Children's inflatable water wings in a stuff sack as a cheap sleeping pillow. Supplement with a tee shirt or two for the proper level of softness. Very cheap and does the job.
Children's inflatable water wings in a stuff sack as a cheap sleeping pillow. Supplement with a tee shirt or two for the proper level of softness. Very cheap and does the job.
A cool whip container, a bowl, wash basin, carry crushable food items.
Safety pins. Use them to repair your clothes, as clothes pins on a piece of line between two trees and to hang my laundry off my pack while I hike. And to drain blisters.
Rubber bands - free without being greedy.
Long handled Dairy Queen plastic spoon - free, cut notches in it to make it into a long handled spork
Chopsticks - free, wooden, UL, found at any grocery store that sells sushi, makes me eat slower
Ziplocs - found 30 count XL Sandwich size box for $1 at Dollar Generals, double seal color changing seal when locked, thicker mil plastic not as prone to seam splitting as the cheap Walmart/Great Value(???) sandwich
sized bags
Tuna packets in safflower oil at Wally World for .79 cts each
Occasionally note Lipton/Knorrs Sides 3 packs for $2(.67 cps each)
Polyester Champion and assorted other brand tees with side mesh panels for $4-8 each at Wally World
Carbon fiber golf clubs found at a Atlanta area Goodwill for $1 each. Nice synthetic or leather grips. Cut heads off and installed a rubber cap with epoxy. Caps were $1.29/two at HD. Epoxy I already had. Make fine trekking poles. They don't collapse but not hard to do that if wanted. Total cost for two trekking poles - under $5. 5.8 ozs each trekking pole. Find the thicker but slightly flexible shafts for this application.
Tarp poles made from same carbon fiber golf clubs. Four clubs made nice collapsable dedicated tarp poles. Interior ferrule aluminum insert tubes glued in with a bit of epoxy joined the sections. Bungeed the poles with caps on the two far ends. I was about to purchase 3 carbon fiber tarp poles for $135 total from two UL cottage gear manufacturers. These three cost me less than $15 total. Bought tent pole hardware from Tent Pole technologies. http://tentpoletechnologies.com/?page_id=671 Quest Outfitters also has many of the same tent pole components. - http://www.questoutfitters.com/tent_...m#TENT%20POLES
Found Mountain Hardware Ghost Whisperer Down Jacket, one of the earlier versions, for my nephew for $35 also at a Goodwill.
Recycled down also can be found at Goodwill stores that can make a nice DIY apparel or sleeping quilt/bag piece. Or, used for repairs.
On $10 inflatable pool toy raft got across the Colorado River twice - in a calmer area. Weight was 10 oz. Some could make an inflatable sleeping mattress in a pinch.
Tulle or nanoseeum fabric can be bought at various outfitters that specialize in components or at JoAnn Fabrics that make great bug tents or bug hanging screening at a fraction of manufactured versions.
$2 Dollar store flip-flops for camp and water shoes. These were bought for others as I don't need separate camping shoes. Jelly ones were a hit with the nieces.
Makes up some for the $$$ cuben fiber, Icebreaker, Smartwool, Pataqonia, Western Mountaineering, Valandre, Katabatic and especially shoes money I've spent.
My pack (old Kelty Santa Fe 4000) weighed in just over 5 lbs. removed hood, 3 metal inserts, and the hard plastic and extra padding. It now weighs about 2 and I still have a bit more to go without sacrificing the strength/integrity. It's actually even more comfortable. Not bad, bought it for 50-ish (I think) a while back.
2 razor blades to cut open packages/slice and dice food - no knife.
small Bic lighter
Mess kit is a Walmart aluminum mess kit pot and lid, plastic cup, bowl and a plastic spork. That's all I need and worked great! $6 bucks total!
- Trail name: Thumper
The $1.00 T-Shirt I bought at the Pearisburg Goodwill after LASHing up from Damascus in six days last July. I brought zero extra clothes on that hike other than a Houdini jacket. Just that and the shorts, socks, and shirt I was wearing (actually hiked mostly shirtless). Anyway, it's a really nice synth blend "Hinton Railroad Days" shirt that fits just right and is super soft and comfy. It's my favorite t-shirt now!
Cut the sleeves and legs off of a tyvek suit, and use them as stuff sacks, also use 1 sleeve as a rock bag for my bear hang.
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Not trying to be preachy, but my #1 dirt cheap (actually free, and no way to make it lighter) piece of "UL" gear (in my case, perhaps lighter than many others) is my brain and with it the ability to realize what you just plain don't need on the trail (knives, guns, extra shoes, pots and pans, tons of clothing, etc, etc).
McDonald's McFlurry spoon...can be made into a McSpork!
"To make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from." - T.S. Eliot
if you double up the "clothes line" and twist it you don't need clothes pegs.
Something like this (without the mitten hooks...)
clothes line.jpg
Trash bag can be : Ground sheet, stuff sack, rain wear, emergency bivy
IMG_25600115_074509.jpg
My son brought one of these home from school.
They call them "Finger flashlights" here in Thailand.
Very bright and can be attached to a stick or any small item.
I think it will replace my photon II microlight as it is easier to attach it to something in the correct direction.
Weight? I don't have have scale but it is probably less than a quarter of an oz. (about the same as the Photon II)
What else? I have an aluminum spoon that has a handle that is knifelike that I also found in Thailand.
They also have tiny containers of tiger balm here that I carry for mosquito and other insect bites.
Also dried mango and fairly big dried shrimp. (I dried a lb of elk burger before I left PA also last month)
Just bought a "Burn" backpack.
I'll be dropping close to a lb for my upcoming hike!
Yay!
Don't let your fears stand in the way of your dreams