What do you carry on hikes?

[Ben Dover]

There is a very big difference between hiking an established trail like the Applacian, where you can be certain that other people will be along within hours at the most, and hiking trail-less areas in the Rockies.

On many of my favorite areas, there is no cell service within 10 miles, and you may go two weeks or more without seeing another human.

There is a small lake I like to visit, perhaps a hundred yards wide by 150 long. I camp up there for as long as a week, and very seldom do i see another human.Makes a difference in your gear.

A spring comes out of the ground and feeds into the lake, so water is never a problem. Several aspen groves surround the little lake, so wood for fire and shelter is never a problem. Trout supplement my rations, and in late summer huckleberries, raspberries and serviceberries are abundant as well.

My large pack has a 30 inch bow saw and a cruiser axe strapped to the side. Building a lean-to shelter for 5 days or more, I usually build it fairly substantial, and stack firewood deep.

A mule is wonderful for allowing you to pack in more gear and be more comfortable, but caring for the animal creates if own set of problems, so I normally forego it. The mule is used when one of my buddies comes along that can no longer carry a pack.

 

[BigDeeeeeeee]

 

[SteelJunkee]

I just carry whatever knife I feel like.
My length of hike is limited by my stupid back, not weight of knife I'm carrying.
Pain pills and muscle relaxers have their limits, and you learn the limits of "mind over matter" when you push too far and end up flopped on the ground unable to move for some arbitrary length of time determined by your body.

For you guys who live to hike the most miles for whatever reason, or climb the most deadly object on the continent for bragging rights or spiritual enrichment, perhaps selecting a particular knife or ultra-lightweight tarp matters.
For me, it does not.

Yeah... I'm getting over 50 here, so I relaxed a bit on the endeavor I take.... I have a buddy that is always willing to come along on every thing I get up with. And we end up doing like 2 days of walk to some lake somewhere, 3 days of camping and 2 days walk back... for a week of REAL WOOD EXPERIENCE when you know thing get tough a bit.... Loll and we talk about that for a year... and he always look forward the next trip. We do smaller trips asap, all the time since, like 20 years..... He`s a real wood prepping machine... I mean that guy is 60 years old and he can get a Silky smoking... so I became a bush chef and fed the wood machine, anyway I love cooking on open fire... And we are getting along quite well in challenging situations. Since a couple of years we get the challenge even harder... not in the sens of accomplishing some kind of "World class exploit". But some stupid thing, like getting trough 7 miles of pure swamp... You know, things that comes up in parties for years...

 

[SteelJunkee]

There is a very big difference between hiking an established trail like the Applacian, where you can be certain that other people will be along within hours at the most, and hiking trail-less areas in the Rockies.

On many of my favorite areas, there is no cell service within 10 miles, and you may go two weeks or more without seeing another human.

There is a small lake I like to visit, perhaps a hundred yards wide by 150 long. I camp up there for as long as a week, and very seldom do i see another human.Makes a difference in your gear.

A spring comes out of the ground and feeds into the lake, so water is never a problem. Several aspen groves surround the little lake, so wood for fire and shelter is never a problem. Trout supplement my rations, and in late summer huckleberries, raspberries and serviceberries are abundant as well.

My large pack has a 30 inch bow saw and a cruiser axe strapped to the side. Building a lean-to shelter for 5 days or more, I usually build it fairly substantial, and stack firewood deep.

A mule is wonderful for allowing you to pack in more gear and be more comfortable, but caring for the animal creates if own set of problems, so I normally forego it. The mule is used when one of my buddies comes along that can no longer carry a pack.

It depends. If it is as a mule. Or if it is a friend. Where I live a good donkey will get out of trouble... Summer or winter, With or without you...

 

[22-rimfire]

I just carry whatever knife I feel like.
<snip>
For you guys who live to hike the most miles for whatever reason, or climb the most deadly object on the continent for bragging rights or spiritual enrichment, perhaps selecting a particular knife or ultra-lightweight tarp matters.
For me, it does not.

I can understand wanting to pound out the miles on a trail. That isn't for me. I'm there to enjoy myself, reflect on my life or the day, and observe the natural world around me. Yeah. I miss seeing stuff that many see because of remoteness. Such is life.

A knife is always with me on the trail regardless of whether I need it or not or ever use it.

 

[Chucktabulous]

For hiking I generally carry my Benchmade 710-1401 and always carry my Swiss Champ.
The 710 is great in case I ever need a quick deployment (God forbid... I sure ain't lookin for trouble) but so far it's only been used for food related stuff on hikes (slicing salami and cheese for snacks - stuff like that).
The Swiss Champ is just a great little fidget item for misc. craft type things.
A month or so ago I was playing around with my Swiss Champ and decided to see if I could start a fire with the magnifying glass.
Much to my surprise I was able to start a fire and started a second one just to make sure the first time wasn't a stroke of luck.
I now want to have a reasonably sized quality magnifying glass or three for my hiking setups.

 

[353]

Either my Fällkniven A1 or my small Hultafors axe, my Martti Malinen Oriolus puukko or my BRKT Bushcrafter and my Silky Gomboy 210.

The puukko:

 

[22-rimfire]

There is a very big difference between hiking an established trail like the Applacian, where you can be certain that other people will be along within hours at the most, and hiking trail-less areas in the Rockies.

On many of my favorite areas, there is no cell service within 10 miles, and you may go two weeks or more without seeing another human.

I'm sure having horses or a mule would be great for distance and carrying a lot of supplies such as on a long term "hike" or for a hunt to set up a base camp in the snow season especially. I have always wondered if Horace Kephart routinely traveled in the Blue Ridge Mountains with a mule/donkey or something before cars became more common. I am lead to believe he did not.

There are many areas without commonly available cell phone service. I would carry a cell phone regardless but I would keep it turned off to conserve batteries. There are always satellite phones if you are willing to spend the $ or find it necessary.

Even on fairly well traveled trails you often don't see other hikers for hours depending on the day of the week and the weather.

For casual hiking, I am usually on or near an established trail or road unless I'm just wandering around looking for plants or something in the woods.

 

[SteelJunkee]

I can understand wanting to pound out the miles on a trail. That isn't for me. I'm there to enjoy myself, reflect on my life or the day, and observe the natural world around me. Yeah. I miss seeing stuff that many see because of remoteness. Such is life.

A knife is always with me on the trail regardless of whether I need it or not or ever use it.

Me too, I like it more relax now, when I was young my parents offered me a trip to the top of the Kilimanjaro. And as a typical bragging teenager I took the Umbwe Route, thinking it would be a piece of cake. I just cant remember how much stuff I thrown off during the climb to Baranco, not because I couldn't carry it, just because I was too slow with it and you have a certain amount of time to do the distance. Or you end up having a memorable night. So I dropped half my gear and completed the journey without problems. Except the frustration of having thrown a good amount of money in nature ...But still, I didn't trow my knife .

 

[22-rimfire]

This is the time of the year I start planning my woods outings in my area. Traditionally there is a fair amount of surface water in the streams which makes them interesting. I don't mind cold or snow, but I'm not going to take many chances intentionally with ice/snow on the highways to go somewhere for fun. I carry a medium sized day pack or just my camera bag with a few additions for casual woods wanderings. How much camera gear depends on where I'm going and what I hope to do. Handguns? Sometimes, but it is not a priority for me. Often depends on how much junk I'm carrying and the distances involved. Where I go, there is almost always the potential for black bears or bad people. Not concerned about black bears.

 

[SteelJunkee]

Triple action mace is very effective against both.

 

[22-rimfire]

That would work if you're close enough and the wind is right.

 

[SteelJunkee]

Well I at least need to feel threatened before pulling this, but that shoots 18-20 feet, of course strong wind can be adversary, outch!

 

[Ben Dover]

I carry bear pepper spray. Not Wal-mart spray, but the spray the park service issues to rangers.

And ALWAYS a 6 inch .357 Magnum. didn't list those earlier because they aren't in my pack. Tthey're on my belt.

I think that I may have finally reached the age where the pack is too much. I'll probably borrow the mule from my son from now on.

 

[Mikel_24]

...and "if you carry a bivy sack, you will end up needing it".

Been guilty of this one a couple times as well....

Not much call for fire making up on the tops in my area, but last Summer the tree line went up to 5,000ft in the Eastern Pyrenees. No opportunity to make fire at that time of year, however, and no need. Dry as the proverbial bone, and too easily spread.

I have been ice climbing this weekend. Day climbs, sleeping in my van. In the Bielsa Valley (Liena cirque one day and Barrosa Valley the other). I carried my Spyderco Rescue Wave in a leg pocket. Did cut some cord for Abalakovs. Does great on ropes and ok in sausage and cheese!

While climbing in Liena we started smelling smoke. Looked down to see some guys warming up arround a fire! That particular cirque is truly avalanche prone. So prone that it is basically off limits during any regular winter. But this winter is being quite dry, we didn't find ANY snow during the approach, only rocks, grass and ince.

The avalanches create soooo much deadfall that you don't need anything but a ligther to create a fire. And wood is also bone dry.

I notice no one has mentioned signal mirrors, topo maps, and GPS receivers.

If you hike/hunt/camp/fish etc off of the trails in wilderness country, these are absolutely necessary

Agreed. Anytime I go somwhere I have never been before, or I expect to do a night approach or with bad weather comming... I carry a Garming GPSMAP 60cs with the topo AND the routes loaded (Wikilock).

 

[Jeff S1]

Victorinox Trekker or Terava Jaakaripuukko 110 and sometimes both for blades.

 

[JDRanger]

If it’s a hike across open terrain I carry a Bradford Guardian 3 vertically on my belt.

If I’m in the woods I’ll use the Bradford 3 as a backup and an ESEE 6.

I will also have SAK Army Explorer in my pack.

 

[hunter55]

Victorinox Trekker or Terava Jaakaripuukko 110 and sometimes both for blades.

I fully agree.... (when the weight of the backpack is a crucial factor). Otherwise the Trekker and a heavier blade (TOPS Brakimo or BOB or Cold Steel SRK or ESEE 6).

 

[rje58]

I love to hike, and try to get out in the woods as much as I can. Most of my hikes are fairly short and fast - 3 to 8 miles and take anywhere from an hour to as much as three or four hours. For these, I usually just carry whatever my EDC is that day. So usually a locking folder, 3- to 4-inch blade.