I think this is one of the most multi-useful threads I've ever read. :)

Blow it up to use as a pillow.

Put crushable items (i.e. bread) inside and leave air in it so that items in your pack will not crush what is inside the dry sack. Keep in mind that things will still bounce around inside of the inflated dry sack.

Get a cinch sack and cut off the bottom to use as a ultra cheap rain skirt.

To add to the para cord thread, it makes a good fire starter.

Sorry, Denis, I'm not using my potty trowel as a spoon, but good idea for a tent stake. IMO a potty trowel would make a better stake than a tent stakes would make a potty trowel!
To rid a shirt of BO, hang it near campfire smoke, It will soon smell like smoke instead.
If your footwear still stinks when you get home, fill them with coffee beans for awhile. Throw out the beans or give them to someone else.
If you see a bandana on the ground, dropped by a female, do not pick it up...see Richard G's #10.
Tent stakes make nice handles for slingshots.

Edited by rambler on 12/08/2009 07:45:50 MST.

a tea infuser.

this works better for those that rely on I or Cl tabs, it works great for filtering dirty water into a nalgene for purification rather than the bandana you are wearing as well as takes a bit of the grit out of foraged teas and cowboy coffee.

1. Puffa jacket as warm-up jacket and with my quilt as part of my sleep system.
2. Bivy bag as bivy bag and waterproof stuff sack for the quilt (push bivy bag into bottom of pack with open end up, stuff quilt and puffa coat into bivy bag inside pack, twist end of bivy bag as a seal - forms a nice soft, not super compressed bottom half of my pack). Is also a pack "shelf" on which to load other items.
3. Sneakers as sneakers and night time bear spray/water bottle holder - always put one shoe on either side of my tarp, left is water, right is bear spray. Keeps everything organized and easy to grab in the dark when needed.
4. Trekking pole as trekking pole, tarp pole, camera monopod and sunglasses/flashlight holder when used as a tarp pole - easy grab for mini-flashlight at night and sunglasses in the morning.

Edited by james@patsalides.com on 12/09/2009 08:06:45 MST.

The pillow effect is only temporary though. Mine looses air after about 5 minutes! Though, I have a Granite Gear dry sack. Anyone have success with using these as pillows that last the night?

Hennessy has added a zipper to their hyperlight asym hammock tarp so it can double as a cape. I bought one and retired my beloved 8oz Equinox silnylon poncho. I still pack a 2 oz. plastic emergency poncho for use in camp when it's raining and the cape is doing duty as the tarp. So the net weight reduction is 6 oz.

That makes the effective weight of the hyperlight 20 oz. One of the most comfortable and lightest fully enclosed, double walled shelters going.

Oh, and it does duty as a pack cover too.

Edited by herman666 on 12/09/2009 20:30:56 MST.

I have a 16-oz wide-mounthed Nalgene. I made a cozy for it from some Reflectix. I use the Nalgene as a hot-water bottle to keep my toes warm, a coffee-maker/coffee cup, and shaker/mixer to mix my instant breakfast. To make coffee with it, I simply put a #4 coffee filter in the top with coffee grounds, pour in hot water.

I carry two of these.

The first one:

1) Stores my aluminum alcohol stove in the pack so it doesn't get crushed.

2) Is used as a pee potty at night when I'm tenting. (The stove is stored in a ziplock bag inside the container. And I wash the container after use. No yuck factor, as far as I'm concerned. Its marked with a "P" so the containers don't don't get mixed up.)

3) Wash and rinse clothes.

The other one is used to:

1) Mix and drink protein powder drinks, electrolyte drinks and coffee.

2) As a bowl for hot food.

3) To store cooked food overnight (in the bear bag) if I can't finish it all.

4) During the day it rides near the top of my pack with that days snacks and drink powders inside. Works great to keep the Snickers bars from being crushed.

5) I've also used it to make egg or tuna salad, and to carry small amounts of fresh food that might otherwise leak into the pack.

Edited by abbeybean on 02/02/2010 10:44:40 MST.

Uses:

1) The obvious one.

2) Clean my glasses.

3) Clean my cooking pot. I rinse the pot with a little water, scrape off the bits, drink the water, then wipe out with a little TP. No soap, no greasy bandanna or towel. Dispose of the TP by burning or burying, occasionally have to pack it out, but not often. Give the pot a thorough washing in town. This works well for me on the AT, might not work other places where disposal is an issue.

Tim,

>>the standard size (I think they are 22" square?) don't stay on my funky shaped melon very well<<

Welcome to my 7 and 7/8ths world. :-) Follow the link below to find 27" x 27", 100% cotton bandanas at $2.50 each.

http://www.wowtheminc.com/classic-color-bandanas.html

Copy and paste the link to your address bar and it should take you right to their website and the correct page.

They have become my hat of choice, floaties strainer, brow mop, emergency bandage/sling, lifesaver (hunter orange), last resort tinder, dustmask, cooling "rag", glasses wiper, flag to gain assistance, pot grabber and oh yes as a handkerchief! :-)

Party On ! 2010

Newton

Daughter sent me a kheffiyeh from Iraq. An awesome head AND neck wrap. Used it as a towel (on me first, then on the dog), strainer for floaties in water, rolled up lunch in it and tied it around my waist. Perfect size at 48"X48". Tassles look nice too!!!

Steve M.

Awesome.

One key thing to add on the Ziplock screw top container.

6) finish cooking food... by adding a reflectix cozy

The reflectix cozy's fit superbly under the lip of it too.

I do love this container. Uber light. Excellent coffee mug or food bowl, lighter then any other large mouth screw top container period. Easily held with one hand especially when insulated with a reflectix cozy. The poo idea weirds me a bit, but I had never thought about washing cloathes in it.

It occurs to me that all these uses parrallel a ziplock freezer bag... including use with a cozy, but then it's a whole heck of a lot safer when it comes to holding fluids then a ziplock freezer bag. And a whole lot better at protecting more delicate gear from crushing then a ziploc.

Thanks for posting that!

LOLs you're not alloud to say p*op on the backpacking light forum.

Edited by mmeiser on 03/28/2010 12:07:10 MDT.

Not P**p, Pee only. Are you allowed to say "pee"? In the tent at night if very cold, or very buggy. Confession: I have even used it in shelters a couple of times when the weather was nasty and no one was the wiser. I'm busted now.

I also use the container as a bird bath for myself. I have also used it to get water out of low water sources. Also you could use it in town if you wanted to microwave something. I am going to poach eggs next time out.

Again, if I use one to ingest something, it is the one dedicated to that use. The one with a "P" is used only to store the stove or wash clothes or myself (after the container itself is washed, of course).

I only carry one in warmer weather if I am hammocking without the stove - have to get out of the hammock to go, anyway.

Also, I tried a smaller one made by Glad and it was not watertight.

Edited by abbeybean on 02/03/2010 10:10:42 MST.

I'm with you on the alternative potty arrangments (can we say potty here?). I currently carry a plastic coffee container for that purpose when in a tent, and I'm going to switch to ziplock container now. I also frequently use a hammock so I just make sure I stop drinking any liquids three hours before bedtime. Because I hate getting up in the middle of the night once I'm warm and cozy.

I just use some cheap department store ankle socks. Use as socks, pot holder, pouches for little stuff in pack, mittens (easy on/off with the bunch of fabric in the heel, dries them out fast because they are in the air, and you don't need much grip for a hiking pole or while sleeping.

Lots of folks wear a beanie for when it gets cold. It might be a knit type or it might be a down type. I had some cheap non-woven nylon fabric, and it is good for making prototypes. Using that stuff, I made myself the outer shell of a beanie, but instead of making a permanent stretchy band around the bottom, I used a simple piece of thin elastic cord. The outer shell has no insulation of its own, but that is where I store my extra socks, bandana, or other excess cloth.

--B.G.--

Here is an excellent video on the many configurations of a Buff. Nice looking model to boot.

http://www.rei.com/rei/videos/Ooyala.jsp?embedCode=9nYmx3MTrp1asbNoiYpsEwYdIt0lvd3x&autoplay=1#ooid=9nYmx3MTrp1asbNoiYpsEwYdIt0lvd3x