Which Pencil for the JMT?

[Cayenne Redmonk]

Am I the only person who has *actually* hiked the JMT ?

The carpenter pencil is too loud, and needs a knife to sharpen, and uses inferior lead.

The 602 writes silent, so the wildlife won't know you're sketching them. It has two sharpeners, one for the wood, one of the graphite. On a demanding trip like the JMT, it's nice to have a 1/16" graphite point with a 3/8" wood support cone around it. At least for writing while walking backwards downhill it was essential. At night you can reshape it to be 1/4" graphite point, with 3/4" supporting wood cone. It's a much less effective self defense pencil, but writes twice as fast.

The eraser on the 602 is rectangular so it won't roll away, and removable so you can bring only the amount needed.

No wonder people can't give Nick a straight answer, y'all are armchair JMT adventurers.

–G.B.–

[Marko Botsaris]

"You don't need the mechanical pencil, you can write just fine holding the lead with your fingers."

Yes, just as with using a 3 oz SUL pack, you will be fine as long as you are *careful* with the lighter gear. If you can't treat single 0.5 leads with the respect and care it deserves then maybe ultralight isn't for you.

Tip: break one in half to save weight and just use your resupply points to get more. Or cache the matching halves along the trail. Make sure you hide them well, Clark's Nutcrackers along the JMT are well known to make their own pencil lead caches in hollow trees after stealing other people's caches – pencil thieves are everywhere in this fallen world.

[Marko Botsaris]

"Now I am getting confused. I thought the pencils were made from lead. Are you suggesting it is actually iron? That sounds heavy. Perhaps someone makes a carbon fiber pencil; does anyone know?"

Actually, pretending to be a rube is a bit different than being ironic. Still I like it! You will obviously know best where your true talents lie.

Unfortunately it looks like the irony-challenged posts in this thread have largely dried up, which is very disappointing. Possibly all the sensible people have run for the hills.

[Anonymous]

I'm all for humor, iron-knees, and even occasional sarcasm, but not so much at the expense of others–especially not in a personal and real sense e.g. making fun of actual actions and people that are posting on a forum.

Nick, if you are so much wiser, smarter, self actualized, aware, zen, and self sufficient than all of us, then why do you hang out here with us lesser beings? Just to get a laugh from us? You're already stated a number of times that you don't like people, ok-just the vast majority of people rather, so why not just spend all your times in the wilds where you can be alone which is what you so crave?

Because i'm noticing a growing trend or pattern in your posts of thinly veiled derision and intolerance of others.

Age does not necessarily bring true wisdom and maturity, but living and choosing compassionate love does, and maybe some lifetime you will learn that. Till then, you're just acting like a cranky old man with nothing better to do than to put others down while trying to appear wise and zen. "Be simplefied, like me, the man with a cuben poncho and tent" Yeah, i'm sure no thought or care went into those purchases, nor reading of others experiences. Just because you didn't "ask" others their opinions don't mean squat.

Real humor is lighthearted, and uplifts, at the expense of no one but maybe self. Critical, self righteous, judgmental humor is really not humor, it does not help to open up the hearts of others or of self- it does not come from the heart but from the shadow ego and is an indication and reflection of woundedness and self pain.

Well, we're all in pain Nick, all of us to varying degrees, some just deal with it better and don't try to add to others pain. You go to the wilds to try to escape it (not possible), maybe cover it over for a little while, but come back crankier than when you left.

P.s. I don't usually speak so bluntly to others or like this at all..but despite contradictory appearances from the above, i do have a lot of respect for you and do think you are wiser than the average person, which is why i have spoke so bluntly, personally and unusually.

[Nick Gatel]

Geez Justin,

I apologize for upsetting you.

I am just trying to find a suitable pencil.

If you had been around longer, you would remember a thread I started a few years ago seeking feedback on winter equipment. The experts here helped me put together a system that avoided a lot of trial and error, not to mention unneeded expense. That gear has worked out well, and I thank those who assisted me.

I will admit that not all the suggestions have been helpful in my pencil search.

However, Cameron has presented the features and benefits of what looks to be an excellent pencil, perhaps the best pencil ever made; the Blackwing 602. And I have taken his recommendation seriously. It appears that one needs to also purchase the separate Blackwing pencil sharpener for optimal performance, and spare erasers are also available. Not sure if this pencil will meet my backpacking needs, but it will probably be a fine addition to my office and enhance my daily work performance; perhaps even freeing up more time for backpacking through increased work productivity.

I did make a negative comment about France, and maybe that was uncalled for. The French did give us Brigitte Bardot, André the Giant, Victor Hugo, Hector Berlioz, Marquis de Lafayette, and of course – Champagne.

P.S. I am not in pain. My life is exciting and fulfilling. I look forward to each day!!

[Alex H]

Whoa Justin, chill! Re-read the thread, all folks having fun and Nick must have too much time between trips. If he was in real pain he would use the Mike Clelland! razor blade and write his notes in blood!

[Cayenne Redmonk]

I didn't know they were being made again when I suggested it. They were precious at one time, but amazon has them now for reasonable prices. $6 for the two piece sample pack, and $25 a box.

Just a short while ago these would fetch $500 a box on eBay.

[Stephen Barber]

The answer is obvious: just use the lead from a mechanical pencil, and toss the rest away! Sure, you have to be a bit careful not to break the lead into too small a piece, but SUL folks are used to being careful with their gear.

[Nick Gatel]

"but SUL folks are used to being careful with their gear."

I don't know if we should trust advice from old guys with gray or white beards :)

How ya doing Stephen?

[Stephen Barber]

Hey Nick!

I have to talk tonight to the Chief Financial Officer about spending part of our tax return on a certain new pack. She was asking me yesterday about what I wanted for my birthday, so…..!

[Nick Gatel]

"I have to talk tonight to the Chief Financial Officer about spending part of our tax return on a certain new pack. She was asking me yesterday about what I wanted for my birthday, so…..!"

I would tell her you can save significant money with your new UL Pencil solution… if we figure one out here :)

[Marko Botsaris]

"Whoa Justin, chill! Re-read the thread, all folks having fun and Nick must have too much time between trips."

I always feel bad when an ernest fellow or two gets caught in intricately woven tendrils of mock seriousness like those in this thread. However it is mildly entertaining. Online, without voice tones, sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference, and the secret password is how totally ridiculous the postings are. However, as ridiculous as it can get, you will still inevitably get someone like a (to be unnamed) previous poster that seemed furious someone hadn't stopped us. Priceless. On the other hand I have found the level of the mockudrama here is so high that someone is just as likely to post and pretend to be furious! So mocks within mocks.

Sorry Justin! Basically we are mocking each other, while at the same time mocking some of the more extreme practices of this cult. Except Nick. From what I can tell, either he is a tiny bit loopy, or he is sometimes so completely committed to character it is impossible to tell – kinda like the Borat of the BL forums.

And now all that remains is for some of you to post and inform me how *deadly* serious you have actually been all along, and we can start all over. LOL

I have to work in more or less semi-crisis mode all this month, and can't get out for an extended period of time (just when the real backpacking season is starting). This is one of my distractions and entertainments in the meantime. I know…sad.

[Marko Botsaris]

http://www.amazon.com/John-Mountains-Unpublished-Journals-Muir/dp/0299078841/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368751179&sr=8-1&keywords=john+muir+journals

Muir's library in Martinez, CA is nearby. I will visit there an attempt to research the issue of what type of pencil he used on the trail. Perhaps it can be reproduced as a DIY. What better pencil to use on the JMT! I smell a potential new cottage industry here.

John Muir Trail Drawing ^^^

Edit: Oh my God! I just remembered! John Muir WORKED in a pencil factory? Holey crap! It can't be a coincidence. Nick you are brilliant.

Edit 2: Oh damn, it was Thoreau that made pencils. Enlightenment, so close… and yet no cigar.

Pencil made by Thoreau ^^^

On the other hand, Thoreau was friends with Emerson, and Emerson visited Muir in CA before he died. Coincidence? You decide.

[Nick Gatel]

During my comprehensive search for the perfect UL Pencil, I found the following were devotees of the Blackwing 602 Pencil; John Steinbeck, Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein and Chuck Jones (used them to create Bugs Bunny and other Looney Tunes characters).

It is rumored that Hemingway used Blackwings, but it has not been substantiated.

However, in "A Moveable Feast," Hemingway had this to say about the pencil:

I took out a notebook from the pocket of the coat and a pencil and started to write… A girl came in the cafe and sat by herself at a table near the window. She was very pretty with a face fresh as a newly minted coin… I watched the girl whenever I looked up, or when I sharpened the pencil with a pencil sharpener with the shavings curling into the saucer under my drink. I've seen you, beauty, and you belong to me now, whoever you are waiting for and if I never see you again, I thought. You belong to me and all Paris belongs to me and I belong to this notebook and this pencil.

[Hiking Malto]

Seriously, you need a hike. :)

[Nick Gatel]

"Seriously, you need a hike. :) "

Leaving tomorrow for a weekend trip, sans pencil.

[Jim Colten]

It is rumored that Hemingway used Blackwings, but it has not been substantiated.

He may also have used a pencil but I know I saw a manual typewriter in his writing room when touring his Key West place. (great tour if you get the same tour guide we had … story telling very reminiscent of Shelby Foote)

I doubt Hemingway could have written a better parody … well done.

[Steven McAllister]

Remember, Nick's request was for a JMT specific pencil, not a general backpacking pencil, a JMT PENCIL!!!

We're getting away from the JMT specific requirement.
The JMT is not the Uintas, Dolly Sods, Wind River…. The requirements are much different and the focus should be as such.

Many of us are not interested in general equipment, we only need to know about the JMT.

So please keep it on subject!!!

[Bob Gross]

You probably would not want the JMT pencil to be the color of dirt, otherwise, you drop it on the trail and you might never find it. That's why I suggested that Nick paint them some distinctive color.

Another color to avoid would be the color of Nick's hair. If he painted them the same color as his hair, he might park the pencil above his ear and lose it completely.

A good color would be yellow-luminescent. At least you could find it at night without a flashlight.

–B.G.–

[Marko Botsaris]

Don't use Green florescent paint – too many algae gave there lives for that – morally repugnant.

[Jim Milstein]

"Do pencils off-gas dangerous fumes? Anything I should be looking for?"

I have come to this question of the right pencil for the JMT late, and so much has been answered so well. However, the point about dangerous pencil fumes has not yet been addressed.

Yes, there are dangerous pencil fumes, and they can be clearly seen when wearing circularly polarized 3D glasses. To save weight the ear pieces can be left behind. The glasses may stay on if you scrunch your face real hard. Do not leave pencils exposed to direct sunlight. Keep them away from the stove when cooking. You'll be ok.

And, given your preference not to take electronic items, it would be better to leave your amber beads and amulets at home.

[Dale Wambaugh]

Neophytes!

The obvious choice is the Classic Anello Titanium Propelling Pencil for a mere $395US.

Classic Anello Titanium propelling pencil with gleaming platinum-plated rings. Durable 0.7mm/B lead, a reservoir for spare leads and a replaceable eraser under the end cap. Spring-loaded clip.

http://shop.fabercastell.com/p/classic-anello-titanium-propelling-pencil

But pencils are for the weak at heart, lacking the confidence to use a pen. My Fisher all black bullet space pen is the writing instrument of the wanderer.

[Jim Milstein]

"The obvious choice is the Classic Anello Titanium Propelling Pencil . . . ."

I don't know how to say this politely. A mechanical pencil is so déclassé, and this one is obviously priced to appeal to the nouveau riche. Por favor!

I agree, however, with your choice of the Fisher space pen with this one consideration: ditch the outer pen and carry the cartridge alone. Light!

[Dale Wambaugh]

"….and this one is obviously priced to appeal to the nouveau riche. "

Do you think? I felt that way about the titanium Inka pen at $40, let alone this plaything for Wall Street pimps :)

As to writing with a bare cartridge, my southpaw handwriting is barely legible using a good ergonomic design on a stable surface, let alone scribbling on a pad propped on my knee or the palm of my hand. I went medical school, but I only made it through the handwriting course :)

[Jim Milstein]

"my southpaw handwriting is barely legible"

So?

If it doesn't matter for MDs, who are entrusted, from time to time, with our lives, it just doesn't matter.

But it's not just about you, Dale. It's about the JMT! The JMT does not care about penmanship (or pencilmanship). I asked.

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