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Guadalupe Mountains

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393 Travel Gear

We will be visiting a wide array of environments at a very rapid pace.  We shall also rely on our own shelter and provisions for most days, and although there will be stays at campgrounds to allow for showers, laundry and major PERSONAL reprovisioning will occur only once at Alpine (see Itinerary). 

Even though we will be far south of Wisconsin, you will experience genuine winter camping with cold evenings   (see the January temperatures at the bottom of each visit site page).   Days, however, can get warm.  The pop-up suggestion list is the minimum of PERSONAL clothing and equipment to ensure your health and comfort, but it must be as compact as possible, as  we will have all of us AND our gear traveling in the vans.

Remember also, we WALK to most destinations. Even where there are trails, this can be arduous; when off-trail, travel can be quite fatiguing and will proceed slowly.

Take note of the well-prepared group working in remote terrain below, and do note "The Five Enemies".

Do bring chaps or some kind of leg protection.  Sturdy boots, gloves, hat, and sunglasses are essential, too.  We will be bushwacking off-trail, where most plants have sharp spines or leaves, and many have toxic irritants also.  PROTECT your body, and your equipment!

To plan your gear needs, check the current weather over several days (and nights) at (Guadalupe Mountains and Big Bend.  Then check the Comfort (Health) Indices.

Capitalized items on the provisions and gear lists are per person ESSENTIAL!                                       [BACK]

There are many proprietors of quality outdoor gear.  We stress that you SHOULD NOT try to purchase every item on these lists, as between sharing, borrowing, or rental at Recreation Services, you probably can avoid heavy personal expenditures on items you may only use on this trip.  However, if you are intent on obtaining some items for your own sustained use, mail-order catalogs  exist on-line for some very reputable commercial dealers such as REI, Backcountry Equipment, Mountain Gear, CampingSurvival, Taiga Works, and Campmor (this is hardly an exhaustive list, nor is it an official endorsement). 

For bulk dry food from local sources, I personally use the Back to the Country Store and a bakery supply house in Wausau that has no web site (U-Bake; 4408 Rib Mountain Dr, Wausau, WI 54401)--again, this is my personal, and not an institutional, endorsement.  But when I want whole-grain alphabet soup noodles, or powdered cheese (without purchasing and ripping open 400 boxes of the commercial packages), these places have it at fair price!

There will be opportunities to replace/obtain outdoor equipment at several of our stops, but consult with the instructors and your classmates before making expensive equipment purchases--we may already have it!  [BACK]

PLEASE remember, we have very little storage space in the vehicles.  Except for communal gear (below), try to limit yourself to ONE duffle bag/pack and one daypack.  Please cap or tape any sharp frame edges that might cut or puncture others' tightly packed gear.

Wherever possible, we suggest bright red for personal items so that inadvertently lost items are most visible. 

Heywood [email] maintains this page, last updated 23NOV07.   We monitor our cell phone from 6 to 8 PM CST when in range.  That number is (715) 459-8181.