# Obsolete camping advice **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 29, 2016, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-camping-advice/758732 "2016-06-29T19:39:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2024, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-camping-advice/758732/141 "2024-07-25T22:10:15Z")
“I had to shank him, Your Honor. He hogged all the S’mores.” ---
**Author:** ![motu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/motu/32/259_2.png) [@motu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motu)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2024, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-camping-advice/758732/142 "2024-07-25T22:24:03Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > If you’re camping, bored, and have access to the right rocks, this can change. If you plan ahead you can fix the dull spoon problem in the garage with your electric grinder. > > You pack a first aid kit, right? Not really liking the idea of eating with a sharpened spoon ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2024, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-camping-advice/758732/143 "2024-07-25T22:25:11Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > “I had to shank him, Your Honor. He hogged all the S’mores.” “Justified due to extreme extenuating circumstances. DIS-MISSED :::bam:::”. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2024, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-camping-advice/758732/144 "2024-07-26T01:14:42Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Yeah, I’ve been trying to figure out how one opens a can with a spoon. you barter the spoon for a can-opener? ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2024, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-camping-advice/758732/145 "2024-07-26T01:21:15Z")
Economist: “First, assume you have a can opener.” ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2024, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-camping-advice/758732/146 "2024-07-26T01:26:49Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > The P51 is somewhat superior- they are still issued in fact. yep, the 27 liter Merlin V12 engine never failed to open any can. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2024, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-camping-advice/758732/147 "2024-07-26T02:29:53Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Spoons are dull. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/MhfuuKiTcYQ/hqdefault.jpg "Cut your heart Out with a spoon") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhfuuKiTcYQ) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2024, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-camping-advice/758732/148 "2024-07-26T03:34:47Z")
[I see you’ve played knifey-spooney before.](https://youtu.be/mcE0aAhbVFc) ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2024, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-camping-advice/758732/149 "2024-07-26T14:01:43Z")
As always, there is a vast chasm between “camping” – we drive to a parking area with trees and bathrooms and put up a tent and cots, and a camp kitchen on the blacktop next to the car, and “camping” – we carried everything on our backs up a mountain to a pristine lake. For the first one, cans and something to open them with is standard. For the second one, there is no such thing as a can or a can opener, except maybe on the first day at the trail head, unless you have never done it before and don’t follow advice. Which is a lot of people, granted. Ultralite backpacking is now a well-established technology/skill. And that spoon would be plastic. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2024, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-camping-advice/758732/150 "2024-07-26T16:04:28Z")
Good point! People (generally) never take cans backpacking because they are too heavy and bulky, for one thing, and I do not think that is obsolete advice. You can pack freeze-dried or other compact and non-perishable foods. The spoon need not be plastic; a titanium spork-knife is reasonably light… ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2024, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-camping-advice/758732/151 "2024-07-26T16:25:00Z")
Forgot about titanium. And they are very reasonably priced these days. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2024, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-camping-advice/758732/152 "2024-07-26T18:05:25Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Ultralite backpacking is now a well-established technology/skill. What qualifies as light these days? I remember reading “_King Solomon’s Mines_”, set in the latter 19th century, where the protagonists had reached the backpacking stage. Experienced trekker\* Quartermain says that after eliminating everything that was not absolutely indispensible for survival five people were still carrying forty pounds each. \*not that kind of Trekker. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2024, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-camping-advice/758732/153 "2024-07-26T18:19:01Z")
My sister and her husband hiked the entire PCT with 25 lb packs, and that was at least 15 years ago. I went on a high Sierra trip with a kid whose dad was inventing ultralite camping equipment. Her pack weighed less than 10 lbs without food and water. Her one-person tent was also her sleeping bag, and her cooking kit was a prototype made out of a large beer can and a candle. Everything worked well. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2024, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-camping-advice/758732/154 "2024-07-26T19:54:25Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > The spoon need not be plastic; a titanium spork-knife is reasonably light… We use cheap bamboo spoons for our backpacking trips. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2024, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-camping-advice/758732/155 "2024-07-26T20:09:09Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > a titanium spork-knife is reasonably light… I have one of those and it has a couple other little things built in. > [@Lumpy](#): > > Experienced trekker\* Quartermain says that after eliminating everything that was not absolutely indispensible for survival five people were still carrying forty pounds each. How much was water? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2024, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-camping-advice/758732/156 "2024-07-26T20:11:39Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > How much was water? ~~I’m not sure it says~~. They did need to carry water with them because they were crossing a desert; but I figured that if they hadn’t needed to they would have found something else worth upping the packs to forty pounds each. ETA: specifically says “Five Cochrane’s water-bottles, each holding four pints.” Haggard possibly meant British pints which are larger? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2024, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-camping-advice/758732/157 "2024-07-26T20:24:41Z")
Yeah, with British pints, that’d be 25 pounds each right there, plus whatever the bottles weighed empty. A pint of clear water weighs a pound and a quarter. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2024, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-camping-advice/758732/158 "2024-07-26T20:31:55Z")
(cont.): here’s the full quote > Having thus disposed of our superfluous gear we arranged the kit we five—Sir Henry, Good, myself, Umbopa, and the Hottentot Ventvégel—were to take with us on our journey. It was small enough, but do what we would we could not get it down under about forty pounds a man. This is what it consisted of: > > - The three express rifles and two hundred rounds of ammunition. > > - The two Winchester repeating rifles (for Umbopa and Ventvégel), with two hundred rounds of cartridge. > > - Three “Colt” revolvers and sixty rounds of cartridge. > > - Five Cochrane’s water-bottles, each holding four pints. > > - Five blankets. > > - Twenty-five pounds’ weight of biltong (sun-dried game flesh). > > - Ten pounds’ weight of best mixed beads for gifts. > > - A selection of medicine, including an ounce of quinine, and one or two small surgical instruments. > > - Our knives, a few sundries, such as a compass, matches, a pocket-filter, tobacco, a trowel, a bottle of brandy, and the clothes we stood in. > > This was our total equipment, a small one, indeed, for such a venture, but we dared not attempt to carry more. As it was, that load was a heavy one per man to travel across the burning desert with, for in such places every additional ounce tells upon one. But try as we would we could not see our way to reducing it. There was nothing but what was absolutely necessary. Also, the first day (night, actually) of their journey they had three bearers, each bearer with a gallon of water. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2024, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-camping-advice/758732/159 "2024-07-26T20:33:55Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Yeah, with British pints, that’d be 25 pounds each right there, plus whatever the bottles weighed empty. A pint of clear water weighs a pound and a quarter. Since there were five in the party I’d presumed each member had one 4-pint bottle. But yeah, five pounds of water each though of course that got used up as they went. ETA: Wikipedia says the British pint is 568 mL, while the American liquid pint is 473mL. That fits a passage in _ **1984** _, where a pub goer was complaining that pints weren’t used anymore, a liter was too much and half a liter wasn’t enough. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2024, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-camping-advice/758732/160 "2024-07-26T21:38:48Z")
Cf. Adrian Mole’s list: 1 box cornflakes 2 pints milk box tea-bags tin rhubarb 5 lb spuds ½ lb lard ½ lb butter 2 loaves bread 1 lb cheese 2 packets biscuits 2 lb sugar toilet roll washing-up liquid 2 tins tuna l tin stewed steak 1 tin carrots (He decides to lighten the load by not packing the cornflakes and toilet roll.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-camping-advice/758732.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-camping-advice/758732.md?page=9)