What's all the hoopla about plastic? In February 2006 President Bush made the point that the United States is "addicted to oil." I don't get it---where's the proof? My outdoor activities certainly do not support that claim. Let's analyze my equipment...

Most items of clothing on my body are made of polyester: underpants, long johns, turtleneck shirt, fleece gloves, fleece jacket, and fleece balaclava. My cap is made of acrylic. Shorts are nylon. Wicking socks are of polyolefin. The gaiters are mostly nylon and are lined with Gore-Tex (brand name for a form of polytetrafluoroethylene or PTFE). The purple vest is a nylon shell filled with plastic fibers whose name escapes me. In my backpack is a lightweight rain parka made of nylon and coated with a thin film of some esoteric plastic. Non-plastic clothing items are my wool socks and the leather and rubber of my 20-year-old boots (but the boot laces are nylon).

My pack is about 90% nylon, with a stiffening sheet of polyethylene. Padding on the front is plastic foam---probably polyurethane. Many of the things in the pack are plastic: water bottles, food containers, first aid kit case, map case, utility cord, headlamp, knife handle, whistle, and plastic bags for clothing.

The handles and baskets of my trekking poles are plastic. The handle of my shovel is an unknown plastic and the blade is polycarbonate. The rope loop on the handle is nylon. My camera case is made of nylon fabric and plastic foam (more polyurethane?). Parts of my camera and the film card therein and the shell of the battery are plastic. I'm sitting on a closed-cell plastic foam pad. In my pack are my glasses, whose lenses are plastic. The white lace-straps of the snowshoes are nylon. The body of the snowshoes is made of a material similar to Neoprene; it contains thin fibers that appear to be plastic.

Call me Plastic Man.

Now I forgot what President Bush was saying about oil.
Photographed at Divide Lake, near Snoqualmie Pass, Washington.

Between this trip and my next snowshoeing hike was the passage of four years (to the day).
The next trip was to the same place as a way to commemorate my getting back into the sport.