Whoops, I may have contributed to thread fog. Should have used my GPS.

There's no problem with wearing cotton. There's no problem wearing cotton jeans, cotton t-shirts and cotton hoodies... unless that's ALL you've got. That was the stupid part.

Cotton does absorb moisture from your body and the atmosphere, even just in a house. That fact alone will contribute to hypothermia.

But dumb and ignorant also contribute a lot to hypothermia...

Sue

If that's all you have on a road trip in winter in the Pacific Northwest, and you get stranded for any reason, it's potentially a big problem.

Oregon is twice as big as England and has 1/30th the population density. 70% of Oregon's population is in one sliver of the state (Willamette Valley). You can walk a long way, you can drive a long way, and not find help. So it's prudent in remote parts of Oregon, especially in winter, to take steps to avoid freezing to death when the car engine stops running and you lose the heater.

I love cotton and live in the more temperate and densely populated mid-Atlantic, but all year long I have a warmer jacket (windproof/waterproof), gloves and fleece accessories in the car because even here in the mountains in July where we often camp, its usually in the 50s at night, sometimes the 40s. That's 3700-foot elevation.

In winter, here or Oregon (where I am from - the Columbia Gorge), I'd not be driving far with just a t-shirt and hooded cotton sweatshirt.

I have limited faith in weather forecasts so am always prepared for rain and cold if going any distance from home. I watch the weather forecasts rather closely since we do a lot of outdoor activities. Rarely does the forecast state that there's a ZERO chance of rain. Seems 10% chance is as good as it gets.

Gloves, neck gaiter, warm hat, ear muffs, balacava -- these things take so little room and they're easy to keep in the car every day of the year. Throw in a waterproof parka.

They will greatly increase comfort if stranded in less than optimal weather.

Confession time: I wear cotton too AND I have a Garmin Nuvi. But I know the limits of that GPS and it doesn't bother me to hear the sweet but animated voice say, "recalculating" as I disregard the route it has selected and instead continue the way I know. Too many traffic lights that way and the construction zones suck.

There are lots of things the Nuvi does well, but it doesn't necessarily "know more". Thinking the little box on your dashboard knows your car won't get stuck in the snow ahead can get you killed. GPS units have their limits and so does cotton.

Cotton is very comfortable when you're out of the rain and the temps are good, but when it gets wet and the temps go south cotton can be a killer. But I still wear cotton. I also wear wool and cool-max and polyester fleece. They all have their place and some are better than others at times; at other times they reverse and the others are better.

Wool socks are good all year

Not Google Maps, but Google Earth:

http://www.usgsquads.com/mapfinder.html#MapFinder_for_Google_Earth

Click on the green download button for the DDS MapFinder. I use this all the time when researching old roads and stuff. When this layer is active, it will automatically update the topo that best fits. Think of it as TerraServer meets Google Earth.

Don't forget, you can get directions in Google Earth now too!


And one more useful thing to some on here...

A free interface for the National Geodetic Survey benchmarks:

http://www.metzgerwillard.us/Setup.aspx ( instructions on how to use are here: http://www.metzgerwillard.us/NGSCS.html )

Basically with the 2nd one, open Google Earth, then go to this page and select how you want to do a search. I usually do a radius search (max is 10 miles). It automatically gets from Google Earth the center point of your screen. This application does not auto update, and there is a limit of 3000 returned stations. Click on a marker, and then click on the link (at the top of the bubble) for marker information. The most interesting would probably be the description on how to find it. Can reveal history of an area.

ki4buc,

Thanks!! That is awesome. I'll try it.