Hacks you just learned even after years of backpacking

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

If you wear a watch (on your left hand), when putting your backpack one start with your left arm because if you start with your right, your watch arm can get snagged on the shoulder straps, making it more work to get your backpack on.  My 2 cents.

[David Thomas]

Following up on the antibiotic gel as deodorant (or, hey, as an first aid lotion!), there are single use packets on Amazon for 10 cents each in bulk, letting you take several 1-gram packets and skip the larger tubes.

Or, if you wander through doctor’s offices like I do, grab the professional samples of antibiotic, anti-fungal lotions and high-performance sunscreens in very small tubes and, when depleted, refill them with a $6 marinade injector from the grocery store.

[dirtbag]

I have my gear so dialed in now that I can use Silpoly instead of DCF for my shelter, and i dont notice the few ounces!  It also leaves me so much extra money for gas to travel to and from the trail heads!

[DriCamp]

Knife sharpening in the field? Before heading out, I’ll mark my poles with a sharpie to determine how they should go together to make a 15-degree angle (using a digital inclinometer/protractor). One goes vertical, the other at the angle. I’ll pack a few inches of wet-or-dry sandpaper of 400 to 600 grit. In the field I’ll use my poles as a “one-rod crock stick” to resharpen my knife, which is typically sharpened 15 degrees per side. Just hold the knife as vertical as possible and run the edge down the sandpaper that’s resting on the angled pole.

If I manage to really mangle the edge, I add a little more tilt to get a little steeper angle, which works the very edge a bit more (at the expense of a more obtuse, but stronger, edge).

[DWR D]

I hate the word “Hacks”… reminds me of a hacksaw used to cut something apart… or hack into a computer… both destructive things… and here is is used as something like, solution (to a problem)… language is a fickle thing :))

[Matthew / BPL]

If you wear a watch (on your left hand), when putting your backpack one start with your left arm because if you start with your right, your watch arm can get snagged on the shoulder straps, making it more work to get your backpack on.  My 2 cents.

Thank you. This is me several times a day with my work backpack.

[Matthew / BPL]

DWR, that’s an interesting comment. Maybe we are hacking the problem(s) to pieces?

[Roger Caffin]

For some of us – of an older generation, the term ‘hacker’ was a compliment or a mark of skill. Not so much today?

Cheers

[Andrea C]

A length of good quality Gaffer Tape can be invaluable in many ways. Make a tidy roll around a tent pole, or a torch, or a telling pole. I do it in my bicycle pump, renew it every year just to make sure it’s ok when I’ll need it.

When returning from a hike on public transport, a couple of sanitising wipes will make you more tolerated by others.

If you have long hair, or keep them in a ponytail, bring one of those thin shower-caps that are found in hotels. Useful in many ways.

 

[David Colbert]

Test your water filter before your trip.

Substitute the word Gear for water filter as needed.

[Todd T]

For some of us – of an older generation, the term ‘hacker’ was a compliment or a mark of skill. Not so much today?

Yep.  In the computing world, hack and hacker were hijacked by the press quite a few years ago.  I guess the terms just sounded bad to ignorant ears, and now here we are.

[Monte Masterson]

A hack is an unimaginative writer whose material is trite and cliched.  Their writing  shows no originality and they often take the words of good writers and change them just enough to keep from plagiarizing. Many can write competently but simply don’t have anything to say.

[Joe P]

Couple of small ones that I find useful:The day before a trip, apply “CertainDri” to your armpits. No scent- it’s not a deodorant. It stops your pours from sweating. You won’t stink for about 4 days. I also clip a small dog collar clip light (“Night Eyz Spotlit caribiner”)  to the top zipper pull of my tent. They weight 17grams and give off just the right amount of light at night to find stuff, read, illuminate your tent to make it easier to see if you have to get back in the dark and most importantly- won’t flood light all over your campsite so your friends hate you . I also keep a Nalgene “canteen” (it’s a collapsible water bottle with a wide mouth) in my vestibule at night. No more getting out of the tent in the rain or cold to pee in the middle of the night! The most important thing is to make sure you label this puppy for what it is. You don’t want to accidentally use it for water😳 When you’re done, pour out contents, rinse and then roll it up and stow it away for the next night.

[Charles W]

Two more anti-stink tips:

1. Wear merino wool base layers.  They are comfy, stay fresh a long time and wash easily on the trail.
2. Rub your underarms with a 1/2 oz chip from a mineral deodorant stone after your nightly wash.  It changes PH to keep bacteria from having a field day. https://www.deodorantstones.com/

[Scott Chandler]

I have a favorite toothpaste that I can no longer get in small tubes. I took two caps from old tubes, glued them together and drilled a hole through the middle of them. Now I can screw a big tube and a small tube together to refill the small tube.
I still like using a hydration bladder and drink tube, but didn’t like the hassle involved in refilling them. Got a couple of quick connect pieces and put them on the drink tube and my filter. Now I can directly refill the bladder without taking it out of the pack.

[Jim Cowdery]

So here is another way to don your pack.  While your pack is on the ground face the front of your pack, ,bend over the pack,  put both arms through the straps at the hip belt.   Pick up the pack and flip it over your back.  Hook up your belt and off you go

[Richard S]

I use a protractor and a parallel ruler to draw “lines of magnetic north” onto my topo maps.  I draw them about 1.5″ apart over the entire map area.  As a result, I’ve never had to adjust for declination when going from map to compass or vice-versa.  This also eliminates the need to purchase a compass with adjustable declination.

[Todd T]

I use a protractor and a parallel ruler to draw “lines of magnetic north” onto my topo maps.

Planned obsolescence.  :-)

[Brad W]

@Scott Chandler. Genius!

[Bruce M]

i hike in an an area of WV that has a lot of limestone. I use Sawyer filters. I back flush after every use, and before storage; but still had problems with loss of capacity. I spoke with customer service about this and was told to fill it with white vinegar and let it soak overnight. Worked really well! The alkaline limestone gets into the fibers of the filter, and the vinegar acid dissolves it. I was really surprised how much gunk came out of the filter after that.

If you want to give your neighbors something to talk about, you can combine fittings to connect Sawyer filter to a garden hose or exterior spigot to back flush.

[Bruce M]

Scott Chandler – I’ve had the same bladder setup for years. I never understood why anyone would need to remove a bladder to fill it. The only time I take it out is in camp. I have a cord attached to the bladder so I can hang it within reach of where I’m cooking. The hose has a valve so I have an instant ‘faucet’ right within reach. Yeah its an ounce or two of fittings maybe, but the convenience wins as far as I’m concerned.

[Moab Randy]

Since this is turning into something of a trail stink thread, I’ll give my two cents again on this. The Hibiclense is a great idea I’m eager to try; I’ve been using something called Lavalin (online or in health food stores) with a similar effect and method of action. Shower, then thoroughly rub in a very thin layer of it on underarms, chest, and feet. Wear clean socks and t-shirt to bed. In the morning, thoroughly wash it off. Will keep you surprisingly sweet for a week or more, keeps boots and sleeping bag from stinking.

[Justin W]

” ‘traditional, ancestral eating,’
(Tongue in cheek)
Does this mean moving away from a diet of Coke and Maccas?”

Dunno, but I found the following interesting. Apparently the Scottish have become the shortest peoples of the British Isles and one of the shorter of Europeans in general. Yet, according to a doctor who did a lot of historical research, things were once very different among at least the Highland Scots*:

“Until the middle of the nineteenth century, the Highland Scots were the tallest and heaviest of the European peoples. The average height of a man was six feet, while seven-foot giants were by no means uncommon. Of 600 crofters evicted from Glen Tilt at the end of the eighteenth century, not one was less than six feet in height or measured less than 17 inches around the calf. People remained active long after their eightieth year, and ages of over a hundred were common.

The staple diet of the Highlanders at this time was oatmeal porridge, cakes made from barley or stoneground oat-flour, vegetables, milk, butter, eggs and cheese with occasional fish, beef, venison, wild fruits, honey and the famous Scottish soups.

But things have changed. Today the rates of premature death among people under 65 are higher in Scotland and Northern Ireland than in any other European country.  What has happened?

Dr Walter Yellowlees has spent much of his life working in the Scottish county of Perthshire, where he has daily encountered diseases related to poor nutrition such as diabetes, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure and above all cancer. ‘When visiting patients at mealtimes,’ he says, ‘I have been repeatedly appalled at what was on the family table: things like tinned vegetables, white bread, biscuits, sweet drinks, and, in place of porridge, the ubiquitous sweetened breakfast cereals.’ ”

I think the trick is more whole food and nutrient dense foods, and if the above is accurate, then clearly diet can have huge effects.

* The above also reminded me of various accounts of earlier Euro settlers of North American seaboard with the Native American tribes like the Iroquois.  Apparently it was common for members of various tribes to be significantly taller and healthier looking than many of the English etc coming over.

Then there is the Blue Zone areas/peoples (5 areas of the world that have populations that collectively live significantly longer and healthier than the average) and the research about their diets and health lifestyles.

 

[Justin W]

“I use a protractor and a parallel ruler to draw “lines of magnetic north” onto my topo maps.  I draw them about 1.5″ apart over the entire map area.  As a result, I’ve never had to adjust for declination when going from map to compass or vice-versa.  This also eliminates the need to purchase a compass with adjustable declination.”

Very cool technique. Hopefully you are using pencil though. The magnetic poles are moving ever faster and faster, and there is the possibility (based on other past shifts) for a pole reversal within a relatively short time from now (along with the faster and faster shifting, the magnetic field is getting weaker and weaker faster and faster).

[Justin W]

Down quilts are much better in the cold when you sew an UL and very wind resistant/low breathable fabric to the bottom of it. Yes, slight weight increase, but works better than straps etc in my opinion (more fool proof and comfortable, especially when you are a tossing and turning side sleeper).

Always bring a pee bottle on more severely cold trips.

The greatest hacks/tricks I’ve learned is more about general process than specifics.  Learn how to think outside of boxes and convention and learn to think more holistically and systems oriented. This will go a long way to helping one to innovate and/or problem solve. And learn to not care what others think/say. Ego/fear/insecurity/selfishness is probably the biggest and most consistent stumbling stone and limiter in all human endeavors. And always try to balance open mindedness with skepticism and skepticism with open mindedness (imo the true scientific mindset/approach/way).  It is very easy to lean too much to one over the other, or go from extreme to extreme.

[Author]

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