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  1. #1
    Registered User
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    09-14-2015
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    Fort Wayne, Indiana
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    Default Luxury Item - you're crazy

    So many post and articles I read are about all the crap you should be taking out of your pack to pursue that ever lighter pack. What is the one Luxury Item you carry in your pack? The item that others would say you're crazy for carrying but it makes you comfortable, happy, or somehow able to justify the weight.

    For me it may be a Kilt - When I was bicycle camping I would carry a kilt. Nothing felt better than finishing a hard day's ride and being able to put my kilt on and let everything air out. I am certainly going to consider packing my SportKilt hiking kilt for a hot summer hike.

  2. #2
    Registered User
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    01-28-2008
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    Spokane, WA
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    Default

    I just weighed my camera with travel lens attached. 2 lbs. 12 oz. Worth it to me.
    "It's fun to have fun, but you have to know how." ---Dr. Seuss

  3. #3
    Registered User
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    12-19-2005
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    Default

    a chair.....

    a helinox REI knockoff one......

  4. #4
    Registered User
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    01-03-2010
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    Windham, Maine
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    Default

    sometimes I carry a big knife... :-) almost as big as Crocodile Dundee ;-)
    Let me go

  5. #5
    Registered User
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    06-18-2010
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    Default

    is the joy of not carrying a bunch of stuff you don't need a luxury item?

    i have a few minor items that are bigger than they need to be because ive never bothered getting proper ones, but thats about it.

  6. #6
    Leonidas
    Join Date
    04-26-2016
    Location
    Birmingham, Alabama
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    1,065

    Default

    An Osprey Exos 38, weighs 563 grams more than the Zimmerbuilt pack I replaced.
    AT: 695.7 mi
    Benton MacKaye Trail '20
    Pinhoti Trail '18-19'
    @leonidasonthetrail https://www.youtube.com/c/LeonidasontheTrail

  7. #7
    Registered User Hikes in Rain's Avatar
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    10-14-2005
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    Georgia Mountains
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    Default

    Used to be a book or two, but more likely now my Kindle. I can pack a whole library in that thing, over 3000 to date! Hmm....wonder if I read too much? Nah, that's just crazy talk.

  8. #8
    Registered User Venchka's Avatar
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    02-20-2013
    Location
    Roaring Gap, NC
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    78
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    Default

    NeoAir Xtherm Large & Exped Air Pillow Medium.
    A great night's sleep is worth the extra weight.
    Wayne
    Eddie Valiant: "That lame-brain freeway idea could only be cooked up by a toon."
    https://wayne-ayearwithbigfootandbubba.blogspot.com
    FlickrMyBookTwitSpaceFace



  9. #9

    Default

    pillow, ass pad & cup

  10. #10

    Default

    Pillow, good camera, phone (with Earthmate GPS and connected to InReach device).

    After many many solo trips I have also decided that I will start carrying my UL Kindle on future solo trips...always end up with too many hours and not enough to do

  11. #11

    Default

    I'm at a point of adding some weight back in to get myself comfortable for sleeping at night. After years of whittling away at the overall pack, I'm willing to add a bit back in if it will help sleep better. Still evaluating options WRT pad, pillow, etc. Too much tossing and turning the first few nights of a trip. Pre-gaming a bit at home by sleeping on the floor with my trail setup would also help, but I'm rarely planning well enough to do that.

  12. #12

    Default

    Pillow, long/wide pad (I'm 6'3"), sit pad

  13. #13
    Registered User
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    10-30-2006
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    Franklin, TN
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    Default

    Definitely a full size pillow. The REI Trailbreak at 15 ounces is well worth it for the quality sleep I get. Fairly lightweight otherwise, winter weight less food and water below 15 pounds with the pillow.

  14. #14

    Default

    IMG_1250.jpgHassy SWC (super wide camera). Saved weight elsewhere so I could carry it.

  15. #15
    Registered User One Half's Avatar
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    08-05-2010
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    in a bus
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    Default

    I think "luxury item" is very subjective. I like my meals hot and make 3 hots per day most times. So to me, being able to boil water quickly and with the same amount of fuel all/most of the time is of utmost importance. This is why I carry a Mini-mo. less than 3 minutes to boil and consistent fuel usage. I used to use a BSR but I could never count on how long it would take to boil water and how much fuel it would take. Many on here would consider 3 hot meals a day, and the necessary fuel, a luxury item.
    https://tinyurl.com/MyFDresults

    A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world. ~Paul Dudley White

  16. #16
    GoldenBear's Avatar
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    08-31-2007
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    Cool Depending on how you define "luxury"

    I wouldn't consider backpacking without my smartphone. It allows me to keep in daily contact with my wife, to take photos, to know where I am, and to keep up with the world (I learned of the death of a child in our congregation while I was backpacking).
    Obviously one can backpack without a smartphone -- or a compass, or a stove, or synthetics, or merino wool, etc. And some people insist, "I intentionally refuse to carry an electronic device, which means my experience on the trail is superior to yours." I simply choose to do so, and would be reluctant to be without it.

  17. #17
    I plan, therefore I am Strategic's Avatar
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    08-18-2007
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    Durham, NC
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    Default

    A small flask of really good (10 year old single batch) bourbon. There really is nothing better than a bit of bourbon and cold branch water at the end of a long hiking day.
    Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
    Sun Tzu, The Art of War.

  18. #18

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by khysanth View Post
    Pillow, long/wide pad (I'm 6'3"), sit pad
    I'll probably add a sit pad or UL chair into my set-up when my dogs are no longer backpacking with me. For now, their bed doubles as my sit-pad.

  19. #19

    Default

    My Teddy bear.

    Everything in my pack and on my body is a luxury. It's all a luxury other than the zit I'm getting on my forehead. R we really going to have this discussion again as privileged U.S.citizens?

  20. #20

    Default

    I couldn't get much more minimalist as far as number of items, but to my way of thinking, almost everything I carry is a luxury item. When I went through my first "lightening up" phase, cutting out all the non-essential items was the first step, and I didn't find myself actually missing any of them. Then I replaced everything that was left with lighter *and* better gear. All my lightweight or UL stuff is more comfy or convenient to use than their predecessors, so dropping weight has never been a sacrifice in any way to me, aside from the cost.

    Sleep socks and sitpad, maybe? Evernew bag for dirty water, rather than having the Sawyer attached to a bottle? Never thought of it that way, but I guess those are my "extras", since they're not truly necessary.

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