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Necessity vs. Importance: Considering Ultralight Essentials
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Home › Forums › Campfire › Editor’s Roundtable › Necessity vs. Importance: Considering Ultralight Essentials
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Jul 18, 2008 at 11:39 am #1443470
This stuff sounds great…a better version of "super glue" which was also originally developed by the military to close battlefield wounds! At the Celox webpage you can buy a "home pack" of 10 2-gram packets. All the other refs I've found are for larger 15-gram and 35-gram packages. I have a couple questions. First are the 2g packets enough to do any real good with anything other than a minor wound (I suppose you could use more than one packet if necessary). Second, what about repackaging a larger package into smaller quantities (e.g. 4g in a sm ziplock stored cool and dark)? I imagine it would have some impact on "shelf life"…any comments, ideas?
Jul 18, 2008 at 12:50 pm #1443475Roleigh MartinBPL Member@marti124
Locale: Founder & Lead Moderator, https://www.facebook.com/groups/SierraNorthPCThikersJason, what are your bear protection items?
Jul 18, 2008 at 1:05 pm #1443478My bear protection items are usually just bear spray and a bear bag for food/toiletries (sil dry sack and cord).
When hiking in groups, or where there are no griz, I will often leave the spray behind.
When required by land management agencies, I will bring a bear canister.
The bear bag system only weighs a few ounces and always goes along.
Jul 25, 2008 at 6:18 am #1444526I've used an inch wide roll of cotton athletic tape for over a decade for foot/blister care. It wasn't until last summer that I conclusively determined that I needed better fitting boots/shoes to solve my the "wear" problems on my feet. I finally deduced my foot sizing problems effectively last summer and I've only had one or two blisters in the last 400 miles with no foot wrap whatsoever. It used to be that for every single trip I would prewrap my heels to ward off the problems and sometimes avoid them. I found that my feet were narrow and the shoe that felt right was that one that could lace up properly. If I tried on a standard larger shoe the laces would bring the sides of the shoe together until they touched and I couldn't keep them secure enough. When new this wasn't necessarily a problem as it took breaking in the shoes to end up in that condition ultimately. REI measured my feet one day just to be sure and voila! my feet actually wanted a size larger than I was using. Immediately everything didn't fit again, but armed with that information I began trying on all the boots instead of my perceived favorite and after 4 to 5 pairs I found that the La Sportiva Trango Trex GTX fit me perfectly. Since then it's been a little bit of heaven on earth to find that hiking doesn't have to mean foot problems. I thought everyone had to go through that. They aren't the standard UL fare I know, but I UL my backpacking gear so I can take the 7 to 12 pounds of camera gear that frequently lives within 200 feet of me wherever I am on the planet. With the extra weight the moderate weight boots have always been a welcome comfort. I do have some UL trail runners I'm trying to accommodate now as well on a trial basis. I don't like that my feet get wet in them, but in the summer it's fine really. Living in the Pacific NW with lots of water for most of the season I may still prefer the boots when temps begin to drop.
With that background… it used to be that "every" hike over 3 miles would result in blisters on my heels or sometimes on the knuckles of my toes. For this reason it was an absolute necessity to have some rugged way to deal with blisters. The athletic tape will pull skin with it (that has already been loosened by blistering) once it has had a chance to adhere (it sticks so well), but it requires some monitoring to be sure that it gets a chance to bind to the skin properly. I had to be careful that the edges didn't curl up when putting on my socks and didn't curl up before I had a chance to get it to stick well. Dry feet are much easier to begin the process with than wet feet too. Usually in a half hour of walking the tape would bind to my skin and I wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. The tape I would leave on for a few days if I wasn't looking forward to the pain of peeling off fresh skin along the edges of the blister once I'd made it back home (until the blister had decomposed somewhat more or less). Using Ryan's liquid product to seal the edges sounds like it might enhance this system as well. I always have some rolled up on a trekking pole, right beside my duct tape and I have a small bit in my pocketable emergency kit with the most basic essentials (less food). Moleskin never worked for me because it would ultimately end up sliding from where it was attached and end up in the bottom of my sock. With properly fit boots the tape is no longer an "essential" of the magnitude it used to be for me. It's usually still with me at all times, but I don't worry about having it if I find my supply has been forgotten because it's now only for backup or friends.
Jul 25, 2008 at 6:21 am #1444528Duplicate – mod please delete
Jul 25, 2008 at 3:51 pm #1444594John, surely a "necessity" is as hard to define as "important"?? Necessities are totally dependant on both the individual and the enviroment. A Necessity to someone experienced trekking in the Sahara is completely different to a novice trekking in the Andes. Someone who grew up in the Andes would need to carry far less "stuff" to survive because they know the terrain, the wildlife, the weather, and many other subtle but essential knowledge that a newbie doesn't have. Sam applies to a newbie in the Sahara compared to a local expert. One can thrive where the other would die based on experience (or lack there-of) alone. Put your local Sahara expert into the Andes without any previous experience, and all bets are off…
Jul 28, 2008 at 6:02 pm #1444914>Leukotape on sale @ BPL
Of course, not actually in stock.
Jul 30, 2008 at 11:43 pm #1445225 -
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