Hike Your Own Adventure (Choose your Own Gear)

Jack Daniels ;-)

Hammock!

I'm not in the Olympics (where my dog is not allowed) but in the Cascades, in similar weather. I have my dog to keep me warm!

Hi Nathan

> Despite your rain-jacket and pants and umbrella, you're soaked to the bone
Sweating too much inside the GoreTex?

> and so is everything that wasn't in the liner bag in your pack.
OK, so the tent is wet. The rest is dry, inside my waterproof pack under my poncho.

> since your pack has taken on enough water to begin to bore into your collar bone
Huh? That's nothing to do with light- or heavy- weight gear. It means poorly thought-out gear.

> and remind you why you wanted to go lightweight in the first place. . . .
Well at least the UL shoes are better than great big heavy wet leather boots.

> Tonight is going to be warm and cozy, because I brought along my ***normal bushwalking gear***.

Cheers

I really like your post Nathan, very funny and interesting way to question essence of backpacking.

Well there is time when the tribute of backpacking (light or not) is that it is definitively not going to be warm and cozy sometimes.

As long as your not in danger of hypothermy and I think as long as it is not freezing basic sheltering would be ok, then uncomfortable situation is not that terrible.

I spend one of the best night sleep of my life (I actually remind it as having sleep like a baby), seated in the rain and mud along a tree in French winter Britanny Forest with nothing than a non-breathable rain jacket and pant. It had been raining for three days and I only had cold canned meal. This experience taught me that as long as you're not in danger there is no unbearable uncomfort.

To answer correctly your question, I think that knowing that condition and hazard of the track will bring you sometimes to such incomfort the only thing you'll need to bring is a strong motivation for your hikking ;-)

PS : There is some Vanuatu poem about what is the worst danger for the sailor: is it cold, hunger, etc… ? and the poet answer is selfpityness.

PPS : Jack Daniel's could definitivly help ;-)

I photo of my family.

No matter how rough the day has been or is about to get they always bring a smile to my face…

@Roger

Way to ruin something that was supposed to be fun…

Wife.

First of all, I do not wear glasses…BTHHHHHHHH
…and if I did, I would use anti-fog on them.

I am in the wilderness…
so I brought my gratitude,

…and my fire starting skills.

…and I prefer 18 year old Jamesons over Jack.

Nevermind all that, you say. Tonight is going to be warm and cozy, because I brought along my:

Sense of Humor.

Ask the British. They suffer the best and never seem to forget the absurdity of being human.

Brian

Good attitude because I am in the mountains plus my custom maid Nunatak Alpinist- very cozy!!!

anyone who has been in the US Marines will tell you that's just another day in paradise :)

fwiw, id bring my DriDucks modified poncho/undercover. (JrB)

Roger,

I just read the other thread about pack covers and liners and found your system to be foolproof and reassuring. But, based on your comment here, am I to understand that people wear rain gear all day in down pours and don't actually get drenched? Because that would be great news! (and I got rid of gore-tex a long time ago, but find that the rain jackets I've tried don't keep me dry on long rainy days). I understand you prefer the poncho, though, but don't you get all slick underneath it from sweat and slow water accumulation after many hours?

Sorry guys about ruining the fun :-)

But Nathan asked a serious question, so …

> am I to understand that people wear rain gear all day in down pours and don't actually get drenched?
Well, the first two months of our French trip in 2007 saw some of the worst spring weather they had had there for a looonngg time. We wore our ponchos over our Taslan shirts and trousers. Most of the time we didn't bother with overpants, but we did have some GoLite Whims which we used when the wind and rain were up.

We got damp under the ponchos – you can't help that. But we did not get 'wet'. We moved our arms into the sleeves and out of the sleeves depending on conditions, and we opened the front of the poncho up when it was possible. This was all the way down to 0 C and in the snow.

What was happening was that we maintained a bit of a warm fug inside the poncho. I cannot emphasise this enough. This could cause some condensation on the poncho, but we didn't let our temperature get very warm so we didn't sweat very much. And we did keep some air movement inside the poncho to limit temperature rise and moisture build-up. That's one thing you can do with a poncho which you can't do with a jacket.

In short, we managed the micro-environment inside the poncho to keep us warm but not sweating. We stayed warm, albeit a little damp. But 'wet' does NOT matter while you are moving; 'warm' DOES matter. So we were happy.

Did all this takes lots of concentration? Of course not! We were walking along, and maybe once every quarter of an hour might make a small adjustment. Open or do up a press-stud – that sort of thing.

The other side of this was that when we stopped we made sure we had shelter, and VERY quickly swapped the damp shirt for a thermal top and a Cocoon. The pants didn't matter, although we also had some thermal longs. We KNEW we could get warmer and dry quickly when we needed to, so we didn't worry.

OK, putting a cold damp shirt on the morning requires a little courage at times, but we had a good core temperature in the morning and our surface temperature very quickly warmed up.

Cheers

For me this passage would read: "Nevermind all that, you say. Tonight is going to be warm and cozy, because I brought along my… D'OH!"

I tend to ex the carefully planned luxury items in the final minutes of packing. Sometimes it works out… sometimes I end up spending half of the night cold.

I can't answer that question. I am the guy at the campsite splitting wood with the real knife and the fire is allready going.

But I will finish you story:

Like a novice you try to start a fire with your stove fuel…….. needless to say you are unsucessful at starting a fire. You kick yourself because you have relied on your hightech gear too much and it has failed you. You could have read that book that taught you how to build a fire, you could have taken that class, you could have practiced. You start to question if leaving the real knife and reliable firestarting equipment behind to save a few extra ounces was really worth the long, cold, wet and miserable night you think you are about to have??????
I see you are having trouble and invite you over too my fire as I have done for so many others. You warm yourself, dry your clothing and sleeping bag. And now my knife doesn't look so heavy to you anymore.

"hiker to town" bandana

The following:

1. functional pack liner
2. waterproof stuff sack for down bag
3. large-ish solo tarp or TarpTent DR that can cook in vestibule
4. Synthetic parka
5. Capilene bottoms (that are dry!)
6. Hot meal
7. Good fire-making skills are a real knife. I use an old Mini Buck; 2" single lock blade @ 0.7 oz. That said, the last time I made a fire while in the woods was in 2005 when I had a layover day while en route to Hudson Bay. That's a lot of bag nights since…
8. Chocolate. Do NOT leave this at home…

Most important of all, I bring a knowledge of myself. The mental awareness required to handle tough situations is worth more than any piece of gear you can carry or skill you can have.

That all said, Dan has the best answer. Roger gives the best functional answer.

Sounds exactly like a scenario that happened to me last summer in the Pyrenees at 2500m.

I brought- Icebreaker Mondo Zip and 150 leggings, a Patagonia Micro Puff jersey, a wool beanie and extra socks, all kept dry during the deluge in a waterproof stuffsack (Alpkit).

First I put up my shelter, then I changed into the dry wool gear, hanging the wet stuff to dry, and made a cuppa tea, mate. Nothing like it!!

The storm cleared, I had the valley to myself, made sure I camped on the right side to get the first sun rays of the morning, and loved it.

Can't wait to get there again.
My shirt was wet in the morning- yuk for half a hour.

cheers,
fred

> That all said, Dan has the best answer. Roger gives the best functional answer.

Interesting thought. Dan said he brings his wife. I agree 100%: I bring my wife too!

Hum …

Cheers

Nevermind all that, you say. Tonight is going to be warm and cozy, because I brought along my "survival skills and a sense of humour" (if I had good survival skills that is…)
(that and wool underwear,plastic bread bags, spare socks, warm hat…)
Spent a few hours yesterday chatting with my mate that fell into an Alaskan river about 10 days ago. His bike with all of his gear fell into the river as well, however his -40 TNF bag was dry. Managed to get out of the water , stripped down completely , got into the bag and started to dry his clothing, shivering for 11 hours straight. Sang and played memory games to keep himself awake. His MSR XGK worked fine and his REI "thermos" kept his water hot for hours at between -30 and 40c (-40c/f). By the third day he almost run out of rations , not much to start with because he had given most of his food to another sick competitor. But he still had enough fuel to offer a hot drink to the rescue team.
Franco
A warm wife ( is this an oxymoron ? ) Jamesons and Jack Daniels, in that order, would be more than welcomed

Brian
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way …

Nevermind all that, you say. Tonight is going to be warm and cozy, because I brought along my

GalaxyTech EnviroBubble V.03. The 6 oz generator throws a 9 ft radius force field/repeller dome over my camp spot keeping anything larger than a grain of pollen out of my camp sphere. I did not keep it powered up as I hiked because I am going Old School this trip. I did sneeze a lot during the day’s hike though.

Once in camp I use my 3 oz narrow-cast hydrogen repulse unit to drive the moisture from my rain gear, pack and sleeping bag. The left behind oxygen leaves me refreshed and ready for dinner. I now laugh at the conditions raging above me.

I place my 2.5 oz aerated Ti kettle on the half inch thick fusion powered MSR (Molecular Science Research) burner. It stills bugs me that I need to carry a heavy battery to power the gravity generator for the stove’s fusion unit. They really should include the weight of the required 5 oz barium-titanate battery in the posted weights.

I brought the latest dinner from Mary Jane’s Richmoor Mountain House Pantry, Mexican Combo #4. The tiny three inch cube needs to be punctured and set set next to a water source, but I just set it outside the force field bubble while it rehydrates. I get my hand wet doing this and wonder if it will count on my skin-out weight at BPL. Ryan can be tough! (;-)) The dinner tastes too bland as always. Some things never change…

As my force field is the cheap model that blocks a lot of sound I brought my iPod nano along. As it is true nanotech it sits on top of my ear drums (I sprang for the stereo model) and broadcasts the soothing sounds of wind whipping through trees and a background creek gurgling. (Thank God Steve at Wildebeat sprang for a rejuv and gives these pod casts for free.)

Oh crud…

I just realized I am posting from a time-line 185 years from now. (Stupid combination of hiking and star gate jumping.) Too late to do anything about it as I still can’t figure out that Edit thing. Oh well…

The ground is muddy….you're wearing your poncho/tarp/shelter…..How on earth do people get settled in and keep their down bag dry and clean with mud and water soaking everything?