Backpacking

[SteelBlue]

Wood burning stove that charges via usb; has anyone seen this concept yet? I saw it in a magazine last year, but haven't ever seen one in a store yet. When it first came out, it sounded like it would be a very slow charge, but with this new version it sounds like they're claiming same speed as charging off of a laptop. Interesting concept anyway:

http://gearjunkie.com/wood-burning-s...city-generator

[BigPiney]

interesting idea, but most of my time is spent in areas where you can't burn wood, so it would do me no good.

[Pelado]

interesting idea, but most of my time is spent in areas where you can't burn wood, so it would do me no good.

What can you burn?

[bluegoose]

I recently switched from a standard hand pump ceramic filter to a gravity filtration system. Its nice to scoop some water out of the creek or lake and just hang it up and let it work.

In talking to some guys at the outdoors store here, they said most of the guys they go with use either the gravity filters or the steri-pens. My FIL in Wyoming recently switched to a Steri-pen and loves it.

Mine will do almost 2 liters in a minute. And even though it is still a ceramic filter cleaning it is as simple as running a liter of water backwards through it to flush it out. No more scrubbing. It also has an adapter to hook it directly onto a camelback or onto a Nalgene bottle.

It looks something like this:
18666129_136497_full.jpg

[Art Vandelay]

I recently switched from a standard hand pump ceramic filter to a gravity filtration system. Its nice to scoop some water out of the creek or lake and just hang it up and let it work.

In talking to some guys at the outdoors store here, they said most of the guys they go with use either the gravity filters or the steri-pens. My FIL in Wyoming recently switched to a Steri-pen and loves it.

Mine will do almost 2 liters in a minute. And even though it is still a ceramic filter cleaning it is as simple as running a liter of water backwards through it to flush it out. No more scrubbing. It also has an adapter to hook it directly onto a camelback or onto a Nalgene bottle.

It looks something like this:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]1836[/ATTACH]

Steri-pens are the way to go, IMO. Light, easy to use, and supposedly close to 100% effective. I bought my son the newer model last year, it is much less tempermental than my 3 YO one. It also didn't seem to use as batteries as quickly. I think they are well worth the investment.

[SteelBlue]

Steri-pens are the way to go, IMO. Light, easy to use, and supposedly close to 100% effective. I bought my son the newer model last year, it is much less tempermental than my 3 YO one. It also didn't seem to use as batteries as quickly. I think they are well worth the investment.

I like mine a lot, but once had the batteries fail on me. I always bring back ups now.

[BigPiney]

What can you burn?

gas

[SteelBlue]

MSR changing its 4oz fuel canister.

http://adventuresinstoving.blogspot....-canister.html

482204_486684828052920_1555759232_n.jpg

Has a "fuel gauge" printed on side. Just drop it in a pot of water and where the water mark hits on the gauge is your fuel level. Kind of a cool idea.

DSC00407.JPG

[splitbamboo]

That is really cool. We're always trying to figure out if we should take what we have on hand or buy new for every outing. I once went into REI and asked the salesman how I could determine what I have in a tank. He shrugged.

[SteelBlue]

I enjoy this guy's creativity when it comes to outdoorsmanship and gear. He comes up with all kinds of DIY gear. I thought this one about uses for plastic drinking straws was kind of cool. I like the waterproof fire starter idea at the beginning.

[Eddie]

I enjoy this guy's creativity when it comes to outdoorsmanship and gear. He comes up with all kinds of DIY gear. I thought this one about uses for plastic drinking straws was kind of cool. I like the waterproof fire starter idea at the beginning.

That was pretty cool - thanks for sharing. And the yo-yo was awesome too.

[SteelBlue]

Well, it wasn't backpacking, but I went on a great hike yesterday with the YM in our stake. Picture perfect hiking day with sun, low temps and occasional spritzes of rain. We hit the Castle Crags trail which for my money is one of the most rewarding, easy access trails that exists. The return on investment for this hike is pretty incredible. If you've ever driven on I5 in NorCal and seen the beautiful granite spires just south of Mt. Shasta you've seen some of Castle Crags.

Here are some pics:

The dome. The 2.7 mile trail ends at the base (when I say base, I mean that level area top left of the dome) of this beautiful granite formation. I don't know how steep that drop is but I'd guess it's close to 800 feet total.

[pellegrino]

I enjoy this guy's creativity when it comes to outdoorsmanship and gear. He comes up with all kinds of DIY gear. I thought this one about uses for plastic drinking straws was kind of cool. I like the waterproof fire starter idea at the beginning.

Is that guy from UT? His accent tells me he is.

[SteelBlue]

Is that guy from UT? His accent tells me he is.

Not sure, but I think he's from Idaho.

[pellegrino]

Not sure, but I think he's from Idaho.

Idaho would work too. His vowels are very intermountain west. Just listen to how he pronounces the word "seal." For a moment I thought he was talking about windows.