When I began backpacking, I always carried a small pair of binoculars (everybody did - probably because Colin Fletcher did. I saw many pairs dangling from the tops of external frame packs.) I also found I used them frequently, even though I hike only in the forests of the eastern U.S. I couldn't see very far, but it was kind of neat to get out onto a ridge in the Red River Gorge and zoom in on the hikers on the next ridge over. I also enjoyed looking at birds in the trees, or wildlife a hundred feet away.

Then came enlightenment, in the form of ultralight backpacking. Since it wasn't essential to have them (no route-scouting or other truly distant looking in those forests), I devolved from binoculars, to a monocular, to nothing.

How many of you still carry binoculars? How much does it relate to the openness of the country you hike in?