Walking HADRIAN'S WALL from North Sea to Irish Sea

[Melensdad]

Interesting bit of kit that OTHERS will be carrying for ME

There are at least four confirmed people going on this hike. It could grow to 10. It likely will be 6 or 7.

So I decided that I will give others who go on this trip some gifts.

As I'm the oldest person on the trip, I figure that with my age comes some wisdom. And I know that liquids are heavy, in fact they are easily the heaviest things that we will be lugging across the island of England. My goal is travel as light as possible, but still enjoy some of the finer things in life.

So I will be giving GIFTS to some of the other hikers on this trip and those gifts will also benefit me! The gifts I have chosen to bestow on my fellow hikers are lightweight flasks that they can use to replace those heavy wine bottles and whiskey bottles that they would otherwise be carrying into the field for our picnic lunches and mid-afternoon snacks.

Pictured below are 2 wine flasks (one right side up, one reversed) + 1 smaller flask from some fine scotch single malt.

These things literally are feather light. I've found a couple brands, these are made by GSI. They are BPA free plastic and mylar so they should not impart any flavor into the adult beverages they will be used to contain. They were a bit pricy, roughly $10. But are reusable. The body of these modern day 'botas' weigh about as much as 2 sheets of paper. The neck and the cap are lightweight plastic. I didn't put them on a scale for an exact weight, but I'm guessing 2 to 3 ounces total.

So my cunning costs me a bit of cash, it doesn't burden me with the unwanted weight, and I still get to share in the bounty! If we add more people to the trip, I'll simply buy another couple of "gifts" for others so that there will be plenty of wine to go around!

 

[Melensdad]

Anyone have any ideas about water filtration/purification? Technically filtration is not true purification.

With the exception of a couple days, I will have ample sources of clean water along the trail we are walking to simply refill bottles/bladders with safe water. But a couple of the days of our upcoming walk will either require me to filter/purify water along the way, or carry a lot of water and refill at night (we will be at a clean water source each night).

There are lots of choices. Some I do not like.

• Not a fan of the UV Light systems that kill the bugs/viruses but leave the dirt/off taste in the water.
• Not a fan of the purification tablets that can take up to an hour to work, and leave the dirt/off taste in the water.
• Pump Filters are good, when they work, some are bulky and heavy, some less so. Acceptable if under 1#.
• A "Lifestraw" would work for sipping out of a stream, but won't allow me to refill a water bottle. Fine if you are camping next to a stream/pond, but we are hiking and may not need the water when we pass a stream.

I'm hearing good things about the FIRST NEED XLE filter. Probably way more than I need for the couple gallons of water that I may need. I'd love something 1/2 the size and clearly don't need that much capacity. Lots of very mixed reviews about the MSR and Katadyn products.

Or should I just buck up and carry 8# (1 gallon) of water and slug through the day, with the load lightening up as the day goes on? It is certainly a possible choice to carry extra water a couple days. It's obviously cheaper than buying an expensive gadget that may or may not work. It's obviously easier to pack a collapseable water bottle than it is to pack a bulky filter system.

THOUGHTS?

 

[EastTexFrank]

Bob, I'm not an expert on filters by any means. The last time I purified water was many years ago and I used tablets which I assume worked because I didn't get sick but the water didn't taste very good.

I have a prepper/camping friend who uses the "Sport Berkey" water bottle. He also keeps a couple in his BOB. It is light and has enough throughput capacity for your needs. I haven't seen a review of the product but know that other Berkey filters are well regarded.

 

[Melensdad]

That might work. Most of the bottles with filters don't filter viruses/pathogens but that one appears to do so.

LINKY=> [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Sport-Berkey-Portable-Water-Purifier/dp/B0026OKYPE"]Amazon.com: Sport Berkey Portable Water Purifier: Sports & Outdoors[/ame]

 

[Melensdad]

As long as we are talking about food, how about discussing some eating utensils?

GEAR REVIEW: Bamboo ~vs~ Titanium Cutlery

Since there are several of us going on this trip I figured that I'd buy some Christmas presents for some of the others who will be on the trip and it would give me the opportunity to compare different items.

I purchased some TOAKS brand Titanium Cutlery sets and some Bamboo Cutlery sets. Each has some interesting advantages, but as I think you will see, the Bamboo spoon is nearly worthless and the Bamboo knife is an oddity that it hard to describe. The Titanium stuff is very traditional in form, well balanced in your hand, very functional, expensive, strong/stiff and yet amazingly lightweight.

TOAKS TITANIUM:

This is the stuff I am keeping for me and for my wife. Its about $18 per set for the 3 pieces. Not cheap. It weighs 1.7 ounces for the 3 piece set + the mini caribiner. There is NO case with this set and the mini-caribiner is almost too small to use. If you have fat fingers just throw the mini-caribiner away. If you have agile fingers then you can use it, for something???

As light as this set is, it feels good in the hand, the utinsels are roughly the same size and shape as the stuff in your kitchen drawer, and its strong. Titanium is stronger than steel, lighter than aluminum, doesn't rust. Pretty much the perfect material for the ultra-light hiker (other than the high cost). Close examination of the Toaks Titanium cutlery shows that this is a high quality set that a craftsman would appreciate using. Its finished very nicely with a brushed finish at the handles and a mirror polish at the use end.


BAMBOO

My sister and brother-in-law will be recieving these as Christmas gifts for the hike. As light as the Toaks Titanium stuff is, this stuff is even lighter. The entire set, with the case, is 1.7 ounces. So same total weight but more parts. The set includes CHOPSTICKS, plus a CARRY CASE, plus a fork/knife/spoon and it even includes a lightweight small caribiner. Set cost was $11.55 from Amazon. Its supposed to be eco-friendly, even the little case is made of recycled materials. This stuff looks pretty good on the surface, and its supposed to stand up to repeated use/wash/use cycles.

So compared to the Titanium stuff this is a bargain, more pieces and a lower price. But close examination of the spoon shows that this spoon has almost no capacity to actually scoop any liquid into your mouth! Oh it would work for a hearty stew, chili or chunky style soup but anything with a thin broth is going to be an exercise is futility to consume. Then there is the knife? No serrations and a curved blade? By curved I mean a SIDEWAYS curve! I dunno why? And not only does it lacks serrations but it also lacks a sharp edge. Sure, you can cut a stewed carrot or potato with it. Probably spread butter just fine and cut a muffin in half too, but don't go after that T-bone with this knife. The fork is a 3 tine fork and its probably fine for eating just about anything.

All 3 of these main cutlery pieces feel pretty good in your hand and the chopsticks also appear to be very functional, even if a little bit shorter than some of the pairs we have in our kitchen. All 5 pieces have a very nice smooth finish to them, all have some sort of food safe sealer applied. I just don't see the knife or spoon as particularly useful, with the spoon being the worse of the two pieces.

While the caribiner with the Toaks Titanium is tiny, it is high quality and will stand up to years of reasonable use, I'd say that the aluminum (?) caribiner that comes with the Bamboo set is a novelty piece that is better discarded than carried. It might work for a couple days, maybe a couple weeks, but its pretty much junk.


VERDICT: Toaks Titanium Cutlery is the easy choice, wreaks of quality and is actually useable . . . Unless you drive a Prius, then you'll buy the Bamboo stuff and show us how eco-friendly you are while spilling your soup down your chin and gnawing your steak apart with your teeth because your knife can't cut meat . . . oh wait, you are probably a vegetarian if you buy the Bamboo stuff so cutting a steak is not an issue for you.


If I was a super-lightweight junkie I'd probably take a SPORK and call it a day, but I'm willing to accept 1.7 ounces of Titanium in my backpack versus 0.7 ounces for just a SPORK.

 

[Melensdad]

Not sure what happened to my old OPTIMUS iso-butane canister stove, its probably packed away in a box in one of the garages, down in the crawl space or somewhere else that I can't remember. I found my windscreen, but can't find the old stove! I decided that I needed to get back to backpacking so I started looking at stoves all over again.

Lots of interesting choices these days.

I have NOT tried any of these stoves yet. Honestly I expect the little Snow Peak to run flawlessly. Its basic design has been around a long time, there are lots of people making this type of stove, I can't imagine anything could go wrong with it. The SOTO MUKA is interesting in that it offers some interesting features like the pressure indicator on the pump and the no-prime start up.

Picked up a little SNOW PEAK GigaPower Auto
GigaPower Stove, Auto - backpacking stoves - stoves
It looks like every other little canister stove. Neat little package, came with a windscreen and a repair kit, and free shipping from an Ebay seller for $39 even. Li

Picked up a SOTO MUKA liquid gas stove => http://www.sotooutdoors.com/products/item/OD-1NP.html">OD-1NP | Products | SOTO

I liked the fact that it doesn't require priming, but don't like the fact that it uses a proprietary fuel bottle with a wider mouth. Got this for $90 on Ebay, the fuel bottle came from REI for $26 (including shipping)

And what is a stretch, I picked up a SMOKEEATER 908 "Ring Of Fire" alcohol stove => http://www.outdoortrailgear.com/featured/ring-of-fire-alcohol-stove/"

With this stove I also picked up a pot stand. Price was about $86 with shipping, making it the most expensive alcohol stove that I've ever seen! But it just got my curiosity up enough that I decided to go for it and give it a try.

Here is a YouTube video of the "Ring Of Fire" from the guy who makes it:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0XVDwjsrUkI&feature=player_embedded&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D0XVDwjsrUkI%26feature%3Dplayer_embedded">http://m.youtube.com/watch?

One thing I don't like is the fuel nipple being so exposed/unguarded. I may be making some modification to add some sort of guard to protect that nipple. But at 2.5 ounces with a fuel bottle (empty) is a nice tidy weight. The stove is milled out of a piece of solid aluminum on a lathe, no chance it can be crushed under foot.

And everything fits into a ZipLock sandwich size bag, with room to spare:

For those of you who may have any of these 3 stoves, any advice? Words of caution?


I expect the "Ring Of Fire" to be the slowest to boil, least flexible, but I do appreciate the lack of weight. The Snow Peak GigaPower should be the easiest to get set up and cooking. The Soto Muka may be the most flexible of them all when all the testing is done, but its also the biggest and heaviest.

 

[Melensdad]

Got some brand new Titanium ultra-light backpacking pots/pans from a company called KEITH. They make a lot of ultra-light stuff for bicyclists so if you are bike rider you may be more familiar with them. This stuff, like most of the Titanium stuff, is made in Asia. Keith brand stuff comes from China.

They sell different sets, I chose a 3 piece set because it was simply the best value of all the options and picked it up on Ebay for $61.20 (total price including shipping) which is pretty outrageous for 3 tiny pots/pans but is actually pretty cheap compared to other TITANIUM cookware.

The set includes a MESH BAG, a 1.2 Liter pot, a 0.8 Liter pot, and a 0.4 Liter pan which, due to its sloped edges near the base, allows the pan to work as a "double boiler" when teamed up with either of the 2 pots.

The 1.2 Liter pot is the tallest, narrowest of the 3 pieces and flares a bit wider at the rim to allow the pan to rest on top. The 0.8 Liter pot is just large enough to allow the 1.1 liter pot to nest inside, and the 0.4 Liter pan fits comfortably under the 0.8 Liter pot to nest inside.

Entire weight of the 3 pieces of cookware + the bag = 12.1 ounces:

Should you choose to carry without the bag, then you will save 0.6 ounce:

All 3 pieces of cookware nested:

The 3 piece set gives you some flexibility in options, if 2 of you are going out for a trip you can carry all three pieces for those rare trailside gourmet meals, but if you want to go lighter you can mix & match your cookware and carry only those pieces you need for making hot coffee/tea/cocoa and rehydrating some Mountain House meals while saving a bit of weight and pack space.

Small Pot (0.8 Liter) + Pan = 6.8 ounces

Large Pot (1.2 Liter) + Pan = 7.7 ounces

Large Pot alone = 4.6 ounces

Medium Pot alone = 3.8 ounces

Pan alone = 3.0 ounces

Honestly have no clue how this stuff performs as I have not yet tried it. TITANIUM cookware has a reputation of having hot spots and not doing a very good job of spreading the heat across the surface of the entire bottom of the cooking surface so it will be interesting to compare this to my ALUMINUM cookware (GSI Halulite Micro Dualist ~ now discontinued) cook set.

 

[Melensdad]

Looking at the AVERAGE temperatures for the area where we will be hiking, the morning temps will be in the mid-40's and the afternoon high should be about 61-degrees-F.

I've never owned a WOOL baselayer shirt (a "Merino" wool undershirt) and am considering investing in a few of them. And I use the word "investing" because when I started looking at the prices, they seem to cost from $45 to $85 each. WTF? I know that people who have them swear by them as being great. I understand that they don't get all funky smelling like synthetic fabrics when you sweat. Can they be worth that price? I was figuring on buying 3 and rotating through them, washing them in the evening during the hike. That way I wouldn't have to wash every night.

But at $45~$85 each, I'm not convinced to buy any of them. And if I do I'm thinking buy one, wash it every night, hope its dry by morning.

Are the "Merino Wool" base layer shirts worth the high cost?


Linky => http://www.rei.com/product/855512/icebreaker-anatomica-crew-underwear-top-mens
Linky => http://www.rei.com/product/828662/smartwool-microweight-crew-t-shirt-wool-mens

 

[Melensdad]

As a hunter, fisherman, gun tinkerer, etc and I know that because of my purchase of "tax stamps" for hunting and my purchases of guns/gun parts/fishing equipment/hunting equipment, etc that I am supporting the maintenance of wilderness habitat because there is an 11% excise tax on hunting/fishing/gun related items that is a dedicated tax going to support the lands. "Tax stamps" like duck hunting stamps, big game stamps, upland bird stamps, which are required taxes if you hunt, are also dedicated taxes for habitat preservation, game management, wilderness maintenance, etc.

But the above sign got me to wondering, if we, as hikers/backpackers actually contribute to maintain the lands we use? Sure, in some areas we pay a pittance for a backcountry pass on some of the properties, but other than that is there any real tax that we pay? Are we freeloaders who use the land and don't financially contribute to it with tax dollars?

Oh sure, we may be members of various hiking groups who go clean land. Or maybe we are members of a group that creates a trail. But do we financially contribute to the purchase and annual maintenance costs of the wild?

Are there outdoor use taxes on our tents? Boots? Backpacks? Stoves? etc or are we freeloading off of other outdoor groups and using lands without real contribution? I'm clearly uncertain if we are contributing financially. Not just with regular sales tax dollars, but is there some special excise tax that we pay to help support the lands we use? I simply don't know. Anyone have a clue?

 

[Melensdad]

UPDATES ~

MERINO WOOL BASE LAYER: No I have NOT ordered any of those expensive Merino Wool base layer clothes. I'm still holding out hoping that someone else will be the financial test-dummy for those. Or, maybe I'll ask the lovely Mrs_Bob to give me a couple of them as a Christmas gift.


STOVES: Someone over at the backpacking forum where I am a member suggested an ESBIT solid fuel stove. I had initially rejected that stove because they are not particularly popular here, hard to get fuel, etc. But pointed out that in Europe they are very popular so fuel there is easy to get. Found an Esbit folding stove for $9.99 with 6 fuel tablets. Same store (Dicks) did not sell the fuel separately!!! It actually looks like the ideal packing stove for anyone who will be doing minimal cooking, and this trip will have minimal cooking so it may end up being the most practical stove of the bunch?

Basically a cheap stamping of aluminum(?). 3 pieces, stamped and folded and held together with a couple of pins. The bottom piece holds the 1/2 ounce solid fuel cube. The 2 side plates fold upward and act as both a windscreen and a pot rest to hold a small pot for boiling water. Supposedly it boils 2 cups of water in about 8 minutes.

One nice thing is that in the folded position, the stove holds 4 of the packaged Esbit solid fuel cubes.

 

[Melensdad]

Just got a birthday gift from my lovely bride of 28 years. I got the gift about 2 weeks early because she gave it to me when we were visiting Melen at college so that Melen could participate in the birthday celebration. But she won't let me use my gift until my birthday. So I have a new gift that I can look at, but can't use.

A new pair of Zamberlan 230 SH Plus GTX light hiking boots. Pic below is a 'stock' photo in red color, she gave me the same boots but in black. VERY LIGHT WEIGHT for a boot. They use a thinner vibram sole to shave some weight, also use some high tech materials and skip the more traditional leather, it saves weight and allows for heel and ankle support. Many lightweight hiking boots actually cut down the ankle height, which eliminates ankle support, in an effort to cut weight, but these keep a more traditional height while eliminating the weight and providing the support.

Looking forward to giving them a workout over the next several months. Not ready to retire my pair of KEEN hikers, but it might break her heart if I don't relegate my trusty KEENs to the back of the closet. Narrower in the toe than my Keen's and my Merrell's so it will be interesting to see if I end up exchanging them for a larger size.

Amazingly lightweight but still very supportive, interesting combination. Anyone use this boot, or even this brand? I've never owned the brand before. These boots won the 2013 Backpacker Gear of the Year award for light hiking boots.

 

[Melensdad]

Really nothing to report. Well, perhaps a little bit of chafing in the nether regions. I wore some cotton boxers on a brisk 5 miler and that was a mistake. Be paying for that for a few days while my oh so delicates heal. The fitted synthetic undies with gussets are a real blessing to hikers. I will be asking for some more pairs of those as Christmas gifts. If any of you are predisposed to buying me a gift, I strongly prefer NEW/UNUSED, size large.

Weather is turning cooler. Mornings in the 40's. But as the old Swedish proverb claims: there is no bad weather, only bad clothing.

I should probably take the warning I learned from the cotton boxers incident very seriously now that real layering is required for the morning road hikes. Rain will likely be more frequent and cool weather will be the norm. According to the annual weather forecasts for the region of England where we will be hiking, the average daily high temps in June run from about 45-F to 62-F so fall weather in Indiana is probably excellent practice weather for summer weather in the north of England. This short weather window should actually help me select some proper shirts and shells for layering for the real hike.

 

[EastTexFrank]

Bob, it shows you how out of touch I am but not only have I never heard of the boot, I've never heard of the company that makes them. Backpacker magazine used to do some good reviews of equipment so if they've earned their stamp of approval, they're probably pretty darned good.

Just to emphasise how out of touch I am, I picked up a pair of Ahnu Elkridge low hikers in Cabelas Bargain Cave a month or so back. I'd never heard of them before either. I've never been a big fan of low hikers but at something like 60% off I thought that I could always use them to work around the house. What a steal!!! I've only worn them a couple of times but when you pull them on, it feels as if your foot belongs in the shoe. I don't know how else to explain it. I wore them all day pounding pavement and at the farm and I had no hip, back or neck pain. That's how I judge footwear these days, if they don't cause me to "hurt", they're keepers and those are keepers.

 

[Melensdad]

I'm out of touch too, never heard of Zamberlan but I have heard of the shoe you purchased. Funny how you judge them because my wife and I did an early morning 5 mile hike and one of the topic of conversation was blisters, or really the lack thereof, and the lack of general aches and pains that we self induce.

I know I'm being pretty anal about gear, but I don't like pain.

 

[Melensdad]

Very few stores carry real hiking gear. Stopped into DICKS Sporting Goods Sunday afternoon to look at some 'softshells' and was totally disappointed.

They carry several brands but had a very poor selection. Koppen is their store brand? It was the best softshell in terms of features, cost was about $80, which is a value, but it still lacked some features I was looking for. North Face products in the store were basic fleece softshells and were more fashion than function. They carry Marmont but the only softshells they stocked were pull-overs. Seriously? Columbia has some decent products, just not carried at Dicks.

Local Eddie Bauer store at the outlet mall does not carry their top rated 'First Ascent' line of outdoor clothing/gear.

So the shopping was a total bust.

 

[Melensdad]

Just received a Gift Certificate for BASS PRO SHOP.

Sadly they have very little in the way of backpacking supplies, but they do have the Katadyn Hiker Pro pump water filter and as well as the Sawyer Squeeze filter system. Hmmm . . . may be bringing one of those home.

Which one?

 

[Melensdad]

GEAR QUESTION Follow Up ~~ MERINO WOOL BASE LAYERS:

Well we will have an answer to the Merino Wool question. Give me some time, to try them out, but my lovely wife gave me a couple different Merino Wool baselayer shirts (2 different weights) for my birthday yesterday. So over the next few weeks I'll try to work them into my walking gear and will report back.

Wool is reputed to be a "no stink" material, one that not only absorbs sweat, but somehow neutralizes its odor. The boxes of both these shirts make that claim very clearly. hmmmm. What do you bet I wear one of these shirts for 3 or 4 days and end up being mistaken for a stinky homeless European bum?

Now that said, I will clearly state that a polyester baselayer shirt may be great for moving sweat off your body so it can evaporate, but it very clearly develops a special sort of odor to it, one that is unmistakable and objectionable. Cotton is miserable to wear because it just gets wet and holds the sweat against you instead of wicking it away, it neither evaporates from the fabric nor does it feel good. In the summer sweat soaked cotton is nasty hot, and in the winter its cold and clammy. So cotton is horrible to wear, polyester and poly/nylon/spandex/etc blends are comfortable but you clear smell like sweat, and wool is SUPPOSED to be the ultimate answer?

I own several different poly hiking base layer shirts, they all work well, are comfortable to wear, have caped shoulder and flat seams that prevent backpack straps from resting on the seam over your shoulder. The poly shirts are all of a waffle weave sort of material that works to keep you very cool on hot days, despite the fact that they are LONG sleeve shirts. The same shirts, worn under another layer, act as an insulating layer to help keep you warm. So I very much like my poly base layers, except for the smell that they get when I sweat heavily into them.

Guess I'll find out soon enough.

ICEBREAKER premium merino wool + REDRAM (a division of ICEBREAKER) 'everyday' merino wool.

ICEBREAKER is the blue shirt on the left, REDRAM is the black shirt on the right.

The blue ICEBREAKER shirt is noticeably 'smoother' to the touch, its a 200 weight shirt, which means its a medium weight shirt. The black REDRAM shirt is not itchy but it is also not as smooth/subtle feeling as the ICEBREAKER shirt. There is no indication what weight the REDRAM shirt is, but it feels to be the same thickness as the ICEBREAKER. REDRAM's shirt was about $10 less expensive.

If I wear one of these for 4 to 5 days who wants to volunteer to do a 'sniff test' on my shirt?



GEAR FOLLOW UP: Zaberlan 230 Crosser Light Hiking Boots

Figured I'd add a bit to this boot, I got it as an early birthday gift, so I've now had it for a couple weeks. These boots are cut differently than the Keens that I have been wearing, which are known for being wide in the foot, especially in the toe box.

The toe box on the Zamberlan is not constricting but I find then a bit snug across the metatarsal area when I'm NOT active. While I'm up and active with the boots, or when I'm actually out hiking, the boots feel great. There is more ground feel than in the Keens, which have such thick soles I feel nothing under foot. By contrast I can feel much more under foot with these 230 Crossers and that provides a level of confidence. The ground feel is more one of control than of one of detached insulation from it, which I get in my Keens. The Zamberlan is sort of like the difference between driving an Audi with its superior road handling compared to the Keen's more Lincoln Town Car feel which wallows through corners on a winding roadway. Both get you down the road/trail, but one offers a bit more control.

Some of the reviews said that some users may need to replace the insole for more padding but that doesn't seem to be the case for me. Then again, these boots are all of a couple weeks old and have very few miles on them, so perhaps time and wear will alter the perception.

. . . Zamberlan 230 SH Plus GTX light hiking boots. Pic below is a 'stock' photo in red color, she gave me the same boots but in black. VERY LIGHT WEIGHT for a boot. They use a thinner vibram sole to shave some weight, also use some high tech materials and skip the more traditional leather, it saves weight and allows for heel and ankle support. Many lightweight hiking boots actually cut down the ankle height, which eliminates ankle support, in an effort to cut weight, but these keep a more traditional height while eliminating the weight and providing the support.

Looking forward to giving them a workout over the next several months. Not ready to retire my pair of KEEN hikers, but it might break her heart if I don't relegate my trusty KEENs to the back of the closet. Narrower in the toe than my Keen's and my Merrell's so it will be interesting to see if I end up exchanging them for a larger size.

Amazingly lightweight but still very supportive, interesting combination. Anyone use this boot, or even this brand? I've never owned the brand before. These boots won the 2013 Backpacker Gear of the Year award for light hiking boots.

 

[Melensdad]

Just an update on the Zamberlan boots. THEY ARE AWESOME.

Spent the day on a DNR property today, on my feet, in these boots offer all day comfort and a lot of control on/over the ground.

Easiest way to describe the Zamberlan light hiking boot, when compared to my trusty Keen light hikers is to compare an Audi A6 to a Lincoln Town Car. Both get you to your destination. But the Lincoln seems to float over the road, often wallowing around curves with little sensation and the Keen insulates your foot from the ground feel in much the same way. The Audi, on the other hand, lets you feel the roads and react to them, change your line to avoid potential problems, all the while gripping the road with sure control. The Zamberlans are super-grippy on the ground and in every condition I encountered (although I did not walk through any streams so I don't know how they work on wet river rock). The Zamberlan sole insulates your foot from shock, but still is flexible enough to let you feel the ground and let you adapt for control and stability while providing all day comfort.

Like I said, AWESOME boot.

As someone who never really compared different boots in this way, and who never watched professional equipment reviews for such things as boots, I have to say I've missed out completely and now will pay a lot more attention to experts when they say "item x" is a best of the best pick.

 

[Melensdad]

GEAR UPDATE: Zamberlan 230 Crosser Light Hiking Boot:

For whatever it is worth, the more I wear these Zamberlan 230 Crosser light hiking boots the more I love them.

I've never understood some of the terms used to describe how a boot performed prior to owning and wearing this pair of boots. BUT THESE THINGS ARE AWESOME. Best boot I've ever owned, by a long shot. Nothing else comes close, not Danner, not Lowa, not Merrell, not Keen . . . . If you are in the market for a 3 season light hiking boot you should give these VERY SERIOUS consideration. Probably not going to fit someone with a wide foot. But if you have an average width or narrow fit foot then this may be the best boot you'll ever have the pleasure of wearing.

 

[Melensdad]

Back to water filtration, it appears that there is pretty much universal acceptance of the Sawyer system of filtration by backpackers on the dedicated forums.

Sawyer recently released a newer smaller version called the Sawyer Mini, here is a non-scientific review of the original Sawyer Squeeze and the new Sawyer Mini => Walking With Wired: Comparing The New Sawyer MINI Water Filter & Sawyer Squeeze

 

[EastTexFrank]

Sawyer recently released a newer smaller version called the Sawyer Mini, here is a non-scientific review of the original Sawyer Squeeze and the new Sawyer Mini => Walking With Wired: Comparing The New Sawyer MINI Water Filter & Sawyer Squeeze

Thanks Bob, I wasn't aware of either piece of equipment. The throughput of these things is huge when compared to other filters on the market. I may have to get one (or both) to keep at the house and in my BOB, just in case.

 

[Melensdad]

Thanks Bob, I wasn't aware of either piece of equipment. The throughput of these things is huge when compared to other filters on the market. I may have to get one (or both) to keep at the house and in my BOB, just in case.

I think the Sawyer Squeeze (Sawyer One) would be the better unit for a BOB or home emergency use because it has a higher throughput, higher practical capacity, etc and is only marginally larger. Literally 10x the capacity for only an ounce or two additional weight and about 1" larger in size.

http://www.sawyer.com/water.html#water1

 

[Melensdad]

As for reporting any updates, really not much to report. I did wear one of the wool shirts for 2 straight days. Didn't stink.

When I wear one of my polyester shirts they typically have that funny funk to them after about 6 to 8 hours of wear. So there must be something about wool that actually works. Just for the fun of it I ordered a Columbia brand polyester shirt that has some sort of "silver" infused into the fabric that is supposed to be anti-funk. I'm actually looking forward to testing it, just because I'm curious. I presume the anti-stink component wearing out before the fabric wears out, if so then the more expensive merino wool is actually a better value for the $. The Wool stuff costs about $45 to $85 per shirt, the polyester stuff costs from $25 to $45. And the silver impregnated polyester is in the $35 to $50 range.

I also found some charcoal impregnated clothing, made from bamboo charcoal that is fused into polyester clothing, that claims to be non-funking. But at $75 for a shirt I was not going to pop for that test, especially since its more expensive that most of the wool stuff.

 

[Dargo]

I also found some charcoal impregnated clothing, made from bamboo charcoal that is fused into polyester clothing, that claims to be non-funking. But at $75 for a shirt I was not going to pop for that test, especially since its more expensive that most of the wool stuff.

Actually he did buy the charcoal stuff. Made him as mean as hell but left him looking a bit different...

 

[Melensdad]

OK, truth be told, Dargo gave me a gift of the charcoal stuff.

 

[EastTexFrank]

I think the Sawyer Squeeze (Sawyer One) would be the better unit for a BOB or home emergency use because it has a higher throughput, higher practical capacity, etc and is only marginally larger. Literally 10x the capacity for only an ounce or two additional weight and about 1" larger in size.

http://www.sawyer.com/water.html#water1

Thanks Bob!!!!! I'm really impressed with that piece of gear .... and the cost isn't bad either.

 

[Dargo]

Thanks Bob!!!!! I'm really impressed with that piece of gear .... and the cost isn't bad either.

I would have to agree. The guy who did all the wiring on my completely automatic entire house generator system is a reasonably hard core survivalist type of guy. I may have mentioned it before, but I traded out a lot of the labor with him by digging his "bug out" bunker with my excavator at some (freaking farther away than I thought) remote property he owns.

Anyway, he gave me a "Sawyer Squeeze Plus" (since he had me back over a survey marker and blow a tire on my trailer which required me to go home and then make an extra trip back to get my excavator the next day). I'd only heard of, and had, a disposable filtering straw that is good for around 25 gallons. I think it's only advantage is that it does catch common virus' and neutralizes some chemicals. However, as noted on Sawyer's site and most hiking blogs, those typically are not things you typically need to filter. I'd much rather have the huge volume the Sawyer gives.

I hope I didn't ruin mine because I just had to try it out after he gave it to me last year. I filtered about 2 gallons of my lake water through it and drank the water. It actually had a neutral taste but 90 degree water isn't exactly refreshing. I did backwash the filter as described and allowed it to dry before I stored it with my MRE stash.

 

[Melensdad]

Brent, the Sawyer Squeeze is supposed to be good for 1,000,000 gallons of your lake water. But I have doubts their customer service would honor that warranty (based on web reports). Still, for about $30, the little filter looks like a heck of a deal, and looks like it will last most people a lifetime if they backflush it as directed and keep it from freezing while wet.

The 1 thing that actually bothers me about the Sawyer system is that they don't incorporate an activated charcoal component to remove bad taste.

The other thing about the Sawyer system, as well as virtually EVERY other brand of microfiltration system is that they do NOT remove most chemicals from water so if there are herbicides, pesticides, etc in the water source then those are generally NOT removed by these filters. And that also applies to the Katadyn ceramic filters, the MSR paper/ceramic filters, etc etc etc. . .



FWIW, I think I'm going to get a Sawyer Squeeze filter (Sawyer ONE) and then get a couple accessory parts. That will end up costing about $40 total. It will give me a 1-MILLION gallon filter that is only a tiny bit larger/heavier than the Sawyer MINI filter and it will give me the same flexibility to tie the filter into a Camelbak system, sip out of stream, etc etc. The advantage is a 1-MILLION gallon filter versus a 100,000 gallon filter, greater water flow, lesser need to backflush.

The MINI filter weighs about 1 ounce less and is about 1/2 inch diameter smaller, 1/2 inch shorter, and about 40% lower in cost ($25 vs $40), but has only 1/10th the lifespan.

 

[Dargo]

I agree. I am looking at the paperwork with my Seychelle purification straw and it says it filters "99.9999% of viruses and bacteria as wells as 99.99% of Guardia and Cryptosporidium. The purifier element is more advanced that the activated charcoal filter present in the Frontier Pro, and not only removes viruses, but also other chemical pollutants such as DDT, MTBE, Benzene, Chloroforms (THM’S); and Dissolved Solids (Heavy metals) such as Arsenic, Lead, Mercury, Copper, Zinc, Aluminum and Chromium 6 has a capacity to filter up to 25 gallons of water, costs $16.95 and weighs almost nothing".

The big difference is that to pick up the extra purification that you likely won't need, but you only get 25 gallons (average) per straw. I bought it because, like the CamelBak hydration bladder, it was what was issued to my son in the Survival School portion of Special Forces training. Call me lazy, but I just figured that if the military trusts it for special forces soldiers they have a lot of time and money invested in, it should be good enough for me. Until I was given the Sawyer, I'd never heard of it. I suppose I could see where in hostile military situations a couple of the straws that purify slightly more from the water would work but, for stuff that I'd foresee needing, I'd strongly prefer the Sawyer.

 

[Melensdad]

TERRAMAR 1/3 Zip Base Layer Shirt . . . Another MERINO WOOL shirt to try out:

Picked this CHINESE made Merino Wool shirt up at Bass Pro. It is the ONLY brand of Merino Wool product sold by Bass Pro, and they only have a couple different items. The only color available from Bass Pro is black, not sure if the manufacturer also makes them in other colors. Most of the other Merino Wool products are made in New Zealand. Being that this is Chinese it was somewhat cheaper (list price is $65) and I also have to wonder if it really is Merino Wool. Time and trial will tell.

I bought it because of the 1/3 zipper. Its box says 1/2 zipper, but clearly the zipper only unzips about 1/3 of the way down from the collar. I think the term "1/2 zipper" is more of a style than an accurate description, I do not consider that false advertising, etc.

Based on what I can tell from the packaging, it appears to be a 200 weight fabric. I'm not totally positive of that but it feels to be the same thickness as the my 200 weight Icebreaker and a bit heavier than my 150 weight RedRam baselayer.

The inside seams flat but around the collar are taped over flat seam, which is a nice detail. The shoulders are caped so there is no seam on top for the backpack straps to rub into my skin. The sleeves are actually attached to the caped shoulder a few inches past the shoulder socket. Wearing a size LARGE, it fits much looser than my "bodyfit" Icebreaker size large baselayer shirt, but not as loosely as my polyester Koppen size large wicking shirts.

I question the claim that it is 100% Merino Wool because as soon as I put it on I found it to be somewhat itchy. Merino Wool is a very fine special type of wool that is known to be much more comfortable against the skin, some say its itch free. Even my expensive Icebreaker brand is mildly itchy to me, but not immediately upon putting it on. This Terramar started to itch immediately. Uh, quality control in China, and honest packaging from China are world renown, right??? Yeah, sure. Well maybe this is 100% Merino, but its certainly not as comfortable against my skin as other 100% Merino? So maybe its a lower grade? Or maybe I'm nuts?

Still, its going to get tested. In fact I'm wearing it now just to try it out.

It may seem odd that I am buying LONG SLEEVE shirts for a summer trip across northern England/southern Scotland, but the "average" temps for that area of the country are mid-40's to mid-60's.

Wool is known to wick moisture naturally. The polyester hiking shirts I own are typically woven in a waffle pattern, or thin dual layer pattern to wick moister away from the body to control body temperature. They tend to help keep you cool when its hot, if worn as a single layer and warm you if worn as a base layer.

Thin long sleeve hiking shirts also provide a sunblock effect so sunburn does not become an issue.