Winter Prep

With Yosemite National Park announcing that the Glacier Point Road is now closed due a winter storm...and unlikely to open again until spring...

This is a great time to go through all of your equipment and make sure it's ready for your adventures next spring and summer. And it's a good idea to do this now, while some of the issues are still top of mind. You know--that little tear in the bug netting of your tent that you've been meaning to stitch up. If you leave it until spring, you will probably forget, and remember just when those mosquitoes start creeping through the hole on your first trip next year....

So here's what we'll do in the next couple of weeks:

> Give our tent a nice rub down with a damp cloth, inside and out. And when it is nicely dry, we'll pack it up carefully in its stowage bag.

> Replace the batteries in our headlamps. These wear down over the season, and we found ourselves squinting a bit...fresh batteries!

> Sew on the missing button on my favorite hiking shirt...and give all of our clothes a quick inspection for loose stitching etc.

> Wash our puffy down jackets, that now smell a lot like hikers. And maybe the sleeping bags, too.

> Take an inventory of our stove gas cannisters and figure out which ones are full, which ones are only good for short trips.

> Give the water filter one more clean and rinse. And do the same with our water bottles.

> We like to give our hiking clothes a shot of permethrin...but that only lasts 42 days or so. So we'll collect all those clothes in one place, ready for the spring shower of bug repellent.

> And speaking of bug repellent, make sure we have enough--and sunscreen too--to get started in the spring.

> Make an inventory of our hiking food. Maybe it's time to work through some of those old ramen packages!

> think about the trips we're planning for next year. Do we need maps or guide books for any of those?

Hmmm...that's a good idea for a holiday gift wish list...