travel and rhum

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The Summit of Mt. Tonodake

The Summit of Mt. Tanzawa

For members of this sub who have returned to hiking after healing from hip replacement, what precautions do you practice now?

My best friend is getting married soon and I am the best man. He is newly sober, quit smoking a year ago and has gotten extremely into exercise and hiking. He trained all year and just ran a marathon. For his bachelor party, he wants to do a backpacking trip and wants to do this trail 8 weeks from today in March: https://www.theoutbound.com/san-francisco/backpacking/backpack-to-the-ventana-wilderness-sykes-hot-springs

There is no way to sugar coat it, I am a pack a day smoking 35 year old couch potato with a desk job. I walk my dog about a mile every day but I haven't been on a hike longer than a mile in years and haven't even car camped in probably 2 decades. I have 0 gear and 0 experience. Half the groomsmen have said they aren't coming, the 2 other people confirmed to go besides the groom run and work out regularly, one of them has been on a long backpacking trip with the groom before.

I expressed concern that this would be beyond my physical abilities and honestly I'm being a bit bullied about it, being told to just suck it up and do it, that it will be fine, it's not that hard of a trail, etc etc. I was immediately accused of ruining the bachelor party when I said I was worried about it.

The plan would be to hike 10 miles in on Friday, make camp, hike about 5 the next day, then hike 10 miles out Sunday morning, dropping me off at the airport that afternoon. I'm worried I won't be able to hack it with those distances, might hurt myself out in the middle of nowhere and honestly I'm a little nervous about going into what is essentially a 3 day long survival situation with 3 other people who are generally very good friends but don't seem at all concerned about what I can physically do or this whole thing going sideways for me miles away from civilization. They say I have 8 weeks to prepare by walking a lot on my treadmill with a weighted pack.

I've tried looking around for maybe slightly easier graded trails to suggest with non permitted camping like what was selected but with the weather in March, it seems like costal norcal is the only option (they are all bay area, I'm the only one flying in) and all of those trail options are just as long and hard, if not more so than what was picked. If you've got better ideas, I'd much appreciate them. The groom is dead set on camping rough and hiking…

Am I overreacting? Is this actually an easy hike and I should just try to get whatever training I can get in before and go for it? I've been tempted to just say go nuts, do the trip of your dreams and sit it out, but I'm going to feel like a real asshole skipping the bachelor party as the best man.

TL;DR version: best phone camera or camera <$700 US that can be taken into the wilderness? Either with a shockproof case and a lot of care, or because it is itself shock+weatherproof.

Longer version:

Hey y'all! This is a question for those who like to take fancy photos of their adventures. I'm going on my first overseas trip this year and I'm planning to do a lot of hiking (and bikepacking, and packrafting, and maybe some climbing…), and I really want to burn through some of my already rather meagre funds on a good quality camera. I've actually wanted to for a while… this is sorta just an excuse.

I'm hoping to get some advice about what I should go for. Now I know "good quality" is relative, so perhaps I should add that I can't really countenance spending more than $1000 AUD (~$700 US) on this as a whole, and for that I'd want something I can feel confident I'll use for years. I have a Galaxy s10 at the moment, and that's been the best camera I've ever had – but it still falls far short of the vast majority of what I see on social media from pro or semi-pro outdoor enthusiasts (and yes, I know that editing and skill is a huge part of it, but I'm hoping to somewhat offset the latter with technology and I already have a basic grasp of the former).

Of course I did some initial research, and I was actually pretty surprised to find that the latest phones (in particular the galaxy s23 ultra) blow many similarly priced cameras out of the park. Perhaps I was just looking at the wrong cameras? Perhaps I'm missing something about the niceties of the swappable lenses etc that proper cameras offer? I don't know so I'd love to hear your thoughts, but at this point getting a shiny new phone seems like a decent idea, with the main downside I can see being that phones are fragile little things, so I'd absolutely need a heavy duty case for it (and even then…?). Since I'd have a phone with me anyway, the weight and space saving would be a nice bonus, but I'm not fussed about carrying extra to capture the experience nicely.

And on a final note: gopro? Should that be in this convo? My experience with them was from many years ago, I'm wondering if they can fulfill a similar role these days?

Cheers for all feedback in advance!