As I began packing for my trip up to the Sarvis Wilderness just outside of Steamboat, Colorado, I couldn’t help but notice how much stuff I was leaving behind that I usually bring with me into the backcountry. Part of me was excited at the notion of being able to eliminate a few extra items I typically carried, but the other part was a bit apprehensive. How would the Multipurpose Spork from Prep-Right hold up after a few days in the backcountry? Would it really replace a few of the items in my pack effectively enough to eliminate added weight? Or would it serve as a hinderance and make me regret not bringing the gear I typically bring?
Well, I can honestly say that I was pleasantly surprised with how well this little Spork performed on my trip! If you’re looking to lighten your backpacking load with one tool that does the job of 8 different tools, you should definitely consider picking up one for yourself!
Replaced Tools
So, first and foremost I want to talk about the tools that the Prep-Right Survival Multipurpose Spork from Prep-Right replaced that I used regularly. They include:
- My knife
- My spoon
- My emergency whistle
I count these among my most important camping essentials, so replacing them with one tool made me a bit nervous at first. However, the days I spent in the Sarvis Wilderness really put these items to the test and revealed that they were more than enough to handle what I needed them to do.
The knife was the first thing I wanted to test as having a good knife with me had always been key to getting me out of a few sticky situations on more than one occasion. The blade on the handle of the Spork was actually incredibly sharp. Normally, I only use my knife for cutting open snacks or slicing up summer sausage while on trail. The Sporks knife did both easily, so I wanted to try a more challenging test to see if it would be able to perform in an emergency.
I decided that I would give it a shot at whittling a few branches to create a figure-four deadfall trap. If it could create the notches well enough to make an effective trap, I’d feel confident enough in replacing my knife with it. I set to carving out the sticks for the trap and found the Spork’s knife to be incredibly effective. The hooked blade that also acts as a bottle opener on the opposite part of the main blade actually made it easier to create the trigger end of the trap than usual. Needless to say, I was impressed.
After setting up my trap, I decided to check out the emergency whistle in the knife cover to see if it matched the capabilities of the whistle I normally carried on the shoulder strap of my pack. I drew a deep breath and blew, not really counting on the pitch and volume to match my old whistle.
Boy, was I surprised at how loud that little blade cover got! While it wasn’t as loud as my normal emergency whistle, it was still loud enough to get the attention of my hiking partner that was down at the creek gathering water. At the end of the day, that’s all an emergency whistle really needs to do.
My hiking partner came back to where we had camp set up with some fresh water and we began boiling it to add to our ramen noodles we’d brought for dinner. After adding the hot water to the noodles, we waited a bit for them to soften up before digging in.
After a few minutes, I took the knife cover from my pocket, covered the blade, and plunged the Spork into my bowl for a scoop of noodles. When I used my old spoon without a forked end in the past, eating ramen noodles was a bit of a pain. I had to finagle my spoon around just right, so the noodles didn’t slide right off the end. But to my surprise and delight, the Spork came up with plenty of noodles that didn’t slide off the end! I was even more pleased with how easy the spoon portion of the Spork made eating my oatmeal in the morning.
So, right off the bat my new Spork had replaced 3 tools that I had religiously carried in my pack for years. But it was the additional tools made me realize how much I had been missing on my backpacking trips.
New Helpful Additions
The parts of the multipurpose Spork from Prep-Right that I realized that I had been lacking on my backpacking trips in the past include:
- A saw blade
- A bottle opener
- A rope with rope holder
The saw blade was actually incredibly helpful when creating kindling for the small fire my partner and I had. Cutting enough kindling was incredibly difficult with my old knife as the knife blade was only so effective at hacking pieces off that were actually usable. The saw blade made quick work of a few sticks I found nearby our campsite, and we had a great little fire in a matter of minutes after using the saw blade.
Normally, I carry a small amount of 550 cord, but it had usually been tangled up in the bottom of my pack. Having a small amount of cord that came with the Spork wrapped neatly around the handle actually made gripping the Spork easier when it came time to eat. And the cord was really useful when I needed to use it for creating a drying line for helping to hang my wet socks up at night so they would be dry for me in the morning.
After packing up camp and heading back to my truck at the end of the trip, I was laser focused on the post trail beers I had waiting in a cooler. As soon as we had made it to the truck, I quickly popped the tops to a couple of cold ones for both me and my partner with the bottle opener I had used to help carve the dead-fall trap earlier in the trip.
Final Thoughts
When it comes to camping essentials, I do my best to get the gear that will help enhance the experience of each trip. The overall utility of the Multipurpose Spork from Prep-Right combined with the durable design and lightweight nature makes it something that I will carry from here on out. If I were you, I’d be sure to pick one up before my next trip!