Is anyone else "not so into" gear?

[Mentor]

The pioneers and fur traders or yesteryear couldn't compete with Les Stroud. Sure, they were hardy and had loads of experience at roughing it and getting by. But he has that harmonica.



All the best,

- Mike

 

[hollowdweller]

i think that one of the larger factors that allowed nessmuck and his ilk to carry such little weight is that they largely weren't carrying shelter. they made lean-tos and browse beds every night. otherwise, they would sleep under the stars with their blankets.

they also cut down trees to build a reflector behind the fire for more efficient heating.

this is rather destructive to the immediate environment (and the immediate impact vs the global impact has been discussed at length here recently) but that factor is something to keep in mind when thinking about how light nessmuck packed...he took alot more from the environment vs modern hikers.

Also he hunted for his food a lot.

 

[hollowdweller]

hikers nowadays are utter wimps in comparision to the pioneers and fur traders of yesteryear. (EDIT: i'm not calling you personally a wimp)

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modern does NOT equal superior for some people.

Well there's 2 ways of looking at that. There are 70 year olds out hiking covering long distances these days.

In the old days people carried so much heavy stuff and worked so hard a lot of them were dead by 40.

It's sort of like cars in the 70's versus today. A 350 or 440 cu in engine would flat out scream but was ready for the junk heap at 100,000 miles. I have a buddy with a Cavalier 4 cyl that is over 300,000 now.

 

[baldtaco-II]

Baldtaco, just out of curiousty, what do consider gear, and what do you consider gadgets?

That's a difficult one to answer because as I said in the closing paragraph of my first post, “...big difference between items not only in terms of gadgets and gimmicks versus kit, but also across another dimension, motivation and suitability for purpose”.

Sure there are some things that I believe are gadgets and gimmicks under any circumstance. Those horrible schoolboy watches with compasses built in that wouldn't be out of place on the worst of the Chinese survival knives are a good example .Those little torches with just enough beam for a drunk to find a key hole are another. Then there's stuff like “Mountain Moisturizing Lotion”, that as far as I can tell is no different from a regular bargain bucket moisturizer, that may be legally marketed as anti-aging exclusively because it contains a sun block, and also has Aloe Vera in it. Then there are sun beds, and plastic wine glasses, and so on.

However, across the other dimension, motivation and suitability for purpose, things get a lot more complicated. It's rather like trying to give definitive examples of what plant constitutes a weed. It is just a plant growing out of place. On that, some things I regard as gadgets and gimmicks not so much by virtue of what they are but more by how they are used. Are tripods, binoculars, long lenses, computers and so on gadgets and gimmicks. I can think of instances where they most certainly are not. I for one often VPN into my other machines, and sometimes read through the posts here from some hill somewhere. I can also work from it and whatnot. I'm sure there's a whole raft of stuff here we could consider from radios to hot water bottles. The picture starts to look very different though when we see the tinker types show up with loads of gear, the stool, the electronic bite detector, the reliance on GPS 'cos he can't work a compass, electronic mozzy repellent, great big picnic lantern running off 4*D cells, the solar powered mobile phone charger that weighs much more than a spare battery and takes all day to charge. I find these to be example of gadgets not because of what they are but simply how they are implemented. Go out for a protracted trip somewhere hot and the solar phone charger could be a splendid investment. Conversely, go for a weekend roaming in mixed dry and drizzle and it's another dim bit of crap to hump.

Anyway, that should give a flavour of where I'm coming from without just offering up some dry list. I have deliberately avoided naming any knives in this post because I feel people can get all too precious and woe betide I name one of their favourites. I think it hold just as good with those too. And for sure it gets worse with combat / crash ax / hawk things. I guess there is a niche for them somewhere which is why the phrase “zombie slayer” came to be, yet outside that they function as little more than a toy.

Yup, some things are obviously gimmicks and couldn't be anything else, ever. Others I believe become stupid gadgets just because of the way they are used. I will close with one of my favourite photos of just such an example.

 

[WhiskyJack]

lol