Add some lively fun to your next backpacking trip with the Pacific Outdoor Equipment Pack Piñata Storage Bag ($46). Offering Fish, Frog, and Pig designs, it’s definitely not a boring to store your food.
The Pack Piñata is fully compressible, waterproof, and offers 1500+ cu. inches of storage space. It can easily be hoisted up a tree with an integrated hang tab, cord, and throw bag to keep your food away from bears and other animals.
Meet the Katadyn MyBottle Microfilter ($35), an even smarter reusable water bottle. The MyBottle Microfilter offers an internal carbon filter to reduce chemicals and improve taste. It meets EPA guidelines for removal of bacteria and protozoan cyst.
Each MyBottle Microfilter contains a drinking straw and should be used with water that’s already safe to drink. If you plan to use water that’s unverified to be safe to drink (i.e., rivers & streams), you can purchase the more expensive Katdayn MyBottle Purifier model. If you aren’t sure if you’ll need to purify water, you could always purchase the MyBottle Microfilter model and just get a replacement Katadyn purification cartridge when you need it.
We saw the REI Flash 18 Pack ($29.50) on the back of the latest REI catalog and immediately fell in love with it.
It’s a simple 1,100 cu. inch capacity pack that’s made of ripstop nylon and can be easily taken anywhere. It’s perfect to throw into your luggage to have a quick daypack on your next travel adventure.
Here’s some plusses:
Bottom line in our opinion, it looks like a pretty cool, relatively economical pack with high utility for traveling. Who wants to go on vacation now?
Following up on the previous Tanka post and getting some friendly nudging by @TankaBar_Linda, we decided to take the plunge and picked up a few Tanka Bars at our local REI.
We picked up two Tankas – one original and one Spicy Pepper Blend. Each one cost us $2.80 (yes we paid for 100% of the cost) and we were eager to see if the spicy pepper blend did indeed mix well with tart cranberries.
In fact we weren’t the only ones eager to check out the bars, our own office cat watched over the whole process.
We haven’t tried the Tanka Buffalo Cranberry Bar ($3) but we think the interesting combination could be quite tasty.
Featuring real American buffalo meat and dried cranberries, this on-the-go snack is low in fat and cholesterol. It offers a hot spicy pepper blend flavor to offset the tartness of the cranberries.
These bars also contain no trans fat, artificial preservatives, and are hormone-, gluten-, and dairy-free.
A great all around jacket is the new Patagonia Simple Guide Jacket ($119). This lightweight softshell offers recycled polyester, a Deluge DWR finish, and a microfleece-lined neck. It also offers wind resistance, moisture resistance, breathability, and weighs in at only 6.2 ounces.
Forget about s’mores, here’s a campsite treat that’s sure to be a hit with your young cub campers. The Coleman Dirt & Worms Dessert ($6) may look like the real thing but it’s really creamy chocolate pudding, a cookie crumb “dirt” topping, and gummy worms. Yum!
A great durable pack for hauling your equipment is the Mammut Trion Guide 45 Pack ($189). It offers 330-denier ripstop fabric, Butterfly suspension, and shaped shoulder straps.
It’s front pocket is reinforced and rubberized to carry crampons. It also has a reinforced ski carrier, detachable rope fixing strap, daisy chain, two removable ice axe attachments points, and compression straps.
Lastly, the Trion is hydration compatible with a reservoir sleeve and tube exit port.
