Looking for a helping hand

If you have been following the world of social media, you know that one of the latest trends is seeking funds from strangers on the internet. From Kickstart to all sorts of crowd funding, there are lots of interesting ideas out there looking for a leg up--and quite a few that are not so interesting after all.

But two of them caught our eye, because they have to do with hiking!

Clever Hiker www.indiegogo.com/cleverhiker looks to create a series of videos on the joys, skills and equipment of ultralight backpacking. A worthy goal, although we're not sure that it needs a whole series of videos...we like the written word, as you can tell from this blog. But still, at least they're on our team.

And these guys http://kck.st/SKJP6Z are looking for money to make a video about another hike: "We are now turning our sights to Death Valley and hope to create a short film of a solo unaided 10 day winter trek across 228 miles exposing the many faces of this region few see. We've put this up on Kickstarter and have reached 88% of our goal so far with 7 days left. This trek will of course be executed following the ul mindset and philosophy:"

Well great. And if you'd like to send us money, we'll go hiking in the SIerra Nevada this summer, and we'll take a lot of photos and write up notes on the trip as well.

Then again, we'll do that whether you send us money or not.