This article keeps referring to DPI where in many cases it means PPI. So, although it is correct in many ways, it ends up adding to the the confusion and misunderstanding it was intended to clear up.
Pixels per inch (PPI) are what is input to the printer. Dots per inch (DPI) are what the printer puts on the paper. With typical inputs ranging from lower than 100 PPI to a high of 600 PPI modern inkjet printers typically print several dots for each pixel.
It is the pixel density (PPI not DPI) that sets an upper limit to the amount of genuine detail in the printed image. [Whether that limit is reached depends on how much detail was actually captured by the lens and the photographer’s technique. But regardless of the number of pixels available it is the amount of genuine detail in the image that determines how large it can be satisfactorily printed. The less genuine detail in the image the more PPI are needed to produce a print that will look good from close up. Whether all the available detail appears in the final print then depends on how the printer’s software and available inks maps pixels to coloured dots, and the paper on which the print is being made].
As for what the PPI should be, the figure of 300 is bandied about on the net as the maximum resolution that most people can distinguish from close up. [i.e. any more pixels would be wasted, as the eyes are incapable of seeing the extra detail] and, therefore, as an ideal to be aimed for.
This is nonsense, but that has not prevented it from being repeated al over the internet, and in many cases i is obviously by people that are uncritically repeating what they have heard, with little or no hands-on experience.
So the number of pixels does not determine the amount of detail in the photo. It is merely an upper limit. If the lens is delivering less data than the sensor is capable of capturing then the pixels capture the data with fewer artefacts, but they do not add any data. And if the scene itself is lacking in detail the best lens and a sensor with lots of pixels cannot add more detail.
Also, making a good print at fewer than 300 PPI is not, as the self-professed experts would have you think, just about the viewing distance. The content of the image makes a difference. Some images look as good as they are ever going to at 100 PPI. Others may even need more than 300 PPI if they are going to stand up to examination from 5 or 6 inches away.
And there are yet more variables. A printer with a 12 ink system is going to give better tonal gradation than the typical 4 ink desktop printer, and a glossy coated paper is going to show up insufficient pixels at higher densities than a rough surfaced “Art” paper.
A lot of skill, knowledge and experience goes into making a stunning digital print. The internet promotes the idea that we can all produce wonderful prints just by following a simplistic rules (print at 300 DPI … whoops … PPI …. or look up the “correct” PPI for the intended viewing distance). It just isn’t so. These are no more than hints at what might be a good starting point to figure out how big you can print with the pixels at your disposal. But the realities of the art of printing are more complex and subtle.
Hi, Tom! I agree with just about everything you said.
Yes, I do use DPI when PPI would be more appropriate, but that was intentional. Most layout and image editing software refers to that arbitrary metadata setting as DPI (although recently Photoshop has started calling this “Resolution”). My target audience was all those people who get confused by this DPI setting and post online asking what they should set it to, followed by a lot of misinformation just like you said. Plus, there’s a particular magazine editor who long ago somehow drastically reduced the resolution of one my photos, went to press with the low-res version on a full two-page spread, and then tried to blame me because “my image’s DPI wasn’t set right.” (Ultimately, she apologized.)
As you mentioned, there’s a lot more to both capturing and printing an image. Naturally, a better lens is going to capture a better photo; a better printer is going to produce a better print. All of these are outside the scope of this article, and frankly irrelevant to a photo’s DPI metadata setting.
The point is exactly what you said and I mentioned several times—detail. A 5000×4000 photo is going to have more detail than the same photo at 500×400 (assuming you didn’t just make the 500×400 larger). 😉 That internal DPI metadata doesn’t add or remove detail but changing pixel count does, as shown by my comparisons above.
By the way, there is scientific basis to resolution vs. viewing distance. Granted, most of the “self-professed experts” online are just regurgitating forum posts. However, I actually have read quite a few scientific studies on the subject. I linked the most relevant one in my article. If you have a study that shows these numbers are nonsense, I’d love to read it and possibly reference it in my article.
Thanks for the cool and informative article. Love it.
But I have a question which I have tried to search online for hours and yet to have a responds. So I am hoping you could help.
I’m using Panasonic G7 which is 16MP. Taking one of the pictures that I have for example. After editing, the properties from the picture are:
Dimension: 4208 x 3464
Width: 4208 pixel
Height: 3464 pixel
Horizontal resolution: 300 dpi
Vertical resolution 300 dpi
File size: 8.86 MB
After putting in my Signature (watermark), it reads:
Dimension: 4208 x 3464
Width: 4208 pixel
Height: 3464 pixel
Horizontal resolution: 96 dpi
Vertical resolution 96 dpi
File size: 1.35 MB
So both of the pictures have identical pixel counts but the dpi are different. Will I get a lower quality photo print for the picture with lower dpi?
How did you make your picture to have different dpi but same file size? I thought dpi are the amount of (color) information of the picture and the more dpi there is, the bigger file size it will be.
Hi, Edward. The DPI won’t affect anything here. Dimensions are the same. However, your images are dropping from 8.86 MB down to 1.35 MB, thus your software is reducing the JPEG quality. It’s so low that you will probably see “artifacts”, which are blocky areas in the compressed photos. I didn’t cover JPEG quality in this article; that’s a whole other subject, but I’ll provide some pointers here. You don’t mention what software you’re using to add the watermark, but likely it will have a JPEG compression setting somewhere when you save or export the image. The higher the percentage, the better the quality, but the larger the MB. Usually, 40–60% is a good compromise for web images; 80% is good for prints. Personally, I use 85% for my photos. I picked that after extensive comparisons of my original RAW to various percentages. I found that the common 80% still produced some very minor artifacts, but at 85% there were virtually none, and anything higher just increased my file sizes with no discernible visual difference. YMMV.
Thanks for reply. I’m using some freeware that I found online to do a mass watermarking on my pictures.
So, the dropping in size does affect the print quality. Hmmm… do you have any recommendation on which software should I use to watermark my photo which will not affect the print quality?
Once again thanks for taking time to reply me. 🙂 Greatly appreciated.
I’m using uMark for the watermarking and also I have tired converting it to JPG with 100% quality retention, but still my picture’s size decreased from 7.11MB to 4.28MB.
Is there anyway/recommendation on what I should do; or which software I should use so I could retain the quality and size of my picture? Thanks.
Looking at this a little closer, the Panasonic G7 supports RAW. Thus, I assume your original 8MB photos at 16MP are shot in RAW. That’s great! I recommend always shooting in RAW so you get the actual sensor data. That allows superior color correction, post-processing, etc.
That said, uMark is likely doing fine with its compression. No need to change your watermarking software.
Also, as I said earlier, 80-85% quality is good for JPEGs. It’s what I use for all my printed photos. However, note that JPEGs are always “lossy” (loses image quality/data), even at 100%. This is fine for photos. However, if you want absolutely no data loss, use a lossless format like PNG or TIFF (lossless formats are preferred for things like line art and logos).
Thanks for your reply again. Have a good day and weekend! Please keep up the good work (in making contents like this)!
Hello,
I recently had some old film processed. The scans returned to me are 72 dpi and appx. 2000×3000 pixels. The service charges a fee to get your images returned on a disc at 300 dpi. I downloaded and saved these 72 dpi scans. If I plan to print these images in the future should I get the extra disc or does it matter?
Like title of the article indicates, DPI doesn’t matter. There is no benefit to getting the same resolution at 300 DPI. The only reason to pay the service fee is if the *scanned* resolution is greater than 2000×3000. E.g., the scans are actually 4000×6000, and it costs extra to get this larger resolution, otherwise they reduce it to 2000×3000.
As an example, one of my cameras is a Canon 1D Mark IV (16px) which I shoot at Large Jpeg 4896 x 3264 @ 72dpi. I do all my editing at this original size on a duplicate keeping the original image unedited. Upon finalization of the edit on this duplicate I usually will make two more duplicates, one of which I will size to 300dpi for print @ 9 x 13.5in, the other i would downsize the image to 9x 13.5in @ 72dpi. Am I doing this correctly? I do the same with my 5D Mark II Full Frame. I noticed a photog sent me his original image for editing, shot on a Nikon, NEF file, and the dpi was 300dpi. Do you think this is a standard setting for a NEF file? I actually had some difficulty cleaning and editing his images, they were not sharp. I edit in Adobe Photoshop CC, Lightroom Classic and Affinity. I do want to hurt his feelings nor look foolish when I need to bring this subject up. Thanks
You don’t need to make multiple copies with different DPIs. As my article states, DPI is an arbitrary metadata setting. The only thing that matters in terms of resolution is pixels. Ignore the DPI and keep the pixels at their original maximum (e.g., 4896 x 3264 pixels). The only time I change my resolution is cropping or when I need a lower resolution version for something like a web page. My Canon tags its RAW files at 240 DPI. I have never changed it because it doesn’t matter.
As for your photographer’s NEF files, as long as you haven’t been tinkering with DPI or resolution after importing, the NEF is going to be the best original version you can get. I can’t comment further without knowing a little more. Maybe the photographer had a bad day. Maybe the autofocus was off. Tough subject to shoot. Tough location. I can understand all of that. As a cave photographer, my lens and camera regularly fog up, get covered with dust, splashed with water, smeared with mud, blindly shooting from angles where I physically can’t position my body. Regardless, the DPI setting has absolutely NO affect on photo clarity, so that’s not the issue.
I am shocked at your attacks on Grary. I have known him and Sue over 30 years and consider them to be the finest people I know in the caving commu.ity or elsewhere. Your vitriolic attacks say much more about you than Geary. The extremes you have gone to to slam him are quite impressive. I don’t doubt that all who know him well think all this is garbage. I certainly do.
So, Mary, you’ve been friends with Geary for 30 years. I was his friend for 7 years. We did all kinds of things together. One of the best stories I ever wrote was published in the NSS News, May 2015, and it revolved around Geary and the amusing situations in which we found ourselves on a cave trip. I was his friend. He was my friend. But all that changed when Geary and Sue started accusing us of misappropriation of funds.
Geary didn’t stop with just making accusations. He got attorneys involved. Then he went around told people we were misappropriating funds. Geary had Rob Bisset over to his house and told him we were misappropriating funds. He called Allan Cobb and told him we were misappropriating funds. He sent an email to me, Rob Bisset, Gregg Williams, and Pam Campbell describing all the ways that we were misappropriating funds. And those are just some of the ones that I currently know about.
I have included Geary’s email in the Misappropriation document above (https://bennettlee.com/wp-content/uploads/3-Misappropriation.pdf). In it, Geary explicitly states “…to claim that the profits for the event are the grotto’s is a misappropriation of funds. I obtained an opinion from the NSS legal Committee on this (Jay Clark) and have a second legal opinion pending from Pre-Paid Legal as confirmation.” That’s just two sentences out of a four-page email where Geary makes multiple claims that we misappropriated funds. I proved every one of Geary’s accusations were lies. Our Grotto did NOT misappropriate funds. Geary’s own attorney, Jay Clark from the NSS Legal Committee, couldn’t substantiate Geary’s claims. Ted Lee, also from the NSS Legal Committee, finally convinced Geary that his claims were false.
What is your defense for Geary? You’ve known him 30 years, therefore everything I have posted here is “garbage”? Multiple witnesses, Geary’s own emails, statement from Geary’s own attorney–all lies? If that’s your defense, then your head is so far up Geary’s ass that the only thing you can see is the shit that Geary is feeding you.
Pull your head out of Geary’s ass. Don’t believe him. Don’t believe me. DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH. Contact those people who I listed above. Ask Rob Bisset if he was at Geary’s house where Geary told him the Grotto is misappropriating funds. Ask Allan Cobb if Geary called him and told him the same thing. Ask Rob Bisset, Gregg Williams, and Pam Campbell if the email that I included with all of Geary’s accusations is genuine. Their emails are in the header of Geary’s email. But if you want to make sure I didn’t alter those, all these people are or were NSS members. Look up their contact information in the NSS Members Manual. (Note that Pam and I are no longer renewing our NSS membership nor supporting the NSS while Geary is its President, so you’ll have to lookup her in an older manual.)
I personally challenge you, Mary, to do this research. And if you truly believe that what I’ve posted here is garbage, then your research should vindicate Geary. Then come back here and defend him with actual facts rather than just calling me a liar because you’ve known Geary for 30 years.
However, if you come to the inevitable conclusion that yes, Geary did falsely accuse our Grotto of misappropriation of funds, then what would your recommendations be to your friend of 30 years? What should Geary do to rectify this situation?
Think about that, Mary. Geary comes to you and says that he has just falsely accused his friends of misappropriation of funds, and asks you what should he do about? I hope your response isn’t, “Fuck ’em. Everything they say is garbage.” Instead, I would hope your response would be, “Well, Geary, admit that you were wrong and apologize.” That is exactly what I have been waiting for…an apology.
After Geary made his accusations, I consulted Jay Clark and Ted Lee, both from the NSS Legal Committee, and they both sided with me that the Bexar Grotto did NOT misappropriate funds. Think about that, Mary. Geary KNEW he was wrong at this point. What should he do now? What would you recommend? Geary knows that he is wrong, but instead of apologizing, he hid the fact that behind the scenes he had been falsely accusing our Grotto of misappropriation of funds and lied to the Grotto in the faces of the very people to whom he should have been apologizing.
Wow. What’s your defense to that, Mary?
I sat on this for months. And when it became clear that Geary would never come clean, and our Grotto would never know about Geary’s attacks against us, I chose to publish his email with all of his threats and accusations, along with 32 pages of proof that Geary’s accusations were false.
Now Geary is exposed with his own words proving that Geary accused us of misappropriation of funds, along with my research and statements from multiple attorneys–including Geary’s own attorney–saying we did not misappropriate funds. What should he do now, Mary? Come clean? Admit he was wrong and apologize for falsely accusing his friends of misappropriation of funds? Again, no apology. Instead, Geary made jokes and attacked me personally, calling me a liar. Read his email up above. I don’t think falsely accusing your friends of a felony crime is a joking matter. Do you, Mary? Do you think it’s appropriate for Geary to joke about it?
I am going to reiterate my challenge to you Mary. Do your own research. Don’t believe me. Don’t believe Geary. Contact the other witnesses to Geary’s accusations. Then come back here defend Geary with actual facts, or maybe you’ll be back with an apology of your own. “I’m sorry, Bennett. Turns out you were right. Geary absolutely did falsely accuse you and your Grotto officers of misappropriation of funds. He was wrong. He should apologize.”
I look forward to your response. I hope next time it is based on actual facts instead of attacking me personally and calling my work garbage simply because you are Geary’s friend.
Not a chance in Hell that I’m going to support the NSS while Geary Schindel is its President and using the NSS legal committee to try to threaten and bully the Bexar Grotto. See https://bennettlee.com/caving/geary/ if you want to know more.
Hi all. This is all about photography which is an image that has a lot of built-in information. Does this same concept apply to graphic design where you start with a blank canvas and add the content, be it a single pixel or millions of pixels? Even if it does, is it not best practice to create anything for print at a minimum of 300 ppi if it is not vector?
Yes, you’re absolutely right. This article is about images with a fixed number of pixels, like photographs. In contrast, vectors, such as artwork created in Adobe Illustrator, are entirely different. Vectors are mathematical formulas that describe shapes. When you rasterize vectors (e.g., export to JPEG/PNG or print), you are converting these formulas to blocky pixels. At this point, you need to know your target output, like printing a 1×1 inch logo on a business card. I agree with you that the minimum in this circumstance should be 300 DPI, which gives you a 300×300 pixel image. But what if the vector art is going on a 40×12 foot highway billboard? That’s where viewing distance comes into play. My table above doesn’t list billboards, but 300 DPI is definitely overkill for that.
Ideally, you want to leave your vectors as vectors. Embed the actual vector in your documents instead of a blocky rasterized image. Send the vector file to your printshop. That way vectors stay in their ideal mathematical representation right up until the time of printing when its target DPI gets negotiated between the vector application and the target printer.
However, if you do decide output your vectors to a rasterized image, by definition you are now dealing with a fixed number of pixels. Hence, this article applies and DPI no longer matters. (What’s unique with vectors is that if you need more pixels, you just export again with a larger resolution, which is not possible with the bat photo examples above. Even so, all these outputs are ultimately still a fixed number of pixels.)
Great artice Bennett. Thanks for all your effort to explain. My question is if I shoot raw and the image arrives in photoshop as 300 dpi and i cut the dpi to 150to get more pixels hence a larger printed image have I lost half the resoulution detail?
Thank you for your reply, Edward McHugh
Just be sure that the resolution (width and height) stay the same. Unfortunately, when you cut the DPI from 300 to 150, Photoshop will automatically cut the resolution in half, too (e.g., from 4000×3000 to 2000×1500). To fix, first copy one of the original resolution settings (e.g., 4000), then change the DPI, and finally paste the original resolution setting back (the other resolution setting will automatically reset).
By the way, a few days ago I would have said that you shouldn’t need to touch the DPI in Photoshop at all. However, just this past weekend I ran into a problem combining images with different DPIs directly into Acrobat. Page sizes were different based on the image’s embedded DPI. (One of the only instances in which DPI still matters–calculating page size given a DPI and specific number of pixels.) I could have tweaked page sizes in each document, but easiest fix for me was to change the DPIs in Photoshop and Lightroom before combining into Acrobat.
Hello Bennett,
I have by default become the family (and extended family) archivist for literally thousands of photos. I have read a lot about these flatbed scanners; people keep telling me that Epson is the way to go. I just want a scanner that is a little overkill for what I need to scan and file these away in an archive for my relatives.
1. The scanning needs to be fast or as fast as I can afford.
2. The scanner needs to do slides and negatives, but most importantly be able to have a good enough resolution to blow some of them up to 8×10 with no loss of resolution.
3. The vast majority of these photos are from the pre-digital age, mostly 35mil.
4. I am confused regarding the USB 3.0 vs 2.0 and what other specifications contribute to speed. I am currently using a Dell 7300 pc.
I realize that some of these $1000.+ scanners are for commercial reprographics businesses and may be way overkill for home use. But what are the the necessary specs particular to my needs? Meaning what is “slightly” overkill for me?
Hi, Dan! Sorry for the delay, and sorry that you are the family archivist. 🙂 It is a tedious job with no end in sight as seemingly endless boxes of old photos emerge from long-forgotten locations.
Let’s start with something that you didn’t mention, which is DPI. Most current consumer scanners should be 2400×2400 or 4800×4800 DPI. The higher the DPI, the more details the scanned image will have. Unfortunately, the files will also be significantly larger, as in huge. Likely you will only need to scan 4×6 photos at 600×600, and 8×10 photos at 300×300. More than that and the hundreds or thousands of huge files will be unmanageable. However, 4800×4800 is good for scanning 35mm negatives and slides. Thus, a 4800×4800 flatbed can serve dual purpose scanning photos at 600×600 and negatives at 4800×4800. If you wondering where the line is, beyond those numbers is what I would consider overkill.
One other metric to consider is color depth. This is measured in bits. 24-bit color equates to 16 million colors (2^24); 48-bit is 281 trillion (2^48). Both are far more than the human eye can see, but more colors will help avoid “banding” in gradients (obvious lines where the color changes shades). If the scanner is less than 24-bit color these days, it’s probably crap and look for something else.
As for scanners, there are two main types: (1) flatbed scanners and (2) film scanners (also called negative/slide scanners). Flatbed scanners are considered the best for scanning printed photos. Flatbed scanners can also scan negatives. However, for best results, scanning the negative in a good film scanner is almost always better than scanning that photo or negative on a flatbed.
Although flatbeds are good for photos and can do negatives, too, they are ridiculously tedious because you have to manually place each photo/negative on the scanner and initiate the scan. Even if it takes only one minute to load a photo, go to the computer to initiate the scan, wait for the scan and data transfer, then remove the photo and repeat, that means for 1,000 photos you’re looking at a full 16 hours straight of monotonous labor (and that 16 hours is just scanning; it doesn’t include any editing, corrections, organization, etc.). For the quantity that you are doing, you might want to consider an automatic feeder. Just load up a bunch of photos, click a button, and come back after later to find all the photos scanned. Unfortunately, automatic feeders can damage the photos. However, the Epson FastFoto is a line specifically designed with an automatic feeder for photos. Good choice for scanning lots of photos, but it’s not a flatbed, so you’ll need something else for negatives, either a flatbed scanner or a dedicated film scanner. If you don’t want to invest in two scanners, skip the FastFoto and just get a 4800×4800 DPI flatbed.
USB version doesn’t matter too much. USB 3.0 is faster and backwards compatible with USB 2.0 (albeit at slower USB 2.0 speeds). Get USB 3.0 if you can but not at the expense of DPI. Focus on DPI first, then color depth, then USB version.
Last thing I want you to consider is taking your photos to a local professional photo lab and have them scan the photos for you. Prices can vary greatly, but you should be able to find one that processes boxes of photos at about $0.20-$1.00 per photo (more photos, cheaper rate). If they have the option, it’s worth paying extra for 600×600 DPI upgrade to the typical 300×300. By the way, 600×600 is 4x the resolution of 300×300, but usually costs only a few pennies more per photo. I had about 1000 photos processed at my local shop (Precision Camera in Austin) at 600×600 for about $200. Totally worth not scanning every photo myself. As an added bonus, when your family drops off a bunch of photos, you just give them the name of your local photo lab and let them deal with it, saving you time and money. 😉
These comparisons are really cool. I like the question, whether it’s better to have still water or ripples. I suppose it depends on the particular scene.
I’m curious, how did you enhance the last photo to make the writing more visible? I’ve tried that with only limited success for some old grafitti.
There is cool stuff like hyperspectral imaging that uses special lights and detectors to expose things that human eye can’t see in the normal visible light spectrum, similar to the blacklight and scorpion above. I didn’t do any of that–I just cheated and zoomed in really huge with Photoshop and manually painted over the old graffiti with a feathered brush.
I just want to note that many of my photos have been color-corrected or had the exposure brightened/darkened, but barely any have been actually modified or “Photoshopped” like this one. I’m a purist. I like to capture the image as-is. This is one of the very few that I modified, mainly so the cave owner and other viewers could see the historic graffiti better.
This calendar features an amazing collection of lovely people doing their thing inside the earth in the altogether (although they are all practicing safe caving by wearing UIAA-approved helmets). Both men & women are seen naked in their favorite caves, some as couples. Despite their lack of clothing, there is no full frontal nudity shown. The photos, all sharp & well-lit, were taken by Bennett Lee, Oscar Berrones & Drew Thompson. They are printed very nicely on good heavy paper. So if you’ve always wondered what it would be like to go cave exploring naked, or to come across other cavers doing so, snap up a copy of this awesome calendar. (It can also come in handy when people ask you, “What do you find in those caves?”)
Dear Bennett,
I am trying to track down an old photo from a caving convention held at Schreiner College in Kerrville. The convention was probably in the mid-1990s, but I can’t be certain. A photographer brought a large wooden box to the convention and photographed individual people supporting themselves various ways in the box. Pretty fun, but my picture was later ruined, so I’d like to find the photographer in case he still has the collection. Are you able to help me in making the contact?
I know right away who you’re talking about. That wooden box belonged to famed photographer Ernie Garza. He took it everywhere and had so many unique shots of people in that simple box.
Unfortunately, Ernie passed away a few years ago. I’ll ask around and see if I can find out who is curating his photography collection.
Just wanted to let you know that your article here was a huge help for me installing my Meso Customs overhead switch panel. I ordered the 4 switch sun roof model and just like you got right into to irreversible cutting before I realized that this was a very poorly designed switch panel with no way to secure it. Pretty disappointed with Meso Customs because I have not received any feedback to address the issue and the advertising for the panel says minor trimming to the back housing. Lets just say I became a Dremel expert over the last 4-5 hours of the install. My install was slightly different then yours because the left hand side of my panel had a bit of a lip already and the sunroof button housing had a lip as well. This allowed me to set the panel (with major trimming to the Meso Panel and light sanding to the sunroof button housing to clear the right side lip and fit without bending) but there was still nothing to hold it in place. I used your sip tie method which worked out great. I’m not much of a computer guy, so I thought maybe you’d be willing to incorporate some pictures into your post for others to view and see what modifications I had to do for my model. If that seems like something you’d be willing to do I’d be happy to send over some pictures with step by step instructions. Hopefully we can work together to help anyone else who ran into this huge headache.
Hi, Nicholi! I am glad my article helped! I wrote this because I want people to have information about the panel. Currently, there is nothing else available online about the 4-port versions. I definitely would have purchased the 3-port instead if I had known how horrible the 4-port install is.
I would love to include your photos and procedures. Email me your photos (my email is at the bottom of every page) with brief description if necessary, and I’ll get them incorporated in the article to help other unfortunate people who purchased the 4-port.
Update this story..
I called about going to see….they said less than 100 show up. This year, we’re in a bad drought and if they went somewhere else, where did they go? Can’t be many places to house millions of bats….
Hi, T B. This story is just about this single trip. The number of bats can vary weekly, and I am not in constant contact with Devil’s Sinkhole to maintain a status. I will note that was there later that year for their 50th anniversary celebration and they did 100,000-200,000 bats for that. Not a great number, but better than 0 or just 100.
I do know from working with bat biologists that white nose syndrome (WNS) has severely impacted or Texas bats. In the northeast where bats hibernate, WNS has decimated populations, killing 98% of the bats there. The general consensus was that Texas would be immune from WNS since Texas is usually a migratory stop or summer location. Unfortunately, WNS has effected Texas bats, too, and bat populations are down across the state.
Hi. I took up nature photography a few years ago, and am about to have some photos printed for the first time ever, for a contest. (And I intend to do more, to put on my walls.) Are the printers at FedEx Office and places like that OK, or are there like boutique type printing places for “serious” photos?
Also, once I choose a physical size, are their printers trustworthy to just give them the full size file and it will convert the pixels to dots right, (i.e., no aliasing) or should I use my software to resize the image to correspond to my chosen physical size at a specified DPI, and give them that file?
Hi, Vess! I would absolutely choose a boutique photo lab that specializes in printing photos over an office print shop whose primary functions is producing huge quantities of business papers. Quality photo labs will have better photo paper selection, better printers, better inks, and staff that actually understand photo printing.
As this article states, you don’t have to do anything special with the size or DPI. In fact, I recommend NOT upscaling and just submitting your photo in its maximum original resolution to the photo lab. Their printers will upscale and downscale as needed using specific algorithms to get the best quality from the target printer. Just make sure that you meet the minimum resolution for your print size, as documented in the table above.
Must be a spelunker, cavers rescue spelunkers.. they also follow the golden rule of caving with a minimum of 3 people.
Although I did enjoy your story. You need to realize the number of people you take away from their lives to get you out because you orgot the golden rule. THREE PEOPLE.
I have never understood the obsession with the term “cavers” versus “spelunkers”. They’re synonymous. Seriously.
But let’s discuss the 3 people rule. If you were out for a walk by yourself along a cliff, and you came upon an overhang that went back 5 feet, would you refuse to step under the overhang unless you had 3 people with you? What if it was a shelter cave that went back 10 feet? Do you need 3 people? What if it went back 20 feet? 30 feet? Where do you draw your imaginary line?
I have well over three decades of caving experience, been on numerous cave expeditions and multiday cave trips, performed multiple cave rescues, taken thousands of people caving, trained hundreds of cavers in vertical techniques, given countless caving presentations, have award-winning cave photographs and cave maps, served for years in various officer positions of caving organizations and multimillion dollar caving nonprofits, found miles of virgin cave passage, currently manage all the caves on literally 2.3 million of acres of karst land in Texas, and my caving exploits have been featured on radio stations, news stations, countless cover photos and headlines, newspaper and magazine articles, so many that I’m frankly not even sure all the places that my caving and cave photographs have been featured.
I know my caving ability. But sure…I’m a spelunker because I did a solo cave trip and responsibly turned around when the passage looked unsafe for me to continue alone.
Thanks for this great trip report! We were just there and your report helped us know which way not to go. If you had taken the west loop instead you would have had a much more enjoyable caving experience, I think, but a lot less adventure and maybe less to write about. 🙂
LOL…I’m glad my experiences taught you which way NOT to go. If I return, I definitely will be taking the loop just north of the larger fenced entrance. Other than a squeezy crawl just to the west, that appears to be mostly walking with no water. Way more fun than sludgy water. 😉
We are camped at Parks Ranch right now and your detailed post was both enlightening and hilarious.
Thank you for sharing your experience. The $3 shower is a great tip! 🙂
Seriously, activate your gluts. Your brain can only allow spasm on one side of a joint at a time. When your quads lock up, start with hip extension and glut activation. Then add a hamstring curl, or bent knee, while lying on your abdomen. It is natural to place a lot of weight on your toes when carrying a pack which stresses the patellar tendon and quads. Activating your gluts when you stop to break will give your quads a rest. If the terrain allows digging in your heels as you walk downhill, you shift to your gluts and alleviate the stress on your quads and patellar tendon. You did a good job with your self diagnosis! Unfortunately, the best methods for quick musculoskeletal repair are not easy to find online…oppositional strengthening and counter-strain technique.
Seriously, thank you, Gina. And using my glutes more will tone those muscles and make my ass look even better than it already does. Win-win.
Readers, let me introduce you to my ex-wife. She is an amazing doctor who spends the time to address your actual issues and solve the underlying cause instead of just prescribing drugs to mask the symptoms. That’s why she has patients driving in from neighboring cities, 4 hours roundtrip, just to see her. If you are anywhere near the San Antonio area and in need of a doctor, I highly recommend you lookup Regina Lee, MD at Family Health of South Texas. She’s so good that even her ex-husband recommends her.
Best ex ever, Bennett! If anyone can do this after 50, it’s you! We are living vicariously through you….well, I am living vicariously. I do not think our mutually shared offspring will ever attempt such a thing.
My AT thru-hiker brother says that the first 1/3 of the AT is a physical challenge. Clearly that’s where you are. If you can make it past the first 1/3, you can make it all the way, barring injury or illness. The second 1/3 is mental. “I’ve got sooooo far to go; my damn toe still hurts; I’m tired of the rain; I miss my mommy.” You ain’t there yet. The final 1/3 is nutritional…if you don’t eat right, that’s where it’s going to catch up to you. So eat right, and hike on!
Bennett, I lost my toenail on my big toes on Orizaba. When going downhill, I would point my toes downhill. This jammed the big toes in the end of the boot. I found what to do was go from side-to-side on the trail when going downhill with the side of your feet being on the downhill side. This prevented the toe jamming. I learned this by watching the guide (Eric Simonson) when he went downhill.
I hate to say it, but you are going to lose the toenails. Remember, when going downhill, go from side-to-side with the side of your foot pointing downhill.
This is fun to read. Thank you Bennett! It makes me wonder if/how I could take on such an adventure some day. Meanwhile, living vicariously through you, your descriptions produce inspiring imaginations. Keep safe, best wishes!
This is an awesome feat to even attempt Bennett! Remember to stay true to yourself and your ultimate goal – but not the timeline! Be safe and persevere at your pace and enjoy 😊 Concentrate not on the race, but on the journey.
“The point of goals isn’t to achieve them. The point is who you become on the way to them.” Henry David Thoreau
That’s so Awesome!!! I truly respect all y’all that start early each year! We hiked 274.1 (Springer to Hot Springs) last year and it was tough starting late February! Looking forward to following your journey!!
Whiskers (Hiking With Whiskers)
Good luck! Just stayed at Laughing Heart a couple of weeks ago for the Southern Ruck and met Timber as he passed through. My hiking partner and I are starting NOBO 3/04 from Damascus so you’ll probably pass is at some point.
I feel you need something more than comical. I go for “The Seeker”. Think about your caving, photography, hiking! You always strive for the next thing or how to make it better. This trek has got to be about something more than just hiking a lot of miles, right? Remember the goal thing 😊
Amazing, Bennett! I think it’s really smart to listen to your body be in tune with your environment, so you can achieve the long term goal. You’re crushing it!
Hi! I look forward to following your progress and wish you all the best with your CYTC! I’m an AT section hiker and ran into Captain Caveman before! He was a ridge runner for, I think, NJ or VA near Shenandoah maybe, I can’t remember where. He also carried a home made backpack made from a Tyvek birdseed bag. He was so interesting and inspirational! Keep on hiking!
Best of luck on your adventure! I’m living vicariously through those like you sharing your experience and soon through my 18 yr old son who’s starting his NOBO AT attempt Feb 23. He’s quick, but not likely to catch you!
I know the trail name thing is supposed to happen organically, but yours has to become “Tight Squeeze”!! 8M views! A cool story to tell and as a caver I don’t know how it won’t “stick”!
Bennett,
You are quite a source of inspiration for so many of us wannabe’s! Keep up the great work and I look forward to following you as you accomplish your goal of all three this year. You’ve got this!
Kind regards,
Karen
WALT WHITMAN
Song of the Open Road
Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.
Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road.
The earth, that is sufficient,
I do not want the constellations any nearer,
I know they are very well where they are,
I know they suffice for those who belong to them.
(Still here I carry my old delicious burdens,
I carry them, men and women, I carry them with me wherever I go,
I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them,
I am fill’d with them, and I will fill them in return.)
2
You road I enter upon and look around, I believe you are not all that is here,
I believe that much unseen is also here.
Here the profound lesson of reception, nor preference nor denial,
The black with his woolly head, the felon, the diseas’d, the illiterate person, are not denied;
The birth, the hasting after the physician, the beggar’s tramp, the drunkard’s stagger, the laughing party of mechanics,
The escaped youth, the rich person’s carriage, the fop, the eloping couple,
The early market-man, the hearse, the moving of furniture into the town, the return back from the town,
They pass, I also pass, any thing passes, none can be interdicted,
None but are accepted, none but shall be dear to me.
3
You air that serves me with breath to speak!
You objects that call from diffusion my meanings and give them shape!
You light that wraps me and all things in delicate equable showers!
You paths worn in the irregular hollows by the roadsides!
I believe you are latent with unseen existences, you are so dear to me.
You flagg’d walks of the cities! you strong curbs at the edges!
You ferries! you planks and posts of wharves! you timber-lined sides! you distant ships!
You rows of houses! you window-pierc’d façades! you roofs!
You porches and entrances! you copings and iron guards!
You windows whose transparent shells might expose so much!
You doors and ascending steps! you arches!
You gray stones of interminable pavements! you trodden crossings!
From all that has touch’d you I believe you have imparted to yourselves, and now would impart the same secretly to me,
From the living and the dead you have peopled your impassive surfaces, and the spirits thereof would be evident and amicable with me.
4
The earth expanding right hand and left hand,
The picture alive, every part in its best light,
The music falling in where it is wanted, and stopping where it is not wanted,
The cheerful voice of the public road, the gay fresh sentiment of the road.
O highway I travel, do you say to me Do not leave me?
Do you say Venture not—if you leave me you are lost?
Do you say I am already prepared, I am well-beaten and undenied, adhere to me?
O public road, I say back I am not afraid to leave you, yet I love you,
You express me better than I can express myself,
You shall be more to me than my poem.
I think heroic deeds were all conceiv’d in the open air, and all free poems also,
I think I could stop here myself and do miracles,
I think whatever I shall meet on the road I shall like, and whoever beholds me shall like me,
I think whoever I see must be happy.
5
From this hour I ordain myself loos’d of limits and imaginary lines,
Going where I list, my own master total and absolute,
Listening to others, considering well what they say,
Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating,
Gently,but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me.
I inhale great draughts of space,
The east and the west are mine, and the north and the south are mine.
I am larger, better than I thought,
I did not know I held so much goodness.
All seems beautiful to me,
I can repeat over to men and women You have done such good to me I would do the same to you,
I will recruit for myself and you as I go,
I will scatter myself among men and women as I go,
I will toss a new gladness and roughness among them,
Whoever denies me it shall not trouble me,
Whoever accepts me he or she shall be blessed and shall bless me.
6
Now if a thousand perfect men were to appear it would not amaze me,
Now if a thousand beautiful forms of women appear’d it would not astonish me.
Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons,
It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.
Here a great personal deed has room,
(Such a deed seizes upon the hearts of the whole race of men,
Its effusion of strength and will overwhelms law and mocks all authority and all argument against it.)
Here is the test of wisdom,
Wisdom is not finally tested in schools,
Wisdom cannot be pass’d from one having it to another not having it,
Wisdom is of the soul, is not susceptible of proof, is its own proof,
Applies to all stages and objects and qualities and is content,
Is the certainty of the reality and immortality of things, and the excellence of things;
Something there is in the float of the sight of things that provokes it out of the soul.
Now I re-examine philosophies and religions,
They may prove well in lecture-rooms, yet not prove at all under the spacious clouds and along the landscape and flowing currents.
Here is realization,
Here is a man tallied—he realizes here what he has in him,
The past, the future, majesty, love—if they are vacant of you, you are vacant of them.
Only the kernel of every object nourishes;
Where is he who tears off the husks for you and me?
Where is he that undoes stratagems and envelopes for you and me?
Here is adhesiveness, it is not previously fashion’d, it is apropos;
Do you know what it is as you pass to be loved by strangers?
Do you know the talk of those turning eye-balls?
7
Here is the efflux of the soul,
The efflux of the soul comes from within through embower’d gates, ever provoking questions,
These yearnings why are they? these thoughts in the darkness why are they?
Why are there men and women that while they are nigh me the sunlight expands my blood?
Why when they leave me do my pennants of joy sink flat and lank?
Why are there trees I never walk under but large and melodious thoughts descend upon me?
(I think they hang there winter and summer on those trees and always drop fruit as I pass;)
What is it I interchange so suddenly with strangers?
What with some driver as I ride on the seat by his side?
What with some fisherman drawing his seine by the shore as I walk by and pause?
What gives me to be free to a woman’s and man’s good-will? what gives them to be free to mine?
8
The efflux of the soul is happiness, here is happiness,
I think it pervades the open air, waiting at all times,
Now it flows unto us, we are rightly charged.
Here rises the fluid and attaching character,
The fluid and attaching character is the freshness and sweetness of man and woman,
(The herbs of the morning sprout no fresher and sweeter every day out of the roots of themselves, than it sprouts fresh and sweet continually out of itself.)
Toward the fluid and attaching character exudes the sweat of the love of young and old,
From it falls distill’d the charm that mocks beauty and attainments,
Toward it heaves the shuddering longing ache of contact.
9
Allons! whoever you are come travel with me!
Traveling with me you find what never tires.
The earth never tires,
The earth is rude, silent, incomprehensible at first, Nature is rude and incomprehensible at first,
Be not discouraged, keep on, there are divine things well envelop’d,
I swear to you there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell.
Allons! we must not stop here,
However sweet these laid-up stores, however convenient this dwelling we cannot remain here,
However shelter’d this port and however calm these waters we must not anchor here,
However welcome the hospitality that surrounds us we are permitted to receive it but a little while.
10
Allons! the inducements shall be greater,
We will sail pathless and wild seas,
We will go where winds blow, waves dash, and the Yankee clipper speeds by under full sail.
Allons! with power, liberty, the earth, the elements,
Health, defiance, gayety, self-esteem, curiosity;
Allons! from all formules!
From your formules, O bat-eyed and materialistic priests.
The stale cadaver blocks up the passage—the burial waits no longer.
Allons! yet take warning!
He traveling with me needs the best blood, thews, endurance,
None may come to the trial till he or she bring courage and health,
Come not here if you have already spent the best of yourself,
Only those may come who come in sweet and determin’d bodies,
No diseas’d person, no rum-drinker or venereal taint is permitted here.
(I and mine do not convince by arguments, similes, rhymes,
We convince by our presence.)
11
Listen! I will be honest with you,
I do not offer the old smooth prizes, but offer rough new prizes,
These are the days that must happen to you:
You shall not heap up what is call’d riches,
You shall scatter with lavish hand all that you earn or achieve,
You but arrive at the city to which you were destin’d, you hardly settle yourself to satisfaction before you are call’d by an irresistible call to depart,
You shall be treated to the ironical smiles and mockings of those who remain behind you,
What beckonings of love you receive you shall only answer with passionate kisses of parting,
You shall not allow the hold of those who spread their reach’d hands toward you.
12
Allons! after the great Companions, and to belong to them!
They too are on the road—they are the swift and majestic men—they are the greatest women,
Enjoyers of calms of seas and storms of seas,
Sailors of many a ship, walkers of many a mile of land,
Habituès of many distant countries, habituès of far-distant dwellings,
Trusters of men and women, observers of cities, solitary toilers,
Pausers and contemplators of tufts, blossoms, shells of the shore,
Dancers at wedding-dances, kissers of brides, tender helpers of children, bearers of children,
Soldiers of revolts, standers by gaping graves, lowerers-down of coffins,
Journeyers over consecutive seasons, over the years, the curious years each emerging from that which preceded it,
Journeyers as with companions, namely their own diverse phases,
Forth-steppers from the latent unrealized baby-days,
Journeyers gayly with their own youth, journeyers with their bearded and well-grain’d manhood,
Journeyers with their womanhood, ample, unsurpass’d, content,
Journeyers with their own sublime old age of manhood or womanhood,
Old age, calm, expanded, broad with the haughty breadth of the universe,
Old age, flowing free with the delicious near-by freedom of death.
13
Allons! to that which is endless as it was beginningless,
To undergo much, tramps of days, rests of nights,
To merge all in the travel they tend to, and the days and nights they tend to,
Again to merge them in the start of superior journeys,
To see nothing anywhere but what you may reach it and pass it,
To conceive no time, however distant, but what you may reach it and pass it,
To look up or down no road but it stretches and waits for you, however long but it stretches and waits for you,
To see no being, not God’s or any, but you also go thither,
To see no possession but you may possess it, enjoying all without labor or purchase, abstracting the feast yet not abstracting one particle of it,
To take the best of the farmer’s farm and the rich man’s elegant villa, and the chaste blessings of the well-married couple, and the fruits of orchards and flowers of gardens,
To take to your use out of the compact cities as you pass through,
To carry buildings and streets with you afterward wherever you go,
To gather the minds of men out of their brains as you encounter them, to gather the love out of their hearts,
To take your lovers on the road with you, for all that you leave them behind you,
To know the universe itself as a road, as many roads, as roads for traveling souls.
All parts away for the progress of souls,
All religion, all solid things, arts, governments—all that was or is apparent upon this globe or any globe, falls into niches and corners before the procession of souls along the grand roads of the universe.
Of the progress of the souls of men and women along the grand roads of the universe, all other progress is the needed emblem and sustenance.
Forever alive, forever forward,
Stately, solemn, sad, withdrawn, baffled, mad, turbulent, feeble, dissatisfied,
Desperate, proud, fond, sick, accepted by men, rejected by men,
They go! they go! I know that they go, but I know not where they go,
But I know that they go toward the best—toward something great.
Whoever you are, come forth! or man or woman come forth!
You must not stay sleeping and dallying there in the house, though you built it, or though it has been built for you.
Out of the dark confinement! out from behind the screen!
It is useless to protest, I know all and expose it.
Behold through you as bad as the rest,
Through the laughter, dancing, dining, supping, of people,
Inside of dresses and ornaments, inside of those wash’d and trimm’d faces,
Behold a secret silent loathing and despair.
No husband, no wife, no friend, trusted to hear the confession,
Another self, a duplicate of every one, skulking and hiding it goes,
Formless and wordless through the streets of the cities, polite and bland in the parlors,
In the cars of railroads, in steamboats, in the public assembly,
Home to the houses of men and women, at the table, in the bedroom, everywhere,
Smartly attired, countenance smiling, form upright, death under the breast-bones, hell under the skull-bones,
Under the broadcloth and gloves, under the ribbons and artificial flowers,
Keeping fair with the customs, speaking not a syllable of itself,
Speaking of any thing else but never of itself.
14
Allons! through struggles and wars!
The goal that was named cannot be countermanded.
Have the past struggles succeeded?
What has succeeded? yourself? your nation? Nature?
Now understand me well—it is provided in the essence of things that from any fruition of success, no matter what, shall come forth something to make a greater struggle necessary.
My call is the call of battle, I nourish active rebellion,
He going with me must go well arm’d,
He going with me goes often with spare diet, poverty, angry enemies, desertions.
15
Allons! the road is before us!
It is safe—I have tried it—my own feet have tried it well—be not detain’d!
Let the paper remain on the desk unwritten, and the book on the shelf unopen’d!
Let the tools remain in the workshop! let the money remain unearn’d!
Let the school stand! mind not the cry of the teacher!
Let the preacher preach in his pulpit! let the lawyer plead in the court, and the judge expound the law.
Camerado, I give you my hand!
I give you my love more precious than money,
I give you myself before preaching or law;
Will you give me yourself? will you come travel with me?
Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?
YOU ROCK BENNETT! My husband and I enjoy hiking. We keep them fairly moderate hikes but will be doing a section hike from Springer to Woody at the end of March. Never have we done this but your words of wisdom telling your readers to go for it, whether you are scared of that group you joined because you are shy… I swore you were talking directly to me!! 🤣🤦🏼♀️ I am beyond so excited to follow you and this awesome journey you are on. I will keep your journey close to heart when we start ours, even though it’s a small, small section in comparison to yours. I am so thrilled I came across your page and honestly I cannot even remember how I did. Keep up the great work regardless how slow you feel you are. It’s a marathon not a race!
“Lens Solo”. Your view thru the lens is unique and shows a true eye for nature’s beauty, and even more special as you hike alone. Just my suggestion… 😉
Such sweet remarks!! We thoroughly enjoyed our time with you and wish it had been longer! We’re out on trail tonight SOBO to Hot Springs! Maybe we’ll see you when you get to PA!
Sort of wanted to do a mash up for ‘night squeeze,’ but really that’s too forward. I like this one because you can also just be ‘tight,’ (of course you are) or ‘squeeze,’ which is more adorable. Well done, Bennett, keep walking and enjoying this world!
I was in the Boy Scouts as a kid and continued hiking and mountaineering as a young adult. However, over the last 20 years, my focus has shifted to caving and backpacking has basically ceased.
Also, even though I have some backpacking skills, those are from the days of old when “ultralight” backpacking didn’t exist. Everything was heavy. Heavy sleeping bag. Heavy stove. Heavy clothes. Heavy external-frame backpack. And stiff, heavy boots to help your feet deal with all the weight. Backpacking now is a learning experience for me with all new ultralight gear. Unfortunately, my mindset is still heavy. It’s hard for me to get my pack under 35 pounds even with ultralight gear.
Bennett you be really sure to take good care of Christine when she’s with you. I wish you both a lot of fun but foremost I wish you safety remember she is recovering from Covid and is not fully there yet.
Don’t worry, Barbara. I’ll take good care of your delightful daughter. In fact, I’m hoping that I’ll finally be able to keep up with her now. She and Jean are so fast!
Also, thank you for loaning her to me for a few days after New Years. It was a great way to start the trail. <3
You are amazing. We are chastising your Dad for not being more supportive. Marsha and I can’t believe what you have already accomplished. Keep on keeping on!
Been enjoying your posts and pictures! Where is the VOR (FAA navigation tower) in the picture located? Thanks for the great stories. Keep up the good work!
Hi Bennett, Spoke with you on the bridge over the Potomac River today at HF. I was just finishing a 21 mi. bike ride on the C&O Canal. Good Luck. Terry Tabb
For 22 years you’ve been Bendy to us. Given your tight squeeze tendencies, it seems especially appropriate. It’s succinct, more like a call sign, easy to remember, and certainly unique to you.
Just what I said. Cover photo. That long, luscious hair and beautiful, round butt are all me. Also, I’m Mr. April, too, with that deliciously hairy belly. Damn, I’m sexy. 🙂
Hay Squeeze
i was wondering what had u stop at Hamburg mid morning .. i was wondering if you had run into a trail closure from the super fund dumping fertilizer ,seed and soil in the mountains by plane .. Dif section from about where u are thru Little Gap (Blue Mtn Drive] , Wind Gap [Route 115 ] are being closed as they do this … not all closed at same time ..
SoDuck might run into u around Lehigh Gap Area ,
But now afraid of ur Covid [ i assist a 2 time cancer surviving Army veteran ] do not want to pass it on .
i will have u sign my old big book as i am down sizing to a smaller note book .
i Hope and pray u recover and suffer no serious side affects
I had to stop in Hamburg to get food, new shoelaces, and permethrin. Latter is for ticks, which are already active due to the mild winter. Meta (another triple crowner ahead of me) was off trail 4 days from an infection possibly caused by a tick bite. I’d prefer to not get Lyme or any other tick-borne disease. Hence, the permethrin.
As for COVID, I am long over it. Mild symptoms only 2-3 days. No apparent side effects. Plus, I took another COVID-19 test this morning, and it was negative. I suspect all the vaccines and boosters allowed my body to kick COVID’s ass fast.
Glad U R doing well . Ticks are one of my biggest worries , Today Friday the 7th of April was the last scheduled day for planes dropping stuff on to trail ..So 1 less worry of a delay thru this Northern section of PA .. looks like u will make George W Outerbridge shelter or a hotel tonight . How was knife edge and how were the rocks in this section .
I’m hoping to attempt the CYTC next year and am really enjoying following your hike! This post was maybe your most fun to read, but it did make me wonder whether you might benefit from improving your uphill hiking form (based on increasing calves and decreasing glutes).
If you aren’t already doing so, try planting your feet flat when hiking uphill, instead of rolling off the ball of your foot like you would when walking flat terrain. On steeper slopes, you might also need to angle your toes outward (like a duck) to avoid overstretching your achilles.
With this foot position, you should be using your thighs and glutes to lift your body and pack, instead of pushing yourself up with your calves.
This is how I hike and my glutes get bigger rather than smaller the more I hike — maybe you can get those buns back by the time you hit Katahdin. 🙂
If Amazon carries what you need – they have drop-boxes at pretty remote locations (and all the Whole Foods Markets).
You might be able to leverage this to have a new pair of shoes waiting for you at a more convenient location.
Possibly with enough advance notice, an angel could do the hard work of finding an actual locker that’s both just in time and not too far out of the way to drop a pair in your path.
Yeah, I’ve been doing Amazon Lockers where available. Unfortunately, these tiny towns frequently don’t have one. Also, when they do, you have to guess time it just right. While some items might deliver in 1-2 days in a big city, same might need 2-4 days in a small, remote town. You then have 3 days to pickup the item or it gets shipped back to Amazon. If you’re too early or too late, then you have to try again at next town that has an Amazon Locker.
I’m still keeping tabs on your hike! Every now and then I pull the map up at like 1am and see that you are still hiking. Do you ever sleep? You’ve done a good portion of the trail in the dark.
I am just now reading your blog, but I’m pleased to see I was blog worthy. Thank you for making me sound more delightful than crazy.
Sarah! Of course you’re blog worthy! That was awesome to have you waiting at a trailhead for me specifically. <3
BTW, with your trail magic driving me to the store down the road, I was able to provide some trail magic by sharing my big bag of Fritos from the store with two Long Trail hikers, Luke and Nathan. We were leapfrogging each other for several days where the LT and AT overlapped. After the store, I stopped at the shelter they were staying at, ate my delicious pesto turkey sandwich, and passed around my Fritos. That was a treat for all of us. I want planning to walk the mile to the store, so if you hadn't been at the trail and offered to drive me there, then I definitely wouldn't have had a delicious supper and chips to share. So thank you, Sarah. That was wonderful.
Also, we were eating at dusk around a nice campfire. Once my sandwich was done and we'd had our fill of chips, I strapped on my headlamp and started hiking again because, no, I never sleep. 😉
Bennett, I have the utmost respect for you and your accomplishments. I know that we joke a lot with each other, but I’m proud to include you amongst my friends. Best of luck on the CDT.
Wait… You were joking all this time? I always thought you were just a big jerk. I’m kidding! I love you, Crash. Glad to count you amongst my friends, too.
Oh, Sheryl, you beautiful woman, you know that I always look forward to seeing your charming smile and talking with you. I would love to make TCR, but so many question marks. Can I make the Canadian border? I think so. Can I make it before TCR? I dunno. Can I make it in time to complete the CDT this year? I.e., enough time to flipflop back to Copper Mountain and make it to the Mexican boder? Again, I dunno. I’m so damn slow. LOL. TCR would delay me at least a week.
Plus, I REALLY want to get back to Chris in Alaska. I miss her. She’s amazing. I mean, you’re amazing, and my caver friends are amazing. I would love to see all of you at TCR, but Chris has a real draw for me that even all of my caver friends combined just can’t compete with. 😉
Bennett, in the book “Old Lady on the Trail: Triple Crown at 76” by Mary E. Davidson, published 2017, she had the same problems you had at the national parks, but not doing the hikes continuously, she could make reservations, then show up at the appointed times. It was a hassle even for her. You should read the book! On the CDT, I recognized many of the locations as being where I have hiked. She took 16 years to complete the Triple Crown. Dad
Oh Bennett. This is a beautiful story, I almost cried. I feel like I was there with you (and Chris).
Perhaps you can turn this blog into a book? It is THAT good.
I send a big smile, heart warmth 💕
Thank you, Annie! Even though we haven’t seen each other in many years, I still consider you a dear friend. I love you and miss you! (Although not quite as much as I miss Chris.) 😉
I have hiked in the area you are now entering. The Wind River Range was my favorite place to take Scouters for a hike the year before they were old enough to go to Philmont. After the Wind River Range, Philmont was a piece of cake. If you can hike through the Circle of Towers, it is a great view. I have been on both the backside and frontside of the Circle of Towers. It may be slightly out of your way.
1 is the loneliest number. All by myself. Some heads are gonna roll. Enough song lyrics? I’m more annoyed at the jerk face older brother deer that was doing all the cool deer-teenager or deer-nager things and flaunting them to his younger deer brother. Whattabutthead!
J2 Basecamp, Oaxaca, México. A Mouse 🐁 Chewed Through a Brand New Tent Wall to Get to Food 🍬 Inside on the First Night. The Tent ⛺️ Owner Was Forewarned Beforehand.
Bennett is spot on regarding Old Faithful. I spent a day there many years ago with some friends, unexpectedly, due to one friend who came down with plantar fasciitis. We all spent the day running (the friend hobbling) around checking out all the other geysers, and that was so much better than Old Faithful. So many different colors and types of eruptions, I think it’s worth it to see everything else even if you miss out on Old (yawn) Faithful..
Hey, Tight Squeeze. It’s High Country from your Wind River Range encounter.
I was wandering if you completed The CDT this year? Or is that a 2024 hike?
I’m considering redoing the CT or maybe the PNWT this year. Maybe run into you again this year out on the trail.
Enjoy your photography. Take care.
Sooo funny, I haven’t laughed that hard in…well…I don’t remember, No time recently. I’ll remember the warnings about the hut and the mice. I intend to hike that direction this end of July/ August. I do have a permit for rnp, but not sure the dates will need correct. I was trying to figure out the mileage between Breckenridge and rnp, when your post appeared in the search.
Not a very articulate criticism. You don’t indicate what terms are a dozen versus 12. I assume they’re DPI (dots per inch) and pixels since that’s comparison throughout the entire article. Let me clarify using your egg analogy.
You go to the store and buy a dozen eggs. In this case, the egg carton is like a photo printed at a specific DPI. It’s a specific size. It holds a dozen eggs, also known as 12. The eggs are like pixels. However, if you have an ostrich egg, the carton won’t work. By the way, one ostrich egg is equal to two dozen chicken eggs (also known as 24), so a single ostrich egg wouldn’t even fit in the entire carton. In contrast, eggs that are smaller than chicken eggs, like hummingbird eggs, would fit. Roughly 10,000 hummingbird eggs fit in an ostrich egg, so that means you could fit about 416 hummingbird eggs (also known as a lot) in each chicken-egg-sized holder in your carton.
The point is that you can’t put one big huge egg (pixel) in your carton (DPI), but you can put a dozen chicken eggs (pixels) or lots of smaller eggs (also pixels but more of them). Hence, the entire point of the article.
Years ago, in my youth, I was a graphic artist, printer, and photographer. Years ago. At present, I am trying to find original art from the online image houses, shutterbug, i stock, etc., to produce a 4×6 foot printed tile mural. The entire scope of pixel, dpi, and final size landed squarely at my feet. I can’t thank you enough for the time you invested in this article and following commentary. Totally revitalized long lost knowledge. Now my complaint is what don’t the image houses place pixel size AT THE IMAGE! lol Again, thank you very much.
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Snakes are creepy.
Hey Bennett its JT from NBC expedition. Is there any way to get a good photo pf my drone in the cave that you took?
This article keeps referring to DPI where in many cases it means PPI. So, although it is correct in many ways, it ends up adding to the the confusion and misunderstanding it was intended to clear up.
Pixels per inch (PPI) are what is input to the printer. Dots per inch (DPI) are what the printer puts on the paper. With typical inputs ranging from lower than 100 PPI to a high of 600 PPI modern inkjet printers typically print several dots for each pixel.
It is the pixel density (PPI not DPI) that sets an upper limit to the amount of genuine detail in the printed image. [Whether that limit is reached depends on how much detail was actually captured by the lens and the photographer’s technique. But regardless of the number of pixels available it is the amount of genuine detail in the image that determines how large it can be satisfactorily printed. The less genuine detail in the image the more PPI are needed to produce a print that will look good from close up. Whether all the available detail appears in the final print then depends on how the printer’s software and available inks maps pixels to coloured dots, and the paper on which the print is being made].
As for what the PPI should be, the figure of 300 is bandied about on the net as the maximum resolution that most people can distinguish from close up. [i.e. any more pixels would be wasted, as the eyes are incapable of seeing the extra detail] and, therefore, as an ideal to be aimed for.
This is nonsense, but that has not prevented it from being repeated al over the internet, and in many cases i is obviously by people that are uncritically repeating what they have heard, with little or no hands-on experience.
So the number of pixels does not determine the amount of detail in the photo. It is merely an upper limit. If the lens is delivering less data than the sensor is capable of capturing then the pixels capture the data with fewer artefacts, but they do not add any data. And if the scene itself is lacking in detail the best lens and a sensor with lots of pixels cannot add more detail.
Also, making a good print at fewer than 300 PPI is not, as the self-professed experts would have you think, just about the viewing distance. The content of the image makes a difference. Some images look as good as they are ever going to at 100 PPI. Others may even need more than 300 PPI if they are going to stand up to examination from 5 or 6 inches away.
And there are yet more variables. A printer with a 12 ink system is going to give better tonal gradation than the typical 4 ink desktop printer, and a glossy coated paper is going to show up insufficient pixels at higher densities than a rough surfaced “Art” paper.
A lot of skill, knowledge and experience goes into making a stunning digital print. The internet promotes the idea that we can all produce wonderful prints just by following a simplistic rules (print at 300 DPI … whoops … PPI …. or look up the “correct” PPI for the intended viewing distance). It just isn’t so. These are no more than hints at what might be a good starting point to figure out how big you can print with the pixels at your disposal. But the realities of the art of printing are more complex and subtle.
Hi, Tom! I agree with just about everything you said.
Yes, I do use DPI when PPI would be more appropriate, but that was intentional. Most layout and image editing software refers to that arbitrary metadata setting as DPI (although recently Photoshop has started calling this “Resolution”). My target audience was all those people who get confused by this DPI setting and post online asking what they should set it to, followed by a lot of misinformation just like you said. Plus, there’s a particular magazine editor who long ago somehow drastically reduced the resolution of one my photos, went to press with the low-res version on a full two-page spread, and then tried to blame me because “my image’s DPI wasn’t set right.” (Ultimately, she apologized.)
As you mentioned, there’s a lot more to both capturing and printing an image. Naturally, a better lens is going to capture a better photo; a better printer is going to produce a better print. All of these are outside the scope of this article, and frankly irrelevant to a photo’s DPI metadata setting.
The point is exactly what you said and I mentioned several times—detail. A 5000×4000 photo is going to have more detail than the same photo at 500×400 (assuming you didn’t just make the 500×400 larger). 😉 That internal DPI metadata doesn’t add or remove detail but changing pixel count does, as shown by my comparisons above.
By the way, there is scientific basis to resolution vs. viewing distance. Granted, most of the “self-professed experts” online are just regurgitating forum posts. However, I actually have read quite a few scientific studies on the subject. I linked the most relevant one in my article. If you have a study that shows these numbers are nonsense, I’d love to read it and possibly reference it in my article.
Hi Bennett,
Thanks for the cool and informative article. Love it.
But I have a question which I have tried to search online for hours and yet to have a responds. So I am hoping you could help.
I’m using Panasonic G7 which is 16MP. Taking one of the pictures that I have for example. After editing, the properties from the picture are:
Dimension: 4208 x 3464
Width: 4208 pixel
Height: 3464 pixel
Horizontal resolution: 300 dpi
Vertical resolution 300 dpi
File size: 8.86 MB
After putting in my Signature (watermark), it reads:
Dimension: 4208 x 3464
Width: 4208 pixel
Height: 3464 pixel
Horizontal resolution: 96 dpi
Vertical resolution 96 dpi
File size: 1.35 MB
So both of the pictures have identical pixel counts but the dpi are different. Will I get a lower quality photo print for the picture with lower dpi?
How did you make your picture to have different dpi but same file size? I thought dpi are the amount of (color) information of the picture and the more dpi there is, the bigger file size it will be.
Thanks for your advice. 🙂
Hi, Edward. The DPI won’t affect anything here. Dimensions are the same. However, your images are dropping from 8.86 MB down to 1.35 MB, thus your software is reducing the JPEG quality. It’s so low that you will probably see “artifacts”, which are blocky areas in the compressed photos. I didn’t cover JPEG quality in this article; that’s a whole other subject, but I’ll provide some pointers here. You don’t mention what software you’re using to add the watermark, but likely it will have a JPEG compression setting somewhere when you save or export the image. The higher the percentage, the better the quality, but the larger the MB. Usually, 40–60% is a good compromise for web images; 80% is good for prints. Personally, I use 85% for my photos. I picked that after extensive comparisons of my original RAW to various percentages. I found that the common 80% still produced some very minor artifacts, but at 85% there were virtually none, and anything higher just increased my file sizes with no discernible visual difference. YMMV.
Hi Bennett,
Thanks for reply. I’m using some freeware that I found online to do a mass watermarking on my pictures.
So, the dropping in size does affect the print quality. Hmmm… do you have any recommendation on which software should I use to watermark my photo which will not affect the print quality?
Once again thanks for taking time to reply me. 🙂 Greatly appreciated.
Hi Bennett,
Thanks for your reply.
I’m using uMark for the watermarking and also I have tired converting it to JPG with 100% quality retention, but still my picture’s size decreased from 7.11MB to 4.28MB.
Is there anyway/recommendation on what I should do; or which software I should use so I could retain the quality and size of my picture? Thanks.
Looking at this a little closer, the Panasonic G7 supports RAW. Thus, I assume your original 8MB photos at 16MP are shot in RAW. That’s great! I recommend always shooting in RAW so you get the actual sensor data. That allows superior color correction, post-processing, etc.
That said, uMark is likely doing fine with its compression. No need to change your watermarking software.
Also, as I said earlier, 80-85% quality is good for JPEGs. It’s what I use for all my printed photos. However, note that JPEGs are always “lossy” (loses image quality/data), even at 100%. This is fine for photos. However, if you want absolutely no data loss, use a lossless format like PNG or TIFF (lossless formats are preferred for things like line art and logos).
Hi Bennett,
Thanks for your reply again. Have a good day and weekend! Please keep up the good work (in making contents like this)!
Hello,
I recently had some old film processed. The scans returned to me are 72 dpi and appx. 2000×3000 pixels. The service charges a fee to get your images returned on a disc at 300 dpi. I downloaded and saved these 72 dpi scans. If I plan to print these images in the future should I get the extra disc or does it matter?
Thank you
Like title of the article indicates, DPI doesn’t matter. There is no benefit to getting the same resolution at 300 DPI. The only reason to pay the service fee is if the *scanned* resolution is greater than 2000×3000. E.g., the scans are actually 4000×6000, and it costs extra to get this larger resolution, otherwise they reduce it to 2000×3000.
Hi Bennet,
As an example, one of my cameras is a Canon 1D Mark IV (16px) which I shoot at Large Jpeg 4896 x 3264 @ 72dpi. I do all my editing at this original size on a duplicate keeping the original image unedited. Upon finalization of the edit on this duplicate I usually will make two more duplicates, one of which I will size to 300dpi for print @ 9 x 13.5in, the other i would downsize the image to 9x 13.5in @ 72dpi. Am I doing this correctly? I do the same with my 5D Mark II Full Frame. I noticed a photog sent me his original image for editing, shot on a Nikon, NEF file, and the dpi was 300dpi. Do you think this is a standard setting for a NEF file? I actually had some difficulty cleaning and editing his images, they were not sharp. I edit in Adobe Photoshop CC, Lightroom Classic and Affinity. I do want to hurt his feelings nor look foolish when I need to bring this subject up. Thanks
I’m sorry for the delay in replying.
You don’t need to make multiple copies with different DPIs. As my article states, DPI is an arbitrary metadata setting. The only thing that matters in terms of resolution is pixels. Ignore the DPI and keep the pixels at their original maximum (e.g., 4896 x 3264 pixels). The only time I change my resolution is cropping or when I need a lower resolution version for something like a web page. My Canon tags its RAW files at 240 DPI. I have never changed it because it doesn’t matter.
As for your photographer’s NEF files, as long as you haven’t been tinkering with DPI or resolution after importing, the NEF is going to be the best original version you can get. I can’t comment further without knowing a little more. Maybe the photographer had a bad day. Maybe the autofocus was off. Tough subject to shoot. Tough location. I can understand all of that. As a cave photographer, my lens and camera regularly fog up, get covered with dust, splashed with water, smeared with mud, blindly shooting from angles where I physically can’t position my body. Regardless, the DPI setting has absolutely NO affect on photo clarity, so that’s not the issue.
I am shocked at your attacks on Grary. I have known him and Sue over 30 years and consider them to be the finest people I know in the caving commu.ity or elsewhere. Your vitriolic attacks say much more about you than Geary. The extremes you have gone to to slam him are quite impressive. I don’t doubt that all who know him well think all this is garbage. I certainly do.
So, Mary, you’ve been friends with Geary for 30 years. I was his friend for 7 years. We did all kinds of things together. One of the best stories I ever wrote was published in the NSS News, May 2015, and it revolved around Geary and the amusing situations in which we found ourselves on a cave trip. I was his friend. He was my friend. But all that changed when Geary and Sue started accusing us of misappropriation of funds.
Geary didn’t stop with just making accusations. He got attorneys involved. Then he went around told people we were misappropriating funds. Geary had Rob Bisset over to his house and told him we were misappropriating funds. He called Allan Cobb and told him we were misappropriating funds. He sent an email to me, Rob Bisset, Gregg Williams, and Pam Campbell describing all the ways that we were misappropriating funds. And those are just some of the ones that I currently know about.
I have included Geary’s email in the Misappropriation document above (https://bennettlee.com/wp-content/uploads/3-Misappropriation.pdf). In it, Geary explicitly states “…to claim that the profits for the event are the grotto’s is a misappropriation of funds. I obtained an opinion from the NSS legal Committee on this (Jay Clark) and have a second legal opinion pending from Pre-Paid Legal as confirmation.” That’s just two sentences out of a four-page email where Geary makes multiple claims that we misappropriated funds. I proved every one of Geary’s accusations were lies. Our Grotto did NOT misappropriate funds. Geary’s own attorney, Jay Clark from the NSS Legal Committee, couldn’t substantiate Geary’s claims. Ted Lee, also from the NSS Legal Committee, finally convinced Geary that his claims were false.
What is your defense for Geary? You’ve known him 30 years, therefore everything I have posted here is “garbage”? Multiple witnesses, Geary’s own emails, statement from Geary’s own attorney–all lies? If that’s your defense, then your head is so far up Geary’s ass that the only thing you can see is the shit that Geary is feeding you.
Pull your head out of Geary’s ass. Don’t believe him. Don’t believe me. DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH. Contact those people who I listed above. Ask Rob Bisset if he was at Geary’s house where Geary told him the Grotto is misappropriating funds. Ask Allan Cobb if Geary called him and told him the same thing. Ask Rob Bisset, Gregg Williams, and Pam Campbell if the email that I included with all of Geary’s accusations is genuine. Their emails are in the header of Geary’s email. But if you want to make sure I didn’t alter those, all these people are or were NSS members. Look up their contact information in the NSS Members Manual. (Note that Pam and I are no longer renewing our NSS membership nor supporting the NSS while Geary is its President, so you’ll have to lookup her in an older manual.)
I personally challenge you, Mary, to do this research. And if you truly believe that what I’ve posted here is garbage, then your research should vindicate Geary. Then come back here and defend him with actual facts rather than just calling me a liar because you’ve known Geary for 30 years.
However, if you come to the inevitable conclusion that yes, Geary did falsely accuse our Grotto of misappropriation of funds, then what would your recommendations be to your friend of 30 years? What should Geary do to rectify this situation?
Think about that, Mary. Geary comes to you and says that he has just falsely accused his friends of misappropriation of funds, and asks you what should he do about? I hope your response isn’t, “Fuck ’em. Everything they say is garbage.” Instead, I would hope your response would be, “Well, Geary, admit that you were wrong and apologize.” That is exactly what I have been waiting for…an apology.
After Geary made his accusations, I consulted Jay Clark and Ted Lee, both from the NSS Legal Committee, and they both sided with me that the Bexar Grotto did NOT misappropriate funds. Think about that, Mary. Geary KNEW he was wrong at this point. What should he do now? What would you recommend? Geary knows that he is wrong, but instead of apologizing, he hid the fact that behind the scenes he had been falsely accusing our Grotto of misappropriation of funds and lied to the Grotto in the faces of the very people to whom he should have been apologizing.
Wow. What’s your defense to that, Mary?
I sat on this for months. And when it became clear that Geary would never come clean, and our Grotto would never know about Geary’s attacks against us, I chose to publish his email with all of his threats and accusations, along with 32 pages of proof that Geary’s accusations were false.
Now Geary is exposed with his own words proving that Geary accused us of misappropriation of funds, along with my research and statements from multiple attorneys–including Geary’s own attorney–saying we did not misappropriate funds. What should he do now, Mary? Come clean? Admit he was wrong and apologize for falsely accusing his friends of misappropriation of funds? Again, no apology. Instead, Geary made jokes and attacked me personally, calling me a liar. Read his email up above. I don’t think falsely accusing your friends of a felony crime is a joking matter. Do you, Mary? Do you think it’s appropriate for Geary to joke about it?
I am going to reiterate my challenge to you Mary. Do your own research. Don’t believe me. Don’t believe Geary. Contact the other witnesses to Geary’s accusations. Then come back here defend Geary with actual facts, or maybe you’ll be back with an apology of your own. “I’m sorry, Bennett. Turns out you were right. Geary absolutely did falsely accuse you and your Grotto officers of misappropriation of funds. He was wrong. He should apologize.”
I look forward to your response. I hope next time it is based on actual facts instead of attacking me personally and calling my work garbage simply because you are Geary’s friend.
Mary , are u shocked at the evidence ? And the evidence points to who ? And yet you point else where ! 1 of ur finest is a fine SNAKE ! Shame on YOU !
Wow, Bennett, those are amazing photographs! The names you guys have given to these features are imaginative, too.
Hi Bennett – You should enter this in the 2020 NSS Video Salon! Contact me if you have questions about entering.
Not a chance in Hell that I’m going to support the NSS while Geary Schindel is its President and using the NSS legal committee to try to threaten and bully the Bexar Grotto. See https://bennettlee.com/caving/geary/ if you want to know more.
Super-awesome presentation and pictures, Bennett!
awesome display of knowledge
Hi all. This is all about photography which is an image that has a lot of built-in information. Does this same concept apply to graphic design where you start with a blank canvas and add the content, be it a single pixel or millions of pixels? Even if it does, is it not best practice to create anything for print at a minimum of 300 ppi if it is not vector?
Yes, you’re absolutely right. This article is about images with a fixed number of pixels, like photographs. In contrast, vectors, such as artwork created in Adobe Illustrator, are entirely different. Vectors are mathematical formulas that describe shapes. When you rasterize vectors (e.g., export to JPEG/PNG or print), you are converting these formulas to blocky pixels. At this point, you need to know your target output, like printing a 1×1 inch logo on a business card. I agree with you that the minimum in this circumstance should be 300 DPI, which gives you a 300×300 pixel image. But what if the vector art is going on a 40×12 foot highway billboard? That’s where viewing distance comes into play. My table above doesn’t list billboards, but 300 DPI is definitely overkill for that.
Ideally, you want to leave your vectors as vectors. Embed the actual vector in your documents instead of a blocky rasterized image. Send the vector file to your printshop. That way vectors stay in their ideal mathematical representation right up until the time of printing when its target DPI gets negotiated between the vector application and the target printer.
However, if you do decide output your vectors to a rasterized image, by definition you are now dealing with a fixed number of pixels. Hence, this article applies and DPI no longer matters. (What’s unique with vectors is that if you need more pixels, you just export again with a larger resolution, which is not possible with the bat photo examples above. Even so, all these outputs are ultimately still a fixed number of pixels.)
Great artice Bennett. Thanks for all your effort to explain. My question is if I shoot raw and the image arrives in photoshop as 300 dpi and i cut the dpi to 150to get more pixels hence a larger printed image have I lost half the resoulution detail?
Thank you for your reply, Edward McHugh
Just be sure that the resolution (width and height) stay the same. Unfortunately, when you cut the DPI from 300 to 150, Photoshop will automatically cut the resolution in half, too (e.g., from 4000×3000 to 2000×1500). To fix, first copy one of the original resolution settings (e.g., 4000), then change the DPI, and finally paste the original resolution setting back (the other resolution setting will automatically reset).
By the way, a few days ago I would have said that you shouldn’t need to touch the DPI in Photoshop at all. However, just this past weekend I ran into a problem combining images with different DPIs directly into Acrobat. Page sizes were different based on the image’s embedded DPI. (One of the only instances in which DPI still matters–calculating page size given a DPI and specific number of pixels.) I could have tweaked page sizes in each document, but easiest fix for me was to change the DPIs in Photoshop and Lightroom before combining into Acrobat.
Thank you for adding the Texas Cave Conservancy we site to your list. Mike Walsh
Hello Bennett,
I have by default become the family (and extended family) archivist for literally thousands of photos. I have read a lot about these flatbed scanners; people keep telling me that Epson is the way to go. I just want a scanner that is a little overkill for what I need to scan and file these away in an archive for my relatives.
1. The scanning needs to be fast or as fast as I can afford.
2. The scanner needs to do slides and negatives, but most importantly be able to have a good enough resolution to blow some of them up to 8×10 with no loss of resolution.
3. The vast majority of these photos are from the pre-digital age, mostly 35mil.
4. I am confused regarding the USB 3.0 vs 2.0 and what other specifications contribute to speed. I am currently using a Dell 7300 pc.
I realize that some of these $1000.+ scanners are for commercial reprographics businesses and may be way overkill for home use. But what are the the necessary specs particular to my needs? Meaning what is “slightly” overkill for me?
Hi, Dan! Sorry for the delay, and sorry that you are the family archivist. 🙂 It is a tedious job with no end in sight as seemingly endless boxes of old photos emerge from long-forgotten locations.
Let’s start with something that you didn’t mention, which is DPI. Most current consumer scanners should be 2400×2400 or 4800×4800 DPI. The higher the DPI, the more details the scanned image will have. Unfortunately, the files will also be significantly larger, as in huge. Likely you will only need to scan 4×6 photos at 600×600, and 8×10 photos at 300×300. More than that and the hundreds or thousands of huge files will be unmanageable. However, 4800×4800 is good for scanning 35mm negatives and slides. Thus, a 4800×4800 flatbed can serve dual purpose scanning photos at 600×600 and negatives at 4800×4800. If you wondering where the line is, beyond those numbers is what I would consider overkill.
One other metric to consider is color depth. This is measured in bits. 24-bit color equates to 16 million colors (2^24); 48-bit is 281 trillion (2^48). Both are far more than the human eye can see, but more colors will help avoid “banding” in gradients (obvious lines where the color changes shades). If the scanner is less than 24-bit color these days, it’s probably crap and look for something else.
As for scanners, there are two main types: (1) flatbed scanners and (2) film scanners (also called negative/slide scanners). Flatbed scanners are considered the best for scanning printed photos. Flatbed scanners can also scan negatives. However, for best results, scanning the negative in a good film scanner is almost always better than scanning that photo or negative on a flatbed.
Although flatbeds are good for photos and can do negatives, too, they are ridiculously tedious because you have to manually place each photo/negative on the scanner and initiate the scan. Even if it takes only one minute to load a photo, go to the computer to initiate the scan, wait for the scan and data transfer, then remove the photo and repeat, that means for 1,000 photos you’re looking at a full 16 hours straight of monotonous labor (and that 16 hours is just scanning; it doesn’t include any editing, corrections, organization, etc.). For the quantity that you are doing, you might want to consider an automatic feeder. Just load up a bunch of photos, click a button, and come back after later to find all the photos scanned. Unfortunately, automatic feeders can damage the photos. However, the Epson FastFoto is a line specifically designed with an automatic feeder for photos. Good choice for scanning lots of photos, but it’s not a flatbed, so you’ll need something else for negatives, either a flatbed scanner or a dedicated film scanner. If you don’t want to invest in two scanners, skip the FastFoto and just get a 4800×4800 DPI flatbed.
USB version doesn’t matter too much. USB 3.0 is faster and backwards compatible with USB 2.0 (albeit at slower USB 2.0 speeds). Get USB 3.0 if you can but not at the expense of DPI. Focus on DPI first, then color depth, then USB version.
Last thing I want you to consider is taking your photos to a local professional photo lab and have them scan the photos for you. Prices can vary greatly, but you should be able to find one that processes boxes of photos at about $0.20-$1.00 per photo (more photos, cheaper rate). If they have the option, it’s worth paying extra for 600×600 DPI upgrade to the typical 300×300. By the way, 600×600 is 4x the resolution of 300×300, but usually costs only a few pennies more per photo. I had about 1000 photos processed at my local shop (Precision Camera in Austin) at 600×600 for about $200. Totally worth not scanning every photo myself. As an added bonus, when your family drops off a bunch of photos, you just give them the name of your local photo lab and let them deal with it, saving you time and money. 😉
These comparisons are really cool. I like the question, whether it’s better to have still water or ripples. I suppose it depends on the particular scene.
I’m curious, how did you enhance the last photo to make the writing more visible? I’ve tried that with only limited success for some old grafitti.
There is cool stuff like hyperspectral imaging that uses special lights and detectors to expose things that human eye can’t see in the normal visible light spectrum, similar to the blacklight and scorpion above. I didn’t do any of that–I just cheated and zoomed in really huge with Photoshop and manually painted over the old graffiti with a feathered brush.
I just want to note that many of my photos have been color-corrected or had the exposure brightened/darkened, but barely any have been actually modified or “Photoshopped” like this one. I’m a purist. I like to capture the image as-is. This is one of the very few that I modified, mainly so the cave owner and other viewers could see the historic graffiti better.
This calendar features an amazing collection of lovely people doing their thing inside the earth in the altogether (although they are all practicing safe caving by wearing UIAA-approved helmets). Both men & women are seen naked in their favorite caves, some as couples. Despite their lack of clothing, there is no full frontal nudity shown. The photos, all sharp & well-lit, were taken by Bennett Lee, Oscar Berrones & Drew Thompson. They are printed very nicely on good heavy paper. So if you’ve always wondered what it would be like to go cave exploring naked, or to come across other cavers doing so, snap up a copy of this awesome calendar. (It can also come in handy when people ask you, “What do you find in those caves?”)
Dear Bennett,
I am trying to track down an old photo from a caving convention held at Schreiner College in Kerrville. The convention was probably in the mid-1990s, but I can’t be certain. A photographer brought a large wooden box to the convention and photographed individual people supporting themselves various ways in the box. Pretty fun, but my picture was later ruined, so I’d like to find the photographer in case he still has the collection. Are you able to help me in making the contact?
I know right away who you’re talking about. That wooden box belonged to famed photographer Ernie Garza. He took it everywhere and had so many unique shots of people in that simple box.
Unfortunately, Ernie passed away a few years ago. I’ll ask around and see if I can find out who is curating his photography collection.
Just a HUGE “thank you” for collating all this material.
Hey there Bennet,
Just wanted to let you know that your article here was a huge help for me installing my Meso Customs overhead switch panel. I ordered the 4 switch sun roof model and just like you got right into to irreversible cutting before I realized that this was a very poorly designed switch panel with no way to secure it. Pretty disappointed with Meso Customs because I have not received any feedback to address the issue and the advertising for the panel says minor trimming to the back housing. Lets just say I became a Dremel expert over the last 4-5 hours of the install. My install was slightly different then yours because the left hand side of my panel had a bit of a lip already and the sunroof button housing had a lip as well. This allowed me to set the panel (with major trimming to the Meso Panel and light sanding to the sunroof button housing to clear the right side lip and fit without bending) but there was still nothing to hold it in place. I used your sip tie method which worked out great. I’m not much of a computer guy, so I thought maybe you’d be willing to incorporate some pictures into your post for others to view and see what modifications I had to do for my model. If that seems like something you’d be willing to do I’d be happy to send over some pictures with step by step instructions. Hopefully we can work together to help anyone else who ran into this huge headache.
Cheers!
Hi, Nicholi! I am glad my article helped! I wrote this because I want people to have information about the panel. Currently, there is nothing else available online about the 4-port versions. I definitely would have purchased the 3-port instead if I had known how horrible the 4-port install is.
I would love to include your photos and procedures. Email me your photos (my email is at the bottom of every page) with brief description if necessary, and I’ll get them incorporated in the article to help other unfortunate people who purchased the 4-port.
Update this story..
I called about going to see….they said less than 100 show up. This year, we’re in a bad drought and if they went somewhere else, where did they go? Can’t be many places to house millions of bats….
Hi, T B. This story is just about this single trip. The number of bats can vary weekly, and I am not in constant contact with Devil’s Sinkhole to maintain a status. I will note that was there later that year for their 50th anniversary celebration and they did 100,000-200,000 bats for that. Not a great number, but better than 0 or just 100.
I do know from working with bat biologists that white nose syndrome (WNS) has severely impacted or Texas bats. In the northeast where bats hibernate, WNS has decimated populations, killing 98% of the bats there. The general consensus was that Texas would be immune from WNS since Texas is usually a migratory stop or summer location. Unfortunately, WNS has effected Texas bats, too, and bat populations are down across the state.
Hi. I took up nature photography a few years ago, and am about to have some photos printed for the first time ever, for a contest. (And I intend to do more, to put on my walls.) Are the printers at FedEx Office and places like that OK, or are there like boutique type printing places for “serious” photos?
Also, once I choose a physical size, are their printers trustworthy to just give them the full size file and it will convert the pixels to dots right, (i.e., no aliasing) or should I use my software to resize the image to correspond to my chosen physical size at a specified DPI, and give them that file?
Hi, Vess! I would absolutely choose a boutique photo lab that specializes in printing photos over an office print shop whose primary functions is producing huge quantities of business papers. Quality photo labs will have better photo paper selection, better printers, better inks, and staff that actually understand photo printing.
As this article states, you don’t have to do anything special with the size or DPI. In fact, I recommend NOT upscaling and just submitting your photo in its maximum original resolution to the photo lab. Their printers will upscale and downscale as needed using specific algorithms to get the best quality from the target printer. Just make sure that you meet the minimum resolution for your print size, as documented in the table above.
Must be a spelunker, cavers rescue spelunkers.. they also follow the golden rule of caving with a minimum of 3 people.
Although I did enjoy your story. You need to realize the number of people you take away from their lives to get you out because you orgot the golden rule. THREE PEOPLE.
I have never understood the obsession with the term “cavers” versus “spelunkers”. They’re synonymous. Seriously.
But let’s discuss the 3 people rule. If you were out for a walk by yourself along a cliff, and you came upon an overhang that went back 5 feet, would you refuse to step under the overhang unless you had 3 people with you? What if it was a shelter cave that went back 10 feet? Do you need 3 people? What if it went back 20 feet? 30 feet? Where do you draw your imaginary line?
I have well over three decades of caving experience, been on numerous cave expeditions and multiday cave trips, performed multiple cave rescues, taken thousands of people caving, trained hundreds of cavers in vertical techniques, given countless caving presentations, have award-winning cave photographs and cave maps, served for years in various officer positions of caving organizations and multimillion dollar caving nonprofits, found miles of virgin cave passage, currently manage all the caves on literally 2.3 million of acres of karst land in Texas, and my caving exploits have been featured on radio stations, news stations, countless cover photos and headlines, newspaper and magazine articles, so many that I’m frankly not even sure all the places that my caving and cave photographs have been featured.
I know my caving ability. But sure…I’m a spelunker because I did a solo cave trip and responsibly turned around when the passage looked unsafe for me to continue alone.
Thanks for this great trip report! We were just there and your report helped us know which way not to go. If you had taken the west loop instead you would have had a much more enjoyable caving experience, I think, but a lot less adventure and maybe less to write about. 🙂
LOL…I’m glad my experiences taught you which way NOT to go. If I return, I definitely will be taking the loop just north of the larger fenced entrance. Other than a squeezy crawl just to the west, that appears to be mostly walking with no water. Way more fun than sludgy water. 😉
THANK YOU! Yes, I was confused about exactly who all the organizations were. This is very helpful
We are camped at Parks Ranch right now and your detailed post was both enlightening and hilarious.
Thank you for sharing your experience. The $3 shower is a great tip! 🙂
Good luck Bennett!
Nice meeting you between Hogpen Gap and Unicoi Gap. Also, saw you at Hostel Around the Bend. Patrick and Clay.
We took some pictures of you while you were hiking. Let us know how we can get them to you. Good luck on your journey.
I was great meeting you, too. Y’all are great guys. You can email photos to me via the email address at the bottom of the page.
Take care! Keep hiking!
One step at a time !
Seriously, activate your gluts. Your brain can only allow spasm on one side of a joint at a time. When your quads lock up, start with hip extension and glut activation. Then add a hamstring curl, or bent knee, while lying on your abdomen. It is natural to place a lot of weight on your toes when carrying a pack which stresses the patellar tendon and quads. Activating your gluts when you stop to break will give your quads a rest. If the terrain allows digging in your heels as you walk downhill, you shift to your gluts and alleviate the stress on your quads and patellar tendon. You did a good job with your self diagnosis! Unfortunately, the best methods for quick musculoskeletal repair are not easy to find online…oppositional strengthening and counter-strain technique.
Whatever, Dr. Google!
Seriously, thank you, Gina. And using my glutes more will tone those muscles and make my ass look even better than it already does. Win-win.
Readers, let me introduce you to my ex-wife. She is an amazing doctor who spends the time to address your actual issues and solve the underlying cause instead of just prescribing drugs to mask the symptoms. That’s why she has patients driving in from neighboring cities, 4 hours roundtrip, just to see her. If you are anywhere near the San Antonio area and in need of a doctor, I highly recommend you lookup Regina Lee, MD at Family Health of South Texas. She’s so good that even her ex-husband recommends her.
It’s been a while but she is pretty awesome! Good luck with everything Bennett and I have been loving your adventure!
Best ex ever, Bennett! If anyone can do this after 50, it’s you! We are living vicariously through you….well, I am living vicariously. I do not think our mutually shared offspring will ever attempt such a thing.
My AT thru-hiker brother says that the first 1/3 of the AT is a physical challenge. Clearly that’s where you are. If you can make it past the first 1/3, you can make it all the way, barring injury or illness. The second 1/3 is mental. “I’ve got sooooo far to go; my damn toe still hurts; I’m tired of the rain; I miss my mommy.” You ain’t there yet. The final 1/3 is nutritional…if you don’t eat right, that’s where it’s going to catch up to you. So eat right, and hike on!
What an incredible adventure you are having, Bennett!!! Thanks for sharing!
Bennett, I lost my toenail on my big toes on Orizaba. When going downhill, I would point my toes downhill. This jammed the big toes in the end of the boot. I found what to do was go from side-to-side on the trail when going downhill with the side of your feet being on the downhill side. This prevented the toe jamming. I learned this by watching the guide (Eric Simonson) when he went downhill.
I hate to say it, but you are going to lose the toenails. Remember, when going downhill, go from side-to-side with the side of your foot pointing downhill.
This is fun to read. Thank you Bennett! It makes me wonder if/how I could take on such an adventure some day. Meanwhile, living vicariously through you, your descriptions produce inspiring imaginations. Keep safe, best wishes!
Really impressive progress if you finish the entire thing or not.
Wow Bennet you’re doing great!! Looking forward to the next post!
This is an awesome feat to even attempt Bennett! Remember to stay true to yourself and your ultimate goal – but not the timeline! Be safe and persevere at your pace and enjoy 😊 Concentrate not on the race, but on the journey.
“The point of goals isn’t to achieve them. The point is who you become on the way to them.” Henry David Thoreau
I like Mr. Mac’s favorite, “Turkey Lips”, as a trail name.
That’s so Awesome!!! I truly respect all y’all that start early each year! We hiked 274.1 (Springer to Hot Springs) last year and it was tough starting late February! Looking forward to following your journey!!
Whiskers (Hiking With Whiskers)
Good luck! Just stayed at Laughing Heart a couple of weeks ago for the Southern Ruck and met Timber as he passed through. My hiking partner and I are starting NOBO 3/04 from Damascus so you’ll probably pass is at some point.
I’ve been up to Gatlinburg and I never knew there was so much wilderness! Amazing!
Best wishes to you! I’ll be starting my thru at the end of March. By then, you’ll be in the White Mountains!
Tons of snow in the Whites in March. Good luck!
I feel you need something more than comical. I go for “The Seeker”. Think about your caving, photography, hiking! You always strive for the next thing or how to make it better. This trek has got to be about something more than just hiking a lot of miles, right? Remember the goal thing 😊
Amazing, Bennett! I think it’s really smart to listen to your body be in tune with your environment, so you can achieve the long term goal. You’re crushing it!
Suggested trail name: Lonely Slow. You say slow a lot and seem lonely.
Hi! I look forward to following your progress and wish you all the best with your CYTC! I’m an AT section hiker and ran into Captain Caveman before! He was a ridge runner for, I think, NJ or VA near Shenandoah maybe, I can’t remember where. He also carried a home made backpack made from a Tyvek birdseed bag. He was so interesting and inspirational! Keep on hiking!
Best of luck on your adventure! I’m living vicariously through those like you sharing your experience and soon through my 18 yr old son who’s starting his NOBO AT attempt Feb 23. He’s quick, but not likely to catch you!
I know the trail name thing is supposed to happen organically, but yours has to become “Tight Squeeze”!! 8M views! A cool story to tell and as a caver I don’t know how it won’t “stick”!
Happy trails!
Thanks for your tales. I like the trail name grinandbearit. Good luck!!
Bennett,
You are quite a source of inspiration for so many of us wannabe’s! Keep up the great work and I look forward to following you as you accomplish your goal of all three this year. You’ve got this!
Kind regards,
Karen
Truly amazing and look forward to watching your journey!! Stay safe and keep moving forward!!!
WALT WHITMAN
Song of the Open Road
Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.
Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road.
The earth, that is sufficient,
I do not want the constellations any nearer,
I know they are very well where they are,
I know they suffice for those who belong to them.
(Still here I carry my old delicious burdens,
I carry them, men and women, I carry them with me wherever I go,
I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them,
I am fill’d with them, and I will fill them in return.)
2
You road I enter upon and look around, I believe you are not all that is here,
I believe that much unseen is also here.
Here the profound lesson of reception, nor preference nor denial,
The black with his woolly head, the felon, the diseas’d, the illiterate person, are not denied;
The birth, the hasting after the physician, the beggar’s tramp, the drunkard’s stagger, the laughing party of mechanics,
The escaped youth, the rich person’s carriage, the fop, the eloping couple,
The early market-man, the hearse, the moving of furniture into the town, the return back from the town,
They pass, I also pass, any thing passes, none can be interdicted,
None but are accepted, none but shall be dear to me.
3
You air that serves me with breath to speak!
You objects that call from diffusion my meanings and give them shape!
You light that wraps me and all things in delicate equable showers!
You paths worn in the irregular hollows by the roadsides!
I believe you are latent with unseen existences, you are so dear to me.
You flagg’d walks of the cities! you strong curbs at the edges!
You ferries! you planks and posts of wharves! you timber-lined sides! you distant ships!
You rows of houses! you window-pierc’d façades! you roofs!
You porches and entrances! you copings and iron guards!
You windows whose transparent shells might expose so much!
You doors and ascending steps! you arches!
You gray stones of interminable pavements! you trodden crossings!
From all that has touch’d you I believe you have imparted to yourselves, and now would impart the same secretly to me,
From the living and the dead you have peopled your impassive surfaces, and the spirits thereof would be evident and amicable with me.
4
The earth expanding right hand and left hand,
The picture alive, every part in its best light,
The music falling in where it is wanted, and stopping where it is not wanted,
The cheerful voice of the public road, the gay fresh sentiment of the road.
O highway I travel, do you say to me Do not leave me?
Do you say Venture not—if you leave me you are lost?
Do you say I am already prepared, I am well-beaten and undenied, adhere to me?
O public road, I say back I am not afraid to leave you, yet I love you,
You express me better than I can express myself,
You shall be more to me than my poem.
I think heroic deeds were all conceiv’d in the open air, and all free poems also,
I think I could stop here myself and do miracles,
I think whatever I shall meet on the road I shall like, and whoever beholds me shall like me,
I think whoever I see must be happy.
5
From this hour I ordain myself loos’d of limits and imaginary lines,
Going where I list, my own master total and absolute,
Listening to others, considering well what they say,
Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating,
Gently,but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me.
I inhale great draughts of space,
The east and the west are mine, and the north and the south are mine.
I am larger, better than I thought,
I did not know I held so much goodness.
All seems beautiful to me,
I can repeat over to men and women You have done such good to me I would do the same to you,
I will recruit for myself and you as I go,
I will scatter myself among men and women as I go,
I will toss a new gladness and roughness among them,
Whoever denies me it shall not trouble me,
Whoever accepts me he or she shall be blessed and shall bless me.
6
Now if a thousand perfect men were to appear it would not amaze me,
Now if a thousand beautiful forms of women appear’d it would not astonish me.
Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons,
It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.
Here a great personal deed has room,
(Such a deed seizes upon the hearts of the whole race of men,
Its effusion of strength and will overwhelms law and mocks all authority and all argument against it.)
Here is the test of wisdom,
Wisdom is not finally tested in schools,
Wisdom cannot be pass’d from one having it to another not having it,
Wisdom is of the soul, is not susceptible of proof, is its own proof,
Applies to all stages and objects and qualities and is content,
Is the certainty of the reality and immortality of things, and the excellence of things;
Something there is in the float of the sight of things that provokes it out of the soul.
Now I re-examine philosophies and religions,
They may prove well in lecture-rooms, yet not prove at all under the spacious clouds and along the landscape and flowing currents.
Here is realization,
Here is a man tallied—he realizes here what he has in him,
The past, the future, majesty, love—if they are vacant of you, you are vacant of them.
Only the kernel of every object nourishes;
Where is he who tears off the husks for you and me?
Where is he that undoes stratagems and envelopes for you and me?
Here is adhesiveness, it is not previously fashion’d, it is apropos;
Do you know what it is as you pass to be loved by strangers?
Do you know the talk of those turning eye-balls?
7
Here is the efflux of the soul,
The efflux of the soul comes from within through embower’d gates, ever provoking questions,
These yearnings why are they? these thoughts in the darkness why are they?
Why are there men and women that while they are nigh me the sunlight expands my blood?
Why when they leave me do my pennants of joy sink flat and lank?
Why are there trees I never walk under but large and melodious thoughts descend upon me?
(I think they hang there winter and summer on those trees and always drop fruit as I pass;)
What is it I interchange so suddenly with strangers?
What with some driver as I ride on the seat by his side?
What with some fisherman drawing his seine by the shore as I walk by and pause?
What gives me to be free to a woman’s and man’s good-will? what gives them to be free to mine?
8
The efflux of the soul is happiness, here is happiness,
I think it pervades the open air, waiting at all times,
Now it flows unto us, we are rightly charged.
Here rises the fluid and attaching character,
The fluid and attaching character is the freshness and sweetness of man and woman,
(The herbs of the morning sprout no fresher and sweeter every day out of the roots of themselves, than it sprouts fresh and sweet continually out of itself.)
Toward the fluid and attaching character exudes the sweat of the love of young and old,
From it falls distill’d the charm that mocks beauty and attainments,
Toward it heaves the shuddering longing ache of contact.
9
Allons! whoever you are come travel with me!
Traveling with me you find what never tires.
The earth never tires,
The earth is rude, silent, incomprehensible at first, Nature is rude and incomprehensible at first,
Be not discouraged, keep on, there are divine things well envelop’d,
I swear to you there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell.
Allons! we must not stop here,
However sweet these laid-up stores, however convenient this dwelling we cannot remain here,
However shelter’d this port and however calm these waters we must not anchor here,
However welcome the hospitality that surrounds us we are permitted to receive it but a little while.
10
Allons! the inducements shall be greater,
We will sail pathless and wild seas,
We will go where winds blow, waves dash, and the Yankee clipper speeds by under full sail.
Allons! with power, liberty, the earth, the elements,
Health, defiance, gayety, self-esteem, curiosity;
Allons! from all formules!
From your formules, O bat-eyed and materialistic priests.
The stale cadaver blocks up the passage—the burial waits no longer.
Allons! yet take warning!
He traveling with me needs the best blood, thews, endurance,
None may come to the trial till he or she bring courage and health,
Come not here if you have already spent the best of yourself,
Only those may come who come in sweet and determin’d bodies,
No diseas’d person, no rum-drinker or venereal taint is permitted here.
(I and mine do not convince by arguments, similes, rhymes,
We convince by our presence.)
11
Listen! I will be honest with you,
I do not offer the old smooth prizes, but offer rough new prizes,
These are the days that must happen to you:
You shall not heap up what is call’d riches,
You shall scatter with lavish hand all that you earn or achieve,
You but arrive at the city to which you were destin’d, you hardly settle yourself to satisfaction before you are call’d by an irresistible call to depart,
You shall be treated to the ironical smiles and mockings of those who remain behind you,
What beckonings of love you receive you shall only answer with passionate kisses of parting,
You shall not allow the hold of those who spread their reach’d hands toward you.
12
Allons! after the great Companions, and to belong to them!
They too are on the road—they are the swift and majestic men—they are the greatest women,
Enjoyers of calms of seas and storms of seas,
Sailors of many a ship, walkers of many a mile of land,
Habituès of many distant countries, habituès of far-distant dwellings,
Trusters of men and women, observers of cities, solitary toilers,
Pausers and contemplators of tufts, blossoms, shells of the shore,
Dancers at wedding-dances, kissers of brides, tender helpers of children, bearers of children,
Soldiers of revolts, standers by gaping graves, lowerers-down of coffins,
Journeyers over consecutive seasons, over the years, the curious years each emerging from that which preceded it,
Journeyers as with companions, namely their own diverse phases,
Forth-steppers from the latent unrealized baby-days,
Journeyers gayly with their own youth, journeyers with their bearded and well-grain’d manhood,
Journeyers with their womanhood, ample, unsurpass’d, content,
Journeyers with their own sublime old age of manhood or womanhood,
Old age, calm, expanded, broad with the haughty breadth of the universe,
Old age, flowing free with the delicious near-by freedom of death.
13
Allons! to that which is endless as it was beginningless,
To undergo much, tramps of days, rests of nights,
To merge all in the travel they tend to, and the days and nights they tend to,
Again to merge them in the start of superior journeys,
To see nothing anywhere but what you may reach it and pass it,
To conceive no time, however distant, but what you may reach it and pass it,
To look up or down no road but it stretches and waits for you, however long but it stretches and waits for you,
To see no being, not God’s or any, but you also go thither,
To see no possession but you may possess it, enjoying all without labor or purchase, abstracting the feast yet not abstracting one particle of it,
To take the best of the farmer’s farm and the rich man’s elegant villa, and the chaste blessings of the well-married couple, and the fruits of orchards and flowers of gardens,
To take to your use out of the compact cities as you pass through,
To carry buildings and streets with you afterward wherever you go,
To gather the minds of men out of their brains as you encounter them, to gather the love out of their hearts,
To take your lovers on the road with you, for all that you leave them behind you,
To know the universe itself as a road, as many roads, as roads for traveling souls.
All parts away for the progress of souls,
All religion, all solid things, arts, governments—all that was or is apparent upon this globe or any globe, falls into niches and corners before the procession of souls along the grand roads of the universe.
Of the progress of the souls of men and women along the grand roads of the universe, all other progress is the needed emblem and sustenance.
Forever alive, forever forward,
Stately, solemn, sad, withdrawn, baffled, mad, turbulent, feeble, dissatisfied,
Desperate, proud, fond, sick, accepted by men, rejected by men,
They go! they go! I know that they go, but I know not where they go,
But I know that they go toward the best—toward something great.
Whoever you are, come forth! or man or woman come forth!
You must not stay sleeping and dallying there in the house, though you built it, or though it has been built for you.
Out of the dark confinement! out from behind the screen!
It is useless to protest, I know all and expose it.
Behold through you as bad as the rest,
Through the laughter, dancing, dining, supping, of people,
Inside of dresses and ornaments, inside of those wash’d and trimm’d faces,
Behold a secret silent loathing and despair.
No husband, no wife, no friend, trusted to hear the confession,
Another self, a duplicate of every one, skulking and hiding it goes,
Formless and wordless through the streets of the cities, polite and bland in the parlors,
In the cars of railroads, in steamboats, in the public assembly,
Home to the houses of men and women, at the table, in the bedroom, everywhere,
Smartly attired, countenance smiling, form upright, death under the breast-bones, hell under the skull-bones,
Under the broadcloth and gloves, under the ribbons and artificial flowers,
Keeping fair with the customs, speaking not a syllable of itself,
Speaking of any thing else but never of itself.
14
Allons! through struggles and wars!
The goal that was named cannot be countermanded.
Have the past struggles succeeded?
What has succeeded? yourself? your nation? Nature?
Now understand me well—it is provided in the essence of things that from any fruition of success, no matter what, shall come forth something to make a greater struggle necessary.
My call is the call of battle, I nourish active rebellion,
He going with me must go well arm’d,
He going with me goes often with spare diet, poverty, angry enemies, desertions.
15
Allons! the road is before us!
It is safe—I have tried it—my own feet have tried it well—be not detain’d!
Let the paper remain on the desk unwritten, and the book on the shelf unopen’d!
Let the tools remain in the workshop! let the money remain unearn’d!
Let the school stand! mind not the cry of the teacher!
Let the preacher preach in his pulpit! let the lawyer plead in the court, and the judge expound the law.
Camerado, I give you my hand!
I give you my love more precious than money,
I give you myself before preaching or law;
Will you give me yourself? will you come travel with me?
Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?
YOU ROCK BENNETT! My husband and I enjoy hiking. We keep them fairly moderate hikes but will be doing a section hike from Springer to Woody at the end of March. Never have we done this but your words of wisdom telling your readers to go for it, whether you are scared of that group you joined because you are shy… I swore you were talking directly to me!! 🤣🤦🏼♀️ I am beyond so excited to follow you and this awesome journey you are on. I will keep your journey close to heart when we start ours, even though it’s a small, small section in comparison to yours. I am so thrilled I came across your page and honestly I cannot even remember how I did. Keep up the great work regardless how slow you feel you are. It’s a marathon not a race!
“Lens Solo”. Your view thru the lens is unique and shows a true eye for nature’s beauty, and even more special as you hike alone. Just my suggestion… 😉
How can I order the cricket crap from you
You’re going to get so, so much faster! Just give it time and the speed will naturally follow. Congrats on taking the lead!
Such sweet remarks!! We thoroughly enjoyed our time with you and wish it had been longer! We’re out on trail tonight SOBO to Hot Springs! Maybe we’ll see you when you get to PA!
VERY disappointed that Rapunzel is not on this list! 🙁
Switch between the two – TS by day and T by night, ppl will come to learn that Tortuga Is Tight Squeeze and just call you TITS for short.
I like this one!
Except I voted for tight squeeze for the double entendre, caving stories, and viral video game.
Sort of wanted to do a mash up for ‘night squeeze,’ but really that’s too forward. I like this one because you can also just be ‘tight,’ (of course you are) or ‘squeeze,’ which is more adorable. Well done, Bennett, keep walking and enjoying this world!
Traily McTrailFace
Would be a much better name.
Definitely NTTSPUHB….
What?!? You know I gotta ask… What is NTTSPUHB? Night Turtle Tight Squeeze Pink Unicorn Hairbrush?
RUB…Rainbow Unicorn Brush
Night Rub
That is funny!
Squirt was the little dude’s name from Finding Nemo…Night Squirt.
Maybe I’ll be Night Turtle, and my little guy will be Night Squirt.
Where did you learn your hiking skills?
I was in the Boy Scouts as a kid and continued hiking and mountaineering as a young adult. However, over the last 20 years, my focus has shifted to caving and backpacking has basically ceased.
Also, even though I have some backpacking skills, those are from the days of old when “ultralight” backpacking didn’t exist. Everything was heavy. Heavy sleeping bag. Heavy stove. Heavy clothes. Heavy external-frame backpack. And stiff, heavy boots to help your feet deal with all the weight. Backpacking now is a learning experience for me with all new ultralight gear. Unfortunately, my mindset is still heavy. It’s hard for me to get my pack under 35 pounds even with ultralight gear.
What an adventure! Pushing yourself to your limits and enjoying every second. This is a life well lived. Safe journeys, fellow traveler.
You got me good. Dad
If anyone can do this, YOU can! You had some bad weather, but I KNOW you can make it up! I look forward to your next posts! Luv ya cuz!
Enjoy this wonderful adventure!! So what if it takes a bit longer than what you had planned! The memories you are making will last a lifetime!
Can’t wait for the next post!
Bennett you be really sure to take good care of Christine when she’s with you. I wish you both a lot of fun but foremost I wish you safety remember she is recovering from Covid and is not fully there yet.
Don’t worry, Barbara. I’ll take good care of your delightful daughter. In fact, I’m hoping that I’ll finally be able to keep up with her now. She and Jean are so fast!
Also, thank you for loaning her to me for a few days after New Years. It was a great way to start the trail. <3
I haven’t seen a post in over 10 days. I hope everything is OK.
You are amazing. We are chastising your Dad for not being more supportive. Marsha and I can’t believe what you have already accomplished. Keep on keeping on!
Been enjoying your posts and pictures! Where is the VOR (FAA navigation tower) in the picture located? Thanks for the great stories. Keep up the good work!
That was on Snowbird Mountain. It’s on the other side of Interstate 40 from Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Wow Bennett! I’m so happy for you! You’re living my dream right now 🙂
Thanks, Lindsey! I love you, girlfriend! You, too, Dave!
Congrats Bennett!!! You’ve got this!
BTW, I didn’t click on it
Congratulations Bennett! I have been waiting for an update. Glad you had some good company on your trail! Keep it up! Cheering you on from KY!
Hi Bennett, Spoke with you on the bridge over the Potomac River today at HF. I was just finishing a 21 mi. bike ride on the C&O Canal. Good Luck. Terry Tabb
Ya got this ! Probably IC U in Pa , Im Crawford
MY trail name is now So Duck
Thanks for not posting an image of the results of a snot rocket
For 22 years you’ve been Bendy to us. Given your tight squeeze tendencies, it seems especially appropriate. It’s succinct, more like a call sign, easy to remember, and certainly unique to you.
Mr. March or Mr. May on the calendar? Inquiring minds want to know.
Just what I said. Cover photo. That long, luscious hair and beautiful, round butt are all me. Also, I’m Mr. April, too, with that deliciously hairy belly. Damn, I’m sexy. 🙂
Hay Squeeze
i was wondering what had u stop at Hamburg mid morning .. i was wondering if you had run into a trail closure from the super fund dumping fertilizer ,seed and soil in the mountains by plane .. Dif section from about where u are thru Little Gap (Blue Mtn Drive] , Wind Gap [Route 115 ] are being closed as they do this … not all closed at same time ..
SoDuck might run into u around Lehigh Gap Area ,
But now afraid of ur Covid [ i assist a 2 time cancer surviving Army veteran ] do not want to pass it on .
i will have u sign my old big book as i am down sizing to a smaller note book .
i Hope and pray u recover and suffer no serious side affects
I had to stop in Hamburg to get food, new shoelaces, and permethrin. Latter is for ticks, which are already active due to the mild winter. Meta (another triple crowner ahead of me) was off trail 4 days from an infection possibly caused by a tick bite. I’d prefer to not get Lyme or any other tick-borne disease. Hence, the permethrin.
As for COVID, I am long over it. Mild symptoms only 2-3 days. No apparent side effects. Plus, I took another COVID-19 test this morning, and it was negative. I suspect all the vaccines and boosters allowed my body to kick COVID’s ass fast.
Glad U R doing well . Ticks are one of my biggest worries , Today Friday the 7th of April was the last scheduled day for planes dropping stuff on to trail ..So 1 less worry of a delay thru this Northern section of PA .. looks like u will make George W Outerbridge shelter or a hotel tonight . How was knife edge and how were the rocks in this section .
I’m hoping to attempt the CYTC next year and am really enjoying following your hike! This post was maybe your most fun to read, but it did make me wonder whether you might benefit from improving your uphill hiking form (based on increasing calves and decreasing glutes).
If you aren’t already doing so, try planting your feet flat when hiking uphill, instead of rolling off the ball of your foot like you would when walking flat terrain. On steeper slopes, you might also need to angle your toes outward (like a duck) to avoid overstretching your achilles.
With this foot position, you should be using your thighs and glutes to lift your body and pack, instead of pushing yourself up with your calves.
This is how I hike and my glutes get bigger rather than smaller the more I hike — maybe you can get those buns back by the time you hit Katahdin. 🙂
If Amazon carries what you need – they have drop-boxes at pretty remote locations (and all the Whole Foods Markets).
You might be able to leverage this to have a new pair of shoes waiting for you at a more convenient location.
Possibly with enough advance notice, an angel could do the hard work of finding an actual locker that’s both just in time and not too far out of the way to drop a pair in your path.
https://www.amazon.com/ulp/view
Yeah, I’ve been doing Amazon Lockers where available. Unfortunately, these tiny towns frequently don’t have one. Also, when they do, you have to guess time it just right. While some items might deliver in 1-2 days in a big city, same might need 2-4 days in a small, remote town. You then have 3 days to pickup the item or it gets shipped back to Amazon. If you’re too early or too late, then you have to try again at next town that has an Amazon Locker.
I’m still keeping tabs on your hike! Every now and then I pull the map up at like 1am and see that you are still hiking. Do you ever sleep? You’ve done a good portion of the trail in the dark.
I am just now reading your blog, but I’m pleased to see I was blog worthy. Thank you for making me sound more delightful than crazy.
Can’t wait to see a summit pic!
Sarah! Of course you’re blog worthy! That was awesome to have you waiting at a trailhead for me specifically. <3
BTW, with your trail magic driving me to the store down the road, I was able to provide some trail magic by sharing my big bag of Fritos from the store with two Long Trail hikers, Luke and Nathan. We were leapfrogging each other for several days where the LT and AT overlapped. After the store, I stopped at the shelter they were staying at, ate my delicious pesto turkey sandwich, and passed around my Fritos. That was a treat for all of us. I want planning to walk the mile to the store, so if you hadn't been at the trail and offered to drive me there, then I definitely wouldn't have had a delicious supper and chips to share. So thank you, Sarah. That was wonderful.
Also, we were eating at dusk around a nice campfire. Once my sandwich was done and we'd had our fill of chips, I strapped on my headlamp and started hiking again because, no, I never sleep. 😉
Damn good job! Dad
Bennett, I have the utmost respect for you and your accomplishments. I know that we joke a lot with each other, but I’m proud to include you amongst my friends. Best of luck on the CDT.
Wait… You were joking all this time? I always thought you were just a big jerk. I’m kidding! I love you, Crash. Glad to count you amongst my friends, too.
Damn! That sucks. Nothing fun should be so frustrating to achieve. Good luck and see you at TCR?
Oh, Sheryl, you beautiful woman, you know that I always look forward to seeing your charming smile and talking with you. I would love to make TCR, but so many question marks. Can I make the Canadian border? I think so. Can I make it before TCR? I dunno. Can I make it in time to complete the CDT this year? I.e., enough time to flipflop back to Copper Mountain and make it to the Mexican boder? Again, I dunno. I’m so damn slow. LOL. TCR would delay me at least a week.
Plus, I REALLY want to get back to Chris in Alaska. I miss her. She’s amazing. I mean, you’re amazing, and my caver friends are amazing. I would love to see all of you at TCR, but Chris has a real draw for me that even all of my caver friends combined just can’t compete with. 😉
Bennett, in the book “Old Lady on the Trail: Triple Crown at 76” by Mary E. Davidson, published 2017, she had the same problems you had at the national parks, but not doing the hikes continuously, she could make reservations, then show up at the appointed times. It was a hassle even for her. You should read the book! On the CDT, I recognized many of the locations as being where I have hiked. She took 16 years to complete the Triple Crown. Dad
Oh Bennett. This is a beautiful story, I almost cried. I feel like I was there with you (and Chris).
Perhaps you can turn this blog into a book? It is THAT good.
I send a big smile, heart warmth 💕
Thank you, Annie! Even though we haven’t seen each other in many years, I still consider you a dear friend. I love you and miss you! (Although not quite as much as I miss Chris.) 😉
I have hiked in the area you are now entering. The Wind River Range was my favorite place to take Scouters for a hike the year before they were old enough to go to Philmont. After the Wind River Range, Philmont was a piece of cake. If you can hike through the Circle of Towers, it is a great view. I have been on both the backside and frontside of the Circle of Towers. It may be slightly out of your way.
1 is the loneliest number. All by myself. Some heads are gonna roll. Enough song lyrics? I’m more annoyed at the jerk face older brother deer that was doing all the cool deer-teenager or deer-nager things and flaunting them to his younger deer brother. Whattabutthead!
Loved the 2022 calendar and wish there was going to be a 2024 one.
J2 Basecamp, Oaxaca, México. A Mouse 🐁 Chewed Through a Brand New Tent Wall to Get to Food 🍬 Inside on the First Night. The Tent ⛺️ Owner Was Forewarned Beforehand.
Loved the pictures of the horny toads and wild horses. I’ve read all your posts. What an amazing journey!!!!
Love you cuz!
Bennett is spot on regarding Old Faithful. I spent a day there many years ago with some friends, unexpectedly, due to one friend who came down with plantar fasciitis. We all spent the day running (the friend hobbling) around checking out all the other geysers, and that was so much better than Old Faithful. So many different colors and types of eruptions, I think it’s worth it to see everything else even if you miss out on Old (yawn) Faithful..
Hey, Tight Squeeze. It’s High Country from your Wind River Range encounter.
I was wandering if you completed The CDT this year? Or is that a 2024 hike?
I’m considering redoing the CT or maybe the PNWT this year. Maybe run into you again this year out on the trail.
Enjoy your photography. Take care.
High Country
Sooo funny, I haven’t laughed that hard in…well…I don’t remember, No time recently. I’ll remember the warnings about the hut and the mice. I intend to hike that direction this end of July/ August. I do have a permit for rnp, but not sure the dates will need correct. I was trying to figure out the mileage between Breckenridge and rnp, when your post appeared in the search.
This article is really dumb. It’s like arguing that 12 eggs is a dozen, but a dozen eggs is not 12.
Not a very articulate criticism. You don’t indicate what terms are a dozen versus 12. I assume they’re DPI (dots per inch) and pixels since that’s comparison throughout the entire article. Let me clarify using your egg analogy.
You go to the store and buy a dozen eggs. In this case, the egg carton is like a photo printed at a specific DPI. It’s a specific size. It holds a dozen eggs, also known as 12. The eggs are like pixels. However, if you have an ostrich egg, the carton won’t work. By the way, one ostrich egg is equal to two dozen chicken eggs (also known as 24), so a single ostrich egg wouldn’t even fit in the entire carton. In contrast, eggs that are smaller than chicken eggs, like hummingbird eggs, would fit. Roughly 10,000 hummingbird eggs fit in an ostrich egg, so that means you could fit about 416 hummingbird eggs (also known as a lot) in each chicken-egg-sized holder in your carton.
The point is that you can’t put one big huge egg (pixel) in your carton (DPI), but you can put a dozen chicken eggs (pixels) or lots of smaller eggs (also pixels but more of them). Hence, the entire point of the article.
OMG that is a very large pixilated and hilarious response that the person truly deserved! 🤣🤣🤣
Years ago, in my youth, I was a graphic artist, printer, and photographer. Years ago. At present, I am trying to find original art from the online image houses, shutterbug, i stock, etc., to produce a 4×6 foot printed tile mural. The entire scope of pixel, dpi, and final size landed squarely at my feet. I can’t thank you enough for the time you invested in this article and following commentary. Totally revitalized long lost knowledge. Now my complaint is what don’t the image houses place pixel size AT THE IMAGE! lol Again, thank you very much.