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Posted by macgyver on May 25, 2008 at 5:13:51 pm EDT
In reply to Re: knives and hiking posted by Jim S on May 25, 2008 at 2:44:04 pm EDT

I appreciate all the humorous posts!! Reminds me why I like outdoorsmen so much. Just returned from another section hike on the AT... 80 miles this time. Ran into and envied a little (especially after a difficult 21.5 mile day) a lot of ultralighters. Knifewise, most of them carried a tiny, single-bladed affair (a lot of Spyders). Seems to work well for the long-distance hiking applications... especially when roads and towns are fairly accessible, and the wildlife encounters are of the "hit and run" food bag raider types. I personally have carried a SAK Pioneer (sharp) for the past 20+ yrs. on backpacking outings. Like any good Scout leader, I believe in being prepared. But I also believe that part of the value in wilderness activity is learning to live simply and to get by with less... as my hiking buddy says, "after this, most everything else is easy." So, I try to prepare for staying healthy and getting to where I'm going rather than maintaining the lifestyle to which I have become accustomed at home... that's part of what I'm trying to get away from. So far, I've been able to improvise what I needed from what I've had handy and have not wanted for any tool on my outings. I recently bought (for no good reason) a Leatherman xe6... a lot of cool thingies on it, but, when it came time to pack, the lighter SAK got the nod, and I left the Leatherman at home. That said, I have not done much inaccessible wilderness type adventuring, so I'll leave the commenting on that regard to those who have, but I do agree with an earlier post that training and knowledge are prerequisite to any tool... it's amazing to watch what a knowledgeable person can do with simple tools.

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