Category: Geek Hiking

Audiobooks for the Trail

Hiking long trails is a fine time to listen to audiobooks and podcasts. My method is to use a tiny Bluetooth earbud in one ear, a model that does not block outside noise, so I can still be aware of any sounds that indicate danger or people or nature.

My long-time favorite source for audiobooks is the public-domain recordings of LibriVox. Early in my planning stage for a long hike, I am selecting out-of-copyright literature that I should have already read if I were a more well-rounded individual who was not busy consuming the latest science fiction. In January when it is too early to do much else, I can search for and download books and experience that excitement that comes from taking those many small preparations necessary for a long trip.

If you ever read my hiking blog (or ebooks) on long trails, you will notice that I list each audiobook the day I finish it in my journal, along with a link for you to download if you might also like to experience that book.

I prefer not to purchase audiobooks from Audible.com, following my policy of not engaging with monopolies or DRM whenever practical. One recent series of speculative fiction that I do enjoy purchasing is the Martin Hench books from Cory Doctorow. First-up in my list of books to read this July on the Colorado Trail is Red Team Blues. The author has gone to great lengths to provide a way to purchase the audiobook without DRM. And the reality that the audiobook is read by Wil Wheaton– I can barely wait to start listening until I reach the trail!

Trail Phone Trends

I was recently forced to upgrade my cell phone after a hardware failure, and started worrying about the market trend of phones growing larger and heavier each year. My phone counts as part of my backpacking base weight (as defined as pack weight minus food and water), since it normally resides in a holder on my pack strap. How long until cell phone weights start seriously impacting base weight, which I try to keep under 10lbs for ultralight hiking?

Tl;dr Summary: Not to worry. My trail smartphones have not gotten unreasonably heavier in 10 years.

Details for Gear Geeks:

This year I celebrate my 10th consecutive year of doing a long backpacking trips each summer. A bulging lithium-polymer battery forced an unplanned cell phone upgrade.

For ultralight gear, I prefer small lightweight phones, but cell phone manufacturers seem to be introducing ever-larger screens and higher-capacity, heavier batteries. It is sometimes difficult to find low-weight new models that can handle the latest, more secure operating system versions. With 10 years of data about my cell phone choices (from past posts about gear lists, as well as a few unpublished gear spreadsheets) let us look at trends and make predictions.

Continue reading “Trail Phone Trends”

Apps for Trail Part 2

(Warning, shameless self-promotion ahead.)

Caption. I take many photos each day with the phone, and the problem is remembering why I took a particular picture four years later, and what is the name of that mountain anyway? Caption allows me to easily add text information to the caption property of the photo that does not normally display, but can be read by most photo editor programs and some WordPress plugins.
Some slideshow programs can also display the caption text. I will also refer to the Caption app while inserting photos into my hiking blog each night using the WordPress app.

The app also allows a short audio clip to be embedded in the JPG image file, while staying compatible with all image viewers.

I wrote the Caption app to help document my photos on long hikes, and I hope it can help you, too.

RecAll. A few years ago I wrote an audio recording program that has enjoyed a certain amount of popularity in certain circles, particularly ham radio operators and telephone call centers, where the voice-activated recording feature was used. Now I have ported RecAll to Android, and will use it to make an audio journal for my next long hike.

A Secret. I wrote another app, useful for taking impromptu photos while hiking, that is not quite ready to release. I am not ready to provide details yet, but if field-testing goes well I can talk about when the trip is complete.