I realize that this is probably the wrong place to start this thread...but I participate in a lot of different outdoor and backpacking forums. With one exception, the rest of them seem to post about 10 times as much on gear and equipment as they do on actually getting out and hiking.

This site is different, and a deeply appreciate it. Yeah, we have this gear section, and it gets a lot of traffic. But there is so much more here.

Just a thank you to everyone here for focusing on what really matters: not the latest cuben fibre rain shell/backpack, but the joy of getting out and seeing stuff in the wild!

That's what keeps a lot of us here, long term. Trips trump gear. We do need to talk about gear as that is what keeps us 'ultralight', but it's still about the hike.

Yes, gear is cool. (Hi, I'm Glenn, I'm a gearaholic...)

I spend a lot of time messing with gear, and trying to get that "perfect" system assembled. To me, it's almost a separate hobby; it's also something to do between trips.

But getting out is what really trips my trigger. It doesn't have to be somewhere epic - heck, it doesn't even have to be all that remote. It just has to be the woods, with somewhere I can sleep outside, to be enjoyable.

Without the getting out, there doesn't seem to be a lot of point in messing with the gear.

Trips trump gear. amen!

And yeah---I also enhoy fussing with gear when I can't get out...but that's less about buying the latest, and more about fine tuning what I already own. After all, some of that gear has hiked over 500 miles with me, and there ain't nothin' wrong with it!

I've already been in the snow on two solo trips this winter, close to home. A trip a month ago was with rain at night, with snow as my water source, I was that close. I'm edging towards UL, maybe I need to weigh my "stuff". I've picked up a few smaller pots, a .6L ti with the Caldera Cone setup and the other day a used .550L ti pot, waiting to use the smaller one. Somewhere, not snow camping. I want to get a summer quilt, then a smaller pack, I have a SMD 4200 cu pack now. Everything is so bulky. Jim would frown on my using a few stuff sacks.:)
Duane

Imbreally trying, but yea I'm a gear head too. But rarely buy new unless what I have is unrepairable. But I still like to read,dream, and when the time comes I'm ready. Although I never let lack of gear be an excuse not to get out.

On long distance trips I find that for the first 100 to 200 miles, conversations from fellow fledgling thru-hikers focus a lot on gear (and on getting a 'trail name'). People ask about any interesting looking gear item you have, you comment or ask questions about their stuff, and people collectively scratch their heads about how well their choices will work for anticipated changing conditions or climate ahead.

After that first few weeks, however, people pay very little attention to gear. It's just "stuff", it's in the background. Then when you hike through areas where there are suddenly a lot of shorter distance hikers around, it seems almost weird that they (sometimes) keep talking about gear.

I thus postulate that our general obsession with hiking gear is based on how relatively seldom we're able to use it. And hopefully, with how great the experiences are that we associate with it!