-
Lightweight Canister Stoves
Recently, I’ve been preparing for a seven-day two-person canoe trip by reorganizing my cooking gear. I’ve settled on taking a Penny Stove, made from beer cans, but what if I wanted to use a canister stove? There are lots of reasons to bring a canister stove, but I find the most compelling reason is its ability to easily control the flame. Least compelling for me is having to use a non-renewable energy source. Still, from a weight perspective a canister stove makes good sense. My favorite lightweight canister stove is MSR’s Pocket Rocket Backpacking Stove. Its simply and light design has few moving parts to break, and it packs up…
-
Lightweight Cooking Gear
A great lightweight cooking system should quickly and efficiently boil water, set up easily, and pack up into the system’s largest pot. Lately, because I’m preparing for a seven-day two-person canoe trip, I’ve been looking for cooking gear that meets this criteria. I’ve looked into lightweight commercial cooking gear, like the Caldera Cone and the Jetboil (which I love for solo travel), but everything I’ve looked at seems lacking in some aspect. For example, the Cone doesn’t pack into a pot, and once you add all the accessories to make a Jetboil convenient for two, it ends up weighing significantly more than other options. I also wanted something that used…
-
GearPods Shelter Kit Review
GearPods, a company based out of Polson, Montana, manufactures “modular, lightweight adventure and survival gear to help the outdoor enthusiast to prepare for the unexpected.” Their gear systems combine interconnecting, waterproof containers with pre-built survival kits. Users combine any number of containers and gear to arrive at a customized kit, something like my emergency ditch kit. I’m currently testing out GearPods Wilderness system, which includes first-aid, survival gear, a lightweight stove, and the GearPods Shelter. Because the system is modular, I’m reviewing each component separately. I’ll wrap-up the reviews in a final overview and opinion of the products with a separate post. Because, I travel in lightweight style, I prefer…
-
Lightweight Camping Cups
I was walking through an REI store, and I noticed that they offer a plethora of different camping cups. They caught my eye, because when I’m traveling lightweight, I tend to just carry along lightweight platypus bottles, but I like to drink a cup of hot chocolate spiked with a little Baileys Irish Cream and in the morning, I like to start the day with instant coffee. I hate using my platys for this type of drink, because the bottles end up tasting like whatever you put in it, so I considered buying a lightweight titanium camping cup. I just couldn’t stomach the titanium options, because they were so expensive–they…
-
Three Easy Tarp Setups
An easy way to drop weight out of your boat is to switch from a tent to a tarp. Even using a tarp with a bug bivy will save over 2 pounds for the lightest tents and over 4 pounds for average weight tents. Besides saving weight, tarps provide more usable space, less parts to break, they’re easier to pack up, keep your sleeping area drier both in the morning when packing up and during the night with less condensation, and they take up considerably less space in your portage pack or hatches. With a little practice, tarps are easy and quick to set up, and depending on the setup,…
-
8 Easy Ways to Go Lighter
Lightening the load in your kayak or canoe saves you energy, makes your load easier to portage, and ends up making camp life easier. These 8 easy tips are a few ways that you can reduce your load. Store your composite kayak or canoe upside with the hatches open. As composite materials age, they can absorb water, which makes your canoe or kayak heavier. If as little as a quart of water absorption, you’re craft will gain 2 pounds. Not only does this matter on the portages and for car topping, but a heavier boat performs worse on the water. New dry bags are now lighter and just as waterproof,…
-
Cape Falcon Kayak Lightweight Gear List
Talk about going light, Brian Schulz of Cape Falcon Kayaks lists his standard kayak camping list in a thread at the Qajaq USA. His basic camping list: Clothing Shelter System Cooking System Emergency Gear and First Aid Extra Gear Other He writes as far as camping goes, when I look at most peoples kit’s I just shake my head and ask “What IS all this shit?” and Trust me when I say that paddling a 30 lb kayak with a 30lb kit is much more fun than a 60lb kayak with a 60lb kit. There is just so much stuff you don’t need! I’ve paddled without a stove for years…
-
Nessmuking and Stitch and Glue Boat Building
Eskimo Tom Gerds, professional wooden boat builder and owner of Finewoodwatercraft.com, writes about using stitch and glue boat building techniques to create canoes and kayaks that Nessmuk would have been proud to paddle. Learn about his lightweight building secrets as he presents a great overview to the S&G process.
-
Tarp Shelter Set-up
A lightweight weather-proof tarp set-up to use when you want to stay dry. This article was hidden for the last three or four years on a climbing website, so it's about time it migrates to Nessmuking. This is one of the best ways to set-up a tarp for camping under.
-
The Lightweight Secret
Most paddlers would sit up and listen when told they could actually travel the same distance without working any harder in less time. They'd lean in much closer when told that there was a secret that could allow them to travel an additional 24 miles in a ten day trip without any additional hours on the water, and most would be surprised to learn the secret is actually simple. Learn the secret in this article.
-
Getting Light Weight
Learn about lightweight gear systems and how to reduce the weight of gear that you carry.
-
Much Ado About Nothing or Very Little at Least – Gear Lists
Every philosophy, even those grounded in skills, like Nessmuking, must evaluate the gear that they utilize. Even Nessmuk produced a core list, evaluated gear, and added up the weights. For most philosophies, this is where you are left. As stated before the Nessmuking philosophy doesn’t start and end with the discussing of the merits of this and that gear, but as with every pursuit that requires equipment, the right gear can make wilderness travel easier. The following gear list has been tried and tested using the lightweight Nessmuking philosophy on over 1200 miles of paddling and hiking trips in a multitude of locations, including the Black Hills, the Smoky Mountains,…
-
Why Nessmuking?
The simple question is why? Why Nessmuking? Many wilderness travelers who've spent time in the woods using conventional gear and methods, upon seeing someone traveling with just a light bag on their back, a feather light boat, and a smile, often ask why travel so light. Here are some answers.
-
Nessmuking: A Return to Simple
The article that started it all. A brief look to the past to see what we can learn from Nessmuk, a writer from the late 1800s. Bryan Hansel examines Nessmuk and formulates a philosophy that can be used by modern wilderness trippers.
Or if you use a RSS Feed Reader subscribe via our RSS Feed.