Primitive Camping & Bushcraft

The 25-Pound Rucksack: What Gear Really Matters

Episode Summary

In this episode, Chris Speir walks through his journey of downsizing from a 75-liter overpacked setup to a streamlined 32-liter Rothco rucksack, breaking down what gear truly earns its weight. Along the way, he reflects on Jesus’ words from Matthew 6, challenging listeners to trim the fat not just from their packs—but from their hearts.

Episode Notes

Chris shares his honest process of rethinking his pack—what gear matters, what gets left behind, and why less is often more in both bushcraft and faith. He dives into the real-world testing of three different camping bags, reviews the Rothko European Rucksack, and explains why tools should serve, not define, a man. Scripture focus is Matthew 6:19–21.

Pull Start fire link: https://amzn.to/3ZkFqyQ

What You’ll Hear:

The problem with packing too much gear

Breakdown of three camping bag setups

Review of the Rothko Canvas Rucksack

What gear stayed and what got cut

A field-tested packing list under 25 pounds

A biblical challenge: pack lighter spiritually too

Why your real weight should be carried by Jesus

Mentioned Gear & Links:

Rothko European Rucksack

Pathfinder Bushpot + Skillet

Grille Geopress Filter

Nightcat Lay Flat Hammock

East Hills Jungle Explorer Hammock

Lucy Solar Lantern

Membrane Solutions Water Filter

Cold Steel Special Forces Shovel

Pull Start Fire (sponsor)

Challenge for the Week:
Lay out your gear—and your heart. Ask: what actually earns its weight?

Episode Transcription

(upbeat music)

 

Welcome to the Primitive

 

Camping at Bushcraft Podcast.

 

I'm your host, Chris Speir.

 

So here we're gonna

 

talk about gear, grit,

 

and the kind of stories

 

you only get around a fire.

 

It's all about learning, adapting,

 

and keeping your faith strong.

 

So whether you're a seasoned outdoorsman

 

or just looking to unplug and reconnect,

 

you're in the right place.

 

So pull up a chair by the

 

fire and let's get into it.

 

Have you ever looked around your gear

 

room and realized that

 

you've got more junk or

 

more tools or more gear than

 

you ever use on a single trip?

 

Or have you packed for a trip and

 

thought, "Why am I

 

carrying all this stuff?"

 

Well, congratulations.

 

That is what today's

 

episode is all about.

 

We are down here at the camp, what the

 

heck, and I got a fire

 

rolling in the foreground

 

and I did a video on the Pool Start Fire,

 

which is today's sponsor of this podcast,

 

is the Pool Start Fire.

 

If you haven't used these

 

things, these things are amazing.

 

You just go ahead and put them down.

 

It's kind of like a

 

firework of some sort.

 

It has a set end and a pool end and you

 

set one end to something

 

sturdy or firm into the

 

fire, or your fire pit, or

 

where you want to start your fire.

 

On the other end, you pool and when it

 

pools, it pops and it generates a fire.

 

These things will start wet wood on fire.

 

They will start dry wood on fire in a

 

hurry and these things are amazing.

 

The guys at Pool Start Fire always ask

 

me, "Hey, would you like

 

to try out a couple more?"

 

I'm like, "Yes, please.

 

Send them here."

 

Because I love doing it, especially if

 

you're going camping with kids.

 

They're amazing.

 

If you're trying to start a bonfire,

 

these things will work.

 

Not everything is going to be about

 

survival and bushcraft.

 

Sometimes, some things are just about the

 

convenience of having

 

something to do something

 

with.

 

You know what I mean?

 

If you know what I mean, leave a comment

 

or leave some kind of

 

something, engagement there.

 

Give me a thumbs up or

 

whatever on the podcasting now.

 

Anyway, last week I went, I made plans.

 

I was going to do a

 

whole episode on water today.

 

I changed gears because I went to an army

 

surplus store last

 

week and found a Rothko

 

European rucksack.

 

This thing, I got it

 

right here, right next to me.

 

It's pretty neat.

 

It's 32 liters.

 

It has two pockets on

 

the left and the right.

 

It has one pocket on the backside and

 

then it has an entire pocket on the top.

 

Then it's a bucket style rucksack where

 

you just fill that puppy up.

 

It has a drawstring

 

and you're good to go.

 

It has the handles.

 

It has a handle there on the top where

 

you can grab it, pick it

 

up, put it on your knee,

 

fling it around onto your

 

back like you're supposed to.

 

Then it has the draw straps or the carry

 

straps for shoulder

 

straps or whatever you want to

 

call them right there.

 

Everything is old latches.

 

It has a zipper.

 

It has two zippers.

 

Then it's got the old

 

style military latches.

 

It's 100% cotton.

 

It's 100% canvas.

 

It's made in India.

 

It's a pretty good little backpack.

 

But we're going to talk about the journey

 

that I've taken this

 

week with this rucksack.

 

As the fire is smoldering and giving off

 

some smoke and getting

 

rid of all the mosquito

 

bugs, godly man has summer hit in South

 

Mississippi already.

 

It is May.

 

That's today's episode.

 

May the 19th.

 

You may hear Ranger in

 

the background barking.

 

He has found another

 

turtle dug up into a tree.

 

Believe it or not, out here at Kent, what

 

the heck, I just found a mulberry tree.

 

I've never seen one in my lifetime.

 

51 plus years old.

 

I have never seen a real life mulberry

 

tree and I found one.

 

I tried some of the fruit out here today.

 

Let me tell you, that is the most amazing

 

berry I've ever ate.

 

It is sweet.

 

It is extremely sweet and juicy.

 

The seeds are not as bad as the

 

dewberries or blackberries.

 

Now the mulberry seeds are real small,

 

real fine, but they're

 

not as, what's the word

 

I'm looking for?

 

They're not as robust as the other ones.

 

All the other berries compared to it like

 

strawberries or raspberries or that such.

 

A mulberry is amazing.

 

I just tried it a while ago for the first

 

time and it was awesome.

 

I kept wondering why does this flock of

 

birds keep landing in

 

this tree and then flying

 

off.

 

Well, it was Cedar Wax Wings.

 

They fly over there and they eat all the

 

berries, all the ripe

 

ones, and then they fly over

 

and they eat all the ripe

 

ones off the cherry tree.

 

I got wild cherries out here.

 

I got apparently now bulb berries.

 

I got possum grape.

 

I got muscadine, muscadine, whatever you

 

want to call it,

 

blackberries, dewberries, you

 

name it.

 

I got all kinds of stuff.

 

I even got the elderberries growing all

 

over the place behind

 

me and in front of me.

 

I didn't cut those down when I was

 

building the camp because

 

I want to do some videos

 

and some episodes on making that

 

elderberry cough syrup or

 

swamp syrup or whatever you

 

want to call it.

 

Anyway, let's get back

 

to the actual rucksack.

 

I spent a lot of time this

 

week working on this bag.

 

I actually spent way too much because I

 

went on a trip a

 

couple weeks ago with Dave.

 

We went kayaking down the Black Creek

 

here in South Mississippi.

 

The Black Creek Wilderness Area is an

 

amazing little place.

 

It is a national treasure.

 

It is a national park and

 

not really a national park.

 

What's that?

 

A national forest, but it has a

 

wilderness area inside

 

this national forest that it's

 

got a trail where you

 

can hike through it.

 

You can camp in there and stuff.

 

It's a national forest type deal.

 

I love this place.

 

When you go out into it, there's no trash

 

laying around like in other places.

 

It's a beautiful national resource and it

 

is truly the wilderness

 

here in South Mississippi.

 

I love camping out there.

 

I love hiking out there.

 

I love just boating out

 

there with the kayaks.

 

The river is a little too low for you to

 

take a flat bottom boat

 

or anything that I normally

 

would, but the vibe kayaks and all that

 

are great for these trips.

 

We did an overnight trip and we get out

 

there and I have a 75 liter.

 

If you know anything about me, if you've

 

been following me for a

 

while, you know that I

 

use the Amazon Basics Hiking Backpack.

 

I love this thing for the money.

 

For $100, you get a robust 75

 

liter up to 75 liter backpack.

 

I think it's a 65, but

 

then you can convert it by...

 

It has a little chute that you can pull

 

out and extends it by 10 liters.

 

That sounds like a lot, but really when

 

you're going on an

 

extended trip, that can be taken

 

up real quick.

 

Let me explain why.

 

Because once you get into...

 

You start putting tents or you start

 

putting lay flight hammocks

 

or you start putting sleep

 

systems and stuff like that inside your

 

bag or on your bag or

 

whatever, it starts taking

 

up a lot of room real fast.

 

It really starts taking up a lot of room.

 

I've noticed that I love the

 

Nightcat Lay Flight Hammock.

 

I use the Lay Flight Hammock and I really

 

like it because one,

 

you're still in a hammock,

 

but two, it's Lay Flight,

 

you're up off the ground.

 

Now, I have yet in my lifetime been

 

laying up on the

 

ground in the summertime.

 

Well, typically I don't go camping too

 

much in the summertime,

 

but I have yet to be out

 

there and had snakes nestle up to me or

 

snuggle up to me in

 

the middle of the night.

 

I like to be off the ground because of

 

the bugs and stuff like that.

 

Bugs in Mississippi is a sad reality.

 

I mean, it is an expectation out here.

 

You are going to get bugs, aren't you?

 

But, especially out there where we were

 

camping, they had some

 

wolf spiders that were as big

 

as your palm.

 

These things were huge and they're quick.

 

They run everywhere and they're going to

 

investigate everything.

 

But once you get into the woods, you

 

start realizing, "I

 

don't need this much gear."

 

Once you get out there into the woods,

 

you start realizing,

 

"Hey, my backpack is too

 

big.

 

I don't need a pack that carries all this

 

stuff," especially if

 

you're going on an overnight

 

trip.

 

The majority of my

 

stuff is one, two days.

 

At this point in my life, I have time for

 

Monday, Tuesday, and

 

I've got to be home on

 

Wednesday.

 

So I've got those two days

 

in the week that I go and do.

 

That's when I do all my filming.

 

That's when I do all my recording.

 

And Wednesday, I spend

 

all day usually editing.

 

Thursday is reserved for the grandbaby,

 

Thursday and Fridays.

 

Then Saturday and Sunday, I spend with my

 

family, my wife, and I

 

go to church and spend

 

time with my church family.

 

So that's it.

 

My weeks are jam full and jam packed.

 

And so Monday and Tuesday is really all

 

the time I got to go camping.

 

Now, of course, during hunting season, I

 

make time to go on

 

extended trips and stuff like

 

that.

 

But for the general, for the most part

 

throughout the year, I am typically an

 

overnight or two-nighter

 

guy.

 

Just because of scheduling purposes.

 

It's not to say.

 

I have done my 10, 8, 10,

 

12-day backpacking trips.

 

I've done 10-day

 

survival trips, stuff like that.

 

And I built a bunch of experience off of

 

these trips that I have

 

taken in my past that now

 

I don't have to prove anything to anyone

 

or myself because I

 

know I can do it and I've

 

done it.

 

So I started off with this 75 liter

 

hiking pack from Amazon.

 

It's an Amazon Basics.

 

I'm going to try to remember to leave the

 

links in the description.

 

But anyway, this thing is on my site.

 

It's on my link page.

 

It's links at spearoutdoors.com.

 

It's on there.

 

It is in my affiliate

 

gear and stuff like that.

 

So it's on my Amazon page for sure.

 

It's on my spear outdoors.

 

So I got this backpack.

 

The reason I got it is because when I

 

first started, I was a real big tightwad.

 

And I like many other people.

 

I don't have the money to go spend

 

hundreds and hundreds of dollars on gear.

 

And that's not the point in going and

 

enjoying yourself is

 

spending exuberant amounts of

 

money on gear.

 

You don't have to do that

 

in order to enjoy yourself.

 

You don't have to do

 

that to have a good time.

 

And that's what I've been trying to

 

convey with the whole

 

Primitive Camp in the Bushcraft

 

book.

 

Now, I got this

 

backpack and I've used it.

 

And it works wonders.

 

It does great.

 

Is it the best bag out there?

 

Absolutely not.

 

It's only 100 bucks.

 

But for 100 bucks, you get your money's

 

worth out of this pack.

 

And so from there, I purchased the

 

Pathfinder Scout Pack.

 

It's a 35 liter bag.

 

I kind of downsized a little bit.

 

And I like it.

 

I like it.

 

It is the bucket style backpack.

 

It's got a flip lid, all that stuff and

 

compression straps

 

and all that good stuff.

 

But it is a good bag.

 

It's a good sack.

 

But I found this Rothko Canvas Rucksack.

 

It's the European Rucksack.

 

And dude, let me tell you, this thing is

 

pretty much the only

 

drawback to this bag that I

 

have found so far is the waterproofing.

 

It is not waterproof, not water resistant

 

or anything like that.

 

It's 100% cotton.

 

So it's going to suck up any kind of

 

water it comes in

 

contact with and it's going to

 

soak through.

 

Now, that's not to say you cannot

 

waterproof this thing.

 

And we're going to attempt that.

 

This bag was $30, 32 bucks.

 

And for the price, this

 

32 liter bag is amazing.

 

But I'm not trying to sell it to you.

 

I'm just trying to tell you that I found

 

a bag that works for me

 

and I am going to spend

 

the rest of this episode telling you why.

 

So here's where I started.

 

I started off with the 75 liter backpack.

 

Then I moved down to the Pathfinder.

 

And then now I found the

 

Rothko Canvas Rucksack.

 

You know, it's solid bags.

 

But I was throwing too

 

much stuff in these things.

 

And I was throwing skillets in there.

 

I was throwing percolators, pots.

 

I might use several

 

knives, blah, blah, blah.

 

Oh, different variations of sleeping gear

 

and all this stuff

 

that when I get out there,

 

I wasn't going out there on

 

purpose with one thing in mind.

 

I was going out there with maybe I could

 

use this, maybe I couldn't.

 

And being a content creator and you're

 

filming videos of the such,

 

a lot of times it is you're

 

going out there on purpose.

 

And I was not doing that.

 

I was going out there with things in

 

mind, but I wasn't

 

fulfilling everything that I

 

went out there with.

 

So I was weighing my gear bag down.

 

I was weighing my bag down with excess

 

stuff that was irrelevant

 

for what I was going for.

 

So I did this this week.

 

I did this this week and it's taken me

 

13, 14 plus years to finally do this.

 

I laid everything out on the floor and I

 

asked one question,

 

what will I actually use?

 

What is going to earn its weight?

 

That question pondered on it a lot this

 

week and I looked at

 

everything that I had.

 

In the book, I have all the

 

gear laid out on that thing.

 

All that gear fits in one bag.

 

All that gear is redundant and it was to

 

demonstrate what you

 

could bring with you.

 

So when you see it pictured in the book,

 

that is not my

 

recommendation of what to bring.

 

It's what you could bring.

 

There's multiple systems, different water

 

filtration systems,

 

different sleeping systems,

 

different, you know, cutting systems,

 

stuff like that in there.

 

So it was giving you an

 

idea of what to bring.

 

But all that stuff fit in a 75 liter bag.

 

But here's the deal.

 

I finally laid it all out and said what

 

actually earns its weight.

 

So the answer was not much.

 

Not much.

 

That is what earned its

 

weight inside my bag this time.

 

So what I did is I

 

built three different bags.

 

All right, listen to me.

 

I have so many pots.

 

I have so many sleep systems.

 

I have so many hammocks.

 

I have so many tents.

 

I've got stuff over the past seven, eight

 

years that people

 

have sent me to do videos

 

on gear and stuff like that.

 

I don't get paid to do videos.

 

I get gear to do videos.

 

They send me the gear.

 

I film a video, put it on my thing.

 

If I like it, I like it.

 

If I don't, I don't.

 

If I like it, I'll post it.

 

If I don't like it, I won't post it.

 

There are so many gear videos that I have

 

not filmed and posted

 

because I'm not going

 

to sit there and

 

recommend something to you guys.

 

Any of my following on any of my

 

platforms, if it does not

 

work, I'm not going to recommend

 

it.

 

It's just like the pull start fire.

 

It seems like a gimmick.

 

Yes, it does.

 

It's great for the kids.

 

It's great for the outdoors.

 

It's great, but it does work.

 

It is handy.

 

It has its purpose.

 

It will work in any kind

 

of situation that you need.

 

You need to light a barbecue pit.

 

There you go.

 

Pull start fire.

 

You need to light a bonfire for 4th of

 

July or for the winter time or whatever.

 

There you go.

 

Pull start fire.

 

Dude, a pull start

 

fire is a good product.

 

That's why I don't mind recommending it.

 

I really don't mind

 

recommending it and I will recommend it.

 

I got one bag that is the Rothko.

 

I got it down to between 23 and 25 pounds

 

depending on the food that I bring.

 

There's Ranger digging

 

for his turtle again.

 

I can hear him barking.

 

So anyway, Rothko, I got the Rothko bag

 

down to 23 to 25 pounds

 

depending on the food.

 

It is stripped down.

 

It is ready to go and it is extremely

 

lightweight and ready.

 

Now I got one for sleeping on the ground.

 

I got the same idea but a

 

different sleep system inside it.

 

I use the Pathfinder Scout

 

because it is a 35 liter bag.

 

So I got the same kind of thing but I got

 

it geared up for sleeping on the ground.

 

Now don't worry.

 

Don't worry.

 

Some of the things in the Rothko is going

 

to be interchanged

 

like the water filtration

 

system.

 

I'm going to be moving over

 

my Grille GeoPress to that.

 

It goes with me

 

everywhere I go in the outdoors.

 

And so the Grille

 

GeoPress is the premier.

 

It is my way to go, way to filter water.

 

And I also carry my membrane solution

 

water filtration system with me as well.

 

But when you start getting into weight is

 

where you start adding

 

pots and pans and heavy

 

items like that.

 

So now I got one made with the Rothko.

 

I got one with the Pathfinder and that is

 

used for sleeping on the ground.

 

The Rothko has a hammock in there.

 

Now I have the big one.

 

And the big one is going to have my

 

Nightcat Lay Flight hammock.

 

And it is a heavy bag.

 

The bag itself is like 10 pounds.

 

So the bag for the bag itself with the

 

hammock in it is like 10 pounds.

 

And so this is a heavy

 

bag or a heavy sleep system.

 

I'm trying to explain that.

 

Just blew my mind.

 

But anyway the Nightcat is heavy.

 

But it is awesome.

 

It is the best sleep I've had.

 

And what I really like about the Nightcat

 

is that though it is a

 

Lay Flight hammock it

 

is also a ground tent.

 

You can use it on a one person tent.

 

You can lay it on a cot

 

and sleep on it on a cot.

 

You can lay it on the ground as a tent.

 

You can hang it up as a hammock.

 

And it is so versatile.

 

And I'll take that for longer stays.

 

And that's usually going to be if I'm

 

going on the river with a boat.

 

Now I'm taking the boat and we're going

 

down on the river or

 

we're going somewhere.

 

We have some kind of transportation or

 

conveyance to bring us

 

to where we need to go.

 

That is going to go with me.

 

And during the winter time typically I

 

use a boat to get to where I'm going.

 

And I will camp within 150-200 yards from

 

where I parked my boat.

 

And you know off grid out

 

there in the middle of nowhere.

 

So that 75 that's the

 

difference between the three packs.

 

Other than that the items are pretty much

 

going to be the same.

 

I have the same kind of pots, redundant

 

pots, redundant pans.

 

I've got a huge swath of pots and pans.

 

I have a massive collection

 

of pots and pans for camping.

 

It's ridiculous how much money and how

 

much gear I've spent on that.

 

So we're going to get to

 

what stayed and what got cut.

 

So here's what stayed.

 

In my bag right now as it sits, the

 

Rothko, I have the

 

Pathfinder Bushpot and Nesting

 

Cup.

 

It is because they do the job.

 

I have yet to find bush pots

 

that work as hard as these do.

 

I have found several of them.

 

You know they're expensive and

 

I haven't pulled the trigger.

 

But for $100 you can

 

get the entire thing.

 

You can get a bush pot

 

that holds a gallon of water.

 

You can get a 2 quart and then you can

 

get a 27 ounce bush pot or nesting cup.

 

And then inside that you get a 10 inch

 

skillet and then you get a grill.

 

And that's the whole

 

Woodland Chef series.

 

So that is worth the money.

 

That is worth the money.

 

So I purchased that.

 

I got the Pathfinder Bushpot set with the

 

Nesting Cup because they do the job.

 

The grill water filter

 

is fast and reliable.

 

That thing is going

 

with me everywhere I go.

 

It is going to go in my bag.

 

I'm going to bring one good knife.

 

I'm going to bring a Laplander, Baco

 

Laplander Folding Saw.

 

And then I got a Fairrod based, the all

 

weather fire starter.

 

And so this thing is a Fairrod magnesium

 

block and it will start fires in whatever

 

environment.

 

Alright, so what got cut?

 

The Heavy Lay Flight

 

Hammock got taken out of this.

 

The propane stove and bottle.

 

I did have that in there just because I

 

was doing videos on this.

 

And so it was redundant.

 

It was not needed.

 

You don't need a propane stove and then

 

pots and pans and then a

 

grill and then all this

 

other stuff.

 

So let's talk about what

 

is in my bag right now.

 

So right now the Rothko

 

bag, I have a $7 hiking grill.

 

Alright, hear me out.

 

These grills are amazing.

 

Do you need one?

 

No, not all the time.

 

Do you, is it weight?

 

Not too much.

 

I think this thing

 

weighs about 3 ounces tops.

 

Now here's the thing about this grill is

 

that it is big enough to cook on.

 

You don't have to cut down any other

 

trees to make potcrains

 

or anything like that.

 

And you can, but you don't have to.

 

And it is great to cook on.

 

I mean, you can, I just used one in a

 

camping trip and buddy,

 

let me tell you, it changes

 

a lot of things because you could break

 

your coals out up

 

underneath it, put your meat

 

on top of it or do whatever you're

 

cooking, put your pot on

 

there, you know, and so it

 

is worth it.

 

So that's what I took

 

with me on this one.

 

Then I got the East Hills Outdoors Jungle

 

Explore tent system or hammock system.

 

Now this is a double

 

hammock because I like my room.

 

I can't stand claustrophobic anything.

 

I do suffer from

 

claustrophobia, panic attacks.

 

So I do, it will put me in

 

a panic attack real quick.

 

So I do have the East Hills Outdoors.

 

It has Jungle Explore and it has the bug

 

net to it and it is a

 

robust hammock and I used

 

it in several of the videos.

 

I've used it in several photographs in

 

the book and that is an

 

awesome hammock system.

 

I have a double D three by three tarp in

 

there and then I have,

 

after that, that's my sleeping

 

system.

 

That's my shelter.

 

I have 100 feet of paracord.

 

I have a Lucy

 

empowered laner, solar laner.

 

All right.

 

Now I can't explain to you the value of a

 

three ounce solar laner.

 

It is very comforting to have at night

 

where you can light up

 

your camp where you don't

 

have to burn the batteries in your

 

flashlight and this

 

thing recharges in the sun.

 

All right.

 

And it weighs only three ounces.

 

So from that I have the

 

BACO Latlander Folding saw.

 

I have the Bushcraft BPS knife.

 

I have the all weather fire starter and

 

let me pull this over.

 

I have my Cold Steel Special Forces

 

shovel and the reason

 

why I take that instead of

 

a hatchet is because that shovel has

 

sharpened edges around it

 

to where you can actually

 

cut with it.

 

You can dig with it.

 

You can and it is a great tool and I'm

 

going to be doing plenty

 

of videos with that thing

 

and I've used it for years.

 

I've had it for several

 

years and I've used it.

 

It's never let me down and a lot of times

 

I'll just take it and throw it and it'll

 

stay in the bottom of the boat or on the

 

four wheeler or whatever

 

until I get to where I'm

 

going.

 

So what I'm doing now is I am literally

 

undoing the straps of

 

this thing because I forgot

 

everything that I put in it.

 

And I typically do that because I don't

 

know why I have so much

 

stuff going on my mind.

 

Alright so inside this pack we've already

 

discussed what kind

 

of sleep system I have

 

and now I got my food.

 

Inside my food bag I have a can of roast

 

beef or can of beef you

 

know it's roast beef and

 

it's fully chomped

 

fully cooked roast beef.

 

I have a can of spam.

 

I have four packs of grits.

 

I have let me open it up.

 

I have two packs of

 

the ready to eat pasta.

 

Rotini pasta or whatever it's called.

 

Pignet pasta I am sorry.

 

And then I have the primitive camping and

 

bushcraft blend

 

coffee and I have a couple

 

of packs of let's see this stuff I made

 

is like gravy and it is my own recipe.

 

A freeze dried beef stroganoff you know

 

it has some beef gravy

 

in it or some brown gravy

 

in it.

 

It has some freeze

 

dried mushrooms in there.

 

It has some sour cream powder in there

 

and then it has some

 

freeze dried beef in there

 

and I cook that up and I mix it in with

 

the can of roast beef

 

and then I pour it over

 

them noodles.

 

So I have two things I love.

 

I love snack foods whenever I'm out

 

camping and so I got two

 

packages of right here.

 

There you go.

 

I got two packages of corn nuts.

 

Corn nuts.

 

The ranch flavored corn nuts and those

 

things are awesome and

 

they give you something to

 

chew on and they satisfy that snack.

 

Alright then I got my pathfinder skillet

 

and I got the pathfinder skillet.

 

I got the pathfinder two quart pot and

 

then the 27 ounce cup.

 

Now after that I have

 

my lock me tool roll.

 

It's my lock me tool roll and that has

 

like all my spoons and

 

seasonings and everything

 

for cooking.

 

Alright now that's

 

everything that's inside that bag.

 

Now we'll move to the top compartment.

 

Now on the top compartment up here that's

 

where I have the

 

Lucian powered laner, the

 

solar laner.

 

I have a one gallon dirty water bag.

 

Alright now this is the reason I have

 

this it's folded up and

 

it don't weigh anything

 

but it allows me to carry

 

around bulk dirty water.

 

Now on my grill geopress

 

I have a mill bank bag.

 

I purchased a mill bank bag from Camp

 

Craft Outdoors that is for the geopress.

 

It fits nests around the geopress.

 

I held it all together with a carabiner

 

and then that thing

 

stays with it and it extends

 

the life of all your

 

filters and everything.

 

So whenever I collect my dirty water I

 

will use the mill bank

 

bag to fill this one gallon

 

jug up.

 

And then from there I got a pair of

 

leather gloves, I have a

 

fire kit, I have a map and

 

compass and let's see

 

here Chris what you got.

 

Oh black beard fire plugs and that's it.

 

That is all that is in my pack and the

 

pack weighs between 23 and 25 pounds.

 

And that is everything that is in the bag

 

and it is extremely lightweight.

 

It is very movable, it's portable and you

 

can carry it long

 

distances without your bat

 

really giving out.

 

Now I've carried 40 pounds over 5 miles

 

and thought I was going

 

to die by the time I got

 

to the 5th mile.

 

But 25 pounds, 23 pounds is not that bad.

 

So you know this downsizing this thing

 

has really reminded me

 

that Jesus said in Matthew

 

6 verses 19 through 21, He said, "Do not

 

store up for yourselves

 

treasures on earth where

 

moth and rust destroy.

 

And where thieves break in and steal, but

 

store up for yourself treasures in heaven

 

for where your treasure is there your

 

heart will be also."

 

Now I think gear can become a treasure.

 

I think that we can start storing this

 

gear up and looking like

 

oh I need this, oh I need

 

that, oh I need this.

 

So don't get me wrong tools matter.

 

I mean in your backpack and everything

 

that you do outdoors

 

your tools really do matter.

 

But when they take the place of trust or

 

when our identity gets

 

wrapped up in how we bushcraft

 

or how we look we've traded

 

the eternal for the earthly.

 

We stored our treasures up here instead

 

of storing our treasures up in heaven.

 

So I trimmed the fat.

 

I trimmed the fat in my gear.

 

I trimmed the fat in my heart.

 

And I want to be the kind of man that

 

packs light because his

 

real weight is being carried

 

by Jesus.

 

So I got a challenge for this week.

 

So here's my challenge to you.

 

Lay your gear out.

 

Lay all of it out.

 

Lay all your gear out and

 

ask what do I actually need?

 

What do I actually need

 

to pack in my backpack?

 

And do the same thing with your heart.

 

What are you carrying

 

around that's just weight?

 

What are you carrying with you that you

 

really don't need to be carrying?

 

And let it go.

 

Start packing lighter.

 

Store your treasures up in heaven.

 

Start packing lighter.

 

If this episode helped

 

you out, please let me know.

 

Let me know.

 

And if you want to break down of what the

 

actual gear that I have in each one of my

 

packs, just let me know.

 

I just went over all the gear that is

 

outlined in the Rothko

 

32 liter canvas rucksack.

 

But I'll post everything

 

on my site on Facebook.

 

I'll post it in the primitive camp in the

 

bushcraft Facebook group.

 

And if you really want to know all the

 

gear that I carry with

 

me, just let me know.

 

If you have ideas, just spit them out.

 

Don't chew on.

 

Alright, so until next time, keep your

 

boots dirty and keep your Bible over.

 

In all your ways acknowledge him and I'll

 

see you in the next podcast.

 

God bless you.

 

Thanks for sitting

 

around the fire with me today.

 

If this episode gave you something to

 

think about, if it

 

helped you feel a little bit

 

more prepared or it even stirred your

 

faith a tiny bit, go ahead

 

and share it with someone

 

else who might need it as well.

 

We don't go camping

 

to run away from life.

 

We come out here to

 

slow down and to recharge.

 

So grab another log, throw it

 

on the fire and remember this.

 

In all your ways acknowledge him and he

 

will direct your path.

 

I'll see you next time.

 

God bless you.