Begin with a 3/4 inch thick board that is about 2 feet long and 6 inches wide. Cut a V shaped notch in one end. Use nails to attach a small piece of wood to keep notched end raised above floor. Keep bootjack near door where you most often enter wearing boots. Put one foot on jack to hold it in place. Put heel of other foot in notch and pull your foot out of boot.

Wall display cubby box:

Small cardboard boxes can be fastened together and hung on wall. Small and valued objects can be placed there to be displayed and admired.

Save boxes from muffin mix, artificial sweetener, rice or other often used food items. When you have enough, cut each box to an appropriate size. I started with boxes 4-inches wide, 2-inches deep, and 6-inches tall. I cut each box to half height, so that each box was 3-inches tall. Boxes that are twice as wide as they are deep can be arranged as shown in diagrams of this article. If you use boxes with other ratios of width to height, use a different arrangement or use pieces of corrigated cardboard to fill any gaps between boxes.

Lay a piece of plastic sheeting such as a plastic grocery bag on a flat surface. The plastic will keep excess glue from sticking to your work surface. You can use white glue to fasten boxes together. To help keep glue from running down side of boxes, use a method similar to that used by bricklayers applying mortar to bricks. Before putting a box into position, put glue on each side of that box that will be against a box already in place. That way, while applying glue, you can turn box in any way that makes it easy to apply glue. And glue will quickly be between two surfaces. That helps keep glue in place. A good glue pattern is shown by red lines below.

As you assemble boxes together, use a straight edge such as a wall or a large box as a guide to align boxes in straight rows. Set something heavy against boxes to hold them together while glue dries. Bricks or large books work well. Use plastic sheeting to keep oozing glue from sticking boxes to books or bricks. You can use paper clips to hold edges of boxes together where gaps occur.

When all boxes are in place, let glue dry for about 12 hours. Then use a nail to punch holes for a string that will go around group of boxes. Two holes near each corner will keep string in place. Tie two ends of string together. Hang box display from a small nail.

You just can't understand sense of liberation felt by a convert to ultralight backpacking, until you try it yourself. When I, with my eleven-pound pack, walk past overloaded backpackers struggling up steep trails, I remembered being in their place, and I know I am enjoying myself more now.

Misconceptions About Ultralight Backpacking

Lighweight Backpacking Means Sacrifice

Not so. Bring your favorite camera! A lighter load means you can stop to use it more easily. If you leave behind things you don't need, and bring a lighter backpack, tent, and sleeping bag, you can more easily bring that telephoto lense or whatever is really important to you.

Lighweight Backpacking Is Less Safe

The opposite! Bring all safety items; a sleeping bag, first aid kit, shelter, water purification, etc. Just bring lighter versions. A light load makes you less likely to lose your balance and fall, or to otherwise injure yourself. It also means faster response to iffy situations.

A note about safety:

It is lagely a matter of knowledge and experience. A trained survivalist will always be safer backpacking with no shelter than a neophyte with best tent. Learn a little about how to use you equipment properly, or to read sky for comimg storms, and you can go lighter and safer.

Lightweight Backpacking Is Less Comfortable

Is it less comfortable to have 18 pounds on your back than 50? Is it less comfortable to have an ultralight sleeping bag if it keeps you just as warm? I stopped getting blisters (totally) when I started using running shoes instead of hiking boots. Cut weight on your back by twenty-five pounds, and you can add back a heavier coat, if that is what you need to be comfortable.

Lightweight Backpacking Is Expensive

Ultralight sleeping bags are expensive. Almost everything else needed for ultralight backpacking can be found for same price or cheaper than traditional gear. There are many sub-three-pound backpacks under a hundred dollars, for example.

Bottom Line:

Try it. The first time you are fifteen miles into day, and you realize that you can easily run up that hill-just to see what is there, you'll know you made right decision.