Trail Things I won’t fall in love with in 2026: Contacts

I’m sitting hunched over a rock, slowly closing the gap between the contact and my cornea (it took me a year of backpacking to figure out how to attach them without a mirror, which I used to pack on my early trips).

It feels like the docking maneuver in “Interstellar”: a little too far to the left or too much pressure and the damn thing reverses onto my finger instead of my eyeball. “Imperfect contact,” the TARS robot would have said in Interstellar. Second attempt. I’ll get it this time…and PLOP. He sucks my eye and I immediately scream F%$#! as several microscopic fragments of sand seal between the two. YUCK. Now I have to repeat: wash my fingers by pouring more water which I really can’t do without (since I dry camped), remove the contact, mix it with the solution and try again. Finally, clarity and no sting. What seems like twenty minutes later, I can finally walk. I really need to figure this out before my next hike.

Just seeing the road can be a nightmare.

During my time backpacking, I went from weekly reusable contact lenses to daily contact lenses. Yes, the journals add more weight to my pack by having to carry about 8 ounces a week on the trail, and add some logistical issues if I count on them being in a resupply box, but the relief of never putting dirty contact in my eyes again with already dirty fingers is 100% worth it.

My mom asked immediately. “Why not glasses!?” when he discovered what he had to do every day on the road. Of course I had considered it, along with LASIK (wouldn’t it be ultralight, but $$$?). I always came back to not having a pair of prescription sunglasses and the fear of having to walk hundreds of kilometers with grease-stained glasses. “Transitions” also seems to get bad reviews in the evening light. So the newspapers published (and ran!) the 2025 hiking season.

But by 2026, I’m over it. I still hate putting dirty fingers in my eyes, even with newspapers. I located a company to send my beloved Ombraz to, who will make and insert polarized prescription lenses (if you order them from Omraz, it will cost you at least 4 times the original cost!) AND already I carry the prescription glasses in my backpack, so I can have a quick view at night or early in the morning.

With all the desert hiking I plan to do, I hope to finally have an efficient option by ditching contact lenses altogether.

No more lugging around a bucket of newspapers and no more dirty fingers in your eyes! I guess I’ll get over the stains (a little drop of Campsud can go a long way). Plus, I’ve worn my Ombraz 90% of the time for the past few years. anyway. I probably won’t even notice the difference. Just having to put on glasses or my new prescription Ombraz will greatly simplify/speed up my time away from camp and even reduce the weight of my backpack.

TL;DR, no contacts means more time to put in the miles.

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