Life on the trail just got a bit easier

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Life on the trail just got a bit easier
By Robert Earle Howells

CLEAN UP
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Bringing along your own sanitation department minimizes the risks of picking up some weird lingering bug from the hinterlands. Make a list of the funky things you might touch in a day of trekking (outhouse, yak, cute mang dog, grimy band notes ...) and that should be reason enough to keep a squeeze bottle of Eagle Creek's Waterless Hand Sanitizer ($5) in your pocket or daypack and use it constantly — the quick-drying gel zaps microbes on contact. Later, cart a Packtowl Combo ($22) to your shower/bath/stream/pond and you'll have a quick-drying (read: mildew-free) towel, a bottle of biodegradable Packsoap, and a lightweight case to carry them in. For sheer ease of use, the PentaPure Sport water purifier ($35) is ideal for trekking; no yucky-tasting iodine or time-consuming pumping. Just fill the bottle and squeeze. The water comes out it a trickle, but hey, it's free of microbes and viruses.

TRAIL TOOLS
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Late-night forays to unfamiliar facilities require illumination — ideally, of the hands-free variety. The Princeton Tec Solo Headlamp ($32) wraps comfortably around forehead or cap and has interchangeable reflectors for focusing or broadening the beam. Most multitools are bulky overkill for a lightweight trek (when did you last need pliers and a wire crimper in the back of beyond?), but the pared-down Leatherman Micra ($25) packs usable essentials into a 1.75-ounce package. It has a knife blade, real scissors, tweezers, nail file, bottle opener, screwdrivers, and closes down to just 2.5 inches.

RUGGED BINOCS
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What's worth seeing is worth seeing well, but you don't want fussy optics where knocks and splashes are pretty sure bets on a a daily basis. The "ATB" in Nikon's 10 x 25 Mountaineer II ATB binoculars ($371; 15.9 ounces) stands for all-terrain binoculars — they're waterproof, fogproof, and armored against bumps — plus they deliver 10-power viewing, good for scoping out routes, and a 262-foot field of view.

SUPPORT SYSTEM
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Take it from a recent convert: Trekking without poles is like mountain biking without a suspension fork. Leki's Super Makalu CorTec PA collapsible poles ($130 per pair) are spring-loaded to ease the joint-pounding effect of a long rocky hike (particularly those long, killer downhills), and they serve as reassuring support across intimidating torrents.

Photographs by Gary Hush