Modern Equipment... Blahhh!!!

Now I do use some modern equipment, but as I read different threads it tickles me how some of us hike, track, and camp in the forests and mountains. Foam Mats under their sleeping bags, Sleeping bags, Stoves, Knives, Forks, Spoons, and plates, Portable heaters, axes, backpacks bigger than my army large A.L.I.C.E. pack, lanterns, flashlights, headlamps, and enough other crap to sustain a whole family when its just a weekend or a week. (by knives I do not mean the knives like K-bar etc. I mean a dinner knife)
WTF.... is it just me, or do some of us take half the house into the woods? Now i am not saying you can't or shouldn't... but damn from a stand point of survival or just hiking I think some people take a lot. Although this could be that I try to take as little as possible, keep the weight down, and get what I need from nature.
Hmmm... what ya'll think?
P.S. I know some of us are new, and I don't mean to offend anyone so if I did that was not my intentions, sorry. :D

I had to set down the computer and take the kitchen sink I've been packing around off of my back to type this. I think there's a lot to be said for going minimal or close to minimal. As far as the equipment being "modern" though, I'm pretty comfortable with that for the most part, depends on what piece of equipment. Still nothing beats traditional mukluks and snowshoes in teh winter time.

But I do like modern firearms, knives axes, tents....toilet paper (siiiigh)

I'm tempted to buy a ridgerest pad since I do wake up at least 4 times during the night readjusting myself. Other than that, I agree with you. Too many people bring their home crap. I went out on a trip with two high school friends last year and they brought for a day trip (and you can't make this stuff up):

12-person tent (mind you, I was in my own tarptent so there was only two people in this monster)
Jumprope and weights (one of my friends couldn't miss his daily workout...)
magazines and books (for when it gets 'boring at dusk')
fold-up 'camp' furniture (x3... they really thought I needed one... I'm happy with a rock or stump)
metal grill (to put over the fire for hotdog grilling)
hotdogs, pop, yogurt, and all other kinds of refrigerated perishables
50gallon cooler to store the aforementioned
INFLATABLE FULL-SIZE MATTRESSES (x2)
ELECTRIC AIR PUMP FOR MATTRESSES
battery powered alarm clock
bag (literally a paper bag from a grocery store) of donuts, danishes, and random stuff (x2, one for each of them)

I am NEVER taking them camping again. Or if I do, we are not going to car camp so they'll be forced to carry all the crap they want to bring.

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Originally Posted by mitch.chesney

I'm tempted to buy a ridgerest pad since I do wake up at least 4 times during the night readjusting myself. Other than that, I agree with you. Too many people bring their home crap. I went out on a trip with two high school friends last year and they brought (and you can't make this stuff up):

12-person tent (mind you, I was in my own tarptent so there was only two people in this monster)
Jumprope and weights (one of my friends couldn't miss his daily workout...)
magazines and books (for when it gets 'boring at dusk')
fold-up 'camp' furniture
metal grill (to put over the fire for hotdog grilling)
hotdogs, pop, yogurt, and all other kinds of refrigerated perishables
50gallon cooler to store the aforementioned
INFLATABLE FULL-SIZE MATTRESSES
ELECTRIC AIR PUMP FOR MATTRESSES
battery powered alarm clock
bag (literally a paper bag from a grocery store) of donuts, danishes, and random stuff

I am NEVER taking them camping again. Or if I do, we are not going to car camp so they'll be forced to carry all the crap they want to bring.

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*LOL .... "weights"???

How about an inflatable doll for those cold nights alone?

Yeah, I'd say the weights and jump rope thing might have been a little over the top.

I went for a camping trip with a friend last summer, to a campground, nothing minimalist or survivalist about it, but we were meeting at the campground. She's got two kids, drives a Pontiac minivan and when she arrived there was barely room in the van for her and the kids, literally packed to the ceiling and a roofrack full as well. I had a tent, sleeping bag, toothbrush, bit of food, fishing gear, knife and splitting axe. I was like "you want me to unload all that stuff don't you?"

if he wanted to work out in the bush why not lift logs and rocks?

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Originally Posted by wareagle69

if he wanted to work out in the bush why not lift logs and rocks?

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same reason why they brought a cooler and inflatable matresses... city boy *sigh*

I'll admit, when i go backpacking I do carry a heavy pack. Id rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. But the whole point of going out into the wild is getting away from it all and getting back to nature. dont take all the comforts of home.

Guilty as charged. Thanks for the wakeup call.

When TDW(The Dear Wife) wants to go camping, we take 2 cars and a trailer. Ya for just the 2 of us.

When I go out alone: I can either go with my BOB for a total of 10 lbs for a weekend and do the survival thing or I can take the pack and keep it around 60 lbs and call it camping. Depends if I want my coffee and the Zip stove, the tent and tarp or just one of them, or the sleeping pad or make one out of leaves, when out.

Modern equipment took my pack from too damn heavy to just about able to carry. Plastic is great. My 12X12 drop-cloth has made setting up a shelter very easy. My 9X11 Gortex tarp makes winter camping more enjoyable. The Zip stove or the Coleman Apex II make my morning coffee hot and ready in short order. The Coleman 502 stoves are a main stay for my car camping.

I can live with just the cloths on my back for some time. Make cutting tools and fire from what I can find. Feed my self(Ok, get nourishment. Is that better?) and in general survive.

Survival is not an option! It is the only option!

When someone wants to do the hard core survival thing? I say, have a good time. I'll be here waiting, with my coffee and my hot bread, fresh form the oven on my coleman stove.

When I want to do the survival thing. I go. I do what I want and I loose weight. It is not like I will not have my coffee waiting at home! It is practice and not real. It lets me know what I need to learn and adjust for when there is no home to return too.

Don

Have any of you see this sight

http://www.barewilderness.com/home.html

or heard of the 2 guys going out with 2 knives for 30 days? Nothing more. Just them and 2 knives and minimal cloths.

They gave up after 14 days or something ike that.

Not enough skills. Not enough planing. Not enough common sense. Not enough something.

It was a good idea! Now they know what to expect and to plane for. A man must know his limitations. I bet if they do this again, they practice some of the skills they would need before going out!

Don

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Originally Posted by dilligaf2u2

Have any of you see this sight

http://www.barewilderness.com/home.html

or heard of the 2 guys going out with 2 knives for 30 days? Nothing more. Just them and 2 knives and minimal cloths.

They gave up after 14 days or something ike that.

Not enough skills. Not enough planing. Not enough common sense. Not enough something.

It was a good idea! Now they know what to expect and to plane for. A man must know his limitations. I bet if they do this again, they practice some of the skills they would need before going out!

Don

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Did we ever! Check this out and go from there!

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...read.php?t=877

Couple od doofs if ya ask me, must be form Canada :D:D:D:D

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Originally Posted by Beowulf65

Couple od doofs if ya ask me, must be form Canada :D:D:D:D

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Y'know sometimes I picture beo as that kid you'd see approaching a bee hive with a long pointed stick and a mischievous grin....

some of us might take to much equipment just to try it all out , but some have more skills and get to work on them more, some of us are from the city , and dont get to work on their skills as much as us country folk.

Beowulf you started this light camping way back in... shoot I can't remember its been so long and can't believe you still do it, made me carry light when we'd go camping in the back woods of Tennessee. Ya'll should've seen him when I took him to a Mountain Man Rendezvous... lol... he smiled the whole time we was there.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Beowulf65

Now I do use some modern equipment, but as I read different threads it tickles me how some of us hike, track, and camp in the forests and mountains. Foam Mats under their sleeping bags, Sleeping bags, Stoves, Knives, Forks, Spoons, and plates, Portable heaters, axes, backpacks bigger than my army large A.L.I.C.E. pack, lanterns, flashlights, headlamps, and enough other crap to sustain a whole family when its just a weekend or a week. (by knives I do not mean the knives like K-bar etc. I mean a dinner knife)
WTF.... is it just me, or do some of us take half the house into the woods? Now i am not saying you can't or shouldn't... but damn from a stand point of survival or just hiking I think some people take a lot. Although this could be that I try to take as little as possible, keep the wait down, and get what I need from nature.
Hmmm... what ya'll think?
P.S. I know some of us are new, and I don't mean to offend anyone so if I did that was not my intentions, sorry. :D

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Well, I personally like a motorhome as big as a bus with a tow package so I can insite roadrage among all the truckers out there. :D Afterall, what good is getting away from it all if you can't take it all with you? If I didn't take it all with me, I wouldn't have anything to do out there in the woods (exept survive), how boring... :rolleyes:

Ya'll can keep those alice packs and rucksacks. I did not like them when I had to carry them, always pref. the as spacks. I try to go as light as possible, depending on the weather. There has been a time or two that I packed an extra whitney. The warmth made the extra bulk and weight worth it.

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Originally Posted by trax

Yeah, I'd say the weights and jump rope thing might have been a little over the top.

I went for a camping trip with a friend last summer, to a campground, nothing minimalist or survivalist about it, but we were meeting at the campground. She's got two kids, drives a Pontiac minivan and when she arrived there was barely room in the van for her and the kids, literally packed to the ceiling and a roofrack full as well. I had a tent, sleeping bag, toothbrush, bit of food, fishing gear, knife and splitting axe. I was like "you want me to unload all that stuff don't you?"

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LOL I have been there lol earth man