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Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Sea to Summit Folding Bucket

Winner!

Let's change it up a bit and report on something a bit less conventional - the folding bucket.

Really? You're going to go from reporting on something as universal as the backpack to something as ambiguous as a bucket? 
Exactly! Laugh if you will. So did my significantly more experienced backpacking buddies, Andy and Ben, when we began our Yosemite Adventure. 

Weighing in at less than 3oz and taking up almost no pack space the Sea to Summit Folding Bucket proved indispensable when the nearest source of fresh water was several hundred meters and over 100 feet of elevation away. Need to refill 3 Nalgene bottles, 3 Camelbak bladders, cook breakfast, clean up afterwards and break camp in a hurry? The folding bucket will make this job easy.

Contenders:
Are there really any other options in the folding bucket space?
Got Specs:
Capacity    10 liters (2.6 gallons)
Weight       80 grams (2.8 oz)

What Wins:
  1. Laziness! Um... I mean efficiency! Personally, I'm too tired by the end of the day to make 10 excursions to the stream. A single trip and I can find a comfortable spot to sit and SteriPen enough water for everyone.
  2. Safety! Pumping a filter from bucket seated in a stress-free spot at camp is considerably safer than while precariously perched on a rock over a fast-flowing, freezing mountain stream - especially at night.

What Fails:
  1. Price! Any added safety you may have achieved by using the bucket will be quickly overshadowed by the beating you receive when your significant other discovers you purchased a $25 bucket!

Meh:
  1. Laughs! Your mates will call you Cinderella... until they need it.
  2. I wouldn't carry it for a solo trip. 

Other notes: 
Also good for:
  1. Putting out campfires.
  2. Laundry. (Not that I actually did this.)
  3. Waking up camp mates with a bucket of water to the face. (No experience here either.  Yet...)

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