3 day 18lb pack

When I was a kid and hiking around the wood of the west coast of Newfoundland, weight was always an issue. Back then, money and knowledge led me down a path of heavy packs. I put luxury and unneeded redundancy ahead of my general comfort. over the past 5 years or so I have really shifted my priorities. Comfort on the trial has superseded ultimate luxury in camp. Part of this may be due to the fact that my hikes have gotten longer and I rather enjoy seeing what I can do without while on the trail. Simplifying my life. A nice change from the corporate IT world I dwell in on a daily basis. Read the rest of this entry

Panthertown Valley, NC

I was planning a trip to the Panthertown Valley in North Carolina and wanted to trim my pack some more. My current go to tent for my son and I is the Big Agnus Sunnyside 2. This is an amazing tent but at 5 lbs 13 oz packed it is no longer a lightweight.
For a few years now I have been eyeing tarps from various makers. Living in Florida however, requires some sort of bug protection. So I needed something with a closed bug net.
Bearpaw Wilderness Designs (BPWD) had some great prices and a pretty good name on the hiking forums. I have been wanting to try one of their products for a few years. I browsed their site and found a two part setup that looked like it would do the trick Read the rest of this entry

Well I finished up my first knife.  I went over to Crashblades and drilled the holes and pinned the scales into place.  On the way home I stopped into Harbor Freight and purchased a super cheap belt sander.  I am pleased with the shape the handle ended up being but I had to cut off some and it is very short.  It looks like it is missing a guard.

Part 1 – First Knife

I am a fan of the outdoors. I love everything about bushcraft and hiking/camping. Frequenting the bushcraftusa.com forums I have learned much and changed some of my opinions on others. One such topic is the knife I use for bushcraft. Ray Mears, the famed bushcraft enthusiest and TV star uses a knife called a Woodlore. It’s his design that is based off the traditional scandinavian style knives like the Mora and Helle. I had to have one.
Read the rest of this entry

Uni-Ball Power Tank RT

Geocaching is a great activity.  One you can enjoy alone or with the family. Geocaching takes you places you may have had no other reason to visit.  This is why I love it so much.  Another reason is that like many of my hobbies, geocaching has lots of cool gear to help you accomplish the task.  In this post, I am going to tell you about the perfect pen.  At least perfect for my needs.

So, what expectations could I have for a pen?  Why wouldn’t any pen do just fine.  Well, I made due with lots of pens.  Sometimes they are just fine.  Sometimes, not so much.

• Tough – I carry them in my bag, on my person and in my truck. It can’t crack or leak.
• Fine Point – Micro caches are tiny little caches with even smaller pieces of paper to write on.
• Write Easy – When paper gets wet, it will fall apart if the pen is not smooth.
• Write Underwater – Or just about.  Wet paper, rain, sweat.  I have written in a it all.
• Heat Resistant – Florida.  Pens esplode. Nuff said.
• Write Upside Down – Sometimes the only thing to write against is a wall or tree.
• Cheap – I lost a $20 space pen.  Made me sad.

I did use a Fisher Space Pen.  They are great and also very cool looking.  On a trip with my son doing some out of town geocaching, I lost my pen.  I did not cry.  I held it in.

A little research looking for alternatives turned up Uni-Ball’s Power Tank RT.  The Power Tank RT  (PTRT), like the Space Pen, uses a pressurized cartridge with ink that writes on anything. The pen is relatively tough plastic with a finger grip made out of a matted rubber.  Grippy, but not so much that it makes it hard to slide into the pen sleeves of my Maxpedition Condor II.

Uni-Ball makes no claim that this pen writes underwater, however, I put a piece of Rite-as-Rain paper under the faucet and wrote my name.  Not one hiccup.  It was like the water wasn’t ever there.  I went online and purchased a box of 12 since it is impossible to find these in stores.  I contacted Uni-Ball and they still make them for now.  If you google them, you will find Uni-Ball’s page about them.  This is weird since I was unable to find them from their homepage.

Get them while they last.  They are awesome and I will have one in every bag, nook and cranny I have a need for a pen.

More Info:

• PenAddict.com