On hiking gear storage and being a bit mental

I think I might be a bit mental. Only a bit, though. I've just got… Tendencies.

What kind of mental? Well for starters, bad spelling, grammar, and punctuation make me twitch. Visibly twitch. I should stop and point out here that I don't claim to be perfect. My own blog posts make me twitch sometimes, too. I've mounted every picture in my new house with a spirit level, so that’s probably a bit weird. But one of the worst things is that if my hiking gear isn't stored in an organised manner, I’m less likely to go hiking, and less likely to enjoy it when I do (and I guess I’m less happy in general, as a result).

The photo above gives an idea of how my hiking gear was stored at my old house. It was an old place with virtually no cupboard space. It was also a share-house, so I basically lived in my bedroom. I didn't have a whole bunch of options, really. Here’s a better shot...

I was pretty excited when the decision to move came, and even more excited when we found our new place, with its amazingly large dedicated storage room. This is what my gear looks like now...

Words can't describe (although they probably should be able to, considering I call myself a writer) how good it makes me feel to see my hiking gear all neatly packed away, with everything in its rightful place, and right at my fingertips.

Now, when I'm getting ready to go hiking, I know exactly where everything is. So far, I haven’t once forgotten to bring my tripod, rain jacket, or first aid kit. There was that one time we forgot the food, but the food doesn't live with the hiking gear, so I’m still calling this a win.

I've also got some spare rack-space nearby to hang sleeping bags and the like when I return from overnight or multi-day trips. No more stress about things getting mouldy.

I love it... Probably far too much.

What about you? Are you as anal-retentive as I am? How do you store your gear? Let us know in the comments section below, and feel free to upload a photo of your storage setup.

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