A little nostalgia

Over the weekend I had the time and inclination to dig through my accumulated backpacking gear. It is amazing to see the changes in gear. I started backpacking in the early 1970's with a home made pack, pup tent, rectangular flannel sleeping bag, and an old aluminum mess kit. Dehydrated food was either too expensive, too tasteless, or unavailable.

My home made pack, gave way to an H-frame without hip belt. Then I added a hip belt, which then gave way to an internal frame pack.

The aluminum mess kit gave way to a stainless steel kit. Stainless steel turned into hard anodized aluminum. Hard anodized aluminum became titanium.

Open fire cooking turned into a Peak 1 400A stove with a factory windscreen.  Peak 1 gave way to a WhisperLite International.  The WhisperLite into a canister stove. Canister stove became an inverted canister stove. The inverted canister stove morphed into a stove system.

Drinking water straight from the source gave way to a ceramic filter cartridge.  The ceramic filter changed into hollow fiber.

Rectangular sleeping bag became a synthetic mummy bag.  Synthetic bag gave way to a water resistant down bag.

I have kept each item, and each item is still completely functional.  I still use my 20 year old WhisperLite (with original pump) for winter camping. I have, however, given up lugging the Peak 1 stove around.  I have also given up lugging most of the older equipment. You couldn't pay me enough to carry the steel framed home-made pack again :)

My point here. You do not need the latest greatest equipment to have an enjoyable time in the back country. Get the gear that works for you and your budget, and go have some fun!

What is the best ...?

When friends, acquaintances, and coworkers discover how much I enjoy backpacking I am often asked my opinion on specific gear. The question usually comes as "what is the best water filter, stove, backpack, etc.". I sometimes feel that the question is unfair, and very similar to asking someone, "what is the best car?".  As you can imagine, if there was only one best car, everybody would be driving the same vehicle.

Over the course of many discussions I have come to the conclusion that my best response is to ask another question of my own. "What is your budget?". Then I can narrow into some items in their budget and maybe add a little knowledge of the pro's and con's of the items.

There is not a perfect stove, nor a perfect water filter. You must make decisions based on your use patterns and budget.  Remember, a higher price does not necessarily indicate a better item.


My current bests (subject to change)

Best upright canister stove: Optimus Crux
Best inverted canister stove: Optimus Vega
Best stove system: MSR Reactor
Best liquid fuel stove (boil only): MSR WhisperLite
Best commercial alcohol stove: Evernew DX2 set with 900 ml pot
Best alcohol stove set (ignoring weight): Trangia 25 ULHA
Best personal water filter: Sawyer Squeeze
Best gravity water filter: Platypus Gravity Works 4L
Best pump filter: MSR Miniworks EX (Guardian would probably hold this place, if the price point was not beyond reason)
Best universal stove (canister or liquid): Optimus Polaris
Best tent: Hilleberg