Most everyone carries too much gear (whether multi-day hiking, or just as a day pack). After my first solo hike of the Dusky Track Fiordland in 2006 (http://www.theultralighthiker.com/dusky-track-adventures-1/), the first thing I did when I came home was throw mout my old expensive hunting daypack. I had spent some time working out how to carry […]
The ‘skin’ of a tipi is very nearly a semicircle. If it is a ‘normal’ 60 degree (cone) tipi, then (apart from a slight overlap for keeping out drafts), that’s exactly what it is. A semicircle with radius ‘R’ (eg 10’ – the width of the widest roll of Tyvek) will make a tipi
I have completed this design today. I know it will make a wonderfully comfy shelter for 2-3 people. The photos are of the prototype. The tent is 6’ (1.8m) high at the front. Some finishing work and bush-testing is needed, but if you are keen to make your own and try it out, here goes:
My first one of these was my Armalite AR-7 .22 calibre. What a beautiful little gun it is: the way it folded up into its own stock with its 8 shot magazine is just excellent. At 1100 grams (2.5 pounds) and 400 mm (16”) long it is ideal for backpacking. Unfortunately as it is a
I guess I started doing this over 50 years ago before I was 13 (or so). One of my first projects was (what is now called – there was no name, or thing then) a bivy bag (or swag) which I sewed out of PU coated 2oz green ripstop nylon as I didn’t have a
Weigh less than half what snap-lock bags do (and beat everything else hands down), eg a camera pouch weighs 1.6 grams! Given that you need to sort your pack gear some way, you probably have a dozen or more bags which could be replaced with these beauties – probably saving you the equivalent of ½
Even contains a PISTOL! Might be a little hard to lug around though. If you hanker to be a an ultralight hiker, you might decide to trim this down a little but, but the pistol could be handy for scaring bears – and other varmints on the trail, or to harvest some critter for the
Short of water: Suck a Pebble. This was my dad’s advice when I was a youngster. I thought at the time it was just a trick to prevent a dry mouth; something like chewing gum, but it has a more important feature: it prevents you breathing out through your mouth, THUS enormously reducing respiration water
That’s a map of the Mitchell on Matt’s phone, the (white) Tyvek tent between me and Spot, the Brasslite stove sitting on an upturned plastic bowl (a 19 gram leveling aid I am trying out) next to the box of Kiwifruit, my camo vest on the back of the chair, two magnifying glasses we have
Single AA or AAA LED torches are impressive enough with their 100/150 lumens output on a single 1.5 volt battery but these Cree LEDs on which they run are usually designed to run on 3 or more volts which means you usually can run them with either the AA (14500) or AAA (10440) sized lithium
