Just curious to see what everyones opinion is regarding the use of umbrellas throughout southern California.
I’m currently on the fence about the whole thing, mainly because my knees typically demand that I use trekking poles- which seems to be a bit difficult if one was to be using an umbrella.
Novakaine
Defly use one across the Mojave! The only other shade is a spot under the acqueduct pipe where my water bag broke on a sharp bottle shard, but it coulda been my ass instead! I tried a brella on the cdt across wyoming, but since it was cloudy, raining & hailing mosta the time, that was a waste!
The southmost part of pct could probly use a brella too, but u might need ur hands to pull hundreds of ticks off ur legs!!! this is not a joke!!! g
Dav id
Dear Hiker Brothern and Sistern. Several years ago I came up with a successful design for hands -free deployment of GOLITE umbrellas. It is fool-proof, instantly tear-away and stores inside the folded up umbrella. I thru-hiked the AT last year ('05) with my wife Woodrose and alpha Lab Bella, and wore my umbrella the entire length of the Green Tunnel thru rain and sun. Of course there were times and places where I had to rip it off and fold it- rhododendron hells, for example. I sent a prototype to Golite, I think they thought I was a wacko; they sent me a complementary umbrella. A couple of weeks ago we went to Trail Days and we were hiking the AT into Damascus from Low Gap above Shady Valley and whom should I meet but Demitri Coupounas, the president of Golite marching up the Trail. (it had even been raining.) I showed him my umbrella gizmo (I also carry and wear plenty of other Golite gear.), and asked him if he had seen the one I sent out to Colorado. He said no. I told him that I wanted to sell him my intellectual property. He laughed and probably thinks I’m a wacko too, but he did send me an email that was friendly and informative, in which he said that all of their umbrella sales don’t pay the light bill; barely keep them in beer money. I wrote him back that Golite’s sales of umbrellas would double if he offered my gadget for sale . Pay me a nickel apiece or offer some sponsorship of our attempt at a PCT thru-hike planned for 2006. Nobody, I fear, will pay me squat for snot.I like hiking more than business, so here is my gift to you :
Muleskinner Hands -Free Umbrella Harness
Get or make a good-fitting, comfortable headband. Use wisdom and research in fabric type; wicking, stretching, and comfort against the skin are important considerations. I have made them from cotton terry, cordura, elastics of varying descriptions, but the best oneI found to suit me was a “JACKSTRAP”, designed to hold a mini-mag flashlight, offered by Campmor for years for about 5-6 $. They no longer show them in their catalog, but Roger Big Johnson Wiiliamson of that firm can probably still get ‘em. (Campmor offers another one of Cordura called “Nite-ize”, or something like that, but I find a cordura band around my head uncomfortable and recommend and far prefer the stretch and comfort of the Jackstrap. Take yer brand new Golite umbrella, (the “Chrome Dome” for the desert, I am told, by PCT Thru-Hikers, is a super tool) and slip the handle Tthru one of the loops provided on the jackstrap to hold the flashlight. It is a stretch to pull over the handle, but it’ll go. Go to Mall-Wart and getcha some sticky velcro, two inches wide. Carefully cut a short piece of velcro that will wrap around the umbrella handle and up the umbrella shaft about four inches. (Hint) make sure that the part of the velcro that goes up the shaft allows the umbrella to close completely. The handle and the shaft are of two different diameters so you have to make a little nip in the velcro. experiment with a piece of paper as a template. once you have the velcro fitted, peel the back off and wrap it around the handle and shaft, nice and straight. Get a piece of the other velcro that sticks to the big hoopy velcro that you wrapped around the handle; two inches wide and about a foot long. This velcro is not the sticky-back type, but its’ type hook-loops hook the same to the sticky back stuff. Fold a two-inch loop in this second foot-long, not sticky back piece. Sew it(the loop) so it fits over the sternum strap of your backpack. If you don’t use a sternum strap, you can sew this piece on your packstrap itself (sew one on each strap if you want.) No pack ? Sew one on your jacket once you get the gist of this…Put snaps on the velcro and snaps on your pack strap or jacket. (the possibilities are many and vairable for how and where to position this piece, the Receiver, the load-bearer. I open the umbrella fully and slip the headband (which is fastened by the flashlight holder to the umbrella shaft)around my head and slap the hooky velcro that is stuck to the handle and shaft to the receiver velcro that is hanging from my sternum strap and walk on in the sun or rain ; hands on my trekking poles. No buckles, strings, or latches. The chest-strap mounted receiver carries the weight of the umbrella, the head band keeps the umbrella in place where you want it. Rip it off, partially fold it as you walk between two narrow trees on the GTunnel and open her up and slap it back on. Put it on the left or right side of my head depending on wind, rain, sun. Move the receiver to the other side of the sternum strap. The first receiver I made was a long skinny nylon tube bag that hung from my sternum strap; there was no sticky velcro on the handle. Problem was, the umbrella had more more tendency to lift from the tube in the wind than the velcro does. We met Jymbeam and Rainqueen who hiked the PCT sobo last year carrying their chromedomes by hand at Trail Days; they liked my gizmo. Wind defeats umbrellas, but my strap works until the wind makes you put it away. Peace is the only way. Muleskinner
Muleskinner