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October 06, 2006
Backpacking links
I bugged Leonard about a fall hiking trip, and in support of that here are some nice links I came across this evening...
http://www.wild-ideas.net/ Makers of Bearikade, currently considered the top-end for bearproof storage
http://www.backpacking.net/bbs.html Backpacking.net seems to have a nice community-run forum, similar to scubaboard.com.
http://www.backpacking.net/makegear.html Found at the above site, guides on how to create various pieces of hiking gear. Not really my thing, but Leonard likes doing weird stuff like that.
http://www.backpackinglight.com Backpacking Light seems like a useful magazine site combined with community resources.
http://www.backpackgeartest.org/ Backpack gear evaluation site
http://www.ursack.com/ Ursack is a bear sack considerably cheaper and lighter than a Bearikade, and adequate for non-grizzly areas
http://www.trailspace.com/gear/guide/snowshoes.html A guide on snowshoes (something I know very little about)
Posted by jeff at 07:41 PM | Comments (0)
New vehicle
I traded in my 1995 Toyota Corolla for a 2006 Nissan Xterra. I loved the old car, but I had started thinking about all of the bad places I've taken it (desert dirt rodes in Utah, up rocky trails here in Texas, down dirt rodes in Arkansas mountains), and realized I'd really like something more appropriate. So I figured out what I wanted (4×4, ability to seat 4 adults on a long trip, and enough storage for dive gear, hiking gear, or bikes) and it came down to either the Toyota FJ Cruiser, Tacoma, or Nissan Frontier or Xterra. I drove all of them but the FJ Cruiser (good luck finding a Toyota dealer with one on the lot for a test drive), and the trucks unfortunately didn't make the cut (awful back seats in those models). The performance differences between the FJ Cruiser and the Xterra are marginal, and so the Xterra won by virtue of price and having 4 normal doors. I'd put up pictures of my new baby, it looks like every other gray Xterra on the road (which I'm ok with... my Corolla looked like the 3 other blue mid-90s model Corollas I've seen in this town on a regular basis).
Posted by jeff at 07:31 PM | Comments (0)