Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Hiking with Kids, Tools of the Trade

I have a confession to make- I sort of have an obsession with outdoor survival. Maybe its because I have watched one too many episodes of Survivorman.  Or maybe it goes back to my childhood days spent pretending to be a pioneer on the prairie.  Either way, I love to learn as much as I can about wilderness survival and hope to one day put those skills to use.

Since I currently spend most of travels with a couple of three year olds, remote backpacking with nothing but a swiss army knife and some freeze dried food is not really practical.  However, there are some products that I have which do relate to practical survival while hiking with children, especially when hiking alone.

The first is a filtered water bottle. I love my Ech2O Water Bottle by Get the Bottle because I can use it to filter anything from tap water to river water and know that my family won’t get sick in the process. If we ever get into a situation where we get stranded, I at least know I can provide them with safe drinking water (as long as we aren’t someplace with no water at all).

The second thing I love to carry with me is a swiss army knife.  My husband gave me a knife (or multi-tool as us survival “experts” like to call it) a couple years ago and it has been great, but their must be some extra testosterone flowing through my blood because lately I have been craving something bigger and better. Lucky for me, the people at Dual Pro X contacted me and let me have a chance to try out their Victorinox Dual Pro X.

This multi-tool rocks! I feel like I am constantly discovering new gadgets which is incredible considering how lightweight this tool is.  I can throw it in my backpack and not worry about it adding any significant weight.  On hikes we have used it to strip twigs from large sticks and create customized walking sticks for the kids, dig splinters out of tiny fingers, and open a canned goods on the trail.  While I haven’t had any dangerous instance come up on the trail since I have started carrying the Dual Pro X, I do feel safer knowing I have something that provides some protection should such an instance occur. 

Dual Pro X

In addition to life in the great outdoors, the Dual Pro X has also come in handy at home. I can never seem to find my husband’s tools when I need to unscrew one of those pesky battery covers on the kid’s toys and luckily now, I can just use my multi-tool!  I have also found myself grabbing the tool to open packages and even open a bottle of beer.

I really can’t recommend either one of these products  enough and I think they are great values for the price. For more information on the Ech2O Water Bottle click here. For more info on the Dual Pro X swiss army knife click here.

HERE”S A TIP:  Fan the Victorinox Swiss Army Facebook fan page and participate in Share the Adventure for a chance to win great products and compete for a $25,000 Ultimate Adventure! A chance to win $25,000!!! Why wouldn’t you do it?

Disclosure: I was provided with both the Dual Pro X and the Ech2O Water Bottles to review (I reviewed the Ech2O for Trekaroo) but neither company asked that I express a particular opinion and my opinions of both of these products reflect my honest feelings towards these products.



This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Victorinox Swiss Army. All opinions are 100% mine.


Visit my sponsor: THE DUAL PRO X CHALLENGE - ASSIGNMENT

6 comments:

Lora said...

Here's my confession. My hubby and I often read those surviving in the wild books as well, just to see what are the worst things that can happen and how to avoid them. A creepy sense of adventure we have, eh?

Helene said...

I'm totally going to check out the water bottle you mentioned!! We're going to Tahoe in a couple weeks for vacation and I'm sure we'll be doing some hiking! Tim probably won't trust me with a knife though. As if he can be trusted with one??

debi9kids said...

I soooo want to get that water bottle! I just saw one similar to it in my local FOOD store (haha...that's just for you Shar.).

We totally used our pocket knives on the whole trip cross country. It came in handy so much. (all of the boys have earned theirs through scouting)

Helene said...

Hey Sharlene, I was wondering if the water bottle makers would be willing to give your readers a discount if they order via your review?? Do you know if they'll do that kind of thing? I would really love to order a few but they are a little pricey. Or maybe they do discounts for multiple orders??

Oh and thanks for letting me know about the giveaway on the Trekaroo site...heading over there right now!

Angela & Albert Fontenot said...

I really want that water bottle. That sounds like something worth keeping in our big van at all times. Albert keeps a swiss army knife on him. I'm not sure if he's thinking of survival in the wilderness- I think he just likes having it!
Just wanted to say that I really love your blog.

Shannon said...

I 'might' have an obsession with wilderness survival also. I actually caught myself cleaning 'camping' fingernails with my husbands fishing knife ...and realized that I had a problem. I just put the dual pro knife on my Christmas list - along with the water bottle. I'm thinking stocking-stuffers for kids and husband...am I a drag for a mommy and wife? LOL! My husband ALWAYS has a knife in his pocket, and I find it quite attractive!