john z newsletter october 2024

Hello! It has been a while. Thank you for letting me into your inbox again. January feels like a long time ago.

In the realm of hiking, I went to the Whites in New Hampshire for a week. Didn’t do much documentation, but I filmed a quick video about setting up my shelter (and other related tangents).

And now I’m still riding that trail high a month after returning from a hike from Santa Fe to Telluride, with some bonus miles in the Olympics and on the Greys & Torreys section of the CDT. On this trip, I summited my 37th state high point, revisited the CDT San Juans (without snow), and most significantly proposed to Alex.

At home, I’ve been continuing to enjoy sipping on sheng puerh, playing piano, and for a while there I thought some new music was about to be released, but I lost the spark. Soon enough! I have been trying not to force things these days. With work, when things stop being fun I make a concerted effort to make a change, sometimes it means changing my approach or figuring a way to “let it be easy.”

With that said, since returning from my hike I’ve redesigned the Grasshopper. There is now a removable foam back pad, and the sleeve can also be used to stash a laptop or water bladder. The side and bottom pockets are now made from ultrastretch. The front pocket now spans across the width of the front panel, with lashing points above and below the pocket. Overall, the pack is more refined and I'm really quite proud of this redesign. I feel like it marks another evolution in my design and manufacturing skills. They are made to order in about 4-6 weeks, and are available now!

So now I’ve started working on making a bunch of Grasshoppers while also starting on the Yonder backpack update. Life’s good.

Hope you are well.

- John Z