Book Review: The Ultimate Hiker’s Gear Guide, 2nd Edition

Backpacking, Backpacking Gear, Book Review

This is a review of The Ultimate Hiker’s Gear Guide: Tools and Techniques to Hit the Trail, by Andrew Skurka, published by National Geographic. I don’t do many book reviews. I have uploaded close to 700 posts and pages to this site and I think there are only 5 or 6 book reviews.

There was a time when book reviews were the domain of newspapers and magazines with full time writers who reviewed books for their readership. The purpose of the reviews was to recommend good books and to warn readers about the poor ones, while at the same time providing feedback to the author.

Today this has changed. Retail websites, especially Amazon, allow their customers to post reviews and then the website calculates an overall rating base on customer feedback (i.e. 4.2 out of 5). Unfortunately on these websites, it is the rare reviewer who has any stated qualifications to provide a book review of value or worthy of consideration.

The other thing that has changed is the blogs (like this one) that post book reviews. How this usually works, is the publisher or author offers a free book in exchange for a review.  There is no requirement for a positive review, but in my opinion a free item in exchange for a review makes an objective review very difficult for most people; although there are some folks who are completely truthful in their reviews.

Last month I received an email that National Geographic was looking to provide advance copies of The Ultimate Hiker’s Guide to some bloggers in exchange for a review and would I be interested. Well, I don’t do quid pro quo. So I wasn’t interested in a free advance copy. The book won’t be available until March 7th. However, I was planning on purchasing the book, having read the first edition several years ago. Based of this offer for a review, I was able to purchase a copy in advance, and I paid the full retail price.  So let’s get on with the review.

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Sewer Crap

Travel Trailer
Randy Quaid as Cousin Eddie in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

I thought the title might be an attention getter. With a little thought and the proper maintenance procedures, dealing with RV waste isn’t the awful task many make it out to be, and you should never have a Cousin Eddie moment. So I thought I’d share some of the sewer crap accessories we I use. To be accurate, sewage is not a we thing. Sewage is 100% percent my responsibility, except for the task of generating said sewage.

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Does A Weight Distribution Hitch Increase Tongue Weight?

Camper Upgrades, Travel Trailer, , , , ,

The short answer is, No.

 

Often trying to find detailed information on trailer towing is difficult at best.

When we bought our current trailer and tow vehicle I knew that we would be close to the maximum capacity specifications for both. Most of the self-proclaimed or perceived experts would say buy a bigger tow vehicle if you are going to be close to the tow vehicle’s maximum specification for gross trailer weight and/or tongue weight. In other words, “buy a bigger gun.”

I am not a hunter and I have never hunted. But I know you don’t hunt elk with a pocket knife (too small) or a rocket propelled grenade (too big). You use a rifle with the correct caliber of bullet and other attributes that combined are a match for taking an elk. And so it is with our tow vehicle. The manufacturer (Ford) says we can safely tow a trailer that weighs up to 9,200 lbs fully loaded as long as the tongue weight is between 10% and 15% of the trailer’s weight and the tongue weight doesn’t exceed 920 lbs using a weight distribution hitch also known as a WDH, and at the same time the tow vehicle cannot exceed the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating, or any Gross Axle Weight Ratings, and the Combined Gross Vehicle Weight.

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Towing Attitude and 10,000 Mile ProPride Update

Travel Trailer,

Attitude

No, I’m not going to discuss the behavior of people when they are towing a trailer. Behavior isn’t the only kind of attitude.

The attitude of an airplane is its orientation relative to the earth’s horizon. Airplanes have an Attitude Indication that shows the craft’s bank and pitch. Bank is the side to side tilt and pitch refers to the nose of the plane; nose up, down, or level.

Over the Christmas holiday we drove quite a few miles along I-5 and there were an unexpected large number of people towing trailers. I was surprised how many of those trailers were being towed not level. Most of those trailers were being towed with the nose up, similar to an aircraft’s pitch. This is not a good thing.

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2016 Recap: Favorite Gear, Blog Stats, Favorite Trips, Blah, Blah, Blah

Backpacking, Backpacking Gear, Camping, Travel Trailer, , ,

Well, it’s that time of the year again when many backpacking bloggers create a list of their favorite new gear from the prior year. How on earth (or why) can these folks have a slew of new backpacking gear year after year? Methinks they are focused on gear, not getting out often and walking. But I digress…

Then some of these bloggers publish web stats for their blog during the prior year. Really? How boring.

A few backpacking bloggers may only post some of their favorite pictures taken during the prior year or do a simple recap of some trip reports – I like what some of the “few” do. The rest, meh.

What is interesting is that campers and full time RVers who blog generally don’t do this. They simply keep writing about their adventures.

My backpacking gear hasn’t changed much in the past 4 or 5 years, so nothing to write about here. Same goes for our camping gear. Somewhere on this website are lists of the gear and equipment we use. You should be able to easily find those if you are interested.

Given this pessimistic outlook on gear, there is one piece of equipment that has been critical for every single backpacking or camping trip I have done since 2003.

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When Camping Isn’t Camping

Camping

One good thing about camping is that each camper gets to define what camping is, because there is no commonly accepted definition. Backpacking is different. Most people will agree, to some extent, what backpacking is. Not so with camping.

xmas-2016_1
View from our Christmas campsite

This Christmas vacation, as we have done every year since 2002, we hitched up our camper and left home. It was a new destination for us and 800 miles one-way from home. Our campground was nestled among the costal Redwoods a few miles north of the itty bitty seaside city of Trinidad, CA.

But it really wasn’t a camping trip; we would be visiting my daughter and her family.

We just happened to be staying in a campground, in our camper, in a forest.

Or were we camping?

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It’s Probably A Bad Day When Your RV Slide-Out Breaks

Travel Trailer, ,

Milan Maiden Voage

After a 250 mile drive to our campsite in Nevada to enjoy a week-plus Thanksgiving vacation and escape the Black Friday insanity, we unhitched the camper and began our quick set-up routine. As I was outside beginning to lower the stabilizers, I heard some funny noises as Joyce was extending our powered slide-out dining room.

Entering the trailer, I saw that one side of the room was partially extended and the other was still in the closed position – the slide out room was cocked and wedged against the frame. Oh, oh. Smartly, Joyce had stopped trying to open the slide. I pushed the button to retract the slide so I could investigate the problem and unfortunately, as I discovered, the drive chain on the working side created extra slack and wrapped itself backwards creating extra force and breaking one of the cables. As Trump would say, a Disaster!

Our slide-out was one of those things you just don’t think about until it breaks. So I thought I would share some thoughts on what I should have done (e.g., learn how it works mechanically and inspect/maintain it) and what pre-emptive steps I could have done.

Most important learning was I didn’t have a spare cable and if I had, I didn’t own the necessary tools to repair.

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Update on Off-Trail Hiking in Anza Borrego State Park

Backpacking, General Talk, Hiking, ,

Back in June I wrote a post, Please Help Save Off-Trail Hiking in Anza Borrego.

In October I posted an update, “We the People…” made a difference at Anza Borrego, where I stated,

The State indicated that the management of Anza Borrego State Park will continue to administer the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Cultural Preserve Management Plan of 2012, which is a huge victory.

The biggest challenge for “We the People” is the State is not transparent and it is often difficult to find out about the stuff they pull such as the proposed ban of off-trail hiking in Anza Borrego.

I am always dubious of statements made by politicians and government hacks, and have been looking for news to confirm my last post. What these politicians and hacks say they will do often does not happen. Today I received good news via an email from the California Department of Parks and Recreation:

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RV Roof Maintenance

Travel Trailer

Two Kyocera 140 Watt Panels

 

Yes, RV roofs need maintenance!

I suspect most RV owners don’t realize they need to do maintenance on their roofs. With our two tent trailers, which had aluminum roofs, it was fairly easy. Just wash with soap and water, rinse, and check for any problems where the center seam was covered with a metal trim piece.

Our Milan, like most newer RV’s, is different. It has a thin membrane that requires more attention and maintenance.

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