Choice; Great Outdoors or Technical Gear?

[ocourse]

I love the great outdoors and often think I would be better suited living in a simpler manner and time. You know, without time constraints and complications. But I also love computers, GPS'rs, PDA's, cameras, technical fabric and new clothing concepts, outdoor gear, etc. It seems odd how these two very different worlds can blend so easily for many of us, making our outdoor experience more enjoyable, safer, and more comfortable. But if you were asked to choose which of these two worlds you wanted to live in, which choice would best describe your mindset?

[hikerjohnd]

I must admit I love the gadgets associated with camping/backpacking. Its the little things that technology has brought us that makes ultralight backpacking possible. So I suppose without the advances, I wouldn't enjoy backpacking as much as I do. So, I long for the simpler life, no phones or cars, but really appreciate the freedom that technology and those things allow for. Kind of a Catch 22...

[TJ aka Teej]

Then came the gadgeteer, otherwise known as the sporting-goods dealer. He has draped the American outdoorsman with an infinity of contraptions, all offered as aids to self-reliance, hardihood, woodcraft, or marksmanship, but too often functioning as substitutes for them. Gadgets fill the pockets, they dangle from neck and belt. The overflow fills the auto-trunk and also the trailer. Each item of outdoor equipment grows lighter and often better, but the aggregate poundage becomes tonnage. –ALDO LEOPOLD, A Sand County Almanac, 1949

[grrickar]

My vote would be somewhere in the middle. I don't have to be a techno weenie in the woods, but there are a few things I would not want to do without. I have camped sans gear in the summer when I was in Scouts, and it really makes you appreciate having some comforts (sleeping bag, tent, bug spray, etc). I'd imagine very few camp on a regular basis without at least some gear items.

[Jaybird]

i loves my gadgets...BUT, would give it ALL up to THRU-HIKE the A.T.! :D

[hauptman]

Put me in the city and I become obsessed with the gadgets, but put me in the woods and I become a cave man. I think I tend to become my surroundings as they become more and more familiar. Its like that saying, "When in Rome...etc., etc., etc.....

[Kerosene]

I'm in the computer industry, and while I don't buy every new gadget out there like some folks, I at least read the performance specs and have a general sense of how they work (and how well they work). That said, I could function just fine for a day, weekend, week, month, or quarter without any of that stuff.

[Buckingham]

I love my gadgets, but over the years I've found that the added weight in my pack does not equal their use. This year I will even forego the use of my pocket television:eek:

[Seeker]

synthetic fabrics aside, i can't think of any 'gadget' that i just "have to have" that's ''the latest and greatest'', electronic devices especially... i can actually read a map and use a compass pretty well. i pride myself in knowing a few 'outdoorsman' skills, and am constantly trying to learn more. i've made a fire with a bow drill and flint and steel... can make a shelter with just a tarp... can cook without pots or pans on an open fire... choose not to all the time, but i don't 'need' a gps, titanium spork, or combination jetboil/mug/coffeemaker/clock/thermometer/multitool/fax gadget with Eddie Bauer Special Edition logo.. i've seen some pretty strange things carried on the trail...

electronics, i can do without.

(yes, i do carry a photon light, and often a headlamp. but i don't 'need' them.)

[Patrick]

I actually took a tiny portable TV with me on a ten day solo hike in VA one year. But it was because the NCAA Tournament was on and the Terps were a #1 seed. I got to watch two games while on the trail and was back to watch them win the championship. I kept it well hidden during the day.

Back to the poll. I agree that I don't have much use for gadgets, but love outdoor material. Hard to imagine doing it all before synthetics.

[smokymtnsteve]

me got 3 caribou skins soaking in alum and salt water solution right now,,,

me gonna make mukluks out of caribou skins....and maybe some overmittens.

maybe use one as bedding in igloo ...