[pct-l] Music on the Trail and Rain Gear

Tue Feb 19 10:06:26 CST 2013

Hey Daniel,

No need to apologize, I did not take it personally. I think most everyone
struggles to find the balance of technology in their lives and it is just
magnified on the trail due to personal preference and weight.  My question
may sound like I have a desire for all of my audio content(Music, Podcasts,
Audio books) at all times on the trail to tune out my surroundings.
However, I am just trying to give myself variety over 5 months with no
access to my computer. At this point I do not expect to listen to my Iphone
for more than an hour each day….. we will see how that goes.

I personally struggle with online trail journals and social media. I love
to read them and virtually experience the trail and I think they are an
good way to recall your experiences. However, I know for me personally I
would experience the trail differently if I was looking at it through the
prism of what my friends and family would like to read about over what my
experience was.

In the end I think I will tell our story though photos and my wife through
our journal.

On Tue, Feb 19, 2013 at 6:59 AM, Daniel Zellman <danielzellman at gmail.com>wrote:

> Nathan,
>
> Please accept my apologies for my comment re: cell phones on the trail. It
> was needlessly snarky and judgmental, and I should never have posted it.
>
> After posting it, I realized that it was just a shallow and narrow-minded
> expression of my idealized vision of what the trail "should" or "could" be
> (or at one time, perhaps, "was"), a vision in which cell phones and MP3
> players and the like don't figure. But that's MY vision, and it certainly
> doesn't have to be yours or anyone else's. I do like the idea of a truly
> wild place, like to believe that such places may still exist, but I'm
> dubious about my ability to survive them if they do. And clearly the PCT is
> no longer that ... if it ever was. I don't know if such places exist
> anymore. After all, as someone wisely pointed out on this forum some months
> ago, as much as we may believe in the Leave No Trace philosophy, the trail
> itself is, of course, a trace. I wouldn't be hiking it if it weren't. After
> all, I'm not going off into uncharted territory in the backcountry in
> Alaska, or the Congo. And I AM bringing my ULA Circuit and Platypus
> Gravityworks filtration system, and doing most of my planning via Google
> and the Interwebs....
>
> So again, please accept my sincere apology for my comment. As they say,
> you hike your hike, I'll hike mine....
>
> -dz
>
> --
> Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
>     --Buddhist proverb
> -----------------------------------
>  Daniel Zellman, LMT, CMLDT
>  TX lic. #: MT115984
>
> Tel.: 512.293.9315
> danielzellman at gmail.com
>  www.sunnatamassage.com
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 11:00 PM, Nathan A <nathan4517 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Shroomer, good point on the durability I did not assume there would be
>> all that much bushwhacking based on the pictures I have seen of the trail
>> and my experience hiking around in Arizona. I do have a proper rain jacket
>> just trying to safely shave some weight while I get my trail legs and for
>> the extra water. I am also considering a poncho and I guess regardless pack
>> just a little extra duct tape..
>>
>> Daniel,
>> I do not have interest in cell phone service (3G) on the trail, unless it
>> is an emergency, I would do all of my downloading in towns on WiFi.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Nathan
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 9:16 PM, Daniel Zellman <danielzellman at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> Well, that's a bit of a relief, I must say!
>>>
>>> Call me a Luddite, but I find it disturbing to think there WOULD be cell
>>> service for all but a few hundred miles of trail.
>>>
>>> But I guess it's probably little more than a vain hope to think it
>>> might be possible to escape the tyranny of cell phones even on the PCT in
>>> this day and age [he writes from his cell phone ... ah, the irony, the
>>> irony....]
>>>
>>> -dz
>>>
>>> On Monday, February 18, 2013, Scott Williams wrote:
>>>
>>>> We didn't have cel service for days at a time all the way to Canada.
>>>>  You
>>>> will pick it up in most towns and hit and miss on trail but the dead
>>>> zone
>>>> wasn't just the first 300 miles, at least not for my Verizon cel.
>>>>
>>>> As for rain gear, I used mine more in the lower deserts than in the San
>>>> Jacintos and that was just due to the vagaries of the weather in 2010.
>>>>  We
>>>> got snowed on 3 times in the desert but never in the desert mountains.
>>>> What that meant was that we were wearing our rain jackets on overgrown
>>>> chaparral trails.  I started out with a Dry Ducks jacket which is
>>>> heavier
>>>> than your one dollar plastic, but still pretty weak stuff, and the brush
>>>> tore it to shreads in a day or two of use.  After 2 weeks on trail I
>>>> went
>>>> to KO and bought a real rain jacket that lasted me to Canada.  I used a
>>>> light weight rain jacket that also doubles for the wind jacket plus a
>>>> mylar
>>>> umbrella on the rest of the PCT in 2010 and on the CDT in 2012.
>>>>
>>>> Some of the coldest and most inclement weather of the whole PCT hike
>>>> was in
>>>> the deserts, and I don't mean the desert mountains.   If you plan on
>>>> heavier rain gear for the Sierra, I'd start with it right off as the
>>>> trail
>>>> in the Sierra is much more open and brush free than some of the desert
>>>> trails.  Try and push your way through chamise or manzanita overgrown
>>>> trail
>>>> while it's snowing or raining and you may not be wearing plastic for too
>>>> long.
>>>>
>>>> Shroomer
>>>>  On Feb 18, 2013 8:16 AM, "Nathan A" <nathan4517 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> > Hello Everyone,
>>>> > My wife and I are going to bring our 16GB Iphones to use for camera,
>>>> music
>>>> > player, Audiobook player ect.
>>>> >
>>>> > Obviously having enough space for everything is going to become an
>>>> issue
>>>> > quickly  and I just wanted to share some ideas we have and any hear if
>>>> > anyone has been successful with this approach.
>>>> >
>>>> > I went a little crazy with signing up for cloud storage through
>>>> Dropbox(2GB
>>>> > Free), Google Drive (5GB Free), and Box(Got a promo with 50GB Free).
>>>> >
>>>> > We will be using Dropbox to upload all of our photos then family back
>>>> home
>>>> > will pull them off the drive weekly for us and burn them to a CD.  We
>>>> can
>>>> > then delete all of the photos from our phone for the next section of
>>>> trail.
>>>> >
>>>> > I will upload extra copies of Halfmiles Maps, Cell Reception Reports,
>>>> > Resupply Spreadsheet, ect as backups to Google Docks as needed.
>>>> >
>>>> > Finally, I will upload all of my music and audio books to Box and as
>>>> I find
>>>> > WiFi in towns I will just download whatever audio books or music I am
>>>> > interested in.  I have not bought the app yet but they do sell a $2
>>>> audio
>>>> > player that I still need to play with.
>>>> >
>>>> > Looking over the WiFi report it seems like there is easily accessible
>>>> WiFi
>>>> > all over the trail other than perhaps the 1st 300 miles.
>>>> >
>>>> > Has anyone else had experience with this?
>>>> >
>>>> > Completely different question: I am thinking of bringing a wind
>>>> jacket,
>>>> > Mylar umbrella, and just a cheep $1 plastic emergency poncho as my
>>>> rain
>>>> > gear until Kennedy Meadows. Obviously my biggest concern is the San
>>>> > Jacinto's. Does this seem sufficient rain coverage for the amount of
>>>> rain
>>>> > typically seen on this section of trail?
>>>> >
>>>> > Thanks Everyone and see you in a few months!
>>>> > Nathan
>>>> > _______________________________________________
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>>>> >
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> -dz (mobile)
>>>
>>
>>
>