New Wardrobe

To counter the negative experience of the immunization, a positive shopping extravaganza for all those necessities was next. You would think that hiking up a mountain (where you are renting the cold weather clothing) for a couple of Canadians that live 60 minutes from the mountains would be pretty straight forward. Let me tell you, I had no idea how ill prepared for hiking I was. No hiking pants, no hiking shorts, no hiking socks, no hiking shirts - luckily I do have hiking boots, as does Kim. Mountain Equipment Co-of is definitely going to notice a sales spike.

You have to buy "trekking" pants if you are going to trek, right? Even if those trekking pants convert in to shorts, you still need a pair of trekking shorts, right? Even if you have hiked in normal wool socks before, you have to spend about $30 for a pair of hi-tech socks and liner, right? What the hell is a hiking shirt? I own 2, but I don't know what they did to make them hiking compatible???

Of course by climbing to the altitude we are, keeping hydrated is very necessary. The best way to stay hydrated - a "backpack" hydration system. 2 litre capacity - plus carry a couple of Nalgene bottles.

With all this new gear, I need a new sack to carry this all around in. Oh, don't forget the sleeping bag liner.

Remember...this is just me...as a guy, I am not as practiced at this whole shopping thing...Kim on the other hand - pro. I had to plug the meter once while we were shopping and Kim's brother plugged it another time. He came down to visit us during our 3 hour adventure.

Now that I have organized the first purchases, I have realized what I am missing...so MEC will have another visit from the shopping tornado!

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