Gear Envy

http://cascadedesigns.com/

 Yesterday I wrote about how I stole my sons Thermarest I bought for him.  Now that I am comfortable with taking his gear (OK, he didn't want it in the first place), I was thinking about getting a Thermarest trekker chair.  This is kind of like a sock thing with some straps that converts your Thermarest into a seat.  Then the straps help fold the thing into a backrest and a bottom.  Then when you go to bed you just take your Thermarest out of the trekker chair and sleep on it.  A real nice way to get more functions out of one piece of equipment.  The only thing is after backpacking all day, setting up camp, and cooking dinner you want to sit and relax a little.  You might even want to sit while cooking dinner.  Well this trekker is nice but you are just sitting on the ground.

www.altrec.com

This past weekend while backpacking we get to camp around 5ish and set up tents then my buddy Paul pulls out this NRS roll-A-stool.  Now lots of kids bring small stools and chairs to sit on and they all do an OK job but usually weigh more than they are worth.  I just sit on Julian (my Thermarest) and relax.  This NRS roll-a-stool is unique because it has extremely light weight legs, stands 18" and has a 14" seat.  So it is light, has a comfortable seat size, and the right height to keep your legs from cramping.  I instantly had gear envy and have been scouring the Internet to find one.  Come to find out I was searching three legged stool and I should have been looking for roll-a-stool.  I finally had to break down and ask Paul where he got it and he told me www.campmor.com where they run about 30 bucks.  A great website but still 30 bucks is a bit pricey to just buy without searching for a coupon or a discount.  I am so full of gear envy though, this stool is absolutely high quality and fits the backpacking parameters perfect.  Now the cherry on the top was Paul showing us how fast his Jet Boil stove works while sitting on his roll-a-stool.  I think that is about half the fun of camping, is seeing all the cool gear others bring and use so a little gear envy is good.