Hiking Day

"Hill Country View" Leander, 2018
“Hill Country View” Leander, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Well, as I alluded to in yesterday’s post, I planned to hit the trails with my new Merrell Moab 2s today, and not only did I get to hike, but my son came along with me! It was a lot of fun, we enjoyed perfect weather, and the shoes worked well. I also got to try out a couple other new pieces of gear: trekking poles, a selfie stick, and the Victure 4K action camera.

First up, the BAFX trekking poles are my first pair of modern hiking poles. I previously used a wooden stick that I bought for a few dollars from Home Depot (like a big dowel rod), and it worked nicely, but was kind of heavy and took up a lot of space in the car. I did get to pretend I was Gandalf when trekking with it though…

But these new aluminum poles are a nice upgrade. Not only are they super-lightweight, but they collapse down to 25″ for storing. Using two poles instead of a single hiking stick is really great. Although the poles can help with bearing weight, I think that the main benefit is that they give you better positional awareness of your body. Now there are two additional points of reference to augment your inner ear and feet, and that makes a huge difference.

The selfie stick and action camera were a lot of fun to use, and I can see that it takes a bit of practice to get some decent footage. But I can also see that it just takes some experience in order to improve. I don’t think there are many technical aspects to master since the action cam is not so sophisticated, and the selfie stick is extremely basic as well. The video quality isn’t the greatest, but for $40 for the camera and $10 for the selfie stick, I cannot complain.

Anyways, here’s some footage from the hike:

… and the GPS track I recorded in Strava.

I hope you had a nice day!

またね~

New Hikers

"Merrell Moab 2" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/40 sec, ISO6400
“Merrell Moab 2” Cedar Park, 2018

Hey there! Today I bought a new pair of hiking shoes, the Merrell Moab 2 Ventilators. Last week I went hiking and wore my Keen boots, but they are a size too small so when going downhill, my toes would hit the front of the boots. That’s not good. The reason I got the Keens was because I found them at an REI garage sale for only ~$15. They were good replacements for another pair of Keens that I bought for even less! So I couldn’t pass them up. However, as I found out last week, the small size won’t work for hiking.

Old boots and new replacements

A post shared by Barron バロン 🐒 (@barronfujimoto) on

After a bit of research, I decided to go back to hiking shoes rather than boots. I used to wear hiking shoes a long time ago and thought they were great. I also decided to forego the waterproof models and try a ventilated model, and the Merrell Moab 2 Ventilators fit the bill. These feel great because the toe-box is large and fits my foot nicely. I tried on different sizes, using a very thick sock, which is comparable to my Darned Tough socks, so I am confident that the size I chose will work out well. Tomorrow I’ll put them to the test on the trail, since the weather looks good for a hike. 🌞🌲

But if for some reason they don’t work out, I can always return them because REI has an amazing return policy.

I hope you had a great day!

またね~

VIews from the Trail

"Wobbly Cairn" Leander, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.5, 1/250 sec, ISO200
“Wobbly Cairn” Leander, 2018

I went on a short hike today on a nearby trail. Here are some of the photos I took. I hope you had a nice day!

"Tiny Flowers" Leander, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/170 sec, ISO200
“Tiny Flowers” Leander, 2018
"Hiking Boots" Leander, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO500
“Hiking Boots” Leander, 2018
"Spring Growth" Leander, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.2, 1/900 sec, ISO200
“Spring Growth” Leander, 2018
"On the Trail" Leander, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/240 sec, ISO200
“On the Trail” Leander, 2018
"Mossy" Leander, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/1000 sec, ISO200
“Mossy” Leander, 2018