Ultralight Hammock Backpacking Gear List

no compass
no map
no rainwear / dry clothes if you do get rained on
no knife
no first aid kit
no flashlight

No listing of sunglasses or extra food… so they might be there or not.

I guess 2 to 4 of the 10 essentials is better than none of the 10 essentials…. right?

With my esbit stove I find it is necessary to carry some type of pot lid and windscreen, I generally carry aluminum foil for a pot lid and I also use aluminum foil to bend over the exposed sides of my esbit stove.

When I go ultralight backpacking, I use many outdoor skills in order to carry less. For example, I dont carry a compass because I can use my watch as a compass.
Also, I forgot to write this on my list but I wear my wind jacket which doubles as a rain jacket. I also wear a lanyard with a whistle, a small knife & a Micro Photon light on it.
If I get injured, I can use my bandana as a bandage or whatever I need it to be.
I never bring sunglasses on my backpacking trips. I just wear a hat to cover my eyes & face from the sun.

so you do carry the majority of them, you just chose not to list them? Is this because they wernt in the pack proper?

“Anon”,

not a criticism. looking for info. i’ve used the watch as a compass before, but, at times (not all that rare where i live), have the following problem:

when it’s heavily overcast (often combined with tree cover), how do you orient to the sun’s precise direction in order to use your watch hands & the degree bezel on your watch as a compass?

i’m not the sharpest tool in the shed, so if you would educate me, i’d appreciate it.

Many thanks,
pj

This was an old skill I learnt as a boy scout many years ago but it does litle more than give you a general direction of travel. If you needed to hit a water source, shelter, resupply point etc in the wilderness, especially open moorland or forest with little / few landmarks, then nothing but an accurate compass is going to be sufficient to keep you on a bearing (Excluding modern GPS), even with a good compass you need to know how to use it properly (Different techniques etc) to get to your destination. I for one wouldn’t be leaving home without a compass. When also else fails, my compass ALWAYS points the right way. The watch isn’t great for triangulation either, should you need to reorientate yourself with the map. For the weight of a compass, I’ll always take it with me. Theres going light and theres going prepared!

This was an old skill I learnt as a boy scout many years ago but it does litle more than give you a general direction of travel. If you needed to hit a water source, shelter, resupply point etc in the wilderness, especially open moorland or forest with little / few landmarks, then nothing but an accurate compass is going to be sufficient to keep you on a bearing (Excluding modern GPS), even with a good compass you need to know how to use it properly (Different techniques etc) to get to your destination. I for one wouldn’t be leaving home without a compass. When also else fails, my compass ALWAYS points the right way. The watch isn’t great for triangulation either, should you need to reorientate yourself with the map. For the weight of a compass, I’ll always take it with me. Theres going light and theres going prepared!

anonymous…..you are kidding right?

I have never been on an outing that the clouds were blocking the sun making it impossible to find the direction that Iam heading, but I have decided from everyones comments to carry a small, ultralight compass because if it ever is cloudy, finding direction from the sun with a watch is simply impossible.

Kidding about what? There is nothing wrong with “anon”‘s list except that he could have a lighter sleeping bag, maybe a silk mummy liner or something like that

No not the initial post, but the one that stated that he did not carry a compass and relied on a watch with a compass for his navigation. I have a Suunto that does that and you would NEVER catch me using that as my sole purpose of navigation. As for using a wind shirt as raing protection…. well that is open for debate. Do you stop hiking a pitch a tarp or carry on? If you are going to continue hiking, I would think that would pose a problem, especially where I hike which is the Sierras. Sorry for the confusion. Also the bit about not carrying any medical provisions is rather interesting. I carry a small amount of medical gear in a Alosak that weighs in 4.5 oz. Also the part about not wearing sunglasses is something that I would advise against, especially at altitude. Hmmmmmmm.

Scott,

thanks for the reply. that’s what i figured. my experience is that it’s ‘ok’ for a backup in an emergency. i liked it b/c it was clever (and the Timex watch is only 0.75oz), but could never rely on it like i could a compass (and the knowledge to use it properly). i was hoping ‘anon’ had come up w/something i wasn’t able to figure out by myself. thanks again for taking the time to reply.