Gear insights

“On the recent Hike Maine trip, I tried out a fanny pack. 450 Cu.In. and 2- 32 oz. bottles, along with straps. I tossed it in the back pack, last minute thing , empty. Kinda an experiment. I must say it worked out extremely well for day hiking. Just enough room for extra clothes, food and plenty of water.

So I have determined to find a more useful way to pack it in my back pack. I plan to try to use it to hold food and pack a bear bag for when I get to the camp site. Suggestions please!”

“When I have been on the AT, it seems all the thru hikers have mag lights, with 2 AA batteries. I figured price, weight, usefulness and the fact that thru hikers were using them, how could I go wrong?

But.... on the hike maine trip, every one had those petzel type head lights. Artex had one from Black Diamond that weighed, with camera battery, .8 ounces, and it cost less than $20.00.

Uh... would anybody hazard a guess as to my next gear purchase?!!!”

“black diamond headlamp is what i have..the one with 4 led lights on front works well.”

“I carry not one, not two, but three lights with me, lol...one is a little Photon light I keep on the same string that my whistle is on around my neck, another is a small maglite that takes 1 AAA battery, and the third is my Princeton Tec Aurora. I could probably lose the little maglite, but the other two are pretty much essential.”

“Target has the eveready LED headlamps for $17.

I have been testing one. Don't like it as much as the Petzl, but I do like the red LED.

All in all, dollar for dollar, it is not a bad deal. Target has them in the flashlight/hardware dept.”

“on the fanny pack....what i have is a camelback bladder pack...i put mine on the side in between the pack and the compression straps....once i put it in there i tighten the compression straps....this may work 4 you depending on the configuration of the pack”

“UK:

Yah! 'Tis nice to have a day/summit pack along backpacking if you are planning to base camp at any time. I really dig the detachable toplid on my Dana. I think lumbar packs are great, but in general the larger ones, with a 500-800 ci load, really need a shoulder strap attachment for support to keep the bag from bouncing around too much, even with the waist compression/cinch straps.”

“You can strap it on the outside of your pack to serve as an outer pocket. I made a lumbar pack out of a 600 c.i. kids pack and sewed on attachment points to hook on my backpacks to serve as an outer pocket or top pocket. It's easy to do with a speedy stitcher tool.”