glasses

[jlore]

hikers that ware glasses, do you carry an extra pair in case your glasses break, or does that rarely happen? also do glasses warers also ware some kind of hat either baseball cap or bucket type hat for when it rains to help keep water off of lenses. i'm trying to plan for a LT e2e this summer. thanks!

[Beachcomber]

hikers that ware glasses, do you carry an extra pair in case your glasses break, or does that rarely happen? also do glasses warers also ware some kind of hat either baseball cap or bucket type hat for when it rains to help keep water off of lenses. i'm trying to plan for a LT e2e this summer. thanks!

I WEAR glasses, can do OK without them for distant vision, so concluded it wasn't worth the weight of carrying a spare pair. Baseball cap was very helpful in keeping rain off. Also, dry TP is essential for cleaning lenses. After a couple of days of rain and sweat, my formerly reliable shirt-tail no longer did the trick.

[Spokes]

I carry a light weight plastic case to keep my glasses in when I bed down- don't want to risk stepping or rolling over on them in the middle of the night. My nylon runners hat is more to keep my PreCip rain hood from falling down over my eyes in the rain.

[Slo-go'en]

Well, I lost a lens out of my glasses this spring just before coming out to Davenport Gap. Hiked all the way to Erwin with the world out of focus. Thankfully, I ran into 10-K and his wife on the trail doing a little SOBO, then were able to get me to a Lens Crafters in Johnson City when I arrived in Erwin.

I should have known better as I had been having trouble with lens falling out of those frames for some time, but just hadn't getten around to replacing them. I've seen enough lost eye glasses at shelters or left at trail heads to know people do loose or miss place thier glasses from time to time. To carry a spare pair is something you need to decide if its worth it or not. Depends on how dependant you are on them. Being near sighted, I didn't need them to read and could see well enough to hike, but not to drive.

Baseball cap or other head gear to keep the rain off your glasses is a very good idea, but sometimes even that isn't enough and your better off without them, no matter how poorly you see without them. I carry a microfiber lens cleaning cloth with me to keep the lens clean. Once other glass wearers saw me using my cloth, they were asking to borrow it each time I pulled it out!

[Ender]

On both my AT and PCT hike I started with glasses, and ended up sending them home. I just made the switch to using contacts every day, and that worked out great for me. It was a pain in the mornings putting them in, but I carried a little extra contact solution and a clean cloth to wash my fingers, and never had any problems. And they work so much better in the rain than glasses.

[tiptoe]

I don't carry an extra pair (I don't own an extra pair), but I do carry a little eyeglass repair kit (tiny screwdriver, extra screws). That actually came in handy when I lent it to another hiker for a quick repair of his glasses. As for rain, I really dislike hats, and I see well enough without them to get around. They tend to fog up in the heat as well, so I often just remove them for a while.

[Panzer1]

FYI
glasses get broken on the AT because when hikers stay in shelters they leave their glasses on the floor where they get walked on in the middle of the night by someone going to the bathroom.

put your glasses in a hard and heavy case. And don't scrimp on the weight.

I always sleep in a tent and hang my glasses from the ceiling on a clothes line. They can't get walked on or laid down on. I can immediately find them.

Panzer

[mmais68569]

I wear glasses but do good with distance so I carry mine most of the time. I went to Dick's Sporting Goods & bought a rigid plastic case for them. That way I did not worry about them being broken Glasses & case are only 4 OZ. some may say that is a lot but then they probably do not have to have glasses.

Mike (Mr. Mean)

[Smooth & Wasabi]

I just can't wear my glasses doing anything active they stay fogged up no matter what. Luckily I can hike well enough without them. I will take my contacts hiking occasionally and definately on overnight ski or snowshoe trips where seeing well is more important. If you really need vision correction to function and can't for whatever reason do contacts I guess it might make sense to have a spare.

[chiefiepoo]

Plan A; rugged and flexible FLEXON autoflex frames for the last 20 years. Never a break. Will survive a "must have rolled on them in my sleep".
Plan B; back up pair of old prescription
Plan C; 1oz repair kit on hand
Plan D; remember that a blind man, Bill Irwin, did the AT end to end.

[ChinMusic]

First question: Can you see well enough to navigate a trail without glasses. If the answer is "no", bring a spare.

I used to wear glasses (not anymore....Lasek) and dropped mine while cleaning them and couldn't find em. I quickly realized I was totally screwed unless I found em. Luckily a fellow hiker came along and found em for me. I learned my lesson.

[daddytwosticks]

No spare pair. They are either on me or tucked into my shoe/boot at night or in the side pocket of my tent. I wear a BB cap to keep the rain off the lenses. I hate it when they fog up...drives me crazy. Been meaning to buy/apply some type of anti-fog before a wet hike. Does this suiff actually work?

[solobip]

I don't carry a spare pair but I have learned to use either Cat Crap or Sea Vision anti-fogging agents or hell I have even used RainX on my glasses. Makes a hugh difference. No fogging, rain runs off and they are really clear. RainX lasts about a week, Cat Crap can be reapplied easy on the trai, it is like a wax, it comes is a small plastice can, about the size of a quarter. Hat are always nice, but they don't help with the fogging.

[solobip]

Cat Crap at Campmor not the real stuff http://www.campmor.com/outdoor/gear/Product___83081

[nitegaunt]

I had a similar experience to one of the comments above. When I was about 18 I went on one of my first trips on the AT. The first day out I lost a lens from my glasses while rock hopping across a fast running creek near Grayson Highlands. I had to do the rest of the trip very out of focus. Luckily the friend I was with also wore a similar prescription so we would share the glasses whenever someone needed to go get water or firewood. It was one of my first hard learned lessons on the AT. Since then I started wearing contacts. Now when I hike I always bring both contacts and glasses. Glasses are good for sunny days and contacts are much better for rain. Plus, if you have both with you then you always have a backup. Of course, you could have two pairs of contacts or two pairs of glasses as well.

[58starter]

I wear one pair of glasses and carry a second pair. One pair is regular and the 2nd pair are sunglasses. Never had any problems as I take care of them in camp to make sure they are safe.

[atraildreamer]

No spare pair. They are either on me or tucked into my shoe/boot at night or in the side pocket of my tent. I wear a BB cap to keep the rain off the lenses. I hate it when they fog up...drives me crazy. Been meaning to buy/apply some type of anti-fog before a wet hike. Does this suiff actually work?

I used to spray my glasses with Snap Silicone Spray. It worked fine, but I don't think they make it anymore. I have seen silicone impregnated cleaning cloths that work pretty well.

[Johnny Thunder]

i've carried a spare pair...will probably stop now that my future western hikes will require prescription sun glasses (which will be good enough to get me to the next town if i break or lose my un-tinted pair).

on trips where i didn't have a spare i was just diligent about where i put my glasses. even going so far as to hang them from a hook in a shelter.

i just got a pair of new lenses/frames over here in korea. the dude (in pretty good english) explained that if i paid 10,000 won (about $9.50) more per frame i'd get lenses that were "afraid of water." sure enough it's like rainex for my glasses. pretty amazing stuff.

[Cookerhiker]

I rarely bring a second pair but I should, especially after last April's experience. Hiking the AT from Duncannon to Harpers Ferry, my lens popped out on my first night in Darlington Shelter. Managed to get it back in but I had to be very careful the rest of the hike. It popped out a few more times.

Then right after that AT hike, I was hiking the Allegheny Trail and the frame snapped at the corner. At first I thought a screw had popped out but the wire frame simply broke apart. One more use for duct tape! I looked pretty strange for the next few days.

So I should have learned my lesson and when I hike the Colorado Trail this summer, I'll bring an extra pair.

Re. rain, I just deal with it. My eyesight is extremely poor so I can't go without them. My hood extends out a ways and when necessary, I keep wiping them off with a bandana.

[RWBlue]

Basically had the same experience. I came up with the same solution.