Best Romantic Glow

Until last week, all I knew about Portland-based Snow Peak was the popular ultra-light stove that I don’t carry. (I use the GSI Soloist instead.)

This micro lantern by Snow Peak
won the Travel + Leisure Design Award

Then I got wowed by a Mini Hozuki.

That’s the packable lantern by Snow Peak that really does light like a candle. No more harsh LED glare in your tent at night. The mini Hozuki hangs from a gear loop and fills your cozy nest with a soft, warm glow. 

Why shouldn’t the light on your table or inside your tent compare favorably with full moonlight?

I had the chance to bask in them both the other night in Death Valley, and there’ll always be a place in my pack for this nifty little 1.9-oz. lantern from now on. It packs a punch of 60 lumens and strobes when needed, then dials down for quiet conversation.

Never pack out without a headlamp, but for solo trips you might want to consider leaving your BD Apollo behind and taking this along instead.

Worst Loo Paper

The sales copy says: “Who doesn’t want toilet paper that glows in the dark?”

I don’t, not if it means wiping my bottom with strontium aluminate or zinc sulfide.

This has got to be the most idiotic product ever let loose on the backcountry.

I found out about its existence in the camping/touring issue of BMW ON, the motorrad club's news magazine. Now I worry about the sanity of its editorial staff.

Please, don’t embarrass me. Promise me now you will never, ever go near this roll of loo paper. Or anybody who turns up in camp with it.

Glamping lantern

Every once in a while, a simple innovation makes all the difference in base camp comfort.

Take the Luma, Kelty's lantern that does everything you ask it to do in camp. Its dual arrays swivel and pivot like arms, throwing the light just where you want it. There's nothing fussy about the controls, which you can easily operate with gloves on. This lantern is really bright--and fully adjustable. It stands sturdy on its base to work well as a cooking and reading lamp; it hangs in your tent, too. It folds up smartly and packs down fairly small.

With one on a picnic table and four hanging from the corners of your screen house, you've just transformed another dark night in camp into a party with designer lighting.

What other uses have you found for the Luma?