In November and December of 2000 I backpacked from my house in Palm Springs to Lake Mead and back.
Part 6 can be viewed here.
Continue reading Backpacking 500 Miles in the Mojave Desert (part 7)
Cuben Fiber, Dyneema, and Economics
A LESSON IN ECONOMICS
I received an email from a friend asking me what I thought about the recent Dyneema – Cuben Fiber debate. I had no idea what he has talking about. He sent me some links to several Websites. It appears there is a lot of controversy and, in some cases, anger among backpackers who are advocates of extremely light gear. The anger is that Cuben Fiber is too expensive and not plentiful enough, and many people want more of it at a cheaper price. Of course no one really needs Cuben Fiber, but like spoiled children they want it. No one in the “anger camp” has identified the root cause of the cost and supply issue. So I am going to clear the air and explain it. First I need to provide some background. I will post some pictures to, hopefully, retain your attention.
Are Internet Forums Obsolete?
The Digital Life
In the last half of 2015 I didn’t post much here on PopUpBackpacker.com. Life was getting in the way of living – meaning work was interfering with my leisure time and backpacking and camping trips declined. However, I have corrected this deficiency in life. Let’s move on to the subject at hand.
Since you are reading this, you probably know what an Internet forum is, and I would venture to guess you have participated or presently participate on one. Forums or their ancient electronic relatives from the 1980’s and early 1990’s: bulletin boards, CompuServe, Delphi, or AOL were all precursors to what we now categorize as social media. All of this is leading to the question: Are Internet forums obsolete?
Continue reading Are Internet Forums Obsolete?
Does Home Solar Make Sense?
When it makes sense, I love solar power. In my recent post of my all-time favorite camping gear our campers’ solar system was my favorite gear. In my post Solar for Backing I laid out all the considerations but did not say if it was a good or bad idea
If you want to carry this stuff, go ahead, it’s okay. Just isn’t my personal cup of tea.
In other words, I am not interested in carrying a bunch of electronic devices when backpacking, other than a headlamp and sometimes a camera and solar doesn’t make sense to me. I did try to be objective and present good information for those who are interested in solar for their backpacking trips.
Starting next month I will be on a fixed income, so planning to reduce my monthly fixed overhead has been a priority. The greatest opportunity for savings is our monthly utilities. For most people, the first thing that comes to mind is installing a solar system – especially since most of us have been bombarded by telemarketers and door-to-door solicitors over the past 4 or 5 years. When we get this volume of sales pitch bombardment, your first reaction should be “someone is making a ton of money and they are going to try and take advantage of me.” In other words,
home solar might just be a pig with lipstick
PopUpBackpacker Most Popular Posts of 2015
I started this blog in July of 2012. That first 6 months was really about learning how to do this. In 2013 I uploaded a lot of content. 2014 had a lot of backpacking and camping trip reports, and 2015 didn’t see a lot of activity on my part — I was too distracted with work.
Given that, 2015 saw a traffic increase of 63% over 2014. Where do these folks come from?
- Over 90% from search engines (i.e. Google, Yahoo, etc.).
- Almost 3% came from Facebook. I have no idea where or how, since I don’t belong to or use Facebook — ah heck, I HATE the concept of Facbook
- A little over 2% came from www.backpackinglight.com and www.popupexplorer.com each, which isn’t surprising because those are the (only) 2 online forums I participate on.
So here are the top ten most popular posts of 2015