Over the next few weeks I will be posting reports on a whole host of gear that my group used (and abused) during our Grand Canyon backpack.  I want to take a moment here to provide some background on these reports and the gear that is being reported on.

Outside San Diego exists to provide a voice for me to express and share my passion for hiking, backpacking, fishing, kayaking, and any outdoor activity in my native stomping grounds of San Diego, Southern California, and the West.  I was born here and have grown up fascinated by the beauty and diversity of the natural landscape that surrounds me.  I have a constant yearning to get out and explore the wild places that I love to much, and provide me with so much joy and comfort. Everett Ruess, another wanderer of the west who lived and died seeking the beauty that dominate out surrounding said it best in his last letter to his brother;

“I have not tired of the wilderness; rather I enjoy its beauty and the vagrant life I lead, more keenly all the time. I prefer the saddle to the streetcar and star-sprinkled sky to a roof, the obscure and difficult trail, leading into the unknown to any paved highway, and the deep peace of the wild to the discontent bred by cities.”

Outside San Diego began strictly to provide that voice.

As time has progressed,  and Outside San Diego has grown, I have been presented with, and cultivated opportunities that have allowed me to expand Outside San Diego beyond its original purpose into to a tool that provides you (my readership) and I with information regarding the gear that allow me and my family and friends to enjoy extended stays in the backcountry safely and comfortably.  In a nutshell, I have the opportunity to test and provide my opinion and experience with a variety of gear in the posts of Outside San Diego.

With this in mind, the reviews and information you will be seeing over the next few weeks will be as unbiased as I can possibly make them.  I have not or will not enter into and agreement with a gear manufacturer with the understanding that I will only provide positive feedback of the gear.  I do not work for any of the manufacturers that I am providing reviews. The only compensation I am provided from the manufacturer is the opportunity to use the gear.

Having said this, it is also important to know my philosophy when evaluating backpacking gear.  I always start out with the “glass is half-full” approach to any new gear.  I refuse to believe that a gear manufacturer sets out to design any gear that they believe is not up to the challenge.  If a manufacturer is  willing provide me with the opportunity to write a review with out stipulations, than they are confident that their gear is worthy of doing its job.  I also believe even the best of the best can fail.  What truly separates quality gear from inferior gear, is the willingness of the manufacturer to stand behind their products, and provide customer service will rectify any problems that may occur.   Gear failures can and did happen during the course of testing.  I will report on these failures, but more importantly I will report on the manufacturers response to these problems.

I never take an new piece of gear that is providing a critical function  without some sort of backup, or a plan fro a backup  It is only after I am very confident that the gear is up to the task that I will begin to rely on it.  I am but a single source of information a lone voice in this web of billions.  While I strive to provide an unbiased opinion, my style of hiking and backpacking, and the conditions that I encounter may vary significantly from yours.  Take what I write, and place it in that one place that makes up the jigsaw puzzle of an informed decision.

All of my gear reviews, are being compiled in the Gear Review section of Outside San Diego you can access it here.  I hope that it provides a resource for you to outfit yourself with good quality gear that will work for you.  Enough reading,  get hiking!