Highlands Trip – What Worked and What Didn’t.

[J]

Had a great trip to the Scottish highlands and tested out most of my gear under some fairly grueling conditions and wanted to share my evaluation of the gear I had for those that might be interested. I spent a week out in the elements, rough camping the nights and hiking most of the days. Most of the gear I had held up very well, happily. No one wants to get out and find they have made poor choices in that area. Also, most of this gear is reasonably priced; you don’t have to spends thousands of dollars on gear to get by with, in my opinion. Here is what I used and my thoughts on it.

Karimoor Notus Weathertite Hiking Boots. – First rule of hiking is take care of your feet. I got these boots in the UK and have nothing but good to say about them. They are water proof and come with comfortable soles in them. I got them for about $50.00 USD and put them through some pretty rigorous testing; everything my body could put them through and still manage to halfway function, anyway. To clarify, I climbed a 15 miles mountain path in them and had no blisters or problems with my feet. The rest of my body is another matter 🙂 .

Alpaca wool socks. – I have mentioned these before and can say they are well worth the $20.00 or so a pair that you pay for them. No itch as sheep wool tends to give and keeps your feet warm even when wet.

Primus Classic Backpacker Stove. – I have nothing but good things to say about this stove. It was perfect for making coffee and cooking small meals over. There was literally no fuel to burn to start a fire with around and everything was soaking wet even if there was. An 8 oz. fuel can lasted me the 4 days, using it sparingly.

Stanley Adventure Cookware set – A cylindrical cookpot with 2 hard plastic cups that fit inside it. Great for use on the stove listed above, easy to clean and large enough to heat pretty much any single person meal. Handle gets pretty hot is youre not careful so make sure you have something that can be used as a pot holder handy.

Teton Explorer 4000 backpack. – This brand of pack seems to make a lot of people nervous due to the price (around $80.00) but I have no complaints about it. It took some pretty rough treatment and held everything I needed. It has adjustable straps, lots of various sized pockets and an adjustable internal frame. It has a 65 liter capacity; not too small and not so large you overload yourself.

UV paqlite scout set- PJ reviewed this product some months ago and I completely endorse this product after using it a week in the field. I had small LED light in my tent that I hung next to these articles and elt them charge for about 15 -20 minutes. After my eyes adjusted, I had several hours of working light in my 3 man dome tent. Well worth the money, they are light and durable, also. I would estimate that they would easily double your battery life in your flashlights and lamps if used conservatively

Coleman 3 man dome tent- this was probably my worst choice in equipment, more for me using it outside its ratings than anything else. I packed it along because I have a couple of them and didn’t expect any heavy weather. I got caught in a pretty strong storm in the highlands, winds 40 MPH and higher driving rain through the zippers and such. I had to break out the paracord to tie it down and keep the top from literally hitting the ground from the wind gusts, but managed to weather to storm ok. Was pretty damp after but it was better than the alternative. The mosquito netting is not midge proof, either; they are small enough to get through it.

[PJ]

Awesome stuff, gave you your own article on the main blog J. THanks!

[Author]

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