Confessions of a tech-watch geek

Out in Page County we have a great benefit with the Appalachian Trail running along the ridge of Shenandoah National Park. It is a great thing to find that here and there in all the day hikes available in the SNP, many of them involve short stretches of the AT. And as one hikes some of the trails, or takes a break at the Tap Room in Skyland, you might run into a through hiker, who’ll share some of their experiences from the trail.

Last week, I picked up a copy of Outdoor magazine to read on the LA-DC flight. The magazine contained an ad for the new Casio Pathfinder watches…I have to admit I am a watch-geek when it comes to these products.

I still have a Casio I bought in Santa Barbara in 1998; it had a little phone number data base (mobile phones weren’t so prevalent yet back then, and their use as an address book wasn’t nearly as mature as it is these days). When I page through my phone numbers there, I find a list of clients I was working with at the time – IRS real estate people, FAA real estate people, and Army real estate people. Fun to remember those projects - I wonder if they still have these phone numbers.

I also have G-Shock watch that I bought after a 2006 trip to LA, I’d always wanted one of those clunky things and the one I chose has an analog and digital display of the time, so I can keep track of the home and local time zones during travel. I don't mind saying that I enjoy the perception of tech-cred this watch advertises.

These new Pathfinder watches bring watch-geekdom to a new level. They’ve added atomic time keeping and solar power to the features…but even better, for outdoor activities, there is an altimeter, a barometer, compass and tidal/moon phase graph available.

I know that my reaction is going to be very consumerist and American here, but I have got to get me one of these. I can see Mary's frown in my mind. But she just doesn't understand that with one of these watches, I can be confident we will never be lost on one of our two - to - four hour day hikes in the SNP. And I can know when to look forward to the new moon so we can stargaze from the brick terrace at the cabin. Etc., etc...sad, eh?

Here’s the ad copy from one of the Casio pages: “Pathfinder watches not only feature authentic outdoor styling, but have distinguished themselves as “genuine tools” for use in the Great Outdoors. Every model is equipped with sensors to help you observe Nature and monitor its changes."

A second area on this page that caught my interest was a “journal “ from an AT through hiker who supposedly used on of the watches on his hike. Thirteen stops are chronologized on this journal:

· Springer Mountain, GA
· Brown Fork Gap, NC
· Icewater Spring Shelter, NC
· James River, VA
· Rusty’s Hard Time Hollow, VA
· Boiling Springs, PA
· Dan’s Pulpit, PA
· Wiley Shelter, NY
· William B. Douglas Shelter, VT
· Tucker Johnson Shelter, VT
· Gatehead Hut, NH
· Moxie Bald, ME
· Kathadin, ME

It’s not unusual to run into through hikers in the Valley during the hiking season, in fact the Page News and Courier had a two page spread on a couple doing the hike recently. While the webpage here is an ad, the posts reminded me of the hardships of this hike…I still have to come to terms with how I am going to tackle it someday. http://pathfinder.casio.com/ .