THE INEFFICIENT BACKPACK

[S. Steele]

Luke: Yes, the flares are for signaling, as well the smoke bombs. Be aware that nature can be most unforgiving. The flares go up about 500 or more feet. Being prepared means that should you in fact need assistance, trying to build a smokey fire takes time and perhaps not feasible due to wet tinder, leaves and wood. I prefer to have my survival gear ready at hand. My survival  mirror has a flint epoxied to one side of the mirror, a soft magnesium strip epoxied to the opposite side and a knife/fish hook sharpening rod epoxied to the bottom side. The mirror is on a lanyard along my tanto combo blade knife and a whistle with a quality compass urethaned to the whistle. This group of gear was not included in the list of what Is stored in my pack.

[Jeffs Eleven]

Stuff in the bunker doesn’t count against your base weight.

[Kevin B]

Many people use a satellite enabled device instead of flares and smoke bombs around here…. but I leave that for others to explain.

I do wish more packs had a dedicated pouch facing the sky for these devices in tracking mode

[Nick Gatel]

Yes, the flares are for signaling, as well the smoke bombs. Be aware that nature can be most unforgiving. The flares go up about 500 or more feet.

You can’t be serious. Flares and smoke bombs to go backpacking? IMO, this kind of thinking makes your system questionable without seeing or using it.

Heck, we have a BPL member who hiked from Mexico to the Bering Sea without a PLB, flares, or bombs. Try telling him he is an inefficient hiker.

[Dena Kelley]

“Heck, we have a BPL member who hiked from Mexico to the Bering Sea without a PLB, flares, or bombs. Try telling him he is an inefficient hiker.”

—

Who did that, and is there a write up on it? I’d be super interested in reading about that.

[Paul Magnanti]

Smoke bombs and flares.

Why?

Carrying those items seems rather inefficient.  A pack of matches in a ziplock *with the knowledge to use them correctly* would be far more valuable than a smoke bomb.

I’m sorry, This is thread is starting to border on an Onion article mixed with some Survivalist magazine.

 

[JCH]

[Matthew / BPL]

Stuart, I often sleep above treeline or in the desert so pine boughs are not always available to me as a bedding material. Additionally, I’m concerned about that approach from a LNT perspective. Leaving that aside, I can insulate myself from the ground with a very thin/light CCF sleeping pad and/or a very small torso length Neoair or equivalent. I think this is a much more common approach among people here.

You haven’t addressed carrying food. I suspect you want that lashed to the outside of the pack as well in another stuffsack. It seems to me that lashing multiple stuffsacks to the outside of the pack is a less than optimal solution for a backpack. It seems awkward to use and opens up the possibility of the inefficient movement you seen seem to be focused on eliminating. It seems like an inefficient way to access gear in the middle of a hike.

I’d like to propose you consider some kind of backpack-type container onto the back of this pack instead of relying on daisychains and lashing. This is a time-tested solution that works well. Your innovation of carrying gear in the tubelike shoulder straps could still be employed, keeping weight close to the center of gravity and increasing the accessibility of commonly needed objects. Your bottle solution on the back for water could still work as well.

This is just my $.02 and you are free to use these thoughts or not. I have no horse in this race so I don’t really care. I suggest that you really listen to the feedback you are being given here on BPL. If you are looking for an efficient, lightweight solution to backpacking and the folks here are saying they aren’t interested in your solution than you probably don’t have a market to sell this product. People here are not a bunch of traditionalists who want to carry the old-fashioned gear of yesterday. We are open to new and innovative solutions.

[Link .]

Dena, It was Peter Vacco and people have been hoping for years that he would do a trip report ( he set up a website for it) but it has never happened PETER VACCO: PLEASE TELL US THE STORY OF YOUR MEXICO TO BERING SEA HIKE ON THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE .

[Nick Gatel]

I suspect Peter hasn’t written anything because his hike isn’t finished yet. He has been hiking across Canada the past few years in the Arctic. There are a handful of people here on BPL who are close friends and hike with him. I’ve done a couple trips with him and stayed at his house but we mostly talk about repairing machinery, politics, economics, philosophy and other important subjects; not backpacking.

In case you’re wondering, he uses a McHale pack. He wore out the first one and his present one is about 12 years old.

Here are a couple articles about him plus a video Peter made during his 6 week Arctic trip earlier this year.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/solo-hiker-nunavut-across-canada-1.4084740

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BkGX_jvd6vg

http://www.recordnet.com/article/20090614/a_life/906140306

http://popupbackpacker.com/how-to-become-or-not-a-famous-backpacker/

 

 

[S. Steele]

Nick: I guess that you don’t believe in probability and what the blazes do my flares and smoke  bombs have anything to do the efficacy of my pack?

Dena: So he did a trip and he didn’t have any problems. Does that mean that he couldn’t have had a problem or a number of them? Be prepared.

Kevin: Regarding a satellite phone, all well and good. I guess I’m old school. You have to pay a service fee to use them and then there are issues with batteries and the potential for damage. I just haven’t given it any thought, but yes it is a good idea unless your with a group or another that is carrying one.

Matthew: No, I don’t believe in multiple sacks being added to my pack, nor do I intend to spend a lot of time out there as I have many things on my plate and the pack is designed for an over-nighter  at best. The current pack capacity is 280 cu.in.

Paul: A pack of matches will get you no where if your on the go and you need to signal rapidly. Time is against you as well as potential wet fuel conditions in trying to communicate need for assistance.

[Matthew / BPL]

Ok. So it’s an overnight pack for in the forest. The pack makes more sense in that very narrowly defined window.

I can do a trip like that with my 18 liter $30 pack from REI. I’ve hiked 500+ miles with the pack and find it extremely comfortable. I suppose there might be some loss of efficiency from jostling movement within the pack but that is only noticeable when I run but I have only run with it when joking around with friends. I’m a walker not a runner.

Now that I understand what your pack is actually intended for I think I’m done discussing this topic.

[Paul Magnanti]

Steele,

To put it bluntly, this is something that is not going to sell well to active backpackers.

And the more I see what you write, the more I question your grasp of practical outdoor experience.

Good luck.

 

 

[Nick Gatel]

Nick: I guess that you don’t believe in probability and what the blazes do my flares and smoke bombs have anything to do the efficacy of my pack?

Probability is tossing a coin. Being warm, safe, and dry in the backcountry is a skill, not a remote probability. The fact you feel flares and smoke bombs are needed to ensure safety leads to Paul’s comment…

To put it bluntly, this is something that is not going to sell well to active backpackers.

And the more I see what you write, the more I question your grasp of practical outdoor experience.

Paul has done the Triple Crown (PCT, AT, CDT) and he hikes more than most people; typically off trail, solo, and in remote areas. Many here value his insight to backpacking

 

[Jeffs Eleven]

Mags, when the LZ is hot, you’re not gonna want to be messin with matches…

[S. Steele]

Matthew: The pack that was tested was an REI, typical backpack that is similar or identical to the one you own that failed a simple 4 mph stress test. I recently contacted the fellow who performed the test. I asked him if he honestly failed the test. He stated, yes. He also let me know that he took a banana prior to the test which he didn’t do on the earlier tests. He took the banana to guarantee his ability to finish the test. He said he normally takes a banana to eat prior to hiking and running.

Paul: You can’t ignore 47 years of outdoor sport experience. I’ve developed over the years about ten different hiking methods to increase ones comfort, speed and endurance as well, not provided on BPL.  Say what you will. If it’s the survival gear I carry, it’s because I had an accident and I believe in being prepared. My survival gear is simple and practical. The pack is extremely simple and practical. It’s present capacity is limited because I intended it for day hiking which is the majority of time that I have available for hiking. Increasing the rear of the pack diameter and length is a simple revision to increase capacity. The front should remain as it is to prevent breathing intervention.So, keep on trucking out there and should you end up as I have and has many more have in trouble alone or with others, getting help in the back country is difficult. Time is you greatest enemy is achieving assistance.

[Matthew / BPL]

Stuart, please start another thread and share the hiking methods you have invented.

[Bob Moulder]

That’s a good idea — school us on these techniques!

I like to think I’ve got this backpacking thing pretty much figured out (aside from the little tweaks most of us love to obsess over… the raison d’être for BPL) but there’s always something to learn. Maybe there are some major chunks of knowledge about which the rest of us are blissfully ignorant.

[Hoosier T]

I’ve developed over the years about ten different hiking methods to increase ones comfort, speed and endurance as well, not provided on BPL.

We are still talking about walking around outside aren’t we?

1. I don’t need any more comfort, my gear is UL.
2. I don’t need to go any faster, otherwise I won’t even enjoy the scenery.
3. Endurance is subjective. At the weight I carry and the pace I hike, the miles I hike are the miles I hike. I wouldn’t need more endurance unless I want to go faster or carry heavier stuff.

I can’t comprehend why hiking (AKA walking) has to be so over-complicated.

[Nick Gatel]

I can’t comprehend why hiking (AKA walking) has to be so over-complicated.

+1

I’ve been hiking at least 10 years longer than the OP, but apparently haven’t amassed extensive knowledge on efficient walking so I can enlighten others — perhaps it’s because I just walk.

Now don’t get me wrong, there is much everyone can learn from others about backpacking especially in the realm of quickly locating a good campsite, alternative equipment (SAK vs Rambo knife; trailer runners, etc.), efficient loading of a pack so access to gear, set-up and take-down are quick and easy — all sorta like a 5S or Six Sigma approach to backpacking.

Over the past 50+ years I have been backpacking, gear innovation has been incremental. Yes, much of the gear is better today, mostly due to lighter materials, some design improvements, and even minimalist thinking to lighten gear (think Caldera Cone vs. MSR Whisperlite or Svea 123), but even the minimalist approach has trade-offs.

At the end of the day what matters is what works best for each individual. There is no universal right way to do things.

The reason this thread is going down the tubes is because the OP is lecturing on how his way is the best and the rest of us can’t be doing it “right.” A little change in tone and perspective to “this is what works for me” would go a long way to engage the community and result in some useful exchange of ideas and techniques. But I don’t think that is going to happen because he has taken the negative feedback as a personal attack — which it isn’t.

 

[Matthew / BPL]

That last paragraph is stated really well, Nick. Thank for posting that.

[Link .]

But I don’t think that is going to happen because he has taken the negative feedback as a personal attack — which it isn’t.

 

But Nick I don’t see how this can be true since he shed his ego many years ago!

[JCH]

[S. Steele]

Hoosier: There are simple techniques to move faster, conserve your energy to be able to go further and be more comfortable. You don’t have to know them Hoosier. I just mentioned that I had developed them.

Matthew: I had submitted the techniques to BPL, for review many years ago. They were rejected with no explanation. It’s easy to post them today, but I don’t want to ruffle the feathers. I could post them to you directly if you submit your email address. My fastest technique is the lock knee technique where you lock your knee to the rear. You then launch yourself forward with each stride. It nearly doubles the speed for each step. I posted them on a website back in 2008 and on another website back in 2012. Every few years another technique became clear as my bio-mechanical experiments increased and coalesed.

Nick: his way is the best and the rest of us can’t be doing it “right.”  Nonsense, just because I developed a pack and techniques to go faster, improve endurance and comfort, I don’t know it all. No one does. We each approach problems differently. Some solutions are good and others not. My pack has limitations of capacity although it is acceptable for an over-nighter for limited three seasons, altitude and latitude. In it’s current configuration it is a day pack.I I made that clear as I don’t have the time for extensive hikes. I do however hope to do the Shenandoahs, some time as I’ve auto’d them three times. It’s beautiful up there in the clear and cool air.

[Ken Thompson]

So we are not to ignore your 47 years of experience Steele, but you easily dismiss the more than a century’s worth of others experience. Seems fair.

Feathers here are permanently ruffled. You can always post your methods over in Chaff.

[Author]

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