purpose

You mean it doesn’t go as you planned?

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20110512-065319.jpgCreative Commons License
Spring Snow by Everett Vinzant is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at wn7ant.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at wn7ant.com.

It was 80 degrees 48 hours before this picture was taken. For anyone planning a hike, the change in the weather might have been a problem. So the question is, how much stuff is sensible to have for the unplanned, and what should you leave home?

Short answer, take what you need. Don’t take a bunch of extra stuff. Common sense will have to help you sort it out. Start with a long sleeve wool shirt. You’ll be warm, even if it gets wet.

Throw a down liner under it for colder days, and a rain shield over the top for inclement weather. This layering system will work all winter, and you never wear more than needed. Bring the layers that you’re not wearing if weather, or uncertainty about the weather, dictates. So yes, be ready.

Don’t bring your layers, an Adirondack, a ski jacket, a trench coat, a leather jacket, and a wind breaker. Find fewer, lighter things that can do the same job. Even better, find things that do multiple jobs (and do them well). It’s about elegant solutions, and using your brain. Make something.

What do you need for your purpose?

Rule number 1

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20110511-113026.jpgCreative Commons License
The buck stops here by Everett Vinzant is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at wn7ant.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at wn7ant.com.

This decision was simple, the wallet goes. A giant uncomfortable wad to sit on. It hauls around untold amounts of little papers and cards. A veritable junk drawer in the back right pocket. Be gone! Time to switch to a cheap plastic bifold. On the left, a license, on the right, a debit card. That will be all.

Time to check the ultralight backpacking list. I removed anything that requires electricity. I use caylume light sticks in place of flash lights. They weigh less than a maglite, and one would be enough each night. The red color would prevent night blindness. This would leave the pack lighter, and devoid of electronics and batteries. The pocket watch would be a mechanical wind up kind.

A map, a compass, a sharpie, weatherproof paper, a Rollei B35. Old fashioned mechanical or analog ways of recording the past, documenting the present, and planning future travels.

The pack is an REI stoke 29 (liter). It should easily contain 3 days of food, shelter, and clothing. The goal is to have the pack weight down to a half pound per liter. Fifteen pounds. Right now twenty pounds is a comfortable resting spot (down from almost sixty). Much simpler to pack, move, and maintain.

It’s hard work to get to the simple life (from the complicated mess we live in).

So rule number one, experience the joy of fulfilling your purpose, and feel the comfort that follows. Simple life.