Author: Brandon Engel

Gear

My First Product: Trekking Pole Holder

I present to you my first product, a trekking pole holder. I bet you can presume its purpose. Below is a link to grab one.

https://gearrest.etsy.com/

I’ve stared working on a website that is not Etsy for purchasing and viewing my products as well but that’s still a work in progress.

My Gear Rest Trekking Pole Holders give a convenient place to store your trekking poles when you’re not on the trail. Display your gear when you’re not out hiking in a gear rest today!
The trekking pole holders are manufactured in my garage lovingly by my CNC robot out of Poplar wood and then stained dark. If you need customization let me know and I can work with you.

This was a product that I’ve been working on for some time off and on. I recently made my first sale and I’m very excited about that. Below I’ve posted a few iterations that the project has gone through. Which design is your favorite?

I ended up with the middle design after a survey with friends and family. The dark finish also came out on top.

Pick one up if you think they’re neat: https://gearrest.etsy.com/

Plans

2024 A Year of Water and Ponies.

It’s hard to imagine being out on the water as I write this in the heart of a winter cold snap on the plains. Currently it is -10 out with a ‘feels like’ temperature of -40 degrees Fahrenheit, couple that with a few recent snow storms and it is brutal out. But here I am dreaming of kayaking, canoeing and warm weather.

Due to various reasons I did not get the kayak out once in 2023 and I vow to change that this year. I don’t know if I have it in me to make it to one of the major kayak races or a large multi day adventure though. But I can still make it out to the local rivers and streams this year.

Next up we are planning a backpacking trip to see the wild ponies in the Grayson Highlands in May. This looks like a beautiful trail that should be an amazing experience.

Exercise

I built a box.

I built a box and the first thing that my wife said to me is “Well that’s dumb.” The problem is that I don’t 100% disagree with her. Sometimes an idea will grab my attention and I don’t think it all the way through before execution.

The box that I ended up constructing is a 20″ X 24″ X 30″ Pylometric (Pylo) box. These boxes are typically used to do big explosive exercises that are a bit overkill for what I’m trying to accomplish. The intention is to use this for stretching and strengthening my knees. Depending on the orientation of the box you get different heights for various workouts. It seemed like a cheap and easy solution for exercise.

I was excited to build one and so that’s exactly what I did. After doing so I told my wife about it and the conversation went something like this.

“Hey wife I made an exercise box, want to come see?” I said.

“Well why’d you do that?” She responded.

“I don’t know, it seemed like a good way to workout.”

“How big is it?”

“Well you see, it’s bigger than I imagined, it’s huge.” I hemmed and hawed.

She replied with a great amount of hostility, “Where are we going to put that?”

I cannot fault her for that, this thing is massive. And it hurts to admit it but she is right, there is no place to put it.

Videos

Super Sierra High Route

High routes look like a beautiful way to take in epic scenery while avoiding the crowds. The only problem is that it comes with a much higher level of difficulty and challenge than I would probably be inclined to do.

Here is a well documented journey from Dan Stenziao on the Sierra High Route through Yosemite.

Type two fun all the way up and down.