Duct Tape- Use #39

You can never have enough duct tape.

I re-rolled some "fresh" tape around my hiking poles last week-- the other tape had been on there for 2 years and I'd never used it. When I went to unrole/remove it, it came off in little pieces-- effectively "vulcanized" to my poles... ended up having to score it and unwrap it in layers, before putting on the "fresh stuff." The old tape would have been absolutely useless... Glad I went through all that, because yesterday, it came in very handy. Leave it to Lynnda to give me an occasion to use it (ha ha).

We decided to do a little day hike up to Franconia Ridge to tag Little Haystack via Falling Waters trail. Nice scenic waterfalls, sluices, streams and swimming holes for half the hike up and back. Rain had really got the water flowing nicely.

Plus, lots of scrambling or rock hopping in places. Halfway up, Lynnda made the decision to chill by a waterfall while Austin and I conquered the mountain and returned to scoop her up.

We made it up there an hour later and had lunch-- nice views considering how hazy it was...

Eating is important-- we've noticed that when certain people don't eat, they get cranky and/or tired...

Once he ate, he was MUCH more upbeat...

We made it down and HAD to stop at the waterfall for a quick cool off... emphasis on "QUICK"-- my ankles and lower legs were numb after a couple minutes in that water!

By the way-- what's with the "thumbs up thing?"

So back to the "duct tape" thing.... while waiting around for us, Lynnda had discovered  that her soles had begun delaminating.... now these are EMS boots-- 8 years old-- but with only 10 hikes on the odometer, so to speak. I guess the shelf life of the glue is more critical than the durability of the Vibram soles...

Anyway-- these babies were flapping around like a fish out of water and were quickly becoming worse. 

Whip out the duct tape for a quick improvisation... 

 and then continued the hike out. It was probably 1 1/2 to 2  miles out before we hit the parking lot.

Here's the "after" shot. These babies could have done another 5 miles EASY!!!

I told Lynnda she didn't need new boots for at least another year or so based upon this repair (ha ha). That's when I had to duck...

The tape is amazing ...