Urban Packing | 8 Days, One Mean Rucksack

At the end of the week my wife, kids, and I will be heading overseas to England to visit my family. It will be the first time my two small kids have ever been to England and their first time meeting their aunts, uncles, and cousins. It’s going to be exciting.

I’m sharing this because I was suddenly struck by the realization that my approach to packing for this family vacation is almost identical to the method I would use for a lightweight backpacking trip. Pack what I need and nothing more. I can’t help myself, I have packing light mentality and have noticed that my wife and kids have just automatically followed suit – pretty cool.

Obviously there are some major differences between a family vacation (with small kids) and a UL/lightweight backpacking trip, most noticeably the need for more ‘stuff’ for my kids, but the process of pairing down the gear list is striking similar. We are all carefully evaluating each and every piece of gear that we want to take and individually making a determination of whether or not it is a ‘want’ or a ‘need’ – naturally there are some ‘wants’ creeping in, but that’s all good.



I haven’t taught my kids to do this. They’ve observed me getting ready for backpacking trips and learned by themselves, but by providing them with their own backpack for this specific trip (a stroke of genius I have to attribute to my wife) they have had to pick and choose what they can take. The end result will be a single backpack each plus one piece of checked luggage. The checked luggage would normally be completely avoided, but we have quite a few ‘gifts’ to take over with us that definitely won’t fit in our packs.

For this trip I will be using my GORUCK GR1 rucksack to carry all of my personal items. The GR1 has a 26L capacity and despite being a somewhat feature-simple rucksack it has an exceptional track record (I’ll be posting a detailed review after I return). You can follow these links to read more about the story behind the design of the GR1 ruck and GORUCK.

It will be an eight-day trip, but that does not mean we will be taking eight separate changes of clothing. We’ll be taking at most four changes of clothing and will simply wash our clothes halfway through the trip. My wife and I learned this trick several years ago on our travels and it has stayed with us ever since.



Here is my urban packing list for our eight-day trip to England. Note that these may not individually be the lightest weight options for gear (my gram weenie friends will disown me), but it is at least a minimal approach to the amount of gear I'm taking.

• GORUCK GR1 Rucksack
• Pants (4) – two pair of Vertx tactical pants, two pair Levi jeans
• T-shirts (4)
• Micro Fleece (2)
• Underwear (4)
• Socks (4)
• Beanie Hat – TNF wool/fleece beanie
• Rain Coat –
• Sunglasses
• iPad2 + cable (ebooks, movies, audio)
• iPhone4 + headphones
• Lumix GF2 Camera
• Toiletries (repackaged in 3oz containers)
• Men’s Shower Gel – for me and Jack to share
• Toothpaste – whole family
• Toothbrush + floss
• Deodorant Stick
• Disposable Razors (2)
• Basic First Aid – Band-Aids, ointment, and painkillers

That’s it. This was a spur of the moment blog post after realizing I was scrutinizing every piece of gear as I was pulling it all together to put into my rucksack. I’ll be putting my GR1 through its paces during this trip and taking notes of how well it performs. By all accounts this will be a total breeze for a pack that is military-grade, made in the USA, and comes with a lifetime SCARS guarantee. It will get a real pounding in June when I take part in my first GORUCK Challenge!

How do you pack for urban situations?

Related Posts You Might Like:

• Gear Lists - Not Just For Gram Weenies!
• DIY - Single Use Antibiotic Packs
• Eyedropper Bottles: An Ultralighter's Friend

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Win a Helle Harding Knife & Pay it Forward...

Would you like to win a free Helle Harding knife and help out another backpacker in the process? Well here is your chance. The next piece of gear from my closet that I'm going to give away is this gorgeous Norweigen Helle Harding (5oz) knife worth over $100. All you have to do to win it is to pay it forward by agreeing to send someone else a piece of your gear in return. You get this knife and someone else gets a free piece of your gear - two winners.

My normal giveaway rules apply (see below) but in addition to your multiple entries you must leave a comment stating what piece of new or lightly used backpacking gear you are willing to send to someone if you are chosen as the lucky winner. You will be responsible for the shipping cost of passing your donation on, but you will be getting a pretty awesome knife in return.

The 'someone' in this case will be the person with the number directly after you in the final drawing, so you won't know who to sent your gear to until the winner is announced.

About the Helle Harding Knife
The Helle Knife company has been hand crafting knives since 1932 and enjoy a reputation for being one of Norway's finest knife makers.



Helle blades are created using a triple laminate stainless steel which, according to Helle, makes them almost impossible to break. The center portion of the laminated blade is made of a high carbon stainless steel, hardened to 58-59 HRC. This is the harder part of the blade that holds the razor sharp edge. The outside layers are described as a tough 18/8 stainless.



Nicknamed "The Helle Beauty", the Harding was designed by Erling Opstad in 1986 and has been in production ever since. The overall knife measures 8.5 inches not including the tang stopper on the end of the handle and has a 4-inch drop point blade. That sounds like a lot of knife but it feels oddly much smaller in my hand than I thought it would going by posted measurements alone. Here are the full specifications:

• Blade Length: 3 7/8 inches
• Steel: Helle triple laminated
• Grind: Scandi
• Overall Length: 8.5 inches
• Blade Thickness: 0.13 inches
• Handle Material: American Walnut, leather, curly birch
• Weight: 5.125oz (knife 3.375oz, sheath 1.75oz)

I wanted to specifically mention the weight of this knife because it feels and actually is very light weight for its size, which may be a surprise to a lot of people, it was to me.

Giveaway Rules - Pay Attention!
As always, there are no restrictions on where I will send the winning item – so no matter where in the world you are, I’ll send it to you.  This will be a completely random drawing using Random.org, except that you have the ability to earn multiple ‘entries’.  Here are the basic rules of this giveaway:

• One Entry: Submit a comment below on this blog post stating what piece of your gear you are going to send to someone else if you win (remember you will be paying for the shipping) - that's it!  No lengthy gear lists to provide, or reasons why you deserve to win. Only comments on this post count (in other words, comments that you left on my blog a few years back don’t count)
• Two Entries: There are three different opportunities to double on entries.  In addition to posting a comment below, you can post a comment on the Facebook page that I created for this giveaway stating which piece of gear you are going to donate and ship.  Or the second option is adding your Twitter account as a follower of Brian's Backpacking Blog and re-tweeting my original contest giveaway Tweet.  By simply spreading the word, you get an extra entry.  (If you’re already a follower of my tweets, simply re-tweet and you'll get credit). 
• Three Entries: This is easy – just do all three of the above! Leave a comment on this blog post below, comment on my Facebook page entry, and follow/retweet the original Tweet on Twitter.  The maximum I'll allow is three entries per person.
  Note: If you’re active duty military and deployed and are unable to complete the entry methods above, simply shoot me an e-mail and I’ll get ya entered in.

That's all there is to it. The deadline for this giveaway will be February 28th. Good luck to everyone!

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Fixing a Broken Nalgene | Reader Submission

I receive a lot of emails from my readers, but this one caught my eye because of how clever it was. With the permission of the sender I am reposting it here to share - a really great little hack!

Hi guys, my name is Stephen Outten and I have a cool little backpacking tip that may help some of you if you find yourself in the same situation as me.

I broke my Nalgene 48oz soft bottle a few days ago and needed a quick fix before I could get a new one. I broke the bottle about halfway down the bottle. It was pretty much toast but I was able to do a little experiment with my vacuum sealer and found out that I could make a water tight seal by using the heat sealing function.



Now I wouldn't typically be carrying around a 10oz. capacity Nalgene bottle, but this could certainly help someone out the night before a hike or just reusing the bottle for other purposes. This would be a really good fix if your Nalgene broke lower down toward the bottom of the bottle.



The process was relatively easy. Stick the Nalgene bottle on the heating element just above where the leak or broken section is and create a new seal across the entire length of the bottle. I sealed mine twice for posterity! To my surprise it works like new albeit a little smaller :)

Many thanks to Stephen for sending me the email with this great little trick. ~Brian

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Barefoot Backpacking with Barefoot Jake

My name is Jake Morrison. Among the the Washington state outdoor communities and online hiking forums I’m known simply as ‘Barefoot Jake’ - you may have already heard of me. As far back as I can remember I’ve had an obsession with the outdoors and in particular the Olympic National Park.

When I was a small boy I had a trail map (PDF link) of the park pinned up in my bedroom. I would daydream for hours about some day crossing it with a backpack on my back. I can remember drifting off to sleep while thinking about what route I would take through the park and where I would set up various camps.

After many years of training my feet I have since crossed the Olympic National Park two times, both wearing a pair of minimalist Vibram Five Finger KSO Treksports. My first trip across the park was in 2010 with a hiking buddy taking the Elwha Trail and out the Skyline Primitive Trail.



My second time crossing the park was last year in 2011. I started out near Port Angeles, Wa and hiked over a series of spectacular passes. The route took me over rock, scree, through snow and water. It ended up in the Lake Quinault Rainforest via Obstruction Point to North Fork Quinault. As far as I am aware, I am the only one to have accomplished this wearing Vibram Five Fingers or any other type of minimalist footwear.

Why am I telling you this? Well, I am currently planning an epic 30-day trip where I will be staying off the maintained trails as much as possible, circling the Olympic National Park in a counter clockwise route - you’ll hear more about this and training your feet in future posts. In order to get ready for this trip, I am training a few times a week to keep my cardiovascular and feet strength up - I’m sure I’m going to need it. I am also planning to summit Mount Olympus this July if the weather conditions cooperate.



In the last two years I have come to the realization that pack weight and what you wear on your feet directly effects our efficiency in these types of natural forms of traveling. I guarantee you that our ancestors never carried 50lbs of outdoor gear on there backs or wore $500 dollar mountaineering boots. We need to get back to basics.

I have often been accused of purchasing ‘fancy’ backpacking gear and always having to have the latest and greatest gear technology. I have since made it my goal to get back to the ‘basics’ of what being outdoors is all about and vowed to simply carry less. I have also started to enjoy making a few MYOG/DIY projects and have experienced great joy at using my own gear. The Internet is such powerful tool in helping fuel our creativity and sites such at Brian’s Backpacking Blog are such an asset on giving you the tools you need to unlock your MYOG potential. I will admit the world of minimalist/UL gear isn't my specialty, but I am learning a little more each day and constantly expanding my knowledge.



Why am I writing here, on this blog? Both Brian and I are passionate about minimalist footwear. Brian has discovered a new lease of freedom with his running via switching to minimalist shoes and based on my many years of training I have acquired the knowledge of what it takes to train your feet to wear minimalist shoes and be comfortable and safe in tough conditions.

By focusing on the importance of proper posture, body mechanics, cadence and keeping a light load in your pack for maximum efficiency I’ll explain how to train your feet to be safe for hiking over rock, snow and even being wet for hours at a time.

The easiest way to train your feet for harsh conditions is to avoid wear shoes as much as possible, but that’s easier said than done right? You can still get started in the simplest of ways, even before you hit the trail. Need to get your mail from the mailbox but it’s snowing outside? Take your shoes and socks off and go for it. The more your body and your feet get use to the feel of handling the cold and wet conditions, the easier it will be to make the transition to doing that more often. Why not take a moment the next time you camp near a small stream or river to take off your shoes and socks and walk across various river rocks practicing distributing your weight and feeling each rock. You’ll need to be very careful and take your time with it, but not only will if feel invigorating it also makes for a great feet stretching tool. I also like to do feet stretching exercise at camp, along the trial or at home using things that are just lying around’.



I have been invited to contribute here on Brian’s Backpacking Blog and plan to post updates on an occasional basis about all things barefoot backpacking. My intention is for my posts to become a multi-part series about the struggles I’ve had to face and my experience in having to address the issues one has as a barefoot or minimalist backpacker - I hope that this will be of help and interest to any of you who are starting off along a similar path. Realizing that all of us blogger’s are a bit narcissistic and occasionally have strong opinions, I am open to positive criticism and will try to answer any questions to the best of my knowledge. ~ Cheers, Barefoot Jake.

Note: I do not represent any particular product or manufacturer. VFF’s work best for me because they give me the glove-like feel that suits my style. As with all new forms of training, please be careful and take your time!

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Editor’s Note: Please join me in welcoming Barefoot Jake as a guest writer to Brian's Backpacking Blog! Jake shares my passion for minimalist footwear and has far more experience in this area than I do, making him the perfect contributor for all things outdoor & barefoot. Be sure to check out his blog for other great posts about barefoot backpacking.

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Terra Nova Ultra 20 Backpack Winner

Over 200 comments on the original blog post, more than 120 comments on the Facebook page, and roughly 70 retweets on Twitter - close to 400 entries in total, wow!

It took me quite a while of cutting and pasting (there has to be a better way) to put all of the eligible entries into an Excel spreadsheet. Using the wonderful Random.org I picked a winner by having it choose a number between 1 and 398.

The winner of the Terra Nova Ultra 20 Cuben Fiber Backpack is...

Dennis Rosloniec - Congratulations to Dennis, I'm sure you're going to love this UL backpack. You have 48 hours to respond to this announcement and claim your prize. If you do not respond in that time I will pick another winner and repeat the process until a winner responds.

My sincere thanks to everyone that entered via all of the various social channels. It was really fun reading all of your funny comments. Don't be disappointed if you didn't win, there will be a lot more opportunities to pick up some great gear throughout the rest of the year. Now I wonder what I should dig out next?

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Could a UL Gear Exchange Work?

The concept of a backpacking gear exchange has been tried before, I recall something on the East Coast not so long ago, but it eventually failed - I don't know the details why.

When I look at the amount of unused or lightly used gear that I have in my closet as a result of my gear addiction it scares me. Multiply that by the number of us that active in the online backpacking blog community and you start to get an idea for how much gear is sitting around and going to waste. It's stagering!

There seems to be a gear backlash movement gathering momentum this year (see JERMM's outside), you've read that I am cleaning out my gear closet and also being very deliberate to buy as little new gear as possible this year, there are many of my peers that feel the same way and have made it one of their resolutions to buy no new gear in 2012. It will be interesting to see if this effects the manufacturers at all - probably not very much.

I've also read a lot more posts about retasking, reusing, and recycling gear rather than simply replacing it just to have the latest and greatest version. Does the gear we have already do the job we need it to? Do we really need to spend $50+ to shave 1gram off a headlamp?

We Have the Know-How
I want to pick your brains about what it would take to possibly design, build, establish and maintain a successful UL gear exchange service. I'm not asking because I want to build one or even own one myself, I'm asking because I would love to make use of one - heck I'm the perfect candidate!

Think of this as harnessing the collective thought power of the online UL community - crowd-sourcing put more simply. As a community we have tremendous amount of experience that spans just about every form of expertise necessary to pull off something like this, we just need to tap into that. Think about what experience and skills you have that could help?

We all see new and amazing online services starting up every week, there are already some great general purpose sites that do exactly what I am suggesting but in a more generic way - Ecomodo, Loanables are two examples that come to mind, I know there are others.



Is There Demand?
I guess the first thing I would be interested to have an answer for is whether or not there is a need or demand for a service such as this? Would you be willing to exchange your gear in order to receive some other piece of gear that you need or want more? If this is a crazy idea not worth pursuing then tell me so, I'm cool with being told it's stupid - but a part of me still believes it viable if done right with all the necessary checks and balances.

What are your thoughts on the idea of a UL gear exchange? Is it worth pursuing and if so what are some of the important considerations or gotchas to avoid? What lessons can we learn from the previous attempts?

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Help Choosing a Camera for Backpacking

I've been using my iPhone4 as my primary camera for the photos taken on my blog for the past 18 months now and am really quite impressed with the quality and clarity of the pictures it takes. I don't bother taking my old camera, a Nikon Coolpix S51, with me anymore on trips because the iPhone does such a good job at taking photos.

As good as the iPhone4 is, there are things it simply can't do. It can't take good macro photos - unless I buy one of those quirky little lenses -  and it can't take a good action picture. My Nikon compact camera isn't any good for those things either. I've reached the point where I'm ready to take the plunge and buy a 'real' camera, but I'll openly admit that I have little to no clue about cameras.



So here's where you can help me. I know what I want the camera to be able to do, but I don't have the necessary experience to know how to choose the right one. I can compare the features as well as anyone else, but I lack an understanding of the fundamentals of camera functions. I'm f/stop challenged!

Criteria for my next camera:

• Compact (lightweight would be a bonus)
• Simple to use
• Fast/rapid shooting modes
• Built-in flash (hot shoe if possible)
• Macro shooting
• High speed photos
• HD video

I'm sure all of the camera geeks among you are rolling your eyes right now and cringing at my lack of both photographic terminology and specific needs. I told you I was challenged.

I'm very intrigued by the Panasonic Lumix cameras with their four thirds interchangeable lens system, I just don't know if those would be over kill for what I need?

So there you have it, I clearly need all the help I can get. I'm willing to answer any follow up questions (leave a comment below) you might need to ask me in order to help guide my decision, but warn you that I may have questions for you too.

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Cleaning Out My Gear Closet | Free Stuff

A Cuben Fiber backpack for free? Read on...

As part of my New Year's resolutions I've decided to clean out my backpacking gear closet. Over the years I have acquired a considerable amount of backpacking equipment or varying type, much of which has been used very rarely, some of which has never been used at all. Well, it has to go.

This is part of a larger personal goal that I have set myself to simplify my lifestyle. As it turns out I have more duplication of gear as part of my backpacking passion than I do for any of my other activities or interests - a lot more.

To be completely honest and transparent, this is not a vendor sponsored giveaway. There will probably be very little required from you to be eligible to get free gear, I simply have too much and would like to give it away to people who share my passion and can put it to good use. Up first is...

Terra Nova Ultra 20 | Cuben Fiber Backpack
The Terra Nova Ultra 20 is the first ultralight backpack made by a mainstream manufacturer to use Cuben fiber. Until very recently, Cuben fiber (called ULTRA fabric by Terra Nova) was the mainstay of ultralight cottage manufacturers like Gossamer Gear, Zpacks, MLD, and others.

None of the more conservative mainstream manufacturers seemed willing to take a gamble on producing gear that looked so ridiculously flimsy as Cuben fiber. Not only is Terra Nova the first mainstream manufacturer to take the Cuben plunge, they are a UK-based company competing in an American dominated market.

Yes it's really that small!

Terra Nova are definitely not novices jumping on the latest Cuben fiber bandwagon. They have have been producing excellent lightweight backpacking equipment for many years. However, the Ultra 20 represents a significant milestone in the evolution of their product offering.

The Ultra 20 is an exceptionally well made daypack. The quality and workmanship is excellent. It's an ultra cool looking pack too. The sad thing is that I use it so infrequently that it upsets me to see it sitting there in my closet, hopefully whomever wins this will put it to much more use than I have - I hope!

Giveaway Rules - Pay Attention!
As always, there are no restrictions on where I will send the winning item – so no matter where in the world you are, I’ll send it to you.  This will be a completely random drawing using Random.org, except that you have the ability to earn multiple ‘entries’.  Here are the basic rules of this giveaway:

• One Entry: Submit a comment below on this blog post - that's it!  No gear lists to provide, or reasons why you deserve to win. Only comments on this post count (in other words, comments that you left on my blog a few years back don’t count)
• Two Entries: There are three different opportunities to double on entries.  In addition to posting a comment below, you can post a comment on the Facebook page that I created for this giveaway.  Or the second option is adding your Twitter account as a follower of Brian's Backpacking Blog and re-tweeting my original contest giveaway Tweet.  By simply spreading the word, you get an extra entry.  (If you’re already a follower of my tweets, simply re-tweet and you'll get credit). 
• Three Entries: This is easy – just do all three of the above! Leave a comment on this blog post below, comment on my Facebook page entry, and follow/retweet the original Tweet on Twitter.  The maximum I'll allow is three entries per person.
  Note: If you’re active duty military and deployed and are unable to complete the entry methods above, simply shoot me an e-mail and I’ll get ya entered in.

That's all there is to it. The deadline for this giveaway will be January 30th. Good luck to everyone!

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Fisher Space Pen Refill | Ultralight Hack v2

Make the ultimate UL all-weather ballpoint pen for taking notes along the trail with just a standard Fisher Space Pen refill (SPR4) and a short length of heat shrink tubing!

The Fisher Space Pen and the associated SPR4 refill earned the reputation throughout the world for being able to write on almost any surface, at any angle, through grease, and even under water - and as so many backpackers already use one it seems like the perfect choice for this quick little hack.

This project takes about 2 minutes and creates a highly durable pen that goes perfectly with a Rite In The Rain memo pad or small notebook. A standard Fisher Bullet Space Pen weighs 2oz (56g), the refill with shrink tubing weighs just 3g.



I used 3/8" heat shrink tubing that has a 2:1 shrink ratio (3/32") and found that it formed tightly enough around the contours of the refill. You'll even see in the photograph below that if you leave a small amount of the tubing overhanging the non-working end of the refill, it will shrink nicely to form an enclosed end.



Be sure to check out my previous version of the Fisher Refill UL pen hack that does not require any heat shrink tubing, just a small piece of duct tape! For those of you growing tired of hearing about heat shrink tubing, I promise this will be the last blog post about it for a very long time =)

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Snow Peak Handle Grip Mod - Update

Several people have asked me how well the tool-dip modification that I made to the handles of my favorite Snow Peak 600 has stood the test of time, well the answer is not so well.

It worked great for the first few months of normal use, providing a non-slip protective barrier for my fingers from the heat of the metal handles, but it all went pair-shaped in a flash. The very first time that flames from my stove - I was using a wood burning stove at the time - licked directly at the tool-dip coating on the handles, they lit up like fuses and burned rapidly until all of the material was gone leaving nothing but a black powdery residue - poof!

So, I've been using my SP600 ever since without any special coating on the handles and just my skeletonized pot gripper to pick it up when necessary (I know I could remove the handles if I'm not using them). However, with the receipt of several packets of heat shrink tubing for Christmas stocking stuffers, I'm kinda excited about trying a new method to apply a coating/covering to the handles.

Heat Shrink Tubing for Handles
Apply heat shrink tubing to the handles of a mug like my SP600 is relatively easy, in fact the hardest part is pulling the handles off of the mug in the first place. It just takes a little bit of effort to pull the handles wider and they'll pop right out of the slots holding them to the body of the mug.



I used pretty long lengths of tubing for my handles so that the majority of the portion I would normally hold would be covered, thereby affording my delicate fingers protection from the heat. In the photo above you can see that I have added heat shrink to one of the bare handles and not the other.

I made sure that I took the time to align both of the sections of heat shrink on the handles so that they would be in the same place. There's nothing more frustrating to an UL OCD backpacker than uneven placement of heat shrink on your cooking vessel - trust me!



After giving the heat shrink a quick flash of heat from my Bic Mini so that they wouldn't move on the handles, I then reattached them to the mug and gave them a squeeze to make sure they were back in place. Next I used my wife's hair dryer to slowly blast the heat shrink with hot air to maximize the shrinkage. I've found that a slow steady supply of hot air is preferable to using an open flame.

The final results are pretty good, but time will tell how it holds up to use with my various types of stoves. I'm hoping it doesn't go the way of my tool-dip method and flare up on me the second a flame touches it. By the way, I toyed with the idea of using bright orange or yellow heat shrink for this, but didn't like the way it looked and figured it would get dirty and grimy pretty quickly. Black is more functional.



Other Uses For Heat Shrink
As is normal with most of my "little projects" I started going over-board with my use of heat shrink tubing - hard to believe right? Here is another really nifty use of heat shrink tubing in a quasi-backpacking application. You can use small lengths of heat shrink tubing to secure the ends of cordage like 550 paracord and stop it fraying.



The cord shown above is actually called SERE Cord and is made exclusively by OscarDelta SPD (UK) using hybrid kevlar inner strands to create a unique cord with an untested tensile strength of 1,505lbs! It’s taken over a year of research and design to develop this cord for SERE (Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape). A review on this amazing cord will be coming soon..

You should also take a look at Stick's Blog to see how he is using heat shrink tubing to add some high-viz coloration to his titanium tent stakes. What other uses are there for this amazing stuff? If you have any ideas or suggestions please share them below.

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