Backpacking knife ?

[Bolster]

Overthinking is fun.

[Xplorer]

I think all this talk about backpacking should include more pictures.
This one is from backpacking in the John Muir Wilderness a couple weeks ago.


I love backpacking. I also like using my backpacking trips as an opportunity to test knives and knife designs. I always bring way too many. Usually 4 or more. I brought 5 on my last trip and I had my son carry 3 more. I had fun testing each one. But, of course I do all that for my own reasons.

I think being prepared for more than expected is wise. Self reliance is necessary. I believe two is one and one is none when it comes to essentials like fire starters and sharp edges. I can also report that in 28 years of wilderness backpacking throughout the Sierra Nevada mountain wilderness areas I've never actually "needed" more than a medium sized pocket knife.


And yet, if you run into me on my next trip into the wilderness you can bet I'll have a folder in my pocket and at least 2 fixed blades in my pack.

Oh...and like half a pound of coffee..at least! THAT'S what I consider a valuable survival tool.

[Matus]

honestly I feel like ya'll are over thinking this. carry a knife that will cut the stuff you expect to need to cut, it ain't that complicated.

That is a completely wrong attitude for this forum

… but you are actually right.

[Tucson Tom]

honestly I feel like ya'll are over thinking this. carry a knife that will cut the stuff you expect to need to cut, it ain't that complicated.

That is a completely wrong attitude for this forum

… but you are actually right.

Yes, honestly my approach has always been to just carry whatever knife I feel in the mood to carry on a given trip.
Photos later when I find my notes on how to post photos on this forum. I remember it has something to do with
going over a bridge and around the mountain to grandmothers house, but I forget the rest of the process.

[ladybug93]

honestly I feel like ya'll are over thinking this. carry a knife that will cut the stuff you expect to need to cut, it ain't that complicated.

That is a completely wrong attitude for this forum

… but you are actually right.

Yes, honestly my approach has always been to just carry whatever knife I feel in the mood to carry on a given trip.
Photos later when I find my notes on how to post photos on this forum. I remember it has something to do with
going over a bridge and around the mountain to grandmothers house, but I forget the rest of the process.

[Tucson Tom]

I like Explorer's thought about sharing some photos. These are from a trip a few years back, a solo jaunt into the "Evolution Basin" at the north end of Kings Canyon Park. The first two were taken from Lamarck Col which is a pass at 13,000 feet and is a fairly commonly used entry via an abandoned trail into Kings Canyon Park. The last is my camp near the uppermost of the Darwin Lakes.

Like Explorer, I was in the John Muir Wilderness until I crossed into the park itself.

[Tucson Tom]

Well there seems to be a couple of ways to insert photos. It is as bad as I remember, or worse. Perhaps others have streamlined the process and can give tips. You can bring up the "full editor" and it has an attach button, but using that seems to make the photos microscopic and adds a border that I would rather do without. The other option is to dump your photos on some hosting site. We all remember what happened to photobucket. I used "postimage.cc" based on a recommendation by someone, and it looks like Xplorer used "imgur". Then I hand edit an entry with the [img] tag and it seems to work.

Now I'll go write this down somewhere for the next time I want to do this.

[Wartstein]

Well there seems to be a couple of ways to insert photos. It is as bad as I remember, or worse. Perhaps others have streamlined the process and can give tips. You can bring up the "full editor" and it has an attach button, but using that seems to make the photos microscopic and adds a border that I would rather do without. The other option is to dump your photos on some hosting site. We all remember what happened to photobucket. I used "postimage.cc" based on a recommendation by someone, and it looks like Xplorer used "imgur". Then I hand edit an entry with the [img] tag and it seems to work.

Now I'll go write this down somewhere for the next time I want to do this.

You figured it out anyway, but here is Vivis "how to do" thread : viewtopic.php?f=5&t=83968

Works perfect for me! (With postimage.org)

[Wartstein]

@Xplorer, @ Tom: Great, beautiful pics, love ´em!!

I guess I do share enough outdoor pics in the "What Spyderco is in your pocket" thread anyway - ?
(Those who know my pics there: Tend to show lots of landscape, and a knife just pretty small in the foreground... )

[Wartstein]

Said it already: On most "normal", not too severe or remote hikes one should just bring whatever knife they like on that day!

What I still think: The Salt 2 ffg is one of the top options for a "just in case and more" folder to throw into a pack and forget it till its needed. Perhaps by that even a good option on the one hand for people who have no real interest in knives, and on the other hand for those knife-enthusiasts who happen to value the concept of a superlight, but solid and high performing option with a decent blade length.

I have a waterproof pouch that almost always goes into whatever pack I am carrying that day. In this pouch is stuff like waterproof matches, some tinder, a headlamp, shoelaces, a small leatherman, some paracord, zip ties and the like. (First aid items are in a separate pouch)
Actually, if I was NOT a "knife guy" and normally deliberatly choosing a certain folder for each hike anyway: I´d additionally throw a Salt 2 ffg in that pouch and it would live there permanently, just like the other essential - or emergency stuff.

[Tucson Tom]

I am still experimenting with different aspects of posting photos. No knife in the view, but I'm sure there is one nearby.

Kings Canyon Park again, High Sierras in California. A nice spot to spend the night. Near Kearsarge Pass. Bullfrog lake down below, East Vidette in the distance.

[Tucson Tom]

Letting my mind wander a bit on the topic of backpacking knives. (Usually my mind wanders just fine, it is getting it to focus in on something for a while that is the trick).

Anyway, I was thinking that backpacking is an ideal time to carry a fixed blade instead of a folder. I am thinking a small fixed blade like a mule or the Spyderco Junction that you can't get anymore. I would carry fixed blades more often in town, but it just isn't something society at large gets along with. Perhaps I should assert myself, but I'd rather just carry a folder. Pretty much anything is legal in Arizona, but I probably should double check about California where I visit.

Even backpacking though, it is easier to find a place for a folder. My Native 5 ends up on a short lanyard with an S-biner and clipped onto my pack in a handy spot. I haven't quite figured out the best handy spot for a fixed blade and don't really want it on my belt for any number of reasons, foremost probably is interference with my pack hip belt. Now, on the pack hip belt is worth thinking about maybe?

[The Meat man]

I bet the UKPK Salt would make a great ultra-light backpacking knife.

[Bemo]

I bet the UKPK Salt would make a great ultra-light backpacking knife.

I was thinking the exact same thing.

[ladybug93]

I am still experimenting with different aspects of posting photos. No knife in the view, but I'm sure there is one nearby.

Kings Canyon Park again, High Sierras in California. A nice spot to spend the night. Near Kearsarge Pass. Bullfrog lake down below, East Vidette in the distance.

beautiful! i wish i was close to wilderness like this.

[ABX2011]

I carried a Pac Salt gen 1 serrated or Centofante 3 for most of the Appalachian Trail. For that type of hiking I could have had an even smaller/lighter knife. But I always liked the idea that I had a lethal weapon in the unlikely event that I needed one.

[vivi]

Letting my mind wander a bit on the topic of backpacking knives. (Usually my mind wanders just fine, it is getting it to focus in on something for a while that is the trick).

Anyway, I was thinking that backpacking is an ideal time to carry a fixed blade instead of a folder. I am thinking a small fixed blade like a mule or the Spyderco Junction that you can't get anymore. I would carry fixed blades more often in town, but it just isn't something society at large gets along with. Perhaps I should assert myself, but I'd rather just carry a folder. Pretty much anything is legal in Arizona, but I probably should double check about California where I visit.

Even backpacking though, it is easier to find a place for a folder. My Native 5 ends up on a short lanyard with an S-biner and clipped onto my pack in a handy spot. I haven't quite figured out the best handy spot for a fixed blade and don't really want it on my belt for any number of reasons, foremost probably is interference with my pack hip belt. Now, on the pack hip belt is worth thinking about maybe?

the gclip isn't so great here. Better to get a dangler setup so the knife rides below the waist belt of the pack.

Or if you have a sheath with a snug fit, inverted on your weak side pack strap is nice.

As far as urban carry goes I carry a FB behind my right hip when not concealing it, and tucked IWB at 1-3 o clock when carrying in areas that allow conceal carry.

The upcoming Swick is small enough to comfortably carry horizontal on the front of my belt next to the buckle, which is how I plan to carry mine.

[Tucson Tom]

Good tips Vivi and thanks. I like the idea of a FB inverted on my pack sort of behind my left armpit -- but I do worry about the retention. I hate losing things.

I did look at California knife laws and concealing a FB is a no-no, whereas it is fine in Arizona. Of course the odds of running into law enforcement in true wilderness are close to zero. Even on corridor trails it is pretty unlikely. Yosemite park though seems to be crawling with LEO - one reason it isn't top on my list.

What you say about a dangler setup has me thinking, not so much in the line you are suggesting, but like some people carry a small neck knife in a sheath with decent retention hung on a cord.

Lastly, the Spyderco Street Bowie is worth considering. It has always struck me as an amazingly light fixed blade. It is certainly designed for self defense (or perhaps even offense), but it is hard to beat for an affordable and light FB.

[vivi]

I've carried my Street Bowie on many hikes. It's very light for how large and versatile it is.

[wrdwrght]

In 1961 I joined the Boy Scouts of America’s Post 1 in Sacramento as an Explorer Scout. We were affiliated with Troop 1 whose Camp Cody on Cody Lake miraculously escaped the still-smouldering Caldor Fire.

And so began my love of the Sierra Nevada. Before moving East in 1973 to pursue advanced degrees in Geography, I backpacked (eventually with my wife) along sections of the Sierra’s crest between Highway 40 (as it was then known) to Kearsarge Pass (never did Whitney). The Rubicon, Desolation Valley, Yosemite, the Minarets, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, and the John Muir Trail generally are heaven on earth to me. The pics here have set off all kinds of memories.

Moving to Michigan, then to Montréal and finally New England, I never encountered the kind of terrain that got my backpacking juices going. Instead, lakes and canoes got me and my family into canoe-tripping.

While trekking as a Scout (our post and troop were super-active), I carried an official BSA “sheath” knife made by Western Cutlery, and eventually upgraded to a Case 523-6 “hunting” knife. I learned (and demonstrated for merit badges) many things with those fixed-blades (alas, no longer permitted in the Scouts, I understand).

During my military service, I somehow came by a US Army TL-29 electrician/lineman folder (I recall it had a long flat-head screwdriver that locked and knife-blade that didn’t). This, my first multi-tool, gave way to a variety of SAKs that I have not ceased to carry. Whether into the West’s high-country or the Northeast’s canoe-country, I have carried nothing else, knifewise.

Were I still getting outside without an RV, I’d probably take a Spydie of some sort, but I know a SAK is the only cutlery I’d really need.