One Luxury

I like to hide 2liter of soda in my friends pack when they arent looking. they usually don't go UL, so they don't notice for a while. Pineapples work well too. I guess this doesn't count as me taking a luxury, but I do get to enjoy it.

On top of Albert Mt. when we went up the steep side :)

My single luxury is a small book. Any one of several "Shambhala Pocket Classics". They are all 3"x4.5" in size. Paperback. Never so thick you need to break them down into torn up sections. As a bonus, many of the books subjects are very "solo friendly". One book, Thoughts on Solitude, by Thomas Merton is an excellent one. Pocket Rumi and the Dammapada are good too. My favorite though is Shambhala by Chogyam Trungpa… no longer printed in "pocket size" but you can still get it if you look.

Clearly Mr. Wills is a trouble-maker.

May I make a suggestion. Try to find Vernor's ginger ale. Aged in oak, I think it's been flavored by elves or dwarves or some such thing. Incredible! Best of all it is truly UL being so full of carbonation it's been known to rise off the table. See, this way you will be lightening your buddies load.

As for me, a book, though I tend not to read too much unless I get lazy. I recommend any of the first five Carlos Castenada books. Like "The Long Walk" they were once held to be fact, now debunked. But fun, easy enough to read, some nature, some supenature(al), and some Timothy Leary thrown in. According to Castenada it is important to choose a path with heart. He must have been a backpacker.

Can't wait to see how many bonus points I get for this.

C'mon! No points for my last post, above. Obviously
Big Brother is not a Vernor's fan.

OK, for a luxury item that I always take I like the Litech tea kettle. It doesn't nest so it's virtually all bulk and at 5.5 oz is not nearly the lightest way to boil water. But it's low, wide and stable. It easily pours even the smallest amounts of water accurately with one-hand operation. Water roils quickly because of the broad bottom surface. And the small spout will let you know when you've got a roil.

Here's one source:

http://www.backcountrygear.com/catalog/accessdetail.cfm/PRM1205

My luxury item is a little cheapo AM/FM receiver. In the east, most places you can get a signal on a little pocket AAA with headphones. On the AT that sometimes translates into some NPR, pretty welcome when you've been out for a few days without a conversation.

Easily the best time for radio on the trail is the Fall. Some of my best backpacking memories involve Fall trips to Red River Gorge in Kentucky. My Dad and I would sit in the dark after dinner, set the headphones in a cookpot (seems to amplify the sound to an almost audible level) crank up the volume as much as possible and listen to local highschool football games. The announcers in small towns always seem to add nice personal touches to the commentary, "Quarterback tonight is Dan Berkemeyer. Our thoughts are with Nancy Berkemeyer this week at the hospital in Clayton." Or things like that.

I repackage bottles of wine, usually red table wines and ports, in 1 L plattys. They do pretty well for a few days, since I can squeeze out all the air from them after I'm done for the night. It's fun to pull one out with a group that has never had wine on a backpacking trip before. I've brought as many as four bottles for a big group….

In my 20's toilet paper was my luxury item.

In my 30's it was Q-tips.

Now in my 40's? Novelty items……

Does a camera count? That's the one thing I carry that seems to keep getting heavier and heavier… (now a digital SLR with a couple different lenses, extra batteries, memory cards, dry bags to hold all of these things…)
On the plus side, my pictures do get better, I think.

Last easter i carried two fresh eggs in one of those plastic egg containers. My friend had some bacon and some fresh slices of bread.

My friend isn't into leightweight and he thought a petrol stove is cool so i had borrowed a MSR XGK from work cause it makes a lot of noice (to proove a point).

It was the best outdoor breakfast i ever had.

mmmmm, Eins

Switched to esbit fuel but still bringing alcohol, Small plastic flask of vodka and Crystal Light Rashberry Ice tea is with me on summer trips. Any recipes others want to share?