Camping and Backpacking GEAR thread

What do you guys use for fire starter?

 

I took makeup pads soaked them in lamp oil then dipped them wax and let them dry. You can fit five or six in an empty Copenhagen can. Just tear and lite and are easy to light with a flint/striker. Super cheap super effective.

 

Hey dudes. Now that my kiddo (4.5) is getting bigger and his stamina is increasing, we're looking to do longer hikes & camps. His dream is to do the entire AT one day. He hiked blood Mtn. When he was only 3. He's determined and ambitious. The kid is fearless. We've done some state park camping, hiking and climbing in Florida, Alabama and Georgia. I'm looking to start planning bigger trips. Do you know of any wilderness areas in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee that allow hiking & camping? I'd really like to get deep into the woods. We have a 250 acre farm with decent woods but it's still hard to get away from the sounds from the roads.

I'm new to this as my dad wasn't around to take me camping nor did we have Scouts. We've been hiking and camping for almost two years now.

I'm working on a hiking & camping backpack rig for him. I got him a lite pack for Christmas and I'll fill it with stuff for his birthday. Keeping things cheap for now since he'll outgrow it all. What are some decent, affordable gadgets and tools that are age appropriate? He wants a hatchet and a shotgun (ha). I'm thinking headlamp, compass, magnifying glass, emergency poncho, whistle; that sort of stuff.

I'd also like to ramp up to multi-day camping or kayaking river trips when he's 7.

 

Yeah car camp for the family. But I found my self glad to have these on couple occasions when out in the woods. I don't backpack much but I do hunt, fish and mountain bike out here in the rainy pacific north west.

 

I make fuzzsticks. Cotton balls & vaseline,

 

Never heard of that. Sounds simple and cheap.

 

oh yea the work real well too

 

I save & stash dryer lint into a compressed sandwich bag and stow it away.

 

does anyone else make their own pop can alcohol stoves? i have like 5 that I've made out of different cans. it's kind of a fun thing to do in your free time and they work pretty well too!

 

Awesome getting the kiddos out there early!

Your ideas are pretty great already, especially for a young mind where a compass and whistle spark imagination of adventure that some of us have lost. ha

Other stuff he can carry easily would be more little stuff, like his own spork/mess kit, PackTowl (not that exciting ha) or even his own water filter IF you want to make sure to teach him how to use it and to be sure to not go around drinking water out of a puddle with his friends or something haha.

Teaching life skills early on really does change the whole life for the better. Good on ya. Maybe wait a few more years before the knives and guns

 

I have done this and even got some in my truck and camper but they are to hard to keep dry when Im out fishing or out on my bike. For the region I live in.

 

Is there a reason to go with MicroSpikes other than the obvious benefit of actual spikes? Reviews on the REI product page seem to show that the yaktrax are pretty easy to break, which sounds like a pain. I'm still not sure if I want to get something with spikes, though. They would be a gift for my sister living in New Hampshire.

I can see that. Is that an issue with microspikes as well, do you know, or are the spikes enough to keep them useful even when they're packed?

 

X2

 

I go ice fishing every year with them, Haven't had a problem yet

 

Might try this sounds to easy.

 

Yep, used one for 3 months on the PCT. Probably made about a 100 of em, since i hiked in '03.! Great time passer. I would tell people if they bought me 2 tall boy beers, id make them an emergency stove that would last a long time. Old folgers medium coffee can(cut in half) hollowed out as a pot stand, turkey basing aluminum strip piece as a wind screen, denatured alcohol as fuel…worked for me.

 

Vaseline and cotton balls.

I broke the Yaktrax while hiking the AT, but that was after about 400 miles of hiking in snow and ice. For me I felt like I get my money's worth from them. The MicroSpikes have a lot more grip, and work very well on pure ice. We have some, but elected not to bring them on the AT simply due to their weight.