Bed Roll Cooker
On my last camping trip, I finally used my Bed Roll Cooker. And I’m glad I did. It worked out absolutely perfectly for that trip. The Bed Roll Cooker is offered by Dave Canterbury at the Pathfinder School. It weighs in at 13.35oz for the entire 4 piece set. There’s the main stake/rod, the pot hook, the grill, and the holder for the grill. The pot hook and grill holder both slide on the stake. Both can be on the stake at the same time.
Both pieces are held in place by friction and gravity. This allows you to adjust the height of each or swing them over the fire or away from the fire. The grill is small enough to make it packable yet gives you enough surface area to cook a decent sized steak. I typically only take a 5-6oz steak when I do and there’s enough room to put 2-3 comfortably on the grill at the same time.
I haven’t used the pot holder yet as I don’t currently have a pot with a bail handle. However, from testing it out at home, the hook extends out to about the middle of the grill. I plan on either modifying my pots or buying one with the bail handle to be able to utilize the pot hook.
USMC ILBE Main Ruck
What an incredibly robust pack this is. Yes it’s heavy, tipping the scales at around 10Lbs before anything else is added on. Yes, it’s got more straps than should be legal. However in the right application, you’ll be glad to have them.
This pack was specifically designed for the United States Marine Corps Infantry. Everything about this pack is geared towards that mission. As such, it has been built to carry mortar rounds and parts. The entire ruck set can carry up to 120Lbs of gear. Most civilians using this pack will likely never come close to the abuse it has been designed to absorb.
Now shortly after getting this pack in Sept 2021, I took to YouTube to learn as much as I could about it. I knew I wanted to modify it to better fit my mission. I’ve seen everything from people leaving it as is all the way to stripping everything off the pack.
In my opinion, if you’re going to remove everything off the pack, just go buy a commercially available lightweight backpacking pack. Leave the ILBE Ruck alone for those who will better appreciate it for what it is. In my opinion any changes made to this pack should be made for functionality not just for the sake of saving a few grams of weight.
Now, I do plan on making some changes to mine. I am going to upgrade the waist belt. There are a few straps I don’t use enough to make it worth keeping on. In addition some of the MOLLE webbing and miscellaneous bits that don’t detract from overall functionality will be removed.
Toaks Titanium 1300ml Pot Set
I finally got the all coveted titanium pot this year. I bought this one myself as a birthday gift to myself. I bought the Toaks brand because they came highly recommended and because of their reputation for quality.
On the Toaks website, there were a couple of pots that offered a pan that doubled as a lid. I ended up going with the 1300ml size because I like having the larger pot to cook with when I’m camping with friends. Also I liked the 5in pan it came with. I figured that size pan would be good for the majority of food I might cook in it.
So far, I’m not disappointed in this pot. While I haven’t used the pan just yet, I did splurge and got the lid to go with the set. The only thing I would do differently, would be to buy the one that has a bail handle.
Butane Stove
I picked this little stove up on a whim. I was perusing the camping aisle at my local Walmart and for about $12.00 I saw this in a box set with a couple other items. Thinking it might be a good budget deal, I bought it. The 2 main features that drew me in were the piezo igniter and wind screen around the flame.
After using this stove a number of times this year in various weather conditions, I’m proud of how well it’s performed so far. It is slightly bigger than the stove I used last year but that was expected for the price I paid coupled with the piezo igniter. I have plans to replace this stove with a lighter weight version with a slightly better flame pattern than this one has.
I need a flame pattern that disperses the flame a little more evenly for cooking with titanium. If you have a pot that’s not titanium, then this flame pattern doesn’t matter. On the titanium it creates a hot spot in the center which can burn the food in that area if you’re not careful.
Conclusion
This year I got my hands on a few new pieces of gear and I’m definitely pleased with my selections. The Bed Roll Cooker is absolutely perfect for my overnight trips when I don’t care as much about the weight I’m carrying, especially for my food. I would definitely recommend the Bed Roll Cooker to anyone looking for something like it. There’s a good chance this will replace my grill and tripod I had been carrying in previous years.
The ILBE Ruck is heavy, but designed to survive what the Marine Corps Infantry can throw at it. It’s roomy with more storage options than I’ll ever need. I got this pack for my eventual expansion into cold weather camping. I needed the extra room for some of the bigger and additional gear I’ll be carrying. When snow permits, it’ll be pulled in a pulk sled where weight will be less of a concern.
What can I say about the Toaks titanium pot set? So far it’s been amazing. Super strong, light weight, what’s not to like? I mean it’s titanium at a reasonably affordable price. Only down side, is you do get a hot spot at the point of the flame, so you do have to keep an eye on it to avoid burning your food.
The Walmart generic butane stove has performed better than expected for it’s price point. It’s first field use was very windy, cold, and rainy. Despite the odds, this stove performed exceptionally well. I can’t compare it yet to something similar at a higher price point yet, but I’ll let y’all know what I think when I do.
I don’t do this very often, however, this will be one of those rare times where I will say that I would recommend any of these products to anyone for camping, backpacking, bushcrafting, or any outdoor activity.
Links
The following links may not be to the EXACT gear pictured, however, will be to what I could find comparable to what I have and use. Some are a generalized search so you can pick exactly what you want or give you an idea what might be found at that retail store if it applies.
The Wandering Leatherneck 