Post your hot take or sperg about someone else's.
Cotton linen silk and tropical wool are superior to synthetics and synthetic blends any situation where its too warm to go hypothermic if you got wet. Especially in arid climates. "Cotton kills" is true but overblown and this leads to a lot of unnecessarily miserable hikers in the summer. Sweating less and not having your sweat feel gross and clammy against your skin is better than any benefit from drying times when being wet is a non-issue.
If you dislike hiking in the summer try natural materials.

It's totally ok to enlarge parking lots, add more signage, fix up trails, and try to attract people to recreational areas. The people who believe that anything good should be gated off and you should have to walk miles to get to it are insane. Hiking stuff should be as well maintained and easily accessible as possible.
ALSO, all land should be right-to-roam and private property should not exist.

The american federal land management agencies and their history, while full of terrible decisions and mistakes, are still incredibly successful at the core missions of conservation of land and recreation oppurtunity and them and the wilderness act are some of the best ideas our country has had. No other country on earth has succesfully preserved such a wide and diverse set of lands for public use. No other country on earth has set aside so much land with as strict of requirements as we have our wilderness areas. No other country (ok a couple other neo-europes too) can experience their own land as the first humans in it did. We have no idea how good we have it.

>>2825408
I would love to take you on a tour of shitty trails where there's branches blocking things and the blazes are faded and the roads are sketchy and there's absolutely no signs.
Yes, the most popular tourist trails tend to be ok, but even then I wish there were more signs like in the parking lot saying "waterfall THIS WAY and an arrow" I've gotten lost so many times if I don't have the trail downloaded and hell even if I do, the download is just a way to get unlost.

Just because something is theoretically public land doesn't mean you can find it, it's gonna be pleasant, or you are gonna enjoy it. I wish they would fix up trails to what they would have been like during the logging days/ccc days.

>>2825408
The one huge problem I've seen my whole life is how they greenwash some of this stuff. I live in Washington and they constantly tear down and develop real estate over federally protected wetlands that are all old growth then replace them with weyerhauser style re-created swampland that will take centuries to reach the same level of biodiversity.

>>2825412
dude weyerhauser and frens owns SO much land, some of it would be much more interesting left to recreational use, or heck even mixed grazing/recreational, there's some places where cows can roam but humans can go through too that's always nice
if you look on the property viewer you will see the plots of land owned by private citizens are TINY and then there's these huge tracts owned by paper companies/logging/mining whatever and I guess it's just cheaper to sit on the land even if they aren't using it and periodically they can lease it out to be logged and maybe there's oil/gas extraction as well. It's too bad the government won't take this land via eminent domain to reduce pollution. Almost nothing is old growth here, they took what they could a long time ago, but I don't see why old growth can't be manually recreated it's really just about having a few tall old trees and not too much undergrowth and a functioning soil biome and the big issue here, I think, is that when they logged they left slash, slash burned the soil, killing the fungus in the soil, and that's what led to the shitty scrubby/brushy stuff that pops up in what used to be basically pure coniferous high elevation old growth land here

>>2825404 (OP)
thats not controversial at all, anyone who has spent any length outdoors realizes pretty fast how natural fibres ascend. also cotton kills but only in the winter

>>2825419
the annoying part about cotton is simply that you need to bring replacements you can easily sweat through a cotton shirt quickly in winter OR summer and I can sweat through 5-6 t-shirts or more on a long hike and that's a lot of shit to bring. BUT, nothing is more comfortable.

>>2825405
> private property should not exist.
poor fag detected.

>>2825423
most people in america have always been poor, we should be able to enjoy our nature as much as anyone else
but really what's weird to me is in rural areas that even people with tiny properties are just as protective of it - I think it speaks to a deep territorial animal instinct that maybe we are afraid to confront and discuss
we all live in fear of each other

>>2825411
I do not care about the condition of trails and as such that has no bearing on my opinion of public land

Call me bitter, but most "outdoor" people these days are complete posers.
Hiking and camping should be painful and challenging, that's what makes it so great. It's an activity you do to challenge yourself and push yourself out of your comfort zone. You remove yourself from the comforts and conveniences of modern life, that includes things like infrastructure and civilization. So doing things like walking down a trail with 15 other people isn't or sleeping in a campground on a $500 mattress inside a giant $3000 tent isn't camping, that's a vacation.

>>2825474
i agree that it's not the same thing as challenging hiking/camping, but i think it's still a good fun activity that we should encourage people to do. in current year just getting people to go outside and spend time with real friends is important. gatekeep the good trails but let posers pose it's good for them

>>2825481
fair

>>2825447
you can't hike a trail if it's impenetrable mud or thicket or a sea of downed trees
you just take for granite how trails are maintained

>>2825489
Maybe YOU cant, pussy I bushwhack on the regular

This is just a shitty bait thread

>>2825404 (OP)
>tropical wool
What is this?

>>2825499
>bait thread
crapit,,,up.,
,,worked as ranchdog(barkat hunters,watch over therd, save Cria from barb wire and ditchs,,,oOOo please Notheditchs!), large animal gentler(teach zebras and water buffalos not to GORE!),tour guide(allow fishermen,foragersand teach how to pet zebras without dieing) at CottonWood LLama ranch(now a hunt club),,220 LLamas/12 zebra/12 water buffalos/20 mini donkeys(Sofluffy when young)/wildlife(Bighorn sheeps)...
,,we deeded 20 acres of wetlands to consevancy,and got 5 acrefeet of water as payment.,
,,,,,somuch strife,,fighting., some ofit funny.,
,,each ranchad a BULL,,who would "mistake" get in other fields and FIGHT neighbors bull,,glory to the winner!, neighbors lafffffed at our tiny Bull "BUFFY",,untill he mopped the floor withem!.,
,,anyways, tons of llama wool donated,,got hand spun blankets and cloths in return.,
,,llama wool,Bestwool.

>>2825514
nowatchover,,,30 acres of Rare buffalo brush>thick unwalkable gut full ofbirds,,,and trees with egret nests/hawknests.,cant cutit off and Deed so,,,hope the next owners care.,
,,,i miss the Waves of danceing cria.

>>2825514
yellow line was,,open ditch wildlife oasis,,,now pipedead,,,sosad, Bighorn have to cross road to drink.

red line was,,open ditch wildlife oasis,,,now pipedead,,,sosad, Bighorn have to cross road to drink.

red line was,,open ditch wildlife oasis,,,now pipedead,,,sosad, Bighorn have to cross road to drink.

>>2825489
I can, actually

>>2825404 (OP)
Leave no trace is gay (to a degree)
I love going into the woods and finding a brick, or piece of concrete, or maybe a daffodil growing in the middle of nowhere and wondering how the hell it got there. Or seeing old carvings in trees.

>>2825532
Half of the reason I hike is hoping to find some secret fortress in the woods or aliens willing to whisk me away from this awful planet.

>>2825474
I'd say that's more of an old fashioned boomer take. I think everyone should go through a healthy phase of roughing it, but I'm getting old and tired of that kind of deal. Sometimes it's nice to just take the kids out for a nice weekend of hiking, fishing, or hunting without needlessly challenging yourself. $3000 tent, $500 matts, and shit like portable power stations for TVs and other bullshit is fucking stupid. But camping shouldn't exclusively be painful and challenging, sometimes a few days of relaxing outdoors is nice.

>>2825728
>But camping shouldn't exclusively be painful and challenging, sometimes a few days of relaxing outdoors is nice.
I've been to sooo many places where the roads/trails/signs were in terrible shape and most of what I could think about was how a little renovation and restoration could make them amazing again.

>>2825489
are you 60 years old or 600 lbs

>>2825731
you know a lot of americans are disabled maybe we should be making america more friendly to those with less mobility!

>>2825404 (OP)
>any situation where its too warm to go hypothermic if you got wet
don't underestimate hypothermia, or the ability for the weather to change quickly. and especially don't underestimate how cold it can get at night, even in arid climates.

>>2825733
sure but the cotton kills meme assumes you are too stupid to figure out that cotton means you need to bring a bunch of changes of clothes and if they get wet and its cold you need to change immediately - you get used to that after a while

>>2825404 (OP)
worrying about pack weight is for women and queers
my kelty eagle weighs 71 pounds fully loaded
>I got a hot tent
>I got a cot
>chair
>table
>way to much cooking gear (I'm a chef for a living)
>fishing stuff
>a little packraft I use mostly for fishing from
>dab rig and torch
and I still do 20-25 miles through PNW forest terrain with no issue

>>2825736
70 lbs is ridiculous for hiking
>inb4 but the military
your pack should idealy be 45ish lbs give or take 10 lbs

>>2825736
That's what I keep posting on this board, that ultralighters are weak pussies. Pointing it out makes them reeeeee because they know it's true. They would get rekt if they ever went for an all-day or multi-day ruck.

>>2825404 (OP)
Synthetic fishing shirts like pic related suck in every regard. They are hotter than other materials in the sun, and cooler than other materials when the temperature is marginal, like a coolish overcast day. They dry out only marginally quicker than other materials.

>>2825728
>kids
>on 4chan
how embarrassing

>>2825758
shirts like that do suck but a proper hoody is essential. keeps the bugs from biting you, keeps the sun off you and is great for bushwacking thru stuff.

>>2825736
Kek, wasn't it 85 pounds last time? Or did you stop counting water and food like the ULfags back then told you to?
>>2825739
Even with full milsurp (large Alice, carinthia sleep system, silnylon tarp, FDF sleeping mat), I barely surpass 10kg even in winter. Water and all. How do you end up at 45 lbs?

>>2825505

Very lightweight wool that contains some worsted yarns and a fairly open weave. It is very breezy and is up there with linen for the best hot weather suiting fabric, but I would say a jersey knit or open weave merino wool is better for outdoor activities than tropical wool.

>>2825404 (OP)
Imagine if your life existence was you telling the world that linen cloth is airy

>>2825758
They arent actually for doing anything in the sun, theyre for frat stars and former frat stars to wear at tailgates or on a boat or any outdoor standing/sitting/drinking activity so they can feel they look nice in a button down and still feel 'athletic'. Its athleisure for men

>>2825405
The amount of gate keeping in the rock climbing community used to piss me off “don’t blow up the spot bro” nigger it’s 200 miles from anywhere

Every hiker is gay but (you)

>>2825411
Is it too skawwwy for you?

>>2827866
Hiking as a term is gay. It's literally just walking in a park. It's for women to write on their internet dating profile.

>>2825474
>>2825481
there's room for both in life. went to the swimmin hole with the wife yesterday and made just as many good memories as any summit push

>>2825758
>>2825766
you can tell the tourists from locals here in the high desert by which one they're wearing kek

>>2827871
>It's literally just walking in a park.
Walking in a park is called walking. Nobody goes to a nice park and says they are hiking as they walk around the paved loop.
Hiking is distinctly not on paved park walk ways. It's in the woods, on dirt/brush trails. When I go out into a national forest, I am hiking. When you are miles into the canyon trails of a national park out west, you are hiking.

You'd understand the difference if you ever walked more than 1mi from a trail head, fatty.

cookware is totally unnecesary
a fire is even more unnecessary

>>2825404 (OP)
>Hot Takes
-DIY is the final red pill of backpacking

-umbrellas are the best rain gear for most of the country (that is, they fit more circumstances than any other rain gear)

-poly/cotton blends are better than synthetics in warm weather

-a lot of gear and clothing are designed for temperate climates (like California). That stuff gets promoted and shilled, and people just go with it despite those options being awful for the environment they’re in.

-twig stoves are fun, alcohol is best, both are good for ambiance

>sperg
-bivies are a meme. Single wall shelters are close.

-waterproof socks are fucking retarded

-canister stoves ruin ambiance

-fat people ruin it more

>>2825408
>what is africa

this is the superior /out/fit
>wicks away sweat in superior manner that is not even close
>aerodynamic so you move with less effort
>skin tight fit means you are closet to the natural state of man and interact the least with the environment to potentially damage it

>>2828803
further benefit: SBaHF cosplay at the same time

>>2828804
>SBaHJ

>>2828800
African national parks are very different. Lots are built around the protection of specific species like gorillas or rhinos more than any concept of wilderness. The rangers are poacher hunters more than anything else. Lots of people also live within national parks in africa, especially native subsistence farmers and pastoralists who use and affect the land with their farming and grazing. African national parks are little like our parks and concept of wilderness or land without human development.

>>2828698
100% accurate

If you bring beer camping I automatically assume you're an alcoholic. You can survive a few nights without your precious beer

most parks should have anything paved torn up and dirt roads maintained less. also UTVs and E-bikes should be banned

>>2828999
What a faggot.

>>2825751
Yeah yeah, just because we grew up and realized unecessary larp gear isnt needed doesnt mean we cant carry it. It's just stupid to carry, this is something most high tier patrol units also realized. Light on the feet > donkey in armor. Minimalism and relying on skills beats any mil larp setup who thinks he needs a 1lbs etool to dig a hole. Preppers, bugoutfags, and "graymen" are utterly laughable to any normal person.

>>2830915
OK alchie. Keep poundin that beer!!