Sorta Newbie from FLA

[infinitempg]

Greetings to all and happy to of found this site.  I have lived here in west central Florida in an area now know as Lakewood Ranch, for around three decades, having moved here from central North Carolina (Go Heels!).  Been sort of out-doorsy since my Boy Scout days and coined my name, infiniteMPG, from activities we like, kayaking, hiking, mountain biking, road biking, wildlife photography, all of which burn no fuel aside from calories.  The name also was coined as my handle when I was introduced to geocaching (thanks to my better half, Cathy!) to which I gained a reputation.  Some cachers love my hides, others hate them (or just aren't up to the challenges).  Unfortunately life, work and family issue have kept me off the trails, caused my geocaching responsibilities to falter, and kept the 'yaks dry.  But hoping to turn a corner on that stuff.  A co-worker invited myself and my son to join he and his son on a hike next year to the Bear Lake Trail area in the Rocky Mountains which has sparked my renewed interest in the great outdoors.  My son also wants to hike some of the AT sometime with me which also has my attention.  

My prime reason for joining up is to get some advice on some gear as what I have isn't worthy of these adventures.  Been reading reviews until I'm spinning and just getting started on gearing up but since this is an introduction area I'll save the info mining for the correct forum areas.

Glad to be here and looking forward to some helpful advice,

Scott

[John B]

Welcome!  Glad to hear you intend to get back out there.  I live in Colorado, so well familiar with Bear Lake/RMNP area.  Good neighborhood to "reintroduce" yourself to the great outdoors.

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

Welcome to TrailGroove Scott!

[Mark Wetherington]

Welcome! Best of luck with getting outside more. There is some great information on gear online and on this website, but some of it will vary from region to region or just individual preference. I've lived in the Southeast and now live in Montana, and while some of my gear is the exact same there are things I'd probably change about it if I moved to another region. So take some of the "advice" with a grain of salt. Conditions in California are a lot different than North Carolina, for example, regarding humidity, rain, trail grades, etc.