A Little Insurance Always Good For A Dayhike

Q. I was looking at some of the past questions and saw that you mention daypacks and equipment for a day hike. I was wondering what your minimum gear recommendations are for a day hike.

John Hearne

ajp3jeh@atlas.vcu.edu

Gear Guy: I tend to carry quite a bit, even for short trips in good weather. In fact, I tend to pack with the notion in mind that I may have to spend a night out. Sure, maybe I’ll be perfectly okay, but I could always run into someone who needs a hand. So, here’s what I nearly always pack:

Extra clothing: rain gear, fleece jacket, gloves, and hat; extra food (several PowerBars, plus my usual snacks and lunch); water (two quarts at least, and often a filter); map, compass, pocketknife; fire starter: matches in a plastic bag, and a lighter; first aid kit; flashlight (often two, one of them a headlamp Spare batteries and bulb); Gore-Tex bivouac bag, short foam pad for sitting or use as a splint.

During the winter, I’ll add to the food and clothing allotment, plus throw in a stove and a couple of fuel canisters. And in sunny weather I’ll always pack sunglasses and sunscreen.

Not, it won’t all fit in a fannypack. And I hardly ever use it all. But it’s insurance and makes me and the people around me safer when we’re out in the woods.

Q. The Beaver Patrol in Troop 3, Coeur d’Alene, recently learned what happens when they do not dry a tent thoroughly. Major mildew! What is the best way to clean a two-person dome tent? Should the fly be treated differently than the rest of the tent? Should they be dried in a dryer or just air dried? Thanks, Guy.

Jim Hammond

jhammon@llake-fs3.isc-br.com

Gear Guy: I suspect that the Beaver Patrol, Troop 3, Coeur d’Alene, has now learned an important lesson: Air a tent out before storing it and store it loosely in a breathable cotton bag.

Now, how to repair the damage? It’s not easy - mildew not only smells, it damages the coating that keeps the tent floor and fly waterproof. There’s hope, though. The North Face has put together this formula to clean mildewed tents, which the folks at Rainy Pass Repair in Seattle kindly faxed to me:

Mix one-half cup Lysol in a gallon of HOT water. Wash the tent with a sponge and let air dry. Once it is dry, mix one cup of salt and one cup of concentrated lemon juice, again in hot water, and wash the tent with this solution. Saute in butter and serve with…

Oops, wrong recipe. Just let the tent air dry thoroughly, then store it. If the coating peels, call Rainy Pass at 206-523-8135 and see what they’d charge for resealing the tent.

Hope that helps. If not, Beaver Patrol will perhaps be a bit more careful in the future. Thanks for writing! xxxx