The Ideal Hat

I bought this fishing hat in West Yellowstone for $20. The feathers were added later, trail feathers found along the way. The chin cord has proven to be very useful. Several times while climbing in the Medicine Bow Mountains, the wind gusts nearly ripped it away.

 

I really enjoyed the ventilation design up in the Maroon Bells, hiking the Four Pass Loop with my friend Flo. The wide brim kept the sun off my face, yet it never got hot. Previously I shunned hats because they made my head hot. Now, that problem solved, I love them.

 

 

 

Thanks to our new friend from Minnesota who snapped this photo as we wound our way through massive fields of flowers.

 

I like wearing stealth colors. If necessary, I can fade back into the forest and sit motionless, unseen, while others hike past.

 

My external frame was custom fitted with an ultra light silnylon pack to accept a Garcia bear canister when hiking through griz country. I didn't need the canister this time, but the pack fits so well I opted to use it.

My Greatest Skill

My greatest skill is to need but little.
That's one of my favorite quotes by Henry David Thoreau.

Its not what I earn, its what I spend. The less I spend, the richer I am.

Freebies, or nearly freebies: panning for gold, wilderness camp outs, hiking, renovating old backpacking gear, playing with new back country recipes (not using Prepackaged All In One Meals), relationship building.
Innovations are what survivalists do. Take junk, twigs, plastic trash and make something out of it.
Taste the vegetation, learn what is bitter, unsafe, doable.

There's an awful lot of acorns falling this year. Its a bumper crop. So, I figure to gather up a bunch, and try the Native American process of boiling them in water, changing the water several times to remove the tanning acids, then seeing what we got.

Its free, its easy, its educational.
I'll tell you what I think tomorrow when I get back from my backpacking trip.

Ideas for the M-Kit

Here's a list of some things to include in a Murphy kit, or M-Kit. I usually don't take all of this.
It depends on where I'm headed, and what my goals are. Paper and pencil are for taking or leaving notes.
Several kinds of pain reliever are for those with sensitivities. While Tylenol is hard on your liver with long term usage, Ibuprofen should be taken with food, never on an empty stomach.

• toothbrush
• toothpaste
• dental floss
• bandaides
• needle
• safety pins
• cord elastic
• tape
• Imodium
• Tylenol
• ibuprofen
• toilet paper
• mirror
• tweezers
• razor (be sure it has a cover for the blade)
• cotton balls
• rubbing alcohol
• hydrogen peroxide
• salt
• free flowing superglue
• pencil /paper
• tea bags/instant soup
• cell phone