So apparently I’m not the only giant nerd who also enjoys getting dirty outside. Boing Boing’s Gadget Editor Joel Johnson has just headed into the wild, uncontrolled wilderness of New York’s Harriman State Park with a bunch of gadgets and those solar panel chargers we read so much about, but will probably never, ever buy.

He’s attempting to blog, review and twitter (is that a verb now?) while camping and hiking — and making nerdy jokes that I very much appreciate.

For the less nerdy of you, his opening post details his list of gear and — as we all do — complains about his pack weight (almost 50 pounds for a 3-4 day! Damn!). My favorite gear item is a copy of Thoreau’s “Walden” on an Amazon Kindle.

Later, he panics when his solar panel appears to stop working, and manages to post a Flickr video via a 1xRTT wireless internet connection.

I’m sure that kind of cell-phone internet flies on the East Coast parks, but I wouldn’t bet on it out here. But still — I’d love to have a blogging office-view like Joel’s got:

Actually, I’d love to have a blogging office period.


Image by Joel Johnson

Tags: boing boing gadget camping, camping blogging, solar panels