light,lighter. lightest-right righter rightest

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Retired Member southey

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jun 4, 2006
11,098
13
your house!
Heres me bergan, there is a water bottle and metal cup in the front pouch, I will be changing the roll mat for a self inflating 3\4 length one at some point,

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Right pouch, wash kit, gtex jacket, gloves warm and globes thin, loo roll(comfy :) ) head over wool, water bottle and space for two days food.

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Other side, cook kit.

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Billy and plate, spoon, seasoning wallet(Cheers MIke!), cup, pot lifter, muesli, space for three days food in side pouch too,

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Also a two litre platy in there.

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In top pouch, little dry bag for phone and spare torch batts, spare head torch, torch(in dog walking coat at time of picture) and head strap, spare rope and guy lines, bits that go in my pockets like mini red torch compass and whistle, folding saw, hook gouge, first aid and bits bag. More space in there for food and water

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Bits bag, small pocket cuts kit with gloves, sterile wipes and resus face shield and plasters, bigger kit with rehydrate powder, foil blanket, wound dressing, heliograph, 2 No12 syringes( for washing cuts or eyes), puri tabs, cylumes, spare ferro, lighter, matches, nail clippers, note book, DC3 which goes in my pocket. Pencil, aspirins, antihistamine, inhalers(not had a wheeze since 12 years old, but never go anywhere with out a revealer inhaler).

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Bin bags in under lid pocket, and tarp in top of main bag,

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Arctic bag, in bivvie bag, which goes inside a large drybag in main compartment,

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At the very bottom, spare thermals, a towel, three pairs if socks and foot powder, spare boxers. All water proofed even though inside the dry bag. using the little zip lock bags you can kind of vacpac,

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I only take an axe or belt knife if they are going to be used, but will always have a swiss army knife, hook gouge and folding saw, I like my kit, it all works for me :)
 

markie*mark0

Settler
Sep 21, 2010
596
0
warrington
Others have already said, buts for me what you pack is different from person to person, time of year, where your going and what your doing.

I take my eldest son with me, but at only 7 he can't carry his fair share. So I end up packing 25+ water foodhttp://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=68892&highlight=

When I'm on my own I start with a base pack and then adapt to what/ where I'm going. E.g weather conditions, Bigger tarp or exped mat for wet / cold respectively. if I know camp will have a hammocking spot then I'd replace ground gear to hammock to suit etc

Starting at top going clockwise:

DD tarp 3 x 3
Alpkit airmat
Ali non stick frying pan / Ali pan
Msr petrol stove
Utensils / mug
Sak
Petzl
Wash kit
MSR water filter
FAK
Mountain equipment down sleeping bag
Bivi bag
Lowe alpine sting




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lannyman8

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 18, 2009
4,005
3
Dark side of the Moon
TBH Southey and me are more or less bang on, depends on time out of course but for a bushey/campey weekend at this time of year its about right, id add a bafallow jacket though...:)
 

vizsla

Native
Jun 6, 2010
1,517
0
Derbyshire
I thinks it depends on what you like to do when your there when i see some peoples kit and it dosnt include any basic tools just a small sak i cant imagine they do much but camp although i may be wrong they might just be realy good;)
for me i love to build carve and make things so my kit always has a fixed blade carving axe and either folding bow saw or laplander.
I carry minimal kit nothing i dont use but its all quite heavy as its mainly canvas wool steel and everything has its own leather pouch.
Duluth pack
bed roll
knife
axe
saw
awl
crook knife
cup
billy
kettle
millbank bag
fak
tarp
1l of water filter the rest
food

all my opinion of course
 

jeffz

Forager
Apr 4, 2011
141
0
Surrey
Fixed blade knife and tools get carried in a pouch in my pockets, where I can get at them. But yeah, camping is a key priority after a day's hiking and foraging. I'm afraid I've not reached the stage where I want to carve spoons and bowls or weave my own muesli every time I go out!
 

vizsla

Native
Jun 6, 2010
1,517
0
Derbyshire
Just to confirm my comment wasnt aimed at anyone i was just pointing out that depending on what you enjoy doing will depend on your pack wait.Dont want to start the new year upseting anyone
 
Just to confirm my comment wasnt aimed at anyone i was just pointing out that depending on what you enjoy doing will depend on your pack wait.Dont want to start the new year upseting anyone
i hadn't thought of that as an influence on the weight
i drink a lot of brews when out and the location i camp in doesn't have relieable safe water (surrounded by farm land) so a lot of my weight seems to be water
 

cbr6fs

Native
Mar 30, 2011
1,620
0
Athens, Greece
I thinks it depends on what you like to do when your there when i see some peoples kit and it dosnt include any basic tools just a small sak i cant imagine they do much but camp although i may be wrong they might just be realy good;)
for me i love to build carve and make things so my kit always has a fixed blade carving axe and either folding bow saw or laplander.
I carry minimal kit nothing i dont use but its all quite heavy as its mainly canvas wool steel and everything has its own leather pouch.
Duluth pack
bed roll
knife
axe
saw
awl
crook knife
cup
billy
kettle
millbank bag
fak
tarp
1l of water filter the rest
food

all my opinion of course

As i said before, it really depends on where i'm camping, when and with whom.

If i'm hiking then the last thing i want to do at night is sit carving.
If i'm out with the kids camping next to the car then i'll chuck in everything and the kitchen sink.

When backpacking though i'm pretty anal about weight, to the point where i have been known to cut a toothbrush in half and squeeze out all the toothpaste leaving exactly what i'll need.

When backpacking i don't take any tools except my leatherman, torch, GPS etc.

To be honest as i don't use wood burning fires very often (too much smoke, can't guarantee there will be firewood at the camp spot, prefer to leave no footprint rather than scar the land) a knife is very rarely needed, even when it is a basic SAK or leatherman is more than enough for the job.

Again though if i'm out with the kids then they really do like a wood fire, we will be in a pre-agreed location and i'll take a spade with me to lift the sod, put it to one side then replace it after we've finished.


It's the same with clothes, it's no good someone that does mainly base camping advising someone on clothes if the other person is hiking up the side of hills.
Natural fibres might feel okish sat round a camp fire, once you start and stop walking any distance at any intensity the qualities of the clothes change considerably.
 

Kotteman

Tenderfoot
Jun 3, 2009
59
2
Östansjö Sweden
Well since i'm 19years old my equipment hasn't changed that much:p But i have carried some serious weight, at a one week autumn trip to the Swedish mountains with my class my pack weighted 25kg, at the last day around 29... (it was my day to carry the tent plus that a classmate had a hard time to walk so I took his tent.)

Maybe i should mention that i was attending at a guide school and we were supposed to carry normal hiking gear plus safety gear and clothes if some one needed it. And that the gear was heavy , the backpack was a 4kg Haglöf 110l expedition sack that was easily overpackt, a 1,5 kg trangia, a 4kg Hilleberg 3person expedition tent and some of my favorite wool sweaters 1.5kg. ( note, i'm not that rich so that i can buy two expedition grade stuff and a trangia, we borrowed that stuff from the school)

But i wasn't the worst in my class, some of them had around 10kg of food making their bag weigh around 35kg...

A great man to learn after is Lars monsen, a Norwegian man that makes month long hiking trips, in one of his books he wrights that a normal 1week mountain trip everything should weigh around 17kg with 6 kg food, that's the essential stuff plus a lot of wool clothing:). Of course if you are going to the wood you don't need that much. Some more about him http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lars_Monsen.
 
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Corfe

Full Member
Dec 13, 2011
399
2
Northern Ireland
I just bought a Lowe Alpine Strike, which at 50-60litres (including side-pouches), is a big step down in size from the issue plce bergen I've been schlepping about with for years. Instead of just tossing stuff in, I'm going to have to think long and hard about what I need. It concentrates the mind wonderfully, and also makes me realise just how much junk I've been carrying into the woods lately which rarely sees the outside of the pack.
 

Kotteman

Tenderfoot
Jun 3, 2009
59
2
Östansjö Sweden
I just bought a Lowe Alpine Strike, which at 50-60litres (including side-pouches), is a big step down in size from the issue plce bergen I've been schlepping about with for years. Instead of just tossing stuff in, I'm going to have to think long and hard about what I need. It concentrates the mind wonderfully, and also makes me realise just how much junk I've been carrying into the woods lately which rarely sees the outside of the pack.

I like to think long and hard about what i need and then just toss everything in a big pack. :lmao:
Well not to big, it's not nice to her your fancy pansy equipment rattling around getting destroyed, but not to small, i should be big enough so that i can reach the bottom of the bag without getting stuck.
Makes it easy to pack and finding the right stuff when your backpack only has one hole to put stuff in.
 
i went on a days wander last weekend and tested my triple L set up. i used everything bar the ration packs (not hungry) the waterproof poncho(wasnt raining and didn't spend the night) the survival kit(only took it to take photos of it for a review) and a note book and pencil.
i didn't use the pack i intend to use for the triple L overnighter but the pck i have in mind should fit the Czech bedroll a wool blanket a wool poncho and the items i took over the weekend with space for more grub and also hopefully anything that takes my fancy when out and about.
 

Paul_B

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 14, 2008
6,201
1,569
Cumbria
Well I have dropped from 28kg for an overnighter to less than 8kg for a full week in about 4 years or so. Same sack too, a 1.6kg alpine sack from Berghaus that is nearly 18 years old, tough as nails, very comfy indeed and stable as a small climbing day sack!!! In that I would try to stick the following: -
Kathmandu basha -600g ish
Rab SZ bivvy
3/4 TAR mat
Golite 3 season XL quilt (best buy at £100 new!!) with silk liner
Old style primus micron with 100g can, primus feet and vargo ti-lite pot.
small sheet of plastic for groundsheet (part of a pallet bag).
Thermal long johns to sleep in with spare socks
Usual walking kit.
Ear plugs, small mp3 player and TAR pillow to help me get to sleep.
A knife or two (tiny whitby locking folder that clips in a pocket and is hard to spot on me, either a mora, opinel or SAK cyber tool or any combination of them).
Also a mug (Ti or very light plastic)
Head torch, petzl e-lite and FAK.

OF course that is what I think I should take but what I do take is not the same. Like recently I did a Knoydart week trip and decided to go very lightweight. It started very wet on the way up so I chickened out and packed everything I had with me for "just in case" reasons. My sack felt as heavy as it did when I carried 28kg!! It took halfway through the first day that I got really annoyed with my stupidity. The weather had changed to sun and I had a 15 mile walk in to do in the afternoon with a very heavy pack!! Lesson learnt?? You bet it hasn't been. I'll be that stupid again for sure. I only really go light on my home patch for some reason. If I'm away somewhere new and on my own I take too much!!

This year I intend to see just what I really need on my local patch then try to extend it to longer trips, further afield and also perhaps winter trips at the end of the year.
 

jeffz

Forager
Apr 4, 2011
141
0
Surrey
Here's my pick & mix for a few days and nights in Feb on Dartmoor:

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I reckon I can trim it by not carrying as much water, and processing what I can get from streams. 22lbs all-in with water and rations, isn’t shabby, but I reckon I could do better. I think this selection won't compromise warmth and comfort. (P.S. I’m not counting the items I’ll be carrying in pockets, like my survival key-chain and SAK, compass, phone and map.

My philosophy is that by carry carrying a lighter load, I'm obliged to put my bushcraft knowledge into use.
 
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