montgomery.

What makes this book a good read isn’t necessarily Mr. Montgomery’s writing ability, but that Emma Gatewood was such an incredible person. Before her through-hike of the AT, not many people had heard of the trail that runs from Georgia north to Maine, and only a handful had hiked it in its entirety. Emma would become the first woman to complete it. No one before or after her did more to popularize the trail.

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