Ask Darwin Q&A #21 (Answers)

Description

** Stuff/Gear I Mention in this Video **

SnowPeak 700 - http://amzn.to/2u4Aj6a

Black Diamond Spot - http://amzn.to/2tc7cMV

GearRat Outdoors - https://www.facebook.com/groups/681441231956268/

WhiteBlaze - https://whiteblaze.net/forum/content.php

EE Revelation 20 - https://enlightenedequipment.com/revelation/

Bags vs Quilts Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdSgnwdUBT4&t=52s

AT Gear List - https://darwinonthetrail.com/2016/05/03/darwins-2016-at-gear-list/

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*** Gear Used to Shoot this Video! ***

- Camera -

Canon EOS T6i - http://amzn.to/2kACQOU

- Lense -

Canon EFS 24mm - http://amzn.to/2mSAXSn

- Sound -

TakStar Shotgun Mic - http://amzn.to/2kMsAnM

- TriPod -

Targus 360 Trigger Tripod - http://amzn.to/2kMsU5Y

------- Music By: Thunder/Dreamer --------

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Tags: Appalachian Trail,AT,AT Thru-Hike,Thru-Hike,Hiker Trash,Backpacking,Hiking,Camping,Adventure,PCT,Pacific Crest Trail,PCT Thru-Hike,CDT,AZT,Long Distance Hiking,UL Gear,Black Diamond Spot,GearRat Outdoors,Whiteblaze.net,enlightened equipment,Revelation 20

Video Transcription

hey guys it's down here with my weekly QA to answer more of your questions if you want to leave a question for next week's Q&A you can either leave it in the comment box below or send me a video question over to Darwin on the trail at yahoo.com

and then next week I'll answer as many as I possibly can alright so let's go ahead and get into this week's first question for the eighty would you recommend hanging the pot that you cook in or is just cleaning enough to keep away interested animals so good questions so what I've always done is the pot that I cook in the Snow Peak 700 titanium mug

I usually just clean it out a little bit after I get done eating with either some toilet paper maybe a wet wipe if I am carrying those or maybe just a little bit of water from my bottle and then I always put it inside of my food bag and hang it up in a tree with my food even if I completely clean it I always do that just to make sure there's no food residue on there so that way there's not some critter trying to crawl on my pack or crawl in my tent at night to get at my cup now there are a handful of times where I've just cleaned it out and kept it in my tent but I'm always kind of wary of that so I always make sure that I put it in my food bag and hang in a tree just in case so many people change gear me included what do you do with your old gear I feel like I'm just spending spending spending accumulating too much stuff so that's a really great question and there are a handful of places to get rid of that used gear there's always hikers out there they're just getting into backpacking and hiking they're always looking for some good use gear just because they don't want to invest too much money right off the bat so a couple of things that I have used in the past to get rid of my gear are not only like craigslist and ebay which are good options but also some forms and some Facebook pages so one of the websites that I have used in the past quite a bit is white blaze dotnet not only is it a great website to find good resources for hiking the 80 hiking the PCT hiking the CDT good place to connect with other hikers that are going to be hiking that year but they also have a classified section that you can either buy so or trade gear on I personally sold a handful of things on there and it's a great website and great community to be a part of anyways and most of the cats that are on there are through hikers so even if you're in the market for giving some new ultralight gear you usually find some killer deals on there but again there's a lot of people that are just getting into backpacking maybe they're just going to start hiking the 80 for the first time they're going to be on their perusing the classifieds looking for some good used gear so I would always suggest utilizing white boys and then there's a handful of great Facebook groups that I'm actually a part of so my number one is gear at outdoors gear at outdoors is this great Facebook page that's mainly made for hikers and backpackers climbers Mountaineers and anybody else that's into the outdoors it's a discussion page it's a classifieds page I have bought and sold a lot of stuff on there it's ran by a dude named Christian millet who is a really solid cat and actually a gear entrepreneur himself that has started his own gear company called belay gear yes that was a plug free Christian so I definitely suggest getting on their joining it's a really great community of hikers and backpackers and an awesome place to unload some of your old gear hey Darwin have you ever bumped into any of your YouTube subscribers or Instagram followers or anybody on Facebook while you're out on the trail or have you actually bumped into somebody that you follow on any of those channels and what would that be like maybe then I can with you for a few miles or maybe if they camp near your camp at the end of the day I'm just curious as to how often people these days bump into each other that follow one another on social media so yeah it actually happens to me quite a lot and a lot lately not only and out on the trail but also in my day to day life so I do work at a local outfitter and a bike shop here in Albuquerque New Mexico so about two or three times a week I'll usually have somebody come into the shop and look at me and kind of stare at me for a minute be like hey are you the dude that makes those YouTube videos and we can get in the discussion it's it's kind of cool and it's kind of weird because you know I'm used to talking to you guys through video through comments so it's always kind of strange meeting somebody face-to-face but it's always really awesome to also meet people because people always have something great to say I've yet to run into anybody that's been like hey are you the dude who makes those YouTube videos you suck so that hasn't happened yet which I'm sure I'm probably on the path to getting that eventually but it hasn't happened yet and I always love to meet people in person it's always great to put a face to some of those comments to some of those subscribers into some of those views so I always hope to see all of you and meet all of you eventually sometime whether it's on a trail whether it's at work or whether I'm just traveling I absolutely love that interaction you once mentioned you were a side sleeper do you use a mummy style sleeping bag if so how do you find it with side sleeping so good question Frank I do not use a mummy side sleeping bag I use a quilt for that reason because I am a side sleeper and because I do a lot of tossing and turning when I sleep at night I'm just an active sleeper I tend to prefer a quilt over a mummy bag because it allows me to move around a lot more in it to me mummy bags have always kind of felt a little too restricted and obviously I've used them in the past but I usually find myself twisted and contorted around in the bag either in the morning or during the night and that's one of the main reasons I switch to a quilt now the quilt that I use is the enlightened equipment Revelation 20 and I definitely suggest checking it out if you're a tosser on a Turner or if you're a side sleeper or just want to switch to a quote so not too long ago I actually made a video on my quote and why switch from a mummy bag so I'll put a link up here in the corner somewhere if you want to go check that video out if you have not hiked for at least four weeks are there any exercises that you perform to get into hiking shape I hike just get out on the trail and hike it's the best exercise that you can do Darwin with the endless supply of headlamps out there can you recommend one I think it would be a great idea for the headlamp to also have a red light as to not be that guy on the trail who's being an annoyance to others while in camp at night while others are trying to sleep so Thomas yeah there is one that I can recommend the headlamp that I used in 2015 in 2016 out on the 80 same headlamp I used on the Arizona Trail the same one I used on the cotton or Divide Trail and probably the same one that I'll be using on the PCT next year is the Black Diamond spot I love that headlamp and snuggles has the exact same one that has been a super great headlamp now it's not a rechargeable one I thought about getting one of those in the past but for now I just use the spot it has the red light it has a couple different settings on the bright mode and it even has a fade if you want to bring the light down to a certain level so I highly recommend checking that one out I'll put a link in the description box below if you want to go see that for yourself but all headlamps are great just kind of pick what works for you what's in your budget but I personally recommend the spot hey darlin this is chuckwalla out in Arizona I got a question about your camera setup here I know recently you got the canon g7x mark ii and i've been looking at that camera along with some other cameras what I went interested in is how do you protect your camera gear when you're out on the trail right now I just use my samsung galaxy s7 which is waterproof and dustproof so I haven't had to really worry about it so I'm wondering how you protect your camera gear thanks for your videos appreciate all your he'll talk to you later bye so that's a good question and one that I've actually been thinking about a lot lately so my plan as of now and what I have currently been using is I just kind of take my camera I put it in a big ziploc bag wrap it up and then I put it into my pack pretty much under my down jacket so it's nice and protected

just in case my pack hits a rock or anything I haven't really hardcore invested in any sort of case or protection for the camera I'm just kind of rolling with it right now but I definitely make sure that I put it in a ziplock bag just in case I get in a bunch of rain I want to make sure it doesn't get wet and it doesn't screw the camera now pretty much one thing that I've come to terms with is taking that camera out on the PCT next year it's probably going to break I'm probably going to break the screen it's probably going to get some water damage I'm going to break something on that camera you kind of can't go five to six months out on a long-distance trail doing all those miles and keep things safe even with some sort of protective case I'm sure something stupid will happen I will drop that camera and I will break that and I'm kind of okay with that obviously it's an expensive camera and I don't want that to happen but I think it's just something as a through hiker and as as a backpacker and a hiker that you just kind of deal with and you know is probably a pretty good chance that you're going to break something that's that nice but I definitely keep it in a ziploc bag I put it in a safe spot in my pack that's well padded to make sure that I don't break it and I don't get it wet all right guys last question of the week how far in advance did you plan where you are going to stay each night did you make an itinerary before your hike or went day by day along the trail so that is a killer question and actually a question that I've gotten a handful of times I didn't make any type of itinerary whenever you first set out for through hike like the 80 we did plan what mileage we were going to do and where we were going to stay for the first handful of nights but you soon find out that it doesn't work mainly because every day it's different different terrain different mileage different places and they're spaced out differently so depending on how you feel that day really depends on how your day goes most of the time in the morning when snuggles and I would wake up we would kind of plan all right today we're going to do a 15 mile a day and this is the shelter or the camp spot that we're shooting for but throughout the day that usually changed some days we were super wore out and it was super hard trained and we might just stop early other days it was super great train and we were feeling awesome so we would push way past that shelter so it's kind of always hard to plan that I do know a handful of hikers that actually plan their entire hike typed it all out and made a fool itinerary and to be honest I don't really know how that worked out for them in the long term but me personally I just get out on the trail and just kind of go day by day I think that's the best way to do it that way you're not being too analytical about it you're not overthinking it you're just hiking and doing what feels good to you all right so if you want to leave a question for next week's Q&A you can either leave it in the comment box below or send me a video question over to Darwin on the trail at yahoo.com and then next week I'll answer as many as I possibly can if you ever got to change it go over and check me out on Instagram I've been posting a lot of new photos lately of some of the things that snuggles and I have going on throughout the week plus some pictures from some past hikes so go check those out by the way I don't say nude photos I say new photos if you found any value in this video go ahead and hit that like button subscribe to my channel if you haven't already and as always guys thanks for watching [Music]

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