organised?

[tommy the cat]

When out for a days/morning walk I seem to always be trying to put my hands on gear and it gets on my nerves!How do you guys organise yourselves?
I wear a berghaus 30+20l rucksack
I take
water 1l
fak small
emergency kit small tobacco tin (mainly firesteel tinder etc)
maglight aaa
gaffer tape
sml binos
waterproof coat/ wool hat
no water handwash
couple small zip bags
tree id/bird id small books
sak in my pocket
para cord
small digi camera
I just seem to always be taking my pack off to find my book or water or whatever thinking of getting some pouchs for my belt or something so I can grab stuff quickly like my binos or camera.
Any suggestions would be great piccies even better. Ta D

 

[xylaria]

Bring less kit?

For a days/morning walk I bring
1 empty basket
Walking stick
Fire steel in pocket
Tampax in pocket
Some kind of sharp, multitool or secateurs in pocket
Army surplas coat with detactable liner

I look at whether forcast before I go out to minimise extra kit like a drink.

 

[Greg]

Your question is a hard one because it all depends on where you are going to walk.

For instance if I was to go for a short walk in the Brecons which is pretty desolate at times I'd make sure I had some safety gear with me, Basha-sleeping bag etc.
But for a walk in the local woods I wood only take a bottle of water and some mars bars, a field guide possibly, my knife & fire steel and bino's.

One thing I always carry is a whistle and head torch regardless of what I am doing so I can at least signal for help if needed!

Like I say though for me it all depends on the weather, the area, the time of year, Am I going alone or do I have my young son with me and probably a dozen other things I might ask myself before I go out.

 

[tommy the cat]

I agree I look at the forecast and may not take water proofs. But I have very little knowledge at the mo so like to take the books. I get thirsty as my local woods are pretty steep camera for later id stuff as well which is tiny....dunno just think I need to organise better......ta D....ps...I haven't even told you about the litre of coffee yet and the german army kip mat that I like to use as a seat while bird watching!

 

[British Red]

Hmmm

Personally I think going out for a day walk without any form of drink or means of getting one sounds both uncomfortable and a little unhealthy (unless a day walk means a call into a cafe or something)

Tommy,

I certainly do carry a leather belt pouch which contains a quality 8x monocular, small FAK, lighter, tinder, firesteel, knife, ziplocks, puritabs, LED torch (Fenix type), sewing kit, compass, whistle and a few bits and bobs.

I don't carry field guides but I do take my digital camera. If I can't recognise it, I take plenty of pictures and identify it later at home. Gloves and hat always live in my ventile smock (which is both cool and dry).

If on a warm or short walk, my water bottle goes in a smock pocket. On a longer walk I have a very small daysack or a gasmask bag (like a small stachel) that takes lunch, larger FAK, water, stove, mug etc. S10 respirator bags (like a green satchel with dividers) can be had for a few quid in a surplus shop.

Happy to take piccs if you like

Red

 

[falcon]

I'd say Binocs arond your neck, camera in a belt pouch so that you have these items immediately available. Smaller items can be stowed in possibles pouch and pockets but this can be irritating if pockets are overfilled. Everything else can go in the smallest daysack possible to cope with what you need to take (water, raingear, cookset, books etc) and be available for rest stops etc. If it's out of the way behind your back you have freedom to track, observe and forage....

 

[tommy the cat]

Thanks guys. I do take prob too much stuff and with experience I will prob narrow it down a bit. I dunno I just think well gonna be out from 5am to 2pm so gonna get hungry /thirtsy prob need to go to the toilet (loo roll)lighter to burn loo roll baggy to collect samples tinder etc seat pad as going to sit for periods as watching wildlife sak+ small fak camera as mentioned....... Non of it is necessary but most of it makes life more comfortable.
This is probably a question more to do with walking then bushcraft I realise.
Respirorator bags sound like a good option if I can find one D

 

[falcon]

If you're taking raingear and cookset because you're out all day you may feel you need a 30L sack, otherwise a bergan sidepouch on a yoke will give you good capacity carried out of the way leaving both hands free....

 

[Greg]

If I do carry gear into the woods, I like to use my belt kit with yoke. I find I can carry everything for a days outing comfortably (although a bit too war-ie! ).
I sometimes put a ressy haversack on the kit if I am going to carry waterproofs but thats the only time.
And it is more accessable than a daysack or bergen.

But for the hills I carry a bergen/daysack.(20-40lt depending on the gear).

But at the end of the day mate it is what you are comfortable with carrying, I know some guys who take everything but the kitchen sink with them! Its all down to your own personal preference and what you are happy with.
Its good to get advice off more experienced people but sometimes other peoples advice might not be right for you.
You'll find your equillibrium and when you do you will know at any given time of the year what you are going to be happy carrying on an outing whether its walking or wild camping.

 

[dommyracer]

Re: water.

I realised a little while ago that when I am not 'out and about' I don't drink enough water, so I am pretty much in a constant state of partial dehydration. (not uncommon apparently, most people walk around partially dehydrated).

What this means though, is that if I set out walking after a short time I feel the effects of dehydration and usually end up drinking a lot of water - meaning I have to carry a fair bit, and as we know, a litre of water weighs a kilo, not an insignificant amount of weight.

The simple solution is that I now make sure I am well hydrated all the time, and make sure I up my hydration in the day or so I am planning to be out. I find myself drinking a lot less to stay on top of things.

 

[Justin Time]

Cargo pants come in to their own on days out, usually end up with the pockets stuffed with finds... A good tip is to empty them regularly though :yikes: Cord and duct tape in back left hand pocket in all my playing out trousers.

I've missed some good photos by having the camera stowed away so a wee pouch, without velcro, comes in very handy. If I'm wearing my swannie then the top right pocket has the digital camera. I keep meaning to sew in a D-ring to attach the camera to, it's not fallen out yet, but...

Bins are round the neck always so I don't have to take my eyes off the bird. . A notebook and pencil is always handy for ID drawing/note taking. I agree with BR on the photos but, especially for birding, that might not work, so drawing key features is a good discipline at getting you to look at your subject.

Otherwise if bulky stuff isn't needed I take a haversack which makes it easy to get what I need. I have a number of little bags which then help to keep lunch, brew kit, fire lighting kit etc separate.

 

[Aragorn]

may be worth investing in a PLATYPUS or similar drinking system, i was like you, forever taking my pack off to get a drink (i do drink quite a bit of water when in the hills) but these have solved all that.

 

[xylaria]

Sorry if my first post came over a bit sarcy.

What you wear and the kit you bring is dependant on where you are going, what the weather is, and where the nearest clean water source is. I bring alot more kit for a walk on high moors than I do for a walk in woodland. I do the tank up on fluid before hand as dommyracer said. I don't need to carry water for a woodland walk whereas on the moors it by far makes most of the weight of the kit. I like to look at the local conditions and then decide what to bring, but I have found to my cost that the pub marked on the OS map doesn't mean open pub.

 

[Butchd]

(not uncommon apparently, most people walk around partially dehydrated).

<Bites lip heavily to avoid rising to this one>

 

[Squidders]

For walks in the UK I take an Indiana shoulder bag (Link) as it will happily carry a US canteen and cup, a few small ID books, slip joint knife, a few plasters and general "stuff". Also, it's very simple remove from my person.

 

[Eric_Methven]

Take what you normally take, and make a note when you get home whether you used a particular piece of kit or not. If you don't use something after six trips, it's probably safe to leave it out. That way you can whittle down your kit until you are carrying stuff you really do use, and that way it's totally personal to you.

Eric

 

[dommyracer]

<Bites lip heavily to avoid rising to this one>

what do you mean Butchd? I didn't mean anything by it, it was something I read somewhere or was told, I would have referenced the source but I can't remember.

I'm not sure if I mean dehydration per se, as I know thats quite a specific term.
Perhaps it was that most people don't keep themselves at their optimum level of hydration.

If you've got some knowledge on the subject I'd like to hear it, every day's a schoolday and all that!

 

[Nathan Sturgess]

For a day I take a Berghaus Bumbag with water bottle, small FAK, Opinel, DC4, matches, waterproof, and go-lite poncho, water puritabs and sometimes a trecking pole.

 

[xylaria]

what do you mean Butchd? I didn't mean anything by it, it was something I read somewhere or was told, I would have referenced the source but I can't remember.

I'm not sure if I mean dehydration per se, as I know thats quite a specific term.
Perhaps it was that most people don't keep themselves at their optimum level of hydration.

If you've got some knowledge on the subject I'd like to hear it, every day's a schoolday and all that!

It is something that has been going doing the rounds in health magazines such as heres health that we should drink alot more water than we do. I don't know if there is any medical evidence but quite frankly I don't care. I drink when thirsty and you do have try very hard to die of dehydration in our climate on most days.

I got in trouble on another thread for using out of date/biased info that I had been told repeatedly when I was breastfeeding my daughter ten years ago. I had not questioned wether it was right and the insueing argument wasn't really anything to do with the thread and a trifle petty.

 

[Toadflax]

Being new to this game, I was interested to read that several people carry their knife and firesteel on a day walk. Given the UK law on carrying a knife, and what I suspect is the limited number of places where an open fire can legally be lit, I am curious to know if you actually use these items on a day trip, or is it more that they are carried 'just in case'?

This leads onto another 'newbie' question, which should possibly go in another thread, but I'll start here: "What bushcraft stuff can you do in the UK?"

I realise that this depends very much on what permissions you have on the land you are walking on. In my local area this ranges from nature reserves, where pretty much everything but walking is banned, through to fairly public woodland, through to general country paths. I'm more interested to find out what other, more experienced, people do in practice.

I suspect that if I pick a few dandelion or nettle leaves, and perhaps a few cramp balls then nobody is really going to notice. But if I want to get some burdock root then I suspect that if it is not in my garden then it is illegal to dig up. Supposing I want to make some willow bark cordage, am I likely to be able to 'get away with' carefully sawing off a sapling from a crowd of saplings, or maybe cutting off a broken branch?

I'm thinking that some of the things that I want to do are getting into grey areas of legality (if the law is strictly applied) and am therefore curious to know what other bushcrafters do - most particularly on day walks as opposed to organised moots.


Geoff