Your tried & true innovations when backpacking/What are you most excited about?

Yes – having an extendable blower is great.  I have this one from Vargo Outdoors – it includes a ferro rod as well.

Kevin: “Yes – having an extendable blower is great.  I have this one from Vargo Outdoors – it includes a ferro rod as well.”

That looks like a very useful product. thanks for calling it to our attention.

A DIY pillow that is awesome. I’m a side sleeper and my new pillow keeps my head just at the right height and keeps it’s loft. It’s amazing how a pillow can have such a great impact on how we feel in the morning. 11″x17″, weighs 10 ounces. Even if it weighed more, I’d be glad to carry it it if it got me a good nights rest.

Seems you could MYOG a blower out of plastic/fabric at a much lower weight, no?  Use a short segment of rigid tube at each end, and pull the floppy part taut to maintain an open airway.  Or possibly multi-use w/ a pad inflator bag.

My consistent luxury item of the past several years: my ultralight beverage carbonator.

My Vargo Ultimate Fire Starter weighs 1.8 ounces and that includes the ferro rod and striker.  I’m not sure how much weight you’d save with a MYOG solution.  This is also spark/fire/melt proof and it doesn’t require you to hold your hand in the fire ring to aim it.

Vertical stacked twigs and top lit has never needed any blowing on for me.

This has found a home in my pack and I use the straw to stoke the fire in my Bushbuddy too.

A Klymit Cush Inflatable Travel Pillow and Seat Cushion, with a slight mod. As a side sleeper I need a tall pillow and preferably something that my head won’t slide off of. I fold the uninflated Klymit into thirds (lengthwise) and stuff it into a small stuff sack that’s just about as wide as the uninflated pad. I then add a couple of items of clothing under the pad, then inflate. (Make sure all three chambers are inflated). Inflated, it bulks up really nicely (height determined by the amount of clothing underneath the pad, with the added bonus that the pad tends to deform into a U shape that cradles my head and neck perfectly. The U shape can be adjusted by how I arrange the clothing under the pad. The 3 oz weight penalty of the pad is totally worth it.
Great thread BTW. Thanks for posting.

Most of the clever things I do were picked up from something on the internet, or at least adapted from them. Trying to think if there’s anything I actually thought of myself…

I’ve used my watch as a strap/carabiner for lightweight items when needed. Though, now that I’m thinking, it would have made more sense to just use my bandana.

I’ve tied my rain jacket around my lower legs to protect my sleeping bag from condensation on the walls of the tent, though to be honest it doesn’t stay in place very well. Hm, there’s room for another invention there…

When tenting on ground that slopes to my right or left, I take the back pad from my Mariposa, fold it longitudinally and put it under the lower shoulder to help prevent sliding downhill.

I prefer the National Geographic maps they have at REI, heavy as they are, but when I have to print a map off the computer I cover it with packing tape to make it water-resistant and more durable.

For a while I brought a near-weightless freezer thermometer that would record the lowest temp during the night, so I had a better idea of what my gear was good to handle.

I hang my glasses by an arm from one of the loops on the tent ceiling rather than putting them in a pocket, so I don’t smudge the lenses when I reach into the pocket for other items.

I use my hat as a lame cozy… I put my soaking FBC bag on some duff and put the hat over it. I suppose it might make my hat smell like food, but hey, my fingers and mouth smell like food anyway. (Would not do this in brown bear country.)

Not sure these are all that exciting!

It’s the little things like the glasses we often forget about.  When I hammock camp I have a little organizer that sits on the ridgeline.  In there goes my phone, flashlight, pocketknife, etc.  Anything that was in my pocket or being used just before bed.  On a recent trip to the Sierra I was tenting it, and it seemed obvious to tie a short length of rope between the two poles on my single person tent.  I thought I would hang a few clothing items to dry, but instead I hung a small stuff sack (turned out the thermarest xlite sack), with all those other stuff sacks, and then my pocket items from that cord.  Not too earth shattering, and not rocket science, but it was easy to grab what I needed the next morning without searching for those small things that would have otherwise shifted around and under the pad.

Fun thread!  Not sure how much of an innovation this is;  When I was a kid, I would find a spot in camp that sort of resembled an easy chair, and make it more so with the addition/subtraction of large rocks.  Later, when the original thermarests came out way back when, I would use that to line my easy chair, then take it back to my tent for sleeping.  Since then, I’ve moved to a separate sleeping pad, but still take one of those foldable egg-crate foam pads (8 Oz with a few of the sections removed) to use as my easy chair liner.  I also put it under my dedicated sleeping pad at night to get a little more rock protection and insulation.  Much lighter and more comfortable than a dedicated folding camp chair.  As comfort to weight ratios go, one of the best spent 8 Oz in my kit.  Of course, as with many things UL, it takes a little effort to get the most out of!

The only innovation that may be novel is using a short bit of chord with small loops at each end as a tether to hold trail runners snugly against either side of a sleeping pad at night. This holds the shoes tightly against the pad so you always have a comfy place to put your elbows when sleeping on your back. Without the tether, the shoes invariably migrate away from the pad.

The other possible innovation is to use a TAR x-lite SMALL sized pad upside down (wide part toward your feet). That way, you have more room for your hips and knees when side sleeping, but still plenty of room for your elbows when on your back if you use the shoe and tether method above.

I have tried many female pee devices over the years and they have worked fine but when I finally tried Freshette it was by far the best one! My wife loves this thing and has no problem using it and believe me she has had issues with other ones and it was messy:( I always carry one hiking and to some events where I know that there will be porta potties)

For a pocket bellows I didn’t want to spend a bunch of money and when I saw THIS video last year I went to my dollar store and bought a telescopic camp fork and it works great and only a dollar!

and an edit to add a +1 to Ken’s backcountry bidet suggestion!

Axel: Thanks for the link on the “Simple Shower”!  I’ve long had that design in mind and have drilled some holes in standard bottle caps to effect a poor version of it.

The company website offers it at $12.99 and I appreciate that they offer cheap USPS First-class shipping:

but Amazon Prime offers it at $12.99 with free shipping.

It doesn’t appear to have any on-off function, so I’d tape some braided fishing line around the middle of my 1- liter or 2-liter pop bottle and then into a loop so it could be (1) hung from a tree without holding it in one hand, (2) flipped right-side-up or upside-down to be on or off.

Also, I’m looking forward to the fabulous pecs and abs you get when you use it:

Long plastic bags used to cover wet umbrellas available at the entrance of my local Walmart and hospital…I take a pair on each trip to wear over my dry camp/sleep socks inside my wet trail runners when lounging around camp or going out at night to pee.  0.4 ounces for the pair.

Washbucket made from a circular piece of silnylon with a grosgrain hem around the perimeter and across the width for a handle.  Holds 2 liters of water, weighs 0.65 ounces.  Bought years ago from Antigravitygear but they stopped making them.  I showed it to Dutch at Dutchwaregear but he did not express any interest in making/marketing them.  It would be easy to make if you have sewing machine skills.  Ideal for hanging from a branch and using to take a bandanna bath away from water sources.

Gerry,

I tried looking online for pictures of the AGG bucket, but can’t find it.  I did find this:http://tothewoods.net/HomemadeGearWaterBag.html

Can you share details/pictures of yours? i.e. diameter of silnylon circle, is it pleated onto the grosgrain, diameter of opening (or length of grosgrain hem) if so, etc.  I’d love to make one.

Thanks!

There is this MYOG one also MYOG Water bag  and this one that is 8L instead of your 2L and weighs just over an ounce I have had for a few years I bought on sale for under $5  Sil Nylon Wash Basin from Wilderness Technology .

d k,

As best I can measure, the diameter appears to be 22″ across the fabric circle which would make the circumference 72″ (wow).  But with 13 pleats the opening is only 15″.  The 1″ grosgrain hem is sewn over the pleats.  I remeasured the volume and it actually holds 3 liters, not 2 liters, but I would be hesitant to fill it that much due to the weight.  It is not a waterproof silnylon as water beads through it but at a very slow rate, not quickly enough to be an issue while using it as a wash basin.  Sorry for the sideways picture.  No matter how I orient the photo, it still imbeds it sideways.

I have one that I made like Gerry’s above. Weighs .8 oz I think. Great for carrying all my water bottles and filter down to the water source and back to camp. I also use it to take a sponge bath and hold extra water for camp.

I’ve used this one from Sea To Summit for several years and am very fond of it.  More money than some of the other options mentioned above, but under 1oz, larger volume and so far bulletproof.