Thrunotes Update - three new styles

 

Last September I reviewed the Thrunotes notebook, designed for long distance walkers. I liked this  tough waterproof little notebook and noted that a version for day walks and short backpacking trips was promised. 

In fact stead of just one new notebook three versions were launched - Sketch, Blaze and Explore. These omit the four pages for information and resupply found in the original Thrunote, which means there's more space for your entries as they have the same number of pages. All the notebooks have rulers on the inside covers and space for contact details plus the flip corner and circle marks for indexing and quick reference. 

The simplest new Thrunote is Sketch, which has blank pages. This is great if you want to draw, write at angles, or doodle.

Blaze has lined pages. I usually like notebooks with lines as they help keep my scrawled-in-the-tent writing at least semi-legible. However the lines are quite widely spaced in the Blaze Thrunote and I'd fill it quickly. 

The Explore Thrunote has dotted pages. I like this. The dots are fairly close together so there are twice as many lines as on Blaze. You can easily write up and down as well as across too and fit in doodles or sketches. This is the Thrunote I'll use for short trips.

You'll notice that the ink has smudged where I've written my name on the Explore notebook but not on Blaze. I've been experimenting with how different types of pen work on the waterproof paper. The smudged ink is from the standard ballpoint pen I use at home, the clear ink is from the Space Pen I use on trips as the ink is waterproof. Thrunotes recommends a Black Bic ballpoint. I've had too many of these leak in my pack or pocket in the past though and I stopped using them years ago. Pencil is another option that works well. I'll stick with my Space Pen.

I think the new Thrunotes are excellent. It's good there's a choice. You can order Thrunotes and find out all about them here.

Thrunotes - a waterproof notebook for thru-hikers

Back in March I did a video interview with Russell Hepton, aka The Trail Hunter, just before he set off to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, and, of course, just before the Covid-19 pandemic started to really affect our lives. With trail towns locking down and the PCT Association advising hikers to get off the trail Russ made the very difficult but sensible decision to abandon his hike and return to Britain. 

Using the savings left over from his PCT hike he set about designing a notebook specifically for thru-hiking as he couldn't find one he liked, saying that all those he tried were "too wide, too tall, too heavy and would fall apart after a few days". His aim was a notebook that was "strong, lightweight, waterproof and environmentally-responsible". The result is called Thrunotes.

Thrunotes is small - 13 x 9 cms - and light - 27 grams. It has 32 pages, of which 25 are for recording your walk. The remainder are for emergency information, contacts, trail angels, trail family details, and resupply points. The notebook is made from a recyclable waterproof tear-resistant synthetic material called YUPOblue and printed in England by Ashley House Printing Company, which has excellent environmental credentials. Clearly a great deal of careful thought and design has one into this product.

 

Thrunotes is designed so you can put the day number and mileage in the corners and then quickly flip through to find entries. There are circles you can use to highlight other information too. 

I developed an index system for my walk notebooks many years ago but it's never involved a flip-through method like this, which I can see being very useful. As all the waterproof notebooks I've seen before have tear-out pages, which I don't want in a notebook that's intended as a permanent record, I've mostly used notebooks with waterproof covers but ordinary paper pages. Thrunotes is the first notebook I've seen with sewn-in pages.

If you only keep brief notes one Thrunotes might last 25 days. I'll probably fill three or four pages or more per day. Looking through my notebooks, which are bigger than Thrunotes, one 90 page book covers around 50 days. I'd probably need four Thrunotes for that long. They would weigh 108 grams. My 90 page notebook weighs 130 grams. 

I think Thrunotes is excellent. I like the idea of a tough waterproof notebook I don't have to look after carefully. I'll be using it on my next long walk. What about day walks and short backpacking trips though? A similar notebook for those is promised soon. 

Thrunotes cost £7.99 and can be bought from the Thrunotes website, which has masses of information including some interesting little videos.