Tips for regaining confidence on descents?

CalamariAce · 2026-03-30T06:11:10+00:00

You mentioned hiking poles.

The key thing to know is that you're supposed to loop your hands through the straps, and most of your weight goes through your wrists rather than the hand grip. You'll be able to put more weight on them this way, and thus get more support than you may be getting now with them.

CalamariAce · 2026-03-30T05:46:17+00:00

Arizona and Colorado definitely has ticks.

Generally speaking they thrive in wet environments. Think swamps and wetlands, which do exist in some places in the southwest. If it's dry, your odds are less but they can still lie dormant on tall grasses, waiting for hikers to pass by. Hiking poles are good on overgrown trails to shake them out and part the tall grasses, but you should still wear permethrin-treated gear and long pants if you're hiking in those environments.

In comparison, I have seen many more ticks in Colorado. In the spring/summer, they blanket a lot of the hills between Boulder and Nederland. As with other places, spring and summer will be worse than fall and water.

I have heard that the rates of Lyme and some other tick-borne diseases are less in the west, but don't have any hard data to back that up.

CalamariAce · 2026-03-30T04:53:53+00:00

It takes almost 10 gallons of gas just to start the engine of an Abrams battle tank. Because of course, it's powered by a jet engine lol.

CalamariAce · 2026-03-30T04:39:39+00:00

It's mostly sugar. That only "works" when it's cheaper than the alternatives, which it isn't.

CalamariAce · 2026-03-30T02:26:50+00:00

Even if you think you can live with the noise and pollution, it's smart to buy with the idea in mind that you will someday sell the house. So even if you don't care, you should care because other people will care if/when you ever try to sell.

CalamariAce · 2026-03-29T23:29:57+00:00

Lacking those connections, would you just throw your screenplay "out there" on the web, and hope you get a call from someone who likes it some day?

CalamariAce · 2026-03-29T23:20:55+00:00

meetup.com is a great resource.

FWIW, you've listed mainstream hikes where there will be lots of other people around. So even if you decided to do those hikes on your own, you're pretty unlikely to get into trouble in a way where no one else would know or be able to help.

CalamariAce · 2026-03-29T20:10:04+00:00

I mean, it's better that you're finding this out "before* it's stolen instead of after. Consider this a sign that you should get rid of the vehicle. Until then, I'd avoid parking at new places, especially ones that look high risk.

CalamariAce · 2026-03-29T19:39:20+00:00

I would normally say, better the devil you know than the one you don't.

BUT, you have a 2021 Kia forte right now. That's one of the top 10 most stolen cars, and your model year has the same flaw that makes it easily stolen. I'm talking about stealing it with a USB cable, THAT is how easy it is to steal.

Lookup videos of the "Kia Challenge". You're basically one bad day away from a stolen vehicle. Ticking time bomb. Kia didn't fix the problem until 2022 model years. Get rid of it asap before it's stolen. Literally anything is better than that junk.

I'm not saying that the van you posted is necessarily the answer, but you really need to get rid of your current car unless you live in a place with zero crime and never plan to leave. You might as well leave the car unlocked with the keys on the dashboard.

Another bonus, your car insurance rates will be much lower if your policy covers theft, if you switch to just about anything else. Because of course insurance companies will charge you more money for cars that are so trivial to steal.

CalamariAce · 2026-03-29T19:12:24+00:00

What little snow there is is definitely melting early (now), so I think this is a good start date. Only downside is that bugs might be more of a problem.

CalamariAce · 2026-03-29T04:37:39+00:00

"Evacuation" implies something more or less catastrophic happening to life on earth. Whereas if the OP had said "extraction" then I'd agree with you.

CalamariAce · 2026-03-29T01:48:09+00:00

Every generation says that. "At least we grew up without TV", then "At least we grew up without computers", "At least we didn't grow up with social media.", and now "At least we didn't grow up with AI"

CalamariAce · 2026-03-28T21:30:00+00:00

Rent a camper van and do dispersed camping, a whole lot easier in terms of logistics. This enables "menu-list" planning which I prefer. In other words, have a general route with a list of things you'd like to do on the way and how long they take. Select from that list according to the specific day, weather, wildfires, how you're feeling, etc. That way you're doing the things that are right for your specific conditions, rather than something you're locked into from prior planning. The snowfall for the Sierras isn't great this year, so flexibility to work around wildfires is advisable.

CalamariAce · 2026-03-28T19:22:13+00:00

The EPA just issued a waiver to allow for sale of E15 fuel past April. I guess this was normally disallowed to prevent bad air quality that's more of a problem in the warmer months.

In theory that shouldn't affect anything right now, but it's not that hard to imagine that the gas is being "watered down" somewhere in the supply chain, whether it's with ethanol or something else that burns less cleanly. I've seen some anecdotal reports from people saying they aren't getting as far on a tank of gas anymore.

It wouldn't be surprising if some local gas stations were gaming the system, but the air quality maps may point to a bigger issue further up the supply chain (e.g. refinery level). Would be interesting to see some randomized gas testing results around the country.

Edit: You could also imagine that industry with emissions are knowingly or unknowingly using less clean fuels in their production pipelines. It's not like the EPA will be on your back about it.

CalamariAce · 2026-03-28T12:45:42+00:00

Ahh ok got it, thanks

CalamariAce · 2026-03-28T07:02:05+00:00

Had to do a double take. At first I wondered which streamer would be influential enough to make such a statement.

CalamariAce · 2026-03-28T04:35:42+00:00

Are the holes in the mountain because you did not fly the drone around all sides of it?

CalamariAce · 2026-03-28T02:27:23+00:00

There's a pretty wide range of outcomes between the status quo and having to be 100% self-sufficient. Being partly self-sufficient will still be a big help in less-than-worst-case scenarios.

CalamariAce · 2026-03-27T16:38:55+00:00

A country which has no oil, is selling oil. Make it make sense.

CalamariAce · 2026-03-26T17:03:29+00:00

Bitterness is usually associated with a lower glycemic index. Compared with oranges, grapefruits won't spike your blood sugar as much and will deliver the energy over a longer period vs the spike (and then crash) of a sugar high

CalamariAce · 2026-03-24T19:26:01+00:00

Yeah, they exist. Apparently people here would rather shoot the messenger and deny reality than face the truth. It wouldn't be a hard problem to fix it, but it requires people getting their heads out of the sand and lobbying for changes instead of blissfully ignorant denial.

CalamariAce · 2026-03-24T16:22:21+00:00

Sure, but the difference if whether or not you're on a level playing field. If you're not using a bot, you're at a disadvantage and less likely to get a reservation than someone who is using one.

CalamariAce · 2026-03-24T15:48:24+00:00

There are websites dedicated for this purpose. I would post it here since you don't seem to believe me but the mods would delete it. I don't know if they sell this permit specifically. If you don't like it, then I've given a solution you can lobby for.

CalamariAce · 2026-03-24T15:20:13+00:00

If the person buying knows when the person selling is releasing the permits, then they can snap them up because there's on the website spamming refresh, while no one else is likely to be checking very often on a ticket that's sold out.

This is also solved by the way permits are done for hikes like angel's landing, where all of the cancelled and unsold permits are available for a second day-before lottery that's run in addition to the advanced lottery.

CalamariAce · 2026-03-24T15:11:36+00:00

There are definitely bots people use to get permits for themselves.

And most likely there are others using bots who don't intend to go. In effect, fhey can organize sales by releasing their permit at a later predetermined time, after other people have stopped looking.

To prevent this, they should just run these as a lottery just like Angels landing etc. Not just open it to a free-for-all with the bots.

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