Gear – The Bearded Hiker

DIY Caldera Cone + Template

I’m guessing you might have stumbled in here from this Youtube video on my DIY Caldera Cone…am I right? Welcome welcome! If you haven’t and you have no idea what a Caldera cone is or why you would want to make one and you’re interested, take a minute and check the video out. As promised, here is the template download for the DIY Caldera Cone! Hope you enjoy getting your DIY on! DIY CALDERA CONE ITEMS YOU’LL NEED 1 Hand Seamer – I got mine from Harbor Freight. You can get it from Amazon it’ll be more $$$$ Titanium…

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Blister Prevention on the Trail

Blisters! The evilness that lurks, just waiting for those three main ingredients to manifest itself. Heat, friction, and moisture. I bet you thought you stumbled upon the wrong webpage and were about to read a sci-fi thriller novel. Sorry to disappoint you folks. But the struggle is real! And so it begins my long road to blister prevention. I typically will get a blister at the 10 mile mark. Sometimes I hike 20 miles in a day, so those last 10 miles are a real bitch. I’ve tried everything: mole skin, tape, blister blockers, Glide, Vaseline, foot powder, I could…

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The Katadyn BeFree & My Gravity Fed System

So what is this sorcery? The Katadyn BeFree water filter is one bad ass water filter! I just recently took this filter out on a test run and I must say I am stupid impressed with it. It is my new go-to filter. Let’s talk about the weight of it, just 1.2 ounces/34 grams. The Sawyer Mini weighs 1.7 ounces/49 grams. Now let me say this up front. I have nothing against the Sawyer Mini or the Sawyer Squeeze, both are great filters and deserve a spot in your pack. But the flow rate on the Mini is slow, clogs…

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How To Attach Bottles to Your Backpack Shoulder Straps

When I make hiking videos for Youtube, I’m constantly asked how I attach my Gatorade bottles to my shoulder straps. I refer them to a video that I made a couple of years ago. The steps are so simple you are gonna punch yourself in the face and say, “Duh! Why didn’t I think of that!” It’s not some stroke of brilliance or vision that I had after I slipped and fell from my toilet while hanging a clock. I was really just being cheap and trying to mimic the bottle holders that are on the ULA OHM 2 packs.…

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Zpacks Zero Follow Up Report

Before we jump into this follow up report on the Zpacks Zero, I want to let you know that I previously did a post on the Zpacks Zero which was a spec piece. This is how it performed for me after real world use. STANDARD TRIP So, I just recently returned from a 3-day backpacking trip on the Fiery Gizzard trail in Tennessee. This is where I had my first chance to try out the Zpacks Zero. Before giving you my final thoughts on it, I want to say that I definitely want to break this puppy in properly…

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The Zpacks Zero Ultralight Backpack

So you wanna go light eh? Or at least lighter? Well, let me tell you about the new pack I just got. It’s the Zero by Zpacks. It’s light dude. It’s not zero, no, but close…4.0 ounces! THE BAG The Zpacks Zero is a frameless bare bones pack offered in three different sizes. The small being 27.5 liters with a total weight of 4.0 ounces. The medium 36 liters at 4.2 ounces and the large 44 liters at 4.6 ounces. I got the small, so that’s my reference point in this post. You can customize the Zero to fit your…

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Savvy Ways to Lighten Your Pack

So what is ultralight backpacking? Ultralight backpacking is a minimalist approach to backpacking. In a nutshell, you want to carry the lightest, safest, most efficient gear. All this and have your pack under 10 pounds. I’m not going to get into the “Big 3” meaning backpack, sleeping bag+pad, and shelter. I’m going to assume you already know about them. I want to tell you about some ways to save weight that you might not have thought about before to reduce your pack weight. MUST HAVES Before we jump off into that let’s talk about a couple of “must haves”: 1. A…

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Heather’s Choice Review

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-PmEVMydPg[/embedyt]Heather’s World After backpacking many years and choking down countless dehydrated meals, you can imagine my excitement when I licked my spoon after stirring a Heather’s Choice meal to rehydrate. All I could muster was a bunch of mmmmm’s, ahhhhhh’s, and other wordless expressions. My first encounter with Heather’s Choice was the Chipotle Cherry Chili. Now, I know what you may be thinking. Cherries, chipotle and Chili? It’s sounds odd. My wife says it sounds perfectly normal and she’s right most of the time, so let’s just go with it. My first impression is a meaty, zingy…

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CanCooker Giveaway!

This giveaway is now closed. Congrats to Bill Goudy!!! He is the lucky winner of this beauty! Stay tuned for more giveaways in the future. Make sure you subscribe so you can stay informed! Welcome to my CanCooker Giveaway! The drawing will be held on January 5th 2017. You can get a total of 5 entries, let me tell you how: #1 Commenting on the CanCooker Giveaway youtube video will give you 1 entry. Here’s the link #2 Commenting here, on this post, will give you 1 entry. #3 Do a video response and I will give…

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Modified Toaks 550ml Cook System

If you guys know me or watch any of my youtube videos, you know that I’m a big Esbit fan. However, on occasion I love my fancy feast alcohol stove. Honestly, I love all my stoves. You might even say I have an addiction to camping or backpacking stoves but that’s another tale for another time. Recently, I took a trip to Minnesota to hike the Superior Hiking Trail. While there, myself and a friend of mine, Grapenut, met with another guy from hammockforums.net, alifeoutdoors. Anyway, the first night he busted out a cooking system similar to mine. I’m talking about…

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