Jordan's Dad

I think you can probably tell from my previous posts that if I’m a gram weenie I’m a pretty crappy one. I AM concerned with minimizing the weight of the house on my back, I do the research, I compare, and then I spend a whole crapton of money on the gear I intend to use. I go out hiking and camping and test it, and if it doesn’t work for me I make adjustments. That goes for just about everything in my pack.

About the only exception to this rule is electronics. For my entire professional career I’ve made my living with electronics, but until (relatively) recently I refused to carry so much as a cell phone along on a trip, considering it too much of a distraction. You go out to where the roads end, you strap a house to your back and walk until civilization is nothing but a distant memory… and you come around a bend to somebody shouting into their phone (or their Bluetooth headset), refusing to cut that tether and simply enjoy where they are and what they are doing. It seemed such a silly contradiction to me. About ten years ago though, I began to consider the phone as another piece of essential emergency gear. Charge it up, shut it off, put it in a ziplok bag with the duct tape and stove repair kit and car keys and forget about it until you’re back at the trailhead. HYOH.

When I began planning for this upcoming trip though, I started considering a couple of changes. I’m pretty far out on the introvert scale so being alone doesn’t bother me much; but boredom is another story, and I know that while I’m developing my trail legs I’ll be spending more time in camp that I might like. For me, that’s when the boredom sets in, and if anything will chase me off the trail, boredom is likely to be it. So I started looking at my Kindle. It uses almost no power, it needs a different USB cable than my phone, but that’s pretty light. It holds 3500 books! I could actually read some of the literature that I’ve been meaning to get to for years! It weighs nearly an entire pound! What the hell am I thinking, there’s a Kindle app for my iPhone, and I have to take that anyway. I’ve already budgeted for an emergency solar charger, so power shouldn’t be much of an issue, and that only weighs 2.9 ounces.

So what about other electronic devices? iPod? Oh hell no, if I really want music on the trail (and I can’t imagine why), the iPhone will do that at the cost of more time on the charger (and the chance of it being dead when I really do need it for an emergency). Camera? Also built into the phone. I’ve gotten away from taking pictures of my outdoor adventures because I got tired of the, “Oh my god that’s beautiful, I would love to go there and see that” line we all get, followed by, “oh I can’t possibly get away!” when you ask them if they want to go for a hike. My photos are in my head, and that doesn’t depend on batteries. If someone REALLY wants to see what I have seen, it’s all still out there. There is one and only one exception to this. I have an awesome grand-niece who is about seven years old and very smart. If I take photos on this hike, it will be with the intention of sharing them with her (Jordan is perfectly capable and willing to do this kind of thing on her own and welcome to come along on any of my outings, and thus doesn’t need this consideration). I also bought her a National Geographic AT trail map, and I hope that she might use it to follow my progress. I hope that having the occasional photo to go along with that will only make it that much cooler, and might instill some small desire in a young city girl to get outside and stretch her legs.

GPS? You have GOT to be kidding. In the beginning was Bjorn Kjellstrom’s book, the Boy Scouts, and this little thing called a compass. It’s lightweight, has several uses (straightedge, ruler, signal mirror, tells you which way is north if you can’t see the sun), doesn’t need batteries, and is nearly indestructible. With this little device and AWOL’s AT guide, for the first time in my life I’m considering not shelling out for detailed maps at all. I figure if Bill Bryson could figure it out, I’m not likely to have much trouble. Plus, it doesn’t induce a false sense of security in weak or non-existent outdoor skills.

What is my total electronics weight budget, you ask? At this moment it comes to 12.8 ounces, including the headlamp and spare battery. The iPhone and charger is just over eight ounces of that. Hmmm, I think I’m due for an upgrade; I wonder if I can get a free smartphone that’s lighter and has a longer battery life?