[SwitchbackFisher]

With all the hostility I've seen creep into threads on this page I figured it could use a fun post. So the question is what's the most useless item you have taken into the woods? It could be for a day hike or backpacking trip. For me I have 2 that stand out. On a hot summer trip we did a late start overnighter. We brought fireball and a 2L Pepsi or something like that... By the time we got to camp we all we wanted was water to rehydrate so I ended up packing both back out full the next day. The other was a multi night backpacking trip where we hit lots of lakes. I heard rumors of crawdads in the area so I brought a few traps. All I got in it was leeches.

[Kim Brown]

A guy I was dating at the time.

[MyFootHurts]

a dog

[neek]

A leash

[the1mitch]

For me,all electronic entertainment seem to become useless at the trail head. Yeah I know you gotta have your.......... As for me I like having to hear myself think. The woods have always been therapeutic for me, aside from those loud drunks a time or two. Some of my most clear memories of childhood, adolescence, and college have woodsy origins. My "paradise" would include daily ridgewalking and old growth groves for contemplation.

[moonspots]

[mbravenboer]

Not at all useless, but probably peculiar: I once brought a block of Parmesan cheese backpacking. Great on pasta

[forest gnome]

a light collar and leash are good for some lightwt. restraints...for tent fun or if u run into some psycho....

[awilsondc]

[The Lead Dog]

GPS

[AlpineRose]

Food related, on weeklong summer outings. Blocks of cheese cut up into smaller pieces. They mold really fast. Non-cracker bread products without preservatives. Ditto. Solution: If you bring a block of cheese, just pack the block. For bread products that are not crackers, calcium proprionate is your friend.

[George Winters]

On occasions where I have been sharing with people choices for items listed for the 10 essentials, I like to suggest that the reason for the knife is so that you have a chance to use the first aid kit.

[AlpineRose]

But you need that knife to shave cheese off the cheese block.

[Cyclopath]

A down comforter. Holy crap. At least it was a short hike in. Or, a book. I know that's a heretical thing to say but I get out there and I'm so enthralled by my surroundings that I just don't have time to read, I'm too busy taking it all in.

[grannyhiker]

Important functions for the knife, in addition to the already mentioned vital function of carving chunks or slices off that cheese block: Trim broken finger/toe nails Trim hangnails Trim bandaids or tape for said hangnails (my #1 first aid issue on backpacking trips is the dreaded infected hangnail) Trim raveled threads The last resort when a knot is jammed so tight that it just can't be undone Back to food: Cutting up sausage Trimming mold off that cheese block Cleaning fish Playing mumblety-peg Whittling--for fun, or to replace lost spoon, or to make frizz sticks for starting a fire Note that I have omitted functions using items that may be included with that knife, such as corkscrew, pliers, file, awl, tweezers, screwdriver. I've rarely been on a trip in which I didn't need the knife for something!