GearFlogger

MSR HyperFlow water filter

Water is very important. For one thing, it's used to make beer. If that's not enough for you, try slogging through the desert with nothing but a bag of peanut butter sandwiches and nothing to wash them down with. Not so smart now, are ya?

Even on long day trips it's a lot lighter to carry a filter than all the water you need. MSR's HyperFlow has a lot going for it, but if you don't like to really get to know your gear it may just drive you crazy. The HyperFlow requires a stout arm to pump, and the more you use it the harder it gets. There's a backflush procedure that, if you do it right and often (every 8 liters), will "reset" the unit. You actually have to learn and practice the procedure, which may turn some folks off. Searching YouTube will assist.

On the plus side the filter really puts out, about 2oz per pump. The prefilter is super-thin and will drink from the shallowest sources; if it floats around too much you can use the velcro strap to secure a stick or other object to keep it down. The bike-pump style design is overall very solid with no breakable levers or flimsy parts, with one caveat: the hollow-fiber filter design is not supposed to be frozen, dropped or kicked around too much. The clean cap is not leashed to the unit, so be careful not to lose it.

The wide-mouth bottle adapter works great and can be attached to Camelbaks without taking them out of the pack. You can also hook up a piece of tubing to fill just about anything, or just aim carefully. The whole unit with included storage sack is 10.5oz. You gram weenies can cut weight by carrying only the pump and prefilter and trimming the intake tube a bit. Bottom line: If you're willing to put in the time and trouble to learn the system, you'll get a light, compact, efficient and effective filter. If you want simple, look elsewhere. Free advice: as with any filter, always carry a chemical backup.

$99.95 at REI

5.11 Tactical Stryke pant

Best. Pant. Ever. Why? How about this: pants that are stylishly clean enough to wear to a desk job, tough enough for any bushwhacking job you can come up with, and come out of the dryer ready to wear. That's the Stryke pant from 5.11 Tactical. I estimate these are my go-to pants about 3-4 days every week.

Designed for military and law enforcement, any outdoors enthusiast will fall in lust with the Stryke. The Flex-Tac fabric is a ripstop 65% polyester/35% cotton blend that feels perfect and is tough as nails, complemented by proven YKK zippers and Prym snaps.

Tactical features include two front magazine slit pockets just inboard of the hand pockets; if you're not packing these are useful for any cell phone-sized gear. The side cargo pockets with Velcro flaps are perfectly sized and tailored to lie inconspicuously flat when empty, but open to reveal two more mag sleeves each. Finally there are two rear wallet pockets, also with Veclro flaps. That's probably the only thing I would change, since I never use rear pockets, but they do provide extra ass protection and wear resistance.

We're still not done with the features: there are pockets in each knee where you can slip in knee pads, and the normal belt loops are complemented by two vertical badge-holder loops in the front; these are useful for everything that clips. Even with all these features the Stryke pants just look great, with a tailored feel to them. In practice they feel like cotton but breathe like a technical fabric. They move with you, don't bunch or tighten, and they shrug off dirt. Did we mention they come out of the dryer looking pressed?

And here's the closer: in addition to a dress-pant-style button closure to back up the main snap on top of they fly, there are two discreet flex-panels on the belt line that, shall we say, make a little room in the waist for the pizza-and-beer binge that follows any good adventure. 5.11 Tactical is moving smartly into the outdoor space, but with pants as good as the Stryke there's no reason to wait.

$74.99 at 5.11 Tactical

Mountain House Wraps

Mountain House has always had the best freeze-dried food out there in our not-so-humble opinion. Now they have Wraps, new roll-your-own meals designed to be slapped into a tortilla and chowed down.

We're talking Breakfast Skillet, Barbecue Sauce with Beef, Buffalo Style Chicken and Mexican Style Beef. Just bring your own tortillas, a little oil to fry it in, a little Tabasco sauce (hey, when you need to convert food to farts, don't bring a knife to a gun fight...), OK, maybe some cheese, and you're good to go. Be warned: this is a lot of food and will probably feed two of you.

The Breakfast Skillet even includes hash browns, so you don't necessarily need the tortilla if you're in a hurry or just traveling light. Either way the Skillet serves up 680 whopping calories including 26 grams of protein. Like we said, enough for two, or maybe it's all for you when you're facing double hauls on a big mountain day.

$7.95 at REI