Pack Goats, Ham Radio, and the 10 Essentials
I give in. I'm finally going to publish a list of the 10 hiking essentials on my blog. But you have to watch this video my hiking partner Chris sent me. It's got these great pack goats in it named Peanut and Rooster and some ham radio operators, who were the original social network in my book.
It's not that I think the 10 essentials are bad or misleading. The problem is that there are never 10. People are always trying to sneak extra things on the list.
So, here is Peanut's list of 10 Hiking Essentials:
- Map, compass, GPS
- Water (water bottle)
- Flashlight, headlamp
- Extra food
- Extra dry clothes
- Sunglasses, sunblock
- First aid kit
- Pocket knife
- Waterproof matches
- Firestarter kit
See. Peanut tried to sneak some extra items on the list..
Personally, I'm starting to agree with Chris about pack goats. We may be on the brink of a new backpacking trend here. Let's face it: pack rafts are just foolish. But pack goats — that's an idea with some legs.
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Agreed! Goats are cute, well-behaved (compared to dogs, usually), and they carry gear. What more could you want?
Chris wants me to set up a lawn cutting franchise with goats so that well-to-do households can feel good about their sustainability of their gardeners. It would also solve the problem that politicians face here in the US when they’re caught hiring illegal immigrants to do their yard work.
How do the goats do in deep snow? I would suspect problems. Too bad they couldn’t learn to snowshoe.
I always wanted a llama when I was in the military. Sure would have made things easier!