LUXURY Items for BACKPACKERS

[Music] hey everybody welcome back to the channel I'm Chris with waaa hikes uh if you're new here this is a channel for beginner Backpackers and today we're going to talk about luxury items what do I mean by luxury items well let's get right into it all right so luxury items for Backpackers what does that mean um really it means items that you take backpacking with you that are not essential to take backpacking with you but you choose to take them anyway so lots of different Backpackers take lots of different things that are important to them that other Backpackers may not take uh and you may have items like that as well so for instance if somebody wanted to take an electric blender backpacking that's not essential it may be to them but for the most part that's not an essential item um but they might want that so that's a luxury item things like pillows can be considered luxury items backpacking chairs stupid stupid backpacking chairs those are luxury items so do you need luxury items no are they nice to have sure so today I'm going to just show you a few things that I take sometimes uh that I consider like luxury items and or other Backpackers may consider to be luxury items uh these will give you an idea of things you might want to take that you don't have to take uh and they may get you thinking about things that maybe you would want to take that I don't take uh if you got that special teddy bear that you cannot sleep without most people would consider that a luxury item when I thought about this uh the first thing that came to mind that I generally will take on most of my trips that most people do not take is a hammock now yeah there are hammock campers who sleep in their hammocks I sleep in a tent but I'll still take a hammock and for years I took a hammock that weighed over a pound and um yeah definitely a luxury item it's sort of a a thing where you're deciding is this extra weight worth the Comfort I'm going to get later so over the years I got different hammocks over time some of them a little lighter as time went on and what I have now and I love and I've had for several years is from hummingbird hammocks now this is a tiny hammock it weighs around 6 o um it is next to nothing and of course you have to have hammock straps for that this hammock is a it's just fantastic it's ultra light I was really concerned when I first tried it out cu I'm a heavy guy and it is super lightweight and it is held to the hammock straps with a little button system on what looks like you know basically just regular cord uh and it has held up fantastically it is easy to set up it is easy to take down and it is is easy to pack and it takes up almost no space and it weighs next to nothing so that is a luxury item that I often take now there are times when I won't take the hammock uh the most obvious is when I am going somewhere where there are no trees so when I am going to the desert I'm not taking the hammock uh if I'm going up on Mount Adams like next week There's no reason to take the hammock there's no trees up there um if I'm trying to go as light as possible I'm not taking the hammock so that is one of the luxury items I have now another item I take uh on every trip after that very first trip when I didn't have these and I wished I had something like this are Camp shoes so um what I purchase are the lightest one piece plasticky type shoes I can find uh so at the end of a long day of hiking whether I'm in Boots Trail Runners uh I can get out of the socks out of the shoes and slip these guys on uh these are new for me um because the pair I've had I've had for about 10 years they're amazing they're comfortable uh and they're just there's almost no tread on them so going to try these out a lot of people like Crocs um do you have to have these no and um so they're considered a luxury item and it's a luxury item I always take now another luxury item that I take that I only got last year um never used anything like this before because I felt it was not unnecessary is a Sit pad uh this one from xad and just a little pad uh goes under your butt it's a Sit pad um people consider this a luxury item this weighs almost nothing and um it's actually fairly cushy um more importantly in when everything is wet um yeah I can sit on log I can sit on a rock but you know kind of Pokey kind of wet kind of gross uh this is really helpful I used this on my last trip and I was glad I had it so so is it essential no is it a luxury item yeah probably so that's another one I have now the next item I considered a luxury item for many many years um and uh now I consider it essential uh but other people will call it a luxury item and that is my C to Summit Aeros premium pillow this thing is so comfortable it is just fantastic for a good night of sleep it weighs very very little uh I highly suggest getting a pillow and this pillow I absolutely love so another luxury item to consider this one a lot of people just consider essential but uh if you missed my video on pillows um here you go get a pillow or don't okay moving on uh something I take on almost every trip uh for while I'm out there by myself uh is an MP3 player and I have this little SanDisk player um you all know what an MP3 player is but uh it's not essential it weighs nothing um I download podcasts on here scary old radio shows um just just things to listen to in the tent or in that amazing hammock that I have um so luxury item for sure doesn't take up much space doesn't take up hardly any weight and so I take it every time I go uh and in line with that also normally I will take an Amazon Kindle and I have that here I have a case for it uh to protect it and the case is actually sort of heavy um and so often if I'm wanting to go light I won't take the Kindle with me did not take the Kindle with me when I went to the Grand Canyon or the canyon lands um wanted to go light so I left it at home I so many times I have gone started weighing my gear um and considered not bringing the case uh just to shed some weight and and in that environment I just know I'm going to shatter this poor thing so uh luxury item for sure it's really great coupled with that hammock just lounging reading a book I uh read novels out there and and it's really relaxing so it's something to consider um you can also just bring a book um now of course the thing with the Kindle is uh you can load so many books on there but a lot of people like that feel and smell of just a regular book so so you know if you're going to do that get a paper pack probably not war in peace you know but um luxury item yes uh essential no um and I usually take that myself so um there's not a lot more I take that I would consider luxury items uh I've got a couple of things here I'm going to show you uh that are definitely not essential and well here we go so what I have here is a binocular so instead of binoculars I wanted to go light but get the same effect out there uh so I picked this up and it's it still weighs a bit definitely less than binoculars is this essential most of the time no um I have really taken this early on in my backpacking career just to kind of scope out this scenery and zoom in on mountain goats and things um which is nice uh nowadays usually I won't take this unless I know I'm going like off Route over a mountain ridge uh or if I'm climbing a mountain um so that I can look at my route ahead of time um from afar and not have a lot of surprises so um also good for viewing wildlife and just chilling out and looking around uh it's definitely not essential um and I most of the time I don't take it but I have it sometimes I take it that's a luxury item now the last thing I have um definitely a luxury item definitely not essential um a lot of people think these are stupid I thought these were stupid I'm not sure if I still think they're stupid or not because I haven't even used this yet um but that is a pump for your sleeping pad this is the flex tail zero pump it weighs as the same amount as the little bag that you blow into and roll up uh to pump up my Nemo pad um and takes less work this little guy is Tiny weighs next to nothing and um yeah does all the work for you apparently it works several times I haven't tried this I am not taking this up on the mountain next week uh I am likely not taking this on my backpacking trip with my grandson but sometime this summer I'm going to give this guy a little try um so I'm curious and um I'll let you guys know if this is useful or not or if it's stupid uh but definitely a luxury item uh way easier than just blowing up your pad um I personally like the little Vortex bag uh that came with my Nemo um but yeah that's a luxury item so if you're new to backpacking um and you still haven't got out there yet maybe consider you want to take some things that make you a little more comfortable or you know make you a little happier uh that aren't essential those are luxury items and uh if you've been backpacking before or uh if you have a lot of experience backpacking well thanks for watching and uh share in the comments what are your luxury items what do you consider luxury items what do you think is essential that other people think are luxury items so just a little bit more stuff to think about if you haven't gotten out there yet um if you followed the whole series uh you're pretty much ready to go and if you are in the northern hemisphere you are likely ready to go because summertime is coming up uh thank you guys for watching and I'll see you next time [Music]

Channel: WallowaHikes

Views: 494

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Id: Yh9os_ho7bI

Length: 13min 25sec (805 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 17 2024