Hey ya'll,

I recently returned from an awesome week backpacking in the beautiful mountains of NC. I was relaying tales of my travels to a few buddies of mine, and they expressed interest in joining me on my next adventure. As usual the topic of gear came up and the general response (among others) from them seemed to be, "Man, I'd love to go with you but I cant afford all that expensive stuff." I explained to them that basically all you need is water, food, some sort of shelter, a warm blanket and something to carry it all in. This got me thinking about cheap gear and cheap alternatives to some of the equipment we all use. Im not talking about minimalism or survivalism but just cheap stuff you can buy at the local box/thrift store to replace or use as an alternative to expensive designer type gear. My favortie example that I use is an inexpensive contractor bag inside my pack, instead of an expensive sil-nylon pack cover. Being that this is the "Beginner Forum", folks just getting their feet wet in this sport probably cant or dont want to spend a ton of cash on something they may use once or twice. Also in these hard times, everyone can benefit from saving a buck or two on our gear. So folks, what are some other examples to help us be more frugal??
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Climb the Mountains and get their good tidings...
-John Muir