Category Archives: Backpacking Gear

Camping Gaz Globetrotter Stove: 35 Year Review

Backpacking Gear,
Camping Gaz Globetrotter stove

I haven’t reviewed this stove because it is no longer made. More importantly, if you have one or buy a used one, you can’t buy the canisters anymore either. However, for several reasons, this has always been my favorite canister stove. I liked it so much; I bought a second stove in case the stove was discontinued — which it was. What I didn’t anticipate was the fuel canisters would also become obsolete. Given all of this, I was able to re-work the stove and make it compatible with the common IsoPro canisters that are popular today. So, it is time to review the stove, because it can be updated, and actually made lighter. Continue reading Camping Gaz Globetrotter Stove: 35 Year Review →

Repairing Gear with Tenacious Tape

Backpacking Gear, Hiking, Tents
Two holes in one of my down jackets.

Overall I am pretty careful with my gear. Most of my repairs are due to age — things that have just plain worn out — such as my Chouinard Pyramid Tent. Once in a great while, I do damage something due to carelessness or unavoidable situations, such as traveling cross country in deserts through area lush in such wonderful environments that can be packed full of cacti or catclaw. Continue reading Repairing Gear with Tenacious Tape →

EZYDOSE Pill Pouches to Organize Your Backpacking Life

Backpacking Gear
My gear for a trip on the Buckeye Trail in Ohio, including the clothes and shoes I would be wearing. Note that there are few stuff sacks.

Staying organized in the backcountry takes planning. Some people struggle with this and their night campsite is strewn with gear as the try to find things, and one would think a tornado might have hit them. Some people repack everything single item into individual stuff sacks, creating little packing modules that are inefficient at maximizing space.

And then when they need to find small items, such as spare batteries or an Advil, they have to dig through their gear. There is an easier way. Continue reading EZYDOSE Pill Pouches to Organize Your Backpacking Life →

Resurrection: My Chouinard Pyramid Rises From the Dead

Backpacking Gear,

Back in April I wrote,

This shelter is an old friend. It finally died. More specifically, it really isn’t cost effective to resuscitate it.

You can read the obituary here. A few days after that post, just before I was going to lay it to rest forever, I was contacted by Patagonia Worn Wear. They had seen the post and given my Chouinard Pyramid’s  age and place in history, they offered to repair/replace the zipper for free. They also said, that if I didn’t want to take them up on the offer (since they could not renew the polyurethane coating), they would like to obtain it for their private museum. Here’s an excerpt from the email… Continue reading Resurrection: My Chouinard Pyramid Rises From the Dead →

Understanding Layers Using Patagonia Clothing as a Guide

Backpacking Gear, , , , , , , ,

A lot of people struggle with the concept of layering clothes for backpacking. Hopefully, I can simplify it, with some real world examples. Backpacking is a good example (vs. snowshoeing or mountain climbing). The backpacker spends most of the day walking with an occasional rest break. He also spends time in camp doing chores and often a little bit of time just sitting in camp. So we can “define ” these activities as sitting, light work, and heavy work. Impact-Site-Verification: 329d9066-0a94-4b4e-8ff9-65d7ee7893a5

For backpackers the following layers are almost universally accepted as the best way to dress for the backcountry:

  1. Baselayer
  2. Active insulation
  3. Shell (wind and or rain)
  4. Insulated outer garment

Most of the time these are not all used at the same time. Weather, temperature, wind, level of activity, and the individual’s metabolism determined what layers should be worn under what conditions. Continue reading Understanding Layers Using Patagonia Clothing as a Guide →