A common ailment for hikers are foot blisters, and I would imagine more backpacking trips are cut short due to blisters than any other cause.
Typically I want to use a product for at least 10 years before recommending it. Leukotape not only meets this standard but it is an amazing product – the best I have ever used for preventing and treating blisters.
Continue reading Preventing Blisters with Leukotape: a 10+ year reviewThis is not a Product Review
I just bought a Katadyn BeFree Filter. It came with a 1.0 liter soft-sided water bottle.
Back in 2013 I wrote about water filters and how they weren’t on my radar as something to purchase. So why did I buy this thing? Am I compromising perceived convenience for more weight and more hassle? Or am I open to considering things that just make sense? Continue reading Katadyn BeFree Water Filter
Why would one want to polish a backpacking spoon?
For many years my favorite spoon was a Sea to Summit Alpha Long Handled Spoon. Made from anodized aluminum, it was perfect for eating meals from a freezer bag. Most of the time I “cook” my meals in a freezer bag (see Freezer Bag Cooking). Back in February I lost my spoon on the last day of a backpacking trip (the last meal of the day).
My friend, Doug, gave me a titanium long handle spoon, which was identical in size and shape as the one I lost. Both the anodized aluminum and the titanium spoon had one quality that about drove me nuts. Continue reading How to Polish a Titanium Backpacking Spoon
A year ago I introduced these shoes in this post. I really wanted to “love” them. Continue reading Furoshiki Shoes: 1 Year Review
I’ve been using these for 10 years, so we can call this a real gear review, based on extensive field use.
Over the past 10 years I’ve taken them on almost every backpacking trip I’ve done. On some trips they are the only bottles I use, especially when I need the absolutely lightest pack possible, as in the picture above.
Other times I bring them as extra water storage for my night camp, when I use Gatorade bottles for drinking water as I hike during the day. I recently wrote about this in this post where I will just roll up the Platypus soft bottles and store them in my pack where they take up little space. They Platypus bottles are light and durable, but they are far from perfect. Continue reading Platypus Soft Water Bottle: Ten Year Review