All about the gear…

[Paul Magnanti]

Or my rambling thoughts on why gear discussion is so popular:
http://www.pmags.com/gear-as-lifestyle

Or you can skip the rambling and go right to this funny video from Portlandia :)

[Ian]

"In the same way, if you are active in the outdoors, there is less desire and/or time to discuss the minutiae of outdoor gear."

I guess that's true but there's probably more to it than that. Take this trip report for example.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/arctic-brooks-range-gates.html

Above is the link to the best trip report and adventure I've personally read here at BPL since I joined a year ago. I can only gauge the readership and level of interest based on the number of responses but at the moment, there are only 42 responses.

Now search for something truly dull and meaningless like the Sawyer mini, a topic that could be covered in one maybe two threads (It's coming & It's here) with three responses each and see what you get. There are entire websites dedicated to predicting and speculating on what the next iPhone, Xbox, etc will be.

I'm sure some of this is that gear is a connection to where guys like me want to be but can't be cause of kid's hockey tournament, nephew's birthday party, repairing damaged flux capacitor, & life in general. Mostly I think people are just wired to pick up shiny new things and ponder them whether it be a bottle cap or titanium pot.

Edit: Portlandia skit rocks!

[Jerry Adams]

I agree – that is the most amazing adventure I've heard about!

[Nick Gatel]

Paul,

I really enjoyed your article!

When I started backpacking there wasn't any Internet to discuss gear. Actually there wasn't anywhere to go discuss gear. So you went out and hiked, or you didn't. I like the old days :)

Of course, all the time saved by not texting, web-surfing, social networking, etc. could be used to go outside and do something like run, hike, bike, backpack, ski, camp, etc.

Anyway, a couple months ago I came to the conclusion that discussing backpacking gear is getting boring

[Gregory Allen]

Nice article, as usual. Short and too the point.

[Shane O’Donnell]

Nicely done. I'm always amazed at people who want to spend all of their time ON THE TRAIL talking about gear.

[Author]

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