Well, as a response to the hiking stick thing, we use them on the Search and Rescue team because ours have a compass on one end (handy for some) measurements marked off in inches and cm ( to mark the length of many things, including the length of stride), the bottom has interchangeable tips (pokey ones for ice, another one for sand)because we often go into terrain we may not be sure of, and are adjustable in length (again for different terrain).

Most of these things can be done to a wooden stick, it is true, but I like the pretty colour of mine.

And I'm an old-fashioned grumpy old woman, married to a OFGOM.

 

Well my wife is all about useless items -- like an RV! I grew up since I could walk going out into the woods with a knife, fishing rod (don't really need that even but c'mon lol) and was lucky to have a tent. I don't mind taking a folding chair for comfort, but it's not in my bug out kit if ya get my drift.

Second grandma's mention of the length markers on the pole. I used to have a single-man tent that was held up with my hiking pole.

 

Thanks for the explanation GM. I guess for the work you're doing, I can see it coming in really handy. You'd have to keep your eye out for sign and you'd be running against the clock so having that compass on the end would come in really handy. Also measuring would be obviously important as well. What about for the casual user? Can you see any reason why they'd need one over a wooden stick?

Eastern Canada, eh? Hope you're not a Leafs fan. =)

 

I use a wooden 'pole' when walking around a nearby trail with the grandchildren.


Oh dear! If I say I watched the game the last time the Leafs won and that I am at this moment NOT watching the Habs play against the Bruins, does that let you in on my dirty little secret? Sigh...next year, dagganit, NEXT year!! :xeye:

 

The RV thing reminds of a guy I knew that always went camping with a generator and portable fridge. He'd roast marshmellows on stainless steel skewers with small wooden handles.

 

He'd roast marshmellows on stainless steel skewers with small wooden handles.

Unfortunately if you do much family camping in commercial campgrounds you need one of these. Often times the dead limbs that could be used for this are picked over so much that you don't have any other choice, especially since they don't usually want you cutting live branches for this or any other reason. Yeah it's easy to act macho and say just go out in the boonies, but commercial campgrounds are nice when you have multiple little kids.

 

I actually have an overnighter that is setup in one of those little folding chairs with a bag on it, I use it for shooting (carry all the crap) also. I find my folding chair bag thing to be quite useful.

Since I started using camelbacks the canteens have become pretty much useless. I still use the burner/cooker but not the canteens themselves.

 

Portable toilets are pointless. As for walking sticks... they collapse making them convenient. I used one all the time and it fts on my motorcycle nicely. Using two of them seems a bit much, though.

 

I have 3 sets of poles. I very rarely ever take a trip with out them. They add stability, they give me a quick and easy set up for a tarp tent, they increase speed and turnover, they work as probes, they aid in traversing hills/mountains. There are so many things poles do for you it's crazy. Like I said, 3 pair. I've got the Black Diamond Trail Compact (favorites), a Komperdell shock set, and a Komperdell non shock set. Awesome.

 

Add to that they distribute some load to your upper body and are MUCH lighter than walking sticks. Another hiking pole user here.

I've seen all manner of "creature comfort" on the trail though: inflatable beds/chairs, iron firepits, and easy-ups make me laugh the most.

 

Over the years, I've found most of the "car camping" stuff has become completely useless to me. By the time I load up my truck with all my stuff (6 man tent, air mattress, camp chairs, large cooler, propane stove, 20lb LP tank, lanterns, camp table, and the list went on and on) I might as well have stayed at a hotel close to the woods.

There is something profoundly liberating about throwing a 20lb backpack on that contains EVERYTHING you need and heading out from the trailhead. Just my opinion....

 

All of my camping has been done on various size sailboats. With that in mind, I've learned that the most useless items on a sailboat are: an umbrella, a step-ladder and a NAVAL OFFICER.

 

I've noticed that the most vocal and strident hikers, when it comes to LNT (leave no trace), almost invariably use a pair of hiking poles.

The problem with that is that even space aliens in orbit can tell exactly where these LNT people have been. The trail they leave looks like a scar with bad stitch marks.

As far as most useless items, I'll say some of the exotic espresso or french press coffee pots.........but then, I grew up on Cowboy Coffee. Tastes just as good and it's plenty strong enough for me.

 

I grew up making a pot of coffee by boiling a handfull of grounds and breaking an egg on top to settle the grounds. it works the same as a french press but you waste an egg.

 

The most useless items to take camping are the ones you don't use.

 

The most pointless piece of kit I have come across (by far) was a sort of hook thing you hang in a tree for holding toilet paper!
Im a kit minimalist, so lots of stuff I see folks carrying seems pointless to me. Unless I really cannot be without it, then it aint gonna be with me.

I have never understood walking polls (except for the infirm/old), I have only found them to be a pain in the ass which get in the way.

The worst is my brother, who wants to take everything with him...after a little bit he is always tired and overheated from all the extra baggage he has brought along and wants me to help him carry it.....sorry bro but thats how you learn!

If you look at aboriginal cultures like the khoisan of South Africa, they carry hardly anything but know how to make use of the environment around them as the situation dictates This for me is the proper way to approach wilderness survival.

 

I always have a wise and snobby chuckle when I see people carrying any of those preconstructed "survival kits." lol. :thumb:

 

When Im going camping plus car, I take chairs just because they are pretty comfy! Backpacking, I stick with the ground. I picked up a hiking pole for £10, aluminium, metal tipped, extendable, pretty good price, Ive used it for what youve mentioned and its not killed it so far!

However, my useless camping item is pretty much a non-waterproof rucksack! Who decided to stop making rucksacks waterproof?!

 

I went camping at the lake once with a woman that brought a battery operated blender. I mean the margaritas were great but REALLY?

 

Beat me to it; I was in Sports Authority other day and they were selling the rechargeable Margarita Kit in the camping section ... weighs more than a full pack for a multi-week hike.

I add, most things sold by Coghlan's.

 

Most useless item I have seen is plastic camping utensils. I mean, come on, just use a metal fork. You have to make them oversized so they don't break and it just takes up room and doesn't cut or stab nearly as well. The oversized "sporks" are even worse. Everybody who goes camping seems to think they have to have plastic utensils, even if they are reusable/washable ones.

 

Most useless item I have seen is plastic camping utensils. I mean, come on, just use a metal fork. ... The oversized "sporks" are even worse.

Er... if you go camping anywhere where potable water is scarce plastic utensils are much more sanitary than an old fork wiped off with a bandana.

Also, if you're going to be using plates, paper plates are great if you don't have to carry too many too far. After dinner you can burn'em both in the campfire (just don't breath the smoke).

Plastic utensils (particularly plastic spoons)are also my "weapons" of choice for Bugging In since water for washing may be scarce or nonexistent.

As for plastic sporks, I've yet to find one that could spear anything harder than melted ice cream. :

Desert (The world's greatest excuse pales in the face of mediocre performance.) Dave
-- (Quotation, with attribution, permitted and encouraged.)

 

1. plastic utensils. use metal forks.

2. oversized battery powered lanterns. Please get with the times and get a Black Diamond Orbit if you need something like this.

3. rubber tent stake mallets when you have smallish stakes. if you actually need a mallet, you'll probably just bend your stakes.

4. hiking boots that aren't just perfect for you. usually trail running shoes work alot better.

5. lighting fluid. you shouldn't have to need it, and it's just going to stink and make you depressed once it burns off and your fire sucks.

6. citronella candles. yes, the bugs will still find you.

7. extra tarps to go over tents. Shouldn't you just have a waterproof tent in the first place?

8. acoustic guitar. Your playing probably sucks, and sitting in front of a fire doesn't make you better.

 

...
The one thing that gets me though are hiking poles. Am I the only one that finds them rather ridiculous? Why not just get yourself a good wooden stick? ...

Three things:

1) Carbide tips do WONDERS for rocky terrain or going up/down rocky hillsides. No wood stick can ever come close to the grip of those tips.

2) On the other end is muddy terrain. The mud/snow baskets keep the stick from digging in too deeply.

3) Trekking poles seem to "flex" a little in the center making it "bounce" up. Seems to help me when I am carrying heavy load. Makes the arms and knees less tired. The nicer ones have shock absorbers inside to help the jarring.


Just my observations as a former "wood-stick" guy.

 

That blender and espresso a good laugh. I agree with some the mess kit stuff out there, some of them look so pretty that I'm afraid to eat off them.

I can get really stubborn but I'm going to concede on the hiking polls and give it a shot.

Also, never understood these cast iron sandwich toasters ( http://www.cocovado.com/images/irontoaster.jpg ) or this deep fryer ( http://www.campingblogger.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/coleman-propane-fry-well1.jpg )

 

Also, never understood these cast iron sandwich toasters ( http://www.cocovado.com/images/irontoaster.jpg )

We call them jaffle makers over here and they are the bee's knees. They gotta be cast iron, tho', not those cheap-arsed aluminium ones, which will just melt in a decent fire (experience talking there!).

Definitely not something that I'd take camping if I was backpacking, but car camping? For sure! As a kid, we also used them at home. What's for dinner, Mum? Jaffles, make them yourself.

 

last week my bf and I went on a 3 day hike, and at the hut we stayed at (9km up the valley from the carpark) I saw someone had brought....

a coffee percolator
a kilo bag of fresh stirfry vegetables
real milk
tins of baked beans
they had three kids one of whom was a baby and mum carried her. I would love to see the state of dad's knee cartilege.

but I like plastic knives and forks.
And I seriously want some of those hiking poles for when I'm so wiped out I want to crawl. : They look like a way of hiding the fact that you're down on all fours.

 

So um, yeah... I carry a lot of what you mentioned.

I have a french press filter and guide rod that fit into my tall mug, it adds almost no weight and takes very little space. I like my coffee.

I carry fresh vegies and meat. I eat well and don't have to hump as much after I eat. Plus, they keep me in form for longer trips where I use supply caches.

I carry little half and half cups in my cooler bag. They help pad the more delecate things and, once again, I love my coffee. I also carry milk for the kids.

I don't carry canned foods though.

As for useless. If it didn't get used and it wan't for first aid, repairs, or an emergency, I stopped using it pretty quickly.

And the item that I had so little use for, that I left it on the side of a mountain in Utah? The muffler from my brother's dodge shadow.

 

i'd have to go with the rubber stake mallet lol, seriously?

 

I disagree with two items. Hiking poles are awesome, lightweight, portable and very strong. And he extra tarp for the tent, I agree you should have a tent that can handle the elements but, I like to have mine over our picnic table and tent so you can eat in the rain comfortably and still slide into the tent without getting wet.

The useless items I see are the "survival in a tin" kits. The rubber tent mallets. Plastic cups in cook sets. Most camping articles from Coughlans that add "camp" in front of the name for marketing reasons. Chinese multi tools.

 

Some things are convenient but not necessary. However, as long as you make good use of any item, then it's not useless.

 

As I indicated earlier in this thread, most of my camping had been on relatively small, cabin-type sailboats. Just like a land-based "excursion", I found it best to keep it simple, with few useless accrutrements, as I wrote. It is hard enough to keep toilet paper dry in any damp conditions...likewise any paper-products you may need...As far as cost-effective, cheap, lightweight and virtually indestructible food-plates...what works for me are FRISBEES...they are big enough for a meal, have a relatively deep shape and a lip to prevent spillage, they float, stack easily, and you can even play with them. I've learned that whatever works on the briny deep will also work on (relatively) dry land...better than even traditional dishes if you're in an RV.

 

My boy scout troop did this once when we forgot to bring the plates so we had about a dozen frisbees that we used instead. Worked pretty good and then the other scouts where forced to help to do dishes for once because they wanted to play with the frisbees after dinner.:thumb:

As for worthless crap I have used a ton of it when camping.
Air matresses
smore sticks that fold out and are metal
cot
shake flashlight
waterproof match holder that has no striker on it
6 man tent
coffee peculator (I use a spare pot that duplicates as a soup pan at night)

 

Rambo knives or "fighting" knives. Absolutely useless. I took a hatchet, a small(very sharp) folding knife and my token rambo knife. The small one was able to gut the elk, the hatchet got the firewood...the rambo knife....broke, and the compass in the handle didn't work. Go with what works, if it aint broke don't fix it.

 

+1 on the rambo knives. Just by looking at them you can tell they're not going to last

I agree with KCChimneyman, it really is all about how you camp. I usually don't go car camping so my views tend to be limited.

Ditto on an earlier poster about the lighter fluid or butane refill.
I've come across that before. For a BOB, maybe but just camping...nah.
I've also gone camping where the person I was with had 4 pairs of footwear. 1 pair of boots, running shoes, a pair of slippers to wash with and another pair of furry bed slippers.