Yeah, he did, samf95. Happens to the best of us.

Planned obsolescence is a lazy excuse. You probably just got a lemon or didn't maintain the unit properly. A good brand should last years if you take care of it and use filtered water.

You mentioned the San Juan peaks, but those aren't visible from the Collegiate West. That hiker's photos were likely of the Collegiate Peaks themselves, like Harvard and Columbia. The West loop is fantastic and less crowded, but the water up high is usually just snowmelt streams that can dry up by August. You'll want to carry extra capacity between certain passes.

Ugh, my buddy had a streetlight installed right outside his window mid-shoot.

Honestly, the plastic coop thing goes way past just dampness and cleaning. Tbh, I worry about off-gassing from cheap plastic in the hot sun all day. Those coops can get crazy hot, and you're basically baking chemicals right where your chickens breathe and sleep. Ngl, switching to wood probably got rid of that weird plastic smell too, which we might not notice but they definitely do. It's a whole air quality thing we don't talk about enough. That stuffy feeling you had? The chickens felt it ten times worse, and it can totally mess with their laying.