Tenkara: The Perfect Fly Fishing Gear for Backpackers

Today’s post is written by a friend and fellow blogger, Jason Klass. I'm sure you all know Jason as the original ultralight gear hacker, MYOG guru, and author of the hugely popular Gear Talk blog, but did you know that he is also an expert fly fishing instructor? So when I wanted to know more about Tenkara I turned to Jason, who graciously agreed to write this superb guest post - enjoy!



Backpacking and fly fishing go together like peanut butter and jelly. Hiking deep into the backcountry often lands you right in the middle of some of the most pristine streams, lakes, and beaver ponds unrivaled by anything you’ll find close to a road. And with the luxury of a couple of days or more on your side, to not take advantage of these magical fishing opportunities would be a crime. But bringing a rod, reel, and fishing vest full of fly boxes and other gear can really add pounds (and bulk) to your pack. So what is a backpacking angler to do? Try Tenkara fly fishing!

What is Tenkara?
Simply put, Tenkara is a method of fly fishing that uses long (11- 15 ft.), telescopic rods, a fixed line, and no reel. That’s right, no reel! The line is tied directly to the tip of the rod. Sound like dapping or cane pole fishing? It’s not. You cast a Tenkara rod similar to the way you cast a Western fly rod (it’s a “real” fly fishing cast—not dapping). And just like Western fly fishing, you have a tippet and fly attached to the end of your line. By all accounts, it is “real” fly fishing even though there is no “reel”.

Tenkara originated in Japan and was developed for fishing for small-stream trout fishing. Since it’s recent explosion in popularity in the West thanks to Tenkara USA founder Daniel Galhardo, many people have been pushing the boundaries, landing larger and larger fish and even using Tenkara for lake fishing. I’ve even heard of someone landing a bonefish on a Tenkara rod! You’re probably pretty unlikely to encounter a bonefish on your next backpacking trip, so let’s stick to the small streams and fish for which Tenkara was intended.

The first question most people ask is how you land a fish if there is no reel. If you’re fishing for smaller fish, you would land them pretty much the same way you do with a Western fly rod—you tilt the rod back behind you, grab the line, and then pull in the fish to your hand or net. Small stream fishing almost never requires shooting line or anything more than stripping a fish in so why bother with the reel? Many people who try Tenkara and are initially concerned about the lack of a reel are instant converts once they see how not having to worry about stepping on their line, line getting tangled in the reeds, mending line, etc. actually allows them to fish more effectively by eliminating the distraction of line management.

Advantages for Backpackers
Since we have to carry everything on our backs, it’s obviously in our best interest to limit weight and bulk. Adding a secondary activity like fly fishing intrinsically adds to our pack weight in extra gear. Tenkara gear significantly reduces the weight penalty of bringing along fly fishing equipment while allowing you to still reap the full benefits of your fly fishing opportunities.



A Western fly rod outfit might weigh as much as 10 oz. with the rod, reel, and line (not to mention terminal tackle). And, if you’ve got a premium rod, you’ll probably want to protect it with some sort of rod tube. This only adds to the weight and bulk. But with Tenkara rods, you save many ounces by eliminating the reel and rod tube (the rods are telescopic and become their own case once collapsed). By comparison, a Tenkara rod and line might weigh a combined 3 oz. giving you a significant weight savings. Also, they collapse down to a mere 20” or so meaning they’re very compact and fit perfectly in the side pocket of a backpack. Tenkara rods take up very little space, add very little weight, yet still give you an effective fly fishing tool to have a great day on the water.

Learning Curve
If you’re an experienced fly caster, you will figure out Tenkara in about 5 seconds. The casting stroke is similar to the traditional stroke (but slightly shorter and with more wrist). If you’re new to fly fishing, you will find casting a Tenkara rod far less frustrating and much easier to learn than Western fly fishing. Trust me. I was a casting instructor for years and have a lot of frustrated faces emblazoned on my mind. By comparison, I’ve seen people pick up a Tenkara rod with no fly casting experience and after a few minutes of instruction, actually catch fish. My wife never fished a day in her life and after I put a Tenkara rod in her hand, she caught 3 beautiful cutthroat trout her first time out. The instant gratification also makes Tenkara a great option for introducing children to the sport.



Limitations
Keeping in mind that the Tenkara method was originally intended for smaller fish in smaller streams, it should be noted that it’s not for everyone, nor for every situation. For backpackers that want to fish smaller streams or ponds without carrying a bunch of gear, it’s perfect. If you need to boom out an 80 ft. cast and drag a Zonker along the bottom of a 30 ft. deep lake, it won’t work. But that’s not a shortcoming of Tenkara. Every piece of gear (whether it’s for fishing or backpacking) has its place. Think about the places you hike into and think about if Tenkara is a good fit. Chances are, it is.

Conclusion
In my opinion, Tenkara is the ideal system for people who want to combine fly fishing and backpacking. A premium Western outfit could easily cost you upwards of $1,000. Wouldn’t you rather spend less than $200 for a complete, lighter, and more practical setup and still be able to have great fly fishing adventures on your backpacking trips? If you’re serious about exploring backcountry and taking advantage of it’s unique fishing opportunities, then maybe it’s time you try Tenkara.

Learn More about Tenkara:

• Backpack Fly Fishing
• Tenkara Bum
• Tenkara on the Fly
• Tenkara USA

I would like to personally thank Jason for graciously agreeing to write this excellent post and for educating me in the finer points of Tenkara. I'd also like to thank him for exposing me to yet another fascinating past time to become obsessed with and spend my money on, thanks Jason :-)

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Your Most Recent Gear Purchase?

Today is a wet and rainy day in North Carolina, but the warmer, dryer weather is definitely on the way. Like most of you I'm starting to plan as many of my weekend hikes as I can. This time of year also coincides nicely with REI membership dividend time and that means new gear purchases - gotta love that, right? I'm also knee deep in reviewing and testing gear that I've picked up recently like the MLD bug bivy shown above, watch out for a review of that in use with my SpinnTwinn coming soon.

So I thought I'd ask what new pieces of gear have you purchased recently, what you like about it, and what made you decide on that specific brand or model? I'm curious to see what's hot or popular with everyone else. If you haven't made any recent gear purchases, what are you lusting after and why?

Please leave a comment below.

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How Much Knife Do You Need?

When it comes to knives there are only two types of people - knife fanatics and everyone else. As much as I like my knives, I probably still fall into the "everyone else" category. If you are a knife fanatic, then everything I am about to say will most likely upset or offend you, but please hear me out.

I've reviewed quite a lot of different makes and models of knives on my blog over the last few years and my posts about knives continue to attract a lot of my overall web traffic (I mentioned the fanatics right?). However, my use and demands of a knife or cutting tool in general have changed significantly over that time too, to point where I am now taking a more careful look at weight vs functionality, something I was never too concerned with (read as 'willing to compromise') when it came to my trusty blade.

I'm not going to provide a detailed review of each and every knife that I mention in this post, I've done that with several of them already and many of the others have been reviewed extensively elsewhere (and better than I ever could - check out nutnfancy on YouTube). Instead, I want to give you some background on the knives I've used and how I arrived at the point I am currently at.

A Little Background
When I began backpacking gear was much heavier. My pack, my tent, my sleeping bag, everything was heavier than it is now. The technologies and materials that enable much the ultralight gear that we all now have and lust after were not around. I didn't obsess about shaving ounces off of my gear like I do now. Back then I used to carry a sheath knife as my primary cutting tool. It was a medium sized no-name brand knife that I probably picked up at an army surplus store somewhere. It did the job, wasn't light weight, but it was what I had and was always with me.

About the same time as I started getting more into backpacking, the first Rambo movie was released. Do you remember that? Suddenly knives got a lot bigger and the survivalist mentality started to seep into the outdoor community. Everyone thought that they needed a huge knife to survive in the woods despite having never been in a situation where they had done much more than open a packet of food or cut rope with their knife. My handy sheath knife was now much more than a piece of gear, it was a tool, a weapon, it was my life line.



That was a very long time ago, but I mention it because it is a mentality that has stuck with me for a very long time and has been extremely hard to shake off. For so many years I've favored full tang knives and survival knives over smaller or folding knives simply because I've been concerned that in a life or death situation I may need a knife that can penetrate a car door or be used to pry apart thick wooden beams and still like a tomato without squashing it. But guess what? I've never been in a situation where I have needed to do that in over thirty years!

That quite recent realization has forced me to take another look at what I really need a knife or cutting tool to do for me while I'm out on the trail. So for the last few months I've kept careful track of when and what I used my knife to do while backpacking. The results were quite surprising, to me at least.

Revelation
I discovered that my most frequent use of a knife, while backpacking at least, was to cut/slice open a packet of something. That could be a packet of freeze dried food, some small packets of food ingredients, or other sealed packs generally food related. Quite the manly task eh? My next most common use of a knife was to cut cord. Spectra cord, paracord, Triptease, or Dacron line. After those two top activities the rest of my cutting needs included things like sharpening my pencil, digging out splinters or just plain whittling for fun. Not a whole lot of heavy duty tasks.



That blew my mind. No slicing through carcasses, making spears, or splitting limb sized logs - just very small, precise cutting tasks. So why was I so fixated with large, robust, bomb-proof knives? Who knows. The data just didn't support my need to carry around such a huge blade.

There will probably come a time where I genuinely do need a substantial, strong knife to perform some gnarly task that a smaller knife can't do, but will it be a life or death situation? I hope not. I may be going out on a limb, but I've come to the conclusion (supported by a little bit of data) that I can carry a much smaller knife when backpacking and still be perfectly safe and prepared.

So How Much Knife is Enough?
I decided to take a closer look at the knives that I use on a regular basis (I own quite a few more than these) in order to determine what best suited my newly discovered cutting requirements. I put together two simple lists to help with my pseudo research. First I weighed my knives, then I compared their functions and blade lengths. Here's what I came up with.

Comparison sorted by overall weight:


Comparison sorted by primary blade length:


As you would expect, the fixed blade, full-tang knives easily topped the list for weight and the small folding knives had the smallest blades. I wanted to find the best trade-off between weight and blade/functions.

I decided to stop carrying my fixed blade knives for the time being. They're heavy and definitely overkill for the tasks I typically have to perform on the trail. That left me with the folding knives and two multi-tools. I should mention that my current every day carry (EDC) knife is a Benchmade Mini-Griptillian, but it's not listed because I tend not to take it with me when I go hiking.

Of the folding knives that I have carried backpacking, the Spyderco Delica 4 is by far my favorite. Superb quality, reliability, and edge retention. I've carried a Delica as my EDC for the past 14 years without a problem. But even as good as my folding knives are, I like having the additional functions that come with my multi-tools - specifically the scissors and pliers.



The super small and lightweight Victorinox (Swiss Army) Classic has a great quality main blade albeit tiny. It's also the only folding knife that I have that comes with a neat little pair of scissors, ideal for my primary task of opening up packets! I know other backpackers, such as Philip Werner (Sectionhiker), that carry the Victorinox Classic as their primary blade/tool, but I'm still not quite at the point where I can go that small with my primary knife. I do like to carry one on my car keys though :-)

Once I had made the decision that I wanted a blade plus other tools like pliers and scissors it narrowed the field down to just two. My Leatherman Juice S2 and my smaller Gerber Clutch. As I said the Victorinox Classic has a great little pair of scissors, but it's just too small IMHO.



The Gerber Clutch is a nice smaller sized multi-tool, I was given this one as a present, but it's not particularly high quality - an issue I have with a lot of Gerber knives in general. The Clutch also does not have a pair of scissors. The Leatherman Juice S2 on the other hand is exceptionally well made. It has a decent size primary blade at 2.6 inches made from reasonably good quality steel. It has a full size pair of pliers with wire cutters and because I have the S2 model, it comes has a really good pair of scissors with a cutting length of 1.25 inches!

The Juice S2 is definitely not the lightest option that I could carry, but based on the jobs that I need a knife to perform on a regular basis it's the most perfectly suited to the task, at least based on the knives that I own. Who knows what other knives I might buy in the future, it's a dirty habit.

So I've settled on the Juice S2 as my go to knife/cutting tool for the foreseeable future. Is it truly an ultralight option, nope! But it is a significant move in the right direction for me and about as far as I'm willing to go at this point.  If my needs of a knife continue to stay simple I may adjust further. I have my eye on the smaller Leatherman Squirt PS4 as a potential successor to the Juice and my REI dividend check just arrived - but we'll see! What type of knife or multi-tool do you carry with you as your primary backpacking knife?

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Evernew 2DX Titanium Pot Set

About a year and a half ago I bought my first set of titanium cooking pots, the Evernew 2DX Titanium cookset, with the intent of always taking them with me and using them as part of my primary cooking kit. My previous "go to" pot was the popular GSI Soloist which is both lightweight and very versatile.

However, along the way and shortly after investing in the Evernew DX pot set, I started enjoying cooking over a wood burning stove and open camp fire rather than using my Bud-Light alcohol stove. There were a combination of factors at play, the ease of finding fuel for wood burning, not needing to carry denatured alcohol, having a multi-use stove, or having a pot that required no stove and could be used over an open camp fire as a billy can.



I then snapped up a great deal at REI on an Open Country 4-quart pot which was perfectly suited for camp fire cooking and use on a wood burning stove. The long curving handle made it great for hanging above a fire like a billy can. It was very inexpensive and made from aluminum, so reasonably light weight ($10/16oz).

I was pretty content with the Open Country pot and considered it part of my updated trail cooking system, along with my Bud-Light stove and fuel I had what I thought was the best of all options - alcohol, wood, camp fire, all set right?



Nope! I bought the Ben's Backwoods Cook Kit while I was on a bit of a billy can bender. If you recall I did a review of this entire set up and openly admitted that I LOVED it despite the incredible weight of the steel pot and stove. I still do love the Zebra billy can and Littlbug Jr. stove, but I discovered that what I was really attracted to was the ability to cook over a wood fire. Whether that was a wood burning stove or open camp fire didn't really matter - I just liked it and it was a lot less finicky than any of my alcohol stoves (don't hate me).



I mention all of this because my evolving cooking style and love of a wood burning stoves eventually lead me back to the Evernew titanium 2DX set that I had bought and neglected for so long. This was facilitated by yet another stove purchase (I should seek professional help), this time the Evernew titanium DX stove set. More about the DX stove in a later blog post.



The tiny titanium DX stove set provided me with the ability to cook using an alcohol stove, Esbit fuel tabs, or as a very small and compact wood burning stove - and it was lightweight! Which then reminded me that I had a set of titanium pots somewhere that would be perfect to go with it. So I hunted around and dug out the unused Evernew Ti pot set to take a closer look.

Without intending to do so, I had paired up the two Evernew sets to arrive at a practical and highly versatile cooking system that appealed to my new found way of wood stove cooking. With this set up I could also switch to using Esbit fuel tabs or the alcohol stove depending on my needs and the fuel I had available. Eureka!



Taking a Closer Look
All this leads me back to the neglected Evernew 2DX titanium pot set that I bought so long ago. So I decided to take a much closer look at it and test it out a few times. I'll go over some of the details and explain what I like and don't like.

Evernew USA has a very comprehensive line up of titanium cookware. They have deep pots, shallow pots, stacking pots, non-stick and regular pots, pasta pots with strainer lids, mugs - the list is impressive. I knew I wanted a small'ish set with a non-stick coating so I chose the smallest of their titanium non-stick stacked pots (model: ECA417). The listed weight for this set on the Evernew website is 7.1oz. When I weighed it myself I found it to be well under that even if I included the stuff sack that the set came with.

• Lid/Skillet - 2.625oz
• Bottom Pot - 3.5oz
• Stuff Sack - 0.5oz
• Total Weight - 6.625oz

The overall size of the set is quite small, which may look deceptive in the photos. When the set is combined for packing it measures 5.35 inches in diameter and just a hair over 4 inches tall. It certainly doesn't feel very big when you hold it.



The bottom pot has a capacity of 30floz which is more than enough for my usual two cups (16oz) of water used for re-hydrating foods. It's also wide enough and deep enough to use for cooking a more substantial meal instead of just boiling water. Now that I am able to use a wood burning stove and maintain the heat/fire for longer periods of time that i can with an alcohol stove, I've found that I enjoy making slightly more involved meal while on the trail. It's nice to kick back and relax while taking a little more time to cook, even if it means continually having to feed a wood burning stove!



One of the features I like about this particular set is the small pouring spout that is part of the lower pot. Not only does it make pouring hot liquids much easier, it serves as a very effective strainer when combined with the upper lid. I had hacked the lid of my Open County pot by drilling a row of small holes in it to works as a strainer, but the Evernew set does this perfectly, albeit more slowly - but it works!

The lower pot has very clear measurement markings on the inside directly opposite the handles where they are easy to see. Unfortunately they are in metric and only indicate the 300ml (10.1floz) and 600ml (20.3floz) levels, with 900ml (30.4floz) being the top of the pot. I would like to see both metric and imperial measurements on the pot and have a few more increments.



For those of you, like me, that often need to boil just two cups (16oz) of water, you can aim for roughly in between the 300ml and 600ml markers which would be 450ml and pretty close to the actual 473ml that 16oz is equal to. I've found that using this estimation has worked very well because it is just under the actual two cup amount and prevent me from adding too much water to some of the meals, many of which are better with slightly less water anyway.

The folding handles are very nicely designed and implemented. They are not at all flimsy and snap into place when fully open. I've tested other similar pot designs with this style of handle and have found that they are often able to swing wildly around as you move the pot. The Evernew handles stay in place when open which is a small but really nice detail. Both sets of handles have a thick coating of heat-resistant silicon that provide good purchase as well as protection from heat transfer so you don't burn your fingers.



The walls of the pots are very thin, no doubt to save weight and cost. I mention that because I very nearly caved in the sides of the larger pot when I first used it. I was expecting it to be as robust as my GSI Soloist. I don't see this as a fault or problem with the design or manufacture of these pots. It is more to do with my lack of familiarity with titanium pots in general and how delicate they are compared to pots made from other materials.

Of course the flip side of this is that the pot is light weight and extremely efficient at conducting heat. I like how responsive the pot is to heat because that allows me to take it on and off the heat or adjust my stove to suit my cooking needs. I haven't done so yet, but I will most likely make a Reflectix pot cozy for this set so that it can retain the heat when it's taken off the stove. Without a pot cozy of some kind the pot and contents cool down very quickly. Again, that's not so much a criticism of the design, but more a consequence of the materials used.



Boil times were very good with this set. It took just under 5 mins to boil two cups of cold water using an alcohol stove and slightly less, 3.5 mins, using the wood burning stove configuration. Both of those times are with the upper pot/lid removed. Boil times were marginally better with the lid in place but not enough to be of great significance.

The upper pot or lid can be used as a small skillet or shallow pot. It is also non-stick coated but does not have any measurement markings. The product specs indicate that it has a maximum capacity of 500ml or 16.9floz. As it is so close to being almost perfectly two cups (16floz) I use it as a makeshift measure for my water and just make sure that I don't fill it up all the way, which is actually very practical if you don't want to spill water. The upper pot/skillet doesn't have a pouring spout, so it is not as easy to pour as the bottom pot.

Summary
Overall I am really pleased with the quality and functionality of the Evernew 2DX cookset. I wish I had started using it a long time ago when I first bought it, but I'm glad I rediscovered it now. There are a few things that Evernew could do to improve the design like having both decimal and imperial markings and more increments, but that didn't overly impact my usage of the pots. They're compact, lightweight, and easy to clean with the non-stick finish. If you are considering investing in a set of titanium pots in the near future, I would definitely recommend that you consider this set in your product research.

I'll be reporting back on this set after I have had more time with it and with the Evernew DX stove set. I will also being posting a review of the DX stove shortly. Do you use a titanium pot set? If so, what make and model do you use and why?

Disclosure: The author owns this product and paid for it using their own funds.

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Mechanix Wear Lightweight Gloves

Weighing in at a mere 1.75oz for a pair, the Mechanix Wear Fastfit gloves make for a great way to add an additional layer of protection to your hands while on the trail. I like to carry a pair of these with me when I go on longer multi-day hikes or when I know I'll be scavenging around for firewood.

These gloves are very thin and nimble so I can still tie knots and open zippers with these on. However, they don't really provide any real level of cold weather protection.



The gloves have a Clarino synthetic leather palm, stretch panels between the fingers, and a two-way stretch Spandex padded back for additional protection.

I picked up a few pairs at my local Walmart the last time they were on sale, just to have some spares. I consider them to be somewhat of a luxury item, but have noticed that when I have them with me they get a lot more use than I thought they would.

Disclosure: The author owns this product and paid for it using their own funds.

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Ceramic Coated Ti Stake Prototypes

I've recently been field testing some prototype 6-inch, high-visibility 6g (0.2oz) titanium tent stakes manufactured by Gossamer Gear. These stakes are a new (unreleased) version of their popular Tite-Lite titanium tent stakes, with one major difference - they have a bright yellow, high-visibility ceramic coating.

If you've ever lost one or more of your tent stakes during a backpacking trip, you'll know how useful it is to have tent stakes that are easily seen when dropped on the ground. That's even more important when you start buying more expensive lightweight titanium stakes, you definitely don't want to be losing them all the time.

I was initially concerned about the durability of a ceramic coating. In my experience, I've found other similar types of ceramic coatings to be very brittle and susceptible to cracking or splitting when flexed. To my surprise, the GG Tite-Lite stakes were incredibly strong and not at all easy to bend by hand, so my initial concerned proved to be unfounded.

The tip or point of the Tite-Lite stakes are cone shaped to help make them easier to insert into hard or rocky ground. They are not completely pointed, but chamfered just enough to help.

I did notice however, that after dozens of insertions into the very hard, rocky, clay soil that we have in North Carolina, the ceramic coating did begin to show very small signs of wear at the end/point of the stake. After speaking with Grant at Gossamer Gear, he told me that the final version that will go into production will only have the ceramic coating on the top half of the stake. That means the end that gets all the abuse will be uncoated titanium and extremely durable.



The ceramic coating added almost no noticeable weight to the stakes that I tested. I weighed all eight of the stakes and every one weighed 6g, which is the same as the weight listed for the uncoated Tite-Lite Ti stakes on the GG website. Given that the final version of these will only be coated on half of the stake, I can't see the weight being any different.

According to Grant, these ceramic coated stakes will be available to purchase from their website in April. They are also planning to make a slightly longer, seven-inch version of these same ceramic coated stakes. No word yet on the price, but these will be worth the money even if all they do is help stop you losing any more stakes.

Disclosure: Gossamer Gear provided Brian's Backpacking Blog with a complementary set of Ti stakes to review.

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My UL Fire Starting Kit

I don't know about you, but I've found that when I'm out hiking, whether it's a multi-day hike or short day hike, my fire starting needs are pretty basic.

Typically the only time I need to start a fire is when I'm cooking or boiling water to heat up some dehydrated food, make some soup, or make a hot cup of tea. Occasionally I'll be at site that will allow a camp fire, but those types of sites are becoming more and more rare. So it's pretty much only for cooking that I need to start a fire.

The type of stove I am carrying with me will dictate the type of fire starting tools that I need to carry. For example; if I am carrying my Evernew DX stove and using it as a wood burning stove, I know that I will need to start a small wood fire using tinder and sticks or whatever is at hand. If I am carrying my Bud-Light alcohol stove, I know that I will only need something to ignite the denatured alcohol, which doesn't require any tinder.

These two basic fire starting scenarios cover over 95% of my needs for a fire starting kit or gear, so over time I have paired down the items that I carry with me to the point where I have, what I think is, a minimal approach that covers all my bases.  you may have more exotic needs or prefer to carry more or less gear, but for me this has proven to be more than sufficient. Here is what I carry for fire starting:

• BIC® Classic disposable lighter - 20g
• AMK Spark Lite and Tinder Quik (4) - 9g
• REI Storm-proof Matches (5) and paper striker - 4g
• Total weight = 33g / 1.16oz

Sometimes, mostly when the mood takes me, I'll carry a Light My Fire Fire Steel (Scout) which weighs 21g and brings my total fire starting kit weight up to 54g / 1.9oz, which still isn't bad.

BIC Classic Disposable Lighter
This is what I use as my primary method of starting a fire. It's light weight (even lighter if you use a BIC-mini) and works equally well for lighting my alcohol stove or a small wood fire. I definitely prefer the BIC lighters to some of the cheaper brands that are out there because I've had several of those fail on me, like the Scripto Views. However, the Scripto Tiny Lite disposable lighters are really quite good and a great light weight option.



Wrapped around my BIC lighter is a short section of bicycle inner tube, which has a couple of clever uses IMHO.

1. If you manage to find a very thin inner tube, like those used on racing/road bicycles, it will fit tight around the width of the lighter and serve as a great rubberized grip in bad weather
2. If you cut the rubber inner tube into thinner strips (shown on the left in the photo) they can be used as extremely strong rubber bands, often referred to as "Ranger bands". These have all sorts of uses in a pinch
3. Lastly, the rubber makes for a bomb-proof fire lighting material even when wet. If I am in an emergency (which is about the only time I would want to burn black rubber), I can cut a small strip of the rubber and light it with my BIC. It will burns steadily for at least 1-2 minutes which is plenty of time to allow me to start a good sized fire

Spark Lite Striker and Tinder
I usually carry an Adventure Medial Kits' Spark Lite flint striker and four tinder sticks in a tiny ziplock bag inside of my first aid kit. I like to carry it as a backup in case my BIC lighter runs out of butane or I lose it.



If you're not familiar with this, let me give a brief description of what it is and how it works. The square plastic body contains a long metal spring similar to the ones you find in a ballpoint pen. At the end of the spring is a tiny piec of flint, just like the flints you find in a Zippo lighter. The spring holds the flint against the metal wheel at the top of the striker. When the wheel is rotated/struck quickly in the correct direction (indicated by the two large arrows) it grinds against the flint and throws out a large set of sparks. Think of it as a BIC lighter ignition without the butane gas.

Accompanying the Spark Lite are four small pieces of tinder called Tinder-Quik. These are waterproof and take a spark very easily. Once lit they will burns for 2 to 3 minutes, plenty of time to get a warm fire going. Even though both the flint striker and the tinder are described as being waterproof, I like to keep them dry if at all possible - it makes things a lot easier.

There are two versions of the Spark Lite tool that I am aware of; there is the orange colored one that is made of plastic and is disposable, and there is a green metal version of the exact same size that allows you to replace the tiny flint when it gets worn down. The disposable one is rated to over 1,000 sparks, which seems more than adequate for my needs, especially as a secondary backup solution.

REI Storm-proof Matches
If you don't already have some of these bad boys then you should go get some! These are not your average storm-proof or wind-proof matches that you see being sold all over the place. These matches are practically impossible to stop once they've been lit.



I've carried these for a few years now and have only had occasion to use them, but when I did they have always gotten the job done. In fact, rather than me try to describe in words how bomb-proof these things are, take a look at this cool video that shows you exactly how hard these matches are to extinguish. This is not my video, so pardon the soundtrack.



After watching that video you'll want to get some of these. I keep four or five of them with me in a tiny ziplock bag, just to have as an emergency. Each box of REI storm-proof matches comes with two spare cardboard strips of striker material in addition to the striker that comes on the side of the matchbox. I carry one of these in the small bag with the matches. These are not strike anywhere matches -they will get chewed up if you attempt to strike them on rougher surfaces.

LMF Fire Steel - Scout
As I mentioned earlier, I only really carry this occasionally. Don't get me wrong, it's not because I don't like it or don't know how to use it, on the contrary I absolutely love using it - it's just more gear than I need to carry for my typical needs. Your mileage may vary, as they say.



This particular fire steel has been modified by me using some black Sugru. The LMF Scout model has a stick that is too narrow to fit properly into the sheath of my Koster bushcraft knife. So I used some Sugru to make the fire steel shaft wider at the top so that it would fit tightly into the flint stick holder on my knife sheath. The sheath is made to take the larger LMF Army fire steel - which I have since bought.

The LMF fire steels usually come with a cord lanyard and metal striker. I take those off and carry the fire steel on its own or in my pocket. I prefer to use the back of my knife as the striker as I'm usually never without a knife of some sort - but that's a whole other blog topic.

So that's it. My standard fire starting kit, which contains the BIC lighter, AMK striker and tinder, and the REI matches weighs in at a whopping 33g / 1.16oz. Of course I could probably remove one of the two backup options in order to lighten the overall kit weight  even more, but I like all three of these options and I'm happy with what I've chosen.

What fire starting tools do you like to carry with you, and what are your particular fire starting needs?

Disclosure: The author owns these products and paid for them using their own funds.

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Gossamer Gear Trail Ambassador

In case you hadn't already read about it I thought you should hear it from me directly. I have recently volunteered to be a Trail Ambassador for Gossamer Gear, one of the original pioneers in ultralight backpacking.

The purpose of the Gossamer Gear Trail Ambassadorship program is to raise awareness about ultralight backpacking, but not necessarily to promote one manufacturer over another.  I'm certainly under no obligation to promote Gossamer Gear products to my readers, unless of course I happen to like and own the products. In fact the guys at Gossamer Gear have encouraged me to provide them with my honest feedback and criticisms so that they can improve their products.

Besides occasionally testing new or unreleased gear and being an evangelist for lightweight backpacking, I see this as an opportunity for me and all of my readers to have a direct communication channel to Glen, Grant, and Dave at Gossamer Gear. This is your opportunity to have direct input into the product development life-cycle via the comments you leave.

I'll continue to provide you with honest and candid reviews of all types of gear manufacturers, but wanted to be upfront and open about my new partnership with Gossamer Gear. There are lots of new types of UL gear in the pipeline for 2011 and I can tell it is going to be very interesting year!

Gear Links: Eastern Mountain Sports | REI | CampSaver | Patagonia | Altrec

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The Tick Key

I saw this the other day and picked one up for my first aid kit. It's called The Tick Key® and is a really easy way to remove ticks that have already attached themselves. The Tick Key is made from strong 5052 anodized aluminum and is available in seven cool colors; green, blue, orange, purple, red, pewter, and black - as you can see I got myself the blue one.

Using the Tick Key is simple. You place the key over the entire body of the tick in the large part of the tear shaped slot of the key. Pull the key away from the tick sliding it along the skin until it get's caught in the narrow "v" of the key. The tick is removed easily and safely, head and all!

I'm going to put this one in the first aid kit that I always carry with me. I'm also considering buying several more to have attached to my backpacks. Here's a video I found of the Tick Key in action.



What tool or method do you use for removing ticks?

Disclosure: The author owns this product and paid for it using their own funds.

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Ounces & Inches - Decimal Tables

I always seem to need to look up the decimal value for fractions of an ounce when I'm writing one of my blog posts. I try to include detailed weight specifics for any products or MYOG projects as part of the post. Unfortunately my small digital scales only display weights as fractions and I'm definitely more a decimal kinda guy - thanks to my UK education. The same is true for inches, I prefer to see the decimal equivalent.

So, I put together the following two little tables to reference when I'm composing my blog posts. Then it struck me that these may be useful to others, so I thought I'd share them with you. If you find them handy, that's great and please let me know. Or if you know of any better reference tables, let me know that too.



Do you prefer to see weights and measures provided in fractions or decimals?

Gear Links: Eastern Mountain Sports | REI | CampSaver | Patagonia | Altrec

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Eyedropper Bottles: An Ultralighter's Friend

One of the easiest and quickest ways to shave some weight off your pack is by reducing the quantity of a given item that you carry. For most items that's relatively easy, you just carry less, this works for most things including toiletries, but for liquids like soap, toothpaste, or water purification drops it requires a slightly different approach.

My absolute favorite technique is to use tiny eyedropper bottles. The reason for this is that the opening is very small, letting you control exactly how much liquid you dispense at a time. The combination of small opening and a separate twist cap also means it's highly unlikely that they will leak.

Let's use toothpaste as an example. A full tube of regular toothpaste weighs 7oz, a travel size tube of toothpaste weighs 3oz, and a bottle of liquid gel toothpaste weight 5.25oz. I mention liquid gel toothpaste because trying to squeeze regular toothpaste into a tiny container is close to impossible. I also happen to really like liquid get toothpaste. Any way you slice it that's quite a few ounces for just one toiletry item, multiply that across several items in your sundries bag and your beginning to get a significant weight saving when you reduce the amount you carry.



Ultralight Toothpaste Bottle
You can either reuse eyedropper bottles that you have in your medicine cabinet, or purchase brand new pharmaceutical-grade empty ones (eBay has them available in bulk for low prices). Typically the ones you purchase empty are transparent making it easy to see how much liquid you have left or how much you have when you are filling it up. Recycled eyedropper bottles are usually opaque which makes them a better option for photosensitive items like face creams and serums. If you do reuse bottles that previously had medicine in them, be sure to thoroughly clean them before you follow the instructions below. For this mini project you will need the following items:

• An empty (clean) eyedropper bottle - I am using the 3ml size
• A bottle of liquid gel toothpaste, flavor/brand of your choosing
• A Sharpie or other method for labeling the finished bottle

Start by removing the screw-on lid from the eyedropper bottle and then pulling out the tiny inner dispensing tip. Be careful, the inner dispenser tip is the secret to these tiny bottles, make sure you don’t lose it.



Carefully start squeezing the liquid from your main toothpaste bottle into the smaller eye dropper bottle. I've found that it helps if you slightly squeeze the empty eyedropper bottle to expel as much air as possible before you start filling it with toothpaste. If you squeeze the eyedropper beforehand, it will feel as though it is almost sucking up the toothpaste as you are filling it.



Fill up the eyedropper bottle leaving a small gap at the top. You want to leave just enough room for the dispensing tip to fit back into place without spilling toothpaste everywhere. Press the tip back onto the neck of the eyedropper bottle until it snaps firmly into place, then twist the lid back on.



I think it's very important to quickly label the bottle so you know exactly what it contains. If you decide to do this for several other items it can very quickly become confusing to tell what is in each bottle - be sure to label it! I just happened to have a geeky labeling machine, so I printed one out for the bottle, but a Sharpie or waterproof label will work just fine (office supply weather-proof mailing labels are excellent for this - made of our favorite Tyvek).



That's it! You now have your very own eyedropper bottle full of toothpaste. Here are the weight details. An empty half-ounce eyedropper bottle weighs 0.125oz. Based on a few of these that I have made, the final eyedropper bottle containing toothpaste weighs approximately 0.625oz. That's a pretty big weight saving even from a travel size tube of toothpaste (3oz). Before you wonder if a half-ounce bottle of toothpaste is enough, let me say that the chances are it will last you at least a couple of days if not a full week. If you need more, make two!

One of the best advantages of using eyedropper bottles is that you don’t have to hunt around to find travel-size bottles of your favorite toiletries, or settle for some weird-smelling shampoo just because it was the only thing you could find. You can take exactly what you want.

Have you already made the switch to using eyedropper bottles? Do you have any tips or advice?

Gear Links: Eastern Mountain Sports | REI | CampSaver | Patagonia | Altrec

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Online Walking Time Calculator

I came across a really useful online walking time calculator during my daily reading and decided to share it with you all.  It's pretty flexible and can even help you adjust your times to account for ascents (Naismith's Rule) and fatigue (Tranter's Corrections). Worth checking out and bookmarking!

Naismith's Rule:
Is named after the Scottish climber W W Naismith, who devised the rule in 1892. The rule is very simple and easy to use, being based on an average walking peed of 3 miles per hour and an additional allowance of half an hour per 1,000 feet of ascent.

The basic rule often works very well for walks of up to about 4 hours in good conditions on good paths, although many people prefer to use a gentler pace of 2.5 miles per hour as the walking speed. The rule does not take into account the slowing effect of steep descents or the speeding up on gentle descents. These can be taken into account with the additional adjustments, but often these will more or less cancel each other out. More importantly, Naismith's rule does not take into account fatigue during a walk, the load carried, difficult ground or bad weather.

Tranter's Corrections:
These were designed to take fatigue and fitness into account, and consist of a table of adjustments for different fitness levels and different lengths of walk. To measure your fitness level, you should time an ascent of 1,000 feet in half a mile (300m in 800m). For the top fitness levels, the corrections reduce the time estimates for shorter walks by up to half, so be prepared for some jogging if you use those fitness levels on gentle walks! The corrections then progressively increase the time estimates for both increasing walk lengths and reducing fitness levels. By adjusting fitness levels, Tranter's corrections can also be used to take into account bad weather or the conditions underfoot.

Do you know of any other useful online resources for backpacking and hiking?

Gear Links: Eastern Mountain Sports | REI | CampSaver | Patagonia | Altrec

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Mentioned in April's Backpacker Magazine

This is so silly but I had to share it because it appealed to my inner geek. I was flipping through the April 2011 edition of Backpacker magazine last night, looking at all the awesome gear reviews (it's the big Gear Guide issue) when I noticed my name mentioned on the inside back page under the title "Things We Covet".



I was a little taken aback, but remembered responding to a Facebook poll that Backpacker magazine posted on their fan page about the pieces of gear that we most covet. I had to go back to Facebook to confirm it, but there it was!

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Not quite as impressive as Sarah Kirkconnell's two-page article in last month's issue, but it's a start :-)

Gear Links: Eastern Mountain Sports | REI | CampSaver | Patagonia | Altrec

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Reader Poll: Headlamp or Flashlight?

I'm a big fan of using a headlamp for backpacking. I made the switch from flashlight to headlamp several years ago and will probably never switch back. The benefits are pretty obvious; lightweight, let you keep your hands free, most utilize super-bright LEDs, the direction of the light automatically follows where you are looking, etc.

Yet I continue to bump into fellow backpackers that have either not heard about headlamps (bizarre I know) or have chosen to stick with a more traditional flashlight, for various reasons.

I carry a Petzl Tikka Plus headlamp as my primary light source and an Inova Microlight as my backup. I used to carry an Inova X03 pocket flashlight, but it was too heavy and had to be held all the time - I didn't have any way to attach it or hold it to my person.  So the switch to a headlamp was an easy one for me.

So, what do you prefer and why? Are you a headlamp lover or a die-hard flashlight carrier? What models do you prefer and why? I'm really curious about this one...

Gear Links: Eastern Mountain Sports | REI | CampSaver | Patagonia | Altrec

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Safety Whistles | Decibel Testing

A few months ago I wrote a mini review of the UST JetScream whistle which, if you recall, I was a little disappointed with. As part of that review, I performed a very unscientific comparison of the loudness of the JetScream to other whistles that I own. By unscientific I mean, just how it sounded to my ears.

After that review I wanted to do a slightly more scientific and accurate test of several whistles that I own to see if my ears were right and what whistles really were the loudest, but I would need a decibel meter. One of the great things about being a self-confessed geek, is that you have lots of other geeky friends. So when asked my geek friends if any of them had a decibel meter - and more than one responded saying that they did. LOL!

So I created a short video to document my attempt to test the loudness of half a dozen of the most popular safety/emergency whistles used by backpackers. I used two video cameras, one to film me testing each of the whistles and the other to film the decibel meter readings. I tested the following six popular whistles:

• Fox 40 Micro Safety Whistle
• Ultimate Survival Technologies' JetScream Whistle
• ACR WW-3 Survival Whistle 2228
• REI Tri-Power Safety Whistle
• Generic Sternum Strap Buckle Whistle
• Harbor Freight Lightweight Aluminum Whistle

What surprised me was not only which whistle came out on top as the loudest, but how far off all of the whistles were from the decibel level stated in their product descriptions. Not one of the six whistles I tested was able to break the 100 decibel mark, yet most, if not all, of them state they they do - very interesting.

Below the video is a table showing the results of the testing. If you want to watch the video without spoiling it by seeing the results ahead of time, don't scroll below the video just yet!



Here are the results of the testing in a table format ranked loudest to quietest.



I was very surprised to see that a $0.99 Harbor Freight Aluminum whistle beat all of the other whistles I tested. As I said earlier, not one of the whistles were able to break the 100 decibel level despite product specifications stating they could, which bothers me a great deal. Of course I'm not an expert, but I did use a professional-grade decibel meter in as much of a controlled manner as possible.

I hope this was as interesting for you to read and watch as it was for me to conduct. What whistle do you carry on the trail and did the results of my testing surprise/concern you?

Gear Links: Eastern Mountain Sports | REI | CampSaver | Patagonia | Altrec

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Winner of Kupilka Cup Giveaway

If you were one of the people that commented directly on my blog then you might be the winner! Thank you to everyone who entered the Kupilka 21 Cup giveaway, there were some great comments shared on the post and a lot of responses.

There were 82 eligible entries to the giveaway according to those of you that qualified for double or triple entries. I put all of the entries into an Excel spreadsheet and used the Random.org random number generator to pick a winner. So without further ado the winner of the Kupilka Cup giveaway is Brian Howard with his blog comment below.

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Congratulations to Brian Howard (please contact me blog-at-briangreen.net) and my condolences to those of you that entered but did not win this time. I have one more Kupilka 21 Cup left to give away again soon, so if you didn't win this time stay tuned for another chance!

Gear Links: Eastern Mountain Sports | REI | CampSaver | Patagonia | Altrec

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