Reading glasses to read the maps.

This sucks!!

Best you get a strap to hold them on your head. It's a pain, but better than having them at the bottom of a lake. Yes, I have glasses.

Bring a spare set!

I'm only 35 but I have to go get my eyes checked this year. I've noticed that I can't read road signs as far out as I used to.

It's weird noticing that you can't see clearly. Like trees that become masses of green instead of a grouping of individual leaves. It's as if the brain prevents you from seeing any blurriness and you simply see less detail instead.

I added reading glasses to my packing list a few years ago... for reading maps... AND for tying fishing knots! They keep making the eyes on fish hooks smaller! :)

Two pieces of advice - retainers and spares. Yes, it's a pain.

Definitely a pain. I now have progressive regular and sunglasses. I use floating retainer straps so I can't lose my glasses and I also take spares.

One piece of advice for anyone deciding to camp with progressives: take a single vision pair with your distance prescription as a backup and for stargazing. Progressives are lousy for looking at stars because the change in prescription distorts things. You don't notice that for most things but it is very obvious for pinpoint sources such as stars.

I’m the last one standing among my brothers and sisters.

They always joke around and hand me their readers to try. I refuse. If I never put a pair on, I’ll never need them!

Corsair: "Reading glasses to read the maps.

This sucks!!"

My eye doctor once said its almost 100% of people will need reading glasses when they get older. Of course, you're a young pup still.

At least no cataract surgery yet. Had it and turned out excellent.
I Wore glasses for close to 60 years, and now it's an option to just fine-tune the eyes, yes still need reading glasses tho.

I don’t need reading glasses. My reading prescription is virtually 0. But I need distance glasses and progressives so I don’t need to take them on and off.

Yep, bring a spare, at least they're cheap.

My son's got a pair of $300 prescription sunglasses somewhere in the bottom of Lake Erie, probably being worn by The Incredible Mr. Limpet.

I 'm 63 and can still read easily without glasses with my left eye. I had cataract surgery in the right eye and used a long distance lens in that eye. I can drive with glasses with correction only on the left side. I really like it because I can see close and long distance without bothering with glasses. I could never see distance clearly before. I'm thinking of doing the same thing if I need cataract surgery for the left eye. Just something to consider if you get to the cataract surgery stage. I was disappointed in the increase in floaters after the surgery though. To quote Roseanne Roseannadanna: "It just goes to show you, it's always something — if it ain't one thing, it's another."

Enjoy your sight while you have it, whether or not you need to have glasses of any kind to help out! Glasses are a blessing!

You people are all young. Be thankful for your sight. Both my husband and I had cataract surgery 15 years ago and it went well. He has diabetic retinopathy which is well controlled at present time. We have both worn glasses since we were children and continue to do so.

But I now have macular degeneration, and the end result of that is that if I live long enough I will lose much or most of my eyesight. Right now things are just fuzzy, and I am trying very hard to be thankful that I can see what I do (and not focus--pun intended--upon what I cannot decipher anymore.) Struggling to focus on both distance and close vision is frustrating and exhausting, not to mention discouraging. Since photography and making photo books has been my primary hobby for the past 40 years or so, it is a particularly bitter pill to swallow. There are some things that new lenses cannot correct.

Glasses are a blessing. Be thankful for every single thing that you can see clearly, no matter if you need help to do it!

Finally admitted I had a problem a couple years ago when it took me 20 minutes to tie a hook.
Much easier with the glasses.

Spartan2: "Enjoy your sight while you have it, whether or not you need to have glasses of any kind to help out! Glasses are a blessing!"

You're right. The rapid onset of the cataract made me realize how things can change when your vision is compromised. I'm more than grateful that it was something that could be corrected as well as it was.

I'm sorry to hear you have that issue. Take the antioxidant vitamins and remember sun glasses. They do seem to help. I have to try to get better at using sunglasses too. I got the correction in both clear and sunglasses, so I have no excuse now.

Thanks, Freeleo1. I have been taking the vitamins religiously for years and years, ever since the first signs of the dry macular degeneration showed up. It didn't start affecting my vision until a couple years ago. I had thought that it didn't compromise vision until it went into the "wet'" kind, and then you needed the injections. But my specialist tells me that dry MD can also cause vision problems, and there is no cure, no treatment.

I am not good about wearing sunglasses, truth be told, but am trying to do better. Polarized sunglasses mess up photography, and it seems like so much of the time when I am outdoors I want to be taking pictures. A poor excuse.

I have prescription sunglasses but prefer to use regular shades that fit over my prescription glasses. This way I'm not at risk of losing or damaging my good prescription shades. Another reason is for tying fishing line I can take off the dark glasses for a minute and same for reading maps.

The key is to find sunglasses that fit snuggly right over your prescription ones. A lot of glasses won't work so if you decide to go this route check the fit when buying.

I bring spares of each of the glasses and use straps and hard cases for them. Gotta do what you gotta do.

What's crazy in my distance sight is slightly better than 20/20 (with contacts). I always pick out the portages before anyone else.

But I just can't see well enough close causing the need for the reading glasses.

I have tried where I use one contact better for close the other for distance, went absolutely nuts.

I'm fighting giving up contacts for transition glasses.

Duckman: "I’m the last one standing among my brothers and sisters.


They always joke around and hand me their readers to try. I refuse. If I never put a pair on, I’ll never need them!"

yea, keep telling yourself that, lol

Well, I found something that will help!



Cheater Sun Glasses

I picked up a pair of Costa Polarized C-Mates many years ago off of S&C because they were cheap and I figured they would get used someday.
They get used more and more as every year passes by.
I can still tie fishing knots by feel with larger lb test mono, but 4 lbs and under the glasses come out.
As someone who grew up with what was described as "Chuck Yeager" vision, I could read far away road signs that had 20/20 vision people just shaking their heads. Now that hawkeye vision is suffering too.
It really is kinda tough dealing with vision issues as I age, it's something you do not really think about until it happens to you.
Treasure your eyesight you youngins!

After adding reading glasses to the packing list (on for maps and knots, off for most other stuff) I had to learn how to keep them from getting crushed. Throwing on a heavy pack with them in your pocket, or on a lanyard, can crush them. Having them in the wrong spot in the pack can crush them too when the pack is put down.

I have a large glasses hard case that can hold progressive shades, regular shades, and cheaters (just not all at the same time).

It is more of a problem than I thought it would be. I suppose it will continue to get worse.

Still out there though!

I have been quite nearsighted since childhood, had thick glasses and have worn contacts for almost 50 years. I made it work but have always found glasses and contacts on canoe or camping trips to be a real pain in the a$$. It was always a challenge to keep away the dirt and germs from my contacts and I usually had to have a trip partner help me when I made the daily transition from contacts to glasses--especially after dark.

My extreme near-sightedness and age made me more of a risk than most people for a retinal detachment, which I did experience this past December. No particular incident and no discomfort--just one day started to spontaneously notice some odd shadows and floaters in my right eye so I saw my eye doctor. Found out I was quickly going blind in that eye. Emergency surgery (got to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day at the hospital--yay!) was performed and the retinal repair saved my vision but, as expected, made me even more nearsighted in my right eye than ever before. I went from a minus 13 refraction to a minus 18 and now was no longer fully correctable in my right eye with glasses or contacts.

My eye doctor prescribed more surgery--so about a month ago I received an interocular lens implant. This basically is the same as cataract surgery.

What a miracle of modern medicine!!!!

Within hours after the surgery I went from not even being able to see the big "E" at the top of the eye chart to seeing 20/30 and have now progressed to 20/25!! When I ripped right through the eye chart, again just hours after surgery, my wife started crying, correctly noting that I had never seen that well before, ever!

I still wear a contact lens in my left eye but have that dialed in to do the reading while my surgically-repaired right eye is great for distance and my brain has learned to mesh the two so I don't even need cheaters!

I am very excited for this year's canoe trip (entering Fall Lake into Basswood over Labor Day weekend) and looking forward to seeing the beauty of the BWCA in a whole new way. No more glasses! Still a contact in my left eye to deal with but will now never struggle seeing to take it out or put it in. I'm gonna see blue-er blues, greener greens and all of it sharper than I've been able to see any of it before. It's gonna be great!

About 20 yrs ago I was standing in a Missouri trout stream in the morning twilight waiting for the days fishing to begin and there was an elderly gentleman next to me that struck up a conversation. He asked me if I would mind tying his lure on; he said he had forgotten his reading glasses. We talked a little while as I tied his lure on and I hoped I would not have that problem as I aged. I now have a pair of readers in every room of the house, every car, and every tackle box. So much for Karma.

Pack Rat: "About 20 yrs ago I was standing in a Missouri trout stream in the morning twilight waiting for the days fishing to begin and there was an elderly gentleman next to me that struck up a conversation. He asked me if I would mind tying his lure on; he said he had forgotten his reading glasses. We talked a little while as I tied his lure on and I hoped I would not have that problem as I aged. I now have a pair of readers in every room of the house, every car, and every tackle box. So much for Karma."

I've been near-sighted my whole life. PITA. However, I only need one pair of glasses now. Or I don't have to walk around with a pair of readers on my head all of the time.

I know the feeling though. When I wear my contacts, I need readers. Two years ago was my last canoe trip with contacts. Bringing contacts required I also bring my regular glasses, a spare pair of regular glasses, sunglasses, readers, and a small bottle of contact lens solution. Now it's just my regular glasses and a backup pair. From five down to two. I still bring my contacts for swimming.