Talk me out of bringing binoculars on the Wonderland trail

“When I use my binoculars, they are real time rather than taking a picture, then looking at picture.  You can see stuff moving around. ”

I should clarify – we did not use my friend’s iphone 17 pro for taking a photo of the bears we saw. We simply focused on the bears as they were moving and used the phone to follow them down the slope, just as you would with binoculars. In real time. Just amazing to see the detail on all of them, from a very long distance away. I think I could easily use it to identify birds, for that specific purpose, rather than carry binoculars while backpacking.

Just to add although your trip is over.

I have used the Vortex 10×36 and 10×25 Monoculars a good bit. If you want to glass for long periods of time you will be a lot happier with actual binoculars. There is a reason hunters, bird watchers and biologists have binoculars not monoculars most of the time. But if you just want to look at an animal for 5 minutes before hiking on they are a solid choice. The 10×36 was about 11 oz and $120. Really at that point you might prefer binoculars. The 10×25 is something like 5.5 oz and tiny. I think its something like $80 now. To me that is a small weight penalty for something that might enhance the experience.

Well, yes, of course when I’m going on a *birding* trip I like my binoculars. But *backpacking,* 10 ounces is a LOT of weight, especially when I can only use them once or twice a day and they mostly live in the pack brain. I do have a pair of binoculars that weigh 10 ounces, but that is more than I am willing to carry when backpacking, when I will rarely have time to use them. I am too busy hiking, filtering water, doing camp chores, preparing food, or closing my eyes to rest, to wander around birding. So really, the iphone 17 pro will work great! Far better than a monocular, and no extra weight.

I don’t think I can post a video on here can I? If I could, I’d show you how amazing that zoom is.

“We simply focused on the bears as they were moving and used the phone to follow them down the slope, just as you would with binoculars. In real time.”

I will have to try that, good idea