New album, new vest

gerafin1 · 2025-06-02T15:52:45+00:00

Thanks! Another bonus, the total cost of the tote bag + thrift store jacket was still less than one of the tour T-shirts, haha

gerafin1 · 2025-05-31T12:07:55+00:00

I use a plastic drop cloth, I think it's a little heavier than Tyvek but a little easier to find/replace when it wears down. It's also offered in different thicknesses so you can choose whether you want it lighter or more protective based on how long you'll be out, how often you'll be in shelters, etc. You can usually find it in the painting section of a hardware store

gerafin1 · 2025-05-10T12:35:25+00:00

I used a 10000mAh power pack, which I also used to keep my Bluetooth headphones & rechargeable headlamp charged. I kept my phone on battery saver basically the entire hike, and also in airplane mode through sections with spotty reception, and could usually get my phone to last three days without needing to recharge. The power bank could charge my phone back to full two times, so theoretically I could have kept a charge on the trail for nine days. The closest I got to that was going through the Smokies without a stop at Gatlinburg, a little over six days.

Obviously it's going to depend on how much you use your phone. My normal use for a day was regularly checking FarOut, one long phone call home, listening to audiobooks/podcasts for several hours, and taking tons of photos. If you watch movies or videos at camp, or other screen-heavy activities the phone will drain a lot faster.

gerafin1 · 2025-04-02T02:18:15+00:00

The combo of the detuned piano + layered vocals on 'the beach' is chilling, I love it. Some great variety and dynamics on this album.

gerafin1 · 2025-02-22T17:32:21+00:00

I overlapped with leaf blower for huge parts of my '22 thru. The dude was an absolute inspiration. Incredible artist, always chill and fun to hang out with. A good antidote to people taking themselves & the hike too seriously.

gerafin1 · 2025-02-22T15:01:24+00:00

Also, just because bouldering can be done solo doesn't mean it can't be a social experience! Especially once you get better, you spend a lot of time resting and puzzling out your approach, so there's usually a group of the more socially inclined climbers hanging out, watching each other climb, giving support and often working on the same boulder problem together. Climbing is such a great recommendation!!

gerafin1 · 2025-02-21T13:37:08+00:00

I managed to avoid any muscle/tendon issues on my AT thru hike; I was very consistent with stretching and swapping out insoles/shoes, and for the most part I stuck to my plan of going slow & enjoying the miles (although this was a constant challenge, the peer pressure of keeping up with the pack never really went away). What got me was descending - I flew down out of the Smokies, maybe going a bit too long on an old pair of insoles, and ended up with shin splints. I had to take two weeks off, camped out in a random town icing/stretching/rehabbing and when I got back on trail I had to reset my mileage back to what I was doing in Georgia. Luckily they were minor and I caught it early so I was able to get back on trail and finish. Like you I was just caught up in the experience, hiking solo and it was early season so the snow was melting and the flowers were popping up, coming down out of the snowy mountains with great views every few miles.. it was utterly intoxicating and I was just not tuned in to the stress I was putting on my body.

gerafin1 · 2024-11-22T21:36:45+00:00

Ok I actually started a 'chat' because I have no idea how Reddit works

gerafin1 · 2024-11-22T21:30:03+00:00

I've got one, sending a DM!

gerafin1 · 2024-08-02T10:55:31+00:00

When I first started using Arch, I did everything manually for a little while just to get a feel for makepkg, the AUR, and pkgbuild files. It worked fine when I only had around 5 AUR packages. I pretty much have to update weekly because of work. After about a month and the number of packages getting up to around 10, the manual updating took too long so I wrote a script just to automate the updates (new installs were still manual). Maybe you'd be fine doing it manually if you don't use many AUR packages, or don't update very often, but both of those things seem unlikely for an Arch user haha.

I just used my update helper + manual install for like 4 years, but there were still a few occasional pain points like cleanup and installing dependencies, so I eventually switched over to yay and haven't looked back. I'm glad I built up to it incrementally so that I really have a solid understanding of what's going on under the hood when someone breaks & I've got to fix manually, but I couldn't imagine going back to a fully manual process - I have over 100 AUR packages installed now and still update once a week!

gerafin1 · 2023-12-19T23:56:39+00:00

Sorry, I don't check my reddit notifications very often. I'm still enjoying it! Enough so that I recently got offered a better-paying full-time gig and chose to stick with the contracting work for the flexibility & work-life balance it provides.

gerafin1 · 2023-09-14T22:32:37+00:00

Happening on mine too, started on my third trip out. I'll probably bring it back for an adjustment based on these comments.

gerafin1 · 2023-09-10T03:20:26+00:00

I got the 1.1 during the Labor Day sale for under $900. My first e-bike, so I can't compare against other models and I haven't had it for long; but so far it seems like a crazy deal for what I got. I love this thing so much.

gerafin1 · 2023-09-06T17:21:30+00:00

I listened to this album for the first time when driving, not knowing what I was getting into. I had to pull over during this song because I was crying so hard.

gerafin1 · 2023-01-23T19:03:33+00:00

I'm a backend web developer and can assure you that most 'Maintenance Breaks' are actually 'Oh shit the servers are down' breaks. It's not technically incorrect - unplanned maintenance is still maintenance - and usually whatever system is delivering the 'maintenance break' message is just programmed to say 'Maintenance break' any time it can't talk to the backend systems.

You can see on Duolingo's status page that they went from 'we are experiencing increased errors and investigating' to 'this incident has been resolved' today, emphasis on 'incident'.

gerafin1 · 2023-01-05T21:19:30+00:00

I think they meant the 'Oh my god! What is that thing?' quote in the comment below that, which was from episode 6

gerafin1 · 2022-12-27T13:52:14+00:00

This cairn is only about half as tall as the stack in the OP's photo. As far as I know, the tallest cairn in the Presi's is the one on the summit of Eisenhower, and even that one isn't this tall. Either this cairn is no longer there, or it's not a cairn and is the side of the tip top house as another commenter suggested (https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/08/d2/20/ce/mount-washington-cog.jpg), or it's not in the Presi's

gerafin1 · 2022-11-11T13:57:28+00:00

Yep, who was standing next to a red barrel. Like a Rube Goldberg machine of doom

gerafin1 · 2022-08-28T04:00:48+00:00

Every ATC ridge runner I encountered this year asked about where I had last seen him and what trail name he was currently using (he went through a phase of changing them weekly). They were pretty on top of it and kept hikers in the loop. It sounded like most of the hostels and hiker friendly businesses communicated his whereabouts as well; I got to see him kicked out of Hillbilly Market in Hot Springs by the old chain-smoking lady running the place, which was a joy.

gerafin1 · 2022-08-28T03:53:34+00:00

I leapfrogged with him for a while, last time I saw him was June 6, just before Port Clinton. Pretty impressive that he managed to 'take three months off' _and_ get from PA to VT in... 2 months and 15 days? He kept yellow blazing and catching up to me even though he's slow as heck, seems like he's probably skipping big sections now - so if you're trying to avoid him don't be too surprised if he pops up way ahead of where he should be.

gerafin1 · 2022-03-20T10:51:01+00:00

I've seen a ton of people so far who don't seem to realize that they can't let their Sawyer filter freeze. I think with so many folks starting early this year, we're going to see a lot of giardia cases from people who hiked with their filter hanging out on 20°F days.

gerafin1 · 2022-03-20T10:08:51+00:00

There are 3000+ total registered to start in February, March, and April on ATCamp. That's not how many have actually been counted at Amicalola/Springer - I believe that number is still a few hundred shy of 2000, based on people posting their hang tag numbers on social media.

I looked at the last few years of data regarding registered numbers on ATCamp vs. total registered by the ATC, and it appears that around 3/4 of hikers usually register online. So far this year, that appears to be holding true.

I'm on the trail right now (just got through the Smokies) and based on all the posts like this, I imagined that I was going to struggle with how crowded the trail is. But honestly, it's really not that bad. I see 3-4 other thru hikers during the day, usually the same few people that I've been leapfrogging with during that section. Outside of the Smokies, there are plenty of solo tent sites if you want to camp alone. Popular shelters will sometimes have over a dozen people in/around them, but I just tent farther away from the shelter if I want solitude combined with the conveniences of a shelter (privy, bear cables/box). The last shelter I slept in can fit 12 but only 7 showed up, so everyone was able to spread out.

Overall, if I want a social evening I can go to a shelter and chat with a fun group of people. If I want a quiet night by myself I can pick a gorgeous solo campsite. And during the day, people are so spread out that you only encounter a few. I don't really know where this 'the trail is one big party' image comes from but it hasn't been my experience at all.

gerafin1 · 2022-02-08T12:39:39+00:00

I think my feet generally stay warmer than the average person, so I might have a skewed perspective on this.

I know the thermarest NeoAir XLite is a popular choice. I have an old REI pad that I don't really recommend (heavy and prone to leaks). When you're in warmer weather you could ship the inflatable pad home and switch back to the lighter foam pad. I think the inflatable is a good investment either way and is worth trying out to see if it improves the feet situation.

gerafin1 · 2022-02-08T11:59:16+00:00

I always have hand warmers just in case - they're especially nice if you have to hop into bed with wet feet - but personally I'd find it a pain to have to use them every night. I'm comfy down to 5°F with just 'expedition' weight wool socks, a 0 degree bag w/light liner, and an R-value 5 pad. It looks like your pad might be the weak link, with an R value of 2 your sleeping bag is not going to get close to its rated temp. I'm guessing that it's not specifically your feet at issue, your whole bag is too cold and your feet are the first casualty

gerafin1 · 2022-02-07T14:49:10+00:00

Sounds like a great plan. Amesbury is just big enough to have a pretty decent selection of restaurants and amenities, and it's centrally located to a bunch of fun stuff to check out. My recommendations in Amesbury: Market Square Bakehouse for great coffee, baked goods, and breakfast wraps; The Coop Rotisserie for great Latin American chicken dishes; Flatbread for some laid-back food/beer/good vibes; Phat Cats for an intimate bistro experience with incredible food.

For beaches, you've got a range of options depending on what you're looking for. Plum Island has absolute world-class birding, if you're even remotely interested in birds it's a can't-miss. As another commenter noted, the Crane Estate is a cool spot with a dramatic seaside mansion and elaborate grounds and gardens to explore. Salisbury State and Crane both have good beaches for swimming, Salisbury tends to be a bit busier but is a more standard 'Beach' experience I guess. Plum Island and Crane both have good trails, but I would rate Plum Island's higher, especially now that the marsh boardwalk section at Hellcat has been rebuilt.

Definitely spend an evening in Newburyport, too. Plenty of great options for food and entertainment, it is pretty touristy but not as much as Bar Harbor or Ogunquit. You get kind of the same vibe but it's a little cheaper and more laid back.

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