Ultralight Tip of the Week

Great advice Mike C!

I would like to point out two points to those who have never repackaged aquamira before.
1) If you backpack a lot or are planning a thru-hike, you can buy AqMira in larger sizes, used for treating whole household water tanks. I think you get about 4 times the product for about twice the price of the normal hiker size.
2) If you repackage your aquamira drops in smaller droppers like many people do, you should get a teaspoon out and count how many drops it takes to fill the teaspoon with the original bottles and your repackaged bottles because some dropper bottles let out larger or smaller drops and you may have to adjust the directions. My dropper bottles take 8.4 drops per liter as per the directions and some recalculating. I still use 7 per liter, but it isn't really following the directions.

The tip of the week and the illustrations are quickly becoming one of my favorite BPL features.

Thanks for the great tips Mike! The cartoons are priceless.

Yet another use for a bandana… Cover for eyes while napping!

On a recent thru hike of the Denali Highway. Funny how quickly the dreams arrive…

Never taken a nap during a backpacking trip, but it does sound good. Rahstin's picture confirms it. I might give it a try next time.

I love you book. Every time I look through it I find a great tip. Your cartoons are perfect. Funny but very informative.

I may have rested in my tent before, but never a nap while on the trail. That's a great idea. I'll have to give it a try.

Finished my book this last and enjoyed it quite a bit. Thanks Mike!

I love your tips, Mike, and many of them have come in very handy, but I find it really strange that people need to be tipped on taking a nap. It's the most natural thing in the world. All the animals do it. It's hard for me to believe that there are people here who've never even contemplated it.

Mike — your best tip ever. Nothing like a nap. Even President Truman knew the value of a nap.

You know I just thought about this:

Is the tip suggesting we take a nap using our knapsack?

Better get some baggies on those feet if you want to keep the bears away! ! ! ! !

Naps. Mike I love my trail naps. Even my kids roll their collective eyes as I does off and they toss rocks at me. I don't flinch when they hit. I just snore louder. It helps keep the bears at bay!!!

I have to feed my dog (very sensitive stomach) a part of his daily ration at noon so he won't barf up his breakfast and dinner. As a result, I get to rest an hour while he digests his lunch. Even if I don't sleep, just relaxing with my shoes off leaves me as refreshed as though I had just started the day!

As an owner of Mike's book I have to recommend it. I used to lug 25lb base weight around with a ton of "just in case" items, I'm now down to 7.6lb. Granted this took the motivation of an upcoming JMT and some expendable income. Honestly though the book itself would have shaved a good 10-12 pounds off.

Right on! I really love hearing this kind of stuff – and that was my goal when I wrote the book! Huge thanks!

Mike C!

Good tip! Some packs are designed to handle a frame sheet externally to the pack. I think Gossamer Gear inovated this with a few others picking it up. Using a modified closed cell foam pad can net a good weight savingings this way. A full Nightlite pad can be cut into 10" sections, nesting the dimples, and taped together for a 50" pad/framesheet.

With a little modification, closed cell pads can be made into a box in a pack's body. A piece of duct tape will tape it back together, once you have the pieces cut to fit in your pack.
Example: 12", 7", 12", 7", 11" will give a 49" length pad. In a pack, this will give two layers of 1/2" foam back, a 1/2" piece of foam along each side and a piece across the front. This is more rigid (by a good 50%) than a simple inflatable framesheet and less weight by a couple ounces. It really holds the pack body stiff for up to two weeks of food (22lb) and your base gear (around 10lb.) Fuel makes up the 35lb maximum.

I have found that the NeoAir series do not lend themselves all that well to frame support, though. A more standard Thermorest works better, generally. None of the true inflateables really do a good jod with support(Pacific Outdoors, Inertia, X-Frame, etc.) I never tried the DAM's though.

"With a little modification, closed cell pads can be made into a box in a pack's body"

That's what I've been doing with my Z-lite. It's cut down to torso length (6 sections) and I put it in the pack like this:
/_ _/ then fill the channel with my gear.

My current pack is an REI Flash 50 with the framesheet removed (I know – too heavy; I'm holding out for the rest of the SOTM to be released). With the Z-lite "frame" all the weight is on my hips, but it does pull away from my back some.

I did the cloud packing thingy on my last back packing trip, it worked great knocked at least ten minutes of my morning packing ritual.

And best of all no fighting to get the last bit of the sleeping bag into the too small stuff sack.

I do a sort of semi-cloud when packing my sleeping bag. I have a GG cuben dry bag with eVent larger than actually needed for the sleeping bag. Once closed, the eVent lets air in or out, depending on the pressure of the down trying to expand vs the pressure of other stuff on top. The bag is less confined than in a regular stuff sack, but still safe from any water entering the pack. It also conforms very nicely to the pack's shape, as it does in the cloud packing method.

I am also of the semi-cloud variety. I loosely stuff my sleeping bag in the bottom inside my compactor bag liner. I leave the liner open at the top like a chimney/snorkel to evacuate the air as I pack on top of it. Then most everything else is piled on top within some sort of bag. Who cares if my mess kit gets wet! It's really only in a bag to keep soot/esbit gunk off everything else. Insulation layers and rain gear is loose on the very top. Then last thing I twist the snorkel around a few times and stuff it back along the side of the pack. No sweat.

And let me be +1,728 or whatever on how great this book is. So simple. It really sends the message that UL isn't some odd special technique or something that only hardcore adventure racers do. Carrying less is fun, easy, can be cheap and is really just a mentality. Bravo

I find the best compromise between stuff sack and cloud method is using a large cuben drybag. I can stuff quilt big or small taking as or as little room as trip dictates. It also affords me a bit of peace of mind having it in a drybag.
Nick

I agree with the comments above. No need to create a bowling ball using a "traditional" compression stuff sack. And, using an easily stuffed lager sized stuff sack is a great option.

It the book I advocate using the BIVY-SACK as a non-waterproof way to stuff the sleeping bag (in full cloud mode) in the bottom of your pack and INSIDE a white plastic trash COMPACTOR bag.

The bivy sack adds a slight bit of water protection, but the primary waterproofing is the COMPACTOR bag.

peace,
Mike C!

I've been using the pack liner technique for several years now, but still kept my shelter in a stuff sack (oversize). A quick test at home this weekend showed me that packing my shelter loose will offer much more flexibility in packing.

Bought the Kindle version of the book — it's great. It challenges you to think about your choices…

I like this idea, I am going on a short trip next weekend am will do this. The pad and the sleeping bag inside instead of in my compressed roll outside.

When I use an inflatable torso pad what I do is fold it length-wise in half, then line the inside of the pack so that the pad forms a "U" shape from the back down to the bottom of the pack and back up the front. I make sure to leave the inflation valve accessible. Then I pack the pack as usual. When everything is inside I blow into the valve to inflate the pad as much as possible. It tightens the pack up and creates quite a stiff frame, plus provides a soft padding against the back.

Mike, just got your book. Looking forward to reading it on my iPad!

I have two of Mike's previous books, "Alan and Mikes Really Cool Backpacking Book," and "Lighten Up," and I must say that they are my two favorite backpacking technique books. Simple, funny and to the point. I read both of them cover to cover. Now I just skim through them and look at the drawings to refresh my memory.

I don't always agree with everything, for example the cloud method of packing a sleeping bag didn't work for me, but I haven't found anything better as a guide for ultralight backpacking. You really can't go wrong with any of Mike's books.

Should receive my copy of your book in Wednesday! Can't wait for it!