I was at the Mountain Equipment Coop this afternoon buying a “waterproof breathable” (read “Raincoat”) to bike into work with. I ended up picking a blue Hyrdrofoil 3, which looks pretty fab, and comes highly recommended. No more bussing on rainy days!

The MEC have their “outdoorsy lifestyle message” highly polished – more than a few minutes in there reading the product descriptions and I start thinking that I may need a climbing harness, compression-fit moisture wicking base layer, and set of titanium boot spikes. I love hiking, but the truth is that even the toughest trails I’ve been on were mostly well-maintained routes you can traverse in a few hours. Maybe if hiking feels really good next summer, I’ll consider gearing up for a tougher hiking excursion to the Adirondacks. (I’ve heard good things about Mount Washington?)

This summer’s hiking weather was a bit soggy and rotten – I’ve still got a lot of routes to explore in Gatineau Park that I didn’t get around to this year!