Backpacking Tips - 7 Uses For the Lowly Trash Bag

The term "trash bag" is likely to evoke an image of something of rather lowly status. But, a large heavy-duty trash bag can be very beneficial in the wilderness. Even though it is designed to be disposable, it is beyond doubt quite durable and it weighs mere ounces.

Below I will give some uses for heavy-duty trash bags, you know, the big black lawn and leaf, 42 gallon models.

Poncho

Use #1: crisis Rain Poncho: Just cut a hole for your head and two more for your arms. If you cut the hole slightly smaller than the diameter of your head and of your arms and force your head and arms into the holes, you'll get a snug fit.

Use #2: crisis Windbreaker Coat: If you need to add one more layer to avoid hypothermia, you can make a windbreaker coat with the same simple instructions for manufacture a rain poncho. It won't have any sleeves, but it can help keep your torso warm by blocking the wind.

Use #3: Moisture Barrier: You can use a heavy-duty trash bag as a moisture barrier when sitting on wet ground. Or you can use it between your sleeping bag and the damp ground. To double the length of the barrier, just slit the seams on both sides, but not on the bottom.

Use #4: Dry Sack: Store, in the bag, items that you want to make sure will stay dry in a downpour or in a tricky stream crossing.

Use #5: crisis Backpack Rain Cover: Of course, a rain cover that is made specifically for your backpack will fit best. But, the trash bag will work in a pinch to keep things dry.

Use #6: Makeshift Patches: Using cutouts from a trash bag in compound with duct tape, you can temporarily patch approximately anything from a sleeping bag to a tent.

Use #7: Firewood Protector: Store in the bag the high-priced firewood that you have collected in case the ground is wet or you expect rain. It will be much easier to light an crisis fire if the firewood is kept dry.

There you have seven beneficial applications for a heavy-duty trash bag in a backpacking setting. I'm sure you could think of more uses to add to the list. With that, I hope the trash bag will see a bit less trashy and somewhat more classy.

Backpacking Tips - 7 Uses For the Lowly Trash Bag

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Cheap Backpacking - A How to Guide

Cheap backpacking is concluded in two basic ways? The first is to cut the cost of the trip. The second way is to spend less on the gear you buy. Here are some tips for doing both of these.

Cheap Backpacking Gear

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Don't bother with high-tech gear. Is it unquestionably foremost to have a super wicking poly-fiber t-shirt for when you're hiking? Probably not, especially if it is the middle of July. Any regular t-shirt bought on sale for a few dollars will work. For that matter, a cheap plastic crisis poncho can replace that 0 breathable/waterproof rain suit if rain is unlikely and it's warm out there. You might want to spend the money for great gear if you want lighter versions. In that case, you can still save money by putting the next two tips to use.

Look for the deals. An obvious tip, but easy to forget when you get excited about that shiny new equipment. Shoes and hiking boots in singular can be bought inexpensively if you watch for the sales. Apparently some people won't buy last year's styles, so those shoes go on sale for . Look for the closeouts from online vendors and local shoe stores. View outdoor clothing is most likely to go on sale, tents, sleeping bags are sometimes half-priced when newer models come out.

Look for used gear. Though I would never buy used shoes, I've found that thrift market have fullness of used jackets that are in great condition. I've even found decent lightweight hiking pants at times, as well as aluminum pans that are unquestionably light and some other backpacking equipment.

Make your own gear. I know of backpackers who sew their own backpacks and sleeping bags. That seems like too much work to me, and I'm not sure the savings would amount to much. But I have modified cheap pans for backpacking, made hats from old thermal shirt sleeves, and bivy sacks from plastic and duct tape. And now that I think about it, I did make a backpack once from an old aluminum frame and a duffel bag. It weighed less than any market frame pack for sale at the time.

Skip the costly foods. You don't need freeze-dried meals to enjoy backpacking. Snacks are a good way to go, and if you unquestionably need those cooked meals, bring straightforward foods like instant rice.

Cheap Backpacking Trips

Plan your own backpacking excursions. Although guided hiking trips can be nice, they are expensive. Just plan your own. Select a location, do your investigate online, and start finding for the cheapest plane tickets that will get you there.

Go to free places. Many people automatically think of national parks or other places that have fees when they think of a wilderness experience. But there are many places that are just as gorgeous and don't fee anything. Try national forests with hiking trails, for example, or Blm (Bureau of Land Management) land, or state forests. One advantage of this advent - apart from the money savings - is that you'll likely find such area less crowded.

Find a location nearby. For many backpacking trips the cost of getting to the trailhead is the biggest expense. Isn't there someplace moving to see within an hour or two of where you are? Visit those areas and you might save a lot of trip money.

Now put it all together. Plan your own trip to a free place close to home and outfit yourself with basic clothing bought at thrift market and tool bought on sale. That's cheap backpacking.

Cheap Backpacking - A How to Guide

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Night Hiking And Other Backpacking Ideas

What do you do when you need to be home instead of backpacking? Dream up new ways to backpack and new ideas for backpacking gear. Here are some of my most new backpacking ideas for products and techniques.

New Backpacking Ideas - Products

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Swamp cooler t-shirt. This is for hot desert hiking. Just soaking your shirt in a stream and wearing it wet is a great way to keep cool from the vaporing effect, but twenty minutes later you are far from the stream and the shirt is dry. The idea here, then, is a shirt that has water bags attached. Once filled, they gently leak the water into the fabric of the shirt, keeping you cool for hours.

Solid fuel fire starter sticks. Add a strike-anywhere match head to army fuel sticks and you have an instant fire starter. It would be something like a mini emergency flare.

Rain cape tarp. Not of a poncho, but a tarp that has a chin strap and a few velcro attachments down one side. It would be economy and simpler to manufacture, and easier to beyond doubt use as a tarp. It would also beyond doubt cover you and your backpack. If you have ever held a rectangular tarp around you and over your head to keep the rain off, you get the idea.

Disposable water container. The idea here is to have a water holder for those long hikes in the desert when you need to carry extra water. When you have used it up, the container, which is made of wax paper, doubles as a good fire starter, eliminating its weight from your pack. Existing waxed milk and orange juice cartons could be used for this.

Backpacking Ideas - Techniques

Create body heat. You can carry less cold weather wear and sleeping gear if you have more body heat. To originate more, eat fats before going to sleep. Fats originate heat when they are digested (this is why eating whale blubber helps Eskimos stay warm). Corn chips are oily enough to help if you can't stomach a half cup of olive oil before bedtime.

Air conditioning your tent. On hot and dry days, try wetting any large piece of cloth in the nearest stream and laying it over the roof of your tent. The vaporing cooling can lower the interior temperature of the tent by ten degrees. If you are using a shirt or other clothing that you'll be needing, allow enough time before dark for it to dry completely.

Night hiking. I purposely planned a five-day backpacking trip in the Sierra Nevadas to coincide with the full moon. Each night I slept until the cold bothered me, then beyond doubt hiked straight through the rest of the night by moonlight. It got to carry a lighter sleeping bag, and it was a unique experience - one of those backpacking ideas I had wanted to try for a while. However, it did mean taking a slow nap in the sun every afternoon.

Night Hiking And Other Backpacking Ideas

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