When you’re in remote and wild areas, the right equipment can be the difference between a day of jubilant discovery and miserable slogging with wet feet and welts from biting insects. I was exposed to two new pieces of gear on this trip and I want to quickly mention them. Neither is necessary on every outing, and yet they could really save the day under the right conditions.
Because we expected to be sloshing through boggy conditions, I wore the gaiters a friend gave me for my birthday. We were going into heavy duty snake country and I wanted neither snakes nor bog water in my boots. The gaiters kept these from being troublesome and Sharol said they look badass, too, so they are now a permanent addition to my hiking kit. I won’t hike in wet conditions without them again – they are very light and I didn’t notice them at all. Mine are short, but there are also available higher gaiters that could provide protection with higher boots.
In Florida, bogs breed mosquitoes, and while I was happy to rely on bug spray, Sharol had an entire suit made of netting. The hooded face was zippered so that it could be pushed back when not needed, but with a hat to provide shape to the hood, the net was not in the way at all. Conditions were so dry that neither bug spray nor the net suit was necessary, but I can think of many days when it would have been a pleasant thing to have that net covering! Steve had agreed that this is something we will get for ourselves before we visit the Everglades.
Sharol also had some awesome bog boots — these are nothing more than rain boots with a fun design. I liked hers so much that I begged Steve to get me a pair, and he did! Nothing like fun drinks on boots, huh?
