Oh, I agree with you about tools. Whole heartedly. And as I mentioned in the original query, I would like to know what people practice with or without tools. I am sure most of us would not be geeking out on a cool gear forum here if we did not think a lot about tools/gear. I educate people every day at the gear shack I work at, about the importance of essentials, even on a day hike. Many, new to hiking, are surprised that some essentials are recommended/needed even for short outings in our city parks which are wide open mountainous areas here in Phoenix, AZ. It seems like every year there is some hiker who gets lost in a park overnight and has had to "survive" the night. I totally appreciate the experience you, aimless and oregonmouse and w_d and all the others share on this forum and in this post. I believe in constant education and learn a lot here. Please do not get me wrong on this. A quick perusal of my blog, “Backpacking Basics”, on my site will reiterate this. I am sure that you and I would meet eye to eye on most philosophies when it comes to this. I am equally sure that we can learn something from each other as well and this is what I seek.
I think skills are among our best tools. I am not convinced where or even if our philosophies take slightly different paths on this. I find no harm in contemplating being separated from my gear. It would not happen. It could not happen. But if it does… ? Is this unimaginable? I am sorry but I laugh a little each time I here somebody say "If you would of had your 'insert ambiguous gear selection here' with you, you could'a survived better." realizing full well that they are right of course.

Aimless, I like your analogy of the tribesman because I see it as the point exactly I am researching. You note that;


Originally Posted By aimless
you will notice that the men do not go anywhere without their bows/arrows and a few other essential tools. Those are their equivalent of the "ten essentials". They are never without them.


I love these shows. So, you would probably also notice in those New Guinea documentaries that each and every tribesman/woman can also ‘Make’ the tools they need for any given situation as well. Using only the resources offered by the environment, tools are fashioned with surprising efficiency because they…. wait for it….. practice! It is part of their everyday existence. They are brought up doing it. Making bows, arrows, shelter, fire... This is what I am trying to touch on here. So +1 on tribesman knowledge.

The fact that our society has somewhat lost touch with the natural abilities of our evolved form in its relentless quest for convenience is a topic we can discuss til the cows come home. One could even argue that our plug-and-play conveniences ARE our natural environmental fashionings these days, I guess. Instead of whittling it out of wood and using vines to lash it, we use our skill to order it from eBay. Not the broad philosophical input I was expecting with this post and I’d rather have that one over a bourbon with ya. I was originally simply pondering the crossover of lightweight backpacking, bushcraft and survival techniques. Mainly because I find that going ‘ultralight’ provides for somewhat less redundancies in systems so this seems to me to go hand-in-hand with having the proper abilities to back up these systems. I seem to carry way too many redundancies or comforts anyway, keeping my baseweight beyond what I desire and I am sure causing New Guinea tribesmen to laugh hysterically at the oddity of it all. (can we change it to The 20 Essentials? LOL)

I hope that all makes sense. This discussion has really gotten cool.
You are all so great to learn from. Thanks.