least-defensible luxury camping item


We all admire those who can camp a week out of a canoe or kayak with 21 pounds of gear. However, most of us find excuses to take along a little extra gear that we don’t really need, but which adds to our enjoyment of the trip.

What is your LEAST DEFENSIBLE piece of luxury camping gear? In other words, the thing you could most readily leave behind if you had to save weight and space, but which you take because you have room and because you like it, purists be damned.

I guess we ought to break it down into two categories, given the recent explosion of tiny, not-really-necessary electronic gear. Give one choice for electronics (if you have one), and one for non-electronics.

For me, my electronics choice would be my depth finder. It’s a Hummingbird Castable model, the kind that you can throw out from shore on a fishing pole as far as you can cast, or you can leave it attached to the boat to see the depth as you pass. I do use it for fishing some, but mainly I use it to satisfy my curiosity about how deep any given part of the river is.

For non-electronics, my choice is my 3-gallon metal bucket. I use it for all the normal stuff you would use a collapsible plastic bucket for, plus one very important, irreplaceable luxury – I can heat water on the campfire with it. Nothing like a hot sponge bath when you’ve been out for several days.

That’s easy.
Bottle of Scotch.

that seems…
…pretty defensible to me.

have three…
Crazy Creek Chair

Book (burnable)

hooch

I suppose
that would be my wife.

GSI hand coffee grinder
Yes, I grind beans in the morning before I fire up the stove. Freshly roasted beans : )



No, the coffee grinder does not make an appearance when doing serious kayak camping. I grind them before hand.



But I’ve been known to strap this to the rear deck of my boat when kayak camping



http://www.backcountry.com/store/LAF0093/Lafuma-CBCX-Batyline-Camping-Chair.html



Sorry, I can sleep on the ground, but I hate sitting on the ground.

My cot, but I have a canoe.

Good booze and a comfortable chair
can always be defended.



Jim

Mine is similar to yours
A big thick-aluminum (magnesium?) cookpot with lid. I like it for doing dishes and occasionally cooking in. I like having hot water readily available by the fire.

sesame body oil
esp. if no one is around to rub it on my back :wink:


This is like going to confession…
…but we are ALL sinners! My proof of a faulty moral compass is a little zip up cooler (from Granite Gear, I think) that is specifically made to hold nothing more than a pint of Ben and Jerry’s (or, if from Madison, Chocolate Shoppe) ice cream. That is all it is good for but it is really good for that! It came from that den of iniquity, Rutabaga. I plan on sinning with it in just a few days; either Zanzibar Chocolate or Cherry Garcia. We have also involved it in GROUP sinning, when it was used to store the vanilla ice cream used to make (now THIS a mortal sin of camping) ice cream drinks using a battery powered blender while on a Wisconsin River sand bar. Thank goodness WE don’t own the blender. We have friends who will probably burn in hell for that indulgence!

That would be either
the blender powered by a weed eater motor, or the ice maker - if I actually owned such.

dvd player
Nobody going to own up to the dvd player in their bag?

Gray thing
in the bow.

Boye Basic 3 knife.
Way cool and super functional, but the price is indefensible. Especially since I carry in my essentials kit as a back-up to the Boye folding knife on my PFD.



Scotch is always defensible, especially if it’s Lagavulin.



Mike

What!!??
Nobody’s jumped in, volunteering to be Friendlyfire’s Lotion Boy???



But to answer the question - french press coffe maker/mug

hand powered grinder
Is that a hand powered grinder? Would you recommend it? I carry an electric grinder in the jeep for car camping, but I haven’t found a good hand grinder that I like. The ones I’ve seen are either too big or too fragile or too expensive, so far.

shucks no
i mean, i enjoy music and can really crank it up going on the road or to the put in.



when i’m camping i like nature’s music-the sound of wind, water or the critters.



except if they are the sounds of raccoons fighting over a cooler somebody left outside '-)

a CAMPer

well thanks a lot!
My memories of Madison have the Chocolate Shoppe at the forefront…suddenly my stomach is growling!



(some great frozen custard in Milwaukee also, if I remember right)