Besides Weight, What Are Your Gear No-Nos?

Boots (except winter), pack covers, tent footprints, bear bells…

Ti pots, mugs, utensils. I go for aluminum pots and plastic mugs and utensils.

Knife with a blade longer than 1.5″

Water filter systems. I go with Aquamira.

More than one of any clothing item except socks.

Rain shell and pants. Wore them for decades but went back to ponchos/capes after getting caught in a Sierra Nevada thunderstorm at altitude with three other men. Horizontal rain, then hail and sleet, lightning strikes less than a second away. I had brought a poncho to save weight, they all had shells and pants. To my great surprise, I was comfortable but they were all borderline hypothermic by the time we got back down to the cars. Just started using the SMD Gatewood Cape as poncho, pack cover and tent.

More than one celebratory shot of booze. Too heavy. I go with…wait…um, never mind.

Headlamp that weighs more than 2 ounces or cost more then $20.

White gas or kerosene stoves. Period.

Chair or stool.

Judgmental hiking partners.

Nothing hanging off the pack; everything must fit inside or be securely attached. I do too much bushwhacking to allow things to swing and sway.

^^
Absolutely. Clean outlines.
I do sometimes permit a covered roll of foam on the outside when ski touring: no scrub you see.

Cheers

Even on big wide trails, swinging gear saps energy.

My don’t takes:
Arkoudaphobia gear.
Pack Covers.
Knives over an ounce.
Headlamps (a hiking light belongs at your waist, not on your head).
Chairs.
Trekking poles unless there are numerous and wicked stream crossings.
White gas.  Like ever, anymore.  In winter with a sled, I bring propane.
Fishing gear, the only point of which is to fill the freezer but I’ll be far from my freezer.
Any non-LED light source (candles, carbide, fluorescent, Coleman lanterns).

Whiners.

Arkoudaphobia – it’s why I still won’t watch a football game in Soldier Field, and I’m retired military!

David & Doug: How can you bear weight then?

:-)

But that would only be me, David said he does not take that fear on trips.

I, do however, bring some gear for bears.  A frying pan, oil, onions, potatoes, and carrots.  Manfred can attest to my bear stew and bear hash in camp and there’s been bear pastrami served at a GGG.

DavidG: it tastes even more like beef stew than the caribou stew I’ve served you in Adak.  In May, they walk around on four legs, eating grass, so they taste like a cow.  Whereas caribou ALWAYS taste remarkably like reindeer.

Though I have tried them, I don’t use trekking poles. I enjoy the challenge of walking/scrambling without them. This has worked for me for over 50 years of backpacking. I do acknowledge that someday I may actually need them but hopefully that day is a long way off.

cheap scotch

Expensive scotch. I find the environs make up for it, though I’m happy to be convinced otherwise with someone else’s bottle …  ; )

I’ll keep trying….

Lightweight ankle gaiters.

I sometimes use regular waterproof gaiters for really wet cold terrain. But the lightweight – Dirty girl type- I’ve tried and they just don’t work very well for the nuisance of putting them on and off, one more thing to wash, dry, pack.  With the type of shoes I’ve been wearing, the mesh is in front of the laces, so the gaiter doesn’t go all the way to the toe. So plenty of dirt gets in anyway. Not worth the bother.

Bad bourbon

>”Expensive scotch”

If it doesn’t smell of dirty socks, you didn’t pay enough for it?

Re: hiking poles: “I do acknowledge that someday I may actually need them but hopefully that day is a long way off.”

They’re not a walker. I don’t ‘need’ them in that sense. I like them for stream crossings and other situations. And I like them for going steeply downhill over bad terrain; etc. etc.

I remember reading one of those climbing books–I can’t remember which one– where the author’s friend says “he can’t go to the toilet without taking his hiking poles”. It does get like that…

p.s. I do bear weight on my poles on the downhills, so I guess I bring Arkoudaphobia gear after all.

Otherwise, the bears and me just seem to have an understanding.

For anything small like a lighter, battery bank, phone case etc I either get bright color or put bright tape on it. Nothing dark if avoidable.

Straw-coloured tent pegs and string are another no-no. They are so easy to lose in dead grass!

Cheers

Saws, hatchets, “tactical” knives, flints, wood stoves, fishing rods and other bushcraft/survivalist stuff. I prefer to leave the hills as I found them…