Mountain treasure: WW2-era water canteen
I found this cool old canteen in Eaton Canyon last week. It says "A.G.M. Co 1945" on it. The internet tells me that these were issues to military people. A mile or so upstream I found some plane parts last month. The thought was that these came from a 1941 wreck of an AT-6. Initially I thought the canteen might be related to that, but when that plane crashed, this this hasn't been manufactured yet. Where did it come from??
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Girl Hiker
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It came from the aliens and they want it back.
Awesome find. Serious cool factor. 
One of the big debates when I was a kid was between aluminum vs. plastic water bottles/canteens. Plastic was frequently brittle but pretty quickly improved as I got older and eventually won out for the most part -- although lately I'm seeing a lot of people hiking with double walled steel (!) Hydroflask bottles. Hmmm. Maybe they'd like to carry a few lead ingots as well?
The debate these days is more hard-sided (like a Nalgene) vs. soft sided bladders. Bladders are no where near as durable but pack a whole lot better when empty and are super lightweight. A standard Nalgene is 6 oz. -- empty. A bladder, depending on the material, is maybe 1 oz for 1 liter. For short hikes, it doesn't make much difference, but if you need to carry 4 litters, you're carrying a pound and a half of dead weight if you're using Nalgenes.
HJ
One of the big debates when I was a kid was between aluminum vs. plastic water bottles/canteens. Plastic was frequently brittle but pretty quickly improved as I got older and eventually won out for the most part -- although lately I'm seeing a lot of people hiking with double walled steel (!) Hydroflask bottles. Hmmm. Maybe they'd like to carry a few lead ingots as well?
The debate these days is more hard-sided (like a Nalgene) vs. soft sided bladders. Bladders are no where near as durable but pack a whole lot better when empty and are super lightweight. A standard Nalgene is 6 oz. -- empty. A bladder, depending on the material, is maybe 1 oz for 1 liter. For short hikes, it doesn't make much difference, but if you need to carry 4 litters, you're carrying a pound and a half of dead weight if you're using Nalgenes.
HJ
Great analysis HJ.Hikin_Jim wrote: ↑Awesome find. Serious cool factor.
One of the big debates when I was a kid was between aluminum vs. plastic water bottles/canteens. Plastic was frequently brittle but pretty quickly improved as I got older and eventually won out for the most part -- although lately I'm seeing a lot of people hiking with double walled steel (!) Hydroflask bottles. Hmmm. Maybe they'd like to carry a few lead ingots as well?
The debate these days is more hard-sided (like a Nalgene) vs. soft sided bladders. Bladders are no where near as durable but pack a whole lot better when empty and are super lightweight. A standard Nalgene is 6 oz. -- empty. A bladder, depending on the material, is maybe 1 oz for 1 liter. For short hikes, it doesn't make much difference, but if you need to carry 4 litters, you're carrying a pound and a half of dead weight if you're using Nalgenes.
HJ
Ask him about stoves! I dare ya.tekewin wrote: ↑Great analysis HJ.Hikin_Jim wrote: ↑Awesome find. Serious cool factor.
One of the big debates when I was a kid was between aluminum vs. plastic water bottles/canteens. Plastic was frequently brittle but pretty quickly improved as I got older and eventually won out for the most part -- although lately I'm seeing a lot of people hiking with double walled steel (!) Hydroflask bottles. Hmmm. Maybe they'd like to carry a few lead ingots as well?
The debate these days is more hard-sided (like a Nalgene) vs. soft sided bladders. Bladders are no where near as durable but pack a whole lot better when empty and are super lightweight. A standard Nalgene is 6 oz. -- empty. A bladder, depending on the material, is maybe 1 oz for 1 liter. For short hikes, it doesn't make much difference, but if you need to carry 4 litters, you're carrying a pound and a half of dead weight if you're using Nalgenes.
HJ
Which type of container is best depends on a few factors, weight, durability, risk of damage, etc. These days my hikes usually involve a very low risk of damage, so I go for the lightest plastic bottles possible. If I had to fight German soldiers in the trenches, I might opt for an aluminum canteen.
I might opt for Kevlar. ?Sean wrote: ↑Which type of container is best depends on a few factors, weight, durability, risk of damage, etc. These days my hikes usually involve a very low risk of damage, so I go for the lightest plastic bottles possible. If I had to fight German soldiers in the trenches, I might opt for an aluminum canteen.
HJ