Lol it’s a delicate balance but there’s a line you cross where you’re at least basically prepared until you cross the line where you’re over prepared. These guys didn’t get to the first line.

I remember hiking out to the tea house at 7 glaciers in Banff. It starts out a simple paved walkway, then turns into a wide dirt path before turning into a pretty difficult trail. Having done some research I knew what to expect. Walking back we passed by people in flip flops or wearing slacks holding a 12oz water bottle. They hadn’t turned around when it got harder and they still had miles to go. Felt like telling them to turn around but some people will be stupid regardless.

100% correct. You trim fat and upgrade gear as you gain experience. Jesus the shit I used to pack. Once you do a 14 mile hike carrying shit you realize you were never going to need you don’t bring it the next time.

Water goes from stream to nalgene. Iodine goes in the bottle. Water then goes into jet boil where it is boiled then put into camp food pack. Was just listing all the things I actually needed to eat and drink.

Years of hiking and backpacking and camping you learn what you will need, what you might want to have with you and what you probably don’t need. Again, experience can replace a lot of gear, either by realizing what sort of gear you actually need or eliminating that piece entirely. I’ve made a lot of mistakes and still make them but every time you go back out you do things differently, better. And I can honestly say I would never bring a stainless steel water bottle on a hike. To me that’s like bringing your camera, your laptop and CD player when you could just bring your phone. Why carry all that when I could bring a nalgene and a jet boil for the same weight and it’s easier to use that way?

It’s the people who have a false sense of knowledge who think they know what they’re doing out there and think they’re making the right choices on gear, route, etc that end up needing a dangerous rescue. It’s a false sense of experience and you can see that come out when someone says stuff like they’d bring a heavy stainless steel water bottle and use it to cook. Experienced people will scratch their heads at that. Knowledge comes from experience. Either your own or from talking to others with experience.

When I was backpacking in Indian Peaks a few months ago I had my jet boil, my iodine tabs, my nalgene and my spoon. Had several days worth of dehydrated camp food. That was more than enough for all my eating and drinking needs. My nalgene and jet boil and bottle of iodine together weigh less than my stainless yeti. Definitely would have been overkill. Like trekking poles on the sidewalk overkill. Over time you will replace a lot of gear based on experience. I’d never feel the need to hike with a stainless bottle. Have one for car camping and it’s nice.

Hey more power to ya if you wanna haul that around.

Considering a small bottle of iodine tablets lasts months I’d say you have a lot bigger things to worry about if you have to resort to boiling water out of a bottle because you ran out. I spend most of my time in the backwoods of CO and carrying a stainless steel water bottle is overkill. If I’m that lost in the woods that I run out of iodine then I’m just drinking the water regardless.

I’ve done 14 of the 14ers here in CO. All I ever bring is a 3L CamelBak, some snacks and maybe an extra shell jacket and even all that doesn’t get all used. Some people replace experience with gear and find themselves in sticky situations.

That’s a shitload of excess weight that’s completely not necessary when a simple lightweight, plastic nalgene will work.