10 Backpacking Gear Myths

1. Two people can fit in a 2 person tent.
2. You’ll sleep warmer if you sleep naked in a sleeping bag.
3. You need to wear hiking boots to go backpacking.
4. You need a backpack rain cover to hike in the rain.
5. You need a tent footprint to protect the floor of your tent.
6. Waterproof breathable rain jackets are breathable.
7. You need a 4 season tent to camp in winter.
8. Biodegradable soap is ok to wash with in streams and ponds.
9. Waterproof hiking boots will keep your feet dry.
10. You don’t need to carry maps and a compass because you have a GPS.

Section Hiker

Yep. I agree with all 10.

I carry a 1-man 3-season tent. (Hubba). No pack cover. No footprint. No GPS.

I never sleep naked (in my 1-man tent). Wear approach shoes everywhere.

AND I’ve always called Gortex the “fabric of deceit”. 🙂

get paid CDN$20,000 plus expenses to HIKE

Trans Canada Trail 6 days a week from May 12th to Sept. 30th, 2015.

Woods Canada:

We’re hiring 2 Woods™ explorers for the ultimate Canadian Dream Job!

You will be awarded a contract and be paid to explore the Trans Canada Trail and share your adventures while using the latest Woods™ gear! Apply as an individual, or as a pair. Submit a 60 second video and tell us why we should choose you.

Submissions are due by April 17, 2015!

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

details

(via MSN Money)

Expedition Alaska Adventure Race

I’m planning to volunteer for Dave Adlard’s NEXT expedition race. Social media. Photos. Video.

June 28th – July 4th, 2015.

Over almost 7 days, teams will undertake a 340 – 600 km (200 – 350 miles) expedition over some of the most beautiful, epic and challenging terrain on Earth.

Racers will use a map, compass and their own wits to navigate their way over a (mostly) unmarked route by mountain biking, rafting, paddling, trekking, canyoneering, coasteering, glacier travel, orienteering, trail running, fixed ropes, and a few other surprises through the amazing expanse of Alaska’s Kenai peninsula!

expeditionak.com

Expedition Alaska

NEW Venture 30 Goal Zero Phone and Tablet Recharger

I’ve been waiting for the technology to get light enough. Durable enough. Reasonably priced enough.

Has my time finally come?

CES 2015 First Look

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I’d pair that with a Nomad 7. Should be enough juice for everything I’d want to do on any long hike.

8.8oz (.25kg) Venture 30 Recharger $99.99

12.8oz (.36kg) Nomad 7 Solar Panel $79.99
____

1.35 pounds (.61kg) $180 total

Leave a comment if you have an opinion on this.

the frameless LAUFBURSCHE huckePACK

I use a frameless Granite Gear Virga. And was keen to see how this backpack packs.

Hendrik Morkel:

… a very comfortable pack to carry, with everything in place.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Hendrik edits the excellent Hiking in Finland blog.

Read his LAUFBURSCHE huckePACK Review. (2011)

Big Agnes mtnGLO™tents

A review by Casey Schreiner, the Modern Hiker:

New for 2015, the Big Agnes Rattlesnake SL2 is a relatively lightweight three-season tent that features an easy, two-piece hub-pole setup and plenty of headroom for one person—or two people who don’t mind getting cozy. More interestingly, it also has a series of LED lights woven into the tent’s interior fabric—a feature Big Agnes calls mtnGLO. …

read more on REI

tent

LEDs

Greg Aiello – how to pack a pack

Star of Outside Television’s TV show Motion, Greg Aiello, demonstrates his system for packing a pack.

It’s not particularly light weight. 😦

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

More Outside Television videos.

related – REI’s Noelle Thurlow’s system for packing a pack (VIDEO)

Sherpa Adventure Gear

Shout out for this Nepali company.

1376394148SAG-WE-ARE-SHERPA

Tashi Sherpa, President:

Sherpa Adventure Gear was inspired by sheer chance in 2003. Back then, my family and I owned an import clothing business. In May of that year, while walking down the streets of Manhattan, a magazine issue commemorating the 50th.anniversary of the first ascent of Everest caught my eye.

The craggy lines of the familiar face staring at me from the cover belonged to none other than my Uncle, Ang Gyalzen Sherpa. I was amazed to discover that he was one of the original Sherpa on Sir Edmund Hillary’s celebrated expedition in 1953.

…I felt a powerful urge to share the Sherpa story with a wider audience. So I created Sherpa Adventure Gear and began making outdoor clothing and gear. Then I started sponsoring the best high altitude climbers in the world to test our products –the Sherpas themselves.

about Sherpa

Click PLAY or watch their promo video on YouTube.

official website Sherpa Adventure Gear

I shopped all the real gear – and North Farce – available in Thamel. And ended up refreshing my wardrobe most at Sherpa. The shop is not in the tourist ghetto, rather a 10 minute walk at Lal Durbar Marg next to Jai Nepal Cinema.

Goal Zero Venture 30 – Rugged Recharger

Goal Zero is going to email me when this device is available – Autumn 2014.

… it requires no rubber plugs on the ports and makes them so water resistant that you can spray the unit off if it gets muddy on a mission.

Enough electricity is stored inside to recharge a GoPro five times (or an iPhone up to three times). Any device that links to USB ports or micro-USB is compatible, and you can connect two gadgets at once. …

read more on Gear Junkie

Goal Zero

I want to write my trail updates in the tent each night. Process photos and videos.

It pairs with the GoalZero Nomad 7 Solar Panel. But this review says the solar panel cannot power an iPad by itself.

I’ll wait to hear how it works in the real world.