I hike mostly in the Great Smoky Mtn's area where many trails are either rocky, wet or both and often the routes involve multiple unbridged stream crossings. Lowa Renegades are great boots for those conditions.

Ahhhhh: The big plus is that these boots require almost zero break-in time. Over the years I've found that they can be worn on a hiking trip right out of the box with only minimal discomfort.

Ouch: Sometimes I backpack with a 35-40 lb. load and on those rocky trail segments I can definitely feel the rocks--especially after a few miles of bad trail. But, hey, these boots are VERY light on the feet so I just accept the compromise between the light weight plus easy break-in vs. something that would be stiff enough to smooth-out those rocky trail surfaces.

Periodic waterproofing is desirable--especially if you wear these on multi-day adventures in wet conditions.

Durability: The life of these boots for me has been about 1,000 miles before they start to break apart at the stitching near the toe bend area. You can have them re-stitched by a shoe repair shop but mine have tended to leak water in that area after being repaired (they do have a Gore-Tex liner). My local store says Lowa will replace these boots if they fail within one year of purchase--mine usually last longer than that since I alternate between two or three pair during my peak hiking season.

Bottom line: I usually keep a new pair of these in my closet "ready to wear" whenever one of my older pair fail. Watch for them to go on sale--the 2009 list price is much higher than what it was in 2008.

If you love pasta with meat sauce then you'll love this meal. It cooks in its own resealable pouch which means no mess after the meal and the taste is every bit as good as the lasagna meal plus it is much easier to clean your utensils after the spaghetti vs. the lasagna (the lasagna cheese sticks wickedly tight to utensils).

Just back from a trip where two of us each had the lasagna and we agreed it was one of Mountain House's best meals. The only problem is that this meal has some type of cheese which sticks like glue to utensils--both metal and plastic. We'll opt for the spaghetti w/meat sauce next time--equally delicious and with no clean-up problems.

I still have trouble believing how small and lightweight this 38 F rated down bag is when stuffed into its almost-too-small stuff sack. I've spent a few nights in it in the Smokies and it has been comfortable enough down to about 40 F so far (however, I sleep comfortably in cooler weather than most people). I really like the stretchy cross-seam construction and the adjustable length design (I'm 5'11" and bought a long). One nice feature about the zipper is that it easily unzips just by pulling the two halves of the bag apart. One bad feature about the zipper is that because the hook-and-loop strap at the top of the bag is so wimpy, it unzips sometimes when you don't want it to. I'd buy this bag again because it packs so small and lightweight. You do have to fluff it a bit more than usual to regain the loft after it has been crammed into its tiny stuff sack.

I'm a long-time user of Therm-A-Rest sleeping pads with my all-time favorite being their LE (Luxury Edition) version of the old Classic pad. The closest match I can find to this pad in Therm-A-Rest's current line of products is their Trails Comfort line of pads. Because I was looking to add another pad to my collection for use when joined on overnight hikes by friends who didn't have camping gear I decided to try the ProLite 4 sleeping pad. I've just come back from a four night backpacking trip with the ProLite 4 and want to report the pros and cons of this pad: 1. It weighs nearly a pound less than the Trails Comport pad. 2. It sleeps much firmer than my old LE pad. I found it somewhat uncomfortably firm. I'm 5'11" and 175 lbs, age 53 with lots of backcountry overnight experience. If you value comfort over saving a pound of load in your pack then I suggest you choose the Trails Comfort pad instead of the ProLite 4.