March 2008 - Posts

• Did Coup miss the memo?

  On March 21st, GoLite founder Demetri Coupounas (Coup) set out for an adventure on the AT (GoLite Press Release). Unlike the hundreds of other aspiring AT thru-hikers, Coup had a different plan. He started his trip from Springer with a pack loaded with enough food and gear to spend the next 40 days and nights on trail with no plan for resupply. That meant he'd carry everything he needed for the next 40 days including an extra pair of shoes for when his new ones wore out. This required packing a whopping 110 pound of food. Add in another 17 pounds of gear and you've got a total pack weight of 127 pounds. Now anyone that's hiked more than a few miles in Georgia knows that it's one hell of a state for hiking. Many a hiker has blown out a perfectly good knee or two trying to maintain balance with a normal pack while hiking it's moss covered rocky trails.  The concept of carrying 127 pounds straight up and down mountains seems laughable if the potential for disaster wasn't so serious. Now I'm not one to bash anyone's dreams. Last time I tried that was in a conversation with Brian Robinson a year before his Triple Crown in a single year hike. When he told me his plans, without any hesitation, I responded by questioning his sanity. Once he'd completed his adventure, it was I who had to swallow a healthy helping of crow. Still when I heard of Coup's attempt, those buried feelings of shear lunacy quickly surfaced. Well after 5 plus days and a total of 30 miles, Coup pulled the plug on his hike at Neels Gap. Clearly the dreams of dancing across the southern Appalachians avoiding towns and civilization for 40 days was dashed on the realities of hard rocks. Sometimes reality does suck. Still this whole notion of packing enough food and gear for weeks of travel without resupply seems to run counter to the whole notion of ultralight travel. It's core philosophy is about maximizing the experience. Lugging 60, 80, or 120 pounds up and down rough honed trails hardly seems like much fun. This particularly true of the AT. Where if Coup had been able to continue his hike, he'd have walk trough towns and right past grocery stores. Perhaps one could stretch the concept of long distance no resupply hiking on trips such as the Ryan Jordan and Roman Dial's 1000K Arctic Traverse of a couple of years ago. Still even that pushes the limits on ultralight hiking. On the other hand maybe we just feel a wee bit too guilty if we're having too much fun backpacking with little more than a day pack. Might it be that genetically we're just too deeply wired with the primeval need to haul massive loads that will somehow prove our manhood. Well maybe, but not for this cub scout. Monday as Coup was struggling over yet another of Georgia's mountains with no views or MUDs (Mindless Ups and Downs) as thru-hikers are want to call them. I was finishing up my latest pack to use on this summers hikes. This Cuben Fiber beauty weights in at about 5 ounces. Thus giving me a total pack weight with 5 days food, water and gear, less than 15 pounds. And I'm loving every ounce of it. Call me a fool, just don't call me a pack mule. Ron Posted Mar 26 2008, 09:38 PM by ronmoak with no comments

• Spring's just around the corner!

  I love winter, I really do. Though for the last few years I've not really taken advantage of it. We had a great snow year here in Oregon this winter and I did manage to get up to the slopes once for a day of skiing. Unfortunately the trip home was not so good for my body. A bad combination of cough and cramps caused my back to really flip out. The result was a couple of days lying on the floor of my den unable to move. Plus couple weeks trying to pull off my best impression of the "Hunchback of Notre Dame". I'm back on my feet and dearly looking to getting back out and doing some hiking. Good News! The new Serenity NetTent is just about ready and should be shipping by early next week.  With Spring just around the corner, we've been working to get ready for the travel season. In April and May we travel to two major hiking events around the country. These include the ADZPCTKO (Annual Day Zero Pacific Crest Trail Kickoff) in Southern California in late April and Trail Days in Damascus, VA in May. Some of you have stopped in and visited us at these events. They are the one place where you can see our entire lineup of gear at one time. Many of you have also seen our Six Moon Designs Sprinter Van we use to travel around the country. After 4 years and over 100,000 miles our Sprinter is still going great. Mainly because it's made by Mercedes and is a diesel. This year we decided to do some upgrades to make our long drives even more pleasant. So between filling orders, assembling new gear, keeping production humming and doing the dreaded taxes, we've been reworking the van. The upgrades have keep me pretty busy and away from the blog. Here are a few photos of the newly renovated van. Six Moon Design's Sprinter on the road in Nevada headed out hiking in New Mexico! Looking at the back of the Van. We added a new ceiling, overhead cabinets, lights and secondary electrical system. This way we can stay up at night after dark without draining the main battery. We've got power to run the lights, fridge and computer for a week off grid. Looking toward the front of the van. We've added a nice large refigerator to keep thing cold and no more trips for ice and soggy food. Just a note for anyone looking for a vehicle to travel to and from the trail. I can't recommend the Sprinter highly enough. With milage in the mid 20's it's got great fuel economy for a vehicle it's size. Better than any SUV I've seen. Plus they are easy to convert and make a great home away from home. Until next time, happy hiking. Ron   Posted Mar 05 2008, 06:57 AM by ronmoak with no comments