Your right about going bare bones, the average solo biker/camper only needs the bare stuff, I have a multi-fuel camp stove I use thats maybe 5"x5" x5" and has a alum storage container I "could" use to cook in, it can burn either white gas or auto gas, but being a good former Marine, I can cook some pretty good chow in just a canteen cup, of course mountain house chow is the cats petutty, just heat the water and dump it in. Coffe gets made in the cup, instant of course, and decaf because the wife hates seeing me on caffiene ! :shock: I have a nice 4 season tent thats light and roomy in a sadistic sort of way, but I've woke up with 3 foot of snow on it and it hasn't collapsed on me yet from either snow or wind. I use a 3/4 thermarest self inflating pad, rolls up to about 6" x4" and with the chair kit, doubles life as my camp chair during the day/evening. Depending on the weather, I either use a USMC poncho/poncho liner and wool blanket for the warmer weather, or an old northface down bag for the cooler stuff. You can't forget the nylon hammock either, for those times you have trees and just want to flake out. For those that do plan on camping, just a few words of advice from a former Marine Corps survival instructor, when picking your tent, look for a few features, get one with a full fly, not one that just has a fly that covers the top of the tent, while they are cheap at wally world, nothing is worse than waking up because you touched the side of that tent during the rainstorm in the middle of the night and now all yur stuff is wet. Those tents will leak when wet if you touch them, unless of course you spend $600 + for a single wall expidition tent from one of the top line companies like Northface, pick one with a vestibule, that way you can scootch in, take yur boots off and not get wet or drag the nasty mud inside your tent., plus it gives you room to keep anything else you need, but don't need in the tent. And the cardinal rule, especially if you even THINK there may be bears around, NO FOOD IN THE TENT, I can't stress that enough, all a tent is to a hungry bear, is a bear sized twinky, and guess who is the creamy filling ..... Another point, not to scare the uninformed, but just remember this, more people are killed by black bears every year, than any other wildlife, and that includes grizzly bears. I do a lot of back country camping all year long, I travel up to algonquin park in ontario canada 3 or 4 times a year, even in the winter. Take twice as much water as you think you might need. You never know what might happen, investing in a water purifier is a good investment also, you can drop the hise in a muddy ditch or puddle and have a liter of drinking water in a couple minutes.
All in all the stuff isn't that big, takes up very little space and could save you from being a statistic, even in a temperate area like the north east or west. I would be glad to answer any survival type questions. My aim is to make sure everyone makes it back and has fun, which is what I tell the boy scouts I instruct every winter and spring.
