A few days ago, in celebration of hockey day, the New York Times hockey blog ran an article about where hockey was growing.

What caught my eye was the data included in the piece, apparently sourced from USA Hockey: the number of amateur hockey players (youth and adults) registered in each state as of 2009-2010.  I wasn’t surprised to discover that Minnesota has the most hockey players (53,450), but I was surprised to discover that Alaska has the highest number of players per capita (1.235%).

Seemed like something that was ripe for visualization.

I used the excellent MAPresso to generate cartograms of the data.  Cartograms, you might recall, show the areas of a map in proportion to some data variable.

In this first map, the larger the state is depicted, the higher the absolute number of hockey players (2009-2010 season):

State size as function of number of hockey players (2009-2010)

As you might expect, there are far more hockey players in New England than there are in the Deep South, so it is shown proportionally larger.

(I feel compelled to point out that Hawaii is unfairly depicted here, since the only [yes, only] ice arena in Hawaii requires ISI membership instead of USA Hockey membership, and these data are based on USA Hockey membership numbers.)

We can also see the per-capita participation rate:

State size as function of hockey players per capita (2009-2010)

Notice how high the per-capita participation rates were for the Dakotas and the Rocky Mountain states.  At 0.709%, North Dakota is nearly at par with Minnesota’s 1.024%.

How does this relate to the trip?  Well, I had always expected that the South would be a hockey desert.  What I didn’t anticipate is that there would be places in the North, like Oregon, that also have a very small hockey footprint.

My hope is that, as a goalie, I’ll still be able to find plenty of games.  After all, there are only — ballpark — 47,000 other hockey goalies out there, and 430,000 skaters looking for targets to shoot at.

And that’s just the States.  According to a Canadian government report, over 550,000 Canadians play hockey, which translates into a per-capita participation rate of roughly 3.9%.  Lots of hockey!

With some final touches applied this evening, the equipment pages are finished!  They offer a glimpse at the material goods that will enable this whimsical journey.

You can get to them from the “Equipment” menu at the top of the page.  Or, if you prefer direct links (and who doesn’t?), here you go:

• Backpacking
• Car
• Photography
• Hockey

More might be added at some point.  Hopefully they won’t turn into a menu for robbing my car… right?

As always, feel free to peruse the comprehensive list.

Backpacking has a fundamental trade-off: the more stuff you carry in your pack, the more comfortable you will be in camp, but the less stuff you carry in your pack, the more comfortable you will be on the trail.

I subscribe to the comfort-on-the-trail school of thought. That was not always the case.

Back on my first significant backpacking trip, at Philmont in 1998, I carried too much of the wrong stuff.  That led to less-than-ideal comfort on the trail combined with less-than-ideal comfort in camp.  I didn’t know any better, so I still had a great time, but I can’t imagine doing what I did then again.

The most bone-headed of my errors: I assumed that New Mexico in mid-August would be warm all of the time.  That might have been true during the day in the desert, but it most certainly was not true up in the mountains where we spent most of our time.  I’m actually kind of amazed that they let me go out on the trail without a warm jacket, without a sleeping pad, and without decent gloves.  I seem to recall arguing that I “liked the cold.”

For whatever reason, I did virtually no backpacking after that trip for nearly a decade.  It wasn’t until 2007 that I caught the bug again.

This time, influenced by the excellent Allen and Mike’s Really Cool Backpackin’ Book and the writings of Sam Haraldson, I prioritized comfort on the trail.  However, thanks to the wisdom imparted by experience and the march of technological progress, I managed to have a fair amount of in-camp comfort, too.

Here’s my extended-weekend-length (say, up to 4 nights) backpacking gear list that I used during the summer of 2010.  As you can see, I travel light.  On-back, with food and water, I carry about 23 pounds.  Skin-out — which includes things like my boots and the clothes I’m wearing — the total is less than 29 pounds.  I carry only things that I will need at least once on the trail, and I opt for the lighter versions of each item where practical.  For example, I carry an LED headlamp instead of a flashlight, and I bring a mini multitool instead of a big, heavy pocketknife.

The main variable is the amount of food.  I find that I’m seldom very hungry when I go backpacking, which works out fine for the length of trips that I typically take.  Beyond that, I need to force myself to eat more or I’ll start getting lethargic, so add on about a pound per day for food beyond a quick two-nighter.

Unpacking my portable home at Tent Creek in Flathead NF (Photo credit: Vince)

Now, I’m no weight weenie.  I won’t cut the handle of my toothbrush to save a few grams.  I also recognize that I could eliminate a huge amount of weight — perhaps as much as I currently carry in my pack — simply by dieting and exercise.  But never mind all that.

The main problem with my system is sleeping comfort.  The blue foam pad is great for insulation, but it provides lousy padding for side-sleepers like me.  Likewise, the tarp is great for weight and convenience, but it is totally ineffective against mosquitoes.  For those reasons, I’m considering switching back to a lightweight tent and insulated, inflatable sleeping pad.  Thanks to high-tech materials, the weight will be about the same as what I’m using now — less than 3 pounds for my shelter and less than a pound for my mat.  The downside is mostly cost: my blue foam pad cost $5 new, but the new pad I’d like to have checks in at around $150.  Ouch.

We’ll see how much I can afford to upgrade before SiES begins.  With stops in Denali, Banff, Yellowstone, and Acadia on the docket, there’s sure to be plenty of backpacking along the way.

Welcome to the new Stopping in Every State site!  I decided to move it from Posterous to WordPress (on my own server) so that I could have more flexibility in providing content.  The task now: make that content.

To the keyboard!

While searching for ideas about how to frame the narrative of this trip, I stumbled upon the blog Eighteen in America.  There, a teen named Dylan describes his nine months spent playing golf in each of the lower 48 states. In his Subaru Outback.

I’ll forgive the portrayal of Minnesota as snowy and instead commend the dedication required to complete the trip, write over 65,000 words while on the trip, and document the trip with extensive photography.  Well done.