Backpacking equipment--deodorant over knife?

jw2n said:
Hell, he should at least use anti-perspirant (how do you spell that). You can apply it it to your feet to stop them from sweating. A trick I learned aong time ago.
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That's an amusing coincidence. Before I went on a little hike today, I lightly sprayed my feet with Arm & Hammer baking soda anti-perspirant. As you say, it keeps your feet dry and helps avoid athlete's foot.

DancesWithKnives
 
Ok I went looking for Prof Keith Drury of the Wesleyan Uni in Indianna. The pics coming up aren't the bloke at the top of the original linked page.
http://www.drurywriting.com/keith/
I do believe in "each their own " to a certain degree but what annoys me is people who don't know better thinking this is " Gospel" and getting into trouble ( my argument with Bear Gylls). Don't forget if your in trouble he doesn't have anything to help you.
Correct me if I'm wrong but his first aid kit is bleach and gaffa tape. Is he waiting for you to come along and rescue him? With the stuff you carry and he won't? Does that make us a bit more civil minded?
Carl
 
Of all the silliness this guy talks this takes the cake.

"___ Knife—seldom. I used to carry a ½ ounce tiny key-chain knife. There are so few things needing cutting on the trail I no longer take it. If I need a knife I wait until the next town or borrow one from someone I run into.

___ Lighter--seldom. The tiny mini-lighter between three people is perhaps nice—though I doubt it. It might be nice for someone to have one."

A poop shovel and wizz bottle, but no flashlight, lighter or knife in the woods? While I have known guys who prioritize like this, I do not understand them.

As for deodorant. The white anti-perspirant does work good as an anti itch against mosquito bites.
 
I don't like the implication that because I carry a 30 to 40 lb (or more) pack that I am doing something wrong. Actually that was a statement and not an implication. I'll leave him to his if he leaves me to.mine.
 
Aah. How refreshing. Another thread that turns into ultralight bashing.

I don't think it's wise to hike without some means of making fire, not carrying even a blade.

Ray Jardine, the father of ultralight (according to some) has always recommended carrying emergency firelighting gear and tinder in addition to the everyday use firelighting stuff. He also recommends carrying a SAK classic to shave into wood.
However he isn't recommending this list for people who want to just go out in the bush and practice firemaking/ shelter making/ foraging/ hacking stuff etc. He recommends it for ultralight long distance hiking.

My longest trip has been two weeks. So I'm not a long distance backpacker. Nor would I dare to tell a distance backpacker what to carry until I had some experience in that style of hiking.

If I ever tried one of the triple crown trails I certainly wouldn't be taking my 10" chopper, or my hatchet. I'd probably just take a SAK.

Yes, the deodorant thing is a little odd...
 
geeze guys, I get where yall are coming from about the knife and fire gear because I almost always have some on me, but it's really that far out there to go out without it, especially on established trails. Most of the California trails you don't need a map or compass, you don't need a knife. Do I recommend going out without them? Heck no!
But check this out:http://www.andrewskurka.com/GWL/gearlists.php

Did the ENTIRE Great Western Loop without a knife
The UL crowd, looks at us like were crazy for carrying all the stuff we do. Most of us here carry more in our pockets than they do in thier entire pack.
You guys should really ease up on the judgment
 
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Silly me, I thought ultra-light backpacking was why Busse came out with the Bushwacker Mistress:foot::p
 
they may be referring to "backpacking" in the sense of travelling overseas on the cheap staying in youth hostels.

in which case, yes deoderant is rather useful stuff.

i still carried a knife and firesteel when i backpacked across europe.
 
Here is another way of looking at things. Whats your Urban EDC, your wandering the city pocket s!@#. Consider what the average person has, wallet, house and car keys, cell. maybe a briefcase with work or school stuff, maybe a laptop. even without my backpack I carry more in my pockets that half a transit bus of office workers.
Why? because I'd rather carry everything I MIGHT want or need rather than being inconvenienced by not having it. Do I NEED my FAK? no, two bandaids and 4 advil would be as good, considering average use. do I NEED bandana, towel, spare socks? no, I've used the towel to dry my hair to be more presentable when I walked into a job interview, out of the rain. didn't get the job, dry hair didn't matter. do I NEED a multi-tool, two folders and an izula, NO, but the griptillian is handy at work, the multi-tool is indespensable, and the opinel is nice for cutting lunch if I need, and who wouldn't keep an izula handy? Do I NEED granola bars? not hard to find a snack machine, but I'd rather buy bulk and carry than pay for convenience.

Get where I'm coming from? I don't agree at all with what the article is saying, but I see where he gets his logic from.
 
that guy is retarded,man up and stink it up for a week,thats half the fun:p:D

seriously though,its hikers like that guy that get on the news because they packed their apartment in their pack and forgot about actual woods gear,he may not need a knife to open his mre's, but we all know what will happen when he gets lost and runs out of those. idiot.thats all i have to say bout that(forrest gump):D
 
Honestly I think that guy is ok. He has a system that works for him. I am not going to judge that because he has hiked many many miles and what he does works. He also know the risks of not carrying certain gear and accepts this risk.

What I do not like is him trying to pass those same risks down to new hikers. Just because he can get by on a clearly marked trail does NOT mean that a new hiker could do the same on a trail near their house.

I would rather he suggest that people started out just like he did, carrying too much stuff and simply leave behind what you feel you don't need.

I guess that is just too logical...
 
Smash05 said:
geez, and I wonder if I am bring enough knives (plural) with me.
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Well, yeah, ya gotta bring spares along, so fools like him can borrow one! (Personally, I'd tell him to gnaw thru whatever he wants cut, since he couldn't bother to carry his own basic knife!)

I can see where he's coming from, with regards to UL hiking on a well-established trail. Last time I did any more-than-a-weekend campout, was in Scouts, at Philmont, New Mexico, and for the most part, a SAK Classic is all you need on the trail, for opening bags of food and cutting moleskin. I carried my SAK Adventurer (the 111mm side-lock, not the older 108mm), and didn't get any use from the screwdrivers (2 regular and Phillips) on that trip, but the can opener was great the one time it was needed! Nowadays, if someone is going to Philmont, I recommend they carry a Classic (or whatever their choice of a SAK) and a P-38 (if their SAK doesn't have a can opener). As was mentioned earlier, deoderant is a no-no on the trail, as it attracts the bears (so they say...), and after a couple days, you and everybody else is your crew is gonna stink, showers are few and far between!

Matt in Tx
 
I can't believe some posters have used the term "retarded" to describe the author. How old are we here?
 
::reading list::

SAR is gonna find this guy humped up and frozen stiff someday. The culprit will have been a badly sprained or broken ankle. Watch and see.

Nothing to make a fire. Nothing to signal with. Doesn't take anything but a weak ass keychain LED light based on the assumption that "all hikers sleep when it's dark". All hikers might, but all animals don't.

I might be inclined to believe different if he had the skills of John McPhereson or somebody...but with the dumb shit this guy takes, I'm willing to bet that he has less skills than my unborn daughter.

Phone's for you, bud...it's Darwin, he said something about an award.

I will agree with him on this though:

You don’t need too much money and you don’t need 95% of what is offered on line
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You can get started with substantially less than even what he's suggesting.
 
beef said:
I can't believe some posters have used the term "retarded" to describe the author. How old are we here?
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I wasn't one of the people who used that term, which I consider derogatory.

I would, however, call him a damned fool, at least by my standards. He may be Mensa material on his planet, but not on mine.

Still, we're all free to do as we wish, no matter how stupid it may appear to someone else.
 
hell, I won't even go out of the house without a blade, let alone the woods!!!! good luck and try not to get eaten!!!
 
Ramm9 said:
The point is, these people that hike a distance of 2,000 - 3,000 miles in a Spring to Fall season have some ideas about what works for them. I may not agree with each "ultra light" choice and may think some are downright foolish but I will respect that they know something about what they are doing.
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+1. That guy has a lot of miles under his soles. Thanks to the OP for posting that interesting link.

That said, walking 20 miles every day just to do it, then sitting down at the end of the day and going to sleep in ten minutes is not for me. Along with most folks on this forum, camping out in the wilderness is not about seeing how far I can walk in a week. It's more about learning how to survive long term. We like the camp fire, the shelters, the wood working, trapping, fishing, hunting, etc. because then we have the comfort of knowing if things really go south, we could survive and start over.

It's also apparent that he hikes with a group. He mentions several times that a particular item (camera, lighter) is useful for one person in the group to carry. That group is his first aid rescue. He never says he's hiking alone.
 
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I'm simply not impressed that he has that many miles under his feet — so do many joggers.

Still, if that's what hikes his kilt, more power to him. We each have things we like to do: some people collect Barbie dolls — it's just not for me.

Personally, I think the guy's a fool for recommending deodorant over a knife and fire starting materials but, as Ron White said, "you can't fix stupid."

Just because those of us here tend to do things differently doesn't mean there's anything wrong with his method. It's just not for me... and maybe not for you, either. But, hey, to each their own. I'm not even worried that he'll get himself killed: I'm more worried about someone who doesn't know any better following his expert advise and getting themselves killed. But then, see Ron White's line above.
 
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