Mountain Climbing with the Wizard

Quote: Evenbob

OMG! This is it, this was the exact tent we
had. A station wagon tent, that's almost
the same car we had in 1958. The rear of
the wagon opened into the tent. The
horror, the horror..

I think we had that tent too, except I recall ours being dark blue. My mother has been trying to give it to me lately, but I keep refusing. She may have given up and thrown it away. Many many times did we camp in it. I recall setting it up would usually put my father in a bad mood, but then again, practically everything did. When we camped without him, my mother managed to set it up without a lot of drama.

Quote: Wizard

I recall setting it up would usually put my father in a bad mood, but then again, practically everything did. .

My dad bought that tent and a
new station wagon in 1957. The
Mackinaw Bridge opened that
year and we went camping in
the upper peninsula. It was an
awful trip, it rained for 3 days
straight, bugs ate us alive, and
we begged to go home. The new
car even broke down and my dad
took it back and got the used 56
Pontiac.

We set that tent up in the front
yard for years in the summer and
camped in it. It's great when you
have a the benefits of home right
there. Like your own bed at night..

Never even heard of Moleskin before
these videos. Just ordered some.

Quote: Evenbob

Never even heard of Moleskin before
these videos. Just ordered some.

Wow, I haven't heard of that since I was a child.

I didn't hike like those thru-hikers, but I use to run and wasn't unfamiliar with moleskin.

Quote: Evenbob

Never even heard of Moleskin before
these videos. Just ordered some.

I just got these the other day:

https://goengo.com

Prevention rather than just treating the symptoms.

Helps prevent blisters by reducing friction on the feet. I would typically have blisters begin to form on the balls of my feet after around 5 miles fast walking. Stuck these things in my shoes and nothing after going twice as far. Brilliant!

Blister avoidance and treatment is always a huge topic in the long-distance hiking community. Once someone brings it up there is sure to be a long argument about it. Whether or not to pop a blister is very controversial. I remember when I did the rim-to-rim-to-rim hike in the Grand Canyon I got a huge blister on one of my toes that I exposed at Phantom Ranch on the way back. Everybody then took up sides whether I should pop it or not. There was no way I was going to do nothing, as it was quite painful, so I popped it. Never regretted that decision.

Quote: Wizard

There was no way I was going to do nothing, as it was quite painful, so I popped it. Never regretted that decision.

In the videos, they pop them all
the time. Take needle and thread,
pull he thread thru the blister
and leave the thread in the blister
for awhile so the water can drain
out on the thread. Seems to work
really well.

Quote: Wizard

I recall setting it up would usually put my father in a bad mood, but then again, practically everything did.

How familiar that sounds!

Quote: AZDuffman

Quote: Wizard

I recall setting it up would usually put my father in a bad mood, but then again, practically everything did.

How familiar that sounds!

Parenting sucks. Mothers are better
at it, fathers usually want to be doing
something else at any given time.
Anything else.