Clothing/Gear

Trail Hankie

If you’ve ever wanted to clean the dishes, wipe your brow or finish up a splint with your trail map, you’re in luck. And if you’ve ever wished that the bandana that was keeping the hair out of your eyes could help identify trees, stars and hiking safety tips, you, my friend, have found your match. Meet the Trail Hankie.

While most of their hiking, river and lake maps are from places in the south and midwest that I’ve never visited, it doesn’t matter much. Trail Hankies bandanas are a damn fine alternative to the classic design, and if you don’t want a map of Devil’s Den State Park to adorn your neck, Hiker Hank has general use prints of stars, trees, knots, tracks and trail maintenance that you should probably own.

Posted: August 16th, 2010 under Clothing/Gear.
Comments: 2

Fjällräven Greenland Hat

If you’re in New York, head on down to the Fjällräven store at 262 Mott Street, pick up one of their Greenland hats and pretend you’re on the banks of Maine’s Moose River in 1973. They sure do know what they’re doing.

Posted: July 20th, 2010 under Clothing/Gear.
Comments: 2

MSR Pocket Rocket

The MSR Pocket Rocket is no doubt one of the best purchases you’ll ever make. The little, water-boiling, quesadilla-making 3 oz. stove has been a staple in my pack (and I’m sure most of yours) for many years, and using it is always one of my favorite parts about camping. There are few things better than getting to your campsite, setting up your tent, pulling out your Crazy Creek and finding a good flat surface so you can cook your dinner and read your book. (The Pocket Rocket and Crazy Creek Hexalite should be packaged together. They’re peanut butter and jelly.) The stove is small, cheap ($30 or so), has great heat control and is as reliable as the ol’ Subaru. The design is so simple, you feel like you’re using something 100 years old.

If you don’t already have a Pocket Rocket for your summer/fall excursions, go try one out. You’ll like it so much that you’ll want to cook dinner on your bedroom floor when you get home from work.

**In any proper “review” you’re supposed to list the negatives along with positives, and if I were to do that, I’d have say something about canister stoves and below freezing temperatures, but there’s no reason to think of that torture right now…

Posted: July 7th, 2010 under Camping, Clothing/Gear.
Comments: 4

Campbellsville Apparel

I don’t usually tout too many clothing companies on this rag, but what the hell, right? Campbellsville Apparel, located in Campbellsville, Kan-Tuck-Ee, is the largest supplier of undershirts and underwear briefs to the United States military services. (A picture of a soldier wearing one of the shirts was posted on A Continuous Lean a couple of days back.) The shirts are 100% moisture wicking polyester, cheap (3 for $12), have very short sleeves (the best part about them), fit extremely well, and for those of you who are attracted to the “100% American made from 100% American components” thing, they have that going for them as well. Great for walking up and down whatever trail it is you’re walking up and down.

Buy a pack here.

Posted: July 1st, 2010 under Clothing/Gear.
Comments: 1

How the 1970s Backpacking Boom Burst upon Us

Once in a while, it’s too hard to refuse buying yet another t-shirt on Ebay. This handsome little number should be arriving any day. Thank you, Justin.

The first issue of BACKPACKER appeared in the spring of 1973, and in it, founding editor William Kemsley explains, “It took us three years to put together the first issue of Backpacker. In that time we debated some serious questions among ourselves.”

A couple of years back, in 2007, Kemsley wrote an article for the AMC’s magazine, Appalachia, titled “How The 1970s Backpacking Boom Burst Upon Us” about the beginning of BACKPACKER. The article has a recognizable feel…

One morning on the AT in 1963, I woke up in camp, yawned, stretched, and heard the patter of rain on my tent. I changed my hike plans, snuggled a little deeper into my sleeping bag, and decided to cook breakfast beneath the tent fly. The only others at this campsite that morning were some teenage boys standing around a campfire. I barely could see them through the trees.

While eating my oatmeal, it began raining more earnestly, causing the other campers to scurry out of sight. At first I paid little attention. But while savoring my coffee and beginning to peel an orange, it dawned on me that those campers had taken down their tent and left camp with no intention of returning to put out their fire.

If anyone has the rest of the article (only a portion of it is online) let me know.

Posted: June 22nd, 2010 under Clothing/Gear, Magazines/Catalogs/Advertisements.
Comments: none

Dr. Bronner’s

Yeah, it’s good for shampooing your hair, washing your body, brushing your teeth and shaving your face while you’re out on the trail (who shaves on the trail?), but if you’ve got nothing to do but waste time around the fire before you get tired, there’s not much better reading material than Dr. Bronner’s labels. Click the image to read it now, but I’d wait until you’re out under the stars. Or you can leave the soap at home and read a far more interesting book. Guess that works too…

Posted: April 22nd, 2010 under Clothing/Gear.
Comments: 6

TumpLine

A tumpline is a strap attached at both ends to a backpack used to carry an object by placing the strap over the top of the head. The strap utilizes the spine rather than the shoulders as standard backpack straps do. In North America, you’re most likely to see a tumpline being used on a Duluth Pack and/or to portage a canoe. (Canoe link opens as a PDF)

I’ve actually never used one of these while backpacking. Have you?

Posted: April 6th, 2010 under Clothing/Gear.
Comments: 5