Socks of 2013

October 3, 2013June 19, 2014 ~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ 10 Comments

Greetings all, time for a fun, non weight-specific, article sharing my thoughts on socks… nothing overtly exciting in this article.

After reading the excellent article by Erika Klimecky at SeattleBackpackersMagazine entitled “Socks for the Season“, I felt a bit of inspiration to share my thoughts about the socks that I have used this year.

For the last few years I have been extremely devoted to using Darn Tough Socks. They served me amazingly well as I progressed from being a heavy weight hiker and wearing boots, through the migration of being a LW and UL hiker wearing trail shoes, and even as a SUL/XUL hiker they have proven to be great using some of the lightest weight trail shoes on the market.

Things started to change for me though when I started making the migration to using (near)zero-incline shoes. When I started wearing VFF’s I went out and bought some Injinji toe socks. When I made the decision to try using sandals for hiking I ordered up the Teva Hurricane XLS’s and used them for a few months to get my feet conditioned to having open toe footwear. Recently I have started hiking in Luna Oso Sandals so I ordered up more Injinji socks as my feet are still getting conditioned to having straps.

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ZPacks Arc Blast Backpack

September 11, 2013November 8, 2013 ~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ 23 Comments

Greetings Hikers, Runners, Alpinists, Adventure Racers, And Other Outdoor Fans!

Does your list-wish for a backpack include an external support frame, high volume capacities, super tough fabric, and be sub 20 ounces (566 grams)?

If so, the ZPacks Arc Blast backpack is going to be the backpack that you will want at the top of your list.

The “Arc Blast” from ZPacks LLC, based out of Florida USA, features a flat carbon fiber support system, three different volume capacities (45 Liters up to 60 liters [2,750 – 3650 cubic inches]), is made from a cuben fiber and nylon fabric, and starts off at a meer 454 grams (16 ounces) on the scale!

Two hiking seasons have passed, since the Arc Blast was released and it has been great to start seeing some reviews show up on the internet about this backpack, including an excellent write-up by Keith “Fozzie” Foskett, and I figured it was about time for me to write up my thoughts on this backpack.

I purchased my first Arc Blast in November of 2012. I have since ordered a second one with a few extra features, and even sent my second one back for some additional modifications – one of the truly great aspects of ZPacks LLC – and the Arc Blast has, unquestionably, become my go-to backpack when I need a pack with a lot of volume. As I head into the winter hiking season the Arc Blast will be the only backpack I will be using due to the need for extra room for a winter sleeping bag and winter garments.

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Favorite Summer Gear, 2013

September 4, 2013September 4, 2013 ~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ 15 Comments

Author and hiker, John Abela, wearing a Montbell Tachyon Wind Jacket, Montbell Dynamo Wind Pants, Headsweats Long Bill Hat, and ZPacks Arc Blast backpack.

Greetings Hikers, Runners, Alpinists, and Adventure Racers!

Here in the Redwoods of Northern California the summer hiking season is getting pretty close to being gone, and I am really looking forward to the shoulder/winter season so I can start putting to test all of the winter gear I have bought over the course of the year.

Over the last few years I have published ‘favorite gear of the year’ articles, typically in October or November, but as I am trying to get in some winter hiking this year I felt I would break this years favorite gear lists into two different lists, so here are the items that I have used over the course of the 2013 summer hiking season that have, in some way or another, really brought me pleasure and stood out to me.

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Sun Precautions Ultra Athlete Shirt and Pants

August 7, 2013November 1, 2013 ~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ 18 Comments

Greetings Bloggers,

Earlier this year I set out to find an alternative way of hiking in the hot sunny weather of Southern California. Something that did not involve me getting sunburned or carrying the heavy 8.11 ounce GoLite Umbrella that I and many other long distance hikers have used for years. Granted I turn a rather nice shade of golden brown when I get a nice bit of sun on me, but living under the Redwood forest canopy of Northern California for the better part of two decades has not allowed me to keep that nice suntan that I always had while growing up in the Mojave desert. Recently I have been hiking different sections of the PCT in SoCal, and spending time in Joshua Tree National Park and Death Valley, trying to find the best route for my Highest to Lowest trail/hike I am planning.

I was able to find a number of different companies claiming that they provided SPF clothing that was in the 15-30 range, but the real stand-out in the sun clothing world was a product line called “Solumbra” from a company called Sun Precaution. This is a company that designs and makes all of their clothing in Seattle Washington USA.

What really makes their clothing stand out from the rest is that their clothing is 100+ SPF.

As most of my longtime readers know, I rarely write reviews on pieces of gear (clothing, shelters, backpacks, whatever) that I have not tested a lot and for a long time. I will typically spend an entire hiking season (or sometimes three or four) before I contemplate writing a review for a piece of gear – this is what makes me stand apart from other authors and gear reviewers in the outdoor community, along with the fact that I traditionally only focus on SUL/XUL hiking. There have only been a few rare exceptions when I have broken that rule of mine, and I think with this clothing from Sun Precaution it is going to be one of those times — the reason being: sometimes a product just proves itself from the very get-go, and this clothing proved itself to me within the first two weeks of me using it. Truthfully, it proved itself within a matter of hours, but I gave it a good three or four days before I allowed myself to whisper to myself “wow, this stuff actually works!”

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RoadID – One of the best SHTF items I carry!

July 28, 2013November 11, 2015 ~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ 6 Comments

The RoadID provides hikers a means of giving first responders very quick access to medical and emergency contact information.

Greetings Hikers,

There are very few pieces of gear that I carry as a SUL/XUL hiker that fall into the SHTF pieces of gear. A Personal Locator Beacon (such as the ACR ResQLink 406 PLB), a multi-use compass (such as the Suunto MC-2G Global Compass), an actual real and usable whistle (such as the Storm Whistle), and the RoadID, are the four pieces of gear that I carry for the primary purpose of when/if the worst of the worst might ever happen.

Now I know there will be those out there that are going to go up in fumes over me not including a knife and a form of starting a fire, and other type of “preppers/survivalists” type of gear – and back when I was into the whole prepper/survivalist type of lifestyle I too would have been one of them. I am not going to make excuses, suffice to say that after a few thousand miles of hiking both established trails and in the process of helping to build new trails throughout California, I have come to the point where I have come to the conclusion that a person could carry a whole lot of “survival gear” and yet still never have enough, or have the right, piece of gear, for a worst-case-situation – and as a result I carry only pieces of gear that would be for the worst case, the extremely bad, situations.

When it comes to the RoadID I consider it a piece of gear that really only has a single purpose: If a time ever comes when I either die, or become so incapacitated that I am unable to speak or communicate with first responders, it will provide the first responders information about any medical conditions that I have, or in the case of me being found dead, information about who I am and who to contact. Beyond this, the RoadID is nothing but dead-weight. But oh what valuable dead weight it might someday be!

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Lawson Outdoor Equipment – Red Titianium Hook Tent Stakes

July 23, 2013August 25, 2013 ~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ 8 Comments

The Lawson Outdoor Equipment Red Coated Titanium Hook Stake

Greetings Hikers,

I have been using the Lawson Outdoor Equipment Titanium hook stakes for quite some time now and I have grown to be rather fond of it.

Recently he decided to make some with red paint to make them easier to find, so I ordered ten of them for my shelters.

The truly unique aspect of these stakes is that they have a more aggressive/deep bend, which makes them not rotate around like a lot of other shephard stakes are well known to do under tension. In the wet season here in the Redwoods rain forest this can become such a problem that I often use to take flat or y stakes to prevent turning, but so far these Lawon stakes are holding their own.

Individual Weight Results:

When they arrived I pulled out my scale, calibrated it with a 100g weight, and proceeded to take photos of all ten that I received to see how consistent the ten different stakes would be.

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Montbell Tachyon Wind Jacket, 2013 Edition

July 1, 2013November 6, 2013 ~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ 37 Comments

Greetings Hikers,

Montbell has had a major hit on their hands with their Montbell Tachyon Wind Jacket and the Montbell Tachyon Anorak since they were introduced to the ultralight hiking and running communities. For 2013 they decided to one-up themselves, and boy did they ever!

Three months ago when I was informed I had been selected as a Montbell America sponsored hiker I received one of the brand new 2013 editions of the Montbell Tachyon Wind Jacket, to replace my aging Montbell Tachyon Anorak that I had a few years of hiking use with.

The 2013 edition of the Tachyon was revealed to us here in America at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market 2012 – and what really made a lot of us go “wow!” was the fact that Montbell was indicating a weight of 45.36 grams (1.6 ounces) for a size medium!

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