What are the most important items that you have in your backpacking kit?
Today on Gear & Beer we're going to hear about the top 5 items in all-star author and backpacker Shawnté Salabert's pack.
Shawnté has already spent over 50 nights backpacking this year, while also writing two new books to go with her PCT Guidebook and entry in Campfire Stories: Volume II. And today she joins Colin & Justin to talk about her top 5 favorite backpacking items including some that you probably have not heard of.
Now gluten doesn't get along very well with Shawnté so our resident Cicerone (aka Justin) has paired 2 Glutenbergs and 1 Greens gluten free brews to go with today's gear. Because that's why you come to hang out with us here at Gear & Beer:
To get the pairings that matter most!
Chapters:
00:01 - Welcome to Gear and Beer
00:10 - Meet the Hosts
00:33 - Introducing Our Special Guest
01:23 - Housekeeping for Listeners
03:40 - The Joys of Backpacking
03:20 - Shawnté's Favorite Gear
13:33 - The Essential Backpacking Tent
19:20 - The Magic of Alpha Direct Fleece
23:41 - Water Filtration Innovations
31:10 - The Bidet Experience
38:49 - Final Sips
42:25 - Outro and Closing Remarks
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Gear & Beer is part of the Rock Fight podcast network. Be sure to check out THE ROCK FIGHT for the best outdoor industry commentary on Apple or Spotify.
Head to www.rockfight.co and sign up for News From the Front, Rock Fight's weekly newsletter!
Want to see your favorite piece of gear or favorite beer featured on a future episode? Send your feedback and suggestions to myrockfight@gmail.com or send a message on Instagram or Threads.
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Episode Transcript
Colin True
00:00:01.880 - 00:00:14.854
Welcome to Gear and Beer, the podcast for Gearheads, beer buffs and adventurers with discerning tastes and the latest addition to the Rock Fight podcast network. I'm Colin True. I worked for brands and makers in the outdoor industry for over 20 years.
Justin Housman
00:00:14.982 - 00:00:24.734
And I am Justin Housman, senior editor at Adventure Journal, professional Gear reviewer, and certified Cicerone, which everybody knows by now is a beer expert.
Colin True
00:00:24.862 - 00:00:27.302
Everyone does know that. It's common knowledge.
Justin Housman
00:00:27.446 - 00:00:29.926
Everyone mean the three people recording this podcast, right?
Colin True
00:00:29.958 - 00:00:32.190
Yeah, actually, our guest knew what a Cicerone Washington.
Justin Housman
00:00:32.300 - 00:00:33.430
Probably the first time.
Colin True
00:00:33.730 - 00:00:50.130
So let's talk about our guest, because today's topic is backpacking. More specifically, the top five items you will find in the backpack of today's very special guest.
She's a journalist, an author, a podcaster, and an Ed Biesters enthusiast. Please welcome to Gear and beer for the first time as Shantae Salavert.
Shawnté Salabert
00:00:50.290 - 00:00:51.310
Woo hoo.
Justin Housman
00:00:51.970 - 00:00:53.990
I sort of assumed she'd been on before.
Shawnté Salabert
00:00:55.090 - 00:00:57.546
I've been on the rock fight, but this is my very first.
Justin Housman
00:00:57.578 - 00:00:58.370
Oh, thank you. Okay.
Shawnté Salabert
00:00:58.410 - 00:01:03.956
Gear and beer. Beer and gear here with you, dears. Yeah, thanks for having me.
Justin Housman
00:01:04.108 - 00:01:07.228
That's right, I forgot this whole show is supposed to be an alliteration. Didn't we talk about that?
Colin True
00:01:07.284 - 00:01:07.796
Oh, yeah, sure.
Shawnté Salabert
00:01:07.828 - 00:01:09.636
Yeah, I've got it all day.
Justin Housman
00:01:09.708 - 00:01:11.080
So fucking annoying.
Colin True
00:01:12.060 - 00:01:17.556
It's been a minute since we have Young's. I think you've just been living in the Sierra since January, the last time we saw you, so it seems like.
Shawnté Salabert
00:01:17.588 - 00:01:22.120
I've been living in my computer and in this Sierra, so it's really like a dual life for me.
Justin Housman
00:01:22.980 - 00:01:23.588
Well, right on.
Colin True
00:01:23.604 - 00:01:59.910
Well, before we get into the Shanta's favorite backpacking gear, we have a couple of housekeeping items for our gear and beer listeners. Please be sure to follow and rate gear and beer wherever you're listening. It really helps out the show.
Clicking Follow is like subscribing, folks, so please click follow. Click follow on your favorite podcast app.
Leave us that five star rating, and be sure to check out our other show, which, as we mentioned already, is called the Rock Flight. It's over on the Rock Flight podcast network as well. And that's where we talk about outdoor industry and outdoor adventure and community topics.
And you can find that show wherever you're listening to this podcast. And now, Justin, not only is he an expert in a lot of things, he's going to tell you where our listeners can follow along or even reach out to us.
Justin Housman
00:02:00.250 - 00:02:37.180
Not physically, of course. Please don't go to all of your homes. Please don't physically touch. Touch us. We hate that. You can. Somebody's getting high next door.
You can email us at my rock fightmail.com. you can and should follow us on instagram where our handle is confusingly Rock Fight Co. Colin, you know I don't like that Rock Fight Co.
Is the handlebar's taken. And you should sign up for our newsletter, which you can find at Rockfight Co. Our website.
And then click right there on join the mailing list because what you need is another newsletter in your inbox. But this is, this is a good newsletter.
Colin True
00:02:37.220 - 00:02:37.612
Rules.
Justin Housman
00:02:37.676 - 00:02:39.996
So our open rate is 130%.
Colin True
00:02:40.148 - 00:02:40.852
It's higher than that.
Justin Housman
00:02:40.876 - 00:02:43.532
Actually, 150%. There it is.
Shawnté Salabert
00:02:43.716 - 00:02:44.660
It's all me.
Justin Housman
00:02:44.780 - 00:02:48.324
More people receive it, open it. We don't know how it works. It's wild.
Colin True
00:02:48.452 - 00:02:52.316
It's like Christmas morning. They want to experience it twice, like rewrapping your presents. They just do it a second time.
Justin Housman
00:02:52.348 - 00:02:59.646
It's great. And I will say also typo free, largely, like, very few grammatical mistakes. I looked.
Colin True
00:02:59.718 - 00:03:01.574
It's been two weeks since our last typo.
Justin Housman
00:03:01.662 - 00:03:09.950
I don't have anything to do with the newsletter, but I do read it and I often, you know, it's kind of a bugaboo if there's a typo, but pretty good. Colin, nice work.
Colin True
00:03:10.030 - 00:03:14.118
Thanks, buddy. Well, you know, AI does help a little bit with that. Please check this for grammar.
Justin Housman
00:03:14.254 - 00:03:16.930
Please don't say, please don't use that term around me.
Colin True
00:03:18.230 - 00:03:45.090
All right, well, let's get into some gear conversation here. Let's start with the big picture. Now, if you follow shantay on Instagram, and if you don't, you should. She is an enthusiastic backpacker.
You'll be quiet Shanta for a while. Like we're talking about.
I feel like you've just been in the Sierra forever, but then all of a sudden, just, like, dump of photos from, like, a recent trip will just show up in my feed with commentary. That's over the moon with how much you value your time in the backcountry. So let's just start with the activity itself.
What is it about backpacking for you?
Shawnté Salabert
00:03:45.590 - 00:04:36.660
Oh, man. Yeah. Listen, backpacking is an opportunity to not be at home in the city, at my computer. No, I love.
I love many things about it, but really, it's the idea of just completely checking out. It really also just simplifies life. Like, for me, a good, even a two day trip into the backcountry is just a total reset. You get out there.
I'm not thinking about work. I'm not thinking about my house. I'm not thinking about emails. Nothing. I'm thinking about what am I going to eat for dinner? How many miles am I going?
What's the weather doing? Where am I going to poop? Pretty simple stuff.
And so it's a nice way to just absolutely reset and kind of get out of the garbage dump of everyday life sometimes. And it's very pretty, you know, I mean, it's also pretty.
Colin True
00:04:36.740 - 00:04:37.520
Okay.
Justin Housman
00:04:38.060 - 00:04:44.084
We should mention that you've written, what, one or two PCT guidebooks at this point, that's.
Shawnté Salabert
00:04:44.132 - 00:04:57.764
Well, there's only one PCT, so I've only written one PCT guidebook. I am writing a secret book right now that we haven't yet announced, and that is about. Well, let's just say something very similar but different.
And I've contributed to some other books, but.
Colin True
00:04:57.812 - 00:05:05.400
Yeah. Okay. I feel like I'm excited to find. I feel like you've been talking about that book for a while. I feel like there's been a lot of.
Hey, man, you want to come back on the podcast?
Justin Housman
00:05:06.180 - 00:05:08.868
I thought it was an update to the PCT guy book you already written.
Shawnté Salabert
00:05:08.964 - 00:05:37.934
But no, I mean, I have to do that, too. Let's be honest, there is a lot on my plate. But now I actually worked on a.
I contributed to an also secret book for fade on that I think comes out next year. They haven't announced that one yet, and I've been sworn to secrecy. Super exciting project.
And then I'm doing another book for mountaineers, books that I have been working on for about a year. And I will have just about exactly a year to finish it. So I will tell you guys about it soon, I promise. It's.
Colin True
00:05:38.022 - 00:05:42.806
Writing guidebooks is like starring in a Marvel movie. Like, I just, like, can't tell you. Can't?
Shawnté Salabert
00:05:42.838 - 00:05:45.102
No, can't tell you. It's a secret, man.
Colin True
00:05:45.166 - 00:05:46.290
Don't ask me.
Shawnté Salabert
00:05:46.470 - 00:05:50.690
Yeah, absolutely. I could, you know, I don't want to get jumped in a dark alleyway, so.
Colin True
00:05:50.770 - 00:05:51.770
Oh, is that going to have all.
Justin Housman
00:05:51.810 - 00:05:53.058
Fade on is gnarly.
Colin True
00:05:53.234 - 00:05:53.730
Yeah.
Shawnté Salabert
00:05:53.810 - 00:05:55.146
Yeah. It's rough like that, man.
Justin Housman
00:05:55.258 - 00:05:57.458
Okay. All right, all right, all right.
Colin True
00:05:57.474 - 00:06:04.994
Well, before we get into Shanta's top five, I think, guys, I think it's a hot day where we all are here on the west coast. I think. I think it's time to crack open a beer, please.
Justin Housman
00:06:05.042 - 00:06:10.778
Yes, my beer is already warm. It came out of the fridge 17 minutes ago. It's already warm.
Colin True
00:06:10.914 - 00:06:16.560
Oh, she opened it. No, you have to wait. We open them together. I should have told you I should have. I didn't put that in the outline.
Justin Housman
00:06:16.600 - 00:06:19.552
It doesn't matter because I have a bottle anyway, so it's gonna sound all.
Colin True
00:06:19.696 - 00:06:22.144
What are we drinking today there, mister. Mister Cicerone?
Justin Housman
00:06:22.232 - 00:06:27.180
So, Shanta, you're just. Do you have celiac or you just prefer no gluten?
Shawnté Salabert
00:06:27.720 - 00:06:35.896
I don't prefer it. I wish I could eat all the gluten. No. For about 17 years, I don't have celiac. I'm very fortunate, but my body just cannot.
Justin Housman
00:06:35.968 - 00:06:36.712
Does not like gluten.
Shawnté Salabert
00:06:36.776 - 00:06:38.656
Okay, well, that's a bad time for me.
Justin Housman
00:06:38.728 - 00:06:44.180
There's your hint. It's gluten free beer day. I don't think we all do. We all get this. You guys got the same one.
Colin True
00:06:44.300 - 00:06:47.084
We got the same one. At least we got the same brand, right?
Justin Housman
00:06:47.132 - 00:07:01.556
Okay, well, anyway, it's gluten free. Gluten free beer day. I have that exact lodge. Koozie. Shanta. Gluten free beer day. The two of you will be drinking glutenberg, which is.
I can't decide if that's the best name or the worst name for a gluten free beer.
Colin True
00:07:01.628 - 00:07:04.204
I was thinking kind of the same kind of weird.
Justin Housman
00:07:04.292 - 00:07:07.516
But it's cool. I mean, it's a cool name. Where is Gutenberg made?
Colin True
00:07:07.628 - 00:07:08.436
Quebec.
Justin Housman
00:07:08.588 - 00:07:09.740
It's canadian, according to the can.
Colin True
00:07:09.780 - 00:07:11.132
I'm going off of the can, but.
Justin Housman
00:07:11.236 - 00:07:28.580
Yeah, I think I knew. I thought it was Canada. I'm rocking a greens, which is a belgian brand. I don't know anything about it. Shanta likes it, at least some of it.
This is what they have. At my fancy pants natural food store down the street. I tried to find Gutenberg and was stonewalled.
Colin True
00:07:28.700 - 00:07:32.276
Yeah, I'm doing the Gutenberg pale ale. Shanta, which one do you have?
Shawnté Salabert
00:07:32.388 - 00:07:36.716
Yeah, I would never do that because pale ale sucks, but I am doing the blonde.
Justin Housman
00:07:36.788 - 00:07:39.280
It's okay. It's okay, Colin. It's subjective.
Colin True
00:07:40.800 - 00:07:41.720
What do I do? Justin?
Justin Housman
00:07:41.760 - 00:07:47.088
This is. This is. This is like step one of your sister own training. Like, people are gonna have different tastes and it's fine. It's totally fine. It's okay.
Colin True
00:07:47.104 - 00:07:49.032
I need hazy right now, man. I need to haze you right now.
Justin Housman
00:07:49.056 - 00:07:52.432
Different. Different tastes and things is what makes the world a wonderful place, so.
Shawnté Salabert
00:07:52.496 - 00:07:55.168
That's right, yeah. Different strokes, different throats.
Justin Housman
00:07:55.224 - 00:07:56.280
Exactly. It's totally fine.
Colin True
00:07:56.320 - 00:07:57.368
Okay. All right.
Justin Housman
00:07:57.504 - 00:08:04.072
As an IPA lover, I'm so used to people like, shitting on ipas online and stuff. You just have to let it go. People like different things and it's completely fine.
Colin True
00:08:04.096 - 00:08:06.540
Okay, thank you. Thank you. Justin, you're welcome.
Shawnté Salabert
00:08:07.410 - 00:08:09.030
Already so impassioned.
Justin Housman
00:08:09.450 - 00:08:11.898
So, wait, what do you have, Shanta? What do you got? What do you reckon?
Shawnté Salabert
00:08:11.954 - 00:08:14.954
I have a blonde. Gutenberg blonde.
Justin Housman
00:08:15.042 - 00:08:20.346
So. Okay, so you've been gluten free for 17 years. What's your thoughts on the beer gluten free beer world at this point?
Shawnté Salabert
00:08:20.378 - 00:08:50.490
Yeah, unfortunately. Yeah. So beer is a delight.
A few years ago, my friend and I did something we called the Ventura brew through, where we threw hiked quote to all of the breweries and Ventura in Ojai, and I did not drink, mostly didn't drink gluten free beer because craft beer is delicious. So. Except for ipas, but.
So when they first started putting beer on the scene, the gluten free beer, it was like red bridge was the only option, and it was, you know, kind of crappy.
Justin Housman
00:08:50.650 - 00:08:51.082
Yeah.
Shawnté Salabert
00:08:51.146 - 00:09:10.146
But things have improved. I like greens. There was sufferfest beer for a while was fantastic. Yeah. And then it got bought out by Sierra Nevada, and then they stopped making it.
Jerks. But they had a stout, which is a really hard beer to find, gluten free.
So that is my white whale right now, is finding another gluten free stoutenhouse.
Colin True
00:09:10.168 - 00:09:10.278
Sure.
Justin Housman
00:09:10.294 - 00:10:13.320
It exists. I mean, craft brewers are doing all kinds of. So making gluten free beer is weird. Like, there's a lot of ways you can do it.
You can either just brew, like. Like, the one I have, I'm pretty sure doesn't have barley in it. You can just.
You can brew it with grains that don't have gluten, which is like rice, sorghum. Sorghum is, like, the first way you start to see gluten free beers. And sorghum beers are weird. Like, frank. Like, frankly, they're just weird.
So you either love them or you don't. Um, or there's enzymes you can add, um, that will break down the gluten. I think that's. We're probably getting better at that would be my guess. Yeah.
And I think I could be wrong. This is, like, going way back into my training.
I think it has to be, like, 20 parts per million or less to be considered gluten free, which is, I think, like, the threshold at which, if you have celiac disease, you won't get sick. Um, so there's like a.
You know, if it's made with barley, it's going to have, like, a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, you know, two parts per million of gluten still banging around in there, but it won't affect you. Um, but I believe that's that's the deal. There's other.
I think you can also distill beer to get the gluten out, but that seems like that would make it taste weird. That's why I think that's. That's probably gonna make it taste a little bit more like a non alcoholic.
Um, so there's a little trip through a weird, uh, gluten free beer world, but.
Colin True
00:10:13.780 - 00:10:15.612
All right, let's open them up.
Justin Housman
00:10:15.636 - 00:10:21.260
Let's do them. Colin, Shanta, you can pretend. Make us. Make it. Make an opening beer sound. Okay.
Colin True
00:10:21.340 - 00:10:28.188
Ready? Three, two, one. Okay, I gotta add it to the outline. It's happened too many times. I think you and I both done it.
Justin Housman
00:10:28.284 - 00:10:31.280
We just assume. We just assume at this point. Okay, here we go.
Colin True
00:10:35.940 - 00:10:38.652
That is quite tasty, actually. That is delightful. I'm not even.
Shawnté Salabert
00:10:38.676 - 00:10:39.348
This is really nice.
Colin True
00:10:39.404 - 00:10:44.532
Really, really good. I don't know how you could not like the. It's just not an IPA. It's just a pale ale. No, no, not even the pale ale.
Shawnté Salabert
00:10:44.556 - 00:10:53.996
Oh, you know what? You're right. You're right. Nope. I'm going to take it back. I need to apologize to every listener, but mostly to Justin and Colin. You're right.
I don't mind a pale ale. I really dislike the IPA.
Justin Housman
00:10:54.028 - 00:10:54.212
It's.
Shawnté Salabert
00:10:54.236 - 00:11:11.500
To me, it's like whiskey versus bourbon, and I love bourbon. I'm sorry. Yeah, like irish whiskey versus bourbon. It like irish whiskey. Tastes like socks to me. Jameson in a cup is just like wet socks.
So the bourbon is like the amber of the gods. So same, same.
Justin Housman
00:11:12.200 - 00:11:20.616
Well, this is pretty good. I'm surprised. This is, because I think yours. Yours are probably. I bet you both of yours are brewed with actual barley. I would. I would guess.
Colin True
00:11:20.688 - 00:11:23.392
This says millet, buckwheat, and corn.
Justin Housman
00:11:23.496 - 00:11:27.440
Okay, never mind. Shantae spilled her beer. Sorry, Shanta.
Shawnté Salabert
00:11:27.520 - 00:11:36.044
No, no. Shantae spilled her cordless earbud because she discovered that her headphones with the cord were broken.
Colin True
00:11:36.092 - 00:11:50.316
So, speaking of which, let's get into the gear a little bit here. So Shanta's top five. All right, so we're going to run through all five. You sent these over.
I put some links in there so we can make sure we know what the. What the prices are. And one controversial, because you can't technically get the one you listed, but. Sorry. Justin, what do you want to say?
Justin Housman
00:11:50.348 - 00:12:04.956
I just want to be sure that we've established that Shantae is a badass backpacker at this point. Like, we've. Like, this isn't like some random person went backpacking twice. And we're like, what's in your bag?
Like, Shantae's like, you know, does this all the fucking time. She's constantly backpacking, so.
Colin True
00:12:05.028 - 00:12:06.880
Totally. No, that's a good point. If I understand.
Shawnté Salabert
00:12:09.260 - 00:12:09.524
Yeah.
Justin Housman
00:12:09.532 - 00:12:11.308
I'm upset by the amount of time she spends.
Shawnté Salabert
00:12:11.364 - 00:12:14.244
I actually had somebody recognize me on trail this summer. It happened.
Justin Housman
00:12:14.292 - 00:12:14.916
Amazing.
Colin True
00:12:15.028 - 00:12:16.160
Did you really?
Shawnté Salabert
00:12:16.820 - 00:12:44.684
It has happened to me multiple times. It happened to me one time in the muir hut on top of Muir Pass, which is like a nearly 12,000 foot pass in the middle of the Sierra. You know, takes.
It takes some effort to get there. It's not a quick hike. And a guy. It was like, 730 in the morning. And this guy walks up, he's like, what's your name? And I said, shantae.
He's like, I knew it. I knew it. I'm here because of you. I have your book. I saw a picture of this hut in the book, and that's why I'm here.
And he's like, I can't believe it. Like, you're here. Like, I can't believe this is happening, sir.
Justin Housman
00:12:44.732 - 00:12:45.836
Ungodly random.
Colin True
00:12:45.948 - 00:12:54.908
Yeah. And also, anytime random guys say, hey, are you Shantae? Don't say, what's your name? Like, do you answer that question if someone.
Shawnté Salabert
00:12:54.964 - 00:12:55.540
What's your name?
Justin Housman
00:12:55.580 - 00:12:56.360
Yeah. Right?
Colin True
00:12:57.430 - 00:13:01.050
That's awesome. That is so cool. Yeah. Did he take a selfie with you?
Shawnté Salabert
00:13:01.390 - 00:13:09.270
He didn't. I think he was kind of, like, weirdly nervous. And I'm like, it's not that exciting, sir. I promise. I also poop in six inch deep holes in the ground.
Justin Housman
00:13:09.310 - 00:13:13.410
Like, you, second time poop. Can't wait to get into the.
Colin True
00:13:13.910 - 00:13:19.510
Setting us up for a lot of poop dogs. Yeah, I think we're four pieces of gear away from that.
Shawnté Salabert
00:13:19.590 - 00:13:24.892
I just want the listener to know. Listen, guys, backpacking, what do you talk about? Food, weather, poop.
Colin True
00:13:25.036 - 00:13:33.172
That's a good point, actually. All right, well, so what's first on the list there, Shantay? What do you got? What's your first item on the alt desert island all time top five list?
Shawnté Salabert
00:13:33.356 - 00:14:08.402
All right, so I finally.
So Justin probably remembers a couple of years ago, maybe four or five years ago, I wrote a piece for adventure journal on how I became a trekking pole tent convert, because I got gossamer gears. The one great tent. Perfect introduction. Trekking pole tenting.
And, you know, I discovered that Shantae sleeps hot, and I get so much freaking condensation in my tents. And I kept hearing about Durston, Dan Durston. This canadian gear freak who just makes the world's most perfect tent.
And I was like, I don't know, Dan Durst, and like, do I need your tent? I have the gossamer.
Justin Housman
00:14:08.426 - 00:14:09.226
You're the one.
Shawnté Salabert
00:14:09.378 - 00:14:45.150
You know, as it turns out, the Durstan exmid, the tent of all tents. There's a whole cult based around the Durst and tents. I've got the Xmid pro one, which I bought earlier this year as a gift to myself.
A very, very expensive gift myself, is the best tent I've ever owned. Treat yourself. Thank you. It's the best tent I've ever owned. I love it. I got the pro, which is the DCF version.
So the condensation issues I was having in the one. Bless you. I'm so sorry, one. You're such a wonderful and affordable tent. Those condensation issues are gone.
Justin Housman
00:14:45.920 - 00:14:47.380
What does DCF mean?
Shawnté Salabert
00:14:47.920 - 00:14:58.160
That is, you know, it's a technical material whose name I can't think of right now, but think of. Okay, so most tents are still poly dyneema composite fabric.
Justin Housman
00:14:58.320 - 00:15:01.512
Oh, thank you. I was gonna say it looks like. I'm looking at the website. It looks like it's dyneema.
Shawnté Salabert
00:15:01.536 - 00:15:02.032
Dyneema.
Justin Housman
00:15:02.096 - 00:15:02.296
Yeah.
Shawnté Salabert
00:15:02.328 - 00:16:04.278
Yeah. Sorry. I'm like, you know, it's the middle of the day, guys. Half of my language has left me already, but, yeah, so this thing is fantastic.
The way Dan Durson is kind of a genius. I'm gonna give the guy that seems like a humble genius. He's canadian, after all. But this tent is fantastic.
So he's designed it so that the inner of the tent is actually offset to the peaks of the tent and how it's guy lined out. So the fly is basically offset to the inner, and it creates this amazing stability.
I've only ever had to use four stakes to put this tent up, and it's a trekking pole tent. So there's no poles built into it, nothing like that. Pop those two in. I basically stake out the corners. Pop the two. My trekking poles in.
And you adjust your trekking poles depending on, you know, if the land is lumpy beneath you or whatever. And it is incredible.
I also love that when you go out with this thing and you see other people with Xmids, you look at each other like you are absolutely in a culture.
Colin True
00:16:04.334 - 00:16:07.718
You're doing the Spider man meme. We're all pointing at each other. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Shawnté Salabert
00:16:07.774 - 00:16:30.658
It is. It is hilarious. I thought people were joking about that on the Internet until it happened all summer long.
I was out this summer on the John Muir trail, numa pollo. And that, you know, I was out for like, three and a half weeks this summer doing that, like, some side trips.
And I cannot tell you how many people I met either who had the tent and had it up and we did. Did the spidey thing, or who saw my tent and walked over to talk about it.
Colin True
00:16:30.834 - 00:16:43.190
So the dyneema, $639, that's the more expensive version of it. And the woven, which obviously not, the dyneema, is still $550, but still seems like relatively in range for a high end ten.
I mean, is that kind of what you guys would expect?
Shawnté Salabert
00:16:43.740 - 00:17:11.244
Yeah, yeah. I got the one that has the sil poly floor, the woven floor, so it's cheaper, but it's got the dyneema outer, and mine's only the one person.
So, yeah, it's.
You know, the thing is, I think about it, for me, if I was just a casual backpacker, and I was not going out as much as I do, doing worky things like I do, would I drop $550 on a tent? Maybe not. But the fact that I've been out probably 50, 60 nights already this year is.
Colin True
00:17:11.332 - 00:17:13.990
Jesus, Justin just died a little bit inside.
Shawnté Salabert
00:17:14.530 - 00:17:21.250
Bless you. But that's for me. I'm. This is my, you know, home away from home, so I am.
Colin True
00:17:21.290 - 00:17:23.746
Yeah, that's. That's a worthy investment if you're going to spend 50 plus.
Justin Housman
00:17:23.778 - 00:17:24.970
That's actually not that bad.
Colin True
00:17:25.010 - 00:17:26.250
That's actually really cheap.
Justin Housman
00:17:26.330 - 00:17:32.026
Dyneema's gotten cheaper, clearly, because, I mean, hyperlite had a dyneema ten a couple years ago. That was like a $1,000.
Shawnté Salabert
00:17:32.098 - 00:17:52.168
So they've obviously like, more expensive tents. Yeah, it has.
And I think part of that is that I, you know, they're probably able to get better discounts because more people are using it now, so they're probably getting better manufacturing prices. No, it was so worth it for me because I don't wake up with, like, an entire rainforest dripping on my face now, which is great.
Justin Housman
00:17:52.224 - 00:17:56.464
So I wish. I wish that was happening to me right now. It feels like it a bit with the sweat.
Colin True
00:17:56.632 - 00:18:01.140
He's really nervous for some reason, to our audience. He's really worked up.
Shawnté Salabert
00:18:03.080 - 00:18:04.952
Inside of cell polyde.
Colin True
00:18:05.006 - 00:18:32.904
I think it applies to a lot of different outdoor gear, but particularly backpacking as a category where the cult of something has a long history in the backpacking category. Back to probably the ultra light craze as it comes out of the nineties. And then there's always that one thing probably maybe Nemo at one point.
Maybe Nemo is still today. But then every once in a while, I never heard of Durston before this list because I'm not a regular backpacker.
That's like, okay, now, this is the brand that all the cool backpackers are like, uh, we're rocking the Durston tent this year.
Shawnté Salabert
00:18:32.952 - 00:19:14.532
Yeah, well, it's funny because I'd heard of it. You know, I swim in these circles, Colin. Or I walk in these circles. I walk in a lot of circles. Um, I heard of it.
You know, I started hearing it on trail, and then a couple summers ago, my friend Cam was walking the pct.
She runs a really cool organization called Blackpackers, and she was doing a fundraiser for it, and she got a durst intent sent to her while she was on trail. And we were in bishop, and she's like, you got to help me set this thing up.
And we got it up in five minutes without really looking at directions or anything. It's that intuitive. Like, it looks complicated because you're looking at the geometry on this thing being like, what's up? But, no, people love it.
And like I said, I've never had any of the gear I've had. That has been the single piece of gear that I've seen people freak out.
Colin True
00:19:14.556 - 00:19:20.240
About the most interesting. Well, what's next on the list? What's your next piece of gear?
Shawnté Salabert
00:19:20.540 - 00:19:42.428
All right. I have moved into the realm of the alpha direct fleece.
So I've got the senshi hoodie in the heavier weight, and I bought it because I kept hearing, like, all right, listen. I used to take wool base layers on all my trips. They're kind of. They're warm, but they're a little heavy.
Justin Housman
00:19:42.524 - 00:19:42.844
Yeah.
Shawnté Salabert
00:19:42.892 - 00:20:04.406
People are like, no, no, no. Get the senshiflis. You're gonna love it. I'm like, this seems like another cult item that's not actually gonna be worth it, right?
And then I got this thing, and you could see through it, right? You're like, how the hell keep me warm? You can see through this thing.
So I got this thing, and I didn't trust it, but I took it out last summer and blew me away. How warm it was.
Justin Housman
00:20:04.478 - 00:20:04.750
Yeah.
Shawnté Salabert
00:20:04.790 - 00:20:18.860
And so I got. I got pants to go with it this year, and I think, yeah, I'm a total. I just head to toe.
The pants are Elmo blue, so no shortage of people called me Elmo this summer on the trailhead.
Colin True
00:20:18.930 - 00:20:21.260
That's how the guy found you at that hut. He's like, hey.
Shawnté Salabert
00:20:23.040 - 00:20:25.600
I've seen Sesame street since I was a child.
Justin Housman
00:20:25.760 - 00:20:39.120
Yep. People. I've heard of this. I don't own one, but, yeah, good luck getting one. They're out of stock in everything except for three xl.
You can get gray in three xl if you want.
Colin True
00:20:39.280 - 00:20:58.034
Well, the fabric's amazing. So I actually. Alpha launched by polar tech right when I started working there, and that was sort of.
As much as I go on about textile and the lack of innovation that we've had in the last 2030 years, Alpha is definitely a little bit of a leap forward. Cause it was the first truly breathable, like, puffy insulation. It was originally developed to be. It was developed by special forces to.
Justin Housman
00:20:58.042 - 00:20:59.674
Be able to look like special forces would wear this.
Colin True
00:20:59.722 - 00:21:00.026
Yeah.
Justin Housman
00:21:00.098 - 00:21:01.746
Like, the Elmo blue one, especially.
Colin True
00:21:01.938 - 00:21:33.862
Right. It's a really. It's a. It's a knit so that you could actually. But it's done in a way that it would actually.
You could encapsulate it in, like, wovens, like a puffy, but it would still breathe. And then we figured out when this is. I can say we. Because it was there at the time.
I'm not there anymore, obviously, but the strengthened it up a little bit so that it could be worn next to skin without pilling too much. And that's where alpha direct came out. And originally, it was just worn next to skin with, like, a woven face.
And now, obviously, it's to the point where it's like, that people are just making garments out of it and having the exact experience you're describing, Shanta. Like, people just love wearing just that as its own piece.
Shawnté Salabert
00:21:33.966 - 00:22:10.130
Oh, my God. It's so. It's so great because. Yeah, okay. It's bulkier than wool. Give it that. But it's lighter. And I sleep warmer in this with this and the pants.
I have some little possum socks. And I sleep so warm. I was actually too warm most of the time this summer because we had such a freaky, hot summer.
But it's so nice because you can hike in it, too. You know, if it's windy, that's where it kind of fails on you a little bit.
You want to have a layer to put over it because the wind will just rip right through all those little holes. But, yeah, yeah. Otherwise, for a warmth to weight ratio. All right. Polar flip, a Galpha direct fleece. Let's do this.
Colin True
00:22:10.670 - 00:22:14.470
It's a cool design by senshi. And then $95. That's not bad.
Shawnté Salabert
00:22:14.510 - 00:22:18.206
That's not bad. No, mine. Mine was cheaper. Mine was.
Justin Housman
00:22:18.238 - 00:22:21.150
I mean, that's not cheap, but it's not bad. That's about right.
Shawnté Salabert
00:22:21.190 - 00:22:27.406
Yeah. Mine was 60. Maybe they've raised the prices a lot since I bought this, but, well, they had to.
Justin Housman
00:22:27.438 - 00:22:35.370
They're sold out of everything. They look dope. Their design is great. It definitely looks like. Hmm. Boy. What do we want to say with. I mean, it's future y.
Colin True
00:22:35.790 - 00:22:41.454
What do we know about Senshi? I know we got to move on, but what is really. I don't know much about Senshi. I don't know much about that brand.
Shawnté Salabert
00:22:41.542 - 00:22:49.850
Just one of those little cottage brands that's like some guy. And I was going to say some guy in his closet. That would be a very small workshop. We'll give him a garage, maybe.
Colin True
00:22:49.890 - 00:22:51.122
He's a very small person.
Shawnté Salabert
00:22:51.266 - 00:22:54.978
She might be a very small person. You know, I have not looked up photos of this man.
Colin True
00:22:55.114 - 00:22:57.506
It's all Alpha direct. It seems like it's all they do.
Shawnté Salabert
00:22:57.578 - 00:23:04.778
Yeah, it's very niche. That's a lot of backpacking gear. Now, in these small cottage brands is like, they make two things, and they do it really well.
Justin Housman
00:23:04.874 - 00:23:12.556
Yeah. I also enjoy that their about page has literally no information about them. So, like, is there a picture at least. Well, of people in theme?
Colin True
00:23:12.658 - 00:23:13.656
That's all you need to know.
Justin Housman
00:23:13.728 - 00:23:15.220
I don't know who this person is.
Shawnté Salabert
00:23:16.120 - 00:23:20.992
I'm pretty sure it's a thru hiker who started this brand, but do not quote me on that.
Colin True
00:23:21.096 - 00:23:21.840
Interesting.
Justin Housman
00:23:21.960 - 00:23:24.220
Couldn't tell you where it's made other than in the US.
Shawnté Salabert
00:23:24.800 - 00:23:26.048
It is us made. Yeah.
Justin Housman
00:23:26.104 - 00:23:27.488
Yeah. All right.
Colin True
00:23:27.504 - 00:23:29.152
What you got? What's next there, Shantay?
Shawnté Salabert
00:23:29.296 - 00:23:32.800
All right. Are we going in order of my list, or can I do. Okay, here.
Colin True
00:23:32.840 - 00:23:33.472
You do whatever you want.
Justin Housman
00:23:33.496 - 00:23:34.712
You can do whatever you want.
Shawnté Salabert
00:23:34.896 - 00:23:37.768
I sent Colin a list. I just want to be, you know.
Justin Housman
00:23:37.904 - 00:23:41.088
I have this item. I love this next item.
Shawnté Salabert
00:23:41.264 - 00:23:50.856
So, listen, water filtration, that's the thing. You need to do it. I need to do it.
You know, there's some old timers who are like, I take my tin cup and then I just sip directly from the spring and trust me, I'm not.
Colin True
00:23:50.928 - 00:23:52.528
And then I shit my brains out.
Shawnté Salabert
00:23:52.664 - 00:24:44.470
I don't trust you, old man. This is a platypus quick draw. So for many, many years, I'm talking, like, way back when I first started backpacking, I had a Sawyer squeeze.
And that's like the classic lightweight filtering system. You squeeze in a little bag, yada, yada. But I had some complaints over the years. The quick draw, like, fixes all of those complaints.
It is self contained. First of all, because it's got a cap on the top and on the butt end of it and the Sawyer.
I always had to put my squeeze in a plastic bag so that it wouldn't leak all over my sleeping bag if I was keeping it in there during a, you know, freezing night or whatever. So I love that it's got both caps. This thing didn't leak at all this summer.
You can self test it to see if it has been compromised, which sounds like, you know, it's got a spyware on it, but that just, you know, if it's frozen.
Colin True
00:24:44.510 - 00:24:50.942
That sounds incredibly useful. Isn't that kind of a historic problem with water filtration? It's like, yeah, contaminated or whatever.
Shawnté Salabert
00:24:51.086 - 00:25:00.166
You don't know until you start pooping all over the place. So, you know. 7th mention of poop. But, yeah, we should really just start a poop cast.
Justin Housman
00:25:00.238 - 00:25:03.410
The poop cast, which I'm sure that's a thing. That's definitely a thing.
Shawnté Salabert
00:25:03.590 - 00:25:53.690
That'll be a thing. That's my. That's my podcast network, the Poopcast network with Shanta. I'll work on the vocal fry. So this thing, though, is great.
And it comes with a different top. So this top here, this top is great, you know, squeezy. Squeezy, whatever. But it comes with a whole separate top. That solves the issue.
If you are one of those backpacking nerds like me, who filters into a smart water bottle or something similar, the second cap actually will screw directly on to the smart water bottle, and it has little, like, two way valves in there so that the water will go in and the air flow. You know how you need airflow and you're pouring into a sealed container kind of situation. And this way it'll maintain the flow rate.
So I was like, what a genius design to have this little. And this also has its own cap. I love it. I don't have Grd or water swimming around my backpack all day. It's fantastic.
Justin Housman
00:25:53.770 - 00:25:59.498
Yeah, I love that thing. I've lost all those caps, but I just keep it screwed onto the bladder, and I'm good to go.
Shawnté Salabert
00:25:59.674 - 00:26:00.170
That's fair.
Colin True
00:26:00.210 - 00:26:02.390
Do you go bladder more over bottle, Justin?
Justin Housman
00:26:04.170 - 00:26:21.402
It kind of depends. I mean, I prefer a bottle for some, but, like, these all come with bladders. And I was like, well, I'm just gonna use, like, when I get them.
So I just usually end up using the bladder. And I never buy, like, I'll have to go out of my way to buy, like, a smart water bottle. And I usually have bladders lying around.
So I just, I just roll with that.
Colin True
00:26:21.546 - 00:26:28.378
So $55 on their website. Do we know how long it will last? You have to change out a filter. Like, how, what's the maintenance? Let's see.
Justin Housman
00:26:28.394 - 00:26:29.010
Upkeep.
Shawnté Salabert
00:26:29.170 - 00:26:33.672
It's got like, a yemenite extreme amount of leaders that be able to filter. I can't remember.
Justin Housman
00:26:33.736 - 00:26:54.460
I mean, even Shanta probably would never outlet, like, outlive one of these. I mean, they're that.
For some weird reason, when I first got into, like, backpacking and filtering water, I'd be like, hmm, this water filter gonna last me. It's like, dude, you go backpacking three times a year. Like, what do you. It has. It'll do like 50,000 liters. You're fine. You know, so kind of forever.
Shawnté Salabert
00:26:54.880 - 00:26:55.688
Yeah.
Colin True
00:26:55.864 - 00:27:01.438
All right. I have a feeling. We've reached. We've reached the. The one that Shantae is very excited to talk about.
Justin Housman
00:27:01.494 - 00:27:01.846
Yeah.
Shawnté Salabert
00:27:01.918 - 00:27:03.806
Oh, no, no, that'll be the fifth one. The one I'm really.
Colin True
00:27:03.838 - 00:27:04.970
Oh, we're doing that one last.
Shawnté Salabert
00:27:05.350 - 00:28:20.646
We're going to do that one last because we really building up to it the whole time. So number four, these are my shama speed goat sandals. Shama is a minimalist footwear manufacturer based in, I think, Portland. And it's.
I think it started as like, a barefoot running kind of situation with the guy whose videos are always him, like, traipsing through the woods and his little non existent shoes. He looks like a very happy man. So I used to use bedrock sandals, like the first iteration of really old bedrock sandals.
Those were technically my camp shoes, but really, I use them in the Sierra for water crossing shoes. I don't love. I do hike in trail runners and I will just walk through water some days and just deal with it and they will dry out.
The Sierra is dry enough range, but like, this summer, for instance, there was a major bridge out on the trail. And this is a bridge across the south fork of the San Joaquin river, which is a pretty dicey river to cross unless it's super low flow.
So I crossed it this summer and the water came to mid thigh on me. It was pretty scary, actually. But having shoes like this, these shamas, the mountain goats, which they discontinued or something.
I was surprised when I looked at the website, but they've got a thousand.
Colin True
00:28:20.798 - 00:28:22.040
Look like those, though.
Shawnté Salabert
00:28:22.190 - 00:28:39.996
They all look the same, but these were made to have, like, some thicker soles. I don't know. Yeah, there we go. Some thicker soles with good traction. And I got.
I got the power straps so you can get these like additional, you get these additional straps that go over sort of your.
Colin True
00:28:40.068 - 00:28:41.252
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Shawnté Salabert
00:28:41.436 - 00:29:06.050
And it locks the shoe into place and it's perfect for water crossings for me. I can also hike in these. I've done, I've hiked in the sea, in the high Sierra, on the rocky trail in these. They're great for town shoes.
When you do long distance hikes, you want to have a shoe that's not your sweaty, stanky ass, you know, trail runner. But they are fantastic. And I fell in love with them completely this summer or last summer. Really.
Colin True
00:29:06.470 - 00:29:08.290
How do you feel about camp shoes, Justin?
Justin Housman
00:29:09.190 - 00:29:11.406
Like shoes specifically for like just around.
Shawnté Salabert
00:29:11.478 - 00:29:11.638
Yeah.
Colin True
00:29:11.654 - 00:29:14.222
Or like having it. Carrying around another pair of shoes.
Justin Housman
00:29:14.286 - 00:29:24.928
I always do that too. But I mean, are you? Well, because I. Because I wear boots. So, like, I'm not. I don't want to wear boots while, while clomping around camp. So like I'm.
That's why I always have my bedroom.
Shawnté Salabert
00:29:24.944 - 00:29:25.824
What are you doing in camp?
Justin Housman
00:29:25.872 - 00:29:28.408
Are you flopping around camping, clomping. I don't want to.
Colin True
00:29:28.424 - 00:29:29.060
Clomb.
Justin Housman
00:29:29.600 - 00:29:35.472
Right it is. Now I have size 12ft and with boots on. Yeah, you're definitely clomping.
Shawnté Salabert
00:29:35.536 - 00:29:38.160
All right. Like Frankenstein. Yeah, yeah, that's clumping.
Justin Housman
00:29:38.200 - 00:29:46.740
Yeah. So like, I don't want to wear those all the time. If I was. If I was only in.
If I was only in trail runners, like super lightweight trail runners, I probably wouldn't bring.
Shawnté Salabert
00:29:47.130 - 00:29:54.378
Yeah, it just, you know, that's fair. But when you're out there for a month at a time, it just. You get sick of wearing wet trail runners.
Justin Housman
00:29:54.434 - 00:29:59.110
Absolutely, yeah. I mean, I would always have, always have a pair of bedrocks for water crossing. Always.
Colin True
00:29:59.490 - 00:30:08.910
So these all run $60 to $125. Various models. Various. Obviously you get more as it goes up. It's thicker soles, different straps, that kind of thing, I guess. Yeah, that's.
Justin Housman
00:30:09.250 - 00:30:20.166
These look a lot like the original bedrocks, by the way. Like the Og. Og bedrocks. Like the ones that they made before they even sold them. Where they had the.
Where the strap kind of wrapped wraps around the outside of the soul.
Shawnté Salabert
00:30:20.318 - 00:30:25.550
That was the shoe I originally had. Yeah, the classic ogs. And yeah, these were.
Colin True
00:30:25.630 - 00:30:37.406
Shanta, I don't want to make you feel bad, but the original title of this podcast was bedrocks and ipas. So you're insulting us now on a second level because we love bedrocks on this podcast.
Justin Housman
00:30:37.438 - 00:30:39.702
Colin, did you know about Shaman?
Colin True
00:30:39.726 - 00:30:42.798
Actually, I didn't. It's actually a really cool brand. I didn't know about them before.
Justin Housman
00:30:42.974 - 00:30:47.372
I did not know about them. And. Which is wild, because they're in freaking Santa Cruz, which is not really.
Shawnté Salabert
00:30:47.476 - 00:30:48.772
Oh, it's Santa Cruz. Okay.
Justin Housman
00:30:48.836 - 00:30:49.884
Yeah, you should.
Colin True
00:30:50.052 - 00:30:52.956
Maybe they have a store. Maybe you should go down and check them out.
Justin Housman
00:30:52.988 - 00:30:55.900
Yeah, no, I definitely want to get a pair. I mean, these are right up our. Right up my alley.
Colin True
00:30:56.020 - 00:31:03.668
It is like looking at the brand they offering. It's like. It's like if Luna and bedrock got together, right? I mean, you've got to have that, too. So these are great.
Shawnté Salabert
00:31:03.764 - 00:31:05.412
All right, are you ready for number five?
Colin True
00:31:05.516 - 00:31:06.220
It's time.
Justin Housman
00:31:06.340 - 00:31:07.960
Or number two, as it were.
Shawnté Salabert
00:31:08.460 - 00:31:28.210
Number two. Okay. This is the happy bottom bidet. Listen, a friend, my friend AJ got me this bidet with a telescoping bidet nozzle.
She got me this for my birthday as a joke a couple summers ago. And I looked at her, I said, that's no joke. I'm absolutely using that on trail.
Colin True
00:31:28.250 - 00:31:29.506
You're like, I am in.
Shawnté Salabert
00:31:29.658 - 00:32:19.730
I'm in. Let's go. I love to have a clean butt. So the thing that's great is that I really did just start using this as a little poop a day.
You know, you go, I have a whole. Listen, guys, I have a whole bathroom kit that I carry with me. I have a tiny little eyedropper bottle of Doctor Bronner's.
So there's a whole methodology to this. I do not pre dig my holes because I get a little bit of, you know, poo anxiety. So I like to just free ball.
Just, you know, wherever it's going to land. And as long as I can dig, and then I bury the thing and then it's great. You just use your left if you're. I'm right handed, so I use my left hand.
You just a little drop of Doctor Bronner's. A little. You get some water in this thing and just squirt, squirt. Doctor Bronner's is a butthole. Squirt, squirt, squirt. And I. It's like being reborn.
It is like you emerge a whole new person out there you are walking around with the clean butt. No one can stop you. It is just such a beautiful feeling.
Justin Housman
00:32:20.830 - 00:32:22.370
Do you use this at home?
Shawnté Salabert
00:32:23.470 - 00:32:36.766
No. You know what? I tried. I tried during the great toilet paper shortage at the beginning of the pandemic. It was too weird.
It's like the angle isn't right in a toilet. What I really want is just a regular bidet because now I'm in the clean butt forever.
Justin Housman
00:32:36.838 - 00:32:50.044
I mean, this is an amazing thing to bring backpacking, only in the sense that it's nothing. I mean, it clearly doesn't weigh very much. But this is, you know, this is a serious commitment in terms of, like, space and stuff like that.
I mean, it's small, it's not big.
Shawnté Salabert
00:32:50.092 - 00:32:53.036
But I mean, a, it doesn't weigh a lot, Justin.
Justin Housman
00:32:53.068 - 00:32:53.260
Yeah.
Shawnté Salabert
00:32:53.300 - 00:33:32.390
And I just put it in the side pocket. And b, I also use it to, like, I got a weird spot. I actually got bitten by a recluse this summer. Yeah, I thought I was gonna have to press my button.
Luckily, I didn't have a bad reaction to it, but that was unpleasant. But I was trying to clean the wound every day, so I used my soap and just used my little shower head here. It's great for. I wash my.
I have a kula cloth I use for dabbing the pee. You can wash. I wear running shorts. So I wash the liner of the shorts every day with a little bit of Doctor Bronner's.
And I use the pressure out of this thing. It's honestly, like, you know, it's a great little tool that's great for more than your butt, as it turns out.
Colin True
00:33:32.510 - 00:34:01.378
This makes so much sense for, like, if you're out 50, 60 nights, like you said. Is this becoming a thing with true hikers? Because, I mean. Cause you're absolutely right. I mean, you can muscle through a few nights. Who cares? Right?
But when you're out there and doing anything, I mean, I remember even like, pacing someone at Wasatch 100 and I remember him saying at three in the morning, he brushed his teeth and was like, oh, my God, I feel like a sudden new person. Right? Like 75 miles in, so little things like that really can't be underrated. Is this becoming a thing with thru hikers?
I would imagine it would be, yeah.
Shawnté Salabert
00:34:01.434 - 00:34:15.982
I'm shocked at how many men I know that carry, like, portable bidets. A lot of people now have. There's Kulo and a couple other ones that just screw onto the top of water bottle.
I personally don't want my little dice that. Yeah, yeah.
Colin True
00:34:16.086 - 00:34:18.030
Back to our filtration conversation.
Shawnté Salabert
00:34:18.110 - 00:34:34.502
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. That's where you're getting the Giardia. Um, but yeah, I have seen quite a lot of people.
People will ask me about it because it does sort of like, stick out of the side of my pack there. Um, yeah, it's. I. Listen, hygiene is the new black, so let's go.
Colin True
00:34:34.606 - 00:34:56.666
Well, those are some amazing products. We'll talk a little bit more about them in a second. But first, guys, it's time for the second sip.
And today's second sip is brought to us by Pacific Adventureworks and their hideaway sleeping platform. So thanks to those guys, you'll hear their ad in a second.
Make sure you're heading to their website to check out the amazing hideaway sleeping platform. As you heard about here on gear and beer just a few weeks ago, but cheers, everybody. It's time for the second sip.
Yeah, it's probably like my 6th sip.
Shawnté Salabert
00:34:56.738 - 00:34:57.874
This is my 18th.
Colin True
00:34:57.922 - 00:34:58.830
Yeah, exactly.
Justin Housman
00:34:59.890 - 00:35:01.946
Time for the second beer part of the show.
Colin True
00:35:02.058 - 00:35:07.830
Yeah, I wish we could start doing guys. We're really ramping up on gear beer. We're doing three beers an episode now.
Justin Housman
00:35:09.010 - 00:35:09.490
I'm in.
Shawnté Salabert
00:35:09.530 - 00:35:10.390
Belligerent.
Justin Housman
00:35:10.890 - 00:35:11.506
How's the beer?
Colin True
00:35:11.538 - 00:35:12.586
Everybody enjoying their beer?
Justin Housman
00:35:12.698 - 00:35:16.842
Mine's officially warm now, but it's surprisingly, surprisingly good for a sorghum beer. Loving it.
Shawnté Salabert
00:35:17.026 - 00:35:26.298
This. This is. This has got, like, a nice sort of, like, touch of fruitiness to it, which I appreciate. I wasn't expecting it.
It's a nice, like, soft, round blonde.
Justin Housman
00:35:26.354 - 00:35:26.922
Yep.
Shawnté Salabert
00:35:27.066 - 00:35:28.590
I love blonde, she said.
Justin Housman
00:35:32.410 - 00:35:34.390
Used to be a soft, round blonde myself.
Colin True
00:35:39.610 - 00:36:49.436
Sleeping in your car or truck is all the rage with outdoorsy folks these days, but let's face it, there are decisions that have to be made. Do you want to buy a van to crash in? Too expensive. Do you want to build a platform in the back of your truck? Too big and heavy to move.
Do you want to sleep on a backpacking pad in your Subaru? Come on, now. What the hell are we doing?
Enter the hideaway platform from Pacific adventureworks, the first adjustable sleeping platform, perfect for wherever you want to put it. Put it in your suv. Yup. Better than a cot. The back of your hatchback? Hell, yeah. And the legs are telescoping, so you will sleep flat every night.
How about the back of your truck? Not only will it fit, but you can store your gear underneath and easily remove the platform, roll it up, and stow it when you're not using it.
Oh, and the best part, these things are modular and can always be fitted to accommodate whatever vehicle you drive in the future, save yourself the headaches and sleep better at camp tonight. With the hideaway platform from Pacific Adventureworks, head to pacificadventureworks.com to get yours today.
So what, you know, let's get into kind of where you procure your goods. Chad, where do you, where do you typically get your stuff? I mean, obviously, I'm sure you test it. So a lot of things are sent to you.
But you mentioned you bought your tent. Like what? You know, do you prefer an outdoor retailer of, like, where you shop?
Shawnté Salabert
00:36:49.628 - 00:38:34.710
I do, actually. So I do do a couple different things. I mean, there's Rei when I need just like, fuel canisters and stuff like that.
But for me, I love a couple different sites. A and I'm going to say I write for them. So this is. And you've. We talked about pillows on the rock fight.
There's a website called run by a bunch of outdoor nerds through hikers, things like that. I do write for them. So that is my caveat. I'm biased, but I actually use it to find, to buy things. There's great in depth reviews, and they compile.
My favorite aspect of the site, besides the people, is that they compile just an ongoing list of sales on outdoor gear. And it's a really good list. They look for.
And they'll say, hey, when Rei has their big member sales and everything, here's the things that are the best deals, whatever. So I've gotten things like sleeping pads and whatever through treeline review. But I also love garage grown gear.
It is a website that has all sorts of small, like cottage gear, you know, shout out, Lloyd Vogel. Yeah. What's up, Lloyd? Good job, buddy. Oh, is he? That's great.
Well, garage, what he does with garage grown is fantastic because not only can I find things I actually need and want there, but I also have found things that I didn't know I needed or wanted, like the possum socks that I mentioned earlier. But, yeah, it's a great place to find new brands. They've got a new section, things like that. I also really like Lightsmith.
It's l I t e s m I t h, based down in San Diego, I think, actually. And I'll get a lot of things like my little dropper bottles that I keep my doctor Bronner's in and things like that. I'll go there.
I've gotten Canuck bags there, things like that. So awesome. Lots of good options out there.
Colin True
00:38:35.010 - 00:38:52.754
And I guess the last question before we get to the final sip here, you know, of the five items we discussed, and I feel like we must have to take the bidet off the table because I'm sure that's the overwhelming. What is your desert island? And it actually could be something not on your list. What is your desert island? All time top five or top one?
Favorite backpacking item. If you had to pick one thing.
Shawnté Salabert
00:38:52.922 - 00:39:20.520
If I had to pick one thing, it would be my backpack my backpack. I love my backpack. It's a six main designs swift v backpack. And it's great because they let you customize the hip belt and the harness system.
So I have a running vest style harness and a hip belt that has the most giant pockets known to man. And it is wonderful. Everything rides so well in there. I can actually jog in it.
Justin Housman
00:39:20.980 - 00:39:22.360
How often do you do that?
Shawnté Salabert
00:39:23.060 - 00:39:26.960
The jogging with the full backpack on?
Colin True
00:39:27.460 - 00:39:32.512
Weren't you going to Montana to do an ultra with Brendan Leonard's wife or something like that? Wasn't that a thing for a minute?
Shawnté Salabert
00:39:32.536 - 00:39:42.272
You have a good memory. That was. Yeah, we were supposed to do the Teton crest run. The Teton crest. That was the.
But then that was the year I started running, and I was like, do you think I should do this if I don't run? She's like, yeah, it'll be fine.
Colin True
00:39:42.376 - 00:39:43.448
Did you do it?
Shawnté Salabert
00:39:43.624 - 00:39:47.792
No, neither of us ended up doing it, but I did become a runner, as it turns out. So that's all.
Colin True
00:39:47.816 - 00:39:51.336
You're definitely a runner if you signed up for a race and didn't do it. We've all done that for sure.
Shawnté Salabert
00:39:51.448 - 00:40:04.020
No, it wasn't a race. That's the crazy thing. It was self directed. Self directed suffering. Yeah, the trails there. Just go run it. I did go run the Cottonwood lake sloop.
So I did, like, 13 or 14 miles that summer, so that was a big deal for me.
Colin True
00:40:04.100 - 00:40:10.000
Girl who did not run, take our final sip. Any final gear impressions, Justin, you want to. Anything you want to comment on?
Justin Housman
00:40:11.460 - 00:40:28.956
This was such a good. This was such a great list because it's, like, cottage industry stuff, which I expected.
Um, it's something about, like, once you're a serious backpacker, you're not allowed to have anything from a brand that, like, regular people would recognize. So the platypus. The platypus was a little disappointing because I actually know that brand. But, um. But, yeah, even ascension, right?
Colin True
00:40:28.988 - 00:40:35.864
There's plenty of people who do alpha direct, you know, garments be like, no, no, no. We got to go. Know about us. Yeah. Cool.
Justin Housman
00:40:35.952 - 00:41:04.288
So that was. That was great. Is exactly what I wanted to see. I knew there'd be some sort of bathroom related item, and I was stoked on that.
I was kind of hoping you'd have some kind of weird, like, collapsible toilet or something like that. But this is. This is pretty cool. So I'm actually going to get one of these for sure. Like, these are awesome. That's the things I'm going to get.
Not just because it's the cheapest one, but that's the like, I love all my gear that I use when I'm out there, but I don't have a portable bidet, so. So I'm going to rectify that as.
Colin True
00:41:04.304 - 00:41:10.040
We take our final sips. Shanta, anything coming down the pike you want to plug current books that you can talk about that you'd like people to buy?
Shawnté Salabert
00:41:10.080 - 00:41:11.900
Nope, I cannot.
Justin Housman
00:41:12.240 - 00:41:16.400
Yeah, she's already said this. She's going to get her ass kicked in a dark alley somewhere.
Colin True
00:41:16.480 - 00:41:19.632
Listen, like you've already written. People can buy.
Shawnté Salabert
00:41:19.656 - 00:42:02.574
Now literary people are going to come at me. No, I did. You know what? I will show you one thing that I love that I contributed to.
I don't think we ever plugged it, but I don't know if you guys are familiar with the campfire stories series. The volume two came out. It's by so Dave Q and Alyssa Q. They're a husband and wife team.
You know, they compiled all of these writers writing on different national parks. And then in this second edition, they included stories from different trails. So the PCT is in here. I think the appalachian trail is in here.
And my piece is called on trail we dream of enchiladas. And it's about all of my crazy ass food cravings out there. So that was a real thrill to that.
They wanted me to contribute to the book, and it turned out really well.
Colin True
00:42:02.622 - 00:42:11.582
So we will link to that in the show notes. So make sure everybody go and buy that book. Christmas is coming up, right? Get it ready for the holidays. Right? Good gift, so.
Shawnté Salabert
00:42:11.646 - 00:42:12.450
That's right.
Colin True
00:42:12.790 - 00:42:29.600
All right, guys. Well, we can wrap it up there. Gear and beer, everybody. It's a production of Rock fight, LLC for Justin Houseman and our guest, Shanta Saliber.
I'm colin true, and he's here to take us out. It's the voice of the Rock Fight podcast network, Chris Demagogue. He's gonna perform the gear and beer theme song. We'll see you next time.
Chris Demakes
00:42:34.780 - 00:43:16.740
We have experienced lots of tales to tell. Just like you're with your pals out on the trail. We review outdoor adventure gear paired with the perfect beach. Now let the games begin.
So glad that you're here. At the break, the put in the trailhead.
We're going to crack open the cooler and invite the beverage where we can celebrate our wins, those losses we hold so close. The bottom line here is you'll get the berries that matter most here in babye beer.
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