Question:
Its weird living in Michigan and loving great gear- I mean you really
don't need it for anything here and you only go out west at the most
once a year. But when you see some of these grreat sales they have on
boots its like an offer you can't refuse. I saw a pair of heavy
Italian made Dunhams for sale for 99 bucks which is like 120 or more
off( I can't remember) but I just bought some Vasque Sundowners last
year, also on sale.. I just love great boots- its a vanity or boredom
I guess.
I know I'm not going on any through hikes or on anything where I would
need more than a mid weight, but its almost like I've gotta have those
boots, especially at that price.Anybody else buy things they don't
need just because?
Answer:
Yeah. I'm prone to buy something and like it so much, I buy a second and
store it away in the closet. I really wish I had bought a second pair of
the particular boots I got about 15 years ago. They finally wore out and I
had a heck of a time finding a replacement. I did buy a second goretex
jacket by North Face and stored it. Turns out they discontinued it!
Sure wish I had bought a second Casio watch...the one with the alarm,
altimeter, and analog hands.
Seeing as how the 2007 Bigfoot Expedition will be going to the Upper
Peninsula,
(see http://www.bfro.net/news/roundup/michigan.asp)
there could be some work for a seasoned tracker and guide in there
somewhere. They might even get a sighting of the very rare (fortunately)
McDougaldoofus. The last of that species had been thought to have gone
extinct from recurrent bouts of foot-in-mouth disease, but there are
infrequent reports of sightings in the rec.backcountry.
Well - I guess I have a story then, although it's off-topic. One of
the NPS interpretive rangers I have been most impressed with is
Shelton Johnson at Yosemite National Park. I met him for the first
time in Dec 2005. He didn't really do that much other than give me
directions on how to get to Hetch Hetchy as well as a recommendation
that I should wear boots with ankle support while attempting the Upper
Yosemite Fall Trail (I did it in Gore-Tex trail runners against his
advice). He's also one of the few black rangers at Yosemite. He's a
poet and classically-trained musician, which always makes for
interesting conversation. There's a video about Winter in Yosemite
which shows him playing the clarinet while there's snow around him.
When I met him, he led a ranger-walk on the subject of bears. He had
worked at Yellowstone for several years and was familiar with black
and grizzly bears. We wondered what he had in his big pack, and it
was a bear skull and full skin (with paws intact) from a "problem
bear" that had been put down. When I went to Yosemite this year, he
led the snowshoe walk I went on at Badger Pass. He wears metal-frame
glasses and metal earrings, which I thought might not mix with the
cold weather.
However - his most notable work is of the Buffalo Soldiers who
patrolled Yosemite NP and Sequoia NP as essentially the first park
rangers around the turn of the century. I can't really do him
justice, so I'll just refer you to the following (the last is his own
website):
http://www.nps.gov/archive/yose/nature/articles/buffs.htm
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/02/01/BA167118.DTL
http://shadowsoldier.wilderness.net
In reading up on his work, he's been interviewed several times. For
one interview he mentioned giving a cave tour to a group of self-
describe "KKK members" at Great Basin NP, as well as racial epithets
towards him while working entrance stations. That's got to be scary.
