Unnecessary Essentials

What can be considered unnecessary in the backcountry, great outdoors, on the river? We are looking for those things that you should and know that you should not be carrying with you. For example has anyone lost their wallet on a rafting trip or lost the keys to their car and have no means of getting home?



We are looking for those adventurers that may bring a little too much in which some may consider as overkill. We are looking for those folks that are packing a unfamiliar item in their gear for no know specific purpose in the outdoor experience. For example, bringing a laptop or huge cooler on a backcountry-backpacking trip. We want you to be part of our undercover VentureTree snapshot crew. We want you to go about your everyday adventure and take pictures of these odd items that you find on your outdoor experience. How odd can one go? Are they trying to impress someone or just trying to be a show off? I use to fall into the above category myself.



I had limited resources and did not like purifying my own water with iodine tablets. I chose to carry the water that I need for the trip on me and this really sucks in hindsight because that was anywhere from 2 to 3 gallons of water per trip. I carried this burden through most of my younger backpacking years in the good Ole Boy Scout days. I hated my Wal-Mart sleeping bag back then and chose to carry that old extra long, extremely heavy, -0 degree military sleeping bag. I have no rhyme or reason to my confession, besides that it was a mere learning experience.



Send us your thoughts and comments!



Bentley Venturetree Team

Leatherman c302 | Review

Not too many knives catch my attention these days, especially because I'm real picky about my blades and partly because I have so many that I had to stop buying them. So when my brother gave me a knife for being a groomsman at his wedding I was pleasantly surprised and my attention was got by the blade he had picked out for us.

I had never owned a knife with a metal handle because I thought they were bulky, but as I unwrapped it this one felt fairly light. It was a Leatherman c302 knife. I was thrilled. Though partly because I had been given a Leatherman Wave as a gift one Christmas and because the durability of my Wave had impressed me.

So far, I have taken it on a few back country trips. On one particular trip, I used it to cut some nylon rope that had a large hook at the end of it. It was tied to a a branch and hung out on the Buffalo River. At the end of that large hook was a soft shell turtle swimming for its dear life. We couldn't get the hook out so we cut it loose using my trusty blade.

I also use the blade on the job to cut plastic tubing, zip ties, boxes, rubber hoses, and all sorts of other stuff. Sometimes I use it to scrape surfaces clean for hanging equipment, even though that goes against my knife rules....yes...I have "knife rules." The knife, however, always re-sharpens up just fine...in fact, it sharpens up finer than when I unwrapped it.

The knife features either a combo serrated or a straight edge blade. A removable pocket clip and a blade launcher that makes the blade seem to spring out with the flick of a finger. Hidden at the end of the c302's handle is a carabiner/bottle opener that conveniently folds out to clip to a life vest, belt loop or gear bag. It also doubles as a bottle opener so you can open that tasty beverage. The knife includes a thumb stud that gives you another opening option. It features a 420 stainless steel blade that sharpens very well and the handle is a durable bead-blasted aluminum. The weight falls around 3.2 ounces so its fairly light.

For more info check out leatherman.com

Pikka Venture Tree Team