What We Do With Our Gear When the Gig is Over
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In the summer of 2000 I volunteered with the US Forest Service in Yakutat, Alaska. “Yak” has received attention in the last few years as a destination for intense surfing, and has long been a place for guided and commercial fishing, but I was not doing anything so exotic. I was living in FS housing with other crew members, tagging salmon for statistical uses, assisting with mapping of ATV trails and helping with other volunteer-worthy tasks. This was my introduction to Alaska and it was fantastic. In my first week I accompanied the crew leader on a small plane to count sea lions, saw whales at sunset in the bay, experienced an earthquake, learned to shoot a high-powered rifle and saw eagles, grizzly bear and moose.
Yak is a wet region and virtually everyone who lives and works there owns a pair of the ubiquitous XtraTuf boots. As soon as I was picked up from the airport (a single small building) and transported to town, I was instructed to buy a pair of these boots since they would be necessary for the work we’d be doing. Made of 100% neoprene, I thought they were a little overkill. Oh no. I would soon see the immense value in these heavy-duty kicks as well as the rubber coveralls we wore at the tagging station (a tent) and in the boats.
Too soon the my time in Yak ended and I and my rubber gear left for other adventures. Although I never had another reason to use the coveralls (I kept them for a long time just in case) I continued to wear my boots through the snow and slush of the Colorado winters.
Once, while waiting for a bus and wearing my boots, someone approached me and asked – “Have you lived in Alaska?” “Why? Because of the boots?” and we cracked up. “I worked in Alaska and have been to XtraTuf weddings!” he said.
I hope the boots are with me for a long time. They are useful and a happy reminder of my time in Alaska. I wonder what others are doing with gear they’ve used in past trips or work situations.
2 responses to What We Do With Our Gear When the Gig is Over
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Robyn Crispe said on November 3, 2009
I love hearing what others have done/are doing with gear…for a long time I kept old water bottles, a coffee mug and a t-shirt that had holes where my backpack straps wore through because the memories were so poignant. It felt right when I finally let them go. Most of the stuff I have now I still use for ski hut trips and shorter backpacking trips.
Daniel Nahabedian said on November 3, 2009
Nice story
I usually keep my gear and use it as much as i can until they are completely worn out. After walking 2000km with my old boots, I burned them in Finisterra as a ritual in Spain.
Some other stuff like walking sticks, ponchos or jackets, I just give them away to people in need on the road when I am close to finishing my trip. But only if they are not attached to a special memory of course