[pct-l] Frogg Toggs - new products - create the consumer

[Jeffrey Olson]

Get a copy of Colin Fletcher's first edition (1968) of "The Complete 
Walker".  He goes into depth about how to put together a system for 
backpacking.  Then read Ray Jardine's 1996 "Pacific Crest Trail Hikers 
Handbook" where the "system" is refined.

Neither Fletcher or Jardine focused on brands of gear.  Jardine rails 
against marketing hype.  Just because goretex boots and shoes exist 
doesn't mean they're appropriate to hike in.  Why do we use water 
filters in the Sierra - it's not because there is a giardia problem - 
it's because manufacturers saw a niche and then created a consumer for 
that niche - us...

Just because cuben fiber is the rage doesn't mean you should go out and 
get a rain jacket made out of it.  Whether you wear a rain jacket, a 
poncho or cagoule doesn't matter as long as it fits into your system.

There's lots of wisdom here on the list - Eric's statement below is an 
example.

Every hiker that stays out longer than five or six weeks learns about 
her "system" - what it is, and what works in it.  The reason people have 
sub-10-12 pound base weight packs is because they don't carry anything 
that isn't used.  Experience replaces fear as the major determinant of 
what we carry.  What's "used" is different for everyone.

We all have learned to be consumers and look for "deals."  We want to 
make informed choices in our "consumer identities."  It's really hard to 
unlearn that part of our identity and make decisions based in experience 
and the wisdom derived from it.

I think one of the reasons adjusting to the life in the world after life 
on the trail is often difficult is because the values of modernity are 
no longer ours...  We'll never be that unconscious again - ever...

Jeffrey Olson
Rapid City, SD

On 3/12/2014 12:57 PM, Eric Lee wrote:
> Yup.  If you're hiking in all-day rain, especially in Oregon/Washington, you
> had better get used to the idea that you're going to be wet.  The goal is
> not to stay dry, the goal is to stay warm.  "Dry" is an impossibility - the
> best you can hope for is "moderately damp".  It's much easier to stay warm
> if you're not totally drenched by cold rain directly to your skin, which is
> why rain gear is essential.  But you're going to be wet-ish, either from the
> outside or the inside via sweat.  "Waterproof/breathable" only works when
> you're not exercising strenuously.
>
>
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