[pct-l] Backups

[Barry Teschlog]

As said in previous responses - no real need for a stove backup.  Soak and eat cold.  Even if you totally run out of food, you can go weeks before starvation will get you (yes, even after you've obtained rail thin thru hiker proportions).

The things I backed up & why:

- Water treatment.  I carried iodine to back up Aqua Mira (in the even of the AM being lost or spilled).  I don't like nasties in the water, so I treated nearly everything.  I'd rather suffer iodine than illness in the event my AM wasn't available.  If it were a full on survial situation, I'd drink untreated as waterborne illness typically will take longer to kill you than dehydration in the desert.

 - Fire starting.  A few water proof matches in addition to my daily use lighter.  Stove fuel & guide book pages were the material to use if extra help were needed to get damp material going.  It would suck if your gear was wet, it was cold and your lighter / primary firestarter crapped out on you at this most inopportune time.

 - Light.  A button LED in addition to the regular LED headlamp.   Lets say you need to hike after dark (for what ever reason - bailing out of crappy weather, for example) - it would suck if your headlamp decided to die on you right when you needed it most.

I figured these items were worth backing up as they would be critical to survival should the spaghetti hit the fan.  Also, the back ups totaled a trivial amount of weight - the bottle for the little iodine tabs was the heaviest item.



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Message: 3
Date: Tue, 2 Jun 2009 23:26:51 -0700
From: Mark Monroe <mmonroe91 at gmail.com>
Subject: [pct-l] backups??
To: pct-l at backcountry.net
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    <261983720906022326y5080e1f1if704c0a27f430534 at mail.gmail.com>
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Question,

When you're through-hiking, does anyone take a backup stove or water
purifier?  Seems like something you wouldn't want to be without.  If one of
those two stupid things went bad, I'd rather not pour powder down my
throat!!

Thanks for your comments,

Mark