"Ur-lord, for the sake of us all -- for the sake of the Land -- you must not wear your boots."
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-- Lord Foul's Bane
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Poor Thomas Covenant didn't ask to come to
the Land, and he wasn't dressed or equipped
appropriately -- other than a tough pair of
hiking boots. Being an avid list-maker and
hiker (I'll be hitting a mountain here on
O'ahu later today) I've often wondered what
handy items Thomas could've brought to the
Land. I can vouch for the usefulness of
most of the stuff below and am working on
acquiring the items I don't already have.
To prevent Thomas from becoming fatigued
I'd try to keep pack weight to less than 30
pounds. Sadly, there are many
considerations that would have precluded
Thomas from bringing an optimal hiking
assembly, including the fact that many
items listed below weren't available in
the 1980s. Of course I'd want to supply
him with a GPS device and cell phone but
they wouldn't have worked in the Land.
Other things like the magnetic compass and
Suunto watch might or might not work
reliably depending on the alternate
Earth's physical characteristics.
| Clothes
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Camelback Peak Bagger backpack
(loose items would be in Ziploc pouches)
- Full water bladder
- Exstream technology Orinoco portable water purifier
- 3 days' food
- Extra pair Falke hiking socks
- Extra pair Banana Republic boxer shorts underwear
- Survival techniques instruction booklet
- Small bottle 50 SPF sunscreen
- Miniature monocular with rangefinder
- Night vision scope
- Leki Tour Antishock collapsible walking sticks
- Basic first aid kit
- Small tube of Icy Hot
- Small tube of mosquito repellent
- 3 x SPF 15 chapstick
- Emergency heat blanket (metallic foil,
folds to 1/2" x 2" x 4")
- Small roll of duct tape
- Small roll of electrical tape
- Small knife sharpening stone
- Bullet-shaped Fisher titanium-coated space pen
- Replace all zipper handles with Photon brand Photon III microlights
- 5 x white
- 2 x red
- 2 x blue
- 2 x green
- 2 x infrared
- 2 x waterproof/windproof lighter
- US military reinforced black work gloves
- 4 x locking titanium carabiners
- 2 x launching signaling flares
- Kelty brand Clark 1-2 man tent (weighs 3lbs 3oz)
- Two rolls compressed toilet paper
- One pack of wet wipes
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Tactical holster
- Glock 30 (.45 caliber) handgun with
laser designator
- One spare 10-round clip
- Leatherman multi-purpose tool (yeah, I know there's better stuff out there now, but I'm old school with my gear)
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In pockets
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