Gear for a 21 plus mile night backpack jog.

Woods Walker

The Wood is cut, The Bacon is cooked, Now it’s tim
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Jun 8, 2008
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New England woods.
Friday night is often set aside for pushing myslef and testing gear. I like to experiment with covering a good amount of ground with a backpack. This is useful for both hiking and within my preparedness plans. The faster someone can safely cover ground to a destination the less overall exposure. For this outing I will be testing the Nitecore F1 flexible charger which will be reviewed soon. I try to avoid reviewing a gear item or add it to my kit without actual field use on multiple outings first. What am I packing:





1. Rev 24 Osprey pack.
2. EMS UL breathable rain jacket.
3. Tops/Turley PSK.
4. Blind Horse Knives sandi large tiger knapp with LMF ferro rod in a DIY Kydex hoder.
5. Pepper spray.
6. TP.
7. Malkoff MD2.
8. Fenix HL50 headlamp with extra lithium primary.
9. Equinox UL poncho with extension.
10. Cordage webbing pre cut for tie-offs.
11. Charging cables for all my devices.
12. Bug spray.


The Osprey pack is fantastic for running and that's exactly what is going on. Left at 9:30 PM from a packing lot. The route will cross major roads, be on paved paths, sidewalks, dirt roads, small hardly mainlined trails etc etc. Generally all over the place but only in areas legal to be in. I don't wan't to be running across someone's back yard at midnight. The REV 24 like the rest of the line has a hydration bladder with magnetic mouth piece. Water for a person is a bit like gas for a car. It's ok to be a hungry and tired within reason but never ok to be thirsty.





At night the headlamp and flashlight comes into play. The Fenix HL50 is a nice headlamp with a nearly beam for on the move. Also has nice run times and neutral white tint. The Malkoff MD2 with HI/LOW ring IMHO is the ultimate backup light. It's heavy but that weight and potted electronics has pros. The blue thing is an EMS breathable rain jacket with hood. I always carry an extra garment and as rain was threatening took the jacket. I could use the poncho but it's more difficult to jog through some areas with thorny plants however on occasion will just pack the poncho.





Field testing the new Nitecore F1 Flexible Power Bank for a up coming review. No gear gets reviewed or included in my kit without being used first. For longer trips and within my preps I try to keep everyone on the same diet aka all using the same battery type however for something like this having an extra battery is my primary requirement. The MD2 takes the same 3400 Lithium ion battery that I put in the F1 Power Bank. I can take the 3400 out of either and swap them around depending on need.





PSK and BHK knife. These have taken up residences in this pack unless otherwise required. Makes it easier so I don't forget them. Gotta have a knife and PSK! I picked a stainless knife so don't need to worry as much. Sometimes the pack gets wet etc etc and I don't really think about checking the knife as it isn't used all that often for this type of activity. Still I would rather carry a knife and not need it than need a knife but not carry it. There is a little PSK knife inside the Tops/Turley. Two is one and one is none.





Not too far into the night backpack jog decided to plug the F1 Power bank into my phone as was enjoying some tunes. The battery in the MD2 was fresh off the charger so not concerned however would give preference to the flashlight if the situation required. The Nitecore 3400 was at 4.2 volts as well.





Only stopped for a second as wanted to keep running without a break.





Headlamp worked great but as this was the battery's second outing it powered down. Used the extra Lithium Primary. HL50 is rock stable when running in the dark. Doesn't bounce or move in the holder.





Some ledge.





An entire family of raccoons are looking down on me. See the glowing eyes in the middle of the photo.





A river.





What are the stats for the night? I started at 9:30 PM ending at 2:20 AM. I mapped the route beforehand which showed a bit more than 20 miles however the electronics had it as nearly 22. A few times necessity made me cross streams and roads in different spots than intended or maybe my mapping skills or devise calibration are slightly off.





It measures till 12 midnight then puts additional miles on the next days stats. The total was 12.66 miles for 9:30 PM to 12 AM, 9.12 miles for 12 AM to 2:20 AM for a total of 21.78 miles. What did I actually use?


1. All of the water in the REV 24 hydration pack.


2. Extra battery for the Fenix HL50.


3. Malkoff MD2 to help change the headlamp battery. It was squid ink black and often foggy.


4. Nitecore FL Flexable Power Bank to charge my phone.


That's about it. Here is a video of the outing.


 

lightlover

Flashlight Enthusiast
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Feb 28, 2001
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London, UK (Parallel Universe)
Woods,

I mightily enjoy your posts.

They also make me feel mightily exhausted just reading them ...

So much Energy!
Enjoy your youth while you can ...
Being old is tough!
 

Woods Walker

The Wood is cut, The Bacon is cooked, Now it’s tim
Joined
Jun 8, 2008
Messages
5,433
Location
New England woods.
Woods,

I mightily enjoy your posts.

They also make me feel mightily exhausted just reading them ...

So much Energy!
Enjoy your youth while you can ...
Being old is tough!

Going to be 47 in a few weeks. Believe me. I am feeling less youthful very second! LOL!
 

Woods Walker

The Wood is cut, The Bacon is cooked, Now it’s tim
Joined
Jun 8, 2008
Messages
5,433
Location
New England woods.
Woods Walker What kind of First Aid stuff do you carry and any food bars?

I have some minor FAK stuff in the Altoids PSK but really nothing more then bandages. No food is ever packed though for longer distance jogging been thinking about it. I am trying to reduce my overall food reserves aka fat.
 

scout24

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Dec 23, 2008
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Penn's Woods
Very interesting Nitecore power bank. Is it available here yet from any re-sellers? Your thoughts on it's construction?
 

MAD777

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Jul 31, 2015
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White Mountains, NH, USA
Enjoyed going on the trip with you, virtually speaking, LOL.

I love my time in the woods, but it's 84°F here in Florida, AT SUNRISE! Well over 100° with heat index. The humidity is so high, mosquitoes don't even have to fly to you. They are just suspended in the thick air and wait for you to walk into them.

So, thanks for the hike!
 

Woods Walker

The Wood is cut, The Bacon is cooked, Now it’s tim
Joined
Jun 8, 2008
Messages
5,433
Location
New England woods.
Very interesting Nitecore power bank. Is it available here yet from any re-sellers? Your thoughts on it's construction?

I think it is. They sent it to me but never review anything without testing it first. Also keeping in the spirit of this lots of the testing is going to be done solar via mobile USB kit. As a powerbank it seems solid. Charged an Ipad from dead to 35% which is about right for a 3400 mAh battery. Tested the pass through overflow charging thing aka charges battery and phone at the same time with a 18 watt folding panel. Got 30% more on the I-phone and pushed the voltage on a Keepppower 16650...... 2500 mAh battery from 3.7 volts to 4.1 volts. All from one of the panel's USB ports which frees up the second for whatever. The voltage indicator seems to work just fine. 3.5 volts = 30% = 1 out of 3 indication lights on the charger. 4.2 volts = 100% = 3 green indication lights. 3.4 volts = 17% = 1 green indication light. It has a 3.3 volt warning and a 2.8 volt shut down. Flashes when low capacity lithium ions are attempted to be used as a power bank. I am about ready to do the review on it. It's crazy UL and has all the features we wanted from the UM10 but didn't get. Also solar compatible as won't trigger an error if power gets interrupted like the UM10 can. Or at least it hasn't yet and I really worked that aspect over.

The rubber band thing is a little funky and it will toss batteries if moved around without using the band. I think the band (they send it with 2) might have been the only solution given the wide range of lithium ion sizes it can take and very small size of the unit. It's actually kinda fun to mess around with, not the rubber band but the entire thing.:grin2: I was in the coffee shop before hitting the trail for a 5-mile night run earlier this evening. Had it plugged into one of the public magnetic chargers. Charged the phone and my headlamp battery at the same time. Two for one.
 
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Woods Walker

The Wood is cut, The Bacon is cooked, Now it’s tim
Joined
Jun 8, 2008
Messages
5,433
Location
New England woods.
Enjoyed going on the trip with you, virtually speaking, LOL.

I love my time in the woods, but it's 84°F here in Florida, AT SUNRISE! Well over 100° with heat index. The humidity is so high, mosquitoes don't even have to fly to you. They are just suspended in the thick air and wait for you to walk into them.

So, thanks for the hike!

I have done bug season camping in the Big Cyprus. Big mistake..... LOL. Thanks for looking!
 

WigglyTheGreat

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Feb 27, 2015
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Woods Walker this was really an awesome post with all the info, pics, and video so thanks for this. Looks like you had a fun time out there on your 21+ miler. I work nights or I would be doing a lot more night hikes as I really enjoy the night. I like your gear and especially the Nitecore F1 charger. I had no idea they had something like that out. Just this week I was looking through amazon for a portable power bank type backup charger, but this Nitecore makes much more sense since I have spare 18650's so I definitely need to get one of those. Really nice job on the video, it's easy to follow and you put a lot of energy into it which makes it more enjoyable to watch.
 

blah9

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Awesome work, both fitness wise and writeup wise. Thanks again for sharing! I always look forward to your posts when I see them.
 

Woods Walker

The Wood is cut, The Bacon is cooked, Now it’s tim
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Messages
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Location
New England woods.
Awesome work, both fitness wise and writeup wise. Thanks again for sharing! I always look forward to your posts when I see them.

Thanks for the positive comments!

Thank you for the pre-review mini-review. I'm going to have to look into picking one or two up. :grin2:

Thanks. Finished the field testing review video and will do a write-up for CPF later today.
 

parametrek

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Apr 3, 2013
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Headlamp worked great but as this was the battery's second outing it powered down. Used the extra Lithium Primary. HL50 is rock stable when running in the dark. Doesn't bounce or move in the holder.

I've got to say I'm surprised to hear this. I've never been able to wear a single-strap headlamp for running. (I don't have an HL50 but an older Fenix headlamp.) It either needs to be painfully tight or it is falling down into my eyes.

Instead I take the light holder off the headband and thread it though a baseball cap's adjustment band. Cloth bands seem to work the best. It stays on my head solidly and gives my dome a little more protection from low hanging branches.

But I am glad it is working for you! That sounds like a really fun route to do.
 

Woods Walker

The Wood is cut, The Bacon is cooked, Now it’s tim
Joined
Jun 8, 2008
Messages
5,433
Location
New England woods.
I've got to say I'm surprised to hear this. I've never been able to wear a single-strap headlamp for running. (I don't have an HL50 but an older Fenix headlamp.) It either needs to be painfully tight or it is falling down into my eyes.

Instead I take the light holder off the headband and thread it though a baseball cap's adjustment band. Cloth bands seem to work the best. It stays on my head solidly and gives my dome a little more protection from low hanging branches.

But I am glad it is working for you! That sounds like a really fun route to do.

I had good running with both the HL50 and Tiara A1 Pro though sometimes it seems like the Tiara will slip down in the holder a bit when moving fast. I get very short hair cuts so maybe that's a factor? Who knows. Sometimes I like to run holding a flashlight if the there is mist etc due to glare. Thanks for looking.
 

EndOfTheTunnel

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Feb 11, 2010
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Toronto, Canada
This is a much better way to spend a night than rotting on the sofa in front of the boob tube. Thanks for the motivating thread!

You went 21 miles without food, in 5 hours? Wow! What was your total elevation gain?

I recently took up hiking myself, and am just starting to build my collection of gear; waterproof clothing is pricey!

There's a lot of jargon in this thread that I'm not familiar with:
FAK - first aid kit.
PSK - ?
BHK - blind horse knives.
EMS - brand of raincoat?
UL - ultralight?
 
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