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Besides Weight, What Are Your Gear No-Nos?
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Home › Forums › Gear Forums › Gear (General) › Besides Weight, What Are Your Gear No-Nos?
- This topic has 59 replies, 29 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 5 months ago by Eric Blumensaadt.
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Aug 30, 2020 at 3:08 pm #3673931
My gear no-nos are:
1,)colored “clown”hiking shoes 2.)ti mugs (I like plastic) 3.)urethane coated tents 4.)ponchos 5.)large knives 6.)flashlights (small headlamp instead) 7.)ti utensils 8.)UL running shoes 9.)white gas stoves – except in winter 10.)pack liners (I prefer covers) 11.)tent floor footprints (unless absolutely necessary) 12.)water filters (other than #2 coffee filters to strain out bugs and small children)
OK, that’s my dozen no-nos.
Aug 30, 2020 at 3:12 pm #3673933Boots (except winter), pack covers, tent footprints, bear bells…
Aug 31, 2020 at 10:55 pm #3674147Ti 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.
Sep 1, 2020 at 4:50 pm #3674315Judgmental hiking partners.
Sep 1, 2020 at 4:56 pm #3674319Nothing hanging off the pack; everything must fit inside or be securely attached. I do too much bushwhacking to allow things to swing and sway.
Sep 1, 2020 at 5:30 pm #3674326^^
Absolutely. Clean outlines.
I do sometimes permit a covered roll of foam on the outside when ski touring: no scrub you see.Cheers
Sep 1, 2020 at 6:12 pm #3674345Even 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).Sep 1, 2020 at 7:01 pm #3674357Sep 1, 2020 at 7:21 pm #3674360Whiners.
Sep 1, 2020 at 7:29 pm #3674364Arkoudaphobia – it’s why I still won’t watch a football game in Soldier Field, and I’m retired military!
Sep 1, 2020 at 7:40 pm #3674367David & Doug: How can you bear weight then?
Sep 1, 2020 at 8:32 pm #3674383:-)
But that would only be me, David said he does not take that fear on trips.
Sep 2, 2020 at 12:56 am #3674410I, 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.
Sep 2, 2020 at 7:49 am #3674422Though 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.
Sep 2, 2020 at 9:13 am #3674435cheap scotch
Sep 2, 2020 at 1:52 pm #3674487Expensive scotch. I find the environs make up for it, though I’m happy to be convinced otherwise with someone else’s bottle … ; )
Sep 2, 2020 at 2:03 pm #3674490I’ll keep trying….
Sep 2, 2020 at 3:47 pm #3674501Lightweight 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.
Sep 2, 2020 at 4:55 pm #3674510Bad bourbon
Sep 2, 2020 at 5:34 pm #3674516>”Expensive scotch”
If it doesn’t smell of dirty socks, you didn’t pay enough for it?
Sep 2, 2020 at 5:53 pm #3674519Re: 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…
Sep 2, 2020 at 6:20 pm #3674527p.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.
Sep 2, 2020 at 7:22 pm #3674536For 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.
Sep 3, 2020 at 2:08 am #3674551Straw-coloured tent pegs and string are another no-no. They are so easy to lose in dead grass!
Cheers
Sep 4, 2020 at 10:36 am #3674702Saws, hatchets, “tactical” knives, flints, wood stoves, fishing rods and other bushcraft/survivalist stuff. I prefer to leave the hills as I found them…
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