Innovative, cottage manufacturers continue to offer great new ultralight products to make your life better in the backcountry.  Here are a few I have added to my pack recently.

For Better Cat Holes

I do enough off trail travel to camp at spots without established toilet facilities.  That means digging cat holes.  For a long time I carried a standard orange plastic digging trowel that weighed about 4 oz..  Mike Cleland’s Ultralight book converted me to carrying an extra aluminum “Y” tent stake – 0.6 oz.  It’s much lighter and can scratch out holes after a fashion.  But where there is dense vegetation root structure, the resulting holes leave something to be desired.  I found a new supplier of ultralight gear who makes some nice products.  Now a Lawson Equipment aluminum Potty Trowel – 1.3 oz. – comes on all trips.  It has a nice grip.  The blade cuts roots well and it really moves dirt to make a hole that is big enough to work properly.  That’s a lot of improved function for an extra 0.7 oz. and a best buy at $10.

Multipurpose titanium tent stakes

There was a time when I felt the cost of titanium tent stakes was not worth the weight saved.  Continue reading →