A firm belief of mine is that if you are organized and ready to go, you can make the most out of your outdoor time when it presents itself.
The gift of time is the BEST gift an outdoor person can have overall. And, if you organize well, you can make maximum use of that time in my opinion.
You can stage for a backpacking or camping trip in less than an hour and get out the door. Your fuel, food, clothing, gear, and other items are in their place and readily available. You spend more time outdoors and less time getting supplies and running around packing.
And to assist in this goal, my favorite items for the outdoors are not what most people think of as outdoor items. Among these items? An inexpensive shed gave us more space in our multi-purpose room, plastic totes organize and keep everything readily available, and flyers kit bags swallow up the gear and make it easy to stage for trips.
Well, add to this list a surprising item. One (two, actually), I bought on a lark due to a sale and found extremely valuable over the past six months: LA Police Gear Collapsible Multiuse Tote.
LA Police Gear (LAPG) makes/sells the tacti-cool type clothing and gear favored by people needing work pants, uniform pants, first responders, or people who, well, want to look tacti-cool for some reason.
For my part, LAPG sells my favorite all-purpose work pants for trail work and for another volunteer role I started this past January. Additionally, I like them for everyday use around the home. The LAPG Urban Ops Pants are tough, comfortable, and at sub-$30 provide an affordable alternative to other BDU/tactical pants.
From LAPG
In the same vein, this shopping bag on steroids ends up as a tough, cheap ($10), and versatile item. Made of heavy grade polyester, it takes up abrasion and ends up being highly water-resistant as a bonus.
Don’t want maroon? The bag comes in five different colors.
I always have one in our Kia. It can carry groceries, take clothing for trips, hold tools, sort gear, and many other uses. At home, we use one as our laundry bag to carry clothes to our drying rack, for example.
With my beater/work out shoes from TSLA.
And when a recent trip turned into a car camping trip, with the use of a ‘biner we have in our car kit, the tote turned into a perfectly adequate daypack for two days of hiking! Amazingly versatile indeed. And that trip proved the inspiration for this article.
PCO Joan.
The LAPG tote bag is not particularly cool, sexy, or the latest and greatest gear. Nor will it be part of a Top Ten Tchotke list. But it is inexpensive, durable, versatile, effective, and will facilitate you making more use out of your outdoor time. And unless gear or clothing makes your time in, or getting to, the outdoors better on some level, what’s the point of purchasing another item?
Disclosure: I purchased this gear with my funds.