Going backwards?

[stingray4540]

I COULD go minimilistic, but after using an alcohol, and hobo stove, and watching my buddy make food for him and his girlfriend, and hot chocolate for both before I even had a boil. I opted to go for the new fancy stoves.

After being cold at night, I opted for a nice down sleeping bag.

After carrying around abnoxiously heavy amount of gear, I've opted for the newest lightest stuff. Light tent, titanium pot, silnylon tarp, etc.

Could I go backwards and do with the minimilist stuff, yes, I actually have, but that's the way I started, right now I'm moving forward, hopefully.

 

[flipe8]

In most suburban/rural areas if your well skilled in Bushcraft and have a good knife the woods will supply the rest.

I agree with this, but if you're not in these sorts of areas, some modern gear is pretty much required. For example, multi-day climbing above treeline is no place for skimping on proper gear. I can walk out the door and the woods around me would provide all I'd need, but at 14000ft, this simply isn't the case. Where you plan on playing should decide what you bring.

 

[Joezilla]

I COULD go minimilistic, but after using an alcohol, and hobo stove, and watching my buddy make food for him and his girlfriend, and hot chocolate for both before I even had a boil. I opted to go for the new fancy stoves.

Yeah, there is that too. I just tested a backpacking OVEN for backpacker. Though I wouldn't normally use one, it was AWESOME making cookies 14 miles into the trail head.

 

[Toucan Oasis]

I hold with old school tradition but techno materials.
I still use an external frame pack but its a packcloth Kelty.
Jungle boots but now Haix airpower goretex.
The wool socks are now more intelligent, so they say.
Stacked leather handled military knife but now it's a VG10 Fallkniven.
The zippo got retired and the piezo "crack" lighter took it's place. Thats what my kid calls it.
I still use the same SVEA stove from 35 years ? ago.Damn.:grumpy:
. I sometimes still wear knickers but now they are Supplex.

 

[Jim Craig]

I'm on the same page as Toucan, 'cept the knickers...

Really, I just find myself using more old-timey stuff these days even though my house is full of high tech gear. I love the feeling I get from using a canvas tent and compact woodstove. Natural materials seem to have more appeal these days.
I don't wanna get started on knives, though. I'm a constant contradiction, from day to day...

 

[hollowdweller]

I think the longer you go on the more you find out what you really need.

How much time you want to spend doing what.

I think the more you go, especially if you go far and actually have to carry everything for a long period the more likely you become to weigh the weight or bulk versus the utility.

I personally bow to YOU Joe for turning me onto the plastic SPORK and the Orikaso folding BOWL

I used to carry a steel plate and a titanium fork and spoon and after checking yours out on that hike we went on I bought went for them and have never looked back:thumbup:

The folding bowl is especially great cause you can lick it clean if there's no wanter and if you are say kneading out bannock or need a cutting board you can use it flat!

 

[hollowdweller]

Yeah, there is that too. I just tested a backpacking OVEN for backpacker. Though I wouldn't normally use one, it was AWESOME making cookies 14 miles into the trail head.

I did some baking not long ago. We made pepperoni rolls by building a huge fire in one side of a fire ring, laying a flat stone on the other and then putting the dough in a 2 quart aluminum pot with a lid on the rock. Since they were not IN the fire and we rotated the pot they cooked perfect:thumbup:

 

[greenwoods]

A lot of good input on this cycle of stuff

I find that it now depends on where, when and with whom,(if anyone), I camp with.
I suppose it's also different phases of life, for me personally.

I remember, as a kid, using my little carbon steel knife with spoon and fork to do everything in the woods. I still have it. It sure can take an edge. Those were some of life's most memorable soups, PBJ's and snacks I ever made.

The hard use, bulletproof, military gear is great for hunting, yet some of the heavier kit I have. Especially the surplus pack board with a rack...

We have lots of gore-stuff and lightweight rain pants, hi tec Merril hikers, favorite fleeces and Smartwool socks...etc, always reliable and lightweight space age gear.

Yet lately me and my wife and daughters have chosen to use more wool, canvas jackets, woven pack baskets to collect blackberries, wild grapes and Sassafras leaves, my Chuck Taylors are comfy for the woods walks, a wool felt hat, Charlie Ridge Nessie and dfarmer Farmhand, a small hatchet and old pruning saw...and similar traditional gear...
Of course we all usually have a Mora and a slipjoint or SAK as a backup

That first cup of coffee in the morning or spiced hot chocolate before turning in sure tastes just right from a hobo stove with a hanger wire bail. Sometimes though, it's nice to use the old Coleman 2 burner to make a big breakfast at a larger camping outing. Especially if there are a bunch of little ones with us. Heck I like to use my carbon steel 22" Paella pan for breakfasts. I can fit a pound of bacon and 12 fried eggs on that baby.

So I guess it's sometimes backwards, sideways, over, under, underdone for me and mine.

Hope ya'll are having an enjoyable season.

Mark

 

[j williams]

I COULD go minimilistic, but after using an alcohol, and hobo stove, and watching my buddy make food for him and his girlfriend, and hot chocolate for both before I even had a boil. I opted to go for the new fancy stoves.

After being cold at night, I opted for a nice down sleeping bag.

After carrying around abnoxiously heavy amount of gear, I've opted for the newest lightest stuff. Light tent, titanium pot, silnylon tarp, etc.

Could I go backwards and do with the minimilist stuff, yes, I actually have, but that's the way I started, right now I'm moving forward, hopefully.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup: I agree 100000%

Well said Nick.

 

[KEmSAT-Survival]

By most accounts that I've read here and on a few other forums, I've never left "backward".

I've never owned a custom knife--for that matter, I've never owned a "high end" production knife. I wouldn't know what the handle of a Bark River, Busse, Swamp Rat, Scrap Yard, Al Mar, Benchmade or TOPS even felt like (but oh boy do I dream about that Armageddon!)

I've never owned anything with the word "Columbia" on it. The one North Face shirt I own is a T-Shirt that was given to me as a gift. But then again, I've never exactly been to Canada or Alaska, either.

I own two tents, one from Wal-Mart, the other from K-Mart.

I've never own a camp stove, I've always cooked over an open fire or on coals in the ground--but I do have a lantern (that usually only gets used on family outings).

I guess I got lucky to get taught most of the stuff I know, and luckier still to be able to read something in a book and duplicate it (or so a friend of mine says).

I've never owned "ultralight" anything. Or anything boasting the latest in that line of design camping, hiking, backpackingwise.

I'm not knocking you guys who do own this stuff, who use it and depend on it. I guess my point is: I was raised--shall we say, a different way than most people my age-- and learned to make what I needed or make do with what I had, and modifiy it if I could. I wouldn't know what to do with half the stuff you guys show if I did have it!

And this is not to try to make myself sound like some minimalist snob, working class hero, backwoods George Sears, or hardluck poorboy survival type.
By all accounts and confessions I flat don't know where to even find these kinds of things, let alone would I be able to use them if I did! :foot:

You should have seen me trying to figure out how to use one of those collapsable stoves a friend of mine had. I looked like a monkey trying to hump a football or something. Until I finally got pissed, dug a pit, started a fire and cooked my way.

He thought it was funny as hell though. Then when he did show me how to set it up, I kept treating it all ginger like I was afraid I was going to break it. He thought that was even funnier.

 

[Rick Marchand]

Whether we’d like to admit it or not we, as humans, will always be slaves to our “gear”. The ability to use tools is one of the things that separate us from the other animals. (Aside from those monkeys that use sticks to get ants… ah… you know what I’m getting at.) From the Bushman to the Businessman, we rely on what’s in out pockets, packs, and around us to get the job done.

My criteria have changed dramatically over the last 15yrs or so. In the early 90’s it was all about hi-tech, lightweight, synthetic, low impact, leave-no-trace kind of stuff. Ostrome, North Face, Gore-Tex, Gerber, Thermarest, Outdoor Research, Peak…. All name brand kit… and a lot of it. I carried my own fire starting tinder, was never without my loaded “survival tin” and rarely spent a cold night in the woods.

Nowadays, I wear natural fibres… my tools are made of leather, wood and steel. You would be hard-pressed to find a crucial piece of kit that I didn’t make (or couldn’t make) myself. I don’t carry the million item “altoids tin”. I will still use low impact, conveniences like stoves, lighters and flashlights when I can… but do not rely on them. I like the fact that I am not disconnected from my environment anymore... to me it’s like being married to the perfect woman. (Which I am) It’s a relationship in which you both need each other... I feel vulnerable and invincible at the same time.

My moto is this…

“If I can’t make it, I don’t take it.”

This holds true for 90% of my personal kit. (I still can’t weave my own blankets… he he) With that said, I don’t necessarily MAKE EVERYTHING… sometimes its easier to buy… but intimate knowledge of each piece of gear is paramount to me, now.

Rick

 

[Ankar Sheng]

I'm not compelled to follow a trend whether it be "regressive" or "progressive", I just like to use whats best in both worlds, the best gear--which tends to be modern--and the most efficient techniques--which have often been settled upon ages ago, so you could consider them "old".

I'm not going to go backwards just for the sake of going backwards, nor go "modern" just because it's the latest thing. I just strive to be light and efficient, and that usually involves using old techniques to replace a piece of gear, like cooking fish on an open fire with a bed of moss instead of a grill or pan that needs to be packed in. When technique cant (reasonably) replace gear, I go modern. I COULD build a shelter, but brining my shelter is much more reasonable, and in that case silnylon>canvas, it'll accomplish the same task at a fraction of the weight.

It all lets me enjoy myself more, doing things by hand and using technique and wits to overcome a problem is very satisfying, and not having to overcome the limitations of outdated gear lets me enjoy what I went out to do in the first place more. Modern light gear lets me get to where I'm going more comfortably, with less energy, and faster, so when I get to camp I'm happy, fresh and have more time to fish!

 

[bikermikearchery]

My moto is this…

“If I can’t make it, I don’t take it.”



Rick

100% Agree :thumbup:

 

[hollowdweller]

It all lets me enjoy myself more, doing things by hand and using technique and wits to overcome a problem is very satisfying, and not having to overcome the limitations of outdated gear lets me enjoy what I went out to do in the first place more. Modern light gear lets me get to where I'm going more comfortably, with less energy, and faster, so when I get to camp I'm happy, fresh and have more time to fish!

I hear you. All the nylon and quick dry clothing is a real advancement.

I remember wearing jeans backpacking and getting the insides of my legs burned from the friction. And the weight of carrying extra jeans and cotton shirts.

Now I can get a complete change of clothes inside a 1 gallon ziplock bag and I can completely wash a pair of pants or shirt at night and have it nearly completely dry by the morning.

Back in the day I can remember pack getting HEAVIER due to carting wet or sweat soaked cotton clothing.

 

[Toucan Oasis]

I hear you. All the nylon and quick dry clothing is a real advancement.

I remember wearing jeans backpacking and getting the insides of my legs burned from the friction. And the weight of carrying extra jeans and cotton shirts.

Now I can get a complete change of clothes inside a 1 gallon ziplock bag and I can completely wash a pair of pants or shirt at night and have it nearly completely dry by the morning.

Back in the day I can remember pack getting HEAVIER due to carting wet or sweat soaked cotton clothing.

JEANZ !!!
Those should be considered torture !
OK. Jessica Simpson is allowed.
It's still torture !

 

[koyote]

I'm actually on the opposite side of that spiral right now due to kids. Me? - couple bags of gorp, a pint of brandy and coffee fixins, maybe some onoin soup powder. Hammock ,tarp, knives. I'm good to go. Might even sleep in a blanket coat if I'm feeling it.

But.. I have a family, and scouts. Now, I have a tendency to prefer WORKS to NEW. So my gear looks a little funny, with a wood handled forest axe, cast iron and wool and suchlike things. Heavy and durable for a camp- and plenty of it. We're still ridiculously more simple than most of the families. But there's camping and there's camping.....

 

[LYoung]

Well Joe as you know I have plenty of gear. But knowing I can do with out is very comforting. I really miss the days of just heading out with a sleeping bag a little food and enjoy the weekend in the woods. Hey lets hit the woods some weekend when you are over this way?? Landy

 

[Myal]

one part of my family considers primitive to be the inability to make what you need from what you have around you

the other part of my family considers primitive to be making what you need from what yo have around you , but advanced to be being unable to do that , but to be dependant on buying from a shop the stuff you need instead

which one is backward ?

I use do both , and am comfortable with either I am shortly going cross country on a car trip with my mum , wife and brother , and our kids

we are taking 4x4s , tents , caravan and some gear ... and hope to spend time hunting and getting some bush food on the way , especially when we camp on our tribal grounds

Im easy with anything really

 

[Cpl Punishment]

I never really got that "progressive", so I can't really go backwards.

I came close, pricing out the latest stoves and such, but I ended up going camping while saving the money, and found almost all of my cooking was done over open fires with canteen cups, so I never bought the new stuff.

Now, I don't think there's anything but aesthetics involved in whether you go "old timey" or "new timey". Whether it's canvas or sil nylon, it's still a tarp. A Mora or a Busse, it's a sharp piece of metal. Titanium or steel, a billy can is a billy can.

 

[udtjim]

I have had the same two White Gas cook stoves for 42 years. Got them when I started camping with the family. The big reason for the stoves is that around here, almost every year, the fire danger goes up to where you can't use campfires. Many times when conditions were right, we cooked over a fire and still can use charcoal in grates. The one burner cook stove has a steel case that doubles as a kettle, this little stove has never given me a seconds trouble in all these years. They built them to last 50 years ago.:thumbup:

Knives? I have customs and cheap knives, when I head out campiong I will certainly have a Mora, a folder and a silky or laplander saw and a custom knife in the 4-6 inch range.