Saturday, April 25, 2015

The Gear

This is for anyone who's curious and so I can look back in the future. I decided to make this writeup of the gear I've been using on hikes. This is not a guide or recommendation of gear to use. I don't receive any benefits or promotional items from the manufacturers, and any opinions are my own.

The Recent Past

I was looking back through some of my older posts and realized how much things have changed since then. With how connected the Internet has made the world, many of the "hidden" and lesser known trails & areas I had written & heard about are quite busy today. It was inevitable that these places would become popular and more sought-out, but the time it took was probably shortened by the ease and convenience of using the Internet to find the island's attractions.

The conditions of some places have changed as well - there is no longer a telephone pole at Alan Davis; the last time I went, there was just a wood plank. I can imagine that removing a telephone pole from that area would not be easy, and more than one person had to have been involved. Much of the rest of the area has stayed the same, but without the appeal of the telephone pole, Alan Davis didn't seem to be as crowded those times I went.

The Stairs has become the subject of much controversy. Board of Water wants to break it down, and it seems that will happen unless someone steps in. The Stairs had become one of the most popular and well-known trails on the island due to all the sites around the web talking about it and people wanting to climb it. It had become a very popular and unique tourist attraction in that it was illegal to hike, yet many people risked being ticketed or arrested by police to be able to say they went up. Many people didn't treat the neighborhood residents well either, which led to hostility from the neighborhood. There will probably be some opposition from the residents if the state does decide to open the trail to the public.

I've noticed my writing has changed too, and it was pretty evident that I was in high school when I wrote those older posts. I don't really have anything new to write about this time around since I've been busy with school, but I created this blog as a sort of journal that I can look back on, so I just wanted to put something up.

I've been working on a second electric skateboard with different components and may change the software around. I bought a different ESC and will see if I can find a different control method other than the cruise control style. If not, then I'll just stick with the cruise control method because it's been working well enough, and I've gotten used to it.