Monday, February 11, 2013

Pack list: Miscellaneous Junk

This is all the junk that I pulled out of my pack that doesn't easily fit a category. I won't make any predictions about how far up the trail I'm going to carry any of it (except my compressible pillow, mock me if you must), but I've carried most of this stuff forever, and pretty much each item has come in handy on one trip or another.

Okay, except the little air horn, which I bought with the vaguely hopeful thought that it would scare away a bear in the middle of the night if necessary. It'll probably just get me sprayed by a skunk in the middle of the night.

The plastic bag in the middle is a home-made first aid kit that is at least 10 years old. It's got some iodine for treating water; I'm not carrying a filter or anything, and I probably won't use the iodine either. I've got a platypus bladder to carry water, plus a one-liter Nalgene bottle (that I usually put whiskey in...)

I forget where I got the idea for the sharpie with the duct tape wrapped around it, but I've used it or one just like it a bunch over the years. The Swiss Army knife and the Gerber probably won't both make it to Maine, but I'm going to start with them. The fishing knife will be good to kill the skunk with after it sprays me.

There are a couple of things that aren't here, including my cellphone and charger, and the little bag of dryer lint for expert-style fire starting. (right)

There will probably be some other items that will end up in the bottom of the pack, too, at least for a while. I hiked about 100 miles of the trail (from Route 66 in VA to the PA border) a couple of years ago and fell in with some thru-hikers who were still shedding weight after almost 1000 miles of hiking, so I'm steeling myself to not get too attached to any of my little bits and bobs...who knows what I'm going to fling off the side of a mountain on any given day!

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