Good Trail Tricks I've learned

[Lumberjack]

Anyone know what to do what the bear after you bag it?

[Ridge]

For those that use wood burning stoves...

Carry an extra stuff sack, small size (I use a 6"x10" bag). About an hour or two before you are ready to stop for the day and start cooking, pick up your tinder along the trail. Use only twigs and small branches (or Birch bark if you can find it) you find on the ground, never from live trees or from a still standing dead tree (beware widow-makers). I usually look for some dead vine or creepers, and use that to tie a small bundle of twigs to act as a fire starter. When that small bundle catches, it will burn longer than using leaves or grass, and will get your larger pieces going faster.

Also I carry a small 12oz bottle of denatured alcohol filled about halfway with pieces of cotton medical gauze cut into 1/2"x1/2" squares soaking in it. I use this for two things. Fuel is used in a popcan stove for emergencies when my wood burning stove would be considered an "open flame" or extreme weather conditions. The gauze squares are added to one end of the small tied tinder bundle. The gauze soaked in alcohol burns very well, two squares will burn for about one minute, giving more than enough time to light the tinder bundle.

I use cotton balls and Vaseline, burns a long time, won't evaporate. A lot of the cotton balls/Vaseline will stuff into a 35mm film canister.

[Doctari]

This is just to refresh: great trail tricks & words of wisdom posts.

I know we can't be out of great ideas to share!

Lets hear them K.


Doctari

[SGTdirtman]

I trick that i find completely useless but you people looking for every ounce may or may not find interesting....

anything you use that takes AA batteries (more than one) you can buy 3 volt AA batteries... normal AA batteries are 1.5 volts, if your flashlight takes 2, you can use a single 3 volt battery and a "blank" thereby saving the weight of the second battery.

so if you got a ton of stuff running on batteries you can cut the weight of your batteries in half.

P.S you can get 3 volt C and D cell batteries as well in case you carry any C or D cell equiptment (which are still normally 1.5 volts) I did this to save weigh on my 4 D cell mag light, its technically the weight of a 2 D cell mag but with the size and power of a 4 D cell light.

[jlb2012]

here is one I just entered on another forum :

an oil lamp useful in the darker half of the year -

"OK for the oil lamp that I use:
1. tea light candle tin to hold the oil
2. a piece of stiff wire aka bailing wire with a small 1/4 inch loop in the middle bent so the loop is held about 1/2 inch above the tea light candle tin
3. one sheet of toilet paper rolled up with a tight twist in the center - rip at the tight twist and feed up into the loop in the wire and put the other (looser) end into the tea light candle tin - keep the other half for next time you need a wick
4. pour in the olive oil covering the wick and wait for the wick to be saturated
5. cut out the side wall of a 20 ounce soda bottle and strip off the label - cut the bottom uneavenly or cut/punch small notches in the bottom edge for air flow - this will be the globe for the light
6. attach a loop of sting to the bottom of the globe by poking a couple small holes close together and threading the string through the holes - this string will be held down with a rock or other weight on the upwind side to keep the globe from blowing off
7. light the wick - if the flame is smoking too much blow out the flame and shorten the wick - if the flame is too small lengthen the wick
8. put the globe over the light and put a weight on the string - have the string on the upwind side of the light

one tealight candle tin full of oil will burn for about 4 hours +/- 1 hour

same technique can be used with other oil containers - the upside down bottom of a soda can or a spoon are a couple that I have tried

if you only need light on one side slide a piece of foil into the globe to reflect the light to where you want it"

[1234]

Use old CD's shinny side up on the string to hang your food bag, the mice fear it. (small peice of duct tape to make the hole smaller).
The little brass screws work great for all sorts of attaching things to shelters. Use the cracks already in the wood to start and there is no hole left behind, come on you all these things are above you head and if you have bifocales you cannot see small holes above your head anyway.
Also use a few small tabs of 3m reflective tape on all strings and items that are ez to drop. The LED lights reflect super bright on this tape so you can find droped items and not trip over guy out lines. (others will not trip over you lines either.
Always use a tyvek or plastic ground barrier in shelters, keeps your stuff cleaner.
FEED the mice and they will eat early and go to bed and leave your stuff alone.
Mark your stuff, most everyone has the same food bag as you and it is ez to end up with the wrong bag, and hey I cannot live on ramen noodles for a week.
Tang added to water in a weak mixture still taste ok.
vitimin c added to water treated with iodine kills the taste and color. (turns ramen noodles blue sometimes???)
Dry out wet wipes and add a little water when needed.

[1234]

Carry a small amount of alcohol to prime wisperlite type gas stoves. This works great and does not leave any black soot on your stove and it does not flame way up and burn anyones hair.

[erichlf]

Sorry if this has been mentioned but there is a lot to read here.
Anyway, if you would like light in your shelter. That is, if you would like to have light shine throughout your shelter. Take your aluminum (or Titanium) windscreen and wrap it around your headlamp, flashlight, or led so that it forms a cone. Now your light should penetrate outward a bit better. Hang this some how in the center of your shelter.

[Forestescapes]

I find cotton wool balls soaked in metholated Spirits (denatured alcohol) by far the easiest and cheapest fire starters available. For a few dollars you'll have all you'll the fire starters you'll ever need. A couple in a film container or small jar and your right to go!

Supermarkets sell "portable clothes lines" for almost nothing, and they are very handy on a hike.

Insulation tape instead of bandaids.

tea light candles for hut stays.

Folding pruning saws (from the gardening section at hardwares) are another often overlooked item. Enabling efficient wood collection from a small item.

just to mention a few.
dc

[erichlf]

I find cotton wool balls soaked in metholated Spirits (denatured alcohol) by far the easiest and cheapest fire starters available. For a few dollars you'll have all you'll the fire starters you'll ever need. A couple in a film container or small jar and your right to go!

Supermarkets sell "portable clothes lines" for almost nothing, and they are very handy on a hike.

Insulation tape instead of bandaids.

tea light candles for hut stays.

Folding pruning saws (from the gardening section at hardwares) are another often overlooked item. Enabling efficient wood collection from a small item.

just to mention a few.
dc

Vaseline soaked cotton balls work well.

[Robusto]

I buy heat sealable tea bags (e-bay) and fill them with my own coffee. Way cheaper than buying Folgers or Maxwell house pre-made bags. You can heat seal them with an Iron.
Use them just like a regular teabag.

[tsali]

for fire starter you can use an empty skoal(dip) can fill with saw dust and drip wax into the can on top of the saw dust. Make sure to coat the saw dust throughly, then just break off a small piece to start your fire. even if it gets wet it will still light

[Peaks]

tea light candles for hut stays.

just to mention a few.
dc

The AMC huts in the White Mountains have a no open flame rule.

[MOWGLI]

How about a "Bad Trail Tricks" thread;

Some years ago a now dormant member of this forum said on Trailplace that he was going to use mothballs in his food bag to keep the mice away. Sevearl of us pointed out that mothballs are cacinogenic, but this feller didn't want the facts to get in the way. Plus, who wants their food to smell like mothballs? Yuck!

[saimyoji]

How about a "Bad Trail Tricks" thread;

Some years ago a now dormant member of this forum said on Trailplace that he was going to use mothballs in his food bag to keep the mice away. Sevearl of us pointed out that mothballs are cacinogenic, but this feller didn't want the facts to get in the way. Plus, who wants their food to smell like mothballs? Yuck!

Was that MS?

[MOWGLI]

Was that MS?

No, that was someone else who shall remain unnamed.

[nyushka42]

I've been majorly cutting back on my smoking habits this last month because I really really don't want to smoke that much on the trail. I figure to take 3 or 4 packs at the begining of the hike, and hopefully that will last me for a month. Hell, maybe I'll even quit. I do notice that when I'm out walking several miles a day, I tend to smoke a lot less, or sometimes even forget to altogether (maybe something to do with exercise being a stress reliever?), so maybe I'll forget to smoke completely. So good luck to anyone who is going to try to quit on the trail on purpose... I always find that when I want to quit cold turkey something always comes up, & I allow that to drag me back in. I am however down to 2 or 3 ciggies a day (at most) from a pack a day or more habit of just a year ago.

[Uncle Silly]

The one trick that eliminates most issues and the need for other tricks is to carry an ample supply of Scotch Whiskey.

And here's a tip for carrying it: The contents of that fifth (750ml) glass bottle you carry out of the package store will fit nicely in a 16-oz soda bottle (minus a shot or two, which you can drink as you fill up the soda bottle).

Or maybe it's a 20-oz soda bottle. **hiccup**

[Uncle Silly]

rickboudrie][/B]3. When weight isn't such an issue, carry a small recorder with several owl calls and a decent flashlight. When you hear one way off in the distance, call him right into your camp.

What do you do with them once you catch them??

duh!! send a letter!

[Uncle Silly]

Jewelweed, or spotted touch-me-not, when rubbed on poison ivy or bug bites, will take away the itch in a few minutes. A second application sometimes needs to be done. It grows in damp spots, water beads and runs off the leaves, and the orange flowers turn to seed pods that when touched send out a shower of tiny little seeds.

One more, although someone mentioned this earlier, here's a little more detail:

Jewelweed looks a lot like a variety of nettles, and often the two are found growing in close proximity (at least in the southern part of the trail). Both bushes are about the same size. Both plants have a serrated leaf, but the nettles' serrations are sharp and pointed, while the jewelweed's are blunt and round-tipped. If you ever find yourself trudging through nettles (you'll know it when you feel it), look around for the blunt jewelweed leaves. Odds are it's very close.

Ain't nature great? Affliction and cure almost always in the same spot.