Video: Ultralight Hiking

Rather unusual video by "lint" who has hiked the Appalachian Trail twice and is a triple crown (AT, CDT, PCT) hiker. Lint hikes a 8 pound pack plus food & water. We like his idea to use an umbrella with a bug net and his use of raw foods, such as carrots and brocolli. His "knife skills" while preparing food is extremely unusual (gross to some).

Want to read more about Lint’s adventures? He kept a trail journal of his Continental Divide Trail hike. Online: Trailjournals.com/Lint

Foldable Spork: Primus Folding Spoon Fork

After downsizing our trail kitchen to the new Esbit cup, we need a smaller spork that would fit inside the 3.5 inch space. We found a nice titanium folding spork at REI at a reasonable price, but our daughter wasn't able to pick up and deliver one of the prized sporks before our 2011 section hike. Being days from departure we sought out a substitute folding spork and discovered the Primus folding spoon and fork at a local Academy Sports for just a few dollars.

The folded Primus spoon / fork fit easily inside our Esbit cup along with the stove, lighter, and other pieces. The little plastic latch in the hinge didn't seem robust and we had read some negative reviews of folding sporks and spoons regarding folding mid-meal. We took ours to work and tried it out in a bag of instant mashed potatoes. Sure enough, while moving the folding spoon back and forth during mixing, the folding spoon unlatched on us. Serious flaw? Not at all. We merely learned to adjust our cooking behavior to the folding spoon. Only stir in one direction - forward only. Confident, we cleaned and packed our new red Primus folding spoon and fork into our Esbit cup.

Our experiences during our 2011 section hike were positive. Yes, the spoon folded once or twice while stirring due to "operator error". The spoon did fold while we were spreading bean dip on a tortilla. Again, once we held the lower spoon section firmly, we were able to spread at will. We really appreciated the fork part of the Primus folding spoon when eating our nightly Ramen soup. The fork enable us to gather a decent bite of noodles from our soup.

We recommend the Primus folding spoon and fork to other hikers wanting a small, lightweight folding spork or spoon, provided you are open-minded enough to modify your behavior. As these little guys are relatively inexpensive, we'll likely buy a few more for the family.

Ultralight Beer Can Stove Kit

Working Saturday at a Rural Tourism Marketing workshop and we just discovered a unique ultralight beer can stove kit. Turns out our speakers manufacture and sell a line of ultralight backpacking gear at UltralightOutfitters.com.

The ultralight beer can stove kit is designed for use with a 1 liter Foster's beer can. You supply the can. Instructions for making a Foster's beer can pot are on the website.

The ultralight beer can stove kit consists of a wire pot stand, a solid fuel stove, a windscreen, a lip guard, and a lexan spoon.

The stand does NOT fit a Heiniken beer can pot.

You can order the kit for $15.95 from Ultralight Outfitters.