[pct-l] favorite piece of gear

[randy_forsland at hotmail.com (Randy Forsland)]

Somebody asked me a while back about some of the new gear that I bought for
the trip and which item turned out to be the most useful. I have got to say
that it was the Helix altimeter watch. I never used one on any previous
hikes and it proved to be a great asset. As a person that likes to know
where he is at any given moment, it really helped to find out exactly where
you were on the trail.

One time coming from Hwy 2 heading towards Agua Dulce with the Ewoks, we
were not sure which spring we were at as the BOL listed two springs and we
had only passed one..so was the first one dry or was there another one a
mile or so down the trail??  Should we get water here or wait ?? A quick
check of the altimeter showed that we were indeed at the second spring and
thus only 4.5 miles from our destination for the night..

Sounds trivial, but it can really lift your spirits sometimes to know
exactly how close you are to your destination.
Plus, it keeps you from being fooled by all of those "false" summits in some
of the passes...You think that you are at the top only to find out that you
have another 1000 feet  <sigh>to climb..I hate that..having the altimeter
kept me from all of these disappointments.

To some people, it doesn't matter...but it did to me..especially when your
knee is acting up and you don't how much more you can get out of it that
day..I did see a few other hikers wearing them this last season.

The Timex Helix watch is the model that I bought and I found a place where
they are blowing them out for about half of what I paid last year.

around 69 bucks...

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=108923

Just my 0.02

Redwood