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Saranacs Addenda

This is additional information related to my Saranacs trip report, published in two installments: Part I and Part II.

A few additional thoughts:

  • The era of handheld Garmin GPS receivers seems to be over. Before the trip I got out my Garmin and not only did it seem like very antique technology with a tiny little screen and a poky user interface, it wouldn't even reliably turn on anymore! Newer models with larger screens cost hundreds of dollars. Because I'm leery of keeping my phone on deck, I decided to try using my old iPhone as a GPS. I found and app called Avenza maps which will display a georeferenced PDF map. It also allow me to add my own waypoint files, so I can mark up the map with waypoints for features such as campsites and launch locations. With all of this stored on the unit, no cellular connection is required. It worked great - for three minutes. It turns out that my old phone is set to automatically lock after three minutes, and for whatever reason there's no way to disable it from doing so. On another day I tried it again, making sure to touch the screen once every 3 minutes to keep it awake. The worked well for a while - until I slipped up and let more than 3 minutes elapse. Also, it was hard to view the phone's screen through the waterproof case. I haven't given up on this idea, but it needs work.
  • I am proud that both of my dinners were from scratch: no boil-in-bag pouches or spice packs, so they were low sodium and low fat while still tasting good. This is the quinoa chili recipe I used, and here's the Moroccan chicken.
  • Other cooking stuff:
    • Rob's powdered cheese was Hoosier Hill Farm brand
    • Tom had some sort of single serving tomato sauce and meatballs pouches
  • As usual I consumed exactly zero ibuprofen over the course of the trip. On middle-ager trips (if indeed we can still even be called middle-aged), Advil pills get consumed like so many Tic Tacs; however, I am weirdly non-achy for someone my age. I'm not complaining.
  • I didn't really try any new camping hacks on this trip - though Tom says if I launder the Tyvek sheet I use on the floor of my tent in the washer it'll come out less crinkly - I'll have to try that

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Location: Saranac Lake, NY, USA

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