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Tactical baskets

While I have always thought that pack baskets were cool and still have practical uses in trapping and canoe camping they would not be my top choice to protect and easy access my gear but if I was going to use one the marine upgrade seems like a good idea.
 
I bet I could find plastic baskets that aren't so different in design in a granny shop for about £5. Add your own webbing for a few pence and spray it camo of whatever pattern. Cheaper, rot proof, more hygienic, and probably about the same bulk and flame resistance. I don't see the point from a practical perspective.
 
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Made of plastic packing strip

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basket pack for hunting trip

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From Formosa mountain people,
 
Pack baskets are a tradition in Maine and other parts of New England. The flat bottom works perfectly in a canoe where it minimizes contact with any water that may be sloshing around. Obviously, it won't work as well as a dry bag, but it will certainly allow better organization of gear.

Those formosan pack baskets are very, very cool! can they be ordered online maybe?
 
those look cool.. i especially like the Camo and brown ones...:) i have been meaning to get a pack basket for a few years now...:) i love em'..
 
I'm partial to traditional pounded ash myself. That is like taking a beautiful wood canoe and hitting it up with some krylon.
 
We have two pack baskets the wife and I.

Used to be some ladies up in Jane Lew WV, that ran a daycare and made baskets. Hallcraft Basketry. Maybe they are still around but I haven't seen them at any craft fairs for years.

Anyway our main reason for buying them was a lot of our friends you can't drive to their house. You have to walk. Either road too bad or no road.

With the pack basket you can carry a pie, or a loaf of bread, or a pot of beans back to a party and not crush or spill them like you would in a soft pack:thumbup:

We just got back from a week on the mountain and in the woodz. We road the Cass Scenic Railroad 10 miles to the top of Bald Knob where we had rented the old one room cabin that went with the old Fire Tower for 2 days.
We had the whole mountain to ourselves.

Once the train drops you off there is a 3/4 mile hike to the cabin so since we were bringing bread and baked goods as well as our gear we hauled our stuff in in our pack baskets.

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However I think that a pack basket is inferior for long trecks. Too bulky and most of them the straps and suspension is not great.

Still they have their place. Besides the previous use I think they are great for going out and harvesting wild plants, fruit and roots because they don't sweat like a nylon pack makes stuff like that do.

But when we went on our 4 day 30 mile backpacking foray into the Cranberry Back Country and Cranberry Wilderness in the Monongahela National Forest I took my Mountainsmith Achilles 3000 cu in pack.

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Who uses pack baskets, traditionally? Was it the Peruvians or the Eastern Europeans? I don't know why I'm picturing both groups using them.
 
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