Web sites

Run "ultralight backpacking" in your favorite search engine. My aim here is to list less obvious sources of information.

Books

Best concise introduction:
The Ultralight Backpacker by Ryel Kestenbaum (Ragged Mountain Press/McGraw Hill, Camden, Maine: 2001)

The book that started the movement: highly ideosyncratic, but parts are excellent:
Beyond Backpacking by Ray Jardine (AdventureLore Press, LaPine, Oregon: 2000)

Superb, written by an engineer, concise and non-technical, with surprising recommendations:
Secrets of Warmth: For Comfort or Survival by Hal Weiss (The Mountaineers, Seattle: 1992)

Written by a leading bear scientist (ursologist?), contradicts Jardine's ideas about food storage:
Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance by Stephen Herrero (The Lyons Press, New York: 1985)

Practical, lots of pictures, precautions that the Search and Rescue teams wish we hikers would take:
The Complete Book of Outdoor Survival by J. Wayne Fears (krause publications, Iola, Washington: 1999)

Simpler, and therefore more practical, than his book for adults:
Tom Brown's Field Guide to Nature and Survival for Children by Judy Brown, Heather Bolyn, Tom Brown, Jr. (Berkley Publishing Group: 1989)

Wonderful,very visual way to learn to identify plants, by recognizing taxonomic families first, then species:
Botany in a Day, Fourth Edition by Thomas J. Elpel (Hollowtop Outdoor Primitive School, Pony, Montana: 2001)

Videos

I have had lots of fun watching wilderness skills and survival videos, especially:
The "Woodsmaster" series, by Ron Hood and Karen Hood, who used to run the Hoods Woods outdoor survival school. See the Hoods Woods Web site.

Classes

Yes. As many as you can. Check local park districts, Search and Rescue groups, survival schools, colleges, and hiking clubs, such as the Sierra Club, the Mountaineers, and the Appalachian Mountain Club. Consider classes in using a map and compass, wilderness first aid, recognizing animal tracks, primitive firemaking, edible and useful wild plants, outdoor survival, and--yes!--sewing.

Groups

Offbeat and fascinating:
Friends of Primitive Technology

The larger, international group:
Society of Primitive Technology

(c)Rhona Mahony, 2002: rmahony@stanford.edu