Duct Tape and Dental Floss

In the Asheville (NC) Citizen-Times, Karen Chávez published an article titled "For the prepared hiker, sometimes it's the small things that count". At the web site it says it's published 13 February 2007, and originally published 9 January 2004.

The story starts with a vignette of Lane Nakaji, Appalachian Trail 2001 thru-hiker sleeping with his duct tape. The article goes on to talk about other hikers and their duct tape, dental floss, replacement zippers, safety pins, and whatnot. It's all double use material and can all be used for emergency repairs.

Further down in the article, Nakaji says getting good gear in the first place is important. One of the other folks quoted in the article even goes so far as to suggest reading the instruction manuals for stoves and so on to forestall the breakdowns in the first place. Imagine that! It's just a crazy enough idea that it might actually work.