Introducing a fun MYOG project to see if I can bring plastic free wild camping in mountain environments to reality

An idea I have been playing about with in my head for some time is getting into making my own equipment using natural materials as opposed to synthetic. MYOG or “make your own gear”, is a pretty big movement, especially in the US, with a few niches to fit specific interest areas. It is exactly what it says, making your own outdoor equipment and gear.

Some MYOG enthusiasts focus on using the latest, and lightest synthetic fabrics to create the best kit for lightweight long distance hiking etc.

Others belong to the huge bushcraft movement,which naturally lends itself to using natural fabrics as pack weights are of less concern, and bright synthetic colours don’t fly. Additionally bush crafters typically camp in woodlands where shelter is supplemented by natural resources, trees, use of fires, mosses and leaves etc. A mountain or moorland environment does not often offer these.

So can this be done? The challenge is to meet the following criteria:

1. Warm and watertight. The UK mountain environment can be harsh. We live at high latitudes. Believe it or not North wales shares a latitude with Alaska, Newfoundland and Siberia. The flipside of the warmer maritime climate we enjoy is rain and plenty of it. So kit must provide protection and insulation from the elements. Additionally in balmy, dry summer conditions (or if you are a grizzled Scottish herder in centuries past), it is perfectly fine to wrap up in a warm woollen blanket and recline under the stars pretty much anywhere. My approach must be altogether more flexible. i.e. its October, it’s raining, I need warm dry shelter for the night on a hillside in The Lakes.
2. Relatively lightweight. This is where two worlds collide. Ex military types, and many bushcrafters will say get fitter and bear the 40lb+ pack. Obsessive kit reduction fanatics will want to fit everything sub 15lb (7kg) and save a few extra grams by cutting their toenails. In all honesty I am pitching towards the lightweight option here. Bushcraft with all natural kit is relatively straightforward and not such an interesting challenge. Lightweight mountain bivvys on long hikes definitely a challenge. I will pitch for a sub 22lb (10kg) pack weight. Base weight (i.e. without food, water, fuel)
3. Made of natural fabrics, threads and materials. In are: cotton, wool, silk, linen, down. Out are nylon, polyester, dyneema. This is where the challenge really sits. Synthetic fabrics and threads are quite simply lighter, stronger, less prone to rotting and shrinkage.
4. Robust enough to qualify as useful kit for multiple trips. Part of the non synthetic, plastic free approach, is sustainability. There is some complexity to this, see the note on this that follows further down the post, however kit must be dependable and re-usable not throw away. Plastic kit that lasts for 10 yrs is likely far more environmentally sound than natural with a 1 year lifespan.
5. Affordable. A cashmere sleeping system may be lovely but I want this approach to be replicable to anyone whatever their budget. Ok, so synthetic fabrics are cheaper, but honestly I still think this is achievable.

I will post information on each item of kit I create as well a bring it all together and use in the mountains over time. It is worth noting that before plastics were ubiquitous in everyday life, mountaineers and hikers used kit made of natural fabrics by necessity. However lightweight expeditioning was less of a thing and gear was engineered for robustness. So simply reverting to 1930’s camping kit is not really practical. Neither is reverting to kit as used by soldiers in wars of past centuries, who like the aforementioned Scotsman would sleep in a pile of heather wrapped in a wool blanket (but were also dead by 32).

The kit list

The following kit list contains what I would consider the core components of any hiking with wild camping approach.

• Shelter. The plan here is to create a standard style lightweight waxed cotton tarp around 2.2m x 2.8m. This rules out standard cotton poncho’s (e.g. the popular Plash palatka) as favoured by bushcrafters. These are simply not big enough for exposed area wild camping. You need to achieve total coverage/ tent style options to maintain shelter, especially with no fire. This will be based on a walking pole based system. A plastic free walking pole being another item to consider. (There is an old invention called a stick which may work here).
• Sleeping system – Bag/duvet. Two key options here to explore, wool and down. Core to either system will be a silk sleeping bag liner. These are not super cheap but not super expensive. Simplest of all would be to use the silk sleeping bag with a wool blanket for warmth. Lightest and warmer, would be to engineer a silk and down based duvet system/ bag.
• Sleeping system – Sleeping Mat. this is one of the greater challenges. Sleep mats you can buy are basically entirely synthetic (barring ancient inflateable camp beds made of cotton and latex which would blow the pack weight entirely). I have an idea here though based around ballon beds as used in ultra-lightweight racing and mountain marathons.
• Cooking system. Easy. From the trangia to the coke can stove there are plenty of options here. Allied to aluminium or titanium cutlery and pots/cups this is straightforward.
• Pack – Another good challenge which I think I can comfortably overcome. For the packweight and size criteria a tube based rolltop pack of cotton canvas (not dis-similar to my Granite Gear Virga synthetic pack which I love) is my aim. Buckles and toggles can be again alloy or wood.
• Stuff sacks. Lightweight waxed cotton stuffsacks can cover clothing, food and bits and bobs storage. Essential to keep some order in gear.

For this project I am focused on the core kit for wild camping, not the clothing. But of course this is also something that requires thought, as ideally I would use fully natural material derived kit here. I will treat this as another post though. Good merino, silk and wool clothing is readily available, alongside leather boots. Waterproofs will rely on waxed cotton which is unfortunately heavy but that is what it is.

A note on sustainability

It’s super easy to summarise as natural good/ synthetic bad. However when looking at something from a sustainability and environmental perspective it is not that simple.

10,000 litres of water are required to create 1kg of cotton. This water may need pumping using energy, the cotton processing may use damaging chemicals etc.

17kW of energy are required to produce 1kg of aluminium. All those toggles, buckles, pans etc. have an environmental cost that goes beyond plastic.

This is important, and therefore the environmental impacts all need weighing up. This post is not about working every single impact out, but Plastic = bad is too simplistic and I would not interpret things in that way. If plastic is used for creating things with a long life span, and maybe they can be recycled or re-used, this may be the best option and that is something else to understand.

However what we do need to understand is that microplastics and plastic disposal is a huge problem creating huge damage to the world. The biggest things we can do to help here are to avoid single use plastics, re-use and recycle, and of course reduce mass consumerism.

This is a rabbit hole and not the intention of the post to solve the worlds problems, but hopefully by understanding that sometimes, naturally derived products provide a good solution to a product need can reduce some of the waste plastic we leave in the envrionment. And of course by making our own gear we can also remove some of the air miles generated in traditional manufacturing.

I would be super interested in hearing any other thoughts by others who have tried this approach. Do leave a comment below.