Author Archives: brett

Katadyn MicroPUR Tabs

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We use these for our water purification system.

A single tablet will treat 1 liter of water, so we need two each time we fill our platypus.

We've experimented with tiny water filters, aqua mira and iodine tablets. These win for me hands down.

First, I don't have to squat for 45 minutes pumping a cubic inch at a time to get my water, nor do I have to mess around mixing chemicals, and finally there's no weird after taste like with iodine – so no need to carry gatorade powder to hide it.

The MicroPUR tabs are based on Chlorine Dioxide (which I believe is what municipal water treatment plants use for your home), and so can even treat giardia, but you have to leave them for 4hrs to do that. We usually let them run for 30 minutes which kills most things.

The first time I used them, we had a bag of really cold water collected, dropped the tabs in an they started smoking as they reacted with the water, releasing a strong chlorine odor. It was a little disconcerting, but after 30 minutes the odor and taste had gone completely.

This system works for us, because where we hike we are mostly guaranteed access to good water – streams, lakes or rivers. If I was planning a trip where I had to use murky or sketchy water, I'd bring my filter again.

Three sheets of them weighs in a less than 1 oz..

The obvious downside is cost. It is not the cheapest way to treat your water, but hey – the cost of going Ultralight? Priceless.

Available from Amazon for $12.95.

Bug Repellant

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It's rare things get so bad that we slap this on, but I always feel to good to have it.

We like Sawyer Controlled Release Insect Repellant sold at REI. It has no odor, is a nice lotion blend and is slow release for many hours. We used it extensivley in Thailand and it worked pretty well. It has 20% DEET, which is enough to keep West Nile at bay without destroying your brain cells.

We always pour it out of the bottle into a small 1 oz squeeze bottle, so we don't take too much.

Bug Repellant from REI for $4.95.

Container from REI for $1.

First Aid Kit

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What's in an Ultralight first aid kit?

Well, I'm glad you asked…

My first aid kit weighs about 3.2 oz.. Its assembled from various bits and peices and everything is kept together in a zip loc sandwich bag.

Typically I buy bulk sachets of small amounts from First Aid Product.com.

I keep some patches – to fix up a burst Platypus and to fix up a punctured Thermarest. Just in case.

I also carry other small items in this bag – the tooth brushes and MicroPUR tablets.

Here are the contents of the kit:

  • Moleskin Patches (12)
  • Second Skin Patch
  • Needle
  • Safety Pin
  • Dental Floss
  • Hydrocortizone Cream (3)
  • Burn Gel (3)
  • First aid ointment (3)
  • Sting Releif (3)
  • Alchohol Pads (3)
  • Bandaids (10)
  • Platypus repair patches (2)
  • Bicycle tube repair patches (2)
  • Ibruprofen (6)
  • Tylenol (6)
  • Butterfly Enclosures (2)
  • Emergency Matches (2)
  • Regular Matches Dipped in Wax (2)
  • First aid tape (1)

And here is an exploded picture of the contents:

Rubbish Bag

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Nothing special.

Good as extra-insurance against a saturated pack. I always pack my clothes inside a trash bag and sometimes my sleeping bag. A wet down bag is as useful as a glass hammer.

These also come in useful when hauling your food into trees, you can poke a hole in the bottom and have the bag cover your haul-pack, incase it rains in the night. No sense in getting your choclate bars all soggy now is there.

Duct Tape

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Invaluable.

I find grizzly bears to be a little loud once captured. Slap a 6 inch peice of duct tape over their mouths and you get a good nights sleep.

If you don't capture any bears, then you can always sleep well at night knowing whatever happens to your gear – there's a way to fix it with Duct Tape.

I simply take a big old length and wrap it around my hiking poles. That way I know where it is when I need it.

Buy Duct Tape from Amazon for $3.99.

A Map

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Duh! A map.

Kind of handy, to find where you are and where you should be.

Before I leave I usually do a little trail research from trails.com and then print my own map and trail notes onto a single sheet of paper. Sometimes I take a store-bought map, but if I do, I trim off all the unecessary edges.

View maps online at www.trails.com.

Backpacking Light Ultralight Headnet

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It's a hood for mozzies.

In the early season of summer, the mozzies can be nasty. Nothing spoils a good yomp in wet soggy old growth like being eaten alive by little critters. On a recent trip to Rampart lakes, I received over 200 bites on my back.

Backpacking light makes an amazing mozzie-net that is only 0.3 oz. This net is also amazingly clear to see through.

At 0.3 oz. it's a cheap insurance policy.

Available from Backpacking Light for $18 each.

Black Diamond Ion LED Headlamp

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Let there be light!

This headlamp weighs only 1.1 oz., and the battery lasts forever. A few times, we've have to hike out in the dark of night and been glad we had these things. Also useful for breaking camp early before the sun is up.

I always carry a spare battery in my first aid kit. I figure with 3 batteries between us, that should get us out of any sticky situations.

Available from REI for $19.95.

Pentax Optio 5si

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When backpacking, I take this tiny digital camera with me for snap shots.

It's a compromise for me. I'd rather be getting excellent shots with a digital SLR but a) it's hard to justify the weight and b) I find when I'm backpacking I don't want to be faffing around with all the setup needed to get those killer shots.

I went with the Optio as is only weighs 4.2 oz. and has a lot of features. It's a 5 megapixel camera, so has decent resolution and with a 512 mb SD card, I can take about 140 shots. Even with all the opening and closing of the lens, I have never drained a fully charged battery on a single trip.

You can't buy this camera anymore – it's a old model, I think the Pentax Optio 750z has replaced it (an 8 megapixel version), but the weight has gone up.

If you're in the market for a new ultralight camera, I'm sure there are better options at this point in time. Anyone care to suggest?

Read the digital photography review on the Pentax Optio S5i.

Spyderco Ladybug Knife

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The sharpest most versatile knife on planet earth, and all for 0.6 oz. I'm really not kidding, this thing is amazingly sharp and useful for everything – from opening bags, cutting moleskin, slicing cheese to hollowing out tree trunks to make canoes.

My brother is really into knives and he told me about Spyderco. They have quite the selection, but this one works best for me.

Available from Spyderco for $15.

50′ of Spectra Cord

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50' of spectra cord for 1.2 oz.. What is not to love?

Perfect for hanging food in trees away from bears, tying up captives or making a death-slide across the river.

I'm kidding about the death slide.

This spectra cord (actually not the one in the picture), is all white and flat vs. round. This makes it safer when hanging food in trees as it glides over limbs without 'sawing' into them.

The only trouble, I have with it is that when I use the PCT Method of hanging food, I find the clove-hitch really hard to undo once it's compressed around the twig overnight. I got a great tip from the backpacking light forums to either use a chopstick vs. a twig; or simply snap the twig at the clove hitch.

Available from Gossamer Gear for a staggering $29.

Mont Bell Ultralight Umbrella

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Ah yes… the umbrella. Now you think I'm completely insane.

This was one of the bigger leaps for me into Ultralight. Now that I've weathered a few rain storms with my brolly, I'm utterly sold. It weighs only 5.6 oz., yet is one of the most versatile pieces of rain gear I own. Down pours bounce off the brolly as you hike along. Cooking in the rain and setting up camp is easy with the shelter of an umbrella.

You have to be confident enough to stave off the weird looks you'll get on the trail, but the rewards are worth it.

The one downside for me, is I have to stow my poles when using the umbrella. Small price to pay.

Available from Back Country Gear for $35. Sell your fancy $400 gortex jacket on ebay.

2 Litre Platypus Water Carrier

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Looks like just another water carrier, huh? Not so… This little dude carries 2 liters and packs in at only 1.2 oz.. Significantly lighter than that Nalgene bag or worse the big plastic bottles.

We use this to carry spare water if we need it, and to treat our water. As we use a chemical treatment for purification, we fill this bag up in a lake or stream, drop a few MicroPUR tabs in, wait 30 minutes and are good to go.

It can also be filled with air at night and double as a pillow, and on particularly cold nights, you can heat up some water on the stove, pour it back into this bag and take it to bed as a hot water bottle (Nice tip from Tim)

I also pack a platypatch in my first aid kit, just incase it ever springs a leak. Hasn't so far…

Water container from REI for $6.95.

Dr. Bronners Soap

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After a few days in the wilderness you may get a little stinky. Dr. Bronners soap is a good way to get clean and if necessary help clean your dishes. It's environment friendly and bio degradable.

We use this soap very sparingly. As we eat freeze-dried meals, we almost never need it to clean pots and pans as our pans mostly heat water and hold the post-cooked food – so we never get stubborn burned bits.

Remember – never use soap directly in a stream or lake, even if it's bio degradable. Take a pan of water to a location at least 50' away from the water source and wash there instead.

We put our soap in these tiny little 0.3oz dropper bottles from Gossamer Gear. A 2-pack of bottles is only $3. With these bottles we can use just one-drop at a time, which is more than enough.

People say you can clean your teeth with this too, but I've never tried.

Soap from REI for $3.75.

Total weight, filled: 0.4oz

Tub o’ Spices

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Variety is the spice of life, and you don't get a lot with Ultralight freeze dried meals.

We usually eat one freeze-dried meal each day for dinner between us, and they all need a little love to make them more edible.

We take a small 1/4 oz. container and fill it with ground sea salt, ground white pepper and dried red thai chilies. Each ingredient separated by a tiny amount of saran wrap to keep them from blending.

Armed with this little bag of punch we can fix any meal in any direction we want. Would never leave home without it.

Container from REI for 40•.

Golite Ether Windshirt

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The Golite Either rocks. It weighs only 2.8 oz. (Small), pick it up and you can barely notice you're holding it. Combined with an ultralight umbrella, this rain jacket makes for a formidable rain protection system.

Yes… that's right, I said umbrella. My old goretex used to weigh a few pounds, in a down pour it would keep my dry in theory but my outside would get wet and saturated, and after a few thousand feet of climbing, my inside is hot and soaked with sweat. In short – I'd be miserable.

Last time I got caught in a down pour (We live in Seattle, it happens a LOT) on went the Helios, out came the brolly. I have never had such a pleasant experience trotting along in the rain, no sweat, no saturation and rain bouncing off to the sides.

Sadly, you can't buy the Helios anymore, Golite discontinued it. But Theresa this Ether windshirt, which is just as good.

The Golite Ether is Available from Amazon for $65.