What did you get for Christmas?

[bigcranky]

Got way too much hiking gear already. For the holiday my best gift was having my dad come down from the Philly area, first time in at least ten years as he was caring for my mom full time. My daughter is also here from Tuscaloosa, as she gets a couple of weeks off work. Very nice to have them both here, and also nice that we don't have to travel this year. (Well, I did drive up to get my dad, and I'll take him back next week, so I'm doing the 1100 mile drive twice, but it's easier by myself.)

I'm definitely at that point where I don't really need anything. I did get a new (old) fiddle this month, a ca. 1900 French instrument in terrific condition and it sounds good. That's been fun to play, and it sounds very different from my fancy Chinese fiddle.

What I would really like is some time to hike, but that doesn't look good this year.

[JJ505]

Smartwool vest. Very nice, would never buy myself something like that.

[saltysack]

MLD burn that Santa hasn’t shipped yet and a montbell ex light down anorak....


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[jj dont play]

Myself bought myself a GG Kumo


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[gracebowen]

I ruled out ever hiking the pct or cdt because if having to hike in the snow. On Christmas day I read 44 miles hitched or something similar to that. Stopwatch quit the trail for a week then got back on. Somehow her thought about her defining her hike for herself made me realize that while I may never thru hike those trails I could certainly section hike on them.

[Venchka]

I ruled out ever hiking the pct or cdt because if having to hike in the snow. On Christmas day I read 44 miles hitched or something similar to that. Stopwatch quit the trail for a week then got back on. Somehow her thought about her defining her hike for herself made me realize that while I may never thru hike those trails I could certainly section hike on them.

You can indeed. The two short sections that I have done were silly easy and gorgeous. The CDT that is.
Go for it!
Wayne

[Alligator]

Found this in my stocking..20171227_010805.jpg

[Alligator]

Found this in my stocking... 20171227_010807.jpg

[Gambit McCrae]

I got a new pair of Altra LP 3.5s - only thing hiking related
BUT I did get a new Casper mattress and a Samsung UHDTV for the bedroom which I am enjoying both very much

[KCNC]

Dive kit, finally don't have to rent anymore!

Nothing better than having your own diving gear.

In 20 years I think I've used borrowed/rented gear exactly twice. Much more relaxing to enjoy that tropical reef or wreck when you don't have to think about your equipment.
Not to mention, no fumbling on the dive boat during set-up.

Just remember to service your BC and regulator and you're good to go! (I do mine every 2 years unless it's seen heavy use, but apparently I clean and store mine much better than the average diver, so YMMV.) Can't tell you the number of people I've encountered that forget this little detail and end up with a free-flow at 80 feet (or a BC with a stuck dump valve.) Almost every time the story is "I've only had this for 4 years and it's already busted, what junk. Huh? When did I have it serviced? What do you mean?"

I have a soft weight belt and even take that (sans lead) when I travel.

[KCNC]

Got way too much hiking gear already. For the holiday my best gift was having my dad come down from the Philly area, first time in at least ten years as he was caring for my mom full time. My daughter is also here from Tuscaloosa, as she gets a couple of weeks off work. Very nice to have them both here, and also nice that we don't have to travel this year. (Well, I did drive up to get my dad, and I'll take him back next week, so I'm doing the 1100 mile drive twice, but it's easier by myself.)

I'm definitely at that point where I don't really need anything. I did get a new (old) fiddle this month, a ca. 1900 French instrument in terrific condition and it sounds good. That's been fun to play, and it sounds very different from my fancy Chinese fiddle.

What I would really like is some time to hike, but that doesn't look good this year.

Did you check out Amtrak? Probably not convenient from Winston, but maybe from Raleigh and definitely possible from Wilson or Rocky Mount to Philly. Could make those visits from your Dad a bit more frequent with a little less driving. Our kids went to boarding school outside of Philly, so I feel your pain.

[KCNC]

I got an Osprey Atmos 65AG (Santa found it on sale) and a Warbonnet Blackbird XLC (new design, also procured on sale) along with some Farm To Feet socks and assorted DIY rigging supplies for making the specific tie-outs and attachments I "need." Also got a guide book to the National Parks, which I'm looking forward to dog-earing and annotating with visit notes.

My son got a new pack (Baltoro, Santa found some really good sales this year) and a new sleeping bag, along with a Tarptents MoTrail (which will be shared when I have reason to be a ground-dweller.) He also got a good bit of cash and gift cards as well as all kinds of odds-and-ends to help with his planned 2018 Thru-Hike. (Between grad school and law school.)

If my wife's kidney transplant happens in the next few weeks (she has a living donor, just waiting for final approval and scheduling) then there is a solid chance I can catch up with my son for a week or two during his time on the trail. My big goal is rather modest, and that is to go back to Dupont State Forest in October with my wife and hike the High Falls/Triple Falls loop with her again like we did a couple of months ago as her first post-transplant hike. Here we are this past October, with her at about 15% kidney function. Looking forward to seeing how she does with a good kidney!

22768208_10154989600391728_265689831_o.jpg

[QuietStorm]

This—a collage of hiking photos from this year.


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[Leo L.]

My main Christmas present was a gift coupon, very nicely presented:

tent coupon.jpg

And this is what I bought today by using the coupon:
http://www.exped.com/germany/de/prod...reme-mossgreen

[Traffic Jam]

This—a collage of hiking photos from this year.


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Very cool!

[Traffic Jam]

Got way too much hiking gear already. For the holiday my best gift was having my dad come down from the Philly area, first time in at least ten years as he was caring for my mom full time. My daughter is also here from Tuscaloosa, as she gets a couple of weeks off work. Very nice to have them both here, and also nice that we don't have to travel this year. (Well, I did drive up to get my dad, and I'll take him back next week, so I'm doing the 1100 mile drive twice, but it's easier by myself.)

I'm definitely at that point where I don't really need anything. I did get a new (old) fiddle this month, a ca. 1900 French instrument in terrific condition and it sounds good. That's been fun to play, and it sounds very different from my fancy Chinese fiddle.

What I would really like is some time to hike, but that doesn't look good this year.

I am green with envy...can't wait to upgrade my Chinese-made fiddle.

[HighlandsHiker]

Looking forward to seeing how she does with a good kidney!

Best of luck to your wife, KCNC, with her upcoming surgery - hope all goes well and she has a speedy recovery. Love the "MST in a Day" shirt, I was out of the state that weekend and could not participate. Dupont and Triple Falls are fantastic - and you get to celebrate post-hike at Sierra Nevada!

[bigcranky]

Did you check out Amtrak? Probably not convenient from Winston, but maybe from Raleigh and definitely possible from Wilson or Rocky Mount to Philly. Could make those visits from your Dad a bit more frequent with a little less driving. Our kids went to boarding school outside of Philly, so I feel your pain.

Thanks! Yes, the Carolinian stops in Greensboro, about 30 miles east, and in Trenton, NJ, maybe 5 miles from dad's house. I've taken this train home from NYC and it's an enjoyable trip. The departure and arrival times are reasonable, too. We've talked about this with him several times, but he's not interested in the train (and he's definitely ruled out flying.) Alas.

[bigcranky]

I am green with envy...can't wait to upgrade my Chinese-made fiddle.

My Chinese fiddle is actually pretty nice, one of the higher end student fiddles (it's a Shen 800.) I bought it new in Aug '16 and it's really started sounding a lot better in the last year (might be the fiddle, might be me not sucking so much). But I've been keeping my eye out for something more interesting for a while, and found this one on Reverb, from KatP's Fiddle Shop in Knoxville -- she restores old fiddles as a sideline, and still has some that she is working on -- you might contact her through Reverb and ask. This instrument was not that expensive -- in actual cash money terms, not just "compared to other really expensive fiddles" I'm keeping the French fiddle in standard tuning and the Chinese fiddle cross tuned in D or A.

The quality of Chinese instruments is all over the place -- I've been blown away by the sound and build quality of some of them, especially for the prices (e.g. some really good mandos in the $1000 range), and I've also seen some pretty bad ones especially inexpensive guitars and, yes, fiddles.

[Feral Bill]

I got time with my out of town kids. Better than stuff.