Backpacking In A Belted Plaid - A Question Revisited

[TheOfficialBren]

Right on, mate. Have fun and stay safe. Experimental reconstruction can be a lot of fun!

[Alan H]

I'd say, from my umpty-ump years of backpacking in California, that choosing to backpack in a great kilt is not a good idea. There are reasons that people in the outdoors wear goretex, etc. Not that I have anything against wool. I usually carry along a pair of wool pants, despite the outrageous weight, if we go for a late Fall trip and I'm pretty sure it's going to get down into the 30's or 40's. Also, I wear a digital camo kilt when I backpack, and I've backpacked in a USA Kilts casual model, which is a 4-yard poly-viscose job that closes with velcro. So I'm not "anti-kilt + backpacking".

I figure, if you're going to do this from the historical re-enactment point of view, then wear a linen leinte under your breacan feile, and go barefoot, and your pack will have no frame and will be a simple canvas bag. Don't carry a stove or matches, if you want to start a fire, learn how to do it from friction or other heat source. Don't carry any prepared food besides maybe jerky and dried fruit. Don't carry rain gear, as you know, wool keeps you warm when it's wet. Don't filter your water to remove giardia protozoans. No tent, no sleeping bag...maybe a wool blanket. No first aid kit.

No thanks....not this grasshopper.. But hey, if you wanna, then go for it.

[Alan H]

I should clarify....when I think of "backpacking" I think of multi-day, multi-night outings where I am out in the wilderness with one other person, maybe two other people and anywhere from 5-30 miles away from the trailhead. I'm going to hike between 4-10 miles in a day. An overnight trip where I hike in 3 miles to a nice lake, spend one night and the lake is just off a fairly busy trail that gets a couple of hikers an hour, and hike out the next morning, is technically backpacking, but it's kind of on the edge.

I personally think that an overnight like that, done barefoot, with next-to-nothing with me rather like how the 17th century Highlanders might do it, might be fun in good summer weather. However, a 7 day outing that takes me 25 miles from the trailhead, out of cell phone range and off of any sort of main trail....with that minimal sort of kit, is just asking for serious trouble.

Car camping is where we drive up to within 100 feet of our campsite, unload 200 pounds of stuff and then (maybe) move the car. There might be a rock or steel woodstove or barbeque on-site, or not. In this case, wear whatever you like, go barefoot, whatever floats your boat. This is what all our local Nor Cal re-enactor groups do.


NOTE: last year, hiking out from our summer 35-miler we came across a family hiking in, and the teenage girl, who looked very much the TEENAGER.....was hiking barefoot. yeowch!!!

[Dale Seago]

Alan, I do like the concept but you lost me at giardia. . .

[Clockwork]

Alan, there's no need to worry my friend; I'm not aiming for anything as impractical as you described. While I do enjoy going unshod in the wilderness, I avoid it for the most part around here. I believe Pennsylvania has more cases of Lyme disease than any other. So, high boots work for me in the brush. But I digress; I find the great kilt appealing for the sake of saving space and possibly weight. I figure that if I could comfortably wear a great kilt with a pack, I could leave the pants, jacket, and sleeping bag/blanket at home. Weight wise, it might be equal to those three items, but it would certainly save space and the makeshift pockets could serve me well. I'll be testing something else new too; a Clark Jungle Hammock. I tried laying in one a friend of mine owns and it is simply brilliant. If you've not heard of or seen them, I recommend checking it out (and while you're at it, check its weight and dimensions when packed). I don't think I'll be going back to tents anytime soon.

I don't plan on trying any kind of historical reenactments; I just find the great kilt's diversity appealing. As I had mentioned earlier in this thread, I don't go to one extreme or the other in terms of modern vs historical, I make use of whatever I find can serve me best.

Cheers,
-Jake

[Alan H]

Having never hiked in Pennsylvania, I can hardly comment, but I'd say this - try it out on an overnight in good weather, first. I mean....no sleeping bag, no tent, no blanket and your only insulation is a great kilt? OK, what I'm going to say is not politically correct here on the forum, but I'm just going to say it. I suspect that the "romance of the kilt" is outweighing your common sense.

Maybe you can get away with it in Pennsylvania. I probably could get away with it 6 trips out of 10 here in the Sierra Nevada. As long as the weather holds and the temperature doesn't drop, then...fine. But let's take my last backpacking trip at 7800-8,000 feet for example, this past summer. One day, 15 miles in from the trailhead, we left camp for a day hike to another lake. While there, we noticed storm clouds coming in. I wasn't unduly concerned, we had parkas and microfleece, and the campsite was pretty well secured, back at the lake. When we started hiking out, the temperature dropped a good 20 degrees in about an hour, and it dumped rain and then hailed for an hour. We had lightning strikes within 500 yards of us. My cotton kilt was soaked but my upper body was OK, because it was encased in goretex. The storm passed over in about 3 hours leaving everything soaking wet, though our packs were fine, they were stashed inside plastic bags.

That night, a pretty good breeze came up and the temperature stayed low. Evaporation kept the tent surface seriously cold for several hours until it finally dried out. However I got into our tent and into a nice down bag, rated to 20 degrees, and woke up the next morning to sunshine and another lovely day in the summertime Sierra Nevada.

If I'd had no bag, no tent, no parka, and had to spend the night in my wonderful re-enactors great kilt.....because you see, wool keeps you warm when you're wet.....

I might be dead.

At the very least, I'd have spent an incredibly miserable, cold, wet night.

Sure, the year before we had great weather the entire trip...we usually go in August. It's been 5-6 years since we had to deal with significant rainfall and even then, they were mostly just summertime rain for an hour-then-gone. No biggie. But it just takes ONE....

Anyway, so I suggest trying it, first, in really good weather before taking the plunge. You may not have to deal with issues like what I just described in Pennsylvania, so maybe I'm just blowing hot air, here. Seriously, I don't know the conditions that you backpack in, so I could be way off the mark. The truth is, though, that I might choose to hike in a kilt, even a wool one...and I might choose to lounge around camp in a kilt, even a wool one. I might even choose to hike/lounge in a great kilt..... but I for damn sure am not going to leave my tent, sleeping bag, and a couple of really warm layers, at home.... even in the summertime in the Sierra Nevada, on account of some notion that the Highlanders of the 17th century "did it" so why can't I?.

[Alan H]

Again, I don't know about the conditions that you backpack in, and I'm sorry to be so adamant about this, but I would hate to hear about your absolutely miserable trip....or God forbid, your death, on account of your desire to wear a great kilt while backpacking, and leaving all your basic gear at home.

OK, I've pontificated enough. You're an adult. Do what seems best and right to you.

[TheOfficialBren]

Well stated, Alan.

[Dale Seago]

Don't forget that by 1700 or before, the shirt was considered "underwear" and one would also have a woolen jacket and waistcoat, along with a wool bonnet and hose. Trekking in a great kilt and shirt? Not unless you were just REALLY dirt-poor.

[Clockwork]

Alan, I'm under the impression that you either didn't really read my posts, or you don't know what a Clark Jungle hammock is nor did you bother looking it up as I had suggested. It is a tent replacement that keeps the user off the ground, warm in the cold, and dry in the wet. Its functionality is equal to that of a tent and its compacted dimensions and weight are similar to that of a tent. And, if needed, can be turned into a grounded tent. So, I'm not by any means going into a situation like that with just a kilt. If I've not been clear before, I will try to be now. The great kilt, when off the wearer, is what? A very large wool blanket. Thus, that would in itself eliminate the need for an additional blanket and saves weight. I will, as always, carry one of those metallic emergency blankets just in case (they weigh next to nothing). If things go well though, it will be left unused. And as always, I'll be carrying a small medic pack. Finally, as I had again stated earlier, I'm going to test this in various conditions on multiple weekend trips. I'm certainly not going to make my first trip in a blizzard at sub-zero temperatures. The plan is to start in comfortable conditions and work my way up (or down) from there.

Don't be so worried my friend; its not a matter of romanticizing about being a pioneer in a great kilt, its a matter of curiosity about how diverse and useful a great kilt may or may not be. The only way to find out is to actually test it and document it. Once I do, I'll create a thread and share it exclusively here on XMTS.

Cheers,
-Jake