Reviewer Information

• Name: Cora Hussey
• Age: 23
• Gender: Female
• Height: 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
• Weight: 155 lbs (70 kg)
• Email address: cahhmc "at" yahoo "dot" com
• City, State, Country: Los Angeles, CA, USA
• Date: September 25, 2003

Basic Product Information

• Manufacturer: J.L. Darling Corporation
• Year of Manufacture: 2003
• URL: http://www.durarite.com/ (As listed on Product)
  http://www.riteintherain.com/ (Alternate link)
• Listed weight: None
• Weight as delivered: 3.4 oz (97 g)

Long Term Testing

Trip Details:

Over the additional winter trips, elevations ranged from 5,000 to 12,000 ft (1524 to 3700 m), temperatures ranged from 75 F to -5 F (24 C to -20 C), and conditions ranged from cold, dry desert to talus and forest under a thick snowpack at higher elevations. Locations were in the Sierras of California, including Inyo National Forest and Sequoia National Park.

After having fun with different writing utensils, uses, and conditions in the field testing phase, I settled in to using the journal as a normal piece of my gear in the later months. The reason for this should become clear in the rest of this report -- this journal is fantastic.

In addition to the two trip uses described in the Field Report, I continued to use the journal as a log book and a reminder journal. The log book use meant that I would record long-term information that I wanted to use outside, most often information about the snowpack I was hiking on in order to better follow avalanche conditions. As many people do, I like to keep quick charts of density and type of snow versus snow depth, and I found that the pages of the Extreme Journal were nicely sized for a quick analysis of that sort. It was also especially helpful to not have to keep taking the journal in and out of a protective plastic baggie in the wet snow. I only used pencil in the snow, since my pens would often freeze, but my charts and notes would stay readable from day to day and trip to trip. I would also log such things as mileage, notes from seminars, and weather. These things do not really require specific space, and so the size of the Extreme journal was more than adequate.

The other major use -- as a reminder journal -- required the journal to spend extensive time riding around in my pocket. This became better as winter progressed and I could store the journal in my (bigger) side thigh-level cargo pockets rather than the (smaller) top hand pockets of my summer pants and shorts. The Extreme Journal was just a little too big for me to carry around in a hand pocket all the time, but in a cargo pocket I rarely notice it.

When all is said and done, I used up about half of the pages in the journal in the six month period. I say this as a compliment to the journal, since I think (a) the lack of protective plastic baggie I usually put on journals as well as (b) the ability for me to abuse it by constantly carrying it in my pocket both contributed to my being able to use it whenever I needed it... and thus using more of it.

Comments by Attribute:

Paper

+ Long Term Durability: Excellent
No other paper I have used comes close. The paper has never gotten water or sweat damage, and holds writing nicely when in the journal. The closest it came to wearing down was the one lone piece of paper I carried in my pocket for over a week of hiking and climbing, from which the edges were a bit worn. However, other pieces of normal wood-paper I have carried in my pockets have gotten demolished from just sweat on the drive to and packing at the trail head, so this paper is impressive. The writing in the Extreme Journal still smudges sometimes, but I do not consider that to be a problem since the writing on any other of the journals I have used would have bled out to the point of being unreadable the first time it got wet.

+ Long Term Care/Maintenance: None
I am not quite sure how one would maintain paper, but I am quite sure that this paper does not need maintenance. The paper got dusty on a few occasions, but the dust would just blow off or wipe off on the next snow trip. The paper does look less white than when the journal was new (more on the used pages than the unused pages), but not by much.

Journal as a Whole

+ Long Term Durability: Excellent
The binding stayed just fine (I often have to bend bindings on my less well made notebooks back into shape) and although the cover is a bit scuffed from some of my trips, so are my knees and elbows, and so I remain impressed. I even tried to abuse the notebook a bit by folding, shoving, and cramming it into places, and it stood up well. Nothing really seemed to destroy or even really affect it.

+ Long Term Care/Maintenance: None
Especially in the later winter testing, the journal never even really got dirty. The only maintenance I have ever had to perform on other journals was to bend the binding back into shape and to dry the journal pressed flat. Neither applied here since the binding held up very well and the journal seems to be immune to any water damage whatsoever.

Summary

+ General Comments: I continue to be impressed with this journal. Previous to testing this journal, I would always try to carry a normal wood-paper journal, especially for the trips that I take an organizing role in (to keep track of the million little bits of to-do information). However, paper journals always ended up getting demolished in my pocket and so I stopped using journals altogether. With this test, the Extreme Journal has more than filled that need in my outdoor life. And even though it is not the ultimate answer to all of my logbook and journal needs, it is the only thing that has even come close.

+ Trips that I would bring the Extreme Journal on in the future: Any trip where I would (or even where I think I would) use a notebook.

+ Upsides for me:

• Weather durable, Writing durable, Abuse durable
• Easy to write in, even when held in my hand
• No maintenance or field care needed at all

+ Downsides for me:

• Too small to teach from, yet a bit too large for pocket comfort
• Slippery paper -- difficult to write both quickly and neatly
• Some writing mediums can smudge

Read more reviews of Rite In The Rain gear
Read more gear reviews by Cora Hussey

Reviews > Books > Blank Journals and Writing Implements > RITR - Extreme Journal > Cora Hussey > Long Term Report