rucksacking

(1 Can Coke + Chocolate) x Sun=Fire

This excellent little article guides you through a marvelously simple way to start a fire using a soda can, chocolate, some tinder and lots of sun. Great website, too.

Can of Coke and a Chocolate Bar [TrackerTrail.com]

From Trafalgar Square to Cape Town: Thru-hiking Europe and Africa

Rucksackers everywhere should salute the Australian husband and wife team of Gary and Paula Constant. On the 1^st of August, 2004, they left London from Trafalgar square to walk to Cape Town in South Africa -- a distance of over 10,500 miles. The walk will run in three stages: from London to Morocco, Morocco to Sudan, and Sudan to Cape Town. They're currently in Portugal, which sounds nice. The trip must have taken incredible palnning skills, but we were brough up short by this line on their site: "After a great deal of thought, it has been agreed the weight that can be comfortably carried on a daily basis by each person should not exceed 30kilos, and ideally would be closer to 20. Including food." (Note to Americans: that's 44 to 66 pounds)(Note to the Constants: you could go a lot lighter than that! Please, get rid of that needlessly heavy Coleman tent!)

Constanttrek Home [Constanttrek.com]
Constanttrek Blog [constanttrek.typepad.com]

Forum Rucksackum

Gear sites and journals like BackpackingLight are great, but what do you do if you have some specific questions about, say, where to get gas canisters on Kauai? To the internet, my friend: There are plenty of excellent forums out there where like-minded people in the know can help answer your questions. One great resource is the Yahoo BackpackingLight group. The new BackpackingLight.com forums aren't bad, either, nor is the message board over at Thru-Hiker. There are also two promising-looking groups just getting started over at Google Groups, Backpacking and Ultralight Backpacking Manufacturers.

BE AN ULTRA LIGHT BACKPACKING EXPERT IN ONE HOUR!!!!

I hate to make fun of anything that so whole-heartedly embraces lessening your load, but while I blame much of what's going on at this site on bad marketing, I gots to say this be wack, yo. The all-caps and exclamation marks aside, the page is filled with "secrets" like using a tarp ("It weighs only 400 gm and when packed fit into your hand [sic]") and checking the weight of equipment you buy. UPPERCASE MAKES IT GOOD!!!!

Gear list fun, p.II

This 2001 article from Backpacker.com is a welcome field-test of two opposing backpacking philosophies. Though the sections on food made me wince, the overall outcome was what I've experienced: smarter+lighter=better. The article comes with a gearlist, too, for people into lightweight climbing.

Gear list fun, p. I

It's about time to start looking at your three-season list and getting, um, geared up for the coming season. The nice folks over at Backpackinglight.com have put together a nice prototype list here. Of course, I'd throw in an umbrella, too.