Quoted By:
I like ultralight, I like having all my gear in a 30L backpack
I like things that nest together so it feels like you’re carrying a tiny kit
I like the bare minimum of tools - a knife, tweezers, a lighter, some tiny scissors for cutting hair and nails, a torch - it taught me how to break firewood without a saw and how to multiuse and get the most out of everything, how to Jerry rig and repair and choose reliable stuff
I like thinking of hacks and multi uses and modifications to make things more useful, quicker to clean, faster to pack up, lighter, tougher.
I like that my gear is unique and perfectly dialed in, and that when I get to camp I can still occasionally think of new ways to leave something at home or cut weight
I like feeling like Strider or a fur trapper with a little bag and bare minimum gear, not like Samwise Gamgee with cast iron pots
I like relying on my gear, and the self reliance. If I’m cold at night or I get wet, it’s because I didn’t pitch my tarp and bivy or hammock properly, not because some made-in-China zipper jammed or some contraption stopped working
I like minimalism. I like that I could survive (minus guns, traps and a prybar or silcock key) with the contents of an 7lb backpack, and that my bug-out bag is essentially the same as my hiking pack.
I like just adding some extra layers, another bag for winter, maybe an ice axe or snowshoes and swapping fuel source and I’m basically set for sub zero snow conditions
I like that minimal gear has encouraged me to learn about bushcraft, edible flowers and hunting, wind and temperatures, shelter and biomechanics, nutrition and nature far more than when I was cocooned up in a big tent with a safety net of tools and extra clif bars.
Try it out before you knock it. Sure there’s a lot of soyboys who gearfag (just like r/EDC, but that doesn’t stop you carrying a knife, wallet and phone, does it?), and you can get the gear for not too much - $200 for a quilt then thrift the rest.
