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As an avid backpacker I was just wondering what other backpackers like to bring with them on their trips. I'm talking about luxuries since most of the necessities are going to be similar. Personally, I have to bring marshmallows for roasting after dinner. Sometimes a deck of cards is fun if you reach camp early enough. Is a dog a necessity or a luxury ?

On occasion, when my pack is light, I will bring along a camp chair. In particular, the ones in which the sleeping pad fits.

I will also take along a night vision goggle just to play with.

Dogs? Dogs are a luxury and should only be taken along where they are permitted and then only on a leash if they are not voice trained. (This is a personal opinion and is not meant to invoke flames.)

Luxury items...hacky sack...soap...adult beverage

[quote='Dragon188']Sometimes a deck of cards is fun if you reach camp early enough. [/quote]

It's interesting you mentioned playing cards as we have been trying to buy a deck of miniature playing cards on Ebay for awhile so we can carry them backpacking. We don't really want to 'pay up' for such a deck so we have been losing out on all of our bids. Anybody know a store in the metroplex were we can find a teeny-tiny, wee little lightweight deck of cards, micro size preferred, the smaller the better? Hey, Joe, after you run out of t-shirts, maybe HAZ playing cards?

J&S in RR

1. Dog
2. Adult beverage
3. Everything else

I've been known to carry the unexpected or odd item or two. My favorite is to bring a nice cardigan sweater or a bathrobe (for short hikes) - I just like making everyone else jealous that I'm more comfortable than they are. But I am also a very strong backpacker and don't mind the extra weight (at least I used to be - now I'm not so sure - covered that in a previous topic).

However, my ultimate unusual item was - a toilet seat. Yep. When I spent the summer in New Mexico the only back country toilets to speak of were usually wooden crates stuck in the ground with a flip up lid. You had to sit right on the wood. Splinters in your hid quarters and everything. I got fed up with it, went to the nearest hardware store and bought a cheap plastic toilet seat. Strapped that bad boy on the outside of my pack - and my posterior was never happier.

I suppose a lot of things I bring could be viewed by someone to be luxuries but they all seem necessary to me.

I always considered my dog to be a necessity. I can sleep deeply with the best original burgular alarm known to man watching out. Their senses are incredible and they are at home with you out there. 14000 years of evolution have proven that.

YEA! We finally got our hands on a deck of miniature playing cards for abackpacking & day hiking luxury. We couldn't find any in Phoenix but finally won a bid on Ebay. Our deck is probably a late 1950's, early China import. Paid $3.50 total.
The deck and box weigh 34 grams versus a regular deck's weight of 82 grams. The space reduction is nice, too. The little deck measures 2 3/8 by 1 3/4 by 11/16ths. A big deck measures 3 3/4 by 2 5/8 by 11/16ths. Now, if we can just find a folding titanium cribbage board with carbon graphite pegs!

J&S in RR

A book, sometimes related to the area I'm in. In the Sierra I read John Muir, I've read almost all of Ed Abbey's books on hikes in AZ, etc.
A journal and camera to record the wonders.
(sometimes) Rock climbing equipment just in case I'm not already tired enough when I get to camp.

Chris

[quote='ck1']Luxury items...hacky sack...soap...adult beverage[/quote]
Colin, if soap is a luxury for you then I don't think I want to go hiking with you . I once brought a regular cribbage board with me but I had room in my pack and wasn't carrying a large amount of water to weigh the pack down.

Soap is a necessity but if I have Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap that's a luxury. Ditto the 'adult beverage' and maybe a lime!

Well, this post sparked us into action. After a long search we finally uncovered our long lost 'packgammon' game. We got it as a present in 1983. It was copyrighted in 1979. Basically, it's the legal backgammon layout printed on a VERY lightweight piece of nylon. The fabric is sewn over at one end so you have a place for the piece (long since lost forever). We went to the health food store today and bought some large white lima beans with which to make new pieces. Once we find a suitable set of dice we will report back with the total gram weight and packed dimensions. We sure apreciate this topic to get us thinking about these things. THANKS!

J&S in RR

[quote='Dragon188']Colin, if soap is a luxury for you then I don't think I want to go hiking with you . [/quote]

I do take toothpaste and that biodegradable camp soap for the pots!

I tuck a garden knee pad into my external frame pack for padding and as a seat cushion.

I would have to say that a history book is my fav thing to take and read, as boring as that may sound. The peace of the wilderness and also the fact that your closer to the actual habitat of some of those you are reading about.

It really depends on the hike but I have taken at various times; a Harry Potter book, playing cards, rum or a single oilcan of Foster's Bitter, and more conventional food items. I usually pack very light but it's nice to have a hobo meal if you want to live it up a little.

A hammock is what I intend to splurge with when the back all healed. When you consider you can generally leave your sleeping pad behind, it's not all that much more weight. When their aren't suitable trees you can always make two 4' "A" frames to hang it from.

Perhaps I should post this under bonehead things, but I used to hang my hammock from old Iron/steel bridges. Rye Creek, Pinto Creek to name a few. When I traded my firebird for my first jeep I left it in the trunk.

A pillow. It's a backpacking variety. One that you blow up with padding inside. I need the extra height or my neck kills me in the morning. Stuffing clothes in a stuff stack isn't the same. It's one luxury that I appreciate greatly.

I would have to ditto camp chair, book, (yes, Abbey, also Colin Fletcher, also whatever random book I'm reading). Camp shoes, such as flip flops or the lighter weight Tevas are a must. And somehow I have never thought of soap as an "extra." I do leave the camp chair behind pretty often to save weight. I left camp shoes behind also, one time. Boy, was that a mistake!

I do have an item I use to make coffee with that has a long story attached. (Hey, I waited my turn, ok?) It is a sort of two-piece aluminum funnel with handle. I put a coffee filter in it, then the coffee, pour the hot water. I found it under a rotting hippie treehouse on the Big Island in 1980. The tree house was on some property in HOVE where I happened to be living for free in a cabin. (This was the exact same one-room cabin, with no running water, phone or electricity, where my first child was born, who is now a Warrant Officer in the Marine Corps, and has a Purple Heart. You just never know...) Anyway, I digress. This tree house had at one time been inhabited, but was long abandoned and rotted-out, but several kitchen items had been left behind, including my coffee funnel. (Anyone who has spent real time in Hawaii, as opposed to tourist time, won't need any explanation about treehouses or HOVE.) The rest of you can look it up and you are going to fall over how cheap that property still is. No utilities, very remote, near South Point. Problem is, the tweaker thing has taken over in Hawaii and I'm told it is not that great a place to live any more. If the government hadn't cracked down so hard with Green Harvest, etc., maybe people would still grow pot outside instead of cooking meth inside.