HikerDeals' Best-of-the-Best Outdoor Gear Deals:
- Sierra Trading Post: Extra 15% Off Fishing, hunting & Work Gear
- Moosejaw: 10% off with coupon code MOOSE, extra 10% off sale items with code SUPERSALE
- Sierra Trading Post: Extra 10% Off Boots, Shoes, Gear, and Workout Apparel + January Coupon 10% Off $100+ Orders
HikerDeals Bargain, Deal, and Sale Archive for April, 2005
10% off Big-Dog Stuff at PETCO.com
Bid dogs eat more and that’s expensive, so get 10% off at the PETCO.com’s Large Breed Dog Store
Heart Rate Monitors -> Best Training Tool for Weekend Warriors
Heart rate monitors genrally get put-down as being “too geeky” or only for “really good athletes”. Personally, I think the people who stand to benefit the most from a heart rate monitor (HRM) are beginning athletes and hikers who don’t want to push their limits. By knowing your heart rate at all times on a hike it helps you to not push too hard on hills and to extend endurance. As a gym-weekend-warrior who puts more time in on Sat & Sun than the whole rest of the week – I think the HRM helps me to know what I’ve got left and to keep myself from pushing too hard an being sore for three more days. Then again, I’d rather be ready for this summer’s big backpacking trip and don’t care if a big watch (like an HRM) and a Chicago Marathon 2001 t-shirt make me look geeky…
An HRM with a percentage readout is a lot better than the ones that just show your heart-rate, no math to do. That’s normally a high-end feature but CardioSport’s high-end HRM is 63% off at PerformanceBike.com
, only $69.99.
Marmot Mercury Tent, only $209 at 30% off
I own the Marmot Mercury tent
1GB iPod Shuffle only $115
The $115 iPod Shuffles, 1GB are available on eBay from a seller with a great rating. This is the best 1GB Shuffle deal I’ve seen yet.
Free 8×10 at Shutterfly.com
I’m going through photos from the Flagstaff weekend and found a coupon for a free 8×10 at Shutterfly, with $10 purchase: FREE 8×10 print. Use coupon code: 504PRINT. (exp 4-30-05)
PetCo.com 15% & 20% off $45 order
Click here to: Save 15% on online orders of $45 or more at PETCO.com
For 20% off $45 orders, at checkout enter the coupon code that was mailed out to current customers: pm4y545
Dog Bowls for the Trail
We spent a long weekend in Flagstaff, AZ. This was the first serious trail-testing for Taj (the dog). She did great and never wandered too far off – even when barking squirrels up a tree. One thing that was vital in the dry air and high altitude of Flagstaff was a water bowl, since Taj gets impatient with bottles and doesn’t drink enough during a long hiking day.
This normal-sized “Trail Runner” bowl at Sierra Trading Post is a good size (Taj is a 60 pound husky) and is $6.50, at 49% off. The bigger “Quencher” bowl
holds a half-gallon and may work for multiple dogs or if you happen to hike with a Great Dane, it’s $9.95 at 44% off.
Surviving a Wet Sleeping Bag
Do all you can to keep your sleeping bag dry and air it out daily. …sure, we’ll get to the info on what to do when a sleeping bag is already soaked, but the smartest thing you can do is to keep your bag dry – or dry it out promptly.
A few simple things can make life more comfortable before a sleeping bag even gets wet. Before the camping trip even starts, setup and check your tent before longer trips to make sure it doesn’t have seam leaks or a torn floor. Hitting the tent with a hose for several minutes or setting it up near a sprinkler is a good idea. Unless you’re planning on camping in hurricane-force winds, make sure the water is falling on to the tent and not spraying at the ground and then splashing inside. Second, carry a sleeping pad on every trip. Putting insulation between you and the ground is the single most important thing to do in even moderate temperatures – especially if your sleeping bag is too wet to use at all. Finally, at every chance you get: drag the bag out of the tent, turn it inside out, and hang it up or lay it out somewhere dry. Even if you’re not sweating in the bag, skin does breathe and the insulation gets damp. Over the course of a week or more if that dampness doesn’t get flushed out the extra moisture can chill you in the bag at night and the bag’s insulation will not loft (“puff up”) enough to insulate well. Even if it’s raining, turn the bag inside out while you’re in the tent. Especially if it’s raining, make sure to keep the bag away from the tent walls and condensation drips. Easy enough? …when you’re cold and stuck inside the tent all day it’s even harder not to stay inside the bag all day long. The extra moisture in the bag if you stay in all day, can make for a cold night once the sun goes down. If you sleep in wet environments often (i.e.: the Pacific Northwest) then consider a synthetic fill bag a down bag with a DriClime or similar waterproof, breathable shell fabric.
(this article is an expanded excerpt from our article: Staying Warmer in the Sleeping Bag you Already Have)
Once you do get your bag wet or damp there are very few things you can do to fix it. The most obvious method is to take a long break during lunch-time or during any breaks between rain showers. Pull your bag out and don’t just lay it out – shake it out and swing it around to get the air moving around it. Be careful to keep it from touching any puddles and stay near the tent if it still looks like rain may hit again. A half-hour break to “auto dry” your bag this way can dramatically help a synthetic bag and will even dry out down enough to make it useful after a good soaking. Without a chance to get a bag reasonably dry during the day, take a few minutes before sleeping to decide your best way to get through the night. A sleeping bag with synthetic insulation can be wrung out (gently, to not tear the insulation) enough to sleep in during moderate temperatures. Down bags are a big problem once the insulation starts to clump, only “auto drying” the bag will make it use as anything more than a blanket.
Once your sleeping bag is wet – it’s time to think about survival. The severity of a wet sleeping bag depends on the temperatures outside. In some warmer temperature ranges sleeping with extra clothes on is just as good as having a dry sleeping bag, in other temperature ranges a wet sleeping bag can be life threatening.
Near-Freezing Temperatues (20°-40° F) are the Most Dangerous:
In near-freezing temperatures the water in even a synthetic bag is dangerous, in a down bag it’s sometimes best to abandon using the bag altogether. Unless it gets below freezing the water in either type of bag will still evaporate and can steal enough body heat to make you hypothermic. Hopefully, at those temperatures you’re carrying a good sleeping bag and decent top and bottom insulation layers. Put them all on before bed and turn in a little early. Do not get inside your sleeping bag. Either open it up and use it like a blanket or don’t use the bag at all. If you have a tent-mate with a dry bag, try to figure out how to share it with them. Assuming that you can find enough warmth to fall asleep the odds are that you’re going to wake up in the early morning when it gets really cold (the coldest hours are from 3am – sunrise). That is why it’s good idea to go to bed early, to get some sleep in before it’s really cold. In the worst case scenario stay awake all night and avoid hypothermia. Make sure to eat something overnight to keep core temperature up. Grab some sleep the next morning once exhaustion sets in, and once it’s warmed up slightly.
Super-Freezing (0° F & lower) Temperatures, Soaking a Bag is Unlikely
Sub-Freezing Temperatures are Nasty, but Survivable
Below freezing (below 20° F) temperatures are a different story than the warmer temperature ranges. Water in the sleeping bag will freeze and frost-up, even when you are inside the bag. Frost in the bag is good and bad. It’s definitely not comfortable or particularly warm, but so long as the insulation can loft before the water inside freezes enough heat can be trapped to get through the night. It’s difficult to completely soak a bag when all the water is frozen, try not to spill the coffee. In the event something like that does happen – wring synthetic out immediately and then lay it out to loft; gently squeeze out down and then lay it out while gently shaking it. These steps will allow the bag’s insulation to puff somewhat before it freezes and the puffiness will trap heat. In cases where a bag isn’t completely soaked this temperature range actually gives some leeway for only a damp bag. In general a sleeping bag can be used as normally, just add a few layers of clothing to yourself to keep moisture away from the skin and even throw a layer of dry clothes over the bag to slow evaporation.
25% off Giro, Thule, and PowerBar
REI has a 25% off sale on all PowerBar, Thule racks & accessories, Giro helmets, and Magellan GPS units: 25% off at REI.com
Free Shipping on $50+ orders at BackcountryOutlet.com
Choose “Economy” shipping after clicking here: FREE SHIPPING on orders over $50
La Sportiva Trango S Backpacking Boots, 2004 Editor’s Choice Rated
An ultralight 2 lb. 10 oz. heavy backpacking and mountaineering boot and it’s tough to dispute that La Sportiva is at the top of the quality ladder.
Men’s: La Sportiva Trango S , $230.95
Women’s: La Sportiva Trango S Men’s, with GoreTex: La Sportiva Trango S GT Women’s, with GoreTex: La Sportiva Trango S GT , $255.95
Telemark Ski Bindings
Five years after finally trying to ride tele – and I’m still not very good. That’s all my fault – I’ll blame it on the fact that I’ve only gotten about 20 days on the slopes in those 5 years. Nevertheless, I’ll head down just about anything. So far I haven’t busted myself up (badly) but I did tear up a pair of tele bindings. Thankfully, I didn’t get to skii again until these specials started popping up:
Rossignol’s Cobra T8 Tele bindings, 47% off
Linken’s namsake “Linken” Tele bindings with lift plates, 46% off
Dunham Boots on Sale, X-Wide & Narrow widths
Dunham boots come in widths B-EEEE and fit a lot of hard-to-fit feet. I somehow picked up a pair (by luck, not that I knew anything) years ago when Dunham was still a family-owned shop. They lasted 4 years, until I didn’t have them resoled in time and wore into the midsole. Now, they’re owned by New Balance and thankfully the boots are still very well-made, but a lot easier to find.
Here are several models at 10-20% off:
Dunham Wafflestomper boot, $132.95
Dunham Cloud 9 trail shoe, $109.95
Cross Country Skate Skiing, seasonal close outs
Skate skiing would be my activity of choice to keep fit – if I didn’t live in Southern California.
Since the equipment doesn’t change much from year-to-year the 62% off of Atomic SX:11 skate skis is a great deal, they’re only $89.95.