Jan 12, 2007

Fixing the little things

My Hawaiian trip was almost perfect gear and packing-wise.

I came home with only one clothing instance of "I wish I'd brought...X." The one clothing thing I would have done differently was to bring a microfleece pullover shirt. Otherwise, I'm glad I went with my own clothing sense and ignored all the Oahu residents who kept saying "it's freezing!" when it was only about 70 degrees with a mild breeze. Compared to Seattle in December, it was balmy the entire time, even when it rained on me.

The one gear thing is something I've been ignoring for many years of camping now. A tent stake mallet. I just find a rock wherever I wind up and use that. This time, I had a really easy time hammering in stakes, esp compared to the Nevada desert or California mountains. However, I also lost my grip on just one blow, just enough to wind up with a huge and uncomfortable and visible bruise on the palm of my hand, just at the base of my fingers. I really didn't enjoy that, and it's not the first time something like that has happened. So, just a few weeks after getting home, I am now the owner of a nice, hefty-but-plastic mallet for pounding tent stakes. It's lightweight, bright red and gets to live in the tent bag. I've talked about getting something like this for years, it just finally took an annoying injury for me to do it.