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Nov 20, 2008
5
0
Cambridge, UK
Just thought I'd introduce myself here, despite having made a couple of posts around the site already. I've got lots of camping experience, but no bushcraft experience to speak of, so I'm hoping to be learning a lot over my next few trips out, and also do some Tarp/Bivi camping as opposed to always living in a tent!

I suppose a couple of tips that I have from camping experience that I can't remember seeing on the forums through my browsing so far are:

a) Always spend a decent amount of time getting a new bag set up. DO NOT cut off all the seemingly useless straps etc until you have used the thing once in wet and windy conditions. It's amazing how seemingly useless things suddenly become useful. Previous trips have seen me use a bit of gaffa tape to mark strap positions (on the shoulders etc) before I leave, and noticed a significant difference to my set up at the end of a trip - this may just be me setting the thing up wrong, but I tend to mark strap positions with a sharpy somewhere in the middle of these two points and tend to be quite happy with my rucksack like that.

b) another rucksack one... before leaving for yout trip always leave a bit of space, even accounting for food usage it's sometimes seems that even though it went in (in its nice dry, clean state) that a couple of days in the bag seems to have shrunk and you an't fit everything in

c) the last few binliners in a pack are rolled quite tightly, are reasonably lightl and are sodding useful.

d) Freezer bags, a million uses, almost all involving socks. Personally I find that my feet are the most important thing I have when outdoors. They get me from a to b, sometimes via x,y, and z, and the better the condition of my feet the more use I'll be when something goes wrong. Freezer bags - help keep old socks seperated from new ones. I think that at least some of the bacteria that helps make socks particularly smelly and manky after more than a days use are aeorbic, so sticking them overnight in a sealed squished airbag does seem to help prolong their life in case they are needed.

e) Speaking of socks, I always wear 2 pairs, one thing soft pair, and then a thick wooly pair. Where would I be without my socks?

f) More socks! this time washing them, they're my priority wash thing if water is available and the weather is sunny. Yes I do look like a mobile laundry shop on my way back home.

g) paracord... I have a length of it marked with various measurements on it (1 meter of small measurements, plus marks every 2 ft. I can measure all sorts of things when out and about... and I still use it for every day paracord uses too.

h) "I wonder what would happen if..." often ends with somebody saying "oops". When in doubt and away from civilisation it's probably best if you don't. You may be able to use your bergen, paracord, two neatby trees and a significant number of bungees as a rather interesting catapult, albeit entirely useless catapult. It's probably not advisable though.

Anyway, just thought I'd share that and say hi.

Hi :)
 

jonnno

Forager
Mar 19, 2009
223
0
50
Belfast
Welcome to the forum. I'd agree that when you're packing up you should technicaly have more space in your bad because of eating etc but strangely it's never easy to get all your gear back in easily.

The one thing I always never have enough of is plastic bags of some sort to separate dirty pots / rubbish / uneaten food etc when packing up.
 

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